Nick Battaglia
@black_framed_glasses with his very loving and chonky cat
-Theatre-
I got dressed up fancy to go see Nick. I had to try and be at least an ounce as stylish as he is. You walk into his one bedroom apartment and realize just how stylish he really is.
His entire life is 60s-themed. Clothes, pots and pans, home decor. All of it. And is inspiring to see. He took a break from his vintage business to talk to me about what it has been like to lose his creative outlet of prop design.
Interviewed 6.1.20
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Casey: Hi.
Nick: Hello.
Casey: My first question is, how are you?
Nick: Oh, I'm fine I would say. You know, getting along. It's been kind of a weird, like, 75 days? Something like that? I lost count. I think I stopped counting just cause I couldn't do it anymore. So yeah, I would say fine. Today I'm fine.
Casey: How's it been generally?
Nick: So in the beginning it was really difficult. Like there were days when I couldn't get out of bed. And it usually hit like clockwork. There was five or six days and then the sixth or seventh day was, you know, I couldn't get out of bed, couldn't do anything. But I kind of leaned into this and mentally adjusted, so that makes it a lot easier in just accepting that this is the new normal.
Casey: How did you adjust?
Nick: Time. Acceptance. I remember when I first started in quarantine, I was trying to do this as much as possible, work on vintage, and I exhausted myself. And I think that was another reason I crashed so hard, because I was just trying to distract myself in working 10 hours a day in one room in the dark. It was too much. So now it's breaks and outside time. And I don't fear going to the grocery store anymore. That was a huge thing for me.
Casey: How have you learned to manage your time like that? What's made that change happen from like working all the time and then forcing yourself to take those breaks?
Nick: We're not on schedule. Time is a construct right now for me personally. I think it really depends on the individual and who they are. You have your schedule that you stick to and your things that you're doing. But so many of us are on just different timelines. And I have no schedule. So I don't have to do anything.
Casey: What do you prefer, having a scheduler or being in the place we are now?
Nick: Having a schedule. I hate not having deadlines.
Casey: How's your family doing? Have you talked to anybody?
Nick: Yeah, my mom and my dad are fine. My grandmother is fine. My dad and my grandmother are incredibly compromised. So they have to be very careful in what they do. But luckily, my mother is able to mediate between the two because my grandmother can't drive or anything. So she's just had to stay home, but they stay safe as they can be and find ways to do things. But my dad typically doesn't leave the house.
Casey: And you have not seen them?
Nick: I've not seen them since March.
Casey: You talk to them on the phone?
Nick: Every day. I call them every day.
Casey: I love that. So talk to me a little bit about what you've been doing in this weird quarantine middle time?
Nick: Well, I was lucky that I had a large back stock of clothing to shoot. And something always was like, "It doesn't feel right to shoot this now." So I've been doing a lot of that and listing and putting things on my website and my Instagram.
And I've also been doing my own photo shoots, like by myself and little things here and there. They're really silly and they're kind of fun. Like one of them was I dressed up as Mrs. Robinson and Benjamin from The Graduate and put those together. I don't know what made me do that. Boredom. And then my friend gave me her backdrops from her photography school. I filmed a commercial for my business with an app on my phone, which was really fun and silly. What else did I do? Oh, my god. I've been cooking a lot.
Casey: Yeah? What's a normal day like?
Nick: A normal day is get up and make coffee. I'm a list person, so I always make lists. Sometimes it's sorting through these pieces and doing reshoots, editing photos because I have about 8 to 10 photos per item and then there'll be research on the individual pieces. Measuring them. Listing them. Putting them on the website. Promoting them on Instagram. But I will say I have been selling quite a lot. So it's like every other day, every two to three days, I'll be going to the post office.
Casey: How do you feel about going to the post office?
Nick: Fine. You know, what's really funny is the lady at the post office, since I started this a year and a half ago, she's been wearing gloves and a mask ever since she started there. So I always was like, "Oh, well, I feel fine going in." But I wear gloves and a mask when I go there. I'm able to bring the shipping stuff home so I can let it sit. I won't touch it for a few days. But, yeah, I just go to the post office, the grocery store, and the gas station, and that's it.
Casey: What do you miss about before?
Nick: I miss tech week. I miss theatre. I miss being around people and collaborating. You know, I was having production meetings on Zoom and then it got pushed to 2021. What's interesting is production meetings can be done online. They most certainly can. You can have a successful production meeting online. I just miss being with everybody and creating. I miss the theatres.
Casey: When do you think we'll be back?
Nick: I have no clue because Equity is putting a hold on contracts currently. So they don't know when they'll be back. Something that was interesting - I'm not sure if this has been released - but I'm sure nobody would care. There's a great deal of theatres that are working with the CDC and with Emory. And so they'll (CDC) come into the space once all of this starts to get better and be like, “This is what we suggest, how you handle seating, how you handle interaction”, you know, things on that end. Which I thought was really cool. We have that resource here. Let's use it. So I don't know when we'll be back. But that will come about when we do come back.
Casey: And does that make you feel better about going back?
Nick: It does. You know, a lot of the shows that I was working on were less than 10 people anyway. I mean, designers added more, things like that. But I didn't feel in danger.
The other thing is, I know people who have had Covid 19. I just haven't had it within my personal interaction bubble. And so it's been a very different experience of being afraid of something for so long that you can't see and then acclimating to not seeing it. It's just been this very odd trip of like, “where does everybody fit into this?” So it's not something that terrifies me like it did in the beginning, but it's always going to be something that's in the back of my mind.
Casey: Do you think even after you go back to work, you'll be thinking about it?
Nick: I don't know. I honestly don't know.
Casey: So we talked a little bit about how you're still curating, photographing, and selling pieces. And you're creating these fun shoots. What's it been like to create and work during this?
Nick: I think it kind of saved me in a way from just not becoming a vegetable and not falling too deep into something. Work is a huge distraction for me in real life and, I will be so open and honest, theatre really saved me in a sense. When I got sober, I just threw myself into theatre and then having the constant booking last year and working on one show after another. I didn't have time to think about anything else. And from that, I was able to grow as a sober artist. And so having this distraction has been great because it's been giving me something that I love to do that I can take home or is here.
Casey: Do you have any new things that you discovered during quarantine? Like new habits, art forms, or new outlets that you have found during this time that you want to take forward into the “after quarantine” times?
Nick: I have not been prop crafty at all. Which is so bizarre. But I just... There's nothing to do. There's no shows to work on. And I can't really spend money making props for shows that aren't gonna happen.
I've learned how to light so I was really excited about this one. I had this background and I've been lighting it for a while. But then I needed to do hats. So I had to learn how to do hats and how to light from all around. I've got more lights I just had to put them away because they're overwhelming. I learned how to film a commercial and edit it on my iPhone. I have learned that I can not eat out for a solid three and a half months, which was never really an issue. But I'm just shocked that I was able to cook literally for like almost 80 days straight.
Casey: Does it make you feel like this time was useful?
Nick: Yeah, it was because sometimes it's hard to balance this and theatre just because theatre takes so much time. So it was very nice to be able to devote a chunk of time to this and be able to really work. What's interesting is that the results that I'm seeing from this past month, the month of May, are insane. I've never sold this much in one month, in the entire year and a half that I've had this business. And I didn't think that people would want to buy - at the end of the day, vintage clothing is used clothing - buy used clothing off of someone they've never met on the Internet. But you'd be shocked. So I was very excited about that. I do feel like it's been worth it for me.
Casey: What do you think you'll take away from this time? Because it sounds like it's been challenging in certain ways for sure but also something beneficial for you.
Nick: Yes. I'm just gonna say be careful what you wish for, because I remember there was a time when I was like, "I wish I could do nothing but Vintage." And it was like, “stay inside”. And I'm like, "Wait. Not like that. Not like that!" Be careful what you wish for. There are days when I get up and I'm like, "Oh, you have this, this, this and this to do." And then it's four o'clock and I've just napped and made coffee and eaten and that's it. I can't believe how fast time is going by right now. Do you feel the same way?
Casey: Yeah. The weeks feel real fast, the days feel real long.
Nick: For me, it's everything. It flies by! Even when I'm working and doing good work, I look up and I'm like, how is it four o'clock in the afternoon? I usually wake up between seven and eight. Which I feel like is fine. It's not insanely early and it's not sleeping in late.
Casey: So what do you feel like the mornings are spent doing?
Nick: Coffee, talking to my parents. I usually try and make lists, like I was saying, just to get things out of the way. So the morning part of my day is for going out and doing things. Grocery store shopping, going to the post office. Oh, paying bills. Because of how I pay bills and things like that, like today was rent. It's always fun when that rolls around. And then just kind of getting ready and some days, I'm like, "You don't have to." And then other days you can.
Casey: You seem to live your life very structured.
Nick: Yes.
Casey: And the idea that you are now able to have days where it's not so structured and you're okay with that. Is that something you'll take into the future? Like will you give yourself permission to not do something one day?
Nick: Maybe. I mean, there are times, like last year, I remember I had a few weeks off in between shows and I did nothing. Like trust me, I'm great at doing nothing. I just like having structure and I like having a schedule.
