Meet Melissa Crabtree and her business An Actor Plans
Since we are always talking about the importance of organization, the first shop we are featuring is An Actor Plans. This shop allows you to personalize and add some Broadway flair to all things productivity. I can't wait to add some stickers to my planner!
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Owner Melissa Crabtree is a musical theatre actor based in Chicago who got tired of writing the word “rehearsal” over and over again in her planner. Crabtree tried and failed to find rehearsal stickers, so she started making her own. And thus the shop was born! Crabtree says "I took my visual eye from directing theatre, and turned it into designing (and teaching myself how to draw in the process) stickers that brought my love of the stage to my planner. The support of this community has allowed me in the past year to severely cut down my amount of side-hustles, and free up time to pursue my passion of performance."
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Where did the inspiration to have your cat be the mascot of your business derive from?
My shop character is based on my real life cat, Mabel. Mabel, as I remind her daily, is the best, cutest, and fuzziest cat in the whole wide world. She does not, however, enjoy being dressed up. But that doesn’t stop me from drawing her wearing my favorite Broadway costumes. I had started with just basic script stickers in my shop, but quickly missed having a little fun character to put on my calendar like I had from other shops for most activities (i.e. laundry, grocery shopping, doctor's visit, etc.) So I sat down with a pencil and my very beginner art skills and Mabel was born! Many hours of practise, and a large handful of youtube tutorials later, I'm really proud of the art of Mabel that I'm currently creating.
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What is your favorite product your shop features?
Anything Mabel, I wear my Mabel Pins daily on my go-to rehearsal baseball cap, or making custom Mabel items based on costumes that my customers (or fellow cast members) wore onstage. My second choice would be the simple script stickers, especially the rehearsal sticker. It was the first one I designed after writing that word a few too many times in my planner, and it's still one of my most used. (Well, not at the moment, but you know what I mean)
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What advice would you give to someone trying to start their own broadway inspired business?
Do your research into copyright and trademark. Be creative, and create something new!
Fun Facts:
What is your favorite meal?
Anything I didn't cook myself ;) (and mac n cheese)
What is your favorite season?
I'm a summer gal, mostly because that means summer theatre season (at my craziest summer I was working on 9 different productions in the span of 11 weeks, including 5 weeks of separate tech weeks in a row!)
What is your go to movie?
I have two rules with movie selection, as long as it includes either - Musical Numbers - or - Explosions - I'm game! (Singin' in the Rain, and Independence Day respectively are the top top choices.)
Where is your dream vacation?
Australia - I Lived there for a year after college performing in a couple of regional shows and I would LOVE to return and see that theatre family once again.
