A beginning. An end. And the beginning of the end.

November 18th, 2021. A beginning. An end. And the beginning of an end. My first professional show out of high school was as Gremio in Kiss Me Kate at the newly opened 99 seat equity waver theatre, the Covina Center for the Performing Arts. To say I was green, would be an understatement. I new next to nothing, and thankfully I had a few souls in that show who nurtured little baby Dylan. It was this show that I first learned what Actors Equity was. How did I learn this you ask? Some other things aside, I was being paid $100 for 10 weeks of my life and they certainly were not. I quickly realized that, if I wanted to make this a career/my life, there was only one option.

A few years later and a little less green, I was cast in a show, (my first Oklahoma!) at Musical Theatre West, where I was finally able to sign up as an Equity Membership Candidate, or EMC. I remember the day I got that little white card in the mail, my heart sang and I felt an immense pride in that accomplishment. It somehow meant to me that I was moving forward with my career and that I was “in the big leagues”.

I continued working to accrue the necessary points to officially join the pond of equity actors and stage mangers as fast as I could, but it’s funny, when the time came that I was first going to be eligible, almost like Tevye in Fiddler..., I began having nightmares about not working again, and how it was going to be such a mistake. So instead of ignoring my inner Fruma Sarah, I decided she was right and I avoided it. My fear was that my resumé wasn’t ready to be seen. That I wasn’t good enough to call myself an equity actor. So I began to work on myself and with theatres that could fill those holes that I was looking for before joining the union. About the time that I was starting to feel confident about taking the leap, fears and all, the world shut down.

So over the last 18 months I sat on this quandary of whether or not I felt it was right, while also wrestling with my thoughts on the union themselves. Specifically, that within the last 18 months, the union has made some rather distasteful choices, but I realized, at the end of the day, that if I wanted the union to be better and the industry to be better(as I have always wanted), I had to join.

Fast forward, March 08 of 2020, when I had last stepped off a stage, to October 21st of 2021, it's been 600 days and I finally got to return to the stage with an incredible company of actors, working for the incredible McCoy Rigby Entertainment family, as a non-union actor in the most diverse and beautiful show I’ve ever been a part of. And now we arrive at the final weekend of our run. The beginning of the end. I look over the last 5+ weeks with such gratitude for the people I get share this stage with that are beyond brilliant. This company of both union and non-union actors who have all brought to life these beautiful fictional characters on a stunning fictional island and the mere fact that I get the chance to take part in this experience with all of them leaves my heart full and aching at the same time (I can already feel the feels coming surrounding our closing this weekend).

From the moments on stage, to the moments off stage, every single minute spent with them over the last several weeks has provided a lifetime of memories that I am ever and always going to be grateful for. What’s even more momentous about all of this, is that after 60+ professional shows in my career, this cast, this company and the creative team have made it possible for my final show as a non-union actor to come to pass. An end.

Today, November 18th 2021, though I don’t officially have my card in hand, mark’s the beginning of my career as an equity actor and I’m so honored to share this moment with my beautiful cast mates. So this closing weekends shows are dedicated them, and to those who have been there all along the way. It’s for the friends and family who have lifted me and supported me throughout my career. It's for the perseverance and the trusting in my gut. It means so much. That in its own way, it's a pinnacle. A chapter closed. But more importantly, this weekend is about a new beginning, and I’m so excited. So if you're around this weekend and need something to do, COME SEE Mamma Mia! at the La Mirada Performing Arts Center (https://lamiradatheatre.com/current_events/broadway_series/mamma-mia/), and let me know that you're coming