#18 - Aneesa Folds: Freestyling Through the Fear

Welcome to a beautifully reflective and creatively charged episode of *Entre Acts* with host Linedy Genao! This week, Linedy sits down with the versatile and courageous Aneesa Folds. The two area natives jump into a standard game of dominoes, sharing a hilariously fierce debate about whether New York or New Haven, Connecticut has the truly superior pizza, before Aneesa maps out her ultimate bodega run—from a classic morning bacon, egg, and cheese on a toasted roll to a late-night chopped cheese. Aneesa also reflects on her deep roots in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, sharing how being surrounded by her Guyanese and Caribbean community keeps her grounded in the center of it all. Moving into the heart of the *sándwichito* format, Aneesa opens up about the "dreaded question" artists face when they aren't attached to a current playbill. She gets candid about navigating a severe financial lull two years ago, counting her coins paycheck to paycheck, and how that uncertainty sparked a creative awakening to write her own one-woman show, *Why Am I Here*. Aneesa details the raw anxiety of putting herself in the deep end, working through panic attacks with her director from Second City, and learning to speak to her inner child with positive affirmations rather than a harsh inner critic. Finally, the duo explores the absolute freedom of improvisational storytelling, with Aneesa sharing the invaluable lessons of forgiveness and turning mistakes into patterns that she mastered on Broadway with *Freestyle Love Supreme*. Aneesa Folds is a multi-talented actor, improviser, and songwriter whose bold career spans from the Broadway stage to major digital media and television. She made her spectacular Broadway debut bringing the house down in the hit improvisational musical *Freestyle Love Supreme*. Her notable screen and vocal credits include appearing in Lin-Manuel Miranda's film adaptation of *Tick, Tick... Boom!*, *Sesame Street*, and singing on *The Warriors* concept album. An alumnus of the musical theater program at the University of Hartford, Aneesa is the creator and star of her original developmental one-woman show, *Why Am I Here*, and recently finished a hilarious comedic run playing an 11-year-old in *Ginger Twinsies* This episode is powered by WelcomeToTimesSquare.com, the billboard where you can be a star for the day. **Connect with Linedy and Aneesa:** - IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@linedygenao⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - IG & TT: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@entreacts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - IG: @aneesafolds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices