You don't need to become a different performer to get cast.
For a long time, I thought the answer to building a performing career was simple:
Be a better singer.
I was young and hungry for gigs, but I didn't have the high notes that musical theatre often asks of baritones.
So I believed that if I could:
- Strengthen my voice
- Expand my range
- Unlock the notes I was missing
That the right opportunities would eventually come.
I took more voice lessons. I worked on my technique. I focused on getting the G4 I thought I needed.
And I started approaching auditions like I had something to prove.
But, I was solving the wrong problem.
My developing voice was the excuse I used for NOT having an audition strategy.
I learned a new song and created a new cut for every audition.
I kept trying to become whatever I thought casting was looking for.
But even though my voice hadn't fully matured, there were roles I could play right then.
There were characters that fit my voice, my acting, my personality. Even my comedic Jewishness.
I was so focused on where I wanted to be five or ten years in the future that I wasn't paying enough attention to the performer I was then.
That mindset trapped me.
I started paying attention to what casting was telling me.
I began getting called in more specifically for certain kinds of roles, like Max Detweiler in The Sound of Music and Tateh in Ragtime.
I noticed something important:
I could use the same audition material repeatedly.
Instead of reinventing myself for every audition, I could build repertoire around the performer I actually was.
And something changed.
I auditioned less, but I was considered more seriously when I did audition.
That's when I understood something that completely changed the way I approached performing...
You don't need to convince casting you can be everything.
Your audition should showcase your strengths, not prove what you can do.
When your casting identity, repertoire, storytelling, and technique work together, you show casting who you are and where you fit.
Casting gets to decide whether that fits their vision for the production.
And you get to leave the room knowing you made intentional choices about what you showed them.
Instead of leaving the room knowing you had more to show.
Your limitations aren't necessarily the problem.
There will always be things you want your voice or career to become that simply aren't true yet.
That's okay.
There are other performers who fit those opportunities today.
You build a career by understanding where you are now, becoming genuinely competitive there, and continuing to grow toward where you want to go.
Some of the roles I've dreamed about, I've been fortunate enough to play.
Other times, I've been cast in a show but not the role I originally wanted.
I still call that a win. Because I was considered.
Your career isn't built from one perfect audition or one dream role.
It's built by staying in the game long enough to become the right fit for better opportunities.
As I became more strategic about my auditions, I transitioned from amateur performing into professional work.
I booked my first regional theatre contract.
I got cast by AEA and AGMA companies.
My preparation changed, too.
I started investing in coaching so I could walk into the audition room ready to perform, and not just sing.
That distinction matters.
When I was young, my high school choir teacher told me that I couldn't match pitch.
That experience made me hyper-aware of whether I was "right" or "wrong" whenever I performed in front of other people.
Auditions had a sneaky way of bringing that awareness into sharp focus.
But the more I auditioned and performed publicly, the more mistakes I made.
And the more I learned to recover from them.
Eventually, I realized something every professional performer has to learn...
Mistakes happen.
Professional performers make them. Casting directors see them.
A successful audition isn't one where you never make a mistake.
It's one where you know how to keep performing when something goes wrong.
You can't learn that entirely in private.
You have to practice being seen. You have to perform in front of other people. You have to learn how to recover.
Eventually, you have to be prepared to do it in front of the people who might hire you.
Even the most talented performers don't have perfect auditions.
Talent matters. Audition strategy matters, too.
Being highly trained is not the same thing as being strategically positioned.
A great voice can open doors.
But casting is a much larger puzzle.
Your job in an audition isn't to force casting to see you as the character.
Your job is to give them the opportunity to recognize your artistic strengths and envision you in the role.
That's why I don't start by asking a performer:
"What song do you want to sing for your next audition?"
I start with a much bigger question...
What does casting need to know about you?
From there, we identify:
- The roles and character types where you're genuinely competitive
- The repertoire that demonstrates your strengths
- The storytelling and technique that communicate those strengths in the room
That's the foundation of the CAST Framework: Casting Identity, Audition Material, Storytelling, and Technique.
So you stop reinventing yourself for every audition and start building a repeatable strategy to get cast.
I've been on both sides of the table.
I'm a performer in musical theatre and opera.
I'm also the General Manager of Theatre Ariel, Philadelphia's professional Jewish theatre company.
I've hired local union and non-union talent, including actors who have performed on Broadway.
So, I understand what it's like to walk into an audition room hoping to be hired.
But, I also understand what makes a theatre want to hire a performer.
And the big question is always:
"Can I see where this performer fits?"
That's the question I want to help you answer before you walk into the room.
It takes a long time to forge a career in the performing arts.
There will be periods when your voice is changing.
There will be roles you're not ready for yet.
There will be auditions you don't book.
There will be times when you wonder whether all of the training and preparation is actually going anywhere.
That doesn't mean you're failing.
That's why I created the CAST Framework.
I want you to:
- Know who you are as a performer
- Understand where you fit
- Have the repertoire to demonstrate it
- Walk into the room prepared to show casting what you can actually do
Because I've lived the other version.
I've spent years endlessly auditioning, wondering if I was ever going to turn my training into a career.
Sometimes, what you need isn't more talent.
You need a strategy for harnessing the talent you already have.
Ready to build your audition strategy?
The right solution depends on where you are in your performing career.
Here are the ways I can help:
Audition Audit
Find what's holding your auditions back.
A 1-month intensive to identify your biggest audition obstacle and create your next steps.
Best place to start.
Investment of $500
1-on-1 Coaching
Build and implement your audition strategy.
A 6-month program to build your casting identity, repertoire, storytelling, and technique using the CAST Framework.
You're not buying one perfect audition.
You're buying a repeatable strategy you can continue to use throughout your performing career.
You have something unique to offer casting.
Let me help you make the most of the few minutes you spend in the audition room.
You deserve to be heard.