S2E9: Theatre in the Classroom: Zombie Thoughts

RAC member and director Elizabeth Dowd is joined by Theatremaker Apprentices Diamond Gloria Marrow and Bruce Gomez, and Guest Actor Jack Sullivan to discuss BTE's touring Theatre in the Classroom (TIC) production, Zombie Thoughts. 

The play is set in a live-action video game where the levels get harder and harder, and you don’t get to quit playing! This interactive, choose-your-own-adventure performance is designed to help students identify and navigate debilitating anxiety (or Zombie Thoughts) as it gets in the way of winning the game. The cast shares insights on the rehearsal process, the history of TIC, and what they hope students will get from this experience.

Zombie Thoughts is on tour March 18th-May 26th. To book a performance at your school, church, or organization visit our website www.bte.org.

Recorded and Edited by: Amy Rene Byrne
Original Music by: Aaron White

Transcripts of all Season 2-4 episodes are available on our Buzzsprout website.

Check out our current season: http://www.bte.org
Ensemble Driven. Professional Theatre. Arts Education. Rural Pennsylvania. For Everyone. With Everyone.

Transcript

Theatre in the Classroom: Zombie Thoughts

Elizabeth: Welcome to Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble Down Center, a podcast where we explore our company, our people, our art, and our town-- front and Down Center. Hi, I'm resident acting company member Elizabeth Dowd, and I'm the director of this year's theatre in the Classroom touring production, Zombie Thoughts. And I am sitting here with the amazingly talented cast of our show, and I'm going to let them introduce themselves.

Bruce: Hi, my name is Bruce Gomez. I'm a Theatremaker Apprentice here at BTE, and I am playing the role of The Game in Zombie Thoughts.

Jack: Hi, my name is Jack Sullivan. I'm the guest artist for the TIC show, and I play Sam and Pig.

Diamond: Hey y'all, my name is Diamond Gloria Marrow, I'm a Theatremaker Apprentice at Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, and I also play Sam and or Pig.

Elizabeth: Well, now, why Sam and or Pig? Are you double cast or what's the deal?

Diamond: We are not double cast, this amazing playwright and her son have decided to give autonomy to the audience, or as we refer to them lovingly as, "The Players" of this video game. Jack and I are both cast as Sam and Pig, and the players, every time we do the show, get to choose who plays Sam and who plays Pig.

Elizabeth: That's pretty cool. Well, now let's back up a little bit and figure out what is theatre in the Classroom? Theatre in the Classroom is, a small format touring show that BTE envisioned and has done for, I think at least 43 years, I don't think we did it the first couple years, but, very soon we recognized that, uh, in this part of Northeast Pennsylvania, there wasn't a of live theatre and that it was super important that we take theatre to the schools that we couldn't always expect them to come to us.

So, we created, I think the first one we ever did was called Wise Men of Chelm it was Jewish folk stories. And we took that all around, Northeast Pennsylvania. And then eventually tours started to happen sometimes up in Connecticut, sometimes Maryland. But basically theatre in the classroom is an interactive 45 to 50 minute show.

Up until this year, all the scripts have been originally generated by someone working on the show. and this is the first year that we have taken a script from a playwright outside of our immediate world and the playwright for Zombie Thoughts is Jennifer Kokai and her son, Oliver Means-Kokai.

And this is a piece that they created together exploring the idea of young people who experience anxiety. And, Diamond, as you said, making it into an interactive game with the audience where the audience is making real time choices. So that's the history of TIC, you get in a van, you drive to a school, you set up, you do your show, sometimes you do two shows, on a tough day you do three shows, you get back in the van, you drive home and you go to sleep, and, the tour is available for ten weeks.

Diamond: Elizabeth, I have a question for you. What was it like writing all of these scripts for TIC way back when?

Elizabeth: Oh, it was great. I, I loved it because it's a short format and because there are certain parameters, you know, you want to have audience interaction, you know, you want to have comedy, you know, enough comedy to hold the kids interest.

 But it has to be portable. There are all these parameters and the smallness of the size and the small cast size make it so that it is a manageable thing. It's not the size of a play. It doesn't have that scope and the smaller scope made it not so intimidating. 

Diamond: Right, right, right.

Bruce: I'm curious to know, so it's my understanding from my limited knowledge of TIC that the previous productions have mostly been related to historical figures or historical developments. Has that been the case that most of these TIC productions have been historical fiction?

Elizabeth: Actually, no. In the early years, they were almost always based on folk stories. We would do folk stories from Japan. We'd do folk tales from Russia. And so they were very story based and there would be several stories like little chapters within a play.

And then we started to hear from teachers as we asked them what would be helpful to them. We started to hear that they were really interested in things that they were teaching that would augment what they were teaching. And for the kids who aren't. excellent readers, seeing it would be such an asset and that we could bring more to the story than they were necessarily able to spend time on.

So we started looking at things like Westward Trail. And then at some point, when state standards changed, we really had to focus on things that are curriculum based. So we always ask teachers what they want to see. And so they'd say, how about something about space? We, you know, we teach space, but we don't really get to go into the kind of places that you would take a story about space..

So, a couple of years ago, Amy and Richie worked on a TIC about, space so we've done all kinds of topics. This year is a departure from that because this is the first time that we are doing something that isn't curriculum based. It is life based. And I'll let one of you talk about that.

Jack: For sure. Yeah, this show is really interesting in a way that it is tackling a life issue as Elizabeth described it. Using tools and using techniques to sort of, understand what it is that anxiety is and how children can navigate that over the lens of video games.

 And I really like that. I think it's really cool and I think it's really interesting and it's a good concept and it's a good way to introduce it to kids because it's something that they're so familiar with. Ya know? 

Diamond: Or they could be unfamiliar with it and truly not know how to navigate it. They may understand that there's something, that goes on with their bodies and their minds, and they may not be able to put a name to what's happening, or there, unfortunately, are plenty of people around the world who ignore things like this and this production is a perfect example of why children need theatre live theatre why adults need live theatre we had our first actual performance today At the Bloomsburg Public Library shout out to them thank you so much for letting us use your facilities and we had more adults than children in the audience And I don't know about y'all but these adults were e eating it up.

They loved every aspect of the show, and I think the adults walked away with potentially more than what the children did. 

Jack: Well yeah,, I mean, Sam is a nine year old, so, while it is written for the sort of mindset of a child, the topic of anxiety can be, you know, attached to all ages, so even at my age now, I was like, wow, I really identify with the techniques and everything the show has to offer. At this moment, I related to it right now.

So it's not just a show that only children will find something in.

Elizabeth: And always when we do TIC, we're aware that although we're doing it for the students, there are teachers and we always like to have things that offer teachers something that's useful to them, but also to entertain them, they, that's, that's hard work. So we look for those teacher jokes, those moments, and I think this script has those.

I'm interested to know, Bruce, more about your role, because we've heard that Sam and Pig can be chosen in the moment. What about your role?

Bruce: I play the role of the game, which effectively means that I'm there to sort of catch everything that Sam and pig cannot while the show is running. So what that means is supplying them with props and costume pieces and changing scenery. And on top of that, working sound cues for the show. It's a little bit of everything in that kind of role.

And I have the ability to interact and the privilege to interact with the audience members. And to elicit reactions from them to get their participation. So that's sort of my, my role in this project.

Jack: Yeah, in a sense, you're sort of the one responsible for, like, running the show. You're the ringmaster, as it were.

Diamond: It's very stage manager core. Like, you are literally calling the entire show. Sound's a ll from you especially level 3, which hopefully you'll be able to see yourself, level 3 is dictated by the players, but essentially if there's a tie, you're the tiebreaker.

Bruce: And this is something I've never had any experience with and so it has been quite a learning curve and a period of growth for me. But I am grateful that I was able to learn. It was really beneficial for me to gain respect for that area of the theatre.

Elizabeth: So talk about the rehearsal process for this show. What's that, what's that been like for you all? 

Be kind.

Diamond: I will be kind, I will be kind. The rehearsal process started about, what, 

Jack: Yeah,

Diamond: Rehearsal process started about five weeks ago and the three of us, well the four, five, our stage manager, Heather, shout out, love you, the five of us all sat together, read through the script, and every few levels we all kind of, um, changed what characters we were going to be.

 we initially anticipated all three of us learning all three tracks. And then over time we realized how many responsibilities The Game character had and realized that had to be for one person, one isolated person, while Sam and Pig could be interchangeable. We realized that fairly early on, say in between weeks one and two.

It would have been a lot. thank you, Bruce. Thank you for taking that on. you're doing it better than I ever could.

Bruce: Don't sell yourself short.

Diamond: Well, I'm 4'10 so. the rehearsal process has been very eye opening, I don't want to speak for all of us, but I think I can say, going over the script over and over again and memorizing these lines and getting acquainted with all these characters has really put me on a journey of reflecting on my own, Zombie thoughts and anxiety and how I handle it as a young adult, how I used to handle it as a child, and how I will continue to handle my zombie thought anxieties into the rest of my life. How to juggle mental health and the work environment and my social life and being, Comfortable with being alone, because as Jack and I have noticed with this script at some point, Sam is left by themselves without Pig, and they have to navigate the anxiety of being alone.

If you want to speak on that a bit, Jack.

Jack: Yeah, I just wanted to sort of circle back to the whole rehearsal process. This show, I think, has taken a special part of my mental capacity to sort of compartmentalize, as we talked about before.

It's a choose your own adventure game. So it's based on all of the decisions that the audience makes. So each show different in one way or another. No show is exactly the same as the next one.

Diamond: None 

Jack: So, you need to really be on top of, where we are, what choices the audience has made prior, because, you know each scene will call back to the choices that they made earlier.

So you need to, keep those in your mind as well for the entire show. It's a lot. It's very exciting. This has invigorated my actor mind, so to speak. It's challenged me in a lot of mental ways that other sort of productions haven't, and I'm really grateful for that.

Diamond: Mmhmm

Bruce: And I think an area in which Elizabeth especially deserves her flowers is working on Level 3

Jack: Yes.

Diamond: Ooh.

Bruce: This project, it's a wonderful story. There is a lot of devising that has had to take place throughout and it has been a joint effort. But Elizabeth especially has been instrumental in, putting together these keys to get us from, if this happens, then this will happen.

And then we're going to have to move in this direction. It's just been every step of the way, she's been so incredibly helpful and intentional about making sure that we have what we need as soon as we can, so that we can get things rolling. And encouraging us to mark things that we had before we could get them in the room was really important to me, specifically, and coming off of Sanctuary City, which was another like marathon

it was, really helpful again to have another director who was very, very hands on in guiding us and helping us along in this, what can be very confusing at times, this project.

Elizabeth: Thank you. The script runs 45, 50 minutes with a Q and a afterwards, but what the audience will never know is that you've got several scripts in your head. There are versions of this that, you know, they might not see. And we had today, we had some kids who came back to see it because they were hoping that the audience would choose a place that they didn't choose last time.

So they would get to see where it's going. But, I am truly. in awe of how you all, hung in there and have figured out how to tangle this because it's deceptively complicated because the audience will see one version, but you hold multiple versions that you have to act in real time.

Diamond: Yeah, yeah, I was very anxious when it came to the memorization portion of the rehearsal process. I was telling another, another BTE person, our candidate Kimia Maroya, I was telling her after our preview today, she said, how did you feel about doing this? How was your rehearsal process?

And I told her that my rehearsal process really didn't start until-- there's an event that happens to Sam. Um, what is that? Level 2, technically? No. It's in between Level 2 and Level 3.

Jack: Where, yeah, where we sort of step back-- 

Diamond: Where we have to do a little reset. My rehearsal process started there. As an actor, I needed to separate myself from the character's anxiety.

Jack: That was troubling.

Diamond: And I needed to make sure I was always healthy and safe. And make sure Jack was also healthy and safe in that event. And then once that memorization started, man, what a time to be alive.

Elizabeth: Well, I'm interested to know, as you get ready to hit the road on Monday morning, bright and early, um, what is it that each of you is hoping that audiences will take from this piece?

Bruce: I am really hopeful just not being too far removed from my own K through 12 education. Yeah. We get really hung up on academic intelligence and very little on emotional intelligence and This play is really, there's a heavy emphasis on empathy, which to me is, is one of the most important things a person can possess.

And when people have issues, especially at that young age, there are always harsh assumptions that I think are made about them. And I hope that this is illuminating for the teachers as much as it is for the students, that it's not always as simple as writing someone off as this or writing someone off as that, we all have a lot of difficulties and whether we think about it or not, it starts from childhood, as early as we can remember.

So, yeah, that's what I hope people take from this,

Jack: Something I'm really hoping audiences will gather from this show is that this is something that everyone has come in contact with in their life. Whether or not it's for all of the same reasons, This is not an individual experience by any means. It is extremely universal. You can be anything and it can still happen to you.

But you are not destined for, turmoil There are things that you can do make life easier for you. It doesn't have to be an uphill climb every step of the way.

Diamond: Yeah. What I hope these students take away from this piece, as I've been told by previous BTE members, is that a lot of students, this is their first live theatrical experience.

And I remember the first live theatrical experience I saw as a child, and it did encourage me to pursue theatre, or at least look into it more as an audience member. And then I realized, oh god, I want to do this as a career. And here I am talking to you. I need these children to understand that live theatre exists.

It's not just on a screen. . I hope these students find their way back into a theatre, either in the audience, on stage, or backstage, in the future. and they find a love and a tenderness for live theatre. There is nothing like it in the world.

 I mean, for example, I've never seen Hamilton live. I hope to see Hamilton live. It's convenient that I can watch it at home, but there's, 

Jack: It's not same. 

Diamond: It's, just not the same, especially with TIC, how we have the students sitting directly in front of us. They're not even in seats. They're sitting on the ground in front of us.

We could reach out and touch them and take their hand and you can't do that through a screen. Kids, put down your phones. Go see live theatre, please. And thank you.

Elizabeth: Well, the only other thing that I thought would be interesting to talk about is the fact that, it was very amusing to me that I am directing a show that is, Based on a video game format until we had our little evening of introducing Elizabeth Dowd to the world of video games, that was not my vocabulary.

It's not a vocabulary that I had and I enjoyed so much. Developing that vocabulary, counting on you all to bring it in, and even some of the games that we played so that I could go, Ooh, I like that, I like that, use that here. But I didn't always know, I feel like I've learned a whole lot and now I want my own, what do you call them?

Diamond: Which 

Jack: You want your own Switch?

Elizabeth: I want 

Jack: gonna buy a Switch?

Diamond: because I thought Game Boy was gonna escape from her lips, and honestly, it's, it's 

Jack: That too,

Diamond: I mean, a Game Boy is a vernacular, like, what's that, what's that word for when someone uses a particular term that's a general term for

Bruce: like an umbrella term.

Diamond: Yeah, an umbrella or a catch all. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, y'all both get your cookies, here you go.

 It was very interesting seeing your character arc. Of, I have no idea, about most video games. Especially ones in today's day and age. And then we would end up, going through a piece of the script.

And then we would be like, okay, pause. I think this moment sounds like, it reminds me of this moment in a video game, and then Elizabeth, be like, okay, show me, tell me, I want to learn. So our amazing stage manager, Heather, would either go on YouTube find the sound, because we have our own sound effects, whoo, or find a clip of the video game we're talking about online to give Elizabeth a chance to learn.

of further understanding or the rest of us because we all don't play the same exact video games, um, so we had our game night with the cast and our stage manager and another employee of BTE.

We all got together, we played on our Nintendo Switches, my Nintendo Wii, throwback circa like 2006 to like 2012, really. That's when it was, that's when it 

Jack: That's when it ended.

Diamond: You know, when the Wii U came out and everyone was like, Mmm, I'm not sure. So to explain, so the Wii, like, we had our singular remotes, but the Wii U basically had its own remote that was like a Nintendo Switch.

The remotes didn't come off, but it had its own, like, gamepad. And I was like, that's a lot. 

Jack: It was, it was like the switch in that it was able to be ported. So you can play it on the TV at the same time, but there's also you know, the handheld where you can play it on the thing.

Diamond: Yeah, it was very interesting. 

Jack: Very unsuccessful.

Diamond: I didn't, I didn't really get to know her or love her and that's okay.

Jack: She was okay.

Diamond: But the Wii, the Wii Fit board. Mmm, Bruce. I know you know about the Wii Fit board.

Bruce: Oh, I know about the Wii Fit board. I love that board so much. So many balancing games, the tightrope walk--

Diamond: Oh my goodness.

Bruce: The snowball fight. I mean, I could just go on and on and on.

Elizabeth: We were talking today about just the fact that because video games are such a ubiquitous part of kids lives, and you grew up with them as well, that's just a whole world that, you know, it's like this vast library of experience that you have in common and that you have that in common with those kids.

And when you give them, we call them Easter eggs, but when you give a quote from a game, it's just so much fun to watch the kids that recognize it. And. can identify it. And even though we're not quoting any one single game, there are lots of quotes within the piece. And I think that that keeps them watching.

 This has been Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble Down Center, Ensemble Driven, Professional Theatre, Arts Education, Rural pennsylvania, For Everyone, With Everyone. We would like to thank the foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce for the use of equipment that makes recording this podcast possible.

Zombie Thoughts will be on tour through May 24th. If your school or organization would like to book a performance, go to www. bte. org for more information. We hope to see you in a school near you very soon.