Meet Kristen Vaganos

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristen Vaganos. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristen below.

Hi Kristen, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout
This is a great question for actors because we operate outside the typical 9-5 work schedule. On set, a typical shoot day is often 12 hours (longer for the crew, that’s another story). And when we aren’t on a job, the ability exists to spend every hour working toward getting a job, and with that, comes the pressure to do so.

There are two sentiments you hear often as an actor. Because there are millions of people pursuing an acting career, the first is that you’ve got to want it more than all the rest and work harder than all the rest. This is true in many ways. Many aspiring actors are lazy and expect it to be handed to them and those who stay in class honing their craft, submit for jobs, work to get reps in, practice, make connections, etc often do have a better chance at success. There is, of course, always the uncontrollable luck, nepotism, and being in the right place right time. But I think that I feel more empowered and in control when I know that at least I am doing everything I can to sustain the fulfilling artistic life that I want. However this constant need to be working can very easily lead to burnout, exhaustion, and even resentment.

But the second sentiment we often hear as actors is that we’ve got to truly live our lives to the fullest so that we’ve got vibrant experiences to pull from when inhabiting a character. How can you portray heartbreak, true joy, betrayal, etc if you haven’t let yourself feel these things? We’re encouraged to take vacations, take risks, fall in love, etc so that we have unique and specific points of view rooted in real truth that seep through into our work and inform our characters .

These two sentiments can seem contradictory at first and I know that I myself have felt anxious that I’m either not doing enough to further my career, or that I’m not allowing myself breaks to just be. As with most things, it’s all about balance and not setting your expectations too high so as to avoid disappointment. I feel most productive when I set realistic goals for myself and reward myself after they’re completed. As an organized Type A girly, I love a To Do List. I’ll often break down my big goals into actionable tasks that can get me there, plan to complete one or two per day, and build in reward for if and when they’re completed. The tasks can range from completing an audition to studying lines to reediting a reel to researching a role to working out to meal prepping for the week and beyond. The rewards can range from a nice dinner out with friends, to a relaxing movie night, to a purchase of a new top, whatever I’m yearning for.

Then of course, you just have to stay in tune with your body, mind, heart and energy levels. If something is upsetting you and you don’t have the stamina you’d typically have on any given day, you’re probably going to do more harm than good stressing yourself out trying to get ahead. Sometimes we just need rest. Sometimes we deserve a week off. Sometimes we really need to get that fricken audition in. So expressing kindness to ourselves and patience is key. Don’t push too hard because of a “should”. Try your best to ignore the pressures of our capitalism hustle culture and be kind to yourself. That’s my advice TO MYSELF and maybe to someone else reading haha.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Right now I am juggling my role as Molly on ABC’s General Hospital with a play that opens on August 10! I am also selling a feature I produced titled Ramona At Midlife and am producing two shorts films.

The play is a new comedy called Human Error by Eric Pfeffinger at the Rogue Machine theatre company in West Hollywood. I haven’t done a full theatrical production since I was living in NYC and I’ve missed theatre so much. For any LA based readers, you can come see the play running August 10-September 8. Grab tickets here: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/human-error

HUMAN ERROR

In this Off-the-Clock comedy, Madelyn and Sameer are NPR-listening, latte-sipping blue-staters who are planning a family. Or they were, until they learn that because of a mix-up at the fertility clinic, Madelyn’s embryo was accidentally implanted in another client’s uterus. That news is hard to take; fostering a relationship with the other couple, NASCAR-loving NRA cardholders, is even harder.

Can these polar opposites make it through nine months of gestation without killing one another?

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?
Honestly the thing I would most attribute any “success” or impact in my journey as an artist to is that I say yes to every opportunity. I’m very much someone who says yes to anything being asked of me and figures out how later. Whether it’s the first film I produced on my own, or the movie in which I played a professional dancer, when something scares me, I just say yes. I feel that this way of being open and explorative and willing opens me up to connections I’d never otherwise have had and trickles into future opportunities in ways I couldn’t have anticipated. Now don’t get me wrong, this can become problematic and I’ve burnt out my energy plenty of times so I wouldn’t necessarily suggest being as insane as me, but when an opportunity presents itself, I can almost always find some value in it, some reason to say yes. Is this a team of creatives I haven’t worked with before who excite me? Would this require a skillset I don’t currently have but would love to be forced to learn? Does this challenge me in a way that scares me but is ultimately good for my growth? Gosh the movie Yes Man was so good, wasn’t it?

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
In the past year, I’ve put much more of my focus on writing. I’m thankful to General Hospital for the consistent employment which allows me time to write on my off days. I currently have a feature film and two pilots in development and am excited to pursue their momentum this year. For as much as I’ve produced, and as many times as I’ve brought someone else’s vision to life, I’ve never actually made a film of my own so I’m hoping that’s in the cards for next year!

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Mahina Choy, Zach Kemper, GETTY: Christine Bartolucci, ABC General Hospital

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