The Cast List
An Arts Center of Cannon County Podcast
The Cast List
Episode 8 - Hobbit Director Interview (RJ Palhegyi)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Patrick tackles the responsibility of solo interviewer, and RJ talks all things Hobbit in his very own director interview!
Website: artscenterofcc.com
YouTube: The Arts Center of Cannon County
Email: castlist@artscenterofcc.com
The new cast list is up in five, four, three, two, one.
SPEAKER_02Two dungeons D.
SPEAKER_00Welcome back to the cast list, everyone. I'm Patrick. And I'm RJ. And this is episode eight.
SPEAKER_01We're just trucking chugging along, aren't we, with these? Just keeping it going. Nothing's gonna stop us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You're dying.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm predicting that you are going to like. I mean, you say this like every episode that I need to bring more energy, but like you're probably gonna be saying that a lot this episode. So as I'm so tired.
SPEAKER_01So as normal, I have to be the driving force of this program to keep all of our listeners entertained while you waddle in self-pity. Do you know in silence.
SPEAKER_00Do you know how I think of us like as a duo in this machine? I think of myself you're gonna tell us. So I think of myself as the steering wheel. I determine where we go, but you're the engine. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01Uh I it makes sense to know what what I think of is that I'm driving the car and you're folding a map on the other side, trying to direct where it's going, and I'm getting more and more frustrated because I'm like, there's an exit coming up, or is this where we're going? And you're like, You're trying to fold the map and you don't know what to do. And I'm like, why don't you use the GPS on your phone? And then you get upset.
SPEAKER_00That is I pull out a globe. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Look at the latitude and longitude right. We should be there. No problem.
SPEAKER_00The North Star.
SPEAKER_01Uh that was a minute of us talking about nothing. No, it's we're we're seemingly directionalist while going in a direction.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I I do I do see your how you explain it though, I do see I do see it that way. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you have your handy dandy notebook.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I am a fan of a map. I do love a good map. A cardiograph? Love a good cardiograph. God, you're a big nerd. Love a good cardiograph. Alright, everyone.
SPEAKER_01Hold on, I gotta readjust. I was uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I'm back and I'm more comfortable. So right before, like right before we started this episode, RJ dropped a bomb chill on me, and that is that apparently the ribbon. Oh yes. You know how we're like planning our trip, our kayaking.
SPEAKER_01Our trip to uh Walter Hill from the Art Center. Um the good friend of the art center, Miss Mary Wilson, uh, who has been listening, hi Mary, uh came into the art center with just very dark, depressing news. Now I can't remember exactly the details, but something happened to a dam. Either something was damned or there is no longer a dam, but I'll be damned something happened. And uh the river route has been rerouted. Something has happened to the river that's going to make it nearly impossible for us to complete our journey. To which I simply said, that just sounds like another challenge for us to overcome. To which Mary responded with, No, no, no, you simply cannot overcome it. It's impossible. We have to start somewhere else. So we have to look at the logistics of our uh river rafting trip and then uh go from there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so there is a slight issue with our kayaking trip, but does this mean we have to like pick like a different river entirely?
SPEAKER_01Maybe. You know, that actually should be what episode 10 is. What like on the river rafting trip? The river rafting trip, okay. Where we go on the river raft. Okay.
SPEAKER_00If you have any suggestions of a river, let us know. If you know any rivers. Let us know. Um well, let's go. I'm trying so hard. I'm trying so hard. Do we want to get into like me business stuff right now? We could do some MIDI business.
SPEAKER_01Okay. What do you what do you have in your notebook as the first items of business?
SPEAKER_00First businessy things. We have not one, not two, but three art classes coming up. All within the month of May.
SPEAKER_01That's more than two and less than uh four.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Um on May. On May 16th, um, we have a paper beads class.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we do.
SPEAKER_00May 22nd, we have a wild fibers class.
SPEAKER_01I'm not sure what that is, but it sounds wild and fun and free.
SPEAKER_00It sounds cool. And on May 23rd, we have a watercolors class.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's painting.
SPEAKER_00All good job. Thank you. All three of those can be signed up for on our website. Um, and there's also more information about each of those classes on our website as well. If one of those sounds interesting, you want to learn more about it.
SPEAKER_01May is the month for art. This is your chance to get artsy.
SPEAKER_00Yes. And while we are on the topic of dates, um, another important date coming up in May.
SPEAKER_01An important date.
SPEAKER_00Big fish. Describe the perfect date.
SPEAKER_01Oh April 25th.
SPEAKER_00It's not Have you actually ever seen that movie? Yeah, I love it. Okay. It's so good. Uh I love that movie. America's Sweetheart, Sandy Bullock. Yep. Um, on the topic of dates, uh, May 17th and 18th. Those are the big fish audition dates.
SPEAKER_01Big fish auditions. Um those of a river and you are maybe a big fish. This is the show for you. Stop. Stop. Is there not a big fish? Um can I not audition for the part of said big fish? Yeah, so I very I know very little about big fish.
SPEAKER_00You know very little about big fish? Okay.
SPEAKER_01Tell the folks and me about big fish, and I'm gonna poke holes in the story.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So big fish, there's not like a literal big fish.
SPEAKER_01What?
SPEAKER_00Um, there's not.
SPEAKER_01Why not? Because is it a metaphor?
SPEAKER_00Yes, it is a metaphor.
SPEAKER_01And tell the people what a metaphor is. Oh. Without breaking the microphone. Um sorry, I asked Patrick around watching my uh mic standard. Yes, I asked him a a teacher student question and his microphone collapsed.
SPEAKER_00Um The exact definition eludes me. Is let me describe it the best I can. The way I understand a metaphor, it's a I'm gonna bomb this.
SPEAKER_01It's a saying that metaphor, Patrick, is a figure of speech that directly equates to two unrelated things to highlight a shared characteristic, creating a vivid image or deeper understanding without using like or as. If you use like or as that's a simile. That's a simile. Yes.
SPEAKER_00I know between simile and metaphor. I w I don't think you did. I just didn't have the definition memorized. It's a long definition. Okay. Um anyway, the the fish is a metaphor. The fish is a metaphor. Um big fish is one of, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful scripts I know of. And and I I actually do mean that. I I don't say that lightly. I have to.
SPEAKER_01Well, we certainly hope that you say what you mean and mean what you say. Are you telling me you've lied on this podcast to people? Will you let me finish? I'm sorry, just driving the car.
SPEAKER_00Um, I have yet to watch production of Big Fish that did not make me cry. And like, yeah, I'm a crier, sure. But I've seen high school productions of Big Fish, I've seen community theater productions of Big Fish all ranging in like performance quality. And in my opinion, the performance quality of Big Fish does not matter because of how beautiful the book is. But to give you just a rundown of how the show goes. Yes, that's what we've been waiting for. Yes, yes, yes. About half the show is a father recounting stories from his past to tell his son. Um a father, I don't want to give too much away, but a father um is is sick. Um, and he wants to tell his son all about him, and his son wants to learn all about him before the father passes away.
SPEAKER_01Are they estranged?
SPEAKER_00Are they what?
SPEAKER_01Estranged. Like, why does he not know anything about his fire b father before he's dying?
SPEAKER_00So that's the thing. The son the father's a big storyteller, tells it has told his son stories about him his entire life, but the fa the son can never tell if they're true or not. The all of the stories seem a little like far-fetched and like a little bigger than life. Like the big fish. Yeah, because he does have a flair for storytelling. Um but it is the show is just a beautiful example of how you can choose to view life, in my opinion. Um and the main character, Edward Bloom, his his optimism actually does cause some like issues throughout the show. Um, but on the other side, his optimism is also the cause of some really beautiful moments. Um so I don't want to like say much more about it because I just want to encourage you to see it to like learn about it for yourself.
SPEAKER_01Not just see it, but to audition for it. Um because this part of the business is trying to get people to audition for the show.
SPEAKER_00Yes, okay, okay, okay. Um, but yeah, it's a fantastic show. I've always wanted to be in it, I've never been in a production of it. Um Matt Smith is directing. Oh, love him. Um he's fantastic, uh, great guy. Great, great guy. Um, but yeah, please, please, please come audition. Just a reminder, those audition dates are May 17th and 18th. That does not include callbacks. Callbacks are by invitation only and will most likely be the day after that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Alright.
SPEAKER_01And all that info can be found where, Patrick?
SPEAKER_00On our website at theartscenterofcc.com. Under the auditions tab. Alright. Um we also What are you doing now? Well, we neglected to mention what this episode is.
SPEAKER_01What is this episode? The Hobbit Director interview. We're not are we st are we even there to the Hobbit interview yet? We've only been going for 10 minutes. I've had a very interesting month of April.
SPEAKER_00We don't we don't have to get there yet. We just have neglected to say that that's what this is.
SPEAKER_01See, we need to actually get better at giving a rundown of what's gonna happen at the beginning of each episode. Um, I need to slow down the driving, and you need to do a better job at telling us what we're doing. Yeah. Exactly. Okay, so we'll jot that down for every episode from here on out. We're gonna give a rundown of what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00So basically, from here on out, for the rest of this episode, we're gonna finish our pre-interview segment, then we're gonna dive into our interview, and then we're gonna end with that rapid fire section that everyone knows and loves. Oh, can't wait. And then I'm gonna crush it. That'll be episode eight. Um, I we'll see. I got some good questions for you. Can't wait. Um, so before we get into the interview, you just mentioned you had a crazy April.
SPEAKER_01Yes, the month of April has uh just stayed after me with uh relentless ferocity and fury. Whoa. And uh I haven't slept well. Uh first of all, it's tax time, you know. No one likes that. Uh uh obviously the Hobbit has just opened, and that was such a rewarding, and we had a great time, and we'll talk more about it. But uh it's been a lot, dragons and special effects and stuff like that. However, for the month of April, my family, three parts of my family, all decided to visit at three different times throughout the month of April. Oh yeah. So on top of the Hobbit and all happening, I had my aunt and uncle come to town for my aunt's it was like a high school reunion and they were meeting up in Nashville. So I became the tour guide of that group, and uh we hit Broadway in the listening room, which was really cool. If uh you're a fan of country music, check out the listening room in downtown Nashville. Uh it was basically all the songwriters of the biggest hits, and they're playing the songs and tell you how the songs came to be. Um they also I was very concerned about my aunt's friends because the one booked the uh the VRBO, and I was told the wrong name of it, but I was told it was called the Funky Monkey Love Bungalow. Oh, and I'm like, what is going on here? I don't need any shenanigans like that in my life. But no, it was a house on Music Row that used to be a recording studio called the Funky Monkey Studio. So it's now the Funky Monkey VRBO, and there was like a giant monkey emblem on the uh front porch. So that was that. Then I had every hobbit and dwarf come to my house for team building, which was just a hoot and a half. Yeah. And then my parents decided to come to town uh five days before the show opened, and that was lovely. We had a lovely time. And then the day the show opened, an aunt and a cousin flew into town to go to a wedding. So the show opened. I picked them up from the airport, took them to my house, went to the show the next day, picked them up again, drove them back to downtown Nashville, showed them around, came back home, was at the show Friday, and then we had our first public show on Saturday, and I'm feeling great. So just so everyone knows, no one else is allowed to visit me until at least uh September. Okay. No more guests. Noted. Well, you survived though. Yeah, because I'm a winner.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, nothing could keep me down. You know, the this is nothing a good juice cleanse can't fix.
SPEAKER_01Listen. Nomas. We're we no need to go back to the juice cleanse. I did it, I conquered it, I won.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, don't need to go back. I'm good.
SPEAKER_00Well, on that victorious note. Yeah. I would love to get into your interview so we can just keep winning. Oh, so we can just keep winning. So we could just keep winning. Um, if that's okay with you. That sounds great to me.
SPEAKER_01So are we gonna do like a change of scenery or is there gonna be a cut, or are we just jumping right into it? I this is a special episode. We can just jump right into it. You've also been very busy, and hence that's why we could not find a uh why we couldn't find a special co-host. I do uh why we're recording late.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I do apologize that we're recording late for this episode. Um I have been extremely busy with a we'll just call it a separate professional endeavor. Yes. Um a really cool one, a really cool one. But very time consuming. But it has taken up all of my time. Yeah. Um, so but we're here. This is my day off from that, so we're here. And knock out episode eight. Yep, better late than never, as they say. Um that's what they say. So, RJ. Yes. Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I'm so excited to be here on the castle. Hold on. I got a text from my property manager. Oh. What is it saying?
SPEAKER_00Um What's your address? No.
SPEAKER_01Sounds great. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00What is what is your exact location?
SPEAKER_01Uh no. My exact location right now is the Art Center of Cannon County in the green room, the studio for the Cast List podcast. Before we get into it, um, one of our avid listeners, Miss Sunshine Robbins from Cannon County Middle School, texted me yet again last week how disappointed she was that there wasn't a new episode. So just so everyone remembers, we do go every other week. Okay, Miss Sunshine?
SPEAKER_00Oh that down. But that makes me so happy that people are looking forward to them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And we still uh we'll check the emails later, but uh we don't know if we've if our uh European or South American friends have reached out yet. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, I'm now focused and ready for this interview. All right, wonderful. RJ, thank you for being here. Welcome. So excited to be here. Welcome. Um, ladies and gentlemen, the the director of the Hobbit, RJ, you closed the Hobbit this week. This Saturday. Yeah. So that'll be just a few days after Saturday, May 9th, 2026. Um, before we get into the specifics, uh, can you just tell me how you've enjoyed this process? How are you feeling? How how how is it how has it gone? How about it?
SPEAKER_01I think it's gone I think it's gone really, really great. Uh unless the audiences are really good actors. Everyone who's talked to me seems to really be enjoying it. My students really liked it. My seventh graders, when I talked to them today, they came and watched it last week. It's you know, middle schoolers can, you know, be tough to crack, but I asked them, I go, so how'd you guys like the show? And this one girl goes, you know what? I actually really liked it. And I'm like that's huge. That is big. If they like admit it publicly, they admitted it publicly in class in front of other people.
SPEAKER_00So speaking of people liking it, we had to add a show.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we have an extra public show this Saturday. Um, but no, as a whole, it's been a really, really fun and funny experience. Uh, because it's a cast of 30. Uh, so there's a lot of kids running around. I've given them all weapons. Right. Uh I've given them a lot of them capes. So can you ask for it? And uh I've given every dwarf a beard, a fake beard. So the shenanigans have been running very, very high. But no, I'm incredibly proud of the kids because it's it's Tolkien, it's the Hobbit, it's not light material, and every audience is coming in with the perception of the story already. Yeah. And it's it's it's a very, very daunting and challenging show to mess up because obviously we're not gonna capture the same scale and essence as the movies, which are untouchable. Sure. But at the same time, we have to honor and homage it and honor and homage the books, but make it our own, but don't make it an absolute train wreck that people are upset with it. So it's r it was really tricky finding the sort of middle ground of like, okay, what can I put in that's like my take and what I love about this story, and what do I have to put in there that it's like, no, that can't be changed, that has to be so specific to what uh the story is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I was actually just about to ask you about that. I mean, I know you're a fan of the movie as am I. Yeah. Um the script you were working with, it was not the movie script, it was a condensed, roughly an hour-long.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's an hour-long show because it's for our school series, so we have to have field trips come in, and the kids are running it. Oh goodness, excuse me. Gross. Yeah, sorry, my cup of coffee came back to say hello. Um uh, but the kids have been running it consistently at about an hour and ten minutes. And when I was looking for shows to do, you know, you when you're the director, you always want to have something that you can relate to that you want to do. And there's a bunch of Hobbit scripts out there. Um, and this one I found was the only one that was really an hour that was actually pretty good. And it's a huge challenge. Um, my hat goes off to the playwright, his name's Edward Mast, for condensing it because you have to have the whole essence of the Hobbit, which is a thick book. I mean the language. It's just a super, super long children's book, but each chapter could be its own book. You have the scene with the trolls, you have all like three uh chapters in Merkwood Forest, and you have this, and you know, there's the eagles. There's so much to it, and you can't do that in an hour on stage. You could hardly do that in two and a half hours on the stage. So he really picked sort of the highlights and maybe the heart of the Hobbit, which is, you know, the call to adventure and Gollum in the Cave and Smog and the burning of Lake Town and the Arkansone and just that sort of you know, uh Bilbo trying to stop a war and to stop the greed of men and the dwarves to like sort of find this peace. Sure. And I think all that's was present in there, and that's what we were sort of shooting for, you know, is like to really nail down just the feeling of Tolkien on stage, where it's his stories, they're like a grandfather telling, you know, this this tale. So like just have that sort of warm, fuzzy feeling of like, yes, I'm going on this adventure and there's danger and there's peril, but it's like I'm having so much fun on the adventure.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm You mentioned earlier um the the field trips um the come. I I want to actually take a second to highlight something called a stage page. Oh yeah. Um for those of you who don't and you could probably explain it better than I could um but for those of you who don't know we for all of our children's shows we include a s what's called a stage page for school trips and that is essentially a work booklet that is to be included in classrooms either before or after or both that ties into the show.
SPEAKER_01Yeah yeah so so students will s come and see the show and then they will have uh a work booklet that goes with the show and what they saw and also like you know they're probably like studying elements from yeah the show very easy as well the very talented Tara Winton has been making our stage page for the past few shows and it uh it has everything you want it gives you like like for the Hobbit one for example it's you know it has so much information about Tolkien and how he got the inspiration in his experiences in World War I and how that sort of inspired the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings and his relationship with C.S. Lewis and you know there's riddles because you know the whole scene with Gollum and the riddles uh there's just so much activities for you don't just get to see the show but you get to sort of like dive deeper into the show with that stage page.
SPEAKER_00Yeah it for for me it it re it just helps to re-reiterate well my word of the day reiterate the fact that these children's shows do serve as educational tools. Yeah um and they are just phenomenal for elementary school and middle school outreach not just exposure to the arts but also just exposure to famous material.
SPEAKER_01Yeah but also seeing how it can connect to mathematics to English to uh you know science and history just how it how it has a show almost every show in some context has like a broader aspect and reach than just the show and the story that you could dive into. So I'm very thankful to have Tara on board doing those stage pages. Thank you Tara um okay I as well as a bunch of people listening we've for episodes now have been talking about the dragon oh the dragon it finally hit the stage yes it did can you tell us how it went the dragon looks absolutely incredible uh Patrick you and Marion Storvik worked tremendously hard on building the dragon out of Kiatbodbord from our French friend um no I I guess the best way to describe the dragon was at our first public show one of the things oh I'm moving my mic again I gotta hold on here we go all right now I'm ready okay um one of the things I was worried about with it being a school show is I can't make it too scary. Right. Like it's I I I call it the old school Disney theory. Yeah where it's like if you look at the real early Disney movies there's some scary and dark things in it. And Walt Disney like I don't know if he this is a direct quote but he was like it's okay for the kids to be scared a little bit so to give them some stakes and all and not just keep it fluffy. He's he didn't want to treat the audience which were kids as stupid. So that's I tried to walk that line of I'm like we're gonna go some creepy and some peril but we're not gonna go too scary. And it really worked because the public show the dragon comes out in the first scene and everyone's just like oh my god because he is massive and he looks real he looks real you will uh you will actually be able to see him I believe we're gonna have a prop show here at the Arts Center in Cannon County coming up but more information on that later um but there was a kid he had to have been three or four sitting in his dad's lap and I hear him and I look over because I was up in the booth so I'm looking over watching the audience and I see him going mommy mommy a dragon a dragon mommy look it's a dragon and I'm like yes that's the reaction we wanted and it was just everyone was just glued in to be like oh my gosh look at that yeah thing and he is incredible he looks terrifying but not too scary um he he looks just so good and people cannot take their eyes off of the dragon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah it is really cool it I mean I've only been here and I mean you've only been how how many years have you been here since 2022? Okay and I got here in 2023. Yeah so I mean at least since I've been here it is easily the coolest thing I think we've built it is yeah I think I mean we've built a lot of cool things and a lot of cool sets over the years.
SPEAKER_01This one in particular I've not seen anything else like him anywhere. Um and I'm glad I'm glad he's such a hit that it all worked out. Yeah a big special thanks to even though we paid for the template I am if thank goodness for that Frenchman on YouTube who makes stuff out of cardboard. Out of out of what?
SPEAKER_00Kiad Biod Biod So it did it came out spectacular. Yeah it did um I want to ask you one more question before we get into our uh you could ask me more questions because uh what time are we at? We're only at about a half hour.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Well I have so much to talk about I do I I do want to just talk about your like the vision you had going into this show a little bit. Every you know every director is different. Every director has a different style um you are pretty experienced I would say in uh TYA directing yeah um you you have done a ton especially here done a ton of TYA shows um yeah between these and conservatory I've probably got about 15 by now. Yeah do you have like one is there a reason you enjoy the TYA direction two what would you say are like your main like differences in your directing styles between TYA directing and mainstage directing stage directing yeah well I like it because it uh helps pay my mortgage so we can start there but no I mean I would I wouldn't do it if I didn't like it.
SPEAKER_01It's I I guess a prime example of why I've really stuck with it and really enjoyed it is uh the young man who plays Thorne in this show. Uh this is his fourth or third or fourth show um he was in Sherlock Holmes for me and his mom after Sherlock Holmes came up to me and basically just profusely thanking me and I'll never forget it and basically said two years ago before he was put in your class at the middle school he would not talk to anybody and now he's a lead in a show giving monologues and yelling at people so it's really cool to just see and help a kid break out of that shell to find something that they can connect with um and do. And also and I feel bad saying this because I can't think of any but God bless I get the most ridiculous stories and sayings that these knucklehead kids say. Yeah um because my directing style frankly isn't very different. Really? I usually sort of direct the same except there's a little bit more hand holding sure with the kids. Yeah. But it's my theory has always been I'm gonna treat them like I would treat an adult because they're gonna respond better to that. So I never really talk down to them or anything like that. Try to keep it kids are intelligent. Yeah try to keep it real and straight laced with them but there are some moments where I'm like okay I gotta give them a line read or I need to walk through it or physically show them how to do it. So there's a just a little bit lack of trust with the kids when you're directing them but it's not that I I don't trust the kids but it's like they haven't been in enough shows or have yeah done enough to like pick up the natural instincts gotta use some different lingo yeah some different lingo you can't just say okay angry because then they're just gonna make an angry face no you need to walk them through the beats and nuances and this one has been particularly challenging because uh the dwarves are there a lot but not all the dwarves have a lot of lines so there's a lot of background acting and trying to explain that to nine year olds is not simple. There's a scene near the end before the Battle of the five armies where they're all up on the mountain and they all have their weapons and my goodness I love them to death some are just casting spells with their swords up there just swinging and waving and this one actually dropped a sword and it fell down the mountain and he ran down picked it up and run back up the mountain. But it's just it's it's it's it just makes your heart yeah so happy and warm just to see the hard work that these kids put in and to see them putting on it is really putting on and and my goal has always been as long as I've been here as I told Beth when she hired me I go I hate when people go oh that was that was cute like oh look at look at what the kids did I want everyone walking out going I can't believe you had my kid up there doing that and it's like and especially with this it's wow I can't believe you did that golem makeup and how good the golems were or like oh my gosh that dragon and oh my god the lighting and the special effects it's everything needs to be on its A game and just because it's kids doesn't mean it it should be shortchanged in any way. We're gonna put our best foot forward as best as we can every time. And yes the kids will still be kids and we'll do something weird or random yeah but that's also the joy of it.
SPEAKER_00It's such meaningful and important work. For some of these kids this is the first and only creative exposure they've ever had. Oh yeah that and that's huge. That's huge.
SPEAKER_01Oh a hundred percent um and it does it takes a village and the parents have been great um and they're just as excited as the kids are yeah so to get to the public shows it's it is always very very excited to see it. Um and it also just gives the kids a lot of opportunities because they put on for the Hobbit we'll be putting on 13 shows which is more than our main stage. Yes they're shorter but that's a lot of shows and it's in a two week stretch and you're nine years old. Yeah. Bilbo Baggins is 11. Yeah and bless his heart he was shaking before the first public show I had to give him come on now you got this and and did he go out there and kill it?
SPEAKER_00Went out there and killed it.
SPEAKER_01Exactly went out there and killed it. Yep so yeah I'm very very proud of the Hobbit um Caden who we talked to and Julia de Benedetta who are playing Gollum are just so like like what I found so cool about this show in particular is the look of it and what I mean by that is is like when the dragon comes out or when Gollum comes out or they see all the goblins or the dwarves marching. Every kid has just been like look at like look at all this look at all of this and that's just a huge shout out to the two team of people on the production team who helped create my crazy brain vision of the Hobbit to life because it's like oh my gosh that's Gollum on the stage crawling around and jumping around and my precious and all all that stuff and it's there and it's happening and you can't get that anywhere else but on the theater on the theater stage this got really heartfelt look at us.
SPEAKER_00You see that we are human people doubt us all the time after all but we do have me and RJ listen you never know what we're gonna talk about but we knew what we were going to talk about and didn't know we were going to end up here.
SPEAKER_01We have hearts yeah and yeah congratulations on a really good show thank you um uh we're running a few more days yeah running a few more days we have uh by the time this comes out uh there'll probably be a handful of tickets left for Friday May 8th yeah um for that last public show and yeah the kids deserve big audiences and you'll have a great time watching the Hobbit all right it's it's that time here we go I gotta lock in it is the Rapid Fire section fire section right okay hold on okay are you ready are you ready?
SPEAKER_00I'm ready okay RJ what character do you resonate most with in the Hobbit um oh oh god um uh bomber the fat one who would last longer stranded and stranded in the desert you or me me why uh because I'm better than you no uh uh me and my dad and grandfather and uncle were stranded on a boat in the middle of the uh Atlantic Ocean one summer actually yeah ran out of gas whoa yeah no we weren't far off land but I mean yeah I yeah so I think I'd be yeah we'll talk about that later that's crazy. What is your middle name? John in 30 seconds or less please explain the mummy starring Brendan Frazier.
SPEAKER_01Uh the 1999 cinematic masterpiece the mummy starring Brendan Frazier and Rachel wise is a cinematic masterpiece directed and written by Steven Summers uh about two be uh about a librarian and her brother who go on a treasure hunt with Brendan Fraser as their guide and they accidentally resurrect a mummy and then they save the world fall in love and it's the best thing ever you can only have one forever.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Marinera or Alfredo Marinera.
SPEAKER_01And last but not least can you accurately explain the definition of a Roth IRA account accurately no can you try to explain basically it's a IRA account it's an investment account that builds over time and the more money you put in the longer it will build and grow. Okay not bad not bad okay thank you good job um oh that first one about the Hava character I like you asked that and all of them just popped out of my head. Which one did you say? I said Bomber which we didn't get to talk about um bomber's the fat one and um young Aiden Brooker plays Bomber and he steals every scene um and I put him in a fat suit and a big beard and long hair and he's absolutely hysterical he during Mike check have you seen the movie There Will Be Blood with Daniel Day Lewis no well for those of you who haven't like you Patrick there's this very famous scene where Daniel Day Lewis is talking about a milkshake and drinking I'm going to drink your milkshake but it's like super intense. This kid in full bomber gear and he's like nine delivered the milkshake monologue. I don't know why he knows it but he did it and it's fantastic and actually I have it here I will play it on the podcast. Everyone just hold while I find it here you could see him like look how big he is I know okay I'm gonna rewind it and uh put it up to the microphone so hopefully everyone can hear it you have a job and I don't drink you're drinking like why why if no one could see your phone but this kid it looked like he looked like the Michelin man with like like there's a massive beard yes no I said I related to him I don't know why I just thought it I guess I thought it would be funny because I have a bit where the dwarves are like trying to hoist him up a mountain and they can't because he's so because he's so big I have him like crashing into people which I've tend to crash into people before okay um that's funny. He's Bomber he's a big bomb of energy and I think that's what I am driving this car keeping this podcast afloat.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Me with my map.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Do we have any emails? Let's see it's gonna be embarrassing if we still don't I think we won't I bet we won't either we went the whole month of April with no emails. Well you know what if you're still listening here uh your homework is to write us an email it can be about anything yes uh cast list at artcenterofcc.com we'll talk about it on the next podcast episode yeah seriously just email us anything episode nine what's episode episode eight this is episode eight but I don't know what to tease people with for episode nine guess we'll have to find out by listening to it next time um I like how the first episode we were like email us with your inquiries and now we're just like please if you're feeling up anything if you're feeling up to it yeah I'm sure we'll come up with other things to rant and rave about yeah maybe even something heartfelt as well I know yeah strange twist yeah no it got it got beautiful there first yeah tears in my eyes it got I got a little misty yeah misty alright well we hope we were able to brighten your day yeah um we'll see y'all next time any listening any closing uh thank you all for listening please uh leave us a five star review on your podcast listener choice tell your friends about the cast list uh so more people could hear us and get connected with us here at the Arts Center of Cannon County and thank you for being uh listener it was so nice to talk to you people listening and also you Patrick I guess it was nice to talk to you too look at us go. We'll see you all next time. Yes bye-bye You've been listening to the cast list hey if you like what you hear go ahead and leave the Art Center of Cannon County a good review. To see more information about current events at the Art Center visit www dotcenterofcc dot com or give us a call at six one five five six three two seven eight seven we hope you enjoyed this episode and we hope to see you at the Arts Center soon