15 Struggles All Triple Threats Can Relate To

15 Struggles All Triple Threats Can Relate To Suzy S. Do you consider yourself a triple threat? If so, youll find these 15 struggles rounded up by Fayetteville, GA voice teacher Alexandra R.    all too familiar   The stars have aligned and that dream to be on Broadway, to be a superstar, to be unstoppable is just at your fingertips. The auditions and opportunities of a lifetime are waiting for you on the horizon. You walk through the door of that audition room and you know you’re the one they’ve been looking for but we all have our constant struggles that stop us dead in our tracks and make us question if we really should pursue this passion as a career. This article is here to show you that you are not alone! But first, what is a triple threat? A triple threat is a performer who has three notable skillsets. This can be anything including acting, singing, dancing, or playing piano or another instrument. Each skill is high and can be considered equal. Most Broadway performers are triple threats, as well as some celebrities (Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway, for example). Now that you know what a triple threat is, does that sound like you? If so, the following 15 struggles will also be familiar for you 1. Identifying your superpower. Can you play piano? Cool. Belt your face off? Check. Perform the entire “The Wizard of Oz” with costumes, voices, and choreography to a T? Awesome. But what is your best talent? Making a slight change to your performance resume can determine how a director perceives you. Are you a singer/actor/dancer, an actor/singer/mover, or a juggler/dancer/actor? The slight change and reverse of any of your triple talents could determine how great you actually are at your talents. Can you stand the pressure? 2. Deciding how to market YOU. In high school you always played the mom character. Youve also played the tree and the sidekick. In college, you were the ingénue, the villain, and then something completely opposite. Marketing yourself and creating a  brand/type for  yourself can be hard. Take time to really step back and see what you honestly can bring to the table. Ask your teacher for advice, ask your agent, and ask your other triple-threat friends. Ask anyone who will be honest with you, and then make your own decision! 3. Settling on a location. We all want to reach our goals, but where should we go to pursue them? Should you move to New York? Will LA suit you better? Should you pick another town like Atlanta or Chicago with a smaller competition pool and be the big fish in the small pond? You might worry about missing an opportunity by choosing the wrong place to start your career, and that decision can tear at your heartstrings. 4. Keeping your audition material up to date. The dreaded repertoire book. Do you have contrasting monologues? What about legit songs, jazz cuts, pop cuts, and 1960s pop cuts? There’s always something missing from your book and there’s always something that is outdated and overused. It may seem like you are always looking for something else to fit in your encyclopedia of a repertoire book! 5. Keeping your audition material not too mainstream. So you walk into an audition room and you are ready to perform your go-to song, and what do you hear? The girl in front of you is singing the EXACT same cut of your song. How frustrating is that! Your diamond-in-the-rough song could very well be everyone’s diamond-in-the-rough, so find a backup plan and keep researching in order to avoid the overdone audition songs. 6. Being unique. So, the breakdown calls for a Mickey Rooney-type that can move and belt high Gs and can waddle like Godzilla. So, what do you do? Do you dress like Godzilla and research all of Mickey Rooney’s movies? Do you dress like the character breakdown? Do you learn catchphrases and movements that can help you stick out in a crowd? What if you walk into the audition room and everyone is wearing the EXACT SAME thing? If you think there is a role that you and only you can play, sometimes walking into a room with each person looking just like you can be frustrating. 7. Scheduling auditions. It’s been months since you’ve had an audition. Is your agent alive? Did he or she forget about you? Now all of a sudden, you have five auditions in the same week and you have a part-time job, and you’re still making your beauty YouTube tutorials and meeting your deadline for those 55 subscribers! What do you do? Maintaining your schedule and deciding which auditions are worth going to can be intimidating. 8. Handling your arch-nemesis. She’s there. She’s the one you always look for every time you’re in an audition. She’s the girl that looks just like you, sings like you, acts like you, and almost ALWAYS beats you for that role. You two are always supportive of each other, but you cant deny the underlying rivalry. 9. Deciding which gigs to book. After months of auditioning, you finally book it: you got the role of your dreams! You also get called in for a head-to-head death match between you and your arch-nemesis for a new hip TV show. Both are great for your career. Both can change your life, but they will start you in different fields. Deciding which role or job to take can be hard. Deciding if you can schedule both can be frustrating as well. 10. Dealing with headshots. The slightest change in your life can be cause for new headshots. Did you get a haircut? New headshots. Did you dye your hair? New headshots. Lost more than 100 pounds? New headshots. Want to have a more commercial look? New headshots. You’re auditioning for a dance company? New headshots. Your manager thinks your headshots are outdated? New headshots. It seems like every time you just spent hundreds of dollars to get new headshots, you have to go out and take new headshots again! The struggle is so real! 11. Budgeting. So you want to take lessons with the best vocal coach in the city, take that Bikram yoga class with the cute instructor, brush up on jazz and hip hop dance, learn piano, and still have money for rent, food, transportation, and those dreaded school loans? Being a triple threat can be tough; we have more things to brush up on and only so much our budget can handle. Along with budgeting comes another important aspect: finding the time to fit it all in! 12. Making time to practice! Yes, you’re Sasha Fierce. You can sing runs like it’s the Boston Marathon. You can dance like Fred Astaire. You can play piano like Billy Joel. You can act like Laurence Olivier, but even the greatest performers had to find the time to practice. But when?!? In this career, we already struggle with work and money. There are great times for us and there are times where we just can’t catch a break. There is always someone out there better than you, so why not keep everything in check? Make time for voice lessons, try new dance/acting classes, and meet with friends to go over audition materials regularly. Patch up and finesse yourself so when you do have an audition, you’ll be on your A game. 13. Maintaining a schedule. So, you are in Tampa for five days performing in “Spring Awakening” and then you have to leave after the matinee to fly in for the first rehearsal (which is really the second week of rehearsals) to Pittsburgh to do a weekend run of “The Fantastiks” while leaving in the middle of the week to perform at Carnegie Hall and fly back and then don’t forget that performance in Toronto next month! Maintaining a schedule when the iron is hot is tough! Sometimes scheduling months in advance can be overwhelming. It can even get to the point that youre scheduling time to sleep between studying lines and practicing songs. Forget about the gigs! It’s about keeping a regular schedule in each show we perform. 14. Sacrificing your social life. So, you want me to be in your wedding party? Awesome! When is the date? So many of us have friends and family that find it mind-boggling that any second, our plans to be part of a family trip, a wedding, or a family reunion can change. At the drop of a hat, we could book the role or tour of a lifetime and have to catch a plane to pursue our career. We don’t have a nine-to-five job where holidays are the same. When opportunity knocks, we pack our bags and catch a cab to the nearest airport! 15. Answering the question, What’s next? The question we all dread. What happens when the river runs dry? What happens when the show closes? What do we do? Sometimes as triple threats, we cannot find a job right off the bat. Others plan six to eight months ahead on shows perfectly so they can budget what they need to pay bills. Sometimes, that means working at a coffee shop to stay on track. But no matter what, remember: this is what you love to do. This is your passion. You chose this career for a reason.  Our passion and love for the arts propels us to make others happy. Keeping each skill refined is important, so always find time to practice. Take private lessons and always be working on your craft. Half of this industry is what you know and who you know, and trust me, someone is always willing to help you achieve your dreams! Alexandra R. is a singing, piano, and acting instructor in  Fayetteville, GA. A Berklee College of Music graduate, she earned her BM in Music Business and Vocal Performance cum laude.  Learn more about Alexandra here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by  renamon