S4E5: Radiant Vermin - Magical Housing Makeovers and Dark Fairy Tales

The cast of Radiant Vermin–Amy Rene Byrne, Kimie Muroya, and Aaron White–explore the twists and turns in Phillip Ridley’s wicked modern day fairy tale that begs the question, “What would you do to own the perfect home?”

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.

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Radiant Vermin

Intro

[00:00:00] 

Kimie: Welcome to Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble Down Center, a podcast that shines twinkly fairy lights on our company, our people, our art and our town, and reveals the dark underbelly of our humanity front and down center.

Hi there. I'm Kimie Muroya, resident artist and ensemble member at BTE, and I'm here with my fellow Radiant Vermin cast members, Amy Renee Byrne and Aaron White.

This episode will be tempting you with the twists and turns of Philip Ridley's wicked modern day fairy tale about the human cost behind landing a dream home, especially when it's out of reach.

Radiant Vermin, man!

Kimie: Ooh.

Aaron: So, Radiant Vermin man.

Kimie: Radiant Vermin. 

Amy: I'm so excited for this play. 

Kimie: I first read this play during our season selection process in Season 46. My candidates the year, and brought it forward. It garnered a little bit of interest and it's so smart and witty and dark and fun. And then we did it as one [00:01:00] of our play readings.

Aaron: Play tastings. Play tastings. Yeah. Yeah. 

Amy: We did this one at the Blind Pig. 

Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

Amy: And it was a. Small, intimate group, but man, was that an incredibly memorable experience? 

Kimie: Very powerful night. Yeah. 

Aaron: That's one of those experiences where the room feels electric. Mm-hmm. And hopefully we're gonna try to recreate that in the production. It's gonna be different. Yeah. Because you know, Blind Pig and Sarah and the food was delicious. Mm-hmm. 

Kimie: Yeah. Because , Sarah York are creative producer directed that play tasting,

Aaron: yes, I was saying Sarah at Blind Pig .

Kimie: It's a lot of Sarahs. It's a lot of Sarahs

Aaron: So Sarah prepared some delicious food at Blind Pig and the room was small so there was a built in sort of intimacy. Mm-hmm.

Amy: What you mean by we're gonna try to recreate that is talking about the intimacy of this production?

Aaron: Yes. Because if you've ever been to the Alvina Krause Theater before, you will not be seated in the theater itself. You will be seated on stage and we'll be on there with you.

You said you were excited about the play? I 

Amy: am excited about the play. This is the type of theater that I [00:02:00] enjoy the most. It is dark, it's very funny. Mm-hmm. And it asks a really difficult question and... prior to our reading at The Blind Pig, I thought that question didn't necessarily have a very clear, concrete answer, but our audience at The Blind Pig, I had a very 

Kimie: strong, felt very strongly about it, 

Amy: very strong, visceral, hard line answer.

So I'll be super interested to see what our audiences think when we're playing to a slightly larger room...

A Spoiler Free Summary

Kimie: Aaron, you, I remember you not being totally hooked by this play right away.

Aaron: I don't know that it didn't hook me, but I was hesitant to put Radiant Vermin because the title is so unclear as to what the subject matter is. 

Amy: Yeah. I talk about it.

I even find out hard to talk about it.

There is, there is a, a big twist that happens pretty early on. Mm-hmm. And it is difficult to even summarize this play without revealing that particular twist. Yeah. So I'm a little unsure when I've been talking to [00:03:00] audience members about it. I've been playing it kind of close to the vest 'cause I'm a little unsure how much we want to give away.

Yeah. 

Kimie: I've been, I've been pretty open with it with some folks. Um. Yeah, I'll just say that there's, uh, 

Amy: A couple is offered a house for free. 

Amy & Kimie: For free 

Aaron: Ollie and Jill 

Kimie: by the government, part of a government program 

Aaron: To rejuvenate a neighborhood, right. A neighborhood 

Kimie: that is, in a less than stellar way.

Aaron: And they're in an apartment that is also probably government subsidized. Mm-hmm. And there it's rampant with drugs and violence. Mm-hmm. And they don't wanna raise their child in that situation.

Kimie: And, they discover that their house has some particular maybe magical. Qualities?

Aaron: I would say that there is magic in the play. Yes. Right. That things happen magically. Mm-hmm. And the house that they're given is a mess. Yeah. Right? It is. It is. 

Kimie: It's definitely a fixer upper.

Aaron: it, To the point where there is not a bathroom. And that's a big problem because the wife Jill is pregnant. Right. Right. So no indoor plumbing, no electricity, but here's a house for free. 

Amy: Yeah. And the only, caveat they were [00:04:00] given when they received the house was that they did need to fix it up. 

Aaron: That's right. Mm-hmm. That's right. So um. i've been trying to find a way in the same way that you've been struggling, like how do we pitch this so that we actually get to the, meaty goodness of what the play is! 

Amy: Because 

they're po they're, they are faced with a moral dilemma. They find out this magic 

Aaron: mm-hmm.

Amy: Can be. triggered? Can be utilized by doing a certain thing, 

Aaron: a certain awful thing. 

Amy: A certain awful thing. That awful thing has huge moral ramifications. Mm-hmm. So they have to decide, right. If they want to compromise those morals, 

Kimie: Right. They want to compromise those morals. But there's, like the aspect of it that gets me going is that it's very clear that the government is aware of this particular 

Amy: And is endorsing them doing this 

Kimie: And is endorsing them doing this particular act. 

Aaron: Mm-hmm. And once they know that it's true, they don't stop. Yeah. Right. They renovate this house and then re renovate it and then re renovate it after they know that they have to do this horrible thing.

A Modern Dark Fairytale

Aaron: So, I've been kind of framing it as I put in the [00:05:00] intro, there's a lot of fairytale, like a modern, dark fairytale about this, like Grimm's fairytales. Mm-hmm.

Where magic has a cost. Things don't just happen magically for free without strings attached. Mm-hmm. Nora in her director's proposal also talked about that transformation is, they know that there's something awful about the transformation, but in order to achieve the transformation they have to go through something ethically gray. Or ethically awful. But that also solving unsolvable problems with magic. Mm-hmm. Because the other side of it, the reason why it might feel ethically ambiguous is that Ollie and Jill are in a situation where they cannot afford an actual house.

Mm-hmm. They cannot afford to make it up into a middle class life with a dream home.

Kimie: And, and a baby on the way. 

Aaron: And so their options are, we stay here. Yeah. Or we take this free house and do this awful thing in order to keep it.

Amy: And when when they take the house, they don't know about the awful thing. That's 

Aaron: right. 

[00:06:00] They somehow have to renovate it with whatever money Right. Or funds that they have.

Mm-hmm. 

Amy: And the first time they incite the magic is an accident. 

Aaron: Right, right. 

Amy: And so they get catapulted into having to make a decision. Do we continue? Yeah. And then it launches into some very interesting dissection of how we justify. 

Kimie: Justify the things we do in order to have the life that we want.

Yeah. Yes.

Exploring Ethical Conundrums

Aaron: Which also very much feels like a fairytale. Mm-hmm. Because it turns real life perils into either monsters or awful locations like the, the pit of despair. Mm-hmm. Or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where there is this sort of primal part of us and I take this potion and then that's revealed.

Those sorts of stories ask us questions in a way that we can access 'em without turning off right away. That's what the structure of what a fairy tale does. We keep talking around this thing, this awful, horrible thing. But if you knew that that was the awful, horrible thing at the beginning and you knew the question right at the top, you probably [00:07:00] wouldn't engage honestly with the question. Mm-hmm. 

Amy: Right. 

Aaron: don't know that I would, you know, I don't think most 

Amy: people would, so then I think the question is why do we need to engage with the question if it's something that off the top most people would know they have a definitive answer to. Which leads them then into all of these gray areas that I think that, you started to talk about a little bit Kimi with, like how the government is backing this or supporting this. 

Kimie: Yeah. I mean, it's, from the government's point of view, they're doing a service to the society by getting rid of a particular "vermin" issue to point at the title. These Radiant Vermin. Indeed. Yeah. 

Amy: And there are all these areas in our life where we make these kind of like, 

Kimie: Yeah. I mean, I think about the choices that I make for the convenience in my life and, I shop on Amazon. I, you know, 

Amy: I shop at Walmart. I have a Sam's Club membership. 

Kimie: I, you know, I drive my car when I could walk. I, you know, all of these mm-hmm. 

Aaron: Things that I commute and that exactly Amy and I commuted an hour a day. 

Amy: So my, my footprint, my carbon footprint [00:08:00] is enormous. 

Kimie: And like those things that do affect people around the world, that consciously I know about, but put outta my mind in order to have the life that I live.

Aaron: And I think that that's another thing that fairytales do they give us situations where there's something out of our control that we can then somehow change magically and then discuss what that means, right? So if you're Cinderella, you can't change who your, evil stepmother is, but by marrying the prince, I can get out of the situation.

Or I can't avoid puberty. And so we talk about going into the woods in and out, or those rites of passage stories. And for Ollie and Jill. They're in this situation where they can't afford to get out of the housing that they are in. They have a new baby coming.

They are surrounded by violence and drug use probably in government subsidized housing. Mm-hmm. And then they're offered this opportunity, this gray moral opportunity to, 

Kimie: but that, that they don't know about the grayness 

Aaron: Right. until it's very [00:09:00] present.

Amy: And that like hidden price tag, is also a big part of those fairytales too.

Aaron: Correct. The hidden price tag and for us, at least the real world thing that is very apparent, we were just saying, there's an entire generation that will never afford a house or cannot afford a house until something changes in the American economic situation.

American Dream Crisis

Kimie: Me,

Amy: That notion of like going to college, getting a job, getting a house, right. That's long gone. 

Aaron: So if it is not totally obsolete, it's certainly very obsolete for most people in our current age group. Because we stopped. I was, who's talking about this? The middle class is a manufactured class. 

Amy & Kimie: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

Aaron: That it requires, in capitalism, it requires. Some sort of intervention, whether it be in private entities or in a government entity. To say, in order to have a middle group, we have to be reinvesting into that middle group so that they can then participate in capitalism.

Mm-hmm. Right? And the late stage capitalism tends to [00:10:00] ignore that. Mm-hmm.

And so these folks , Ollie and Jill, are not in America. They're actually in Britain. So we will be, we get to put on, 

Amy: British accents in it! 

Aaron: And this sort of fairytale framing or a court framing, uh, where these people are. trying to convince us that they made these choices for a reason, that they were valid choices. And so it hopefully allows folks to enter into this question in a entertaining way. Mm-hmm. In a, in a, in a play that is funny. Will make us laugh and then ask "and... what do you think?"

Or what would you have done? And for me, that was the thing that changed, uh, my opinion of the piece because it was one, it's one of those plays that turns it around. Turns it around on every individual in the space, not just the actors, or not just the audience, but turns it around and asks a question in probably the most successful way that I've, I've experienced in a live situation.

'cause sometimes it feels really ...

Kimie: Pointed. 

Aaron: Pointed or really, sappy or really... 

Amy: didactic. 

Aaron: [00:11:00] Didactic or icky. Mm-hmm. Where it shuts off my desire to even ask the question. Mm-hmm. And this play is like, Nope. We're all feeling it. And you all, all you did was just say it out loud. Mm-hmm. The fact that it was that successful mm-hmm.

Um, really got me excited about the play.

More Marriages

Aaron: There's so much to mine in this script it's got some like religious iconography, themes in it too... the third character in this is the, the person who, gives them the house, has the contract, leads them through this thing. Her name is Miss D. And during the reading I was, playing that role and I was like, oh, D stands for devil. Mm-hmm. And, and like Miss D is like Mephistopheles.

Mm-hmm. You know, like there's making the devil's bargain. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah. And that's the role I'll be playing in this fully realized production. And Aaron and Kimi will be Ollie and Jill. The couple. Yeah. Yes. I'm excited to see y'all get to delve into, close relationship in a really intimate way.

I don't think you've gotten that since "Witch" 

Kimie: We haven't been married. No, we haven't been married since [00:12:00] "Lion ,Witch, and the Wardrobe." Yeah. 

Amy: But the Beavers didn't really get into the like.... 

Kimie: Not that you saw!

Aaron: Only with the kids in the house, you know. These kids are in the dam, damnit. Yeah. They can't, can't 

Amy: The beavers have real problems to deal with, of course. 

Kimie: But Aaron, and my secret marriage during "Witch" was a real, fun, fun relationship to play. But yeah, we haven't done that in. Three years. Yeah. It's been a long, yeah. Four? Four! It'll be four by then. 

Aaron: We've been supporting each other, but not, not, not doing. Uh, meanwhile, you and Amy have been married a ton. That's one of the relationships.

Amy: Yeah..., 

Aaron: And feel the, appropriate weariness apparently. Thanks there. 

Amy: You know, I love you. I'm And I, and I love playing in those types of roles with you too. It's great fun. 

Kimie: Also just waiting for the day that you and I get to be married, Amy. 

Amy: I know, right? It's gonna have to happen eventually. It's only so many combinations of the three of us that people Yeah, exactly. That's why we [00:13:00] need to do, Or, yes. That's true. Equal opportunity, kissing in "Or. Yes, yes. All the way around.

Actor Hopes and Dreams 

Aaron: For this process, since we're Yeah. In new juxtapositions. Role wise, do you have some things that you hope as an actor that you get to, 

Kimie: Um. There's a really challenging scene towards the end where we're playing all of our neighbors at a garden party in addition to ourselves. Yeah. And there's four other couples that we're also playing, and then we end up having a mental breakdown about it. And I'm very excited to tackle that scene. 

Amy: It's one of the funniest scenes that I have read in a really long time. Yeah. Yeah. 

Aaron: Yeah. I'm actually very curious about the difference between the play tasting and having it as a rehearsed bit. Mm-hmm. Because, oh, yeah. In the play tasting, part of the fun was seeing us try to juggle the thing, 

Amy: Struggling with this absurd thing that we had only gotten to rehearse twice.

Amy & Aaron: Twice. Yeah. 

Amy: And then I, oh my gosh. I had this amazing highlighting system for all of the different characters. That really made a huge difference. Yeah. And then we got into the lighting at the Blind Pig and there was something about it that made [00:14:00] all of my highlighting disappear. So I was flying blind. 

Aaron: Part of the entertainment of that particular intimate thing was watching the juggling act, and really, we dropped some balls, right? And that was part of the fun, right? Everyone understood what the game was, and then the game inevitably broke and we could all enjoy that together. Yeah. And what happens if we'd never drop a ball? Yeah.

Kimie: If we're, if we nail it, 

Aaron: So I'm, I'm excited for, for that acting stretch and I'm, I'm curious to see how it will change how the play operates too. Yeah. 

Kimie: It's also like, it's not just that we are playing these other characters, it's that we're playing our characters who are then acting like they're neighbors to tell the story, right? Yes. So it's like through a layer of another person's perspective anyways.

Aaron: Yeah. While trying to hold it together for the people that we're telling the story about. 

Kimie: There's a lot of layers in that scene. I'm excited for that one. 

Aaron: Onion and onion. And onion. 

Amy: Yeah. So good. So good. 

Kimie: Such an ogre of a scene.

Amy: I'm so glad I don't have to memorize it. 

Aaron: [00:15:00] What are you glad about in looking at Miss D and others 

Amy: I love playing sort of like evil characters but I think what I have found, during maybe Misery, that I love even more than just playing evil characters, are playing evil characters that don't necessarily come off as evil characters.

Mm-hmm. Like right off the cuff. The layeredness of that is a very fun thing to play with as an actor, to know that you're the devil, but you've gotta be charismatic and you've got to charm this couple into doing something that to them seems impossible. They do not have money to renovate a house. Mm-hmm. So taking a free house is a little absurd.

And I'm excited to work with Nora Gair again.

Aaron: Absolutely. It's always so nice to have her here.

Kimie: So excited for, for having more back. I love Nora. What are you excited about, Aaron? 

Aaron: Uh. 

I'm excited to, to, live through a play with you. Mm-hmm. Because , I know that we have hat, switching in this play, but we really [00:16:00] are one character all the way through. Mm-hmm. And there's something nice about the anchoring of that. To live in it. Yeah.

On Stage Seating

Amy: I love that we're keeping it intimate because I think this type of theater benefits most from a very intimate experience, both for actors and audience members.

Kimie: it's gonna be a limited run. Yes. So we are have both limited seating and fewer performances. Yes. So if you wanna get a ticket, if you wanna see it, you gotta get on, you gotta get...

Amy: it's not one to sit on. That's right. It will be gone and then it will never be back. 

Kimie: Yeah. From what I've seen of our, rendering so far, it seems like the seating is facing out towards the typical audience.

Yeah. You'll get a little picture of what it's like to be on stage with us. Yeah. And I, but you'll not be asked to, to perform. There's no audience participation. 

Aaron: But you will be asked a question. You 

Kimie: will be asked question. 

Aaron: Yeah. 

Amy: One singular question. 

Aaron: Yeah. 

Amy: Which is towards the end, 

Aaron: at the, at the beginning too, I think

Amy: I need to read the script. 

Kimie: No obligation to respond. That's right. No obligation to respond. It's, 

Aaron: it's a rhetorical question.

Kimie: Yes. It's interesting that the that rendering that Gregor showed us the other day kind of reminds [00:17:00] me of like a courthouse. Yeah. And I think it's very much that, I haven't chatted with Nora about it in a, in a minute, but considering the style of the play and the way that the two main characters are presenting their argument kind of feels like they are on trial for a thing. So it might, I think we're leaning into that aspect. 

Aaron: Yeah. You had mentioned, Nora Gair. Mm-hmm. Who will be returning, what else is Nora Gair done?

Kimie: Oh, we love Nora. Nora directed most recently Misery. Our smash hit last January.

Amy: Literally a smash. Yes. Hit 

Aaron: s 

Amy: Multiple smashes on Aaron's legs and my head. Yeah. 

Kimie: So many smashes. And the first time she worked here was for Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson, apt 2B. And she also directed one of our Play tastings, Cry It Out, which is one of her very favorite. favorite plays and 

Amy: Now one of my very favorite plays. 

Kimie: Very good play. It's a very good play. 

Amy: As an audience member, I love the idea of being on stage with the actors and sharing that energy in such a different way than when you have that [00:18:00] separation of house and stage. Yeah. I think particularly for this one, because it is already, an electric play mm-hmm. To then have that increased electricity between audience and actors just heightens it in such a compelling way.

Yeah. And if you've never been to a show with that sort of intimacy, I would say don't be afraid. Mm-hmm. Come out and give it a shot. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing, but at least give it a shot. Yeah. Yeah. I, 

Aaron: Both kinds have an excitement. There is an excitement about coming into the lobby and then it being a big full house and there being a buzz, prior to the show.

Mm-hmm. It's another thing to be in close quarters with your audience members feeling like you are very much a part of it that the actors are speaking to everybody, not just to a, a dark void, but like, oh, they're talking right to me. Yeah. They're talking right to the person next to me. My favorite is when, I know what's going on because of the way I can hear them breathing. Mm, mm-hmm. Right. When you can hear an actor breathe and truly like, inspire like the, the meaning of [00:19:00] that word. That taking an inspiration. Mm-hmm. Taking a breath. 

Kimie: That's so interesting 'cause when you said hear them breathing, I thought you meant hear the audience breathing. 

Aaron: No, I'm, which is how I both, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're all breathing together. 

Kimie: But also like. some of the magic that happens with an intimate theater space is that you become aware of how other people breathe and what that means. Yeah. Oh yeah. 

Amy: You can feel when people are shifting in their seat. Mm-hmm. For whatever reason that may, be, whether they're uncomfortable at, what's happening, or like, oh man, that, okay, and if you find our Alvina Krause theater seats uncomfortable, this is a nice opportunity to not sit in them. Mm-hmm. 

Aaron: Mm-hmm.

Have leg room to have a leg room leg. Yeah. Truly 

Amy: as a long legged person, that is a selling point for me. 

If you Liked...

Aaron: I think that this is one that people will be talking about. Mm-hmm. Um, it's something that sticks with you, 

Kimie: Like Witch.

Amy: Yeah. People that liked Witch I think will really enjoy it. I think people who liked Misery will really enjoy it for, for different reasons. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. If you are somebody that saw The Nether or saw Marjorie [00:20:00] Prime, this is another one of those plays that just really begs for a talk back afterward.

Aaron: It won't be as technically flashy as A Curious Incident Dog in the Nighttime, but I do think the way that that managed, hard things through imagination and storytelling is similar. I think folks who enjoyed that would also enjoy this play.

It is at least PG 13, if not R rated. There are mature themes. So your 3-year-old that enjoyed Charlie Brown will not enjoy Radiant Vermin.

Amy: Yes. This one is not for them. I tried to make sure that Woodstock warned everybody. 

Aaron: That's right. That's, but, um, I would say that that teenagers probably would enjoy this if they're mm-hmm. If they're. Watching primetime television or crime procedurals, you'll be okay? Yes. You'll enjoy the show.

Kimie: The first page of the script is not in the actual performance proper, but the first page of the script has a quote from Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club. 

Aaron: There's definitely some Fight Club, DNA. Oh yeah. This for sure. This in this play. 

Amy: Oh, yeah. 

Aaron: Like the dilapidated nature of the house. Yeah. And like living in [00:21:00] squalor. 

Amy: Yeah. 

Kimie: Yeah. 

Amy: You don't talk about Fight Club. 

Aaron: Uh, oh, sorry.

Outro

Amy: This has been Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble: Down Center. Ensemble driven. Professional theater. Arts education. Rural Pennsylvania. For everyone. With everyone.

Looking for a New Year's to remember. Kickoff 2026 with a powerhouse performance from rising blues superstar, Gabe Stillman. Catch him live at the Alvina Krause Theater. January 2nd and third, based in Williamsport, but celebrated nationwide. Gabe's album, just say the word debuted at number 10 on the Billboard US blues chart and earned a Blues music Award nomination for best emerging artist album. Music critic Jim Hines Raves:

Gabe Stillman's Future is bright. He has the complete package." Tickets are now on sale for Radiant vermin. See what all of our buzz is about. The show runs January 29th through February 8th with limited seating on BTE stage.

If you'd like our theater in the classroom tour of the Amazing Mr. Franklin to come to your school this spring to commemorate America's 250th [00:22:00] birthday and learn about founding Father Ben Franklin. Have them contact Abby Leffler for more information and to book a show.

Check out our season and buy tickets@www.bte.org.

Post Credit Fun

Aaron: Uh. 

Kimie: I'm here with my fellow Radiant Vermin cast members, Aaron. 

Amy: Aaron Renee, white 

Aaron: Oh, is that what I wrote down? 

Kimie: No, that was me. I'm here with my fellow BTE. Nope. 

Aaron: What is going on here? Sorry. Keep going.

Ooh, ooh.

Yeah, yeah. 

Kimie: I'm talking

Amy: with your mouth hole.