As a result of Covid-19, the theatre industry is experiencing a mind blowing100% unemployment rate, with no real understanding of when or how that's going to start to change. In the midst of this, Actor's Equity, the union that governs and protects professional actors and stage managers is about to hold an election that will define the next decade of live theatre. Whether you are a theatre maker or a patron who loves to watch plays and musicals, this episode is a must-listen. We rang up our...

Rick and Jess met four years ago, at an event in Australia put on by an entrepreneur they both knew. Turns out, that entrepreneur had met Rick when he attended his retreat VysionQuest in Bali. His time with Rick gave him the space to open up, ask himself what his purpose was, and it led to the idea for what has become a 100 Million dollar business that is driven by that purpose and passion. Since then, Jess has watched Rick help friends, colleagues and collaborators completely change their...

We've been chomping at the bit to talk to Nathan Chan, after hearing about him from our guests Drew Forde and Ken Kubota - and it did not disappoint. This conversation about how live performers navigate the loss of our space and jobs rollercoasts from hilarious conversations about bananas and nervous poop (don't ask, just listen) to trying to figure out what role the giving economy will play in t he arts, to what a world looks like if artists have no income, to how TikTok gives us permission...

This episode is a valentine, lighthouse (and primal scream tbh) for all of our listeners who have been changing the world through the arts and activism and are facing the reality that we have been left with very little in this crisis. Our guest, Michael Skolnik, has been at the center of the major civil and gender rights fights of our lifetime - the racial police shootings, #metoo - and now, he and his agency The Soze Agency along with Task Force and Invisible Hand are the first to recognize...

Here at #TM2C, we love when a guest is willing to really dig in and road map how they built their career, even if the beginnings were humble. Sarah Dandashy, aka AskAConcierge, built her Instagram following to 100k brick by brick, video by video, and she has so many great tips for all of us building our own followings and marrying our passions. We also end the episode with our #CoronoaQuestion: What does Sarah see next for the Travel Industry? ☕️☕️☕️ Why have just one mentor when you can...

Coronavirus can't stop our coffee dates! This is one is for all our artists friends and listeners grappling with what comes next as our livelihoods have been moved online. The Broadway Husbands, Bret Shuford and Stephen Hanna, join Jess and Andrew to work through their feelings, debate about the urge to create vs just be still, talk about parent-panic and dig into the best and worst of how live performance translates in the digital realm. ☕️☕️☕️ Why have just one mentor when you can have...

**UPDATE: **If you have the means and enjoy the episode, please go to the show links and donate to the US Bartender's Guild Emergency Relief Fund. All of the beautiful servers and bartenders Rob features are out of work for at least 4 weeks and need our help. We can hardly believe entertainment lawyer Rob Darwell agreed to come on and have coffee with us, and let us tell you - this conversation didn't disappoint. He's run legal on some of the biggest film and television deals of our...

If you've been with us since the beginning, you know Amanda McCrossin, aka @Sommvivant, has been working as a sommelier at one of the best restaurants in the world. And now she's not. Say WHAT. After 10 years of working to build her reputation as a digital content creator in the wine industry, she's taking that terrifying step and going out on her own. Since this is a mentorship podcast, we all thought it would be pretty damn cool (and useful) to keep building on our original episode with...

Remember the movie School of Rock, with Jack Black? The cutie-patootie kid (who also happened to be gay) in that movie is all grown up now, and has used his talent and fame to stand up for a whole new generation of kids who need to hear that they are loved and seen. He's a life coach and a gay country music star who has a new song hitting the charts this spring. It is accurate to say that Brian "life coached" the shit out of Jess and Andrew on this coffee date, and it's also a great chat...

How do you go from theatre actor to laid-off performer with a major injury and then end up as a skincare entrepreneur with a cult following of broadway stars, high profile makeup artists, pro athletes, and multiplatinum recording artists? If we learned anything on our coffee date with Haus Urban founder Hassan Sayyed, you do it with grace, humor, a whole lot of grit and the all-important science and technology library in Los Angeles. Special thanks to #tm2c listener Avery for introducing...

Well, this is one of the coolest conversations we've ever had. Janis is a stripper, writer, and sex work affirming therapist living and practicing in NYC and get ready because we are going to learn all the things together today, not the least of which is: what those of us not in the sex industry can take into our lives after listening. Other interesting topics of note: Why it's necessary to talk our financial realities when we talk relationships and what Janis is interested in learning more...

On February 20th, Napa Valley takes over NYC with Sideways the Experience at the Pecadillo Theatre Company - yes, that Sideways of Paul Giamatti hates Merlot fame. Why's it an experience, you ask? If you're a VIP, your evening includes delicious food from celebrity caterer Mary Giuliani and fabulous wine pairings from Vanessa Conlin, Head of Wine at Wine Access. In honor of their opening, we're sitting down to coffee (maybe vodka?) to talk all things Sideways, what Mary, a graveyard and a...

On February 16th at Joe's Pub in NYC, Ring of Keys is celebrating its 2nd Birthday with QUEERING THE CANNON, a cabaret concert that flips the songs you thought you knew, and introduces new tunes to our book that tell stories we don't usually hear in musical theatre. We sat down with the co-founder of Ring of Keys, Andrea Prestinario, to talk all things art, activism, building a non-profit as your side gig and why just nearly everything should be BANISH'ED we say!!!! ☕️☕️☕️ Who doesn’t...

Classical Cellist Ken Kubota has hundreds of thousands of people tuning into his JHM Jams every week and brand collaborations every which way you look - but like most stories, the way it all got started is much less glamorous and involved hunting people down in practice rooms, trying to avoid being sued by Julliard and thinking that Instagram was a photo editor. Also on tap: we challenge all the social media creators we know to take the one week "Do Nothing" story challenge. ☕️☕️☕️ Who...

This was Andrew's last coffee date with coffee pods, thanks to actress and sustainability superhero Meghan Oftermatt- it's all fresh ground and pourover from here! She's like an unstoppable bundle of zero waste wonderwoman who left our heads spinning as she dished out all the advice and made us realize how easy it actually is to reduce your waste and do a little bit to save the planet. Listen up to learn why food waste is so problematic if it isn't composted, why our purchasing power is the...

Ever been curious how musicals get written or what a composer loves in their actors? Get. Into. This. Coffee. Date. Because, oh god, we got nerdy AF with Larson Award-Winning Composer Andy Roninson, trying to figure out what parts of song structure affect why we do or don't like a song, whether a perfect rhyme actually matters (and also wtf is a perfect rhyme anyway), and what we're supposed to do when malaise hits and we'd rather play video games than make something. ☕️☕️☕️ Who doesn’t...

Hot on the heels of our 90 day review of the process of making a podcast from scratch, we bring you a coffee date with the very person who was responsible for the original idea of Take Me To Coffee! When a waiter from Cleveland, OH asked his guest Jess if she'd go to coffee with him (ballsy!), she never imagined it would eventually lead to this podcast, and he never imagined the play he wanted advice for would be about to open Off-Broadway. This is a special bonus episode that (we hope)...

Just in time for New Year's Eve and all the reflection that goes with it, #TM2C turns 3 months old and Jess & Andrew step into the hot seat for an episode that's real talk about making a podcast. From ups to downs, surprises, equipment lists and secrets about this little podcast that could, join us for a peek inside the show and how if we can do it, so can you! ☕️☕️☕️ Who doesn’t want free advice from people that are wildly successful and probably more good looking than we are? In...

Magic is one of those things that has always been done a certain way, and Reza is completely smashing that out of the water. From his residency in Branson, Missouri, to touring the US, Reza has built every piece of his empire from scratch and - like so many of our guests - he is completely re-imagining what a live magic show should be. From what it's like to never have a day off for five months, to why there aren't more women leading magic shows, it feels like we barely dipped our toes in the...

For over 12 years, Broadway Workshop has been training young actors and giving them a professional experience that has sent kids like Andrew Barth Feldman (Dear Evan Hanson) and Micaela Dimond (Cher Show) straight to Broadway, not long after their time with founder Marc Tumminelli. You can tell how much these kids love him by the hilarious and massive amount of questions we got on Instagram for this week's coffee date. And we even got a few great ones from the parents, so there's lots to...

Andrew and Jess finally picked their jaws up off the ground after this crazy episode with actress and writer Mattie Jo Cowsert, who leads them through her childhood of evangelical upbringing, sexual purity and what it was like to have a complete identity shift when she moved to NYC. This coffee date is a horrifying, hilarious, complicated look at the expectations put on women in evangelical cultures and what's it like to turn that experience into content. ☕️☕️☕️ Who doesn’t want free...

TW: Sexual Assault. Eight years ago, Antuan Raimone (Hamilton) and Jess Ryan set out to raise money for Crime Victims Treatment Center. Antuan had survived childhood sexual violence, and CVTC provided free services and therapy to Antuan and many of their other friends, saving their lives. Over the course of the next few years, they both realized that people have a hard time speaking up about this topic. Today's episode is devoted to sparking a conversation we all need to have - a frank,...

We love things that go together. Turkey and stuffing. Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and the Rockettes. Viola and Instagram. Wait, Viola and Instagram? Sounds weird, but it's totally not when Drew Forde aka That Viola Kid is around. In this coffee date, we go deep on what it takes to be a live performer at the top of your craft and harness social and digital content, what the tradeoff is when you don't follow the traditional path and why dating is tough when you're labelled an 'influencer'. ...

BIG NEWS ya'll! We're moving your coffee date to Tuesday starting next week. We didn't want to leave you without any inspiration during the move, so here's a little amuse-bouche of next week's episode for your listening pleasure. Drew Forde aka That Viola Kid and Jess talk about the trade-off when you're a live performing artist who gets insta-famous for your digital content. Anyone else struggling with this? @ us and let us know! ☕️☕️☕️ Who doesn’t want free advice from people that are...