Handling Rejection in Theatre
Make it Sparkle Video with Leah Horowitz
Professional Actor & Singer
(2:32) runtime
Director’s Notes
In this segment, Leah discusses
Why it’s important of have a life outside of the Theatre.
Knowing your self worth and not putting all of it into a role or audition.
There’s always something around the corner. There are other roles out there for you.
Having faith that the roles you lose aren't the ones for you. And that there are roles for you out there.
About Leah Horowitz
Leah Horowitz was born and raised on Staten Island, home of the Staten Island Ferry, Ralph’s Ices, and the best pizza in New York City. Raised by a speech pathologist mother from West Virginia and a banjo player father from Brooklyn, Leah grew up with no discernable New York accent in a house filled with music and cats. She and her mother were heavily involved in community theater (as actor and costumer, respectively), and spent most of their nights and weekends with show people. When it came time to go to college, Leah thought she’d major in some sort of science – acting seemed too impractical and unstable a profession. An acceptance to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts changed her mind. Cut to the present, and Leah still sometimes thinks maybe she should’ve been an engineer. Don’t ask her which kind – she just likes the sound of it.
However, seven Broadway shows and many regional credits later, Leah has to admit she has done reasonably well. She last appeared on Broadway in the acclaimed revival of Follies as Young Heidi, and, more recently, has been a principal singer several times for New York City Ballet. She has been seen on TV as a sassy nun in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live, and at Madison Square Garden performing with Phish in their New Years Eve concert (twice!). She has been heard in numerous commercial jingles, including singing “Mm Mm Good!” for Campbell’s Soup. The pandemic prompted her to build a home recording studio, and she has now narrated over 20 audiobooks. All in all, not a boring life.
Leah lives in New Jersey with her husband Matty D Stuart, actor and DJ extraordinaire, her daughter, Penelope, and her dog Ruby. In addition to work, she enjoys reading the latest great novels and then making her friends read them, watching too many TV shows, knitting, eating sushi, and visiting HomeGoods regularly.