BROOKLYN, N.Y. - April 26, 2020 - Mary Flannigan thought she had her year all mapped out in New York, and was preparing to audition for every project she could as she applied nonstop on acting website Backstage. Already she had worked in New York's top non profit Greek Festival, The Euripides Festival directed by long time equity member Stephen Diacrussi, and had joined the Complete Theatre Company which produced new shows every month. But, one day as Mary was scrolling through Backstage she applied for a job labelled as Theatrical Sales. Unbeknownst to Mary this simple click of an apply button would drastically alter her time in New York. Needless to say Mary acquired the position and was off to working at North America's biggest toy store.

For those unfamiliar with a job in demonstrations you're more or less acting as a salesperson, but you create a script and a show as a presentation with your product. Now Mary never imagined herself becoming a salesperson, and even now she considers her demonstrations being more of an entertainment piece. And while Mary never imagined getting wrapped up in the world of demonstrations for close to a year she looks back on that time as some of the most valuable in her time as an actress, even if she wasn't out auditioning for Broadway.

Working in demonstrations you come to develop a specific skillset, one that is can be incredibly useful as an actor or actress. You learn how to work any piece into a scene stealer as you compete 4 feet away from another product. You must believe or otherwise project that you believe in every word you say, because (in Mary's case) working with kids, they will always see through you. And most importantly if you are an actor you know you are always in the product of selling. Whether that be the show you are in, yourself in the audition room, or the words you are saying, and if you are able to commit to being excellent at demonstrations you will master all the above skills. Bear in mind though that in order to be excellent at demonstrating it will be exhausting and will either make or break you, thus testing your true capabilities. Not every day will be a good day, sometimes you will have weeks of failure but still you can't give in, your energy has to stay 100 sometimes as long as 10 hours a day, and you must engage with an audience that doesn't have to watch, so all your ego will have to go out the window.




So while this wasn't the year Mary imagined, it ended up being one of the most fulfilling experiences in her acting career proving that sometimes we have to trust the unpredictable road we surprisingly end up on.

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Mary Flannigan