It's not all bright lights and big cities for theater's top actors, writers, and composers. We asked fellow actors, writers and composers what their survival jobs were prior to achieving success in their chosen field. This is what they had to say…

NICK BLAEMIRE
(Actor -Altar Boyz, Cry-Baby; Composer - Glory Days)
“During college, instead of Summer Stock (I couldn’t get cast to save my life) I spent my summers in DC doing whatever theater I could. If there was no theater to be done, I waited tables at The Cheesecake Factory. However, a month after I started working there (and memorizing the 6 million menu items they make you know by heart) I got cast in a local production of The Rocky Horror Show, and had to quit Cheesecake, which was the only job I’ve ever quit in my life. It was the worst conversation with an authority figure I’ve ever had. In the middle of him yelling at me about shirking responsibility and leaving people in the lurch, I looked down, observing that he and I were both wearing a white shirt, white pants, and white orthopedic shoes… and it was much harder to take him seriously.”

Sh-K-Boom Records just released the Original Broadway Cast album of Glory Days, for which Nick wrote the score.

ANDREW KEENAN-BOLGER
(Actor - The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Seussical)
“I got a job working daycare at the Reebok Sports Club when I first moved to the city. I've always loved kids and any excuse to play with Legos and get paid for it sounded like a sweet gig to me. The gym was pretty high-end and catered to the wealthy Central Park West inhabitants so I also got to learn all the trendy, pretentious baby names. ‘Pew, I think Dash needs a diaper change.’ ‘No Creighton, that's Griffon's Polly Pocket.’ ‘D'Artagnan, this time lets try to keep the finger paint on your paper and off your blazer.’"

Andrew is currently appearing as Robertson Ay in the National Tour of Mary Poppins.

AARON GALIGAN STIERLE
(Actor - How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Ragtime)
“I used to work the front desk reception at Chelsea Studios. At one particularly important audition, a pipe burst and there was a huge flood in that audition room. No other room was available for this major audition, so I had to stand in the corner of the room with a mop and bucket and in between each person’s audition, I quickly mopped up the water that had moved across the floor! All these major theater stars simply stared at me like I was a crazy person. Pretty funny…”

Aaron most recently appeared as Henry Ford in Ragtime on Broadway.

CARRIE MANOLOKAS
(Actor - Mamma Mia, Wicked)
“I started babysitting, because I loved working with kids. I still do. I worked in the afternoons, so I could keep my days free. Most of the families were wonderful, and the kids were a riot. I also worked at a bowling alley but decided that working late into the night and wee hours of the morning was not conducive to what I wanted to do with theatre. I was a cocktail waitress, (well, I was training to be one) and had to wear a little bowling dress. I was also a Concierge at a very, very upscale building in the East Village. People were generally very kind in the building. There were definitely some moments of high stress, but for the most part, it was pretty relaxed. I had the afternoon shift so most appointments and reservations were taken care of by the time I got there.”

Carrie is currently the Elphaba Standby on the 2^nd National tour of Wicked.

TIM DRUCKER
(Writer - Fat Camp, Perez Hilton Saves The Universe)
“Real estate has been a really amazing way of supporting myself while I work on theatrical projects. I got my license right out of college as a way to have a flexible job that was something other than waiting tables and also potentially more lucrative. I have been in the business for over three years, and while it has not always been easy, I have found a way to carve a niche for myself where I have ample time to work on my artsy stuff. I work for one of the top agents in my company and last year we were asked to be on "Keeping up with the Kardashians" as Khloe's real estate agents. I never thought that showing apartments would lead me to reality TV! It was pretty awesome getting to tell Khloe that she should buy a hotplate and a Murphy Bed for a basement studio in the East Village (clearly this was highly set-up).”

Tim is currently working on and developing many projects, including Fat Camp which is being prepared for a commercial production. If you need an apartment you can reach him at TDrucker@citi-habitats.com

BENJ PASEK
(Lyricist - Edges)
“When I first got to New York City, I worked at the Children's Museum of Manhattan. My job was to basically set up activities for kids and walk around acting weird and ‘kid friendly.’ So I would put all of the plastic apples in wooden boxes and bring them out to the Dora the Explorer exhibit while pretending to be Diego. I look ambiguously ethnic, so kids loved it. One time I led story time for Julianne Moore and her kiddos. That was cool.”

Benj is currently developing a new musical called Dogfight at Lincoln Center Theater with collaborators Justin Paul and Peter Duchan.

MARLA MINDELLE
(Actor - The Drowsy Chaperone, South Pacific)
“Thank god two of my favorite jobs were singing waiter jobs! I served sundaes at Showplace Ice Cream Parlor on Long Beach Island in high school. Then, of course, I graduated to poodle skirting it up at Ellen's Stardust Diner. I also tried selling books on e-Bay, and even went as far as getting myself into a pyramid scheme! What I wouldn't do for quick, fast, money. Thankfully, I'm employed now so I don't have to get like… arrested or something”

Marla is currently appearing in South Pacific on Broadway.

RYAN SCOTT OLIVER
(Composer - Mrs. Sharp)
“Before moving to NYC, I worked at Border’s in Santa Monica, on the 3rd Street Promenade. It was multi-floored and rather huge, but even still the most FAQ was: ‘Where’s the bathroom?’ People were then informed that the bathroom was not for public use—too much drug use and fornication from the rather sizeable homeless population roaming 3rd Street—and frequently exploded in anger, defied the fact as being illegal, demanded to know ‘where do YOU pee?’ or on occasion allowed their six-year-old to drop trousers and do her business in the Religion/Metaphysics section. My employment there—and the Borders itself—was swiftly defunct.”

Ryan is currently working on 35MM, a musical exhibition inspired by the work of photographer Matthew Murphy.

JEFF BLUMENKRANTZ
(Composer - Urban Cowboy; Actor - How To Succeed…)
“One survival job I had was as an assistant at an executive recruiting firm, aka headhunters office. This was back in the 80's, before the Internet, and there was much less information readily available. We were looking for candidates with very specific kinds of experience, and it was my job to generate lists of people who had worked in this very narrow field in the banking industry. I spent most of my time on the phone, making up stories to convince people to basically list the names of people in their department. This is where my acting training actually helped. My Aunt Betty had given me this great piece of advice that people will always help a person in trouble. So I'd get a receptionist on the phone and I'd work out some elaborate scheme, ‘Hi, I'm so sorry to bother you. I'm temping at the 59th Street branch (of the same company) and I really want them to hire me full-time. They've just asked me for the list of all the people in your department, which I've misplaced, and they need it in, like, ten minutes. Would you mind just reading me the names and extensions everyone in your department.’ etc. I was very convincing and very successful.”

Jeff, who still does a little acting on the side, is currently writing music/lyrics for two original musicals.

SCOTT ALAN
(Composer - Keys, Dreaming Wide Awake)
“After about two years of my music being out in the world, I was working at a Gay bar on the east side called the O.W. Bar. Every Saturday night, I would have to work shirtless. Well, one busy Saturday night this young girl around the age of 23 came into the bar and when I approached her, shirtless, she started crying and singing my song 'Never Neverland' to me. I didn't know what to do. This had never happened to me before and I didn't really have the time to talk. She started telling me how much that song meant to her and how big of a fan she was and how she couldn't believe the person who wrote it was standing, half naked, in front of her. It was an interesting night and yet, at the same time, extremely inspiring to me. I worked until 4am with a huge smile on my face.”

Scott is currently working in the studio on his new CD, What I Wanna Be When I Grow Up.

BEN LIVINGSTON
(Actor - Mamma Mia, Our Town)
“Several years ago I worked as a supervisor at Universal Theme Park in LA, and part of my duties involved supervising the ‘atmosphere characters,’ performers who roamed the park dressed as famous actors and/or animated characters. I often had to respond to minor emergencies, such as Spongebob Squarepants being injured by a maniacal mob of seven-year-olds, or Spiderman being chased by a maniacal mob of "frisky" single ladies, or attending to Shrek, who had passed out in the 100 degree Los Angeles sun. For a while, I supervised at an attraction called the Return of the Mummy maze, which was a very scary haunted house filled with performers dressed as mummies. People do very strange things when they get frightened, including but not limited to: screaming, punching, kicking, vomiting, running into walls, running into other people, urinating etc. Of course, the poor performers had to bare the brunt of such behavior, while I spent my time writing up very official-sounding reports with phrases like, ‘The mummy in question was working in the lower crypt passageway when a middle-aged woman with two small children became overly frightened, threw a full soft drink in the mummy's face, screamed, and kicked said mummy in the genital area. The performer in question declined to seek medical aid, but was given permission to leave work early.’ When I reached the point where writing such reports seemed perfectly normal, I knew it was time to move on.”

Ben is currently appearing as Professor Williard in  Our Town Off-Broadway.


By: Mara Jill Herman

What is your worst survival job?

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