I am super excited to share another Backstage Sessions interview with all of you featuring one of my favorite Broadway dresser babes, Ashley Timm! I thought December was an appropriate time to post this interview, because the classic show Ashley is currently working on, Cats, closes at the end of the month. We met years ago through my bestie LJ and really bonded when she started working with me as a swing dresser at the musical Aladdin. I adore Ashley because she is hilarious, incredibly kind, inspires me to live my best life and gives the best bear hugs. I hope you all enjoy Ashley's interview and taking a little peek backstage at the Neil Simon Theatre!

How long have you been a dresser on Broadway?

Just over two years!

What was the first broadway show you ever worked on?

The King & I at Lincoln Center was the first Broadway show I was a swing dresser on, as well as the show that eventually would become my first full-time Broadway gig.

What is your favorite show you've ever worked on?

This is a hard one, I’ve had a LOT of really wonderful theater experiences, and it’s hard to pick between some of them. One of the first shows I worked on, and the show that I really feel set a lot in motion for me as a dresser was this off-Broadway show written by Ryan Scott Oliver called Jasper in Deadland. The entire cast was absolutely wonderful, and it was a creative team that did some beautiful work. It was also a show that to this day is one of my favorites. I also did a workshop of a musical at Goodspeed called My Paris, based on the life of French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Again, it was a cast that I absolutely adored, and had so much fun working with, another brilliant creative team, and this time an out of town run which sometimes felt like adult summer camp. And the last (but absolutely not least) show that I have to mention is The King & I. I couldn’t have been luckier to have my first Broadway show be one as classic, stunning, and well done as that. I met some truly incredible people and learned a LOT about the industry and how to do my job well. It’s a show and an experience that I think of fondly very often.

Who is the coolest celebrity you've ever met at work?

I once did a short film that starred Ralph Macchio, which was so cool for me because I LOVED the Karate Kid and The Outsiders as a kid. My last day on set, it took A LOT of willpower not to tell him to stay golden when I said goodbye.

Also, I have to mention Kelli O'Hara. She is without a doubt one of the kindest, most talented, most professional, hardworking people I've ever encountered. It was a complete honor getting to work on a show with her, and even though I didn't dress her directly, her spirit and love really helped make that show as brilliant as it was.

What is the most interesting or challenging change you’ve done in a show?

There are two I can think of off the top of my head that were both crazy and challenging, but also really, really fun. One of them, I rode around on the stage in a mirror box, and did changes with actors as they passed by, both the set piece I was standing in and the actor moving as we did it. The other one involved doing a full change of three girls from period dresses into can-can dresses (complete with corsets), and then back out of can- can dresses into skirts and full length coats/hats...both having to be done in about 30 seconds respectively. In both of those changes, they were super challenging initially, but once I figured out the rhythms, they became my favorite parts of the show.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

All of the people I’ve met and worked with though this job. I’ve made some lifelong friendships, and met some people who have had a massive influence on my life in varying ways. I think I’ve grown and changed so much (in the best way) through the people I’ve met through theater.

What is the most surprising part of your job?

How much glitter I end up with on me every day. Even when it’s a show that doesn’t have glitter, somehow, I end up with glitter on me. It’s a phenomenon I can’t explain or understand, but glitter. It’s everywhere and it never dies.

What is the most challenging part of being a dresser?

You really have to think on your feet, sometimes within split seconds. The thing that makes this challenging is sometimes, when things go wrong you don't have time to run and grab what you need or who you need to fix the issue, so you have to think fast and find the best solution possible. I once had an actress's costume fall apart literally as I was zipping her into the top - it just came apart, and there was no time to sew her in or run and grab a back up piece. Her entrance for her solo piece was in actual seconds, so I looked at her and said "trust me" and gave her the shirt off my back. I'm not kidding, I took off my black shirt, put it on her, safety pinned the costume to the shirt, and got her onstage. Perhaps not my most eloquent moment, but no one was the wiser (until I had to ask my stage manager if I could borrow her sweatshirt for a few minutes), and it solved the problem in that moment. So. Yeah. Split second problem solving is definitely the stuff that makes me sweat (but I also secretly kind of love it).

What is it about this job that makes you come back each day?

Paycheck and nude bodz? Okay, okay, in all seriousness, as cheesy as it sounds, getting to be a small part of helping create something really beautiful and magical, something that’s bigger than me, is so insanely rewarding. Theatre is such a cool experience because we’re asking people to come into this space, turn off your phones, ignore the outside world for the next three hours, and just exist in the reality that we’re creating for you. We get to transport people into another world - be that another era, another reality, whatever - and they get to physically be there with you. The characters are right there, the sights, the smells, the sounds, it’s all real right in front of you, which I think is what makes the world of theater so much more of an experience than say, going to a movie. We have the ability to truly transport people to another place, which is wild and beautiful in so many ways. So getting to be a cog in the machine that makes that happen is insanely rewarding to me. Theatre has changed my life in so many ways, and I can only hope that this little skit that I get to be a part of is also impacting people in some way, small or large, and knowing that makes long days or crazy moments incredibly worth it, and makes my job as a whole completely and insanely rewarding.

What was your best day ever on broadway?

I've had a lot of really great days on Broadway, but I think my best day (so far) was my first day ever working on Broadway. I moved to NYC specifically with the goal of working on Broadway, and even though it wasn't in the exact capacity I thought it would be in, it's still a literal dream come true. The very first day I worked on Broadway felt a little surreal; I didn’t think I could actually be there, really backstage on a Broadway show, working in a world I’d always dreamed of working in. I was BEYOND nervous, positive that someone would discover I was a complete fraud and shouldn't be there - I'm sure I had a total deer in headlights look the whole time. But regardless of how terrifying it was, it was also insanely thrilling, incredibly humbling, and truly, truly wonderful.

What piece of advice would you give your 25-year-old self?

Stay true to yourself and never stop fighting for what you believe in. Be kind to every person you encounter, regardless of how they treat you. And as Hanson taught us, hold on to the ones who really care because in the end, they'll be the only ones there.

What is the best advice you've ever been given?

My fitness (and life) guru (the man, the myth, the legend) Mark Fisher, taught me this phrase that was so powerful to me, it honestly caused me to stop for a moment when I first heard it. "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." It's such an important ideal to carry through life, regardless of what you're applying it to. Far too often, we're climbing toward the mountain top, and in our ascent our need to do it "perfectly" leads us to giving up before we ever reach the beautiful view at the end. We get wrapped up in the smallest of details and worry over doing it all absolutely and one hundred percent right - we don't stop to take a step back, see the bigger picture, and realize that it's not all black and white, all or nothing. Mistakes and happy accidents will always happen, but striving to avoid them at all costs can actually mean missing out on something truly rich and wonderful, or giving up all together because you couldn't do it "perfectly". Aim for the good, do as well as you can, and if it's a little less than perfect, I promise you'll still enjoy the view.

What is your favorite Backstage Blonde memory?

Unrelated to theater, one evening after a group of us had been out and about, being only SLIGHTLY rambunctious, an impromptu slumber party was thrown at my apartment. I remember texting Teale saying something to the degree of "sleepover. My place" and her response was something like "already on my way." It turned into a night of pizza and movies and telling stories, and even though it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it was still a really fun and memorable evening.

Fun Facts:

What was the first Broadway show you ever saw?

The first Broadway production I saw was Wicked in Chicago, but the first TRUE Broadway show I saw was Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.

What is your favorite Broadway show you've ever seen?

Hair. Forever and always and forever Hair.

What is your favorite NYC restaurant?

Quality Meats. But also Empanada Mama.

How long were you a swing dresser? (A swing dresser isn't full time at a show but fills in whenever a full time dresser takes off work.)

I was a swing on a few different shows at various points between full time work - anywhere from a week to six months.

What is your favorite costume in Cats?

Not to play favorites, but Rum Tug Tugger. I like to refer to him as the "Hedwig Cat" - a little rock and roll, a little sexy, and a little mischievous.