(Photo: Annie Ling)

Case Study No. 1: Actors

Seamus Mulcahy, Hallie Cooper-Novack, and Jillian Taylor
Yale School of Drama grads sharing a three-bedroom in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

What are the perks of living with other actors?
Jillian Taylor: They know exactly what you’re going through. We’re all in this together.
Seamus Mulcahy: I can always ask Hallie and Jill to read with me. They give great notes. Sometimes we run through lines at eleven at night, sometimes seven in the morning.

Any downsides?
Hallie Cooper-Novack: We’re all definitely poor.

Are you competitive, too?
Cooper-Novack: Jill and I audition for the same roles because we’re both redheads. But it’s not weird because we have different qualities as actresses. I’m a little quirky, so I make a good ingenue.
Taylor: It would probably be more competitive if we hadn’t all gone to school together. Seamus and Hallie are like my brother and sister. If Hallie and I audition for the same thing and she gets it, I’d say, “Awesome!” But then she’d have to buy a bottle of Jameson for the house.