We’re looking forward to introducing you to Gail Shalan . Check out our conversation below.
Hi Gail , thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Lately, I’ve been starting my days with my pup on the yoga mat— I get out of bed, she comes to get me and lead me to the living room, where I light a candle, put the mat out, listen to a section or two of Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act and stretch. She smooshes around on the mat or grabs a chew toy and nests in the corners of my body doing what she fondly thinks of as “yoga”. It’s a very peaceful, grounding, and opening ritual for me— just co-regulating with my little beast and meditating on creativity.
Then, I typically make some coffee and breakfast, journal a bit, write out my plan for the day, answer/send some emails, do any other pressing admin work, and get on rolling with it.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I most comprehensively identify professionally as a storyteller. I am a classically trained actor who works on stage, on screen, behind the mic, and with puppets. I also write and devise works, both original and adaptations, for stage, screen, and audio. I love to collaborate with other creatives to bring a story to life in any form.
Most days I currently work as an audiobook narrator— sometimes from in-house studios here in New York, sometimes from my own studio I share with my partner who is a drummer, sometimes from locations all over the world. I love the variety that comes with my narration career— I work across full-cast audio drama and scripted work, multicast, dual, duet, and solo narration in many genres.
It’s been a marvelous year of creative bounty and I’m incredibly grateful to reap the harvest. In addition to many wonderful narrations I got to take part in this year like Joyce Carol Oates’ Fox, Suleika Jaouad’s The Book of Alchemy, Ashley Herring Blake’s Dream On Ramona Riley, and Jane Healey’s The Women of Arlington Hall— I was part of the Audible Original Dragon Day by Bob Proehl alongside Haley Atwell, Greta Lee, and many other talented voice actors, I got to be a puppeteer in the incredible Climate Change Awareness piece of site specific and migrating theatre— The Herds— while they were in Copenhagen, as well as attend screenings of Great Minds (a gem of a short film by Alice Marks that I got to act in) reflecting on OCD, Obsession, Compulsion, and mental health—, and get back on stage to play Prohibition/ Chorus in Nick Martorelli and Justin Muschong’s brilliant satirical short play The Tragedy of Prohibition (Brought to You By Beamer’s Beer) at The Chain Theatre. I’ve been supporting my writing partner, Kaiya Jones, in producing their poignant short film, Tadpole, and cooking up some very exciting writing projects both with Kaiya and others that are really gaining momentum as we turn towards the new year… I can’t wait to share what’s next!
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
A messy, wild, smart, intensely curious, perceptive, wise, silly, emotional, deeply joyful, bossy, determined, caring, loving, loud and sensitive little girl.
I’m learning every day how to honor her better and invite her to live more vividly in me. It’s so fascinating, healing and tending to my inner-child. She never really left me, she’s always been there, and to be quite honest, she’s always been the true captain of my ship, but there were definite periods of life where she was mutinied and put in the hold while my internalized perception of others’ expectations took the helm.
I’m learning that when things feel “aligned”, when my intuition is really allowed to sing and make the calls, that’s her. That’s my inner-child’s voice and wisdom.
When you were sad or scared as a child, what helped?
I was often a sad and scared child. I’m just learning, too, how scared I was to feel joy. And as I grew up, to feel pleasure in my body and my life. To trust that I can relish the goodness that life has to offer (and the goodness that I have cultivated for myself) has been one of my greater challenges. The thing that has always helped has been stories— books, namely. And for me, especially as a kid, audiobooks. To be able to escape into the world of a book and see myself there, imagine myself differently, disappear completely into someone else’s experience, world, journey and feel what they are feeling, explore what they are exploring, discover what they are discovering— especially the ecstatic, amazing, unbelievable, incredible— that has always been so helpful and so healing.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes, absolutely. I don’t think I know how to show up inauthentically, and frankly, I have no interest in doing so. I can be honest and open to an extent that I think maybe surprises folks sometimes. I’m not really interested in masking or changing things about myself. I don’t see the benefit in that. And I know how helpful it can be to witness others living fully and clearly as themselves. So I try to show up that way, too.
But, of course, “my public self” is not a comprehensive or complete version of me. I don’t really know what that would look like. I feel we are always changing and responding being shaped by or in relief to various spaces/moments/beings/contexts.
It is becoming increasingly clear to me, however, the value of nurturing my private self over my public self.
At this point in my life, my public self seems to take care of herself if the private self is nurtured, respected, honored, and protected.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Saving for retirement— ha! But really, I’d work less, I’d travel more and invest more in making art. I’d definitely get off of social media.
I’d stop letting a hypothetical future drive so much of my decision making. I’d start thinking about time very differently and probably subscribe even less to the convention of it that so many of us agree to operate within. And I’d spend even more time with my dog, if that were possible— we’d be operating under a much more similar framework of “lifetime” in that case and I’m sure, as always, she’d have a lot to teach me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.gailshalan.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grshalan?igsh=MTFqejFhbmN5bWdiYQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Image Credits
Jenny Alice Watts
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