How to Succeed on Tour (Part 2) with the SIX Boleyn Company

Episode 10 features many different interviewees all from the Boleyn Company of Six, the musical. The Boleyn Company is the tour that host Katie Coleman toured with as music director. The company is still touring and Katie was lucky enough to go back and sub for a couple weeks in Cleveland where she recorded snippets of conversations with company members, asking them for: advice for other people on tour, something surprising about their job, misconceptions, life lessons that they've learned, and generally how they deal with life on the road. 

This episode features:
Jocelyn Hall, Physical Therapist
Galia Backal, Associate Director
Amber Johnson, Stage Manager
Lena Gabrielle, Music Director
Zan Berube, Anne Boleyn
Aline Mayagoitia, Katherine Howard
Sterlyn Termine, Bessie on the Bass
Sydney Parra, Catherine Parr
Caro Moore, Maria on the Drums
Taylor McMahon, Resident Choreographer

Find them and others mentioned on IG:
SIX US Tour @sixustour
Jocelyn Hall @dabossj_stomp
Galia Backal @gbackal
Lena Gabrielle @lenagabriellemusic
Zan Berube @zanberube
Aline Mayagoitia @alinemayagoitia
Sterlyn Termine @sterlynmusic
Sydney Parra @sydneyparra
Caro Moore @storycm.music
Taylor McMahon @taylorjmcmahon
Taylor Pearlstein @taypearlstein

Find us!

on IG @howtosucceedintheater
https://howtosucceedintheater.buzzsprout.com

Theme music written by Rachel Dean and orchestrated by Katie Coleman

Audio engineer Mike Rukstad

Special thanks to the following folks from the SIX Boleyn Company for lending their voices to the intro:

Mike Rukstad
Dylan Dineen
Sarah Ortiz
Jane Cardona
Kaitlin Ciccarelli
Kami Lujan
Jillian Bartels

Transcript

 Katie Coleman: 
Hello and welcome to How to Succeed in Theatre by Sacrificing Everything. I'm your host, Katie Coleman. All sacrifices discussed in this podcast were fully consensual and 100 percent worth it. Because we love what we do, right guys? Right! Hello! Today's episode is such a special one, as it features many different interviewees, all from the Boleyn Company of Six, the musical.

The Boleyn Company is the tour that I toured with as music director. Uh, last year and they are still on tour, not all of them, but, um, the company is still touring and will be touring for a while. And I was lucky enough to go back and sub for a couple weeks in Cleveland a couple months ago and I got some snippets of conversations that I had with people and then I got a few people to just record some voice memos for me.

And I basically asked them. Advice for other people on tour, something surprising about their job, misconceptions, and life lessons that they've learned, how they've dealt with tour life. I wanted to start with our physical therapist, Jocelyn Hall, because she has a really good point about not only do you have to learn your job, you also have to learn how to tour. Here she is. 

Jocelyn Hall: 
One of the things that I've been definitely working on is I know how to do my job as a physical therapist. Yeah. But it is very different to now do my job and also have to be like part of a company and like part of this. So I still have to learn all the backstage things and like the call sheets and like what all these like different like things are.

Right. And then also figure out how to like put my job in that and make it work for everyone. Yeah, because sometimes I want to like do like more intense treatments, but I have to, I have to consider the fact that like, oh, but you have to go on stage. So I also can't tell people like, Oh, just let it rest.

Like maybe just don't do your job tomorrow. Cause that's not a thing. I have to, right? Yeah. So thanks. 

Katie Coleman
And just in case you're wondering, based off of that, there is a full time physical therapist that travels with the six tour, and that is fairly common on these big touring companies, especially with shows that are dance heavy.

A lot of people that think about six don't think about it as being a dance show, but if you see it. The queens are dancing non stop in two and a half inch heels. And it's a very, very physically demanding show, which we will hear a little bit more about from one of the cast members. So we travel with a physical therapist, which is...

It's just the best. And we can basically all sign up for a time slot with them anytime during the week. There's specific hours that they're available. They also help with warmups and they offer a lot of tools. They offer all kinds of extensive physical therapies that are made available to the cast and the crew and the band and the full company.

And it's really a luxury. I miss that very much. So thank you, Jocelyn. And our other physical therapist was Rachel Red. Next up, we hear from Galia Backal, the Associate Director of SIX. Letting us know her tour tip for how to make the most of each city. 

Galia Backal
I think the most surprising thing was that the cities you never think are going to be your favorites end up being your favorites.

There are so many cool spots and weird niche neighborhoods that some of these cities offer. My number one tour tip is to look up restaurants, coffee shops, neighborhoods ahead of time, especially if you're on a tour that only has like a week in each city. It took me a while to figure out that like if I didn't look up the coffee shops ahead of time, or I didn't know which restaurants I'd want to go to, I always end up...

Finding them too late, and then I missed out on all the good spots. And so I, I always try to look ahead, look at what folks recommend. Um, some of my favorite cities have been like Omaha, Nebraska, or St. Paul, Minnesota. Like, who knew they had such a great shop small, artist scene, or like really cool themed bars in Omaha.

So you never know which city's gonna be your favorite, so keep an open mind. 

Katie Coleman
Next up, we hear from Amber Johnson, one of the three stage managers for the Boleyn Tour of Six. And Amber talks about how one misconception is just what the heck a stage manager is at all. Here's Amber. 

Amber Johnson
That is the most common question I get, is what does a stage manager do?

Because unless you are in theater or in this industry, no one knows what a stage manager does. It's a very important job. Yeah, and it's sort of like the catch all of the directors. You're a right hand person, you are the hub of communication for production, you're literally in charge of coordinating every single little detail of a show.

And kind of just being on top of all of the artistic balls that are in the air and making sure that they're all getting covered. And then I think the interesting part about that is I do this in my job, so when I go home, it's the last thing I want to do. You don't want to decide anything. Yeah. Like sometimes when friends or my husband is like, Hey, what do you want to do for dinner?

I'm like, you choose. Cause I make choices all day. Like if there's group outings, I don't want to be in charge. Right, right. Cause I'll find that all of a sudden I am the one like organizing the paying of the bill or, uh, ordering the Uber or, and so there are times where I need to take a step back and be like I don't have to be in charge, nor do I want to be in charge all the time.

But yeah, stage manager is just, you know, you're in charge of all schedules all the time. Clocking that people are on time, making sure the show is running, coordinating with every single department that they all have what they need. So it's, again, it's like a moving ball all the time. And it's just, especially on tour, it's just like cut and repeat, can't repeat, but then whatever each venue brings is the challenges.

Right. Um, cool. Yeah. So that's in a nutshell what I do. Thank you. 

Katie Coleman
And if you're wondering who's singing in the background, I took that recording of Amber during a performance and you can hear the performance going on in the background. A common theme that I heard brought up a lot was finding your home within each city.

And next up, we're going to hear from Lena Gabrielle, who was my associate music director. And then when I left, she took over as music director and she talks about finding her place in each city, setting up her life. And one thing that I really love is that she talks about how, what ends up being the most Stable place is the theater because your home life staying in hotels and airbnbs that changes all the time and The city that you're in it's always different But every theater you have a dressing room.

You have a place to put down your things. It feels the same You're with the same people your community is there you have time and a place to sit That's all yours. And that is the most consistent thing A question that I get a lot when I'm doing this kind of work is don't you get sick of doing the same thing eight times a week, playing the same music eight times a week, but when you're touring everything else in your life is changing so much that playing that same show that becomes your home and that becomes the stability that you need when everything else in your life is so crazy.

Here's Lena. 

Lena Gabrielle
One of the biggest skills that I gained on the road is learning how to ground myself in what I like to call the reverse routine. Um, being a freelance musician in New York is very chaotic. There's a lot of going from gig to gig, lots of schedule changes, and you have to know really how to ground yourself at home into your routine, such as I like to cook a certain number of nights per week. I like to get up and go to the gym as many days as possible. And even if I don't get to do that, I have my bed, I have my room, I have my shower. I know kind of where everything is in my own home. On the road, you never know what the hotel is going to be like. Is the Airbnb going to have a good kitchen?

Is the gym going to have the equipment that you want? Are you going to be able to find a better gym closer to your Airbnb? There's a lot of different factors. Oh, how long is the commute? Stuff like that. So when you're on the road, you really have to like find the routine. In the show itself because that is the only thing that stays consistent from day to day.

So no matter what I was going through How good was my day? How bad was my day? Did I get to do everything that I wanted to do at home? the show was really grounding for me and I was able to kind of like snap into a certain mindset when I was there and filter everything else out. Um, because that was my routine.

So it's been really cool to learn how to filter those things out and get more into the routine that is my job rather than the routine of being at home after whatever my job is. 

Katie Coleman
For more on that same topic, we now hear from Zan Barube, none other than Anne Boleyn of the Boleyn Company of Sixth The Musical.

Zan is absolutely Stunning in this role, and hilarious, and I hope you all get a chance to see her. Here's Zan. 

Zan Berube
I think touring feels like a never ending adjustment period. Um, because we've been on the road for a year now, and I still feel like we're constantly adjusting, you know, adjusting our sleep schedules, adjusting new theaters, new spaces, new locals.

Um, and it's... It's fun, it's scary, it's exhilarating, but it's also exhausting. It's funny because no one really warns you about how this job will affect your day to day life. Your eating schedule, your sleeping schedule, your socializing schedule, how and when you choose to expend your energy outside of the show.

And you don't really get to learn that until you're thrown into a process as rigorous as a, a Show week. And because this is such a demanding and rigorous process, I think I'm still to this day learning about self care and how to maintain my body, my mind, my spirit to be on the road and do eight shows a week.

And it's both a beautiful thing and a scary thing, but I think at the moment I'm just learning how to take care of my body and what it needs to both live in the show and live outside of the show. It's definitely a life lesson that I'm learning in real time. So with this job being an ongoing adjustment period, I think you definitely have to give yourself the time, the space, and the grace to put yourself first and know it's okay.

If you have to take time and space to put yourself in your own personal needs before the job. Because then, if you're taking care of yourself, you're only enhancing your performance and your experience while on the road. And that's only a positive thing for everyone. 

Katie Coleman
Next up, we have Aline Mayagoitia, who is absolutely incredible as Catherine Howard.

Here she is talking about something surprising that she discovered. 

Aline Mayagoitia
Hi, I'm Aline! Um, I think in grade school, The arts are presented as an alternative to athletics. So it's like all the unsporty people, like, Go do theater, and then you'll never have to be a sport ever. And that was definitely my, um, I love that about theater.

But now that I'm a professional, I'm realizing it's like the most athletic career I could have possibly chosen. Yeah. Like anything else I like, like graphic design, or like interior design, would have been so much less physical than this one. Yeah. And that, I think, is shocking if you are someone that chose theater because you hated your bodies.

Katie Coleman
So now you're having to, like, catch up on that life. Like, how to take care of your body, and how to warm up and cool down, and all these things that, like, you didn't learn. Yeah. Although, you're a dancer, so you have a dance background. 

Aline Mayagoitia
Yes, but even that I think was so deeply unathletic. To, to me, just the way I, I am.

I'm just like, allergic to athleticism. So yeah, figure it out when you can, cause it's gonna come bite you in the ass. That's it. That's my tip. That's awesome, thank you. You're welcome.

Katie Coleman
Okay folks, I am taking a quick break to ask you to please support this podcast by hitting follow and or leaving us Well, me. A review. The goal of How to Succeed in Theatre by Sacrificing Everything is to bring you stories about theatre people and how they've found success in order to help you find success yourself.

I am also very eager to hear suggestions from you so I can bring you more of what you want to hear and questions that you might want answered on an episode. Please find me on Instagram and check the show notes for more information. Thank you! 

I'm going to interject here with another fun fact about this show.
The band is called the Ladies in Waiting, and each of them have character names. It is Maggie on the guitar, Bessie on the bass, Joan on the keys, and Maria on the drums. And Maggie, Bessie, Joan, and Maria were all actual Ladies in Waiting two queens that are featured in the musical. Oftentimes, people don't realize that they're character names though, so I would have people come to the show and.

Ask, wait, where were you sitting? Because when I was introduced as Joan on the Keys, they were like, oh, that's not Katie. That's Joan. But in fact, they're character names and they are named after actual human beings that existed in history. When you see the show, you see interactions between Catherine of Aragon and Maria and Catherine Parr and Joan.

And that's because. Maria was an actual lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon and Joan was an actual lady in waiting to Catherine Parr. And next we hear from Bessie on the bass, Sterlyn Termine, who is just a killer bass player. Here's Sterlin talking about taking a vacation when traveling is your life.

Tell me about traveling on tour. 

Sterlyn Termine
Traveling on tour is really. Great. It's a mixed experience with a lot of, um, cool explorations, adventures, but also the task of actually traveling, whether it's by bus or plane, that can be very taxing on the body. So, overall, it's really great. Um, but I would, I would say that one interesting thing is that as people, we kind of view traveling as like a vacation thing to do and going on trips and things like that.

It's like the... Um, but when you travel for work, your definition of vacation changes where, uh, basically all you want to do is rest and sleep and stay put. Um, so that's definitely something that's been very interesting to experience as a traveling musician. 

Katie Coleman Yeah, but you've taken some vacations. Where have you gone? 

Sterlyn Termine
Um, I went to Guatemala earlier this spring. And I'm going to Aruba in a few weeks. So that's traveling for vacation. It is, it is. But on my itinerary, I have planned to do nothing. Nothing. Like I have no... Yeah. No schedules. Just rest and literally stay put by the beach. Nice. Cool. Well, have a great time.

Thank you. Thank you. 

Katie Coleman
Next up, we have a tip from Sydney Parra, who played Catherine Parr, about how to... Remain grounded. Here's Sydney. 

Sydney Parra
Okay, I think that's something I've learned, kind of in more recent years, is that having a life outside of theatre actually makes you so much better at theatre. Like, I really thought that I had to put all of my eggs in one basket in order to gain, like, even an ounce of success.

But truly, like, the more friends you have outside of the industry, the more exposure you have to other art forms, to other people, and different walks of life, like, The more you can like freely commit yourself to performing, or whatever it is you do in the arts, without feeling so bound to it. Which I think is really important for everybody to have.

Yeah. Well rounded life. Well rounded life.

 Katie Coleman
Do you have an example of that, like on tour, how you do that? 

Sydney Parra
Yeah, on tour I think that like, honestly for us it's kind of just like having hobbies, having things that have nothing to do with the show. Like we've started rock climbing, um, I'm a yoga teacher, so I teach yoga, I take class.

Like these things are really important. And, um, like, Taylor writes her own music and stuff, and I think that those things remind you that there are so many other facets to you, other than just showing up and clocking in and clocking out. 

Katie Coleman
So how do I find your yoga classes? 

Sydney Parra
Um, good question! I post on Instagram about them.
Follow me on Instagram, at SydneyParra, and I will post when I'm teaching. Yay! Thank you! Of course! 

Katie Coleman
Sydney mentioned there that Taylor writes her own music, and she is referencing Taylor Pearlstein, who is one of the amazing alternates. Please check out Taylor on Instagram to hear some of her really incredible music.

And Zan piping in one more time to add to what Sidney has to say. Here's Zan. 

Zan Berube
One thing that I also think is really important to have on tour is your people. Have a group of people in your life who make you feel seen, who make you feel supported, loved, cared for, safe. Because when you are touring the country and you don't get to come back to a quote unquote home every night, The only thing that is going to make you feel that sense of support and groundedness and stableness are your people and who you turn to in times of stress and in times of tiredness.

Like have that group of people because I will say from my perspective, having them in my life has definitely gotten me through the past 12 months and I'm so grateful for them. 

Katie Coleman
Next up, we hear from Caro Moore, who played Maria on the drums, and Caro discusses something that was a little bit tricky, as I mentioned before, a lot of people ask, how do you play the same music every night?

And how do you not get sick of doing the same thing over and over again? And although I don't really think that's as big a problem as people imagine, the show really does become such a big part of your life. You are ingrained in the message of the show, you're feeling the emotions of the show, and whether you like it or not, you become a representative of that show everywhere you go.

You're wearing a shirt from the show or a badge to get into the stage door, and people wait for you after the show, and they recognize you. So the message of the show becomes kind of a message that you are living every day. And Caro has a unique perspective of that. That is really important to be heard.

And I'm really glad that they took the time to share that. Here's Caro. 

Caro Moore
I would first of all say, I, I really loved being Maria on the drums. And, you know, I, I so grateful that I get to continue to sub as Maria on Broadway, but my time as Maria on the Boleyn tour was. It was truly a gift and I'm very grateful for the whole experience and getting to make music with my friends every night and get to tell such an incredible, empowering story, um, and give, uh, voices and, um, to these people, uh, who were, you know, abused by, by their, by the king.

I've, I've struggled a little bit. on the advertising side of Six. Um, as a non binary person, um, it's always difficult to see the show being branded as this, um, female empowerment, um, story, and It definitely is a female empowerment story. Oh my gosh, it is definitely that, um, and it is so important for it to be that, but I also think it was difficult to, to go to cities and see, um, advertisements for our show and get really excited and then you, you know, read the advertisement and it says it's in person.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. All female cast and all female band and, you know, that kind of erasure is difficult to, to deal with whenever the show itself was also empowering me, but in advertising it, it wasn't. And I talked a lot with the diversity team, uh, with Six and, um, they're doing a really good job of, um, you know, changing the language within the Six universe, um.

But, you know, we can't really control the, the outside news outlets and advertisements and things. So, that is something that was difficult for me to, to kind of constantly work through. You know, people probably see me as a, as a female up there. You know, I've got a female character name, and it's very empowering for me to play as a female character.

And, um, like, I personally love it, but I, you know, enjoy it if people actually knew that I was non binary up on that stage, and there's also people on the West End who are non binary queens and stuff. Um, so, yes, the show is all about female empowerment, but I also think it is very important to recognize that, you know, it's really empowering for us, you know, gender non conforming people as well.

One doesn't have to take away from the other. This one show can empower both of us, um, both of our groups, um, you know, one doesn't have to take away from the other, but it's the fact that only one is being, um, told that it's being empowered. It is a female empowerment show. Um, yes it is. You're also empowering the gender non conforming people, the queer people, you know.

At its core, this story is about, um, an abusive relationship and how these people did their best to survive it and didn't. It's not even really about gender at all. It's just about trying to survive an abusive relationship. So, it's relatable in a lot of ways. 

Katie Coleman
And on a similar note about the show's message, as well as the show's impact on the world around you, we now hear from Taylor McMahon. A really big part of Taylor's job is to watch the show everywhere she goes. Every time she comes to visit and when she's in New York, she watches the show over and over and over again. Here she is. 

Taylor McMahon
Hi, my name is Taylor McMahon, and I'm the current resident choreographer for 6th and Musical North America.

Given my job, I check in on the show as it relates to Carrie Ann Onwui's choreography for our Broadway company, our Canadian company, as well as our U. S. tour, the Bolin Company, that has been on the road for a little over a year now. So there are many audiences that I come in contact with as I check in on the different companies for rehearsal purposes, for casting purposes, for just general maintenance of the integrity of the choreography.

And something that I think is really special to share given my role and my experience Working for the show for the last year and a half has been the different interactions with audience members. Uh, really being able to be immersed in the audience when I'm taking my notes reminds me of the great impact of the show.

And it keeps, you know, the motivation going when the travel days are long or when the meetings go over or when the rehearsal schedule adds up. Um, it really just allows for me to check in with the why of what I do, and there was one time in Tucson, Arizona, where a young girl, she must have been five years old or so, in her Anne Boleyn getup that her grandmother made, like, to a tee.

It was phenomenal. I went out the stage door and connected with this little one and taught her like a little, a little bit of, uh, a little choreo from six. Uh, and it was just so, it was so special to share that moment with her. Um, and it just reminds you of the impact that theater can have. And I think our touring companies and as our show grows, being able to reach more audiences, um, is really phenomenal. So we appreciate everyone that comes into New York. Um, and I'm really, really grateful for the access that we give to people all around North America and the world really with our show. Um, so yeah, it's really special cause that might be an impactful moment for that young one for, for many years to come.

I know these early experiences and how. Theater can really connect communities is so powerful, and I'm so grateful to be part of it. 

Katie Coleman
I wanted to close with a really sweet memory from Galia, the associate director who we heard from earlier, on a very special moment that we all shared last October. Here she is.

Galia Backal
One of my favorite tour memories is early on in rehearsal, one of the actresses, who is also Mexican, and I realized that we would be on the road early on for Dia de los Muertos. And so we had always thought of, like, oh, it would be really nice if we could build an ofrenda together while we're on the road, that holiday.

And so as we got closer, we also learned that one of our amazing lighting technicians also celebrates. So together as a company, we all banded together to make this beautiful ofrenda backstage. There were electric candles, of course, photos of our loved ones. We all wrote down little memories and We created this, like, paper chain link of all the memories of our ancestors, um, we left food, we had like a little celebratory moment of remembrance, and it just was so special and so, so unique and beautiful to witness on the road, just like this new family coming together to celebrate.

All of our own families, and it's, it's something I'll never forget. 

Katie Coleman
That was indeed a very special memory, and about a month after that, we all spent Thanksgiving together in the Hampton Inn conference room. We lit menorah candles and sang together during Hanukkah. And we spent Christmas together, Christmas Eve at medieval times in Dallas, Texas, and Christmas morning we had a little gathering.

Tour life is really a very unique and special experience. I'm so grateful for everyone who contributed to this and I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone in that company, but hopefully I'll be back to visit again and I can get more stories and more advice. Thank you so much for joining us today, and I really hope that you get a chance to see Six in a city near you.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for joining us today, and until next time... See Six on Tour!