This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Mikayla Petrilla: Welcome to this episode of Tea Time with Mikayla. This week I am joined virtually by Rachel Potter, an incredible artist you may know from X Factor, The Addams Family, The Search for Elle Woods, and so much more.

[0:16] Mikayla Petrilla: We talk about motherhood, her new album that she produced and created, her new series in Nashville. She is a wonderful multi-hyphenate artist. You have seen her on Broadway, you've seen her on your TV screens, and now we get to have a good sit down with her and talk about what it takes to create your own space, your own rules in this industry, to balance a work-life balance on being a mother, on being a performer, and creating the rooms that you want to be in. So let's get into it.

[0:47] Mikayla Petrilla: Hey everyone and welcome to Tea Time. I'm here with Rachel Potter. I am so happy to have you here because you've had such a beautifully multi-hyphenate career, which is something I think a lot of people can admire between producing, curating, Broadway, touring, TV, and Nashville. When somebody asks you what you do, how do you answer?

[1:07] Rachel Potter: That's a great question. I guess it depends on who I'm talking to and in what capacity and what feels the most relevant to them to relate maybe. But I just say that I am an actress and a singer and that I'm also a realtor and a mom. So if it's just someone I'm meeting in the real estate field, I usually leave out that I'm an actress and a singer until we get to know each other a little bit more.

[1:31] Mikayla Petrilla: Fair, fair. Well, we just figured out that worked out for Chloe.

[1:35] Rachel Potter: Oh, I know. Chloe and I were on Legally Blonde at the Search for Elle Woods together.

[1:40] Mikayla Petrilla: She was on that too? How did I not know that? Was she at that reunion concert?

[1:45] Rachel Potter: I don't think so. No, she didn't come to the reunion concert, but she was on the first episode. You'll see her on there. I don't think she had much of a whole lot of featuring maybe. That's why you don't remember her, but she was on that. Yeah.

[1:58] Rachel Potter: The edits are always crazy where you'll spend a lot of time with people, I'm sure. And then it's like, oh, wow, a blip of this. There are so many things you see that you're like, great. But for the edit of the story, for the length of time you have, I'm sure that is like...

[2:09] Rachel Potter: I don't know. All we know is that Chloe talked to Diana Telsey and here she is in six. And here you are, realtor, mom, actress, producer, all of the things, which is incredible. Tell me about being a mom. What is that like? How old is your baby?

[2:25] Rachel Potter: Oh my gosh, I have three babies and they are... Here, I'll show you a picture. Can I? Yeah, there we are.

[2:32] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh my gosh, my gosh. They're all so sweet.

[2:37] Rachel Potter: Yeah, I have a nine-year-old, a five-year-old and a three-year-old. So two boys and a little girl was my final frontier and she was such a gift. She was a surprise and the best surprise. So yeah, being a mom is a love like no other and the hardest thing I've ever done, I guess. That's my soundbite about being a mom.

[2:59] Mikayla Petrilla: Yes. Now, were you in Nashville already? You were in Nashville for a while, right? I think.

[3:05] Rachel Potter: Yeah, I moved here in 2013. So after Evita closed, I had been pursuing country music on the side when I was in New York because I always loved country and I think that there was an attraction. Now it's like weird and political and it's not really where I belong anymore. I think there's an assumption that you land on one particular side in the country music industry and that's untrue for me.

[3:30] Mikayla Petrilla: Right.

[3:31] Rachel Potter: So that's not something that I am really after to be associated with any longer. But at the time when I moved here, I grew up on country music. I'm from the South. My family's from Alabama, Mississippi. I grew up in Florida.

[3:45] Rachel Potter: So I listened to country music all growing up and it was like the golden era of the 90s country. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw and Martina McBride and the Dixie Chicks and that was such a glorious time in country music. And I think that the through line for me was the storytelling. I just loved that country music told stories.

[4:09] Rachel Potter: So when I was in New York, I was writing country music in my dressing room with anybody that would and playing any bars that would allow me to play country music in the city. So I did like a country show at Joe's Pub and I used to play at Hill Country Barbecue.

[4:21] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh my gosh. Yeah.

[4:23] Rachel Potter: It was so fun. So then I moved here in 2013 to pursue that because I was coming down here a lot and people in Nashville were like, well, if you're serious, you have to move here. So after Evita closed, I came down and I went on a reality show called The X Factor. And ironically, I auditioned in Long Island, but it's fine.

[4:42] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah. And they pinned me as the bartender from Nashville, which was hilarious because I'd lived here about two months and been a bartender for one. So that's fine.

[4:52] Rachel Potter: We love the edit. We love the edit.

[4:54] Rachel Potter: Yeah. You were talking about the edit for Legally Blonde. Yes. It's the same on X Factor. There's this video of my audition in front of Simon and the judges where they're like, I'm a bartender from Nashville. Well, what they cut out was me being like, but I used to live here. I did Broadway for this many years. These are the roles that I played.

[5:13] Rachel Potter: And then they splice it to Demi and go, so you know about the music industry, which made no sense because in the edit, it was like, I'm a bartender from Nashville. Like, what about the music industry? I was like, what? So yeah, it's funny how they just cut things out strategically. They want you to be an underdog.

[5:31] Mikayla Petrilla: Yes. I went on a CNBC series and it was like, best friends discuss their money secrets. And we were an opera stage director and an actor. So they're like, great. Tell us how you manage your day to day life. They asked me if I had ever gone on a date for a free meal. And I was like, sure, probably in my life, but never on purpose.

[5:50] Mikayla Petrilla: I was like, I actually just went to on a date yesterday with my partner and he paid for the movie tickets. So I paid for dinner, but it was at Boston Market. This was in Chelsea. They just cut it down where it's like, oh yeah, let me think of when. I just went on a date to Boston Market. So it just sounds like I go on free dates to get Boston Market.

[6:10] Rachel Potter: The Boston Market. You should have higher standards in Boston Market if you're going on dates to get free meals.

[6:10] Rachel Potter: I do. Though I do remember Boston Market having some really good macaroni and cheese. I'm not going to lie. They did. Yeah, I think that was the first and last time of that decade I was at Boston Market. But it was like right near the Chelsea Hotel. They had a really movie theater there. Anyway, all that to say, I understand the struggle.

[6:37] Rachel Potter: The edit. The edit is rude. Is rude. Yeah. There's actually a funny one in my audition. They go, like I said, I think what I actually said was like, I'm surrounded by a bunch of talented people and they cut it. And you can hear it if you really listen for it. It's like, I'm surrounded by a bunch of young people. They put young because they wanted me to. I was 29 and they wanted me to be the old girl.

[6:37] Rachel Potter: They wanted me to talk about how I was so insecure because I was so old. And I was like, but I'm clearly a 29. That's not.

[7:02] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh my God. These are savage. Traumatizing. Yeah, truly. Okay, so we have been based in Nashville for a while now, but do you feel like...

[7:02] Rachel Potter: 13 years.

[7:24] Mikayla Petrilla: 13 years. That's wild. With COVID years, I always lose track of time as well. Also, I'm probably sure as a parent with children during the COVID era, it's like, wow, how much time has truly passed. But is there anything that Nashville gave you creatively that you feel like New York didn't?

[7:40] Rachel Potter: Oh yeah. I learned so much about producing records here. I learned so much about songwriting here because for so long I was here doing co-writes where I was working in the studio with people and all day just working on writing songs. And I would go on writers retreats with my band where we would write for a week and just try to compile stuff for albums and got to know that co-writing culture here very well.

[8:10] Rachel Potter: And I don't really do it anymore just because I think that my passion really is like performance and singing and theater. But I loved it and I'd like to revisit it again. But also some of the most incredible musicians live here where in New York it was not to say that there weren't incredible musicians in New York, but it was a little bit more especially in our world.

[8:34] Rachel Potter: It was like they played what was on the page, but here it was a little bit more collaborative where people could really play by ear. That was really impressive. And those people, of course, have existed in New York too, but just it wasn't as common in my circle. But I did a symphony album here and we used all Nashville players and it was all Broadway music and it was all Nashville symphony people. So the talent here, the depth of it is pretty impressive in Nashville.

[8:58] Mikayla Petrilla: Tell me more about the album.

[9:01] Rachel Potter: Oh, sure. So I told you I have three kids. So after I turned 40 or the year I was turning 40, I had a little bit of a midlife crisis of I don't recognize my life anymore. I'm a realtor only and I sing only occasionally. It's like such a hobby now that it's so few and far between. And it didn't feel like the life that I dreamt of.

[9:27] Rachel Potter: And that's okay. But it was like I need to reconnect to her again, the girl that I was and the passions that I had because those were the things that made me feel joy and feel alive. And I wanted to be the best version of me and my artistic self for my kids too. I wanted them to see me thrive and be happy and not just be like surviving.

[9:49] Rachel Potter: So I had saved some money from doing real estate for many years and I was like, I'm just going to self produce this, just going to do an album. And so that was my midlife crisis instead of buying a Porsche or something. So it was a full length symphonic Broadway album and we did some really neat mashups and some really great collaborations of some incredible artists, friends of mine that I just wanted to bring into the fray.

[10:15] Rachel Potter: And it was a blast. We did music videos for, I still am doing music videos. I still have three or four more to put out to make it a full visual album. It was great. It got 100,000 streams in the first month. It got signed by Joy Machine Records out of New York, which was so funny because for so long here I am in Nashville trying to get a record deal in country music and all it took was deciding that I was going to be true to who I was, do musical theater and then a record label came calling from New York City.

[10:47] Mikayla Petrilla: Of course.

[10:48] Rachel Potter: Well, finding authenticity, being able to thread the different parts of your life together, I feel like everything comes together at the right time, which is interesting too, because I feel like 40 is technically midlife, I guess, but I feel like for millennials it is not.

[11:05] Rachel Potter: I feel like there's so much we're discovering in our 30s, 40s, 50s that whereas before we had to be Sunday dinner families by the time you're 25, it's like, wow, look at me stepping over this threshold and combining all of the experience and skill sets that you've accumulated, but you still feel fresh, you look fresh, you have the energy, maybe energy, I don't know, as a parent, perhaps not.

[11:32] Rachel Potter: Yeah, I think I do.

[11:34] Mikayla Petrilla: Well, listen, I went through years, especially when my kids were babies, because now they're getting older and also once the third child rolled around, I think that I was just used to being baseline tired all the time and I was like, okay, I'm just going to feel this way all the time, so if I want to get anything accomplished, I just have to do it tired.

[11:53] Rachel Potter: Yeah.

[11:55] Rachel Potter: And we've all heard that quote of you have the same amount of hours in the day as Beyonce. I'd paraphrase that probably poorly, but that really inspired me.

[12:04] Rachel Potter: I was like, you know what? You're right. I do. And I'm not going to waste my life being tired all the time and just complaining about it.

[12:12] Rachel Potter: Okay, I'm just going to be tired, drink coffee and get it done because you only have one life. And honestly, it was so much also about not having any regret. It was like I knew that there was a chance that I could wake up at 50 and go, damn, I wish I had done this when my kids were young and I still had energy and now I'm 50 and it feels too late.

[12:36] Rachel Potter: But not to say that 50 is too late because 50 is still young, but you know what I mean? It's like time can tick away so fast.

[12:43] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[12:44] Rachel Potter: Again, you look great.

[12:46] Mikayla Petrilla: You are great.

[12:47] Rachel Potter: Not that looks matter, but I feel like there is this period in our 30s and 40s where in the past it was like, oh, you're either an ingenue leading lady or you're a character actor.

[12:57] Rachel Potter: And then there's this dead zone in which we don't know how to be, what to do. Do we leave the career to have kids? What does that look like? Are we stepping out of the game? How do we create? How do we collaborate?

[13:09] Rachel Potter: And so I feel like you're doing a really good job of bridging that gap and saying it does not have to look like that. In fact, your best years can be during this period. And I think that's really important to remind and inspire people because even now I'm contemplating having children.

[13:24] Mikayla Petrilla: I'm in my mid-30s and it's like, OK, great. If I don't have a Broadway credit before I do that, am I entirely stepping myself out of the game? Do I need to wait another decade before I try again?

[13:36] Mikayla Petrilla: If I try again, my partner is an actor, but he's also finding joy in other things. And I'm like, that's incredible. But you're also a guy.

[13:45] Mikayla Petrilla: And I don't mean to say that's easier, but I feel like there's so many more types to dip back into when the time is right for you.

[13:52] Rachel Potter: So the fact that you found the ability to bridge all of these different things is incredible.

[13:58] Rachel Potter: Do you feel like you have any regrets?

[14:01] Mikayla Petrilla: Regrets? That's a very open question and that you don't need to even ask. But do you look back and be like, oh, I wish I did such and such thing earlier in life? Or are you like, it's not even worth it to dwell on that?

[14:14] Rachel Potter: Let's just move forward. That's a good question. I definitely struggle with regret, but I'll tell you what always pulls me out of it. Because I'll think about, what if I hadn't left New York? What would my life look like now? Would I have booked some other shows? Would I be like a big star now? Could I have gone into film and television if I'd stayed in New York? But what always brings me back around is like, have you ever seen the movie About Time?

[14:39] Mikayla Petrilla: Yes.

[14:40] Rachel Potter: Though he has the ability to time travel for anybody that hasn't seen it. And he goes back in time a little too far one time, and it offsets and changes his future. And then when he goes back, he has a different kid because he changed something in the past. So the baby that he had is a different baby. Because the whole trajectory of his life, just that one little change, changed when they got pregnant, when they conceived. And so he still had a kid, it was just a different kid. So I think about that a lot with my children, that specific thing. If I had done anything different, I wouldn't have this exact baby. And I wouldn't have this exact child. And that brings me around to just be like, you know what?

What's meant to be will be. And I would not change having this particular love of my life that I have, the three of them. So it's just, I have to reconcile that those were the choices that I made. And now I have these people that I love so much, and I can only move forward. And now you have so much more inspiration and light in your life to be able to inform your work in a new way, I'm sure, as being a parent.

[15:48] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh, for sure.

[15:49] Rachel Potter: The way you are creative in different capacities.

[15:52] Mikayla Petrilla: Yes, yes. And to your point, I just want to say this before I answer that question about what you were talking about, about motherhood. Motherhood happened to me. My first child was a surprise when I was not at all planning on having a child and not really ready. But I went with it because I was 30. And it was like, well, it feels crazy to not. I'm like old enough. I'm old enough, right? And we made it work. But I don't know that I would have chosen it because of the pressures of the industry around motherhood. And I'll tell you, it was really hard. I lost half of my hair every time I was postpartum. So three times I lost half of my hair.

[16:33] Mikayla Petrilla: Why does that happen?

[16:34] Rachel Potter: The second time, hormones, it's such bullshit. Out of all the bullshit we have to deal with, I am sorry. It's like your hair looks great when you're pregnant and you're like giving nutrients to this baby. The second it leaves your body, you're going to tell me my hair falls out while I'm giving you my milk and everything I have. At least let me keep my hair. And that doesn't happen to everyone. So don't let that scare you. That just happened to me. And it was like a really shitty thing that was, it sucked. It sucked. And my hair still isn't the same. I wear hair extensions. And thanks. Well, I have extensions. I wear extensions. And I have ever since my second son was born because I was like, after my first son was born, that messed with me so much to have this super thin hair that I couldn't feel like I could style or feel pretty when I was performing and stuff.

And so I was like, screw this. I'm going to just get extensions and feel good about myself. And I think every baby, I learned that. I learned the things that I needed to do to make me feel like me and not skip those steps. That was important.

[17:41] Mikayla Petrilla: And I know that's what we're talking about right now is in the vein category, perhaps.

[17:47] Rachel Potter: No. Your confidence is important. And the way that you feel pretty, that's not the same for everyone. But for me, my hair is something that has always been a part of how I feel put together and pretty. So that was something I decided I wasn't going to skip. And as a parent, as an artist, as a realtor, that is a short-term investment for a long-term return. Getting extensions and where it's like, this is one last thing in my day I have to worry about. I feel better. I don't have to do as much maintenance. Perhaps, I'm just assuming if it's like the little weave-in or the clip-ins, it's there you go. We are set. And everybody, even Amy Poehler on her podcast is like, half of my hair is not real. But it's like, that doesn't matter. That makes you feel empowered. It helps you with your routine, and you feel more embodied. Even old-school Hollywood, everyone had fake lashes. They were putting camel hairs on their...

[18:42] Mikayla Petrilla: Whatever makes you feel the most empowered, I think.

[18:44] Rachel Potter: Well, and I think that the beauty industry and Hollywood, to your point, there's been extensions around far longer than the general public knew about it. I remember being in high school, and when we found out Britney was wearing extensions, we're like, what's that? But that was around in Hollywood for quite a while. It was just really expensive. And now it's just general public cost. We can afford it now. The pressures, though, of the theater industry, too, to just bounce back. I ran into a girlfriend, and I won't say who she is, but she had just had a baby, and I was at an audition, and she had given birth three weeks prior. And she felt so much pressure to be there. And I was like, girl, what are you doing here?

And she's like, if I don't come to this, I'll miss this season. And I can't miss this season. I'm like, it hurt me that she was there. And I was just like, that is so messed up that our industry doesn't care more about mothers and support and prop them up in a way to be like, oh, you just had a baby? Don't worry. We would love to see you in two months. We will hold a spot. We'll wait. I don't know. And I guess it's theater. It moves fast. And maybe I'm being naive, but it just feels cruel.

[20:01] Mikayla Petrilla: Right. I don't think it's naive.

[20:04] Rachel Potter: The expectations. A lot of what we've talked about on the podcast this season has been the business side of the industry and how or how we are not making money in the Broadway industry, at least right now or in the last five years. But so much of it does move quickly. And I understand that. And so many people on a base level, creatives, professionals are like, we want to hold space for mothers. And there are so many stories, especially in the Wicked community of mothers that can bring their babies backstage and can have a crew of people help them out while they go on stage. And that is so empowering and inspiring. But then it is like the moments between those jobs. How is that sustainable? And how does that work with the demands of how quickly the industry is moving?

Or I guess you would have to get boots on the ground on a workshop to even have the consideration of, oh, you're a parent, let's give you a couple of months. It's just, yeah, it's really hard to grapple with.

[21:04] Rachel Potter: Yeah. And there's so much. And like what you were saying, I don't know if I want to have kids and how does that change my career? And I have a lot of friends who were in your shoes and chose not to because of the industry and are now in their 40s and going, should I have?

[21:20] Mikayla Petrilla: Right.

[21:21] Rachel Potter: Was that decade of work worth now feeling like it's too late and I can't? And I think that's sad that our industry, because of the demands and the pressures, I don't know of another industry that prevents people from having a family. And I am so pro-choice, to be clear. I am a feminist through and through. The feminism in me believes that I should be able to choose if I want to be a mother or not. Yes. And if I want to be a mother, great. Yeah. More power to you. Choose your own adventure, you know. But gosh, it's just so sad to me that so many people feel like they can't do the other things in their personal life because the industry might not accept them.

[22:09] Mikayla Petrilla: Of course. Yeah. I'm with you. Actors' Equity isn't knocking on the door with the maternity leave policy, which I guess you would need a job to do first.

[22:21] Rachel Potter: Brooke! Brooke! Hello! How are you? Brooke, please help. Please help us.

[22:27] Mikayla Petrilla: Hey, she's a mom, so she'd probably fight for that. I think if we need to form our new suffragette Broadway coalition of mothers to be like, hello, help. I'm here for that. Get everyone from every 54 Below saying, I am a parent and put them in the group. We're ready.

[22:45] Rachel Potter: We're ready to go. Even the cast of Ragtime was talking about that quite a bit. Joshua being like, hey, I'm missing my son's soccer game because I'm doing this show. And I'm so grateful to be doing what I love, but there's always a cost. And that's so hard to deal with, especially in New York. But back to you. You have figured it out in a big way, which is great.

[23:01] Mikayla Petrilla: I don't think I've figured it out. I think no one's going to get it right and no one's going to get it done, but you are getting things done and you're getting a lot right. So that's-

[23:15] Rachel Potter: Yes, I have just changed. Yeah, I've just changed my sight. Sort of like, okay, the goal was Broadway. And I did leave out that I did move back to New York in 2020, February 1st of 2020, just in time for COVID. So we-

[23:30] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[23:30] Rachel Potter: We quit our jobs, sold all our stuff. Me and my then only three-year-old and my husband, we moved to New York and we sublet at a friend's place. And I think it was 40 days later or something, everything shut down. So we stayed for about two months in lockdown and it just was not looking like it was coming back soon. So we came back to Tennessee, which it was a bizarre experience too, because we were so scared in New York and everything was really shut down and tight. And we got to Tennessee and it was like, nothing happened. We're like, oh.

[24:01] Mikayla Petrilla: Wow, that has to be surreal.

[24:04] Rachel Potter: That was weird. But the goal has been really, since I shifted my focus away from country music back to Broadway, I've been going up and auditioning and nothing has happened. And it's been really disappointing and sad. And I think that a big piece of that also is being out of practice, living in Nashville, flying in for an audition is a really difficult task on a person that's doing that because you put so much pressure on that one audition, that you're not going to perform as well than if it's your sixth audition of the week and it's part of your daily gig.

[24:37] Mikayla Petrilla: Right.

[24:38] Rachel Potter: So that was, it's been a decade really since, more than a decade. It's been since 2013, but really a decade of still auditioning. And I can't even say regularly, like here and there, and just nothing really panning out. And I think I had to have some acceptance of, okay, well, if you're not willing to move back to the city and really go for it again, which I'm not right now because my kids are small and it's like, that feels selfish in a way to like drag them up there to a very big unknown question mark of will I make it? Could I make it? How will I make money? Because all of a sudden I have three mouths to feed. It matters.

[25:18] Mikayla Petrilla: Of course. Yeah.

[25:21] Rachel Potter: So it was like, how am I going to fulfill my heart? And how am I going to bring joy to my life and be able to do my art and also live here? And that's where these new concert series have come in. And my album was shifting the focus to a different avenue. That's all.

[25:40] Mikayla Petrilla: So your July 11th installment I heard was sold out, which is incredible. And it featured a lot of really wonderful songs, really rich lineup. How did you land on those songs or these shows for that edition? And how are you doing your programming based off of the album?

[25:56] Rachel Potter: Yeah. So the album was kind of the catalyst to getting my foot in the door at this venue, which is this beautiful venue called Analog in a hotel called the Hutton in Nashville. And it's right downtown and it's just gorgeous. It has this huge chandelier and it's got this beautiful big purple velvet curtain. It feels very theatrical. And so when I wanted to do my album release concert, because I did one in Orlando and D.C., New York. And so I was planning to do one here in Nashville, of course, because that's where I live. And I reached out to them and they said, wait, wait, wait. So yeah, yeah, we can do that. But we want to have this thematic concert thing around the Wicked release. So they said, we want to do something that is Wicked themed.

We're going to make the hotel all immersive and Wicked and Wizard of Oz. Could you maybe help us put something together? I was like, well, yeah, I've always wanted to do something like this. I've always wanted to do a Broadway cabaret in Nashville, but I never thought there was an audience for it. And there are other theater owners that are here that have been deterrent of it and being like, Nashville audiences don't get it. They don't they don't come. They don't buy tickets. They're not interested. But the difference was, is that those people were putting on one woman shows where they would invite a single star down to do her or his cabaret night. And that wasn't really selling because maybe it's somebody like Kate Baldwin, who we all are obsessed with in the world of musical theater. Maybe Nashville doesn't really understand how great she is.

[27:29] Mikayla Petrilla: Fair. Okay.

[27:30] Rachel Potter: Right. She's a niche Broadway star that Broadway people know she's incredible. But the average Joe doesn't. Right. So that kind of thing is hard, is a hard sell in Nashville. And I was like, well, I know a lot of people. So let me just ask, I could get some people, I could host it. We could have Broadway, but also Pepper and Wicked throughout the show. And let's see what happens. So I called Eden Espinosa, Matthew Morrison, Ali Stroker, and then a few friends from Nashville that had been on The Voice or were musical theater performers and built this stellar cast. And a few TikTok stars, you know, peppering in people from a lot of different spots where the audience would be really diverse.

[28:14] Mikayla Petrilla: Right.

[28:14] Rachel Potter: For who's coming to see it. And we sold that puppy out. It was shoulder to shoulder. And they were like, oh, this is cool. Let's have you do the final one, because they were doing four in the month.

[28:27] Rachel Potter: They did one every week, and they did an event. And then the fourth one, they were like, could you just do this again? And I was like, yeah, I can throw it together. So I called my friends, Christine Dwyer, who was in Elphaba, Matt DeAngelis, who was in a ton of Broadway shows. Norm Lewis came down for that one. A star. Yeah. Omar Cardona came down for that one. He was on The Voice. So again, just pulled in some different people from different places. And Norm was our biggest star there, of course. That was really special. And again, sold it out. We're like, I think we have something here. So we call it Off-Broadway at the Hutton. And every one is a theme. So those first two were our feelers.

But then they said, would you like to partner next year and do four more? Let's see how this goes. So we did one a quarter. So the first one of the year we did was An Evening in Magic. And Susan Egan was our big star for that one. And we had Caroline Bowman and a few different other like Disney celebs. That was so beautiful and so much fun to do Disney that night. And then our next one was called So High School that we did in April. And I had Taylor Louderman, Jelani Remy, and Ellie McLemore. And it was so fun. We did all musicals like in and about high school. So of course we did Mean Girls, High School Musical, some Grease, and Dear Evan Hansen, some Heathers, of course. It was a blast. Then we had a little prom dance after party afterwards. All the guests wore prom attire. It was so cute.

[29:56] Mikayla Petrilla: We love a theme.

[29:57] Rachel Potter: Yes. We love a theme. And honestly, that's proving though. And so we've sold every single one out. And then this last one that we did was probably the best sold. We did it right around the Fourth of July on July 11th. And it was pitched as Broadway Does the Fourth. And so it was music of protest and patriotism. We had songs, of course, from Hamilton. It was themed the room where it happened. So we had Hamilton, Hair, Les Mis, Suffs, Ragtime. And it was really special. And that was packed to the gills. And people were really excited about that one. It was gorgeous. And we had this really neat moment. There's this Christian group called Avalon that I grew up listening to because I grew up in the church.

And one of the members was actually ostracized when they found out that he was gay and kicked out of the band early on in his career. And there was this one particular song called Testify to Love that was their big hit on Christian radio. So he re-released it this year with another former Avalon member and this amazing country music singer named Ty Herndon. And so they came and sang that and I got to sing that with them.

[31:05] Mikayla Petrilla: Wow.

[31:05] Rachel Potter: And that was such a special moment too. So it was just an all around very inspiring evening. But I guess all this to say, Nashville is proving that they want this and selling this every time it's been sold out. So Nashville audiences are giving us the data that this works here. But I think maybe the difference is that it's like a bunch of stars and there's somebody from The Voice and there's somebody from TikTok. So there's a name you recognize that maybe if you aren't really a Broadway person, maybe you don't know the three Broadway stars that I'm bringing in. But you would at least know the shows that they've been in. So it's just fun.

[31:43] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah, your producing hat is strong. And I feel like you're the perfect person for this, not just because of your talent, but it is really hard to curate and to pull people from different pockets and different worlds and create a theme that makes sense for an audience that is marketable, but also valuable, important, is speaking truth to something. And all of your themes are perfect. The Fourth of July one is incredible, Rumor It Happened. I think that is...

[32:06] Rachel Potter: It's so amazing. Another thing that's cool, Mikayla, is that the people from other performing arts centers are now reaching out. So this is organically becoming something that I think maybe I can take out. It's not just in Nashville. So we're doing our first off-Broadway series concert at another place in October.

[32:24] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh my gosh.

[32:25] Rachel Potter: So we're going to do, yeah, we're going to do the Rumor It Happened again at a theater in D.C. called The Atlas.

[32:32] Mikayla Petrilla: Good, good.

[32:34] Rachel Potter: Yeah. This is good. That's neat. It's like turning into something. So to your point, it's being able to find the thing that you love somewhere else. And it's really been fun.

[32:45] Mikayla Petrilla: I was going to ask you, and it sounds like it's with Avalon, where if there was a moment where you, from a past installment, where you're on stage or in the house and you're like, oh, this is why I'm doing this. But it sounds like there's already so many full circle moments where you're like, well, I'm speaking truth to power. You're honoring yourself, your mission, your vision for why you're performing in the first place and bringing together so many people that can then tell their stories. And yeah, good. The Avalon story is incredible because it's like, wow, this song means something to me. It always has. But now I'm reclaiming that in a really powerful way with you. And it's because of you being the conduit that has brought that to new audiences.

[33:27] Rachel Potter: That was a special moment.

[33:29] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah. The audiences probably do want Broadway, but they're either intimidated or, as you said, they don't know the specifics, but they know the general of what they like. So you're making it palatable and user-friendly, but also empowering and important and specific, which I love.

[33:45] Rachel Potter: Yeah. And it's been neat, too, because usually at the concerts, I'll say, who's been here before? And it's usually only about half the room that raises their hand. So it's not the same people every time. And I'll say, who's new? And it's like half the room will raise their hand. So we're reaching a whole new audience every time. And I do think that it does give me an opportunity, like you said, to be able to share truth and to be able to share art. And one thing that was really important that I wanted to do, because obviously, I mean, I'm a Democrat, let's be so for real, and I live in a sea of red, but I wasn't going to go into that concert around the fourth to be like, we're going to just get on our soapboxes and preach at you guys.

[34:24] Mikayla Petrilla: Right.

[34:25] Rachel Potter: The whole theme was very, very intentionally done to let the art speak for itself, to let history do the talking, to let the lyrics do the talking, to where I didn't have to say a word. I just set the songs up. And this was like, I had to fight every urge in my body to not get up there and be like, this is what I think. Right. So I just was like, this is the context of the musical. This is what time period it was set in. This is what was happening in the musical. Here's the song. And it ended up being so powerful in that way, because I think people could go home and think about it without feeling mad, without feeling like they had to choose a side. It could just invoke a nice, deep thought about our country and our freedoms and what it means to be an American and what we've gone through already and what the French Revolution was like.

Because history does repeat itself. Yes. And it's important, I think, for us to just, as artists, stand up for what we believe in. But when you're in a state like Tennessee, it's not so easy. And it's sad to me, and I understand why, especially as a Democrat. But it's sad to me that country music and being patriotic is associated with an ideology right now that is not something that I stand for or with in a lot of regards. But there is such power in how did we establish our rights and our freedoms as a country. There are so many things that I would love to celebrate, but they were built off of such atrocities at the same time. And now anytime you want to be patriotic or celebrate certain things or the entire genre of country is now worked into this ideology of like, we are red.

That is not always the case. So I feel like being able to reclaim that is such a powerful and exciting thing that I really hope for. Of course, Dolly, all people, it's like the end-all be-all. Kindness is key, and we're open and kind. But yeah, I just want to see more of that. I also don't want to alienate audiences. I don't want people to feel like they're going to come to our shows and get preached at and feel like other. Because I think that if I can, I guess, criticize the left in some ways, I think that we've done kind of a bad job of accepting people that don't think exactly like us. So it's like, I think 80% like you, but I disagree with you on that. We're like, get out of here. And that's, I think, something we collectively, as the blue side, have to work on.

Because I think there are a ton of people that are seeing the cracks in the armor and going, but if they are going to get canceled on the left, like some certain friends of mine aren't going to come back. We don't stand for that. We're supposed to be the party of love and acceptance. We are a little selective on that. And I think that that's one thing that I think we need to work on.

[37:35] Mikayla Petrilla: Wow, I got on my soapbox. I'm so sorry.

[37:35] Rachel Potter: No, it's okay. This is good. I think it's important to talk about. Even I know folks like in the 2020 election where I'm like, oh, so you voted for so and so. Why? And it ends up being just a single issue thing where it's like people don't want to be preached at, but we are always looking to understand other people. It's why we're performers. It's why we're activists. It's why we're in this industry to connect with other human beings. So if you do not agree with me, I might fundamentally to my core abhor that, but I don't abhor you. I want to understand how you arrived there. And then maybe we are feeling the same feelings about things, but we're viewing it from completely different points of view.

And to be able to bridge that gap is so important. If we can let the art do the talking, I think that that's a really powerful thing. But one thing that I came to realize these past couple of years, because I was like, man, I was a girl that would get on and Facebook fight. I was like, rare and ready to go. Listen, but I've put it to bed and I don't do it anymore because what I've realized is that all day these folks are, and me, we are all, getting fed an algorithm of dopamine hits all day long to be like, you're right. You're right. Scroll. You're right. You're right. You're right. And then you run into one opposition, Rachel Potter comments on your posts to be like, you're wrong. You're like, shut up.

I'm right. I'm right. I'm right. I'm right. And it's just their algorithms. So what you're being fed all day long is so much a part of what people believe these days. And the algorithm is learning which side you're on and just going harder and harder at you all day long, sending you the content that's going to reinforce your belief system all day long, even if it's fake news. So somebody that's on the opposing side for me is seeing completely different headlines than I am, even if they're the same story. So, and I can't, I can't compete with that, with my little Facebook comment. Of course, in the duration of the market and the amount of information we're getting, this is not just like your daily newspaper in the morning, you're reading a different type of newspaper.

It's like all day, every day you are getting fed this content. And therefore, if you do get something that is opposing to your belief system, it is in a way that is meant to be jarring in a way that's meant to get you riled up and upset. So you engage more with that content, which creates more money and more time and energy spent for other people and doesn't actually help anybody. Whereas these, you're creating a place where people can come and be in communion with each other, listen to art, create their own informed decision about it, because I hate it when you go into a show and the cabaret, the concert, the musical doesn't play to the level of the audience's intelligence, or they'll like, I don't want to say dumb it down, but we're explaining things rather than allowing audiences to form their own opinions on it.

So I feel like this is great where it's like you've curated such a wonderful set that is speaking to so many things. And we're just trusting the intelligence of our ticket holders that they're going to come experience this, feel something, walk away creating their own opinions off of it that are embedded in what they experienced versus what they're told to think or just passively consuming.

[41:10] Rachel Potter: Exactly. And you hit the nail on the head. This whole thing has been about creating community. And only really this last one was even remotely political because everything else has just been about celebrating theater. And this one just happened to fall around the fourth. So it made sense to visit the history of America through the lens of theater. Of course. But I think someone who was on a fully MAGA person could have sat there and felt comfortable. And that's the goal, because this is about community and loving each other as humans, and coming together over the love of theater and being together and being inspired. And whatever you take away from that is grand.

[41:51] Mikayla Petrilla: What I love about what you're doing, and I find really exciting about this series and this chapter of your life, is that you're just not waiting for other people to invite you into the room. You're creating these opportunities yourself. What shifted for you when you started creating your own opportunities? I feel like we've talked about that a bit, but just framing that specific question.

[42:12] Rachel Potter: That is such a good question and so true. I think that that is a horrible position that we are put in in the industry to feel like you just have to wait for somebody to come save you and you just have to keep working. And I've watched it just sour the minds of friends of mine, where they just feel so bitter and angry because they're waiting for someone to choose them all the time. And so then they're not happy.

[42:41] Rachel Potter: For friends that get things because they're mad that it didn't happen for them, and they're not really going out and doing and making and creating. Because ultimately, that's what we love as actors, as artists, as singers. We want to create, and so we have to fill the space and fill the void when we're not being selected. But what I will tell you is that if they're not going to invite you to the table, build your own damn table. So that is what I've been doing, but what's so interesting, Mikayla, is that now I'm getting invited to tables.

[43:16] Mikayla Petrilla: Yes.

[43:17] Rachel Potter: So it's like, all of a sudden, I'm getting reached out to about doing a reading and maybe auditioning for a show, and can we do your concert here? And it's like, all these really neat opportunities are resulting out of just saying, to hell with it. I'm just going to build my own damn table, because I'm not going to wait anymore on someone to notice me. Notice me, Horton, over here. Like, no. I thought you said it, but even with this podcast, part of the reason I wanted to do this is because if we're in the industry, we're trying to get things done. We're trying to understand why things are happening and how people are doing it. But it's not just like an ego thing of, oh, I want to talk to so-and-so, and I want so-and-so to see me, because that's so silly.

But if you're going to be in the industry, getting stuff done, and so much of our time are in the moments between, what are you doing with that time? And I'm like, okay, let's have meaningful conversations and figure out where things are going and how we can be empowered to do better and be better and bring our most authentic selves into rooms or create those rooms. And that is so important.

[44:26] Rachel Potter: And you just booked, you just booked a gig, didn't you?

[44:29] Mikayla Petrilla: This is going to be my first musical since 2019.

[44:34] Rachel Potter: And I get to play Elsa in Frozen at the Nash Rep Theater. I'm so excited.

[44:39] Mikayla Petrilla: That's perfect for you in so many things.

[44:44] Rachel Potter: And you can still, you don't have to leave town.

[44:46] Mikayla Petrilla: I don't have to leave.

[44:48] Rachel Potter: And my kids get to come see me. I'm over the moon. I'm so grateful to them for casting me. And honestly, I had a big reason for them not to because literally opening weekend, I have a symphony that I couldn't get out of. Not that I would want to get out of it, but it was booked for a year and I'm a woman of my word. If I've got a booking, I'm going to be there. Hell or high water. So I was like, guys, I have this symphony. I can't be there. And I understand if you don't want to call me back. And then they call me back and then they offered me the job. And they got this wonderful actress. Her name's Tia. She's going to be my understudy and open the show for opening weekend. And then I'll be there for the rest of the time.

So I'm just so excited. And truly, this will be the last opportunity that I have to play a Disney princess. This is the end. This is the end of for sure. Next up is Mother Gothel. That's my next goal. Right? That would be great. I'm not casting or anything. I'm just, that's my dream.

[45:46] Mikayla Petrilla: But you, you are Elsa. You are a queen. This is great.

[45:50] Rachel Potter: I've been an inspiration as well. I'm like, I've missed all of the COVID years, not to keep talking about COVID, but I'm like, oh, those are all of my ingenue years. We're done. We're done for. But I'm five-two, so I can't play an old woman yet. So it's like, where, where are we being placed here? It's hard. You talked about it earlier, but that, those years of, cause I'm not exactly old enough. I am a mom. I'm 40. I'm going to turn 42. But I still don't read mom yet on stage. I'm like a little bit too young, but I'm a little bit too old to play ingenues and there's not many roles. Jenna in Waitress is like the only one I can think of. Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Yeah, there are a few that you can be 30-ish, but it's not many.

Well, Betsy woke up with Audrey and that Audrey is a big question mark with age range. I love Princess for that reason. I'm owning that I'm like heading into my villain era and that's okay. I had a great run with Disney Princesses. That was how I started my career. Actually, I started at Disney World as the Little Mermaid.

[46:56] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh, that's beautiful.

[46:57] Rachel Potter: That's how I got my equity card. And I also did Belle at Disney World in their stage show. I would like to play before I age out, but I fear my wrinkles are already.

[47:06] Mikayla Petrilla: No, they aren't.

[47:07] Rachel Potter: Girl, there's Botox.

[47:08] Mikayla Petrilla: I actually need to get some.

[47:11] Rachel Potter: I actually need to get some and I've got a palette of Jim Carrey right now. It's so hard though, because I get my Botox and then I like, it was so funny. We filmed this music video for my mashup of Come What May and the I Love You song that's on the album. And it's a beautiful video. So if you're listening, you should go watch it because it's with Omar Cardona and Marty Thomas and it's such a neat trio. We filmed this beautiful video and I just felt like I was giving it, I was acting. And then I watched it and I was like, my face is not moving at all. Not even a little bit, because I had just had Botox a week ago before that filming happened. And it was hysterical. It's still very pretty, but ain't nothing happening, sister.

Nothing's happening. But on the contrary, I have talked to Broadway performers and I'm like, how come you look like you were so at ease on stage? Actually Elsa's. I'm like, okay, you're playing Elsa. You're on stage. Your face is so relaxed. You're belting face. How? And they're like, oh no, my face is doing this in my head. It's just Botox. And I'm like, dang. All right. So if you're making it look easy, your face can't move. And that's just what that is.

[48:27] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[48:28] Rachel Potter: Yeah. So I look, I look very relaxed in the come what may. We know the truth. The truth is that your whole body, I was giving it, I was giving it in my head. That's where you are. I am going to watch it and I'm so excited. So producing your own content, producing concerts, producing music videos, producing a whole album. If somebody wants to be in your shoes and figure that out, how do you start? Did you outsource? Did you have a vision? Did you like, how did you pull together the pieces to figure this out?

[49:00] Rachel Potter: Yes. So one thing is finding somebody that will shoot it. So I found this wonderful guy named Joey who did all of my content, all of my music videos. He's Gen Z. So he kept me very cool and on trend. I screened a lot of people's content when I was interviewing and trying to find somebody. And I just really liked his vibe. I liked the way he shot. So making sure you see someone's work first before you bring them into your project is really important to make sure that you like their aesthetic. But for me, it was very much vision. I had ideas and knew what I wanted to do from start to finish on these videos. If you watched the Waitress video, I self-directed all of the music videos, but that one was one that I was especially proud of because it told a little bit more of a story.

I think also, don't be afraid. I think that that's something that we are like, oh, well, I'm not a director. What makes somebody a director? Come on. Yes, you can be a director. If you've got an idea, then you just, all that means is that you're saying, this is what I want and let me watch the playback and let me make sure it looks right. So I think doing it scared and stepping into roles that you are perhaps a little uncomfortable with, but just being confident in yourself to fail and maybe it's going to suck, but you should try. There's so much self-editing I think going on where we're afraid to try or put our content online because you're like, oh my gosh, this is going to live here forever in some footprint and I can't just try and fail like an audition room because now there are self-tapes and you have to play it back.

So there's so many more little tiny roadblocks to being authentic and just trying anyway, but I think you really do need to try anyway if you're going to be all in. Here's a good piece of advice. Nobody cares. Be so for real. Nobody cares. I have put out so much content and probably only my biggest fans remember every piece of it. And they're your fans. If you don't want to be, and they're my fans. So I put out a video again and people were commenting it like it was the first time they saw it and I put it out a year ago and it's just like, nobody cares. So if nobody cares, don't live your life worrying about what people think, because people are inundated with 500,000 pieces of content all day.

They're scrolling their Instagram, they're scrolling their TikTok, they're getting hits all day long of different content. So yours isn't going to make a difference. So if you want to do it, put it out there. Try it.

[51:30] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[51:31] Rachel Potter: If anything, it's going to make a positive difference. I don't think, I mean, I posted weird comedy videos before and I'm like, oh, this is so freaky. I think I'm ending my career if someone sees this and is like, this is so weird, but on it. I'm not good. We're not in the old days, but I wish that we could have more ensemble based theater groups where you show up every day. You try material with a group of people. Truly I miss that. That's part of the joy of New York. But you know what? If that's something that you want, you should do it. You should make it. Maybe you should get a friend and say, hey, let's make a group of us that get together and try material. You don't have to wait for somebody to pick you or do it and you go and be a part of their thing. You can do it.

[52:15] Mikayla Petrilla: That is true.

[52:16] Rachel Potter: And that's how we're here.

[52:17] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[52:18] Rachel Potter: There's a, well, Second City has a New York location. I've been working with them for the last year and that has been such a great thing just to have a place to show up and try new material with people. Again, that's more in the comedy vein, but yeah, just your own spaces to try stuff. And if that just happens to be alone in your living room and you push play and put something online.

[52:38] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[52:39] Rachel Potter: Yeah. No one cares. Unless it's really, and if it's really bad, oh well. Who cares? You tried. Well, if it's really bad and embarrassing, you can delete it. You can delete it. Bad is relative. But what if it's really good and goes viral and it starts getting you invited into rooms that you weren't, you know, thinking you could get into. You just never know unless you, you got to throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks.

[53:00] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[53:01] Rachel Potter: Spaghetti. Throwing the pasta. Uh, okay. Quick rapid fire questions. What is something people underestimate that actually matters a lot when it comes to performing or producing?

[53:11] Rachel Potter: Can be anything.

[53:12] Mikayla Petrilla: Mmm.

[53:13] Rachel Potter: Um, professionalism offstage.

[53:16] Mikayla Petrilla: Thank you.

[53:17] Rachel Potter: Thank you. What is the best advice you ever got from another artist?

[53:21] Mikayla Petrilla: That is a great question.

[53:24] Rachel Potter: What is the worst piece of advice that you were smart enough not to take from somebody?

[53:32] Mikayla Petrilla: That I shouldn't have kids.

[53:35] Rachel Potter: Oh, correct. Or that I should get a boob job if I wanted to make it in the industry. Didn't do it.

[53:40] Mikayla Petrilla: Who would tell you that?

[53:43] Rachel Potter: We're not going to out that. A very prominent voice teacher actually in Nashville told me that when I was 15.

[53:49] Mikayla Petrilla: What under age? God, people are creepy.

[53:52] Rachel Potter: I was 15 years old and this very famous voice teacher said, if you want to make it in the industry, you should probably think about getting a boob job. Because your boobs have everything to do with your voice.

[54:01] Mikayla Petrilla: Wow.

[54:02] Rachel Potter: Yeah. He's, he's a creep anyway. It's fine. And it's always, it's always a he. I don't know. Not always, but very often.

[54:11] Mikayla Petrilla: Okay. What is a moment that looked really glamorous from the outside, but was actually really, really hard or really messy?

[54:19] Rachel Potter: Being on the X Factor.

[54:20] Mikayla Petrilla: Tell me more.

[54:22] Rachel Potter: What about it? Sure. So you only see the television side where I'm like glammed and my body's painted from head to toe, literally. And I've had a makeup team working on me and you see the edits. But what you don't see is being awake at six in the morning, being at the television studio all day, that all I was ever able to eat was what they provided me, which was like Panda Express. I was so tired.

[54:44] Mikayla Petrilla: Panda Express on the X Factor.

[54:49] Rachel Potter: Yeah. So to be in a, to be trying to put forth my creative vision for who I wanted to be as an artist and having a producer that said, well, which of us in the room has a Grammy and which doesn't? Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Just being so exhausted living in a hotel room with another contestant, two beds in a hotel room and us having to sleep in the same room for two months. There was so much about that, that I think from the television side looked really wonderful, but it was extremely traumatizing. And I still to this day, I don't watch reality singing shows because it just gives me too much anxiety. I'm not interested.

[55:29] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[55:30] Rachel Potter: You've already, you've done it. You've lived it. You've seen both sides of it. You're Joni Mitchell. Hi. Okay. Anything? I love it. We don't have to talk about Legally Blonde. That was half our let to go, but was it? We can talk about it, girl.

[55:41] Mikayla Petrilla: It's so culty.

[55:45] Rachel Potter: It's a cult classic now. This is for me then. Okay. Well, how was it auditioning? What was the worst part about that? I remember we had to do the dance a hundred thousand times and I remember being really sore the next day just because we danced so much. And it was really funny because if you go and watch it, my performance, I'm just singing. I'm not really acting at all in the performance. And she says something like, it's just very Blue Steel. And it was so funny because my best friend Marty Thomas reminded me of this, that I had told him early on when we met, and I didn't remember this, but he reminded me that I didn't realize because I was so green in the space of musical theater. I didn't realize that they wanted us to act in that moment.

I thought we were just going to sing the song. Right. Which is fair. They were like, okay, now is the singing part. So I was just such a little baby that I was just like, okay, I'll go sing the song. And so I just sang it. I didn't act. And they were like, you're not really acting. And I was like, I didn't know I was supposed to act. But I didn't admit that on the show. And so I didn't make it into the house.

[57:25] Rachel Potter: From Orlando to New York with my Equity card from Disney World and with an agent from being on that show. Wow. So it was such a neat door opener for me. That was a big deal that I got to be on that. I know now it's Craig, but when you auditioned for Wicked, did you have to see Bernie? And when you're like, hey. No, I think it was Craig when I did. So the reason why I was even on that show was because Bernie saw me though, but it was for a different show. So I, once I got my Equity card from Disney World, my little green self, I used to go up for my EPAs and go stand in line at the ECCs and I'd fly up from Orlando and come with my backpack and go do my auditions. So I had no idea what anything was.

And I came up once for a Catch Me If You Can audition. Oh yeah. And I remember waited all day and went in and the people didn't even look up barely from the table and I was like, oh my God, I just spent so much money to fly here, stay in a hotel and be here for this 30 second audition. What am I doing? And there was another audition in the room next door at Telsey. I think it was Leap of Faith, maybe? That's not right. Anyway, it was for a role that was absolutely not right for me. It was like I was at the time 21 or two and it was for a 35-year-old and there was no way. But I was like, can I be seen? And there was no line. And so I went in and it was Pat Goodwin behind the table at Telsey who's still there.

He's wonderful. And I was like, so 16 bars? And he's like, girl, there's nobody here. Sing a whole song. So I sang an entire song and I'll never forget it. We talk about it still whenever we see each other. He slammed his binder on the table and he said, where have you been? And I was like, oh my God, someone noticed me. Someone saw me and he said, I think so-and-so needs to see you and so-and-so needs to see you. And so the next thing I knew, I got a call for Next to Normal at the out-of-town tryout in DC. And it was to understudy Natalie. And so I came up a couple of times for callbacks and I'd never been in a callback in New York before ever. And I didn't even know what to expect. I was just flying by the seat of my pants.

I didn't go to musical theater school. I didn't have anyone to even tell me what to expect. I just walked in and there were 30 people in the room. And I was like, okay. And Bernie Telsey was there. And so while I did not book Next to Normal, he was like, she needs to go in for Illegally Blonde. So I got a call and they were like, we want you to be a ringer for Illegally Blonde, The Search for Elle Woods for MTV. So we want you to show up to the Cattle Call audition in Orlando, but you're going through. You just need to be there so we can film you.

[1:00:07] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[1:00:08] Rachel Potter: And so I did that. And all the girls, funny enough, when you see that filming, when it comes down to the final 20 or whatever it is that they cut down to, we were the ringers. They brought in 100 girls that waited out in the cold and auditioned and they were never going to make it because they already knew who it was going to be. Wow. And that is tea. That is tea.

[1:00:36] Mikayla Petrilla: That's tea. That is tea time with Mikayla. Okay. This tea time with Rachel. My God. Okay. This just further validates everything that we already thought, but also incredible. And also kind of the dream that you go in for an EPA. You're like, okay, let me just pop into the next audition. I literally just talked to the current Glinda about this, where she went in for an EPA, wasn't seen, and someone was like, oh, go to the audition next door. And it happened to be Mary Sugarman and she ended up casting her in Clueless. And this was all because of Dan, who was like, oh yeah, show up and try to get seen for whenever you can. So you just never know who's going to be in the room and who's going to notice you. And hopefully it's Pat Goodwin with a binder because-

[1:01:22] Rachel Potter: I know. Pat, what a sweetheart. He's so awesome. Honestly, it changed my life. Pat changed my life that day. That was the first snowball that started rolling down the hill. And I'm so grateful to him. But my hope and prayer is that one day I get to go back to New York and get to go back to Broadway. And I just think it's going to be when I'm a little bit older and my kids are bigger. And for now, I'll just do these. But Pat Goodwin, if you're listening, I love you. And please cast me in another show.

[1:01:52] Mikayla Petrilla: Yes, Pat. We're-

[1:01:53] Rachel Potter: You're wonderful.

[1:01:54] Mikayla Petrilla: We're calling. We're calling. But that's so great. I was just talking to Peter Van Dam from Tara Rubin and we're talking about how him being behind the table. I'm like, how do you handle a full EPA day? And which is funny because he just did the Spring Awakening open calls. And he's like, if I just can't be fully present, I can't be there because we're just as anxious as you guys are. And we want you to do well. And we want to be fully present for you. And so it really does just take a team because they're rooting for your success. They want you to do a good job. But if you can't be fully present after an eight-hour day, then it's like, let's only do four hours and then have somebody else in the team take the next leg up. But casting directors just don't get enough recognition for the amount of work that they're doing and how many times it's lifted people up from the ether because they believe in you and your talent. And so, go Pat.

[1:02:50] Rachel Potter: And it's so true that you do, because I have been on the other side of the table before and it's like, you don't want somebody to come in and fail. It's so uncomfortable. You want somebody to come in and be confident and you don't want them to fumble and you don't want them to apologize and you don't want them to miss the words. And if they do, you just want them to keep going. You don't want them to panic because it makes you feel so uncomfortable and it's really hard. So you are rooting for people on that side of the table to do well and you want them to fit. You are looking for someone to fit what your vision is. But I think that that's where a lot of actors get hung up. And even me, it's just a person's vision.

And just because you aren't what the person envisioned doesn't mean you aren't great. And it's really easy to really validate yourself on someone else's opinion in that when we're literally out here going like, don't let other people's opinions shape who you are. But that's all we do in the industry.

[1:03:44] Mikayla Petrilla: Yes. And it's hard not to be like a perfectionist when it comes to what work can you get done where it's like, I want to make sure I'm totally off book. I want to make sure I hit everything. Not because I care about being good, but because I care about doing a good job and showing you that I'm a professional that can show up. So when I mess something up, I'm like, oh, that speaks more toward my work ethic and less towards my talent. But actually none of that is true. And as we said, literally no one cares. I've been in callbacks where I've been waiting online. I hear somebody crack and then save it. And I'm like, honestly, that was the best thing I've ever seen because I'd rather... Again, I'm not a casting director, but I'd rather see you catch a moment of being honest and maybe not being perfect and then saving it and coming into your own and figuring it out because that shows that you're a great artist and you know how to handle just whatever is thrown at you.

[1:04:38] Rachel Potter: So I mess up. I mess up all the time. I go up on lines or I'll forget lyrics. And just the other day, we did this new mashup to me and I'm in the middle of the song. And it's like this very tender moment with Justin Sargent. He's singing, Bring Him Home. I'm singing Welcome Home. And I'm like, Nick, Nick. And I look at the piano player and I'm like, Nick, learn to survive. And I was like, in the wrong key. But I just kept going.

[1:05:05] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah.

[1:05:05] Rachel Potter: And that's, I think, if there's anything to take away young actors today is like, if you mess up, just, you don't even have to apologize. You can though, but you can just go, Oh, sorry. And then just get right back on it. Don't fumble the bag. Don't sit there and go and over apologize. We don't want to hear you apologize on that side of the table. We want you to just fix it. Just keep going. Because we're here to see if you can do the work. And if you are going to start like, then that's that is a reason not to hire you. Right? Because at the end of the day, this is a job interview. This isn't just about are you artistic? Are you like this perfect vision of what we have in our creative brains?

It's that but we also have to know that you're going to be able to show up, you're going to be able to memorize your lines that you're not going to give us trouble because we have so much stuff to deal with on this side. And I'm learning so much of this being in the producer's seat. I have so many balls in the air. I have so many things to think about. So if you're going to bring drama to my world, I'm not interested in that. I'm hiring you for a job and I just need you to show up and do the job I hired you to do. And that's it. I don't need any excuses. I don't need a whole lot of talk about it. I just need you to do it. That's it. Because I got all this other stuff to worry about, you know.

And if people can think about it in terms of that, that this is just a job, that your talent and your art really does matter. But once you get the job, just do it. It's pretty simple. And the professionalism side we talked about earlier, that's so important of just being kind to other people and being kind to the other people on the team. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people pop off because they have ego and you're just like...

[1:06:43] Mikayla Petrilla: I'm just shocked that that still is even...

[1:06:47] Rachel Potter: Just putting on a show, guys. It's not that serious.

[1:06:50] Mikayla Petrilla: Yeah. If you're going through something and you need to process that, all good. Take care of it. Just don't make it your production team's problem because they are doing their best to keep you lifted and keep the show lifted. And I feel like in the more professional spaces I've been in, the more that falls away. But if there's ever an outlier, I'm just like, oh, great. I hope that you find the next version of yourself where you feel empowered and comfortable and this is not a problem. But yeah, I don't know. It just kind of doesn't cost a lot. And just locking yourself in the bathroom and taking a moment if you need a moment, that also doesn't cost a lot. Okay. Wrap up questions. One, we're just going to manifest this. We're just putting it out into the universe. What are your dream roles through the rest of this life? What would make you so happy?

[1:07:38] Rachel Potter: I would love to play Jenna in Waitress because I am the biggest Sara Bareilles fan of all time. I'd love to play Sally Bowles in Cabaret someday. And I would love to play Mother Gothel in the stage version of Tangled.

[1:07:51] Mikayla Petrilla: I need to see it. I need to see it.

[1:07:53] Rachel Potter: Well, hang on. Broadway, right? I think Miss Jessica Vosk might have done a reading of it. That's like the word on the street. Not sure, but...

[1:08:02] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh, okay. Well, you and Miss Jessica can...

[1:08:07] Rachel Potter: Maybe I could be her understudy.

[1:08:08] Mikayla Petrilla: Just saying. Stunning. And then take it on tour with the kids. Yes. I love this. I'd love to be in Death Becomes Her. I did audition for Death Becomes Her, and I wasn't cast, but Jackie Burns was, and she's amazing.

[1:08:20] Rachel Potter: I was actually just going to say that when we were talking about that dead zone, quote unquote, of 40s. I feel like that show has a huge difference for that decade of age bracket where you can really go either way.

[1:08:34] Rachel Potter: For Madeline?

[1:08:38] Mikayla Petrilla: I would love to play either. I went in for Madeline, but I would love to try for either of them. Hopefully the team will see me again when they're ready to cast more people.

[1:08:46] Rachel Potter: No, that's it for you. I see it. We'll come back to this podcast when you book it.

[1:08:51] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh, that's very kind. Well, I'll have it on lock once it's regional. I'll totally be in for that.

[1:08:57] Rachel Potter: You're so lovely. Thank you for doing this podcast and speaking to people and having good conversations with folks in the theater space. It's important work that you're doing. So thanks for doing this.

[1:09:06] Mikayla Petrilla: Yay. Oh my gosh. Thanks for coming on. Where can people find you and your show and your album and support what you're building?

[1:09:14] Rachel Potter: So it's at therachelpotter on Instagram and TikTok. I also have a website called rachelpottermusic.com, though admittedly I'm not very good at it. But then we have offbroadwayseries, at offbroadwayseries, and then offbroadwayseries.com for anything that is pertaining to our new series in the concert world.

[1:09:35] Rachel Potter: The next one we're going to be doing, The Addams Family, fully in concert.

[1:09:40] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh my goodness.

[1:09:41] Rachel Potter: We're doing The Addams Family on October 30th and 31st at Analog at the Hutton Hotel. And I have Sarah Gettelfinger coming in, Brian Justin Crum, Brad Oscar. So we've got some really amazing alumni from both Broadway and the tour. Then we're going to have some local people fill in the rest of the gaps. I'm still working out the details. But Andrew Lippa himself, the composer of all the music, he's coming down. He's going to come down and narrate some of it, play the overture. We're going to do the hotel in an immersive haunted house.

[1:10:13] Mikayla Petrilla: Oh my gosh.

[1:10:13] Rachel Potter: It's going to be fun. It's going to be really fun. So this is a new venture for the Off-Broadway Series to try a full musical in concert. So this will be our first time doing that.

[1:10:23] Mikayla Petrilla: Incredible. This is incredible. Thank you so much for coming on and for everything that you are doing for so many communities and spaces.

[1:10:31] Rachel Potter: Well, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice of you.