In this first part of a two-part episode, our host Abigail Wright sits down with playwright, actor, and personal trainer Tricia Alexandro to discuss the importance of family, her survival story, and how to work on happiness. More at http://www.patreon.com/peaceofpersistence.
Intro:
Tricia is a native New Yorker. She studied creative writing and public speaking at Binghamton University, and, following college, moved to Los Angeles to study the Meisner Technique at Playhouse West Acting School. When she returned to New York, she studied scene study, script analysis and Shakespeare at The Barrow Group School with Seth Barrish and Lee Brock. She is a longtime member of the Barrow Groupʼs master class and has appeared in numerous productions at their theater, including two one-woman shows that she wrote. She also studied on-camera acting with Bob Krakower and attended The Manhattan Film Institute. She is a member of the Labyrinth Theater Companyʼs Intensive Ensemble. She has written two plays, both of which had readings at The Bank Street Theater, home of the Labyrinth Theater Company. In addition to her many film and theatre credits as an actor, Tricia performs her writing the third Sunday of every month at The Bowery Poetry Club as part of The Symphonics Live Show, hosted by Shawn Randall. She also performs her writing at the Naked Angels' Tuesdays at 9 monthly reading series. She's currently working on her next one-woman show – a compilation of monologues based on urban women – and she intends to perform it by early 2018.
Show links:
Tricia's comedian brother, Ted Alexandro - http://tedalexandro.com/
Tricia Alexandro on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tricia.alexandro
Tricia Alexandro on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/trish.alexandro/
Tricia Alexandro's website (for anyone who wants to help manage it!) - http://www.triciaalexandro.com/
Show Summary:
So - which came first, the scriptor or the ham? No, no, seriously - did you see yourself more as a writer or an actor growing up, or both?
Tricia says acting came first but didn't realize it could be more than a hobby until she graduated from college. She previously thought she'd be a teacher, like both of her parents. When she moved to LA, she gave herself the space permission to go after it, after struggling with her desire to be liked and have her parents approve of her choices.
How did it work out with your parents, were they supportive?
Tricia's brother paved the way for her when he decided to become a comedian, and her parents have been very supportive. His advice was also invaluable.
Is he still a comedian?
Yes - he opens for Jim Gaffagan, has been on the Letterman Show and with Conan O'Brien.
What's his name and how do we find him?
Ted Alexandro - find him at http://www.tedalexandro.com.
Does he live here? So you have that support.
Yes, he lives in Astoria, and she's so happy to be back to the east coast and to be able to see him all the time. When she moved back here, it initially felt like a failure to her, but that has changed a lot, and she's thrilled to have that support.
You're clearly very prolific as a writer and an actor, and you're constantly creating more content. What drives you the most in your work?
Absence. If Tricia sees that women, urban women, and minorities especially are under-represented, she feels a fire to right that wrong.
She comes from a family of stories and talks about the joy of watching her mother teach. Her mother was a religion and sex ed teacher who had a passion for staying and changing things within the catholic church. Tricia really admires people who recognize the need for change and work within institutions to change them. Her mother wrote letters to a catholic magazine called "The Bulletin" and taught her daughter that she has a voice and that it can be powerful. When she focuses on competition or winning awards, that cripples her. When she focuses on the joy of saying the important things that need to be said, then she can't wait to write.
What attracts you the most about the theatre experience?
Tricia says it's a high that you can't replicate anywhere else. There's an instant gratification and response, a communion that happens between the audience and the performers. It's a reminder that we're all actually connected, experienced in the moment, riding a wave of spirit and what feels like love to Tricia - "a hugeness that I don't experience anywhere else."
How can people find your upcoming shows?
Instagram or Facebook - see show links above.
Have you had any big obstacles that you've had to overcome, and what have you learned from those experiences?
Her earliest obstacles involved being a very sensitive person in a messy world that tries to compact sensitive people. Acting was her salvation, after having a bully in grammar school that toyed with her sense of self and made her believe she wasn't good enough. Tricia shares that she was raped by a guy in her acting class at 23, which was part of her unraveling. It forced her into intense suffering and caused her to burst through, coming out more fully herself and less afraid of owning her truth.
So you would say you're resilient? Yes.
So often, people who are happy have always been happy. Have you had to work on your happiness then?
Tricia tended more towards melancholy and thought it was just who she was. Her younger sister would wake up with a smile every morning, where Trish would feel overwhelming anxiety. She often felt like she wasn't in charge and didn't know what she was doing, not smart enough to make her own decisions.
How did you overcome that?
Therapy. Tricia is a willing student of life, open to many different modalities - including physical bodywork, hypnotherapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy, which has helped her to question the automatic thoughts and create the space between experience and reaction.
Thanks so much for joining us for part 1 of this amazing episode with Tricia Alexandro. Stay tuned below for part 2, when we'll talk about everything from swing dance to grit, to equality, happiness, success and so much more. She even tries to rename the show! Thanks for joining us, and thanks especially to Trish for a really wonderful interview.
In this second part of a two-part episode, our host Abigail Wright sits down with playwright, actor, and personal trainer Tricia Alexandro to discuss the power of community and dance, living a life of diligence, the lasting effects of inner work, and more. More at http://www.patreon.com/peaceofpersistence.
Show links:
Tricia Alexandro on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tricia.alexandro
Tricia Alexandro on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/trish.alexandro/
Tricia Alexandro's website (for anyone who wants to help manage it!) - http://www.triciaalexandro.com/
Show summary:
What do you like to do outside of the theatre and film world and personal training?
Tricia loves to dance and feels that swing dance in particular was life-saving for her. After her experience with rape, she felt disconnected from and afraid of the attention her body could attract. A co-worker took her swing dancing, with a 40's big band, and he taught her how to swing dance. It was a safe, joyful and exuberant expression that she finds gets her out of her head into a great sense of surrender and creativity. She's also done African dance and loves any kind of dance. Because African dance encompasses African American history, there's joy, pain, suffering, a rooting in the earth, and community. Dance has been a way for her to shut off her brain, get in touch with her body, and express her femininity in a safe way.
You've been involved in a lot of different communities for both actors and playwrights. How do those communities enhance your life?
They're sort of miniature families, and families for her were always safe. Her family was very strong and loving, and she and her siblings were all in a community theatre together growing up. Community isn't always easy, but the sense of creating something together and bringing beauty into the world is life-giving. The Barrow Group was the first company where she really felt at peace, where everyone still makes her feel welcome, seen, heard, and valued. She talks about Seth Barrow and Lee Brock and how they were almost like second parents for her. The Naked Angels, The Shelter Theatre Company, and The Labyrinth Theatre company have all helped her in allowing her to be seen and heard, and acknowledged and celebrated for being enough as she is today.
Do you have any other habits or traits that you'd attribute to your happiness and success?
Journaling and writing gratitude lists. She says she sets up her whole life as an act of diligence. She wakes up, puts on coffee, and meditates for 10 minutes. She journals right after that. She reads a lot of self-help, philosophy, and spiritual books. When she's online on social media, she tries to make sure she's feeding herself positive content. Glennon Melton, Elizabeth Gilbert, Brene Brown, Rob Bell, and Martha Beck are all heroes of hers, and the Facebook pages and Instagram pages she checks on regularly. She believes that allowing yourself to just scroll without thinking can leave you open to too much negativity in the "group think," non constructive conversations. You can be dissatisfied with the world and constructive at the same time. She looks for positive media.
If there were one thing you'd like the world to see differently, what would it be?
A sense of us all being one, that we're all spirit, and that we're all intrinsically worthy. We're seeing the inequity right now in our country's culture, the narrative about minorities that we've been fed, the inequities between genders, and the ways people are treated differently. Tricia wishes we could have a more even playing field, holding space for each other and celebrating one another. When one person is treated better, we all benefit.
Do you have any other advice for us?
To go inward before going outward. Tricia thinks we're taught that the answers are outside of us - making our appearance better, acquiring things and people. Although those things can enrich our lives, the lasting work is the inner work. If you're not ok inside, nothing else matters. Your wisdom and peace are inside you already. Let that be your "jumping off" place.
Special thanks to Tricia for joining us and sharing her wisdom today – and last week!
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