When Rachel Crane left the great plains of Kansas for Chicago in 2002, she started her journey into the high stress of live stage shows, commercials and television.
At the time, Crane reunited with her lifelong Macksville High School friend Katie Roenbaugh Schwalb, who was working at the Department of Justice in Chicago.
Crane started her acting career by taking improv training and acting training at The Second City in Chicago. Second City alumni include Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, John Belushi and Steve Carrell.
Improv is mainly about comedy.
“It’s the most fun, liberating form of comedy. You basically get to be children, exploring and heightening your imagination,” Crane said. “In improv, nothing is off the table. The No. 1 rule of improv is “yes, and.” This means to agree with what your scene partner is saying and heighten it.
“For example, if I say, ‘The meeting is at noon.’ A less useful response would be, ‘No it’s not. It’s at 1.’
“But if you responded, ‘Oh my gosh, I know! That’s only two minutes from now, and I’m still drying my silk bloomers in the microwave!’
“Now, you’ve agreed with your partner “and” you’ve added to their statement — raising the stakes. The scene can really take off from there. Of course, another theory of improv, is that there are no wrong answers. You can always turn whatever’s said into gold if you’re listening and want to make your partner look good.
“Improv is a really great way to create written material, too. That is how the Second City creates their sketch revues. They improvise scenes and then write them down and tweak them until they have a show.”
The daughter of Roz and Alan Crane knows that many actors make the mistake of taking the next step before they’re ready.
Before she left Chicago, Crane wanted to make sure she was equipped with all the tools she would need for success, which included a stable income, adequate training and experience.
“My whole last year in Chicago I was so antsy, dying to move, but I knew I had to be smart about it. I had to wait for the opportunities to align,” she said. “As much as I loved Chicago, if I seriously wanted to pursue acting, I had to move to Hollywood.”
She used her degree at Kansas State University to land a job as a project manager and marketing research analyst for The Nielsen Company. She later transferred to Nielsen’s Los Angeles office.
“I had a real life job to support my ‘acting habit,’ and pay for all my classes,” she said. “I worked for Nielsen for eight years.”
Nielsen had a competition among all employees to make a video that would highlight security measures. Crane’s employee-designed video, “Good Morning San Angeles,” won a company award.
“I wrote the script, directed, and acted in it, and we won,” she said. “It was a little unfair that I had access to equipment and excellent actors — but an iPad was on the line, so I went for it.”
During the past year, she used her finance background to take over the family farm’s finances as a part-time job. She helps her father with the farming bookwork, which allows her flexibility to audition during the day.
There is no such thing as a “normal,” day in acting. One day she had three auditions, one at the last minute, and an improv show scheduled at 6 p.m.
“The earliest you get notified of an audition is the day before,” she said. “About half the time, your agent calls two hours before your audition.”
Her husband, Edward, is a self-employed artist/illustrator (www.efhoward.com), so his schedule allows him to drive Rachel to most auditions.
“I would not be where I am without Edward,” she said. “He is my No. 1 cheerleader and helps make decisions regarding my acting career. We definitely work as a team to help each other reach our goals. I could not do this without him.”
She said she has worked really hard to get to this point, but absolutely does not take for granted what a unique and perfect working situation she enjoys.
“My bosses are my dad and me — that’s pretty great!”
Crane has continued working with Second City projects in Los Angeles in addition to her commercial work. She considers her improv classmates her backup support system.
“My improv friends are always genuinely happy for my successes, and I’m happy for theirs,” she said. “It’s so important to have a support group in Los Angeles.”
During the past year, she’s had 43 auditions, 16 callbacks and has booked six commercials.
Crane’s newest commercial recently aired for Kohl’s. Her other commercials are for Verizon Wireless, Cerritos Auto Group, Mattress Firm, Slimful Diet Bars, Gold’n Plump Chicken, Dole Salad Guide, Orange Mobile, Stanley Steemer, The Second City and Gary Lang Auto Group. Crane signed six commercial contracts in 2013.
Crane’s commercial videos are available at (www.rachel-crane.com/Rachel_Crane/Reel.html). Her IMDB link is (www.imdb.me/rachel-crane). Her website is (www.rachel-crane.com).
Crane feels good about where she is commercially. She really likes her commercial agent Hugh Leon and print agent Wendy Bogdan with Coast-to-Coast Talent Group.
“When I’m on set, I really can’t believe my luck,” she said. “Everyone is always so nice to you. They feed you well. They treat you like a star even if it’s just a little non-union job.”
Her most recent television spot was a guest appearance on Basketball Wives of LA, where she guided one of the wives through a Second City improv class.
“I love performing at the Second City in sketch shows and improv show,” she said. “They’ve hired me a few times for paid improv gigs, which is like getting paid to eat ice cream — it’s awesome!”
Her down time is returning to Kansas each summer to help with wheat harvest.
“I love driving the combine and helping out with harvest. It’s so nice to have that bit of alone time on the combine in the middle of nature,” she said.
Her primary goal is having a theatrical agent, who secures TV and film auditions. The tricky part is you need TV/film credits to get picked up by a theatrical agent, but you need an agent in order to get TV/film credits.
“Ultimately, I’d like to have a steady television role or be in films,” she said. “But I’m still taking baby steps...”
A similar conundrum applies to joining the Screen Actor’s Guild Union. Actors generally have to work a union job to get in the union, but you have to be in the union to work a union job.
“Amazingly, I was able to book a SAG job, Verizon, without being in the union, which had been a goal of mine for the last five years,” she said. “So, if you’re right for the job, it’s possible. It’s just very hard.”
Crane believes actors are naturally blessed with a healthy dose of anxiety about the future.
“I don’t think any actor would ever say their job is stable,” she said. “Even the great actors wonder if they’ll ever work again. So, you just have to keep pushing and make informed decisions to ensure that you do.”
Crane doesn’t consider herself a “success,” because actors are always hounded by the question, “What Have You Done Lately?”
Her husband reminds her how far she has progressed. Hundreds of actors are considered for every commercial and casting directors generally see as many as 150 people and call back 50 actors.
“You have to remember those times when you succeed against the odds of this business because they’re often few and far between,” she said. “I feel happy about this year’s commercial success. But I have to keep myself grounded — I may never book anything again. I just work hard and plug along.”
Crane said career disappointments are part of show business.
She wanted to perform on the Main Stage at The Second City in Chicago, but that didn’t happen. She wanted to perform on Saturday Night Live, but that’s unlikely at this point.
“It’s amazing, but you do get used to the constant rejection,” she said. “A commercial techniques teacher told me that casting directors aren’t ‘rejecting’ you — they’re just ‘accepting’ someone else. That was a nice way to put it. I just modify my goals and move on.
“My friend, Jamison Scala, always jokes that my biography will be titled — ‘I Must Win: The Rachel Crane Story.’ ”