Ahead of her one-woman show All These Pretty Things at the Australian Theatre Festival later this month, musician, photographer, writer and theatre-maker Tracey Yarad talks to us about starting over, finding her own little village in New York, and the creative power of reinvention.
What brought you to New York?
My road to New York was fairly circuitous. I toured Australia with my original music, had a Top 40 single in the ’90s, spent seven years performing in Japan, and later settled in the Blue Mountains, where I ran a music school for eighteen years.
I came to New York after my 23-year marriage ended. I needed somewhere to start again — somewhere that didn’t carry the memories of my old life. The US was one of the few places I had never travelled with my ex, and I loved the idea of arriving in a city where nobody knew me and I could simply discover who I was now.
New York had also always felt like a kind of pilgrimage for me as a musician. So many of the artists I admired lived and worked here, and I wanted to be right in the middle of that extraordinary creative energy — to play, listen, learn and become part of it.
What I didn’t know then was just how profoundly the city would allow me to reinvent myself. I arrived as a pianist and singer-songwriter, and somewhere along the way became a photographer, writer and theatre-maker.
Where do you live? Why did you choose that area?
I live in Brooklyn, and I love having a little breathing room from Manhattan while still being incredibly close to it. I love the brownstones, the neighbourhood feeling, the waterfront and the sense that you can actually have a local life here. There are also more dog parks. I have a border collie and she needs to run. Although these days she seems to prefer cafes.
What do you like/dislike about living in NY?
I love the energy, the extraordinary concentration of creative people and the feeling that anything could happen on any given day. I love that people keep doing things here — they don’t seem to accept an age at which you’re supposed to disappear. What do I dislike? The expense! And occasionally I’d quite like New York to turn the volume down.
Any advice for people moving to NY?
Don’t be frightened by New York’s reputation. When I told friends back in Australia that I was moving here by myself, there was definitely a sense of, Are you sure? Isn’t New York incredibly hard? Hard to make friends, hard to make money, hard to find your place.
My experience has been almost the opposite. New York may be enormous, but to me it feels like one big mountain village. You start recognising the same faces, bumping into people on the street, finding your café, your local places, your creative community — and suddenly this gigantic city becomes surprisingly intimate.
My advice is: don’t wait until you feel established before you start participating. Go to things. Talk to people. Support other people’s work. Say yes. Be curious. New York gives back enormously when you engage with it. You don’t have to conquer the whole city. You just have to find your little village inside it.
As a professional working in NYC, what are the differences from working in Australia?
New York moves incredibly quickly. People are ambitious and direct, and there’s an extraordinary density of talent and competition. But I’ve also found tremendous generosity. People recommend one another, introduce one another and show up for one another. Australia gave me the space to develop; New York constantly challenges me to sharpen what I do.
Any advice for other professionals working in NYC?
Don’t take everything personally — and develop a slightly thicker skin! New York is full of extraordinarily talented, opinionated people, and if you’re putting creative work into the world, not everyone is going to love what you do. Learn to listen to criticism without allowing it to define you. Sometimes there’s something incredibly valuable buried in it; sometimes it’s simply one person’s opinion. Learning to know the difference is important.
And don’t confuse “no” with “never.” A door closing doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the wrong path. Keep creating, keep showing up, keep meeting people and stay open to the unexpected. Some of the most important connections in my New York life have come from tiny venues, someone else’s show, a jam session or a conversation over coffee.
You need resilience here, but you also need to remain porous enough to learn.
Anything you miss about Australia?
My family and friends — enormously. And the beaches! I’m sorry, New York, but the beaches here just don’t cut it for an Australian. I pretty much never go. I save my ocean swimming for when I’m back in Australia, where I can have a proper swim in the sea. Yes, there might be sharks… but apparently that’s a risk I’m prepared to take!
I also really miss the Australian sense of humour — that dry, irreverent way we have of looking at the world and not taking ourselves too seriously. I miss the way we shorten absolutely everything in the English language, sometimes beyond recognition. And I miss the swearing! Australians can turn a good swear word into a noun, verb, adjective or term of endearment. I do love a good swear.
Three words to describe New York
My own cosy, crazy, creative city. Okay, that’s four — but New York has never been particularly good at following rules.
Got any hidden gems?
The beauty of New York is that I keep discovering hidden gems — and if I tell you all of them, they won’t be hidden anymore! But the first one that comes to mind is Philip Williams Posters on Chambers Street. It’s this extraordinary place filled floor-to-ceiling with vintage posters — you could lose hours in there. And then, tucked away among all those posters, they host secret, intimate jazz gigs. That’s the kind of thing I love about New York: you walk through a door and discover an entirely different world.
If you didn’t live in NYC, you would stay the night at…
The Warren Street Hotel in Tribeca. The interiors are by Kit Kemp and they are completely to die for — colour, pattern, art, beautiful fabrics, fabulous furniture. It’s sumptuous without being stuffy and feels like somewhere you could happily move into and never leave.
When you need retail therapy, you run to…
That’s easy — I can get that kind of therapy absolutely anywhere! Most recently I spent a beautiful day in Hudson, slowly trawling through all the gorgeous shops. No frantic shopping, just wandering, fossicking and discovering things. I came home with some lovely new pieces for winter, so apparently the therapy worked.
Favorite NYC cultural hotspots
I’m an experimental-music girl at heart, so The Stone is a favorite — I love avant-garde music and hearing artists take risks. I also love Public Records in Brooklyn and Bar LunÀtico. But I shouldn’t make this entirely about music! St. Ann’s Warehouse is one of my favourite places for theatre, and I love the Brooklyn Museum. One of the great luxuries of living here is having so much extraordinary art and performance practically on your doorstep.
Favorite NYC brunch spot
My newly discovered Warren Street Hotel. Find yourself a sumptuous armchair or couch, settle in with delicious food and lose a couple of hours. And — extremely important in my world — it’s dog-friendly!
Favorite NYC cocktail spot & cocktail of choice
I’m not a big drinker, but put me on almost any New York rooftop with a cocktail and a view and I’m happy. Having said that, I almost forgot the obvious answer: the Negroni at Via Carota in the West Village. That one is very hard to beat.
How did you get into your job in NYC?
I’m not sure I ever “got into” one job! I arrived as a musician, pianist and singer-songwriter and gradually built a life in New York’s music community, performing and also working as a jazz photographer. Then something completely unexpected happened: the end of my 23-year marriage became the catalyst for writing my first one-woman musical memoir, All These Pretty Things. That show has taken me to Edinburgh, London, Adelaide, Los Angeles and now back home to New York. Reinvention seems to be my occupation.
What do you like about being part of AWNY?
There’s something wonderful about finding Australian women on the other side of the world who understand both where you came from and the strange, exhilarating business of making a life in New York. I love the generosity of women supporting other women and celebrating what Australians are doing here. And, quite frankly, I also love having another excuse to get out, sit down with some fabulous Aussie women and have a coffee, a drink and a good old chat.
What was your biggest win this week?
Bringing All These Pretty Things to New York as part of the Australian Theatre Festival at Theatre Row feels like a pretty enormous win. This little show that began with a very personal upheaval has now travelled around the world, won Best Music Production at Adelaide Fringe this year, and is about to be performed in the city I now call home. That feels very special.
What’s the biggest challenge or roadblock you’ve faced since being in NYC and how do you overcome it?
Starting again. New York is full of extraordinarily talented people and nobody particularly cares what you did somewhere else! You have to show up, make connections, do the work and keep going. But that’s also what I love about it. New York constantly asks you: “Okay, what are you going to do now?” My answer has been to keep creating.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given about living/working in NYC?
My dear friend Chano Domínguez, who was my roommate here for a couple of years, really helped me find my feet in New York. His advice was beautifully simple: just keep creating. Play, write, go to the jams, meet people, participate — be part of the city and everything it has to offer. Don’t sit at home waiting for something to happen. New York rewards participation, and I’ve tried to carry that advice with me ever since.
Who are some Aussie ladies doing awesome things in NYC who are currently on your radar?
The winner has to be Natchie — Nadia Ackerman. She’s a firecracker, a pocket rocket, a wind-up toy with everlasting batteries! I honestly don’t know where she gets the energy. She just keeps growing, moving forward, creating and building things, while being an extraordinary businesswoman at the same time. She’s my Aussie hero here in New York.
Emmanuelle Zagoria is another Australian woman who really inspires me. She’s a musician, writer and creator who somehow keeps taking the seeds of her ideas and turning them into actual work on a stage — and then she starts writing the next thing. What particularly inspires me is the discipline behind that creativity. She deliberately removes herself from the distractions of everyday life, goes into the studio and gives her ideas the time and space they need to become something real. As a fellow creator, I find that enormously inspiring.
What things do you do to keep homesickness under control?
I’ve spent much of my life moving between countries, so my idea of “home” has changed enormously. One of the discoveries behind All These Pretty Things is that home isn’t necessarily a house, a country or another person. Sometimes home is simply where you stand. But I also keep regular company with my Australian friends here — there’s nothing quite like being around people who share your humour, your references and your language. And hearing an Australian accent in New York still makes me turn around!
What are your favorite ways to connect with Aussie culture in NYC?
Through my Australian friends, Australian artists and events like the Australian Theatre Festival. There’s something very special about seeing Australian work celebrated in New York without having to make it less Australian for an American audience. And I love that our little Australian community here gives you the best of both worlds — you can be completely immersed in New York and still find that unmistakable piece of home when you need it.
Tracey Yarad will be performing her one woman musical memoir All These Pretty Things as part of the Australian Theatre Festival from 29 September to 4 October.