ACT LIKE A MOTHER – Details, episodes & analysis

Critically-acclaimed actor Tessa Auberjonois speaks with Katie and Melanie about the challenges she faced in a two-actor couple with kids, how she learned to give herself permission and redefine success, and how teaching has helped her fall in love with the craft of acting again. Plus a peek into her process as she prepared for her tour-de-force performance in Joan at South Coast Rep.

For more info on Tessa:

www.tessaauberjonois.com

www.scr.org

Working actors and mothers Katie MacNichol and Melanie Lora, talk with fellow actor moms about balancing career, creativity and parenting. While no two stories are the same, what these women have in common is an ever-deepening relationship to their craft and a profound commitment to raising their kids in a way that feels true to them.

Award-winning actor Francesca Faridany speaks with Melanie and Katie about progesterone shots, pregnancy fatigue and what happens when the dream job comes at the same time as the baby. She shares how she's learned to let go of expectations as a mother and an actor while bringing to her work the fierceness and fire that only a woman over 50 can.

For more about Frankie:

www.francescafaridany.com

@faridanyf

Note before: in this episode we talk about pregnancy loss which may be a sensitive subject for some.

Actor-singer-songwriter Lenne Klingaman speaks to Katie and Melanie about her journey to becoming a mother and how creativity supported and saved her. She shares the grief and pain of multiple miscarriages, how she advocated for herself as a pregnant actor in the workplace, and what her artistic life looks like now as the mom of a healthy baby boy.

More on Lenne and her recommendations:

lenneklingaman.com

@lenneklingaman

Phoenix

listen on all platforms and find it here:

https://lenneklingaman.bandcamp.com/album/phoenix

Matrescence by Lucy Jones

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=matrescence+lucy+jones&crid=36GMT7HDJFJSO&sprefix=matresc%2Caps%2C279&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_7

Fertile Hope Yoga

https://fertilehopeyoga.com/

Actor, director, producer and educator Tracy Hill Williams takes us back to the 80s. She talks about what it was like as a pregnant grad student loosening her corset in As You Like It, being uncast from a big production, and finding a way to come out on top despite the sexism and misogyny of the time. From her days as a young mother of three balancing acting jobs and a marriage on the rocks, to her current incarnation as an inspiring educator and department chair, Tracy tells it like it is with grace, humor and her trademark charm.

Info about Tracy's program :

https://www.miracosta.edu/academics/degree-and-certificate-programs/creative-and-applied-arts/dramatic-arts/index.html

A few of the poems living in Tracy's head:

"I'm Nobody" by Emily Dickinson

"Her Story" by Naomi Long Madgett

"Patterns" by Amy Lowell

"Eldorado" by Edgar Allen Poe

"The Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll

Sonnets 18, 27 and 29 by William Shakespeare

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne

Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak

Crescent City Stage co-founder Elizabeth Newcomer speaks with Katie and Melanie about building a theatre and a well-rounded life in New Orleans. Through her work as an Enneagram coach, Liz digs deep into what motivates the characters she plays and directs. Hear what her #1 concern was while filming Black Panther with Chadwick Boseman, and how inspired leadership and a family-first approach guide her theatre company and nurture her as a mama and an artist.

Liz's links:

elizabethnewcomer.com

@liz.newcomer

crescentcitystage.com

LOVE liz podcast

Parent Artist Advocacy League:

paaltheatre.com

CSI: NY star Anna Belknap speaks with Melanie and Katie about navigating two pregnancies while playing Detective Lindsay Monroe and what it was like to give birth to her TV baby just weeks after delivering her own. She recalls her extreme exhaustion as a working mom, the struggle to find a work-life balance and what led to her decision to mover her family away from LA. Hear what Anna is up to these days, what brings her joy and why her neighbors might think she's in the CIA.

Anna's Book Recommendations:

All Fours by Miranda July

Making Comics by Lynda Barry

Midlife: A Philosophical Guide by Kieran Setiya

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

and

The School of Life APP

https://www.theschooloflife.com