Lights Up On Act II

According to every advisory website / blog post out there, introductions and explanation of goals or hopes is not the way to start a blog. Which is hilarious to me -- who decided that there's a right and wrong way to blog? Who says what the writer can and can't do? Sounds a little uppity to me, and I'm not here to abide by the "traditional rules" -- unspoken or otherwise -- anyway.

So! It seems you've found yourself on my blog, 'Til I Try, I'll Never Know.

I'm assuming that the #TheatreNerds will get the reference pretty quickly, but in case there's any question, in the musical, Wicked, the big number at the end of Act I, "Defying Gravity", showcases our underdog heroine, Elphaba, rising to her fullest potential as the Wicked Witch of the West and making the decision to be true to herself, to live without regrets, to shrug off the societal expectations of what she can do or should be, and to reach for the stars. I saw a touring production of Wicked when I was a young teen, and watching the actress who played Elphaba, listening to her sing Elphie's music and tell her story, I knew I wanted to be on stage one day. It's also why Elphaba remains a dream role of mine. It may seem far-fetched, some days more than others, but in her words, "I'm through accepting limits cuz someone says they're so / Some things I cannot change, but 'til I try, I'll never know".

My name is Heidi-Liz Johnson (hi there 👋🏻), and I'm a singer / actor born and raised in Arizona. I grew up singing but didn't discover my love for acting until I was in high school. I worked in various theatres across the state of Arizona for about a decade before (finally) making the big move to the East Coast in the summer of 2022. That's right -- I'm here, I made it, I'm one step closer to achieving my dream. But the thing is there are a lot more steps than just being close to the theatre scene than I was counting on, and honestly, I wasn't prepared for what "making it" or even breaking in over here would be like.

When my husband and I were first dating, he asked me a very good question that, at the time, I was sure I wouldn't have a good or realistic answer for. He asked, "If you were to write a memoir and give a chapter title to the first part of your life up to this point, what would the title be?" I thought about it for a while and finally came up with what I think is actually pretty good: "Small Pond".

Now that you've written that down, be sure to credit me when you take it to use in your own memoir, okay? Okay, great.

It's no secret that those that make their way to NYC to pursue theatre come from every corner of the world, considering themselves "big fish" from wherever it is they originate. I know that's what I thought, and of course I knew that NYC would be a big pond, but actually jumping into the water? It's different than just hearing about it.

So here I am, starting a new chapter in my memoir -- or Act II, if you will (see what I did there?) -- and it's a bare stage. I don't know my role, I'm not sure who the other players are, I don't have the blocking down, and everyone in the house is waiting for me to do something. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm ready with a headshot, a resumé, and a dream, so it's time to "close my eyes and leap".

While I'm still on the first leg of this journey, I decided to record my thoughts in this blog so that Future Heidi-Liz can look back on it fondly. I want to be able to reminisce on this time of my life and really remember every part of it: the highest peaks, the lowest valleys, and every fluctuation in between. And I'd love to think that I'll learn more than a few lessons along the way, some that may be worth sharing.

If you're reading this, you must either be interested in my personal story or want to know more about what auditioning / performing in NYC is like. So even though this blog is mostly for me, it's also for you. I'll do my very best to write raw, real, and truly honest accounts of everything theatre, from audition to closing bows, and I promise to try to make it entertaining along the way.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to the #DreamTeamHLJ. 💚