Beccy on Tour - My Semester Abroad in Raleigh, NC, USA

Rebecca Schaden 0:09
Hello guys and welcome to my podcast "Beccy On Tour" about my semester abroad in Raleigh, North Carolina in the United States. My name is Beccy, and I'm your reliable source into the exciting world of American college life. So if that sounds like something you'd be interested in, stay tuned

Hello, hello guys, today we have a special guest, Sandy Sullivan, actress and musical performer who I met at the premiere of the theater production misery. Sadly, performances ended last week. But I have invited Sandy here to chat from the inside about her acting and musical career, why she chose it, and what she loves most about it. Listen up and enjoy.

To start off this interview, could you please introduce yourself stating your name, your pronouns, your current job and your dream job growing up?

Sandi Sullivan 1:24
Absolutely. So I am Sandi Sullivan, Sandi with an "I". She/Her. I work for the State of North Carolina at the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, the ABC. So we run all the alcoholic beverage sales in North Carolina and we report directly to Governor Cooper. And growing up I had two dream jobs. So I wanted to be either an actor or veterinarian, but I couldn't make up my mind. So yeah, that was it.

Rebecca Schaden 1:49
Thank you, thank you so much. So you kind of always wanted to be an actress.

Sandi Sullivan 1:53
I did I always was an actress. I think I started pretty young, so probably around eight or nine years old.

Rebecca Schaden 2:00
Wow. That's that's a very young age. So what caused you to pursue an acting career?

Sandi Sullivan 2:05
I actually got interested in that, because of my grandfather, my maternal grandfather, he was Italian. And he was really into musicals, and he had this, you won't know what this is, you're too young. But he had one of these station wagons that had wood paneling down the sides. And at the time, we didn't even have cassettes, we had an eight track tape player. So you're gonna have to google that, so you can see what they look like. But there were these giant tapes, you know, that he would play. And he had all the Broadway musicals, you know, "My fair Lady", "Camelot" and "Man of La Mancha" and "Sound of Music". And he would let me pick a tape, we would go to the drugstore, and get candy. And he would let me pick a tape. And I learned all the words to all the musicals when I was very, very young. And I would just, it was just really fun memories of driving around with my grandfather, and he would tap his law school ring, you know, on the steering wheel, and we would sing all the musicals. And that's, I think, what got me first interested in it.

Rebecca Schaden 2:56
Could you tell me a little bit about the day to day life of an actress or of a singer in general, in the musical profession?

Sandi Sullivan 3:05
Sure. And again, like I have done acting professionally, but that's not my career. I mean, I chose to pursue it as an avocation rather than a vocation. And we'll get to why I did that later. But I would have loved to have done this full time. But it's just for the majority of people, it's not a very stable and steady source of income, and I wanted health insurance and, you know, a more sort of stable living arrangement. And so I chose not to do it that way. But day to day, when, you know, I'm involved in a show. It involves a lot of help, honestly, I mean, because I also have a full time job. And I'm doing this in addition to my full time job, it takes a lot of support. So, you know, I have to have someone to take care of my dog. And I have people that run errands for me if you can believe that. I'm like, so lucky that I have this community that supports me, but it involves a lot of, you know, stretching, meditation, getting focused, doing vocal exercises, running lines, doing speed throughs. Just, in general, you know, especially if it's a performance day, sort of reinforcing the things that we need to do to to get the best performance that we can.

Rebecca Schaden 4:17
That makes sense. What is the thing you love most about this job?

Sandi Sullivan 4:21
The audience reactions. It's so incredibly satisfying, to be able to create something, and to connect with that live audience, and to have them experience it with you, and to get that instant feedback from them. And when people I mean, people reach out to me and they tell me how effected they were by it. That's really, really satisfying.

Rebecca Schaden 4:46
Yeah, that makes sense. You also were a musical singer. Did you do like a training for that? Did you go to school for that?

Sandi Sullivan 4:52
I did. So I started taking voice lessons. I don't know when I was about 12 or 13. And my voice teacher - I wanted to belt. I wanted immediately to start singing like belty show tunes, and she wouldn't let me do it. So she trained me as a classical soprano. And actually, I need to thank her for that because she taught me the proper technique for singing. So that when I did start belting, I didn't start belting until I was in my 20s. Some kids start belting when they're 11/12 years old, and they can blow their voices out if they don't do it right. So to really, you know, she she protected my voice, and I was a classically trained singer. So I can sing legitimate soprano, but I can also, you know, be a Broadway belter.

Rebecca Schaden 5:34
So could you work in the opera as well?

Sandi Sullivan 5:37
Theoretically, yes, I could.

Rebecca Schaden 5:39
Have you ever thought about doing that?

Sandi Sullivan 5:42
No, and the reason is, I have a very, very close friend who is an opera singer who sang with the North Carolina Opera for years, we artsy types tend to stick around each other, because we kind of get each other. But she is an excellent singer, but she grew tired of being in the opera, because she said her entire life became about her voice and protecting that instrument. And so she felt like she couldn't really live because everything was about trying to protect that voice. So you know, you can't you can't do the fun things that other people do. You can't go, you know, scream at hockey games, and, you know, I would never smoke but you can't go smoke a cigarette, you can't, you know, throw back three Cokes, or whatever you want to do, and go sing an opera the next day. So you have to nurture it and take care of it like the precious instrument that it is. And if you're doing opera, that's all you can do is protect that voice.

Rebecca Schaden 6:32
Yeah, that makes sense. But you have done musical before.

Sandi Sullivan 6:35
I have done many musicals.

Rebecca Schaden 6:37
Can you tell me a little bit about that? What is that, like being in a musical performance?

Sandi Sullivan 6:41
Well, I think it's in some ways, it's even more challenging than doing straight theater, right? Because you've got to, in addition to, you know, learning the script and learning your movement, your blocking, you've got to learn all the music, you've got to get in tune with an orchestra. Hopefully, it's a live orchestra, you know, sometimes they want to do tracks now. And I don't think singers generally like to sing with tracks. We like live music. So I think it's even more challenging, because there's the learning curve is higher. You've got so much more material to learn, but it's incredibly satisfying.

Rebecca Schaden 7:13
What is the favorite musical that you performed?

Sandi Sullivan 7:17
Well, I was actually in "Man of La Mancha", which is one of my favorites and played Aldonza. If you don't know it. It's based on the book, Don Quixote, and it's the musical based on that book by Miguel de Cervantes.

Rebecca Schaden 7:30
Is it in English? Or?

Sandi Sullivan 7:32
I think originally it was in Spanish, but the the musical that musical I did was in English, yes.

Rebecca Schaden 7:38
Okay. Okay, that is so cool. Do you think: That is a very, very personal question, because I've always been considering going to acting school, but do you think it is necessary to be a good actress to go to acting school?

Sandi Sullivan 7:53
No. Talent is something that you can't teach. You either have it or you don't have it. Technique is something that you can teach, though. And so I do believe that acting school, you know, studying theater is going to give you a good foundation and the fundamentals to be a good performer. I think, as far as natural talent goes, people either have it or they don't. But I did get a degree in theater. And I went to a small liberal arts college in Providence, Rhode Island that had an excellent reputation for arts education. And I was when I went in, and when I came out, it was a world of difference. You know, I took movement, I took vocal technique, I learned how to speak better. You know, I learned all about movement for the actor, I learned how to do my own makeup, I learned how to build sets, I learned how to work in a costume shop, I learned how to do a wig, I learned how to do old age makeup, how to make up formulas for blood. I mean, all of the things that you think, you know, you just don't think about. And so I absolutely don't think it's essential, but it can't hurt.

Rebecca Schaden 9:06
And would you say there's a difference between acting in theatre or in film with regards to, do you have to go to acting school for theater, but maybe not for film?

Sandi Sullivan 9:17
With school, as far as school goes, I can't really say but it's a world of difference doing those two different things. And that's why I think a lot of film actors have a really hard time. You know, you'll you'll see a lot of movie stars, right, who are like really famous and they're really great on screen, and they get brought into a Broadway show because they lend a name to it right? So they're going to help sell it. And then their reviews, the critics pan them because they don't know anything about acting the theater. It's two completely different things, completely different things and I haven't done a lot of film work but I have done I haven't done any movie work but I have done some TV work and some industrials and commercials and things like that. Acting for film is extremely subtle. It's very, very subtle. And in the theatre, everything has to be broader and bigger and projecting because you have to, you have to project everything that's happening off of that stage and into the audience. Whereas if you're doing it on film, the camera is right up in your face. And it's going to capture every micro gesture. So things can be a lot more subtle. So it's two very different techniques. Now, when I was in theater school, I took a class called acting for the TV soap opera, just to learn about camera angles, and you know, but I prefer being on the stage. Because it's really about that feedback from the audience. That is so I don't know, it just pumps you up. I can't explain it.

Rebecca Schaden 10:39
That is very true. Can you tell me about any past theater productions that you particularly enjoyed?

Sandi Sullivan 10:47
There are so many, but it's interesting that you say that because I have this a history, it's kind of become a joke of playing these really strong female characters that have mental illness is the polite way to put it. They're kind of crazy, but we'll call it mental illness. And so I've had a few favorites that fall into that genre. And you know, I just closed Misery at Raleigh Little Theatre, which, of course, was based on the Stephen King novel and -the film- that William Goldman wrote the screenplay for it. And then he also wrote the play. So that was one such character. And I have to tell you that that one was pretty special. And I you came to see it, as I recall. So I'm really grateful that you got to see that but 10 years ago, I was actually in another show based on Stephen King, and it was Carrie, Carrie the Musical, which I didn't even know existed. And the music from it is fabulous. So you should look it up. But I played Margaret White, who is Kerry's religious, zealot, mentally ill mother. And that was it was in a small theater called NRACT North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theater up in Northwest Raleigh. And it was an unbelievable production. Really, really special. And then okay, I know you're young. But have you heard of the Rocky Horror Picture Show?

Rebecca Schaden 12:11
Yes.

Sandi Sullivan 12:12
Have you seen it?

Rebecca Schaden 12:13
No.

Sandi Sullivan 12:14
Shame on you. Okay, it is here. They've refurbished the Rialto theater, you must go see it.

Rebecca Schaden 12:20
It's in Raleigh.

Sandi Sullivan 12:21
It is, of course it is.

Rebecca Schaden 12:22
Yeah, I'm definitely going to see it then.

Sandi Sullivan 12:24
Yeah, it's at the Rialto. It's on, you know, on screen. Right. But a lot of times they have the actors acting it out in the in the theater. But I did the Rocky Horror Show, which is the musical the theater production based on the movie. And I played Magenta, the maid. So that one was pretty special, too.

Rebecca Schaden 12:46
Okay, can you tell me why is it just people cast you for that role? Or do you choose them?

Sandi Sullivan 12:52
It seems I have a type doesn't it? Naturally, I gravitate toward them, because I just love kickass women, but you know, kickass strong female characters. But I also am that person and so I identify, you know, I'm such a strong independent personality. And so I identify with those characters. And so that's what I go after, too. So it's probably a little bit of both.

Rebecca Schaden 13:15
That makes sense. But is it difficult to kind of prepare for these roles?

Sandi Sullivan 13:20
I wouldn't say it's difficult, but it does require work. I mean, if you go in unprepared, you're just not going to present as well. And each audition is different. You know, some directors want to see pre-... What is it? What is the word I'm looking for here? They want to see a prepared monologue. So they want you to come in with material that you've already memorized. And they want you to just perform it for them. And then when you come to if you get a callback, and they bring you in for a callback audition, then they may have you read sides from the script. Other directors don't want to see that they want to see you do improvisation. They want to throw scenarios at you and see what you'll come up with. Other directors want to just give you parts of the script? And have you read from it. Or they might have you do theater exercises or different kinds of game to see how you interact in a group or an ensemble. So typically, they will tell you what they plan on doing. And you just have to prepare for it accordingly.

Rebecca Schaden 14:13
What do you prefer? What kind of audition?

Sandi Sullivan 14:15
I like cold readings. They call it cold readings, right? I will never do a cold reading. I'm using my air quotes right here, you can't see that. But if I'm going into a cold reading from the script, I'm going to have read that script multiple times. And if I have a particular role, I'm going to have read it and I'm going to have read it out loud with other people and really -not memorized it- but really familiarized myself with the script with the language and made some choices about where I would like to go with the character.

Rebecca Schaden 14:45
That is very smart. Because even if directors say they don't want you to prepare, they really do that's how I feel.

Sandi Sullivan 14:52
I would never walk into an audition cold and unprepared even if they call it a cold reading.

Rebecca Schaden 14:59
Because it's a very competitive industry too.

Sandi Sullivan 15:02
It's extremely competitive, which is one of the reasons why there are so few people that make a living at it. I mean, even my friends that work as professional actors that are in Actors Equity Association, or they're in SAG-AFTRA, and they are, you know, film actors, they, they, they, they sort of live a piecemeal existence, if you will. So they have to, maybe they are, they teach classes, and they coach for auditions, and they do makeup, and they do hair, or they help with costumes, or they clean houses, or they you know, so they sort of pieced together a living to be actors. And they've been at this for years, and they're very, very good. Very few people make big money at it. And a lot of people that I know that do it, they travel around from city to city doing regional theater, and they get paid, but they don't make a ton of money. And I just, it's not that I make a ton of money in what I do, either. But I wanted a more stable existence than that I wanted health insurance, I wanted an apartment. You have to develop a really thick skin, if you're going to make a living at it, because you are going to hear "No" 99% of the time, and maybe even higher than that. No matter how good you are.

Rebecca Schaden 16:15
Yeah, that makes sense. What do you think makes a really good actor or actress?

Sandi Sullivan 16:21
Oh, gosh, um, I think it's a combination of talent, studying technique, different types of technique, and dedication to the you hear people talk about the craft, and it always sounds kind of pretentious. And so I hate to use it, but. But it is a craft. And the more that you can learn about it. And the more you can learn about different techniques, the better you can become at it. But it is a lot of hard work to be good at it. And you have to be really dedicated. And I think people don't always understand that.

Rebecca Schaden 16:56
Yeah, I think people think that actors, that's just a job you just appear on stage. And that's it. I don't know your experiences about that. But that's just my experience what I've heard, when I talk to people telling them that I act.

Sandi Sullivan 17:10
Well, I think I might have told you the first time we met that I originally majored in Electrical Engineering here at NC State. I didn't want to major in engineering, I actually have the brain of a mathematician, but the heart and the soul of an actor. So I thought, well, the practical job would be to study math and become, you know, a math professor. But I was pushed very strongly by my father to study engineering, because they didn't have a lot of women in engineering at the time. And he thought that that would be the best way that I could make money, which was the most important thing to him. And I wound up hating engineering, which is not surprising, given my, you know, heart and my personality. And I wound up dropping out and going and studying theater. And I got a degree in theater with a minor in communications, and I studied voice and I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Rhode Island College. And when I did, and my parents were at my graduation, this is a true story. And I said, well, "Dad, you know, Magna Cum Laude not bad, right?" And he said, "Yeah, but you didn't go to real school, you went to pretend school." I've never forgotten that. So I think that sometimes, that's the way people view the arts, they're very dismissive of it as it as if it isn't as important as science or math or, you know, becoming a lawyer or a doctor. But you know, I think it's just as important. It is the cultural enrichment is just as important. And so, you know, I took I took that path.

Rebecca Schaden 18:42
Yes. And I'm really glad that you did, because you can be an inspiration to my listeners. And to me, of course, you know.

Sandi Sullivan 18:47
Well, thank you. That's kind of you to say that.

Rebecca Schaden 18:49
You're welcome. That was actually my next question. You said you traveled to Europe as well. Did you see any differences with regard to how the audience responded to you?

Sandi Sullivan 18:59
I did, actually, I, um, we had wonderful audiences wherever we traveled. So we talked about this a little bit in advance. So I traveled with a multicultural international organization called "Up with People". There is an international office, but it is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. When I traveled, it was headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. And it was a you know, we put on a large scale, musical dance cabaret style show, for lack of a better term. It wasn't really cabaret style. But in other words, we didn't. It didn't have a script. It had some like little vignettes and scenes, but it was mostly just a show with music. And we traveled I was in Europe for about four and a half months. And one of the things that I noticed was European audiences in general and of course, we were only in our 20s when we were traveling, and so a lot of our audiences were it was a mix of ages, but I found that the European audiences were even more enthusiastic and more receptive to us than the American audiences were. And we had great audiences in this country too, but because the people that come to "Up with People's" shows are generally enthusiastic anyway, because they know about the organization. And they're really there to have a good time and just be uplifted and just, you know, feel good about people and connect with people. But the European audiences were just they just ate it up like they treated us like we were rockstars, which was really kind of silly. But yeah, but no, it was great. It was, I really enjoyed being able to have that experience of traveling in Europe.

Rebecca Schaden 20:30
Where exactly did you travel?

Sandi Sullivan 20:32
I was in Germany, and Switzerland and Sweden, and Estonia.

Rebecca Schaden 20:41
Wow.

Sandi Sullivan 20:42
Yeah. In fact, this was 1991 and I'm trying to think exactly what it was. It was sometime in September, I think. And so we literally went, we went into Tallinn in Estonia, just a few weeks after the coup, after they had gotten their independence from USSR. And so when we drove into the capital, there were these giant boulders in the streets. And I said, "what in the world" you know, and the one of the local people told us that they had put those giant boulders in the streets to try to keep Russian tanks from coming into the city. My mind was just blown. I mean, I had never seen anything like it in my life. That was such an amazing experience. And we also went to Finland. So yeah, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and Estonia. But Finland. We didn't actually go to mainland Finland, we went to this little island called Orleans, which is off the coast of Finland. And it's actually they speak Swedish, but they're part of Finland. It was a really neat little place. But yeah, so technically, I went to Finland too.

Rebecca Schaden 21:41
So it was actually more fun to perform in Europe than it was in the United States.

Sandi Sullivan 21:45
It was not more fun. But it just, it was just different. You know, the audience's were just so enthusiastic like it and then the kids that came to the shows I say kids, they were probably I don't know, teens. 20s. But they just, I don't know, they they really did they it was like they acted like we were rock stars, which of course we weren't. But it was it just it felt great. You know? Yeah.

Rebecca Schaden 22:06
It makes sense. Like your art being valued.

Sandi Sullivan 22:09
Yeah, you felt appreciated, like we felt I felt seen, you know, that wasn't what we were used to then. But I felt seen, you know, so one of the big things we did when we were over in Europe, we performed at the Olympic soccer stadium in Munich. At one of the, I don't know, one of the games like in between the periods, as I want to call them in soccer. I'm so bad about that.

Yeah. Pretty much.

Yeah, I don't I don't follow a lot of soccer. But yeah, so we performed there.

Rebecca Schaden 22:32
That is so cool. Okay, so my last question, or almost last question would actually be what advice would you give someone like a young actress or young actor that wants to start up in the business?

Sandi Sullivan 22:44
Develop a very thick skin early on. Be ready to take a lot of rejection. And don't take it personally. And don't let that rejection - This is so hard to do. And I still struggled to do it, right? Because when you get rejected over and over and over again, and you start to think, Am I really any good at this, maybe I'm just terrible. But if you're really going to go into it, you better get used to it, because it's gonna happen a lot. And eventually, if you keep studying and you keep working on things, you might hit it just right. So develop a thick skin, work hard. Learn as much as you can about it. And save a lot of money because you're going to need it.

Rebecca Schaden 23:26
And what would you say about networking? Do you think that's important?

Sandi Sullivan 23:29
I do think it's extremely important. It's one thing I'm terrible at. I can do it. I can talk to people. I hate it. I hate schmoozing with people. I'm just not I'm not that person. I'm not like as much as I am an extrovert and I enjoy people. I hate making small talk and schmoozing. And, you know, we have a great great theatre community here in Raleigh. I mean really, really wonderful. But I am not the good schmoozing person. I wish I could hire my own marketing manager to do that for me, because I don't like to do it.

Rebecca Schaden 23:56
I can so relate to that. I'm so bad at social media and stuff like that its not my thing.

Sandi Sullivan 24:01
Oh no. I'm pretty good at Facebook. But you know, I'm one of those old people. That's like, you know, I hear everybody joke now that you know, Facebook is just for the old people, but I'm pretty good. I mean, I think I did more marketing on Misery on Facebook, then the theater did so.

Rebecca Schaden 24:14
Well, I'm going to ask you for your social media handle and I'm going to link that in my podcast so people can find you.

Sandi Sullivan 24:20
We can do that. Yeah, I'm just on Facebook and Instagram. That's all I do. I don't do Twitter. I don't do I don't know I never even downloaded TikTok. I figured would have some virus in or something so I never did it.

Rebecca Schaden 24:29
Yeah, TikTok is not really my thing. But as you said, you need social media and like in general networking, especially in the film industry, that's the experience I've made. So I think theater is pretty similar. And the last question, if there was one thing you could tell your younger self, what would it be?

Sandi Sullivan 24:48
You are in competition with no one but yourself. So just be true to yourself, be honest and authentic.

Rebecca Schaden 24:59
Thank you. That are very, very great closing words. Thank you so much for being here today. I really appreciate it.

Sandi Sullivan 25:06
Thank you for having me.

Rebecca Schaden 25:08
And I love talking to you.

Sandi Sullivan 25:09
It was fun. Thank you.

Rebecca Schaden 25:11
It was Yeah.

Thank you guys for listening. I loved having Sandi here and I really hope you felt the same way. She's an amazing talented actress, and I can't wait to see her again on stage. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date and see what's new. I am going to link her Instagram and Facebook handle in the description of this episode. And as always, if you have any questions, recommendations, and constructive criticism, feel free to reach out on Instagram on beccy_schdn or beccyontour_ but for now have a great rest of your week. Greetings from the other side of the ocean, and I will talk to you in the next episode. Bye bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai