BroadwayCon, An Insider's Perspective - Austin Kunis

Last month, I had the privilege of attending BroadwayCon, held at the Times Square Marriot Marquis, to speak on a panel titled “Are You an Actor? No! Nontraditional Roles on Broadway and Off-Broadway.” I pitched this panel to the BroadwayCon producers after a conversation with a colleague in which we discussed how there are so many fun, important, and exciting theatrical careers that keep our industry afloat, yet are often unknown. People assume, and are often taught that, theatre career paths are quite linear, such as Actor to Director to Artistic Director or Carpenter to Master Carpenter to Technical Director. However, there is much more fluidity in theatrical career paths than those traditional linear paths.
The panel consisted of six speakers working nontraditional theatrical roles, including two of my amazing Shubert colleagues, Heather Fuentes, and Imani Denson-Pittman. We all told our personal stories of how we began our careers, discussed our theatre experiences, as well as shared advice to audience members looking to work in our industry. The one piece of advice that was consistent across all panelists was when trying to navigate your theatrical career, say yes to all opportunities that come your way. I personally shared that it is important to say yes to opportunities even if they don’t seem like “true” or “traditional” theatre opportunities, because in my experience, especially in my formative academic theatre experience, I learned so much more working with haunted houses and drag shows than I did working on Molière and Shakespeare plays. Everything can be theatre if you look at it the right way.
After the panel, I explored the rest of the convention and one of the highlights of my experience was getting to wander around the vendor area. Similarly, to working at the Flea Market, it was so invigorating to see fans (some even dressed in full Broadway cosplay) express their sheer joy of theatre. Whether it was a show-specific vendor booth or fan made merch, everyone in attendance was enthralled.
Overall, attending BroadwayCon was a remarkable reminder that what we do on a day-to-day basis means the absolute world to all the theatre lovers out there. Although we may not be the ones onstage, the roles we play are equally as important – and based on the panel’s audience reaction, these theatre lovers are just as excited to hear our stories as they are the big 11 o’clock number.