What your shoelaces have to do with shows, acting, and everything.

You ever see a show early in previews, fall in love with its awesomeness, and then go back to see it again a few months later . . . and somehow it feels different?  Maybe the energy is off, or the performances seem, well, like they are a few months old?

One of the challenges of doing the same thing over and over again is that things start to stray from where they were originally.  It’s not that the whole thing falls apart, it just . . . falls.

Think about it this way . . .

You get up in the morning, throw on your shoes, and tie ’em up tight.  And off you step, out into the world!

A few hours later, your shoelaces will loosen up, all on their own.  It just happens.  Just from walking around, doing what you do.

And at some point, you’re going to have to bend over and tighten those suckers back up again, or you’re going to trip and fall (or should I say flop?) flat on your face.

If you’re a Director or a Producer or a Writer on a long running show, you’re going to have to look out for loosening laces.  It happens.  It’s natural.  So make sure you have a system and a staff in place to make sure things get tightened up every so often.

And hey, don’t think this just happens to actors.  It happens to athletes.  It happens to engineers.  It happens to everyone.

Just last week, after one of my mystery callers checked in on That Bachelorette Show, I discovered that one of our work flow patterns for sales calls was off (a couple of closing questions that I wanted asked somehow weren’t being asked).  Because of our mystery caller system, we identified the problem, and corrected it.

Just because you get something exactly the way you want it to be doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way.  In fact, I guarantee it won’t.

So to stay at the top of your game, you’ve got to figure out a way to stay in your shoes.

 

Want more acting tips?  Click here to learn how to up your audition game!

 

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Ken created one of the first Broadway podcasts, recording over 250 episodes over 7 years. It features interviews with A-listers in the theater about how they “made it”, including 2 Pulitzer Prize Winners, 7 Academy Award Winners and 76 Tony Award winners. Notable guests include Pasek & Paul, Kenny Leon, Lynn Ahrens and more.

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