Ally Duncan
@allyduncan18 with pups who magically both looked at the camera at the same time as Ally.
-Theatre-
I got ultra lost getting to Ally’s brand new spot. I was also running ultra late. But of course she talked me through getting directly to her gate and smiled and waved as I bumbled out of my car much less put together then she ever is.
Her place is adorable and I was greeted by so many sweet pups that made me feel right at home. We had a bit to catch up on but then got right down to work.
Also, props to me for getting all three of them to look at the same time. It’s like a photograph children or something.
Interviewed 6.6.20
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Casey: So first and foremost, how are you?
Ally: You know, I'm okay. It's a day-by-day. You know, some days are better than others, but there's been time to readjust, I should say. Initially, in the very beginning, I was not doing well. Being an extreme extrovert and having to go into hibernation is not exactly great for me. But as time has gone on, I've sort of grown into what is, you know, people have been saying "the new normal", which I guess is what it is. So now we're kind of in a routine which is good and was going well until about a week ago when all the protests and stuff started happening. And I've been coming to terms with a lot of my own white fragility and trying to educate myself, and educate others, and donate and be supportive. So that's just sort of a day-by-day. I had a total meltdown about it last week, but now we're trying to take time to meditate and to journal and to relax and to focus our energies otherwise.
Casey: How do you find that positivity?
Ally: You know, I think you have to find it in anything. So for me, what really changed, what really helps me—and this is a practice that started about a year ago—is a daily gratitude practice. There are a whole bunch of different ways to do gratitude practice, but I do it every morning where first thing when I wake up I write down the first five things that I can think of to be grateful for. And it can be anything. It doesn't have to be big things, but it can be like I'm grateful for this cup of coffee I'm about to drink or I'm grateful for my sweet pups, which is what I write down a lot of the time because I'm so grateful for them. So it gets your day started off in a positive light that you're immediately celebrating gratitude in the morning.
Casey: What have you been doing during quarantine?
Ally: Well, I'm still working full time. So I work for Cox Reps, which is the division of Cox Media Group in television advertising sales. And we haven't stopped at all. We went into quarantine on March 12th, whenever that Thursday is, and for a while they were just pushing back our back into the office date and then the last big company meeting we had, they just said, "You will be working from home for the foreseeable future." So I'm still working full-time Monday through Friday, which is great and a nice distraction from sort of everything going on. And then I've also been spending a lot of time at my parent's house because I have to have some company sometimes. So it's been nice to be around them. And then I've been doing video submissions for theater because that's all we can sort of do right now. So even things that I probably wouldn't have gone to live auditions for, I've been trying to submit for just to do something, to feel some kind of connection to the arts in some way. And I moved. I moved five weeks ago. So that's what I've been doing. Working on my house.
Casey: So tell me a little bit about the things that you miss.
Ally: I miss people. I miss human interaction. I miss hugs. Being an extrovert, it's hard. I have some friends who are extreme introverts who are just living their best lives right now in quarantine. And so I have to say that I miss people the most, and the people that I love, and getting to see them and being around them. And I miss day-to-day things. Like I took advantage of having to go into the office every single day. You know, I love my coworkers, and I love my team, and I love being sort of in that environment together. And I miss theater. I miss rehearsal. A show ended early and I got a contract dropped during this whole thing. So I miss getting to be around people who love what I love and getting to work on something together. Working alone is challenging for a lot of reasons.
Casey: When do you think you'll be able to go back to the theater?
Ally: I would love for live theater to return. I just went down to the Legacy last night. They're doing “You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown” Legacy on the Lawn. They have a huge field outside of their theater space where they practice social distancing. You didn't touch anything or anyone. They sanitize all of the seating and they've placed all the parties six feet apart. So it was great to sort of experience that. And I hope more theaters will be able to, you know, make some adjustments and adapt to the times until they can be back in their actual spaces because I think that it's something the world needs. I mean, if you know theater history, you know that live theater is there to provide an outlet during sort of dark times. And this has gotten the country through some really heavy things. So I would love to see it. I would love to see it come back sooner rather than later. But I don't know that we'll be sitting in a theater again until 2021.
Casey: Do you think it's because of actors? Do you think people will just be too scared to come?
Ally: Probably both. I think actors are probably ready to get back at it, honestly. Like now, you know, I think that as long as everyone was tested, and no one had a fever, and no one had symptoms. I think actors in a small cast, especially, would sort of be open to it. But I think that people won't come because of age, because of people being asymptomatic, because of previous conditions that make them susceptible or whatever the case may be. People won't come, but also theaters can't accommodate the rules.
Casey: Do you have any new habits or rituals or things that you've started to do in quarantine that you want to take into post-quarantine?
Ally: I've really made it a mission to start cooking. I've never really been a big cooker, like I know how to make a few things and that's it. And so I've taken this time to really try and learn how to cook. Not even just cook, but how to put a meal together … Something I've picked up more than anything is learning how to cook for myself, and just what's better for my body as it is. I think like anyone, there are certain things or items that upset you, upset your stomach or your body more than others. So I've really taken the time to sort of try and figure out what kind of nutrients I need and what things are not, you know, not cooperative with my system. So that's been really great. I feel sort of better than ever and I'm getting way less sick than I used to.
Casey: You talked about how you're sending in auditions. What is it like to try to find the motivation to create during this?
Ally: It's hard. It's really hard. I think everybody is different, but especially still working full time and that being exhausting as it is. For a long time, I wasn't able to see a light at the end of the tunnel and because of that I had a really hard time finding motivation to do anything creative. It was just easier to sulk from my desk to my couch and watch TV until it was bedtime. I also have a really unhealthy relationship with self tapes in general because I am my own worst critic, as I think a lot of actors are. I will self tape and self tape and self tape the same 32 bars for four hours until I feel like it's as good as it's going to be. Which is just not good for my mental health to do that. So finding the motivation is hard because of everything going on in the world and finding the motivation is hard because it's not great for my mental health. So it's been a struggle for me, personally, to do that kind of thing. But I told myself with the last couple self tapes that I did that I'm just going to do it once. I'm going to record it once, and as long as nothing crazy happens, the camera doesn't fall over, dog doesn't bark. I'm just not going to watch it and I'm just going to submit it as is. Because I can't drive myself crazy trying to make this happen … I try and find something creative to do everyday if I can, even if it's just like sitting at the piano for a couple minutes or singing through a song or, you know, jamming out to “Hamilton” for Act 1 or whatever the case may be.
Casey: Yeah. Sure. Do you think you'll keep that idea of just self taping once and sending it?
Ally: If more self tapes come, yeah, probably. Yeah. Once or twice. And just not watching it and picking myself apart, and just sending it off and hoping that it's what they want to see. I feel like that's all I can do, you know. And I don't want that to come across as lazy or like I don't care. It's just merely for my own sanity.
Casey: You know, here we are, 13 weeks in. Pandemic, also massive social unrest. What do you think you'll look back and take out of this time?
Ally: Gosh, I mean, I don't even know. I mean, I hope it's a reflective light about how the world came together during an extremely difficult year. You know, I hope that by the end of the pandemic and by the end of—I mean, obviously, Black Lives Matter will never end, you know. But once we have some new systems and things in place, I hope that I can look back on it as a positive time of change in our world for the better, and for our country and for the people who occupy it. So I hope that even though there have been some dark days, that when we come out [on] the other side, there will be a sense of accomplishment and positive reflection on everything that we had to go through to get to the end.
Casey: We survived.
Ally: Yeah, we made it.
