“This story gives me goosebumps every time I talk about it,” says Kelli Youngman. “I had this moment where I was like, ‘you know what? I’m going to be on Broadway.’” Just a few years after having this epiphany, she’s been on Broadway twice. She’s toured the country and performed at major regional theatres …
On a non-pandemic evening, a Seattle theatre patron may venture to the 5th Avenue Theatre, look into the orchestra pit, and orient their gaze toward the percussion section. There at the drums, sporting round-framed glasses and a flowing mane, is Paul Hansen. It’s a bit of a cliché to say that he’s done it all, …
Not far from San Francisco, across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, set beneath the redwoods of Northern California, you’ll find a small city called Mill Valley. First, the site was home to the Coast Miwok, an Indigenous people who lived off the land and fished from its waters. Later, Spanish missionaries swept through with bibles …
Wearing a t-shirt from the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, sitting in his meticulously designed, pint-sized apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, Jonathan Cerullo appears on my computer screen. “Did you know the New York Times did an article on my space?” he gleams. A conversation with the man is, in a word, fun. He’s …
Set in the picturesque mountain range for which it’s named, the Netflix series Ozark features a sordid cast of characters: boat thieves, money launderers, heroin manufacturers, and more. Notably missing from this sinister assortment, however, is the musical theatre actor. A missed opportunity, to be sure, considering that from the mountains of southern Missouri emerged …
A couple of things: I’ve moved! Some of you may have visited my blog in its earliest days at samsimahkwrites.wordpress.com–that site will very soon be no more, so let’s forget it ever existed. Welcome to simahkwrites.com! (I’m a fan of simplifying things.) I’m very new to self-hosted WordPress, and if anybody’s unfamiliar, there’s a fairly …
In case you’ve ever wondered how actors get work, here’s a very basic overview: Actors are independent contractors, more or less. We usually work with agents and/or managers, who find and schedule audition appointments, negotiate contracts, and help us shape our careers. Agents and managers get appointments by contacting casting directors—consultants hired by producers and …
A brief glance at my own social media shows how antisocial I’ve become online. I used to post fairly regularly—at least on Facebook and Instagram—with updates on my life and career, viewpoints on politics and current events, and even simple observations about human existence that I found funny. But looking at my social media, I …
Hi. I’m Sam. There it is; I’ve started a blog. I’ve been spiraling toward this for a long time, and have always put it off for one reason or another: “I don’t have time”; “it feels self-centered”; “nobody wants to read my writing.” But now here I am, in the midst of a global pandemic. …