SpringboardNYC Offers Young Actors a Helping Hand as They Take the Scary Plunge Into Show Business

To paraphrase Sondheim, each spring, another thousand people get off the train and look around at another thousand people who just off the plane, who have all come to work as actors, singers and dancers in New York.  And no matter how talented they are,  it can be scary as hell.   

The luckiest of them are the participants in SpringboardNYC, the American Theatre Wing’s college-to-career transition program that gives 36 stars-of-tomorrow all kinds of practical advice about how to get started in show business. 

For two weeks each June, the Springboarders participate in audition workshops, attend Broadway and off-Broadway shows, get advice from top agents, managers and casting directors and take master classes with award-winning directors and performers. This year’s roster of guest speakers included directors Jack O’Brien and Diane Paulus (fresh from her Tony win for Pippin) and actors Alan Cumming, Laura Osnes and Tom Hanks.

I'm lucky enough to be on the Wing's Advisory Committee and so I got the chance to sit-in on one of this week’s sessions in which former program participants (all still in their 20s) shared their experiences about their first years in the business with the newcomers.  And it was so inspiring that I left totally envying the participants. If you’re currently a theater student (or know one) and want to know more about the Springboard program, click here.