We were lucky to catch up with Erin Tracy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Erin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

My first dollar was actually eighteen dollars and I earned it as a MerPony (half-mermaid, half-pony) in the first showing of an experimental dance-theatre work at a performance series in Brooklyn. I was cast in the piece while I was still an undergraduate student at New York University’s Experimental Theatre Wing. The creator of the piece had been sitting in on our choreography classes, liked my work, and asked me if I wanted to join. I was thrilled. I was also delighted to get that first check and it lived on my refrigerator in a place of honor for a long time until I caved and cashed it because I needed the money.

Now my performance language is comedy, but I very much remain a MerPony at heart.

Erin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Questions like this are so hard. It makes me wish that instead of typing this response alone in my apartment that we met at a coffee shop and you, the interviewer, could write something about how I’m somewhat unassumingly attractive from the right angle, which comes as a surprise after having seen me in photographs. You could describe my eyes and my voice and the indelible bits of my humanity that linger with you long after we’ve finished our green teas. How you were impressed I wore something unpretentious after so clearly spending too much money on school. How I clearly struggled to strike the right balance between not-giving-a-shit and desperately wanting to be liked. Perhaps you’d even mention that I talk too much about my dog, which I often tend to do.

People in the comedy world get mad when you label yourself as anything other than just a comedian – I actually know some folks who have lost opportunities that way – but if I’m being honest with myself and your readers, I’m a performer. The through-line for me is live performance and it always has been. It is my one true love. If that blows up my identity as a comic, so be it.

I did dance and theatre (and failed a few miserable attempts at singing) as a kid, went to a performing arts high school, studied experimental theatre in undergrad, and started making my own dance theatre pieces. I kept on that track and won a few grants, started a performance series, got in to graduate school and got to collaborate with some of the best artists out there. I’ve acted in short films and commercials and video games. Comedy was always there, interwoven in these experiences until eventually I fell victim to the addictive nature of the iterative process of that particular artwork. I took a few classes. As I got better, I realized that I really dig editing through performance and that being able to get onstage three times a night to work out my stuff is stupid dreamy. To say I’m just a comedian is a lie, but stand up comedy is the craft into which I throw all the random skills I’ve learned along the way because it asks you to arrive with your full self every night. It’s live performance on steroids.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Go in person and see art. Interact with the people making the art. Be in the same room with them. Laugh at their jokes, get moved by their trombone playing, shake their hand if you like their painting.

Digital translation is a paltry replacement for experiencing art in person. Treat yourself to the whole experience as much as you can – if you love it on social media you are going to pee your pants when you see it in real life. Want cool people to keep making cool stuff? Showing up is literally the most powerful thing you can do.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I continue to decide to be a female stand-up comedian.

Contact Info:

• Website: erintracycomedy.com
• Instagram: @erintracycomedy
• Facebook: @erintracycomedy

Image Credits
Andrew Max Levy, Greg Feiner, Sela Shiloni, Joanna DeGeneres.