Writer
Bethany writes essays on substack about the highs and lows, successes and heartbreaks of being a working actor.
She has been published in the Hollywood Reporter and Arts ATL. Below is a sampling of her work.
The First Time You Are On TV
Excerpt: “When I was finally brought to set, I wanted to throw up. We had about half an hour for me to shoot the scene if I was to make it to the theatre by my call time. I am texting the stage manager the whole time. He seems completely convinced it’ll all work out. “We’ll hold the curtain if we have to,” he says, “just focus on your job and come on back.”
“Is the understudy ready, just in case?” I ask, panicked. “Maybe she could do Act 1 and then I’ll be there in time for Act 2? Just an idea!”
Silence.”
The One (job) That Got Away Part I
Excerpt: “What is a professional courtesy anyway?
I’ve been given quite a few of those. Mostly in the form of meetings with big agents due to having more famous friends who vouched for me. All were cordial, looked me in the eye, answered my questions, but it was so clear they had decided before I walked in the door that they would not be signing me. I suppose the courtesy is to keep the more famous people happy, happy that they’d speak to your little friend. I remember one huge agent actually saying as much toward the end of my (very short) meeting. “Look, I don’t have space for you, this was just a courtesy because Redacted Famous Person spoke so highly of you and sort of insisted.”
I suppose brutal honesty is a form of courtesy.”
The First Time I Fought Back
Excerpt: “This was the era when Kerry Washington was doing a season of Scandal while pregnant. “They shoot her chest up!” people would tell me. “She just puts a pillow on her lap and you can’t even tell!” I grew tired of explaining that the industry works around your “situation” if you were the star of a hit show. It’s a very different experience for the day player offering that star her glass of red wine at the bar.”
The Reader
Excerpt: “I had the lovely pleasure of being a reader at auditions for a new play at a regional theatre recently. This isn’t normally what I write about in my little corner of substack… The market on industry and craft advice is well covered, that’s why I usually stick to stories about the journey. It was such a joy though, seeing actors through the beautiful process of auditioning - the craft, the vulnerability, the play, that thought I’d share a few things I learned in the process.”