John Haggerty is a dear friend of mine since 2003.  I welcomed him to the feisworld podcast to share his experience as an on and off Broadway actor for 25 years. John has been casted in shows such as Les Mis, King and I, Miss Saigon, Batboy, Yoshimi, Living Room.

In this episode, John reveals the randomness, rejections and excitement of being an actor. The phase "everything has changed" is so profound for the human race, and is so saturated in John's life as an actor.

The day before our podcast interview, John  found out that he had been casted for a show. I quickly realized that it was the perfect opportunity to probe questions such as: how do you rehearse Broadway shows that go on for hours? To my surprise, John finds it much easier to memorize Shakespeare shows based on the rhythm, cues throughout the speech. For other shows, the answer is always "it depends on the show."

My personal favorite is when John shares his method for memorization - he uses a yellow pad to 1) write out everyone's lines, 2) highlight his own lines, 3) record in his own voice then listen on his iPod while running. All just to "trick" the words into his fingers, his brain, and further connect to his neural pathway.

"Traditional memorization methods at times still aren't enough." John says, "the demand for you as an actor to memorize your lines has sped up significantly today, possibly due to technological growth." John remembers the demand being very different when he was starting out.

John talks about what it's like to be on iconic broadway show such as Les Mis, King and I, as well as the routine of being an understudy, "put-in" rehearsal. The most important learning for John in this competitive acting community, however, is to recognize and remind ourselves that "Everyone is trying their best. This is your moment - do the best with what you got and embrace it."