Ditch Your Backup Plan

Jen Vellenga
  • 4.9 (59)
  • PERFORMING ARTS

Stories of rewarding careers between starving artist and celebrity. Longtime professor, Jen Vellenga interviews creatives in arts and entertainment careers to give listeners the courage to ditch their backup plan.

  1. 04/13/2021

    A Future of Possibilities - Peter Royston

    Peter Royston (he/him) is an equity stage manager based in New York, and originally from the Bay Area area. His credits include: Blue Man Group, The Public Theater, The Lark, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Theatre Works, among others. Since 2017, Peter has become a vocal advocate and ally to the disabled community, specifically through his lived experience as a White Gay man with Cerebral Palsy. Peter hopes to see disabled stage management representation on Broadway and increased visibility of disabled artists across all aspects of the industry. Show Notes and Transcription at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

    45 min

  2. 04/06/2021

    Build Your Own Position - Elsie Escobar

    Elsie Escobar is a 14 year veteran in the podcasting industry and inductee to the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame. She is the co-founder of She Podcasts, a podcasting community for women + non-binary that has over 19 thousand members with a corresponding podcast and conference. She's a podcasting advocate, pundit and mentor to primarily women podcaster leaders. She also has an MFA in Acting!   Elsie is Libsyn's Community Manager and co-host/producer of The Feed: The Official Libsyn Podcast   Elsie loves to drive dialogue in the podcasting industry focusing on podcasts' impact on society, diversity, and culture as well as their power to drive social change.

    54 min

  3. 03/23/2021

    While Waiting for Your Shot - Noah Lindquist

    Noah Lindquist is a member of AEA, a singer and actor, and the creator of the viral videos, "Wear a Mask," and "I Just Can't Wait for Vaccines." Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

    46 min

  4. 03/16/2021

    Go Back into the Fire - Kimberly Doreen Burns

    Kimberly is a New York City based award-winning singer, actor, performer, and educator who recently originated the role of Maya in the New York City premiere of Sideways (based on the Academy Award Winning film). Top theatre critics have dubbed her a "golden-voiced vocalist," "a luminous life-force with a crystalline soprano voice," and "one of the best voices I've heard in musical theatre." Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

    43 min

  5. 03/09/2021

    We're Not in Competition with Each Other - Logan Rose Nelms

    Logan is an actor in NYC with a passion for social justice and human equity. Over the past almost ten years, Logan has crafted a pretty nifty little life for herself, filled with some very cool flexible side hustles that enable her to drop everything on a dime and take an audition or a booking.. and she's like really proud of that. Most notably, she is an ambassador for a fair trade fashion brand, called Noonday Collection. Noonday partners with artisans across the globe to create dignified work in their communities and combat the modern day slavery crisis. Over 70% of the artisans Noonday partners with are women!! Having this job in particular has been a definite bright spot in a dark year. Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

    44 min

  6. 03/02/2021

    Casting College - Alison Franck

    Alison Franck (CSA) is a casting professional with over 20 years of Broadway, Off-Broadway, Touring, Regional Theatre, TV, Film, Commercial and Voice Over Casting experience. For a decade, she was the Casting Director for the prestigious regional theatre Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, where she cast over 50 productions with some of the theatre community's finest talent. Notable credits at Paper Mill include the Broadway transfer of I'm Not Rappaport starring Judd Hirsch and Ben Vereen, Anything Goes starring Chita Rivera, The Baker's Wife starring Alice Ripley, The Chosen starring Theodore Bikel and John Lloyd Young, Baby starring La Chanze, Norm Lewis, Carolee Carmello, Michael Rupert and Chad Kimball, The Full Monty with Elaine Stritch, The Importance of Being Earnest with Lynn Redgrave, and was the original Casting Director behind the Broadway transfer of Godspell, which included Telly Leung and Uzo Aduba. SHOW NOTES at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

    48 min

  7. 02/23/2021

    See Yourself Being Successful - Damion Taylor

    Damion Taylor spent the last 15 years applying data and technology to entertainment. Both analytical and creative, he brings a unique skill set that's in high demand for brands and media companies. He effectively translates data in a way that is meaningful to creatives talent and has become a respected leader in audience growth and producing data-informed creative. He has lead Audience Development for large traditional media companies (e.g., Warner Bros. and NBC Universal) as well as innovative digital leaders (e.g., Machinima, Mitu and New Form) Show Notes at DitchYourBackupPlan.com

    57 min

  8. 02/17/2021

    Strategize & Maximize - Elizabeth Nestlerode

    Elizabeth is a New York actor and teaching artist.  She is the creator and instructor of the N2NYT: New to New York Theatre online course. Show notes at: DitchYourBackupPlan.com

    1h 1m
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4.9
out of 5
59 Ratings

About

Stories of rewarding careers between starving artist and celebrity. Longtime professor, Jen Vellenga interviews creatives in arts and entertainment careers to give listeners the courage to ditch their backup plan.

Information

  • Creator
    Jen Vellenga
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2021
  • Episodes
    54
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jennifer Vellenga 2020
  • Show Website
    Ditch Your Backup Plan