Welcome to the final episode of The Actor's Waiting Room Season 2.
This week I am joined by my creative community and great friends. Josie Bergman, Brittni Shaw and Naomi Bell.

Join us for a slightly chaotic Christmas episode where we talk about when we found out Santa wasn't real, family traditions and a unsuccessful Christmas quiz.

I want to thank you all for the support you have given the podcast and I will see you in the new year!

After opening up her own private practice as a trained family therapist, Jennifer Manocherian committed career suicide by becoming a theatre
producer. Over the years she was involved in producing over thirty shows on
Broadway, off Broadway, one in London. At the same time, she returned to
writing. She wrote books of two musicals, both of which have been filmed for
streaming.

I got to speak to Jennifer about a wide variety of creative subjects that can benefit any creative and inspire anyone who thinks that they can't enter this weird and wonderful industry.


Website: www.jennifermanocherian.net
and www.newyorkstageandfilm.org ebsite 2:
Instagram: @jennifermanocherian

I am with the fabulous Deborah Groves this week talking about Dyslexia.

Deborah is a mentor and coach for creatives who are neurodivergent and has worked across some big theatre companies such as The Globe, The National Theatre, The Almedia and The Royal Shakespeare Company. This episode is very close to my heart as I am dyslexic myself and have wanted to raise awareness for this in the creative industry for quite some time now. I hope this episode achieves that either by helping those who are dyslexic understand themselves a bit better or making others aware that there is more than one way to to teach someone who is neurodivergent.

Deborah's book 'The Dyslexic Actor' by Nick Hern's books will be published later next year for those seeking more advice.

https://www.deborahgroves.com/

It's my first solo episode!

I have lived in London for eight glorious years. Three of those were spent in West London (Ealing) when I was at drama school and the other five have been in North London. I was told that I had to stay in London to be able to survive this crazy industry and 'Make it.'

In this episode I am going to go through all the pros and cons of living in London to see if this is the only place you can be a successful creative.

Here are some useful links that I have used as reference in this episode:

- Online Courses

• Actors Studio at Pinewood Studios – www.actorsstudio.co.uk/home/online-screen-acting-courses
• RADA Short Courses: World of Shakespeare – www.rada.ac.uk/short-courses-world-shakespeare
• The Why Not Institute – contemporary clowning – www.thewhynotinstitute.com/when-are-the-course

- Article https://kieranvyas.co.uk/guide-actor-outside-london

I am joined by my two favourite guys this week, Jay O'Connell and Louis Sparks!

In the past 9 months, Jay and Lou have developed not one but TWO creative businesses. VRC Studios, a headshot portfolio house designed to give creatives an affordable kick off into the industry, and Fraction Productions, a videography company that promotes a wide range of brands.

We talk about how to start a creative business, what freelance life is like and even headshot advice.

Check out their work below:

Instagram - @vrcstudios and @fractionproductions
Websites - https://vrcstudios.com/ and https://www.fraction-productions.com/

This week may be the only time I will ever come close to speaking to Tom Hardy.

Last year Imogen Eden-Brown decided to lip sync a scene from the film, Legend, reenacting Tom Hardy playing the Kray twins. The Kray twins were 2 notorious gangsters in London during 1950s and 1960s. This scene went viral and she woke up to 3.5 million views and had gained 50,000 followers.

Come listen to this hilarious yet crazy story as Imogen now navigates her acting and TikTok career.

Imagine going to an arty independent theatre bookshop, and realising at the back of it, you have a gorgeous little creative space where they host acting workshops. This my friends, is 'Acting Practice'.

Joseph Samimi runs these workshops weekly from this amazing space in Waterloo, and he has kindly come on the podcast to talk about a whole variety of subjects within the creative industry.


You can attend Acting Practice workshops every Wednesday 12pm-3pm & 6pm-9pm at the Calder Bookshop & Theatre in Waterloo.

Follow Acting Practice on Instagram @acting__practice
Website https://actingpracticeworkshop.com/

'The Corn is Green' ran at the National Theatre here in London from 12th April — 11th June 2022. The cast was huge, starring Nicola Walker, Saffron Coomber and my guest for this episode, Megan Grech.

Megan reveals what it is actually like behind the scenes of 'The Corn is Green.' From what her life was like before auditioning, to taking her first steps onto the National Theatre stage.

Her story is truly inspiring, funny and completely relatable. One that all creatives should listen to.