Brianna Vigliotti, a senior at St. Catherine University (St. Kate's), will take the stage this weekend as Cinderella's Stepmother in the musical Into The Woods. In the following artist interview she shares her joy at being part of a large and talented artistic team, her favorite song from Into The Woods, and how she promotes her theater work.

If you could describe Into The Woods in three words, what would they be?
Brianna: Revelatory. Dynamic. Fantastical.

How did you get involved in this musical?
Brianna: Into the Woods is being put on through St. Kate's Department of Music and Theater where I'm a Theater Performance Minor. Into the Woods was a highly anticipated show, drawing talent, inquiries, and excitement from all over the Twin Cities. I myself was ecstatic that Into the Woods was going to be our big spring musical, especially since it is my last year at St. Kate's! It's a marvelous show packed with so much: love, loss, journey, magic, beautiful songs, humor...it really has it all!

What's your favorite song from the show?
Brianna: I'm going with the song "No One is Alone." It's such a beautiful number, piecing together various characters' journeys, discoveries, and tribulations. It evokes so much feeling inside of you when listening to it. Just when I think I'm not going to get teary-eyed listening to it for the 100th time, the waterworks come right back. It's a fabulous song, and the actors do it a great deal of justice. 

What's the rehearsal process been like so far? What has inspired you and challenged you?
Brianna: The rehearsal process for this show has been an exciting one for me. It had been a couple of years since I had last been in a musical, so it has been a blast getting back into it. Our rehearsals have been an incredibly efficient balance of hard work, learning, and fun. I commend our director, Pamyla Stiehl, for her ability to facilitate this balance as a director; she does it with such grace, intention, and professionalism. We are beyond lucky to have the opportunity to work with her and more importantly, learn from her.

Who do you think will appreciate this play? Who is this show for?
Brianna: I honestly believe almost anyone can appreciate this show. People old and young will recognize these fairytale characters many of us grew up with, but will get to know them in a different light. Not to mention the set, lighting, effects, and entire spectacle as a whole is going to be pretty fantastic. We have an incredible crew that have worked really hard to bring this show to life. I think all audience members will enjoy at least some element of the show (but hopefully all of them!)

How do you promote your theater work and reach out to prospective audience members?
Brianna: I think it goes without saying that social media has been quite a blessing in the promotion world! I definitely always use that to my advantage, posting little photo sneak peeks of our rehearsal process, set, and costumes to get people pumped to come see the show. That usually seems to capture people's attention on social media. However, I have found that in getting people out to see shows, it has always been most effective to personally invite people individually. These days, social media users are so constantly inundated with events and information that I think some things fly right past people. So, I use a combination of promotion tactics in addition to what the publicity team for the show already does.

Video by Claire Frederick.

Charla Marie Bailey is an accomplished theater artist in the Twin Cities. She has written and directed short plays and performed on a variety of local stages. Charla is currently a company member at Theatre Unbound, a leader on the Teen Ivey Awards Committee, and an ambassador for Ten Thousand Things Theater Company. She took some time to chat with me about her artistry and her current experience acting in Ruby! The Story of Ruby Bridges at SteppingStone Theatre, which plays February 5-28, 2016 in Saint Paul.

How do you keep your performance skills sharp?
Charla: I relive [the performance] before I take it to the stage. A mini performance either within myself or in the car or theater space. Then I listen. I'm becoming more comfortable now with acting my lines out at home even if my husband is there; I used to be shy around him. Now I have a "dressing room" at home where I can do just that.

Why were you initially drawn to be a part of Ruby?
Charla: Well, first of all it's a Black history play and I'm always trying to make people aware of the history that we don't want to repeat. Ruby! is a story about a brave little six-year-old girl who dealt with a lot of hate just to go to school with white students and receive an equal education. I also enjoy getting to work with director Anya Kremenetsky again, and working on a play by Christina Ham, a Black female playwright here in Minnesota, is an honor.

What's the process been like so far?
Charla: Rewarding. There are more children than adults in the cast and I've never experienced a kid's show like that before. These kids are doing their thing. You ask, they do. I've also gotten the chance to move muscles both physically and vocally that I haven't used in a while.

What has it been like working with this cast of young people?
Charla: Fun, a lot of fun. I love working with kids. I also know that they are watching me so I'm trying to be the example for them to follow. I'm also watching them and learning as well.

This is the second time that SteppingStone Theater is producing this [Christina Ham] version of Ruby! From your experience so far, why do you think this show has been so popular?
Charla: It's history; people want to hear about it and they want their kids to know about it, and getting kids to tell the story is a great way to do that. These kids are enjoying themselves immensely.

What's next for you?
Charla: I'm working with Theatre Coup D' Etat. I'll be playing Titania in A Midwinter Night's Dream, a role I've always wanted to play. I'm very excited about that and getting to work with the Ivey Award-winning director James Napoleon Stone. This play is actually a Valentine's Day benefit gala for SAVE - Suicide Awareness Voices of Education.

How do you promote your theater work since you work with a number of local companies?
Charla: I do a lot of promotion via social media. I use Facebook, Twitter, occasionally LinkedIn, emails, word of mouth, and if I have postcards I drop those off at local theaters, bring them to rehearsals and pass them out, whatever I can. These interviews help as well, thank you for the opportunity.

The volume of digital communication created globally is growing. It's estimated that every day: 196.3 billion emails are sent; there are 500 million new tweets to read;  4.75 billion items are shared on Facebook; and over 2 million blog posts go live. With the increase in the amount of digital content, there's a very real chance for marketers to make mistakes.

From small typos to career-ending gaffes, there are certainly many opportunities for us to learn from digital communications mishaps. We aren't doomed to make the same errors over and over. And no, you don't have to read any clickbait articles telling you all things you are doing wrong. Instead, let's focus on the creative process and what we can do to learn from ourselves and from others.

If this post made you think of an experience where you learned from a mistake, please consider sharing it in the comments below. What advice would you give to someone in the same situation?

We can learn from each other to communicate better.

Boosting your digital audience engagement, including increasing clicks on your links and having others re-share your content, starts with identifying other businesses and individuals who are thought-leaders in your field. How do you find the experts in what you do? Hopefully, you've already visited your favorite search engine for some basic searches on who to follow in your field. Once you have looked up professional organizations, blogs and podcast creators, and relevant hash tags (#socialmedia, #mplsactors, #websitecreation, #smallbiz, #audiencedevelopment, etc.) you can start to find lots of potential "digital friends."  I recommend building lists on your Twitter account to keep track of these superstars. But also sign up for their email lists, check out their websites and resources, follow them on Instagram and Facebook. Explore what they do and examine what is working well for them and keep in mind your common ground.

Who could you follow on social media?

• First, find your current collaborators, project partners and clients on social media.
• Second, learn who your main competition follows and who is following them.
  
• Finally, identify your ideal clients or collaborators for the medium- and long-term.
  

Expand from there. You will attract like-minded people by keeping your social media posts relevant to your audience and directly linked to your mission and goals.

Connect with your online friends by asking questions, congratulating successes, and re-sharing their posts and content that is relevant to both of you.

Finally, keep in touch with your digital buddies. Watch out for opportunities they might appreciate and help them to expand their online reach. Reciprocity is the name of the game when it comes to social media and engaging your stakeholders online.

Are you a collaborator? A creative? A person with a passion?

Me too. Recently I have been admiring how much entrepreneurs, artists, and small nonprofits have in common: limited people power, grassroots marketing, the need for relationship building, and a lot of heart.

How do we use our limited resources to reach our goals and create success stories?

In both a small organization or a personal business each of your supporters, colleagues, and clients represents an opportunity for growth. This is why so many leaders embrace a business approach that focuses on relationship building including: high quality customer service, personalized communication, and channels for feedback.

Many tools that we use to facilitate relationship building today are technology driven. A strategic combination of email, social media, website, and mission-driven content supports our face-to-face efforts to create connections with our most important stakeholders.

My professional background is a tangled mix of business and nonprofit organizations, and early on I gravitated to arts and performing arts organizations. While, I don't perform anymore outside of karaoke night, I just seem to "fit" better where creativity and people driven missions are pursued. And the best "for profit" teams I have worked with have a passion for what they do and they people they serve. Passion lends itself well to a people-focused, grassroots, marketing strategy. A deep level of dedication and zeal emanates naturally from the people in these organizations and can be captured and shared with social marketing.

Have you had an experience where you truly feel you captured your enthusiasm for your work in a communication? Share below in the comments.

(Above:The Cardinal Restaurant and Bar servers having a silly moment. When the photo was shared on Facebook it connected well with their fans.)