#NerdsUnite: Big lights, big city, and a journey into confidence

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Jordan Friedman

Hi folks.  I’m Jordan, and I’m excited to be sharing my side of the Nerd World to you all. 

I’m kind of a youngin’ here at just 22 years old; I’m originally from upstate New York and went to college there, however I moved to New York City in August of 2011 to pursue my career full-time. What is this career? I’m a freelance theatre director. What does this actually entail, some might ask? It’s interesting to explain. For whatever show I may be directing, I am in charge of getting the actors to understand the story of the script that they are working on, to make sure that their acting and movements help to convey the story in a vision that I feel best tells all of the elements of said story, and to make sure that the effort in the rehearsal room is understood and felt by the audience. I also will work with designers to make sure that the lights, set, sound, and costumes play their own key role in the play or musical, and that all of these elements work well together. It can be challenging at times but I find that this is the one thing that I have done that leaves me one-hundred percent fulfilled and confident that this is what I should be doing, so I continue to do it.

I’ve considered myself a nerd ever since the idea of being a nerd was introduced to me, and I’ve always partaken in nerdy things. From getting my first exposure to AOL when I was 9 (Does it say I’m old if I remember the days when they had those CDs for free hours), to my days of playing Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh when I was younger, to talking about one of my favorite topics, game shows (It goes so far that one of the more active communities I’m a part of is the viewing audience of a British game show). It’s a part of me I don’t think is going away any time soon.

So now that you know who I am, let me tell you a bit of what I’ll be blogging about.

*My Theatrical Excursions

Considering my career is in theatre as well as it being my main passion, many of my blogs will be about my pursuits as a theatre director.  At present I am attempting to not only direct, but also independently produce a show that I really want to put up. Blogs like these share my experiences first hand so you get to see things as I’m seeing them, learning lessons as I’m learning them, and getting a view of theatre directly from an artist pursuing it. I also at some point will blog why this was not necessarily the career choice people initially expected of me, and how that’s fueled my fire to do it even further and confirm that directing theatre has become not just a career, but my passion. (I won’t say too much here because it probably will need its own blog post)

*My Quest To Improve My Confidence

One of the main reasons I’m blogging specifically for this site is that I find that I provide a voice on a subject that I believe many of my fellow nerds have had to struggle with at one point or another, and that is confidence. This is something I’ve had issues with all of my life and something that has given me great anxiety over the years. These issues, to various degrees, have affected my education, finding jobs, my dating life (…really lack there of but we’ll ignore that) and more. Ever since I’ve moved to New York, it’s been a goal of mine to attempt to improve it and get to the point where I consider myself to be a confident person. I’ll be blogging about these attempts, what has worked for me and how someone can grow confidence. Note that with these blogs I don’t claim to be a renowned expert on the subject, but someone who’s tried many tactics and is willing to share what has and hasn’t worked for me personally.

*Various New York City Adventures

Here’s the thing with New York City if you’ve never been there. No matter who you are, there’s always something enjoyable for you to do in this city. I’ll blog about things I’ve enjoyed doing in this new home of mine, things that have taken me out of my comfort zone, and other aspects of the New York City life that are worth sharing. Plus, with all of the stories of Los Angeles on this blog, there’s got to be some New York based stories to even out the coasts a bit.

*Miscellany

I’m one of those people that if there’s something that I really want to discuss, I’ll talk about it. I might blog about something that I’ve never blogged about before and may never blog again, but if it’s something that I can write a passionate blog about and feel a need to, I’ll do it. I might also share fun past stories that you all can laugh at now, and I’ll probably laugh at when I’m drunk and in my thirties.

So that’s my first blog here at TNTML, hope you enjoyed it and I didn’t just metaphorically do a Clint Eastwood at the RNC. If you’d like, you can follow me on Twitter at the link below, as well as look at my own blog site,  “A Director Blogs” where I post daily blogs about the theatre I’m working on. Until then,

Stay nerdy my friends.

 -Jordan

#nerdsunite

Follw him on Twitter at @jordanbfriedman!

A Director Blogs:  adirectorblogs.blogspot.com