We recently connected with Brett Michael Lockley and have shared our conversation below.

Brett Michael, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I was heavily inspired by my brother, Eric Lockley who is also a multi hyphenate artist, to earn a full-time living from my creative work. My brother was working at a hotel part time and balancing his time between that and his artistic endeavors but was finding it difficult to truly focus on what he was passionate about. He made a decision to leave his job at the hotel and to pursue his artistic career full time. A few years later when I was auditioning and working a retail job, I realized that I really wasn’t happy working retail, and though I was good at it, it didn’t fulfill me in the ways that my artistic endeavors did, so I took a page from his book and decided that after my next gig, I wanted all of my jobs to fulfill me creatively and artistically. It has taken a decent amount of sacrifice to be able to allow myself to earn a living solely from creative work but it has been so worth it. I don’t take for granted that I get to do something that I love and am passionate about for a living.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born and raised in Baltimore, MD, where I grew up dancing and choreographing throughout my childhood and teenage years. After high school I moved to Philadelphia, PA where I attended the University of the Arts and received a BFA, in Ballet performance. Upon graduating I had the awesome opportunity to spend several years singing, dancing, and choreographing throughout Japan, at Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan. While in Japan I received an IAAPA Brass Ring Award for my choreography/staging of the Violin Trio Show at Universal Studios Japan. While in Japan I fully recognized my passion for musical theater and upon my return to the USA I focused my career on musical theatre. I have had the the great experience of performing in multiple National Tours including Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, CATS, and Motown the Musical, where I was a dance captain for two of the three. I’ve also worked at several regional theaters throughout the country performing in productions of Newsies, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, My Fair Lady, Dreamgirls, and more. After my stint on the First National Tour of Ain’t Too Proud, I served as the Associate Choreographer for the West End premiere of the Broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations. I am currently making my broadway debut as a swing in the revival cast of The Who’s Tommy. In addition to performing on stage, I continue to teach classes, workshops, and choreograph throughout the country. My passion for performance is just a strong as my passion to inspire and share my knowledge and experiences with others.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me one of the most rewarding aspects of being an artist is touching and inspiring others. I think that the work of artist is so special and the ability to make people truly feel something through their experience with your work is so special. I love getting the opportunity to inspire others, whether that be through performance, chats, or teaching. When you see people applying the information you’ve given them, watching them succeed is the most rewarding! If anything that I do or say can inspire someone I am happy, whether that be to be a stronger/better artist or just a better person, it brings me immense joy.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think what most people don’t always recognize is the amount of work we put into our craft and the amount of rejection that we face as theater artist. When you’re auditioning for shows you are subjecting yourself to many no’s, and these no’s aren’t always because you aren’t talented but often are just because you weren’t right for what the creative team was looking for. When auditioning you might make it very far in the audition process and even to final callbacks but never find out that you didn’t book the job. It’s not customary in the theatre industry to send a “rejection letter” or let people know that they didn’t book the job and many artist find out that they didn’t book it when a cast announcement goes out. As an artist we spend countless hours perfecting our craft and are sometimes given 4 minutes in a room to showcase that and prove why you are who they should pick for their show. There is an enormous amount of pressure and vulnerability in these moments and we put ourselves through it again and again and again.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Brett.Lockley
• Facebook: Brett Lockley
• Youtube: Brett.Lockley

Image Credits
Isaac Haig Devin Tyler Hatch Wang Qishu