We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elizabeth Ombrellaro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elizabeth below.
Elizabeth, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
When I was an undergrad, I had to face a hard decision of what I wanted to do with my life. I had spent my whole teen years dreaming of becoming an actor and a theatre maker. By the time high school had ended I had devised my own piece with a small theatre company in Seattle and was touring around the state of Washington. It was a good beginning and I thought I would then grow my career consistently. When I got to Uchicago, I was told that the theatre major didn’t have a lot of resources and would thrive if I studied something different and participated in University Theater instead. In retrospect, some friends had different outcomes with doing the TAPS major, so I don’t know how true that advice was but I followed it nonetheless: I decided to invest in a different interest for my college degree. I wasn’t necessarily the most talented mathematician or French speaker, but I got my degrees in both those fields. My resilience partly comes from the fact that I deviated from the path that I thought I would walk down And explored something that interest me which was just as difficult if not more difficult than my dreams. I ended up failing out of a couple of my math classes and was told that I had no future in math; as you can imagine that upset me, so I decided to continue on and fight for something I wasn’t naturally talented at. I graduated and that is sometimes the hardest thing to do in a program like that. It taught me so much because I had never failed at something before on that scale, and I could’ve given up, but I chose to recalibrate my approaches to things and to work even harder. I got told a lot to stay in my lane or no, but I kept on pushing forward and that created the foundation for the resilience I have today. The other part of my resilience, has stemmed from my work recently as an artist. I’ve faced rejections when I was applying for graduate schools: I got into three programs out of 50 that I applied for and that was the wake up call because I thought I had a lot of talent, but it showed me I didn’t really have craft. I was lucky that Atlantic Theatre Company’s acting school took a chance on me. That school taught me how to be even more resilient and resourceful because I had moved to New York City with no support. Just using what I’d earned from my corporate job to move here. We didn’t qualify for student loans at the time so after I paid for tuition, I still had to work part-time/full-time hours in the service industry in order to afford rent and food. Because I had to work and go to school at the same time I got really good at prioritizing what was important to me and also how to be a working artist. The reality is artistry is freelance, and there is no stable income so it was better to learn that 2 1/2 years ago than to graduate now and be naive about how the rest of my life will look. During school I had to face a lot of of my own artistic blockages, my tiredness (physical and mental), and all my insecurities. But if you love something so much, you’ll push through and keep on showing up every day because the value of the work you do means more than whatever issues you’re facing. Right now I’ve been struggling with some health issues and have been in and out of doctor’s and physical therapy appointments and it made it really hard for me to graduate and balance everything. I had just stepped into a new position as managing director, and I was in charge of a lot of administrative work, but I showed up every day even if it was hard because at the end of the day art makes me happy and fulfilled. If I had stopped, it would be a betrayal to my younger self, all of the hard work I put in and all the sacrifices I made, because I still haven’t yet given it my all and would’ve given up too early. Overall, I think my work ethic and resilience stems from an obsession, a constant dream, something that excites me to the point where I keep on coming up with new ideas of shows and films and ways to incorporate people around me into teams. These past few years I’ve built my life around an artistic community, and my friends and family refuse to let me sit around, it’s easier to be resilient and keep on attacking this harsh industry, because my alternative would be shut everyone out and give up and move away. There’s no way my cohort would let me do that, we all inspire and feed off of each other too much. That’s the exciting part about the journey: Is no one’s journey is the same. Despite it’s uniqueness it is also deeply connected with your community and the people you surround yourself with. That being said, I’m excited to see where I end up, and where each and every member of OurGlass Theater Company, the theater company we created together, grows into and ends up as well.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My name is Elizabeth Ombrellaro and I’m an actress based in NYC. I moved from Madison, WI where I used to work in Tech to NYC to study in a conservatory tied to Atlantic Theater Company. This past year I was elected as the Managing Director of our theater company that we formed through my conservatory program (OurGlass Theater Company). All of these experiences have taught me to be a theater maker at large, and what level of organization is needed to make your own work. I’m very excited to find representation in the city as well as make my own work, as I feel that anything is possible at this moment. As for what’s next for me, I spend my time training in bunraku puppetry in Japan, and will be returning this winter. On top of that, this past summer I was working on short films as either an actress or cinematographer, and am developing a new short film. As for my current short film, Lessons, where I was the Director of Cinematography, it’ll be coming out this winter, as we’re submitting to festivals now. I also stage managed a show for the Rogue Theater Festival in December, and our show won their competition, so our team will develop a full length show that will be put up at Flea Theater in the upcoming year.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three important qualities to be an actor: Patience, Vulnerability, and Resilience. I’ve been working professionally for 8 years now, and still have to put my head down and be patient that my next opportunity will come and that the work I’m doing is leading to the next thing, especially when deviations or side paths occur. In order to develop this, I would write down all the things that are in your control and what you can do to act on them. If you do those things, then you’ve done everything you can, and it’s a waiting game at that point. If you have things in your control that make you excited, it makes the time go by quicker to do them.
In terms of vulnerability, I truly believe you cannot show a character on stage or their inner life if you’re not willing to let people in, no matter the character you’re playing. This one is hard to work on: I get afraid of doing things wrong all the time, but in order to be vulnerable, I go up there even if I’m afraid. If I allow myself to believe that I’m a vessel for the character, and that what I’m doing as long as it’s true to myself will give the character the life that is necessary, you can remove your ego from everything and the pressure as well. If you show up as yourself and authentically yourself, and if you’re feeling mad or sad and you’re willing to show it, you’re already in a good place. Breathing and Suzuki training I’ve found also helps.
As for Resilience, you don’t have any control over anything but yourself, and sometimes you don’t even have control of your body. So in order to keep moving forward and take the punches and the rejections, you have to not take things so personally. There are tons of factors as to why you weren’t chosen for the role, which most of the time are 100% out of your control. So you can only work on the things you want to train or get better at, and you can’t change other peoples wants or desire. So as long as you keep having faith in yourself, you’ll be able to move forward and up in the world.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
My father always told me that if he had something he wasn’t confident in, he would train even harder at that. I felt like the longest time I wasn’t physically in my body, or not a good mover or an athlete. I still struggle with learning choreography, but it only has hurt me from shying away and letting these insecurities get to me. By putting myself out there and taking more movement based classes, I have felt more confident in my body and movement in general. It’s not a hard as it used to be. Be it, either my math degree where I struggled, or from my inability to memorize choreography, I keep on pushing forward and what I found once impossible I can get with time. Working on your weakest points first and then developing what you want further will only make you the strongest version of yourself that you can be. Take that extra challenge, face that hard thing head on, because next time around it won’t be so hard.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elizabethombrellaro.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizombrel
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Lizombrel
Image Credits
Ahron R Foster (https://www.ahronfoster.com/index/G0000OUNWuoy7wyU)
John Gargan
Charles Chessler (https://www.charleschesslerphotography.com/)
Jacob Matthews
Linda Betty (https://bettybyrd.myportfolio.com/)
Kenjiro Lee
Barris Unal
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