Episode 9 - Theatrics and Memory Lane

In this special episode, RJ and Patrick talk about some of the inner-workings of theatre, and then they take a walk down memory lane.

Website: artscenterofcc.com

YouTube: The Arts Center of Cannon County

Email: castlist@artscenterofcc.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

A new castle list is up in five, four, three, two, one. Oh, God have mercy.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

What the heck was that? I before we started, I was like RJ.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

I'm I'm Patrick.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

And I'm RJ. Welcome back to the cast list. I'm sorry for whatever that was.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Well, before we started, I was like, RJ, I want to do a good opening line and I want it to not be boring. And there he was like, no, keep it the same.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Well, consistency is key. It's it's like uh the opening to friends or to Seinfeld or to any other great show. Game of Thrones, the Sopranos, you have the theme song. Yeah, that's we change up our themes. Yeah, well, that's that. And then it's hi, welcome to the cast list. I'm Patrick. And then I go, I'm RJ, and people know exactly what they're listening to and paying attention to. You can't change it up on episode nine. We have to establish some sort of standards here. True. We true, true. And you're just over there rocking in your rocking chair, picking flies out of your hair. Episode nine, though. That means next episode is double digits.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Which is so exciting. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

I'm more excited about this one. I'll be excited about the next one. Today? At the next one.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Today is a fun one. Um, not going to lie, it's a bit of a different episode than we've been doing. We're sort of in between shows right now, which we are. Gives us some creative freedom.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

And so for this not that we've ever had a lack of creative freedom on this show.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Uh we've lacked a lot of things on this show. Creative freedom isn't one of them. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

I can wholeheartedly agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Um, RJ, tell the people what we're doing today.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Well, the first and most uh breathtaking, dramatic thing that has happened is you don't I don't even see the green notebook of notes. Well, that's because you're just winging it.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Today's coming from the brain and the heart. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

That's because when you take a stroll down memory lane, you don't first and foremost, uh, we do need to apologize for the delay in the last episode now that we're back on our regularly scheduled broadcasting times. There's the Hobbit and other things took a lot out of us here at the Art Center at Cannon County. Um, but I think that's the first thing we could sort of talk about. Give our viewers and people who've never really been a part of a show insights into post-show activities. Post show activities. Especially the first thing you have to do post-show, which is like strike? Yeah. Which is the worst. So Tell the people about strike.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Yeah, this episode could be like filling people in on theatrical things that they may or not may not know.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Okay, so let's just see where the conversation takes us. You know, like a podcast should be. Two people just talking.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

So theater word of the day number one, strike.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Strike Not like a baseball strike.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Not like a baseball strike, not like a union strike either. Correct. So strike follows the last performance of a show, and strike is essentially tearing down of everything in a theatrical space that made the show what it was, and it reverts the theater back to its default state.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

The barest of bounds, one might say.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

It defaults a theater back to its state of being ready to take on a different show. So you completely tear down the set that you were using for a show.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

You collect and organized all the costumes.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

You collect and organize all the yep. You undo all of the sound programming, you undo all of the light programming. Get all the props. All of the hanging and focusing of the lights, you revert the lighting grid back to its original state. Um, yep, props go back into inventory. Uh set pieces go back to the shop. Yep. Dressing rooms are completely cleaned out, everything's cleaned out. Everything is, you know, cleaned, vacuumed.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

It's like if you were moving out of your house, it is kind of like and someone else is gonna move into your house. That's what strike is.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

So yeah, that's a great way to put it. So a show is a tenant. What? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

A show is a tenant renting its your house. Your house. And then when it's time is up, when it's I mean, lease is over, it has to move out. And so it has to take all of its stuff. Yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Yeah, that that works. But strike always hurts because you finish that last show and you're exhausted. You're exhausted, and there's a lot of big emotions.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

And a lot of times it's, you know, at 10 o'clock at night. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Because the show's at also there's very, very, very big emotions after that final show, especially with the children. My goodness, my goblins were crying and sobbing, and the poor goblins. Sobbing goblins.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

And then I said, Huh? Sobbin goblins.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Sobbin goblins. And I said, Hey, sobbing goblins, here's a mop. Get to mopping, you sobbing goblins. Get to vacuuming, get to polishing the floors.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

And so you may be listening to that and think, man, it's so cool to make people do that right when a show is over. Why don't you like wait a few days to let the end of the show, you know, really settle and people get into a headspace to move on? No. That would be nice, except how about no theaters work on a very tight schedule, and the next show has to move in and start building their set typically the day after one show ends. And so which is why strike has to occur late into the night after nighttime performance, so that by the next morning the theater is completely empty and bare for an entirely new show to start their construction process.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Well, thank you for that very intellectual view on the term of strike.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

I don't think it was that intellectual.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

It was you just sat back and you just started spouting off facts. Yeah, that's what happens when I go off notebook. Like uh like a like a kid obsessed with trains. You just started going, okay, so the strike is uh I love trains. I'm sure you do.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

I also love planes and cars.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

That's okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Alright. And tractors. And what?

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Do you like the song she thinks my tractor sex is? No, I think it's like awful. Do you like the song Big Green Tractor? No. Do you like any songs about tractors? No. But you like tractors. I like tractors. But not the anthems of the tractors.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Those I'm not That is no anthem of a tractor. Those songs are bad. And I'm sorry. They're bad.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

I'm gonna have to fight you now. Well You don't like let's take a little ride on a big green tractor.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

No. You know what's a good song about a a a tractor or a train or a plane or a car that uh you never even called me by my name by David Allan Coe. No.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Trains and trucks, they don't have planes. No. Okay. Well, you're wrong again, but what what is it? Tell me tell me the train song or the tractor song you like.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

The well the train song I like is the Thomas the Tank engine uh theme song.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Okay. I'm not talking about trains, Patrick. I'm talking about tractors.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Um I don't know of a tractor song that's good. Uh so when you write one.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Anyway, strike. Um we had to strike the Hobbit last weekend. Uh we did it in a very, very quick time of an hour and a half, which is not usually that's very, very quick. Um, but I did have to give some kids power tools, which was always uh shocking. Uh Clarence, who I call our mascot, and Clarence listens to every episode, he's gonna be thrilled that he was mentioned. Uh Clarence was in charge of the wheels and uh picking up screws. Nice. Uh so Clarence was on top of that, helped us speed it along. And yeah, we tore down Middle Earth in about 90 minutes, and thank you to everyone who helped out with that. Good for y'all. But then something else happens after strike. And it could be one of these things, or it could be two of these things happening at the same time. A mixed emotion, as one might be if you saw that children's movie Inside Out.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

What happens? Are you familiar with that one? I love that movie.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

So what happens after strike? Post-show bliss or post-show blues.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah, I'm familiar with both.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

So do you want to sit back and just rant and not rant, but give a very detailed description of what those are?

SPEAKER_01 9:26

It's they're fairly self-explanatory and easy to pick up on based off of the name. Okay. Shows are very theatric theatrical shows take a lot out of you emotionally and mentally, in a good way, most of the time.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Well, also because you're committing to two months, a month and a half, almost three months. A lot of your time with the same module every day.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Yeah, and you see these people nearly every day. And you see these people start from nothing and put together like work together and put together a show a pool trip.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

It's a huge it's a huge accomplishment.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

And then just out of nowhere, you see these people every day for two months and then And then what a lot of people don't realize is that after the last show, these people, these exact same people you've been in a room with for the past three months, you will never all be in the same room together ever again.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Yes, to put on that sort of show or anything like that. It's I've been to a few cast reunions and they are a lot of fun. It is hard to get everyone back. Yeah. But you you just it's this incredible investment of time. It's like I mean, you see it in sports too. You know, the season comes to an end, that's that's it. Yeah. And, you know, it hits you very, very hard.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

It is very similar to, you know, in any end of the school year, blues, sports blues, yeah. It just it you go through a lot emotionally, and when a show ends, it it can be tough. I've been there.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

But then, on the other hand, there is the post-show bliss. There is. And bliss usually bliss and blues usually tie in together. Like that's what I have right now about the hobbits.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

You typically experience both at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Because I'm very sad that the Hobbit is over. We had such a great time, it looked so cool. Just watching people react to the dragon and to Gollum. It's I'll I'd want to do that again and again and again. However, at the same time, there is a lot to the Hobbit, and I'm so glad I don't have to worry about that anymore. I'm in a blissful place regarding the uh the intricacies of the show, but we'll definitely miss the kids and the shock factors and responses from the audience.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, this is you know, a community theater, so a a lot of these people who do shows with us, you know, are not committed to this art form in any shape or way professionally. This is simply, you know, done because they they love doing it and they want to volunteer their time. Um and want to be a part of something. And want to be a part of something meaningful, um which is fantastic. It y you know, when you dedicate yourself to that though, you you realize just how much work it does take to put on a full length production. And so not for the thing of heart. Not for the faint of heart. So when a show finally does end, it is so sad, but at the same time you get to There's that sense of accomplishment. Yeah, there's that that's you get to look back and like see what you've done and also like see the impact that your show had on other people, and you get to hang on to the relationships you formed because of that show. Yeah. Yeah. That you would not have had if the show had not occurred.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

2,000% correct, Patrick.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

And that entire meaning, I will say this, and this is if you don't take anything else away from this episode, take this away from it. Alright, everyone, buckle up, strap in.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Buckle up. He's about to give some bad advice.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

It's no no. You know, these shows are are three months of your life, and typically, you know, you'll look back and you'll realize it's the best thing you've ever done, and that entire experience happened because you decided to audition. And a lot of times people convince themselves to audition last minute, or last minute people convince themselves not to audition. Don't be that person. Be the person that does audition. I I want to remind everyone that convincing yourself to audition could be the difference in having or not having a three-month-long experience that forms some of the closest relationships you ever have for the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

And I mean that.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

I mean that. You form very tight bonds very, very quickly.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

My the most important some of the most important people in my life I have in my life because of theater, whether it's theater school or shows I've done with them. Shoot, that's how we met. It's how we met, yeah. And now look at us. The reason I work sitting in here. The reason I work here and the reason this podcast exists is because in 2023 I decided to audition for a show here, and I got in and it was Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Do you think that we have this podcast solely because of you?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

No. Okay. But if I had not auditioned in 2023, we would not have this specific podcast. Sure. A podcast might exist. I wouldn't be on it. I would. Sure. Yes. Okay, fine. But how lucky you are.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

I I must say I'm very lucky.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Auditioned in 2023. Absolutely. Yep. And you have also done a bunch of things. I've done a bunch of things here.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

I have to say we're here in episode nine, and much like episode eight, we have just really struck the heart chords in these past few episodes. What's happening to us? I mean, I are we I don't know if it's because you know the first few episodes we're like getting our footing and like trying to be like, okay, here's all the stuff going on, and we've gotten through a lot of the going on.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

We've got we've gotten we've gotten through all of the here's what we are, here's what we do. Yeah. And so now we get into the why the why of what we do.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

And everyone, you you're always wanting to know the why. Yeah. Just any episode of CSI, that's what they're trying to figure out. Why? Yeah. Uh I don't even know where I was going with that, but yeah, episode eight and nine, back-to-back heartfelt episodes. And that takes us to our main topic. And as you can tell, I don't need a uh notebook to remember what the main topic is, but we're taking a stroll down memory lane. There we are. To talk about some of our best memories and stories here uh at the Arts Center of Cannon County. Um you basically said how you started here. Uh you auditioned for what in 2023?

SPEAKER_01 16:16

I auditioned for Ken Ludwig's Moon over Buffalo. It is a it is a farce. Very funny show. It was directed by Daniel Sorvik. Um, I I got into the show, I got cast as Paul, and I loved this place and I loved the people here, and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna stick around. And then I immediately when that show is over, I auditioned for Bright Star, directed by Daryl Eason, which is The Man, the Myth, the Legend. The Man, the Myth, the Legend, which is to this day one of my favorite shows I've ever been in. Um, and when that show was over, I went to Beth and I was like, You wouldn't happen to be hiring, would you? And she was like, as a matter of fact, we have been a little short staffed. And I got a job and now you're here. Now I'm here. Podcasting. I've been here ever since. Oh yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

And now we have a podcast. And now we have a podcast, a heartfelt podcast. Even I've mellowed out a little bit. Yeah. Yep. I think it was the stress of the hobbit I was taking out on you. Um everything changed after the juice cleanse. Yeah, I was rather grumpy before the juice cleanse. And as soon as I came off the juice cleanse thing, sort of, yeah, I slowly kept mellowing out. Are you oh yeah. No, I'm fine. Adjusting things crackly. Alright. Oh, you were or I was. No, it was my headphones. Oh god forbid your headphones are crackly. Yeah, well, I couldn't hear you. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Um, but yeah, ever since you finished that juice cleanse and you got through it, you've been way more like chipper. Chipper. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

I can handle that, I guess. Uh well, I started here by accident. Oh. Oh, yes. Okay. I um I auditioned for a show in 2020. That was my I'd seen a couple shows here, but the first thing I ever auditioned for was in 2020. And that was Wait Until Dark. Okay. Directed by Mary Wilson, who told us we can't go on a river rafting trip, but it's okay, Mary. We forgive you. We're gonna get more details from you later, because frankly, I can't remember what you told me.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Um I all I remember is that our route that we wanted to take is a no-go.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Yeah. But to me, that's just a challenge. Anyway, I auditioned for Wait Until Dark. Uh one of my favorite shows. It's one of my uh one of the great 1960s thrillers, starring Audrey Hepburn and uh Alan Arkin and uh Rambo's boss from Rambo, whose name I can't remember right now, but he's like the soldier guy. Yeah, he's in it as well. Um and I didn't get cast. It was a tough blow. It happens. However, uh Mary did write me a very nice email and sort of explained why she couldn't cast me. So they basically did wait until dark in five weeks. And it was sort of in that summertime of COVID where things were starting to open back up, but like not really. So they were trying to knock a show out to just knock a show out to keep the doors open on here. I obviously was not working here. I was working for the Honky Tonk Party Express in downtown Nashville. I was DJing and uh bartending on a party bus for the Wheel Girls. And uh when she asked my availability, I said, Well, you know, some days the bus is running, other days it's not. I don't know, but if you cast me, I'll, you know, make sure my schedule I'm here for everything. And Mary wrote me a very nice email that said, uh, thank you so much for auditioning. Please come back. I'm sorry I could not cast you. You had a great audition, but it simply came down to your work schedule, and I can't take that risk with only doing the show in five weeks, and that and see it's like that sort of attitude that made me go, okay, I'm s I'm gonna come audition for something else.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

So you bring up a good point that I don't think it's talked about enough in the acting world. If you do not get cast in something, that does not mean you were bad. Oh no, not at all. The amount of things that go into casting, it it is a massive puzzle. It is a huge puzzle to put together. Skill is not the only thing that determines who gets cast around.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

I mean, I got I didn't get it part once because I was so much taller than the girl they were going with. It's like there's so many 95% of the time it has nothing to do with your talent. It's it's it's schedule. It's like you have a picture, it's like you have the picture of the puzzle up on the wall, yeah, and then you're just blindly reaching in and grabbing pieces and then trying to put it together. It's there's no I don't want to say there's no rhyme or reason because there is rhyme or reason to casting, but it's a bizarre rhyme and reason each time.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Yeah. It it is intricate, and that personally, that took me a while to learn in the acting world. You cannot take it personally. You cannot take it personally, because most of the time it's just not personal. Not at all. It conflicts are and scheduling are massive appearance, chemistry, age, uh hair color. Hair color.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Exactly. Like you you never know. What it could be. You never know what it could be. Well, back to memory lane. Yeah. So fast forward now two years. Yeah. To 2022.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

And so you after that audition, you kind of were off doing your own thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Was sort of off doing my own thing. Uh Canon does not uh we try to do as many I try to push for as many straight plays here or plays, regular plays here, because I cannot sing and I cannot dance. That's not true.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Well, you says that all he says that all the time. That's not true. He does not give himself enough credit. Why thank you, Patrick. There's a reason that you get roped into as many musicals as you do. Yeah. Anywho. How many musicals have you gotten roped into here to be like on stage for? I can think of at least two already off the top of my head. Three. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Three?

SPEAKER_01 22:56

That wouldn't happen if you were bad at singing and dancing.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

I could move with the best of them. Iowa State Championship. Actually, I can break it down. Yeah. Uh well anyway, a friend of mine, a very great director, her name's Sarah Chambers, was directing The Wizard of Oz here and asked me to come in and be a fresh set of eyes and take some notes on the show. It was opening like three days later or something. Okay. Well, uh, not to get into business, but Sarah had a personal problem, family crisis pop up uh the day I came to rehearsals, and basically I took over that rehearsal.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Just sort of like wow, and you had no idea that you would be.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Yeah. No, no idea. And the good thing is because Sarah is so good at her job, the show was done. So it was just, alright, start the show, and like, hey, you you weren't in uh Dorothy, you weren't in your light during Somewhere of the Rainbow, so take a step forward. There wasn't any like hardcore directing things I had to do. But I I always think as a director, you want your cast to know that you have a steady hand on the wheel and you're there for them. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Uh well it's important that they that they know that.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Yeah. Yeah. So this was part of the school shows, and some of the moms of the cast were like, Are you staying? And I'm like, should I? And they're like, Could you? And I go, Okay. So I just kept showing up to the school shows and just figured I was a production assistant. And I pull into the parking lot and Beth's walking out one day, and she goes, You're back. And I go, Oh, well, you know, more shows. And she goes, I should put you on payroll. And I go, Well, I'm looking. And she goes, What? And I go, Wait, what? Wait, what'd you say? I didn't say nothing. And she's like, Well, here, send me your uh I'm like, give me your email, I'll send you my resume. And uh two weeks later, uh the director of education left here for various reasons, and Summer Conservatory started a week and a half after that, and on my resume had uh I ran the intramural, helped run intramural sports camp at MTSU. Yeah. And Beth said, Would you do it? And I said, Yep, and I have been here ever since. That's fate. Yeah. Wow. It's we said, uh, we'll see how the summer goes if we like each other. Right. So I was basically contracted for uh the three conservatory sessions, and then Bada bing, bada boom. Bada bing, bada boom. I said, I like you guys, and if you like me. It was like, you know, uh middle schoolers asking each other out on a date. I go, well, I like you. I'm not gonna say that I like you, but like I like being here. Yeah. Do you like it when I'm here?

SPEAKER_01 26:06

And now we're all stuck here together. Aww. And that was you know, you think that's not that long ago, but that was like what, four years ago?

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Four years ago. Four years ago, coming up on almost to the date.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

And I've been here almost three full years.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yeah, because I got hired right after the Wizard of Oz, which was in the Hobbit slot, which is always around the same time, so it's it's conservatories in two. Yeah, I probably got hired right around this this time four years ago. Well to the date of recording. How about that?

SPEAKER_01 26:48

We need to have a party.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Okay, well, okay. Beth, we're gonna have to have a party. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Um, so well let's jump back to the stuff. That's how that yeah, I was about to say, that's how we both got started here.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Well, let's jump back to you. You said Bright Star was one of the best experiences and shows you've been a part of. Bright Star was so Tell the folks about your time on the Bright Star.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Bright Star was so fun. So, for anyone who doesn't know, Bright Star is a bluegrass musical written by none other, co-written by none other than Steve Martin.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

The father of the bride.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Like that Steve Martin, and Edie. The three amigos. Edie Brickell. The jerk. Yeah, and Cheaper by the Dozen. One of the best actors of all time.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Um you done?

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Um.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

There's more, I'm sure. Yeah, there's more.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Father of the Bride Part 2.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Um Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Steve Martin is a very accomplished banjo player, very extensive bluegrass background. And so the the show is a bluegrass musical, and the plot is inspired by a true story. Um, I believe the story is called the Blue Ridge Mountain Baby or something. Anyway, there's a story about uh a baby who was born in a very, very small town. Um his parents were teenagers, um, and the the the dad of the baby, his dad was like the mayor of the town and was gonna like ruin their name. And so the mayor in the middle of the night took the baby on a train and threw him off the train. Um, which is really dark. Um, but the baby survives.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

But you had a great time.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Yeah, I had a great time. The baby survives, um, and is found in the in the woods and raised by a couple that becomes his adopted parents. Um, and eventually, like thirty years later, uh the the the baby, now grown up, after fighting World War II, goes to work um in a journalist's office and finds out that he's working for his biological mother and they've been searching for each other their whole lives. Um, and it's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful story. The music is awesome. The the scenes are so there's so much comedy in the show, but also there are so many beautifully written moments um in the in the dialogue, a lot of heart. Um Who are you? I was I played Billy Kane. Billy Kane is the baby that gets thrown off um and grows up. Um that makes sense. Look at you. Yeah, yeah. Um and to be honest, when when I talk about the show and try to like like pinpoint why I had so much fun, it's really hard to pinpoint one moment. I just I think it was a combination between the fact that the show itself was beautiful. I'd always wanted to be in that show. It was it was my first ever lead, so that was big for me. I was like really proud of myself for getting that role. Um but everyone in that show was so committed to like honoring the text and the emotional like beats of that show. Like everyone in that show for a community theater production was so just on board to make it as authentic and real and guttural as possible. Um just everyone really committed to telling. I have slowering. Yeah, like it just like I had never experienced a cast that at a community theater level was so everyone was so happy to be there and excited to like make something great. Yeah. Um so that that was just awesome to be a part of. Um and then to this day I I still just wake up singing the songs because the songs are great. If you haven't listened to the cast album, please listen to Bright Star, the musical. It is so good. Blue, blue, grassy, everything. Um, really awesome music. So yeah, that is one of my favorite shows I've ever been in. Um, I will talk about it anytime, so thank you for asking.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

I'm sure it'll become a recurring segment.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

The bright star, the bright star moment of the podcast. I will talk about it anytime. So you just you just let me know when you want to talk about it again. Okay. Um, but okay, so what about you? Is there like a show that you've been a part of here that sticks out in your mind?

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Well, there's a handful. As as you brought up earlier, which I wanted to talk about first, was I have been dragged into a couple shows here. Yes. Uh since I am here all the time and available. Uh we did talk about most recently a couple episodes ago, me, I became the cop in uh in a music man. Yeah, you did. Um you know that and that was the the thing is, and I warn everyone as soon as they asked me to like fill in, I go, I will do it. But I'm swinging for the fences. And they're like, what do you mean? I'm like, I'm just going for it. So as I said, I had this very strange sort of You're not gonna have to ask me to bring more energy. Exactly. I'm like, I'll take direction, don't get me wrong, I'll take direction on the live long day, but just know you're gonna get a lot of options. Yeah. Hence the very sort of dim-witted Jimmy Stewart police.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

But from okay, but from a director's standpoint, that a lot of times is a blessing. Yeah. Because it's hard as a director to work with someone where you have to like pull energy out of your own.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

You'd much rather pull down than try to bring out. Yes. Um, as a director. Uh but yeah, so Music Man was a lot of fun. Uh before that, I was uh asked about three or four weeks, maybe a month out, to be in uh Something Rotten. Directed by the man the myth the legend. Daryl Deason. Daryl Deeson. And uh And who'd you play? I go I go, who do you need me to play? And he goes, Shylock, and I go, who's Shylock? And he goes, Do you know the merchant of Venice? And I go, Well, it's a Shakespeare play because something rotten is a big Shakespeare spoof, basically. And Shylock is the Jewish debt collector.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

The Jewish debt collector.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Um, no, no, wait, oh god, is he not a debt collector? No, he owes Nick Bottom owes money to he is a debt collector, yeah. He owes money to Shylock, but then Shylock will take away all the debt if he's put on as the producer because apparently back in Shakespeare's time Jewish people couldn't produce a theater show, but he loves the theater. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

And blessed I put on the uh But yeah, that character is very I know that that character is very stereotypically very and RJ is anything but that.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

Very much so, very Irish Catholic over here. Um when you grow up in South Florida, there's a lot of inspiration to take from and uh again I took a swing and Daryl, bless him, allowed me to improv some terrible but very, very funny lines. Oh my god. And also he allowed me to Shylock was sentient that he was in a show. Oh, really? I didn't know that. So uh because I can't sing or dance, and he's like, and Daryl, you know you did this, Daryl, because I know you're listening. I'm like, look, I can't sing or dance, and he's like, okay, he's only in one song, and you just sort of say the line, you demand, and I'm like, okay, I can handle that. And I'm like, what about the dancing? He's like, you just do whatever you need to do and get on and off. And I go, okay, I can do that. And then two weeks later, okay, so there's one more song and there's one more dance.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Yeah, he definitely did that on purpose.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

And uh, it's the the bottom's troupe, and uh, I forget which song it is, but they at least made it it's a marching number. So they just sort of march into place and then you know march into formation. And I'm like, oh, I can march. Yeah. However, I uh the character of Nostradamus is there, who is played by Nick Mullins, and since he was like a fortune teller or whatever, we were again, we were the only ones who could see outside. So they'd start singing a song, and I'd look at him and he'd like, go dance with them, and I'd like looking at the audience, and I'm like, what are these people doing? And they, the gentleman of the troupe, uh, the McDade brothers, Jarrett Royer, Wesley Cox, Tyler Adams, I'm uh Dakota Moore, I think that was everybody in the troupe. Yeah, they sang this beautiful harmony at the end of this note, uh, you know, just sounding great. Yeah, and I'd just look at the audience and I'd go, Oh just burying it.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

Just tanking that song. I didn't realize that you made his character like knowledgeable that he was in a yes, that's funny.

SPEAKER_00 36:22

Okay, I like that. It um I like that. When we when we bowed, I grabbed an audience member and bowed, made them bow with me. If you're gonna drag me into something, I'm gonna have as much fun as I possibly can. That's funny. So yeah. Um that's good. So that but uh to answer your other question, uh, as a director, the show um I'm I'm extremely proud of every show I've directed here, but the one for me, it's and it's something you can't put a finger on of just like yeah. It just every show I've done here, uh this is not a knock to the other shows because everyone worked and everyone had did such a great job and everything came together perfectly. But there's some that just have there's a certain something like Bright Star. Like there's just a certain something, a connection, something in the air, and that was uh The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Yes, that show is so good. It thank you. It was the music is by Don Schlitz, who's a Hall of Fame uh country music writer who recently passed away. His biggest hit was The Gambler, Kenny Rogers, you know that one? Yep. Look at you. Got no when to hold 'em. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

No when to hold 'em.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Yeah. No when to walk away. No when to run. Yeah, see, we got it. Um so it also had that sort of bluegrass, but also that 90s, late 80s, 90s country feel to it. And it was, it was just a super, super great time. All the kids were just firing on all cylinder. It was just again, because most kids don't even read Tom Sawyer. Really? I mean, I I don't know how I mean how many actually read. They're all on the TikToks. Yeah. I had to read it. Yeah. Uh so for them, uh it seemed like a lot of the kids knew the story but didn't really know it. Yeah, they had everyone hears that name. Right. Everyone hears the name and knows it, but they don't know the story necessarily. And it's again, I don't know what it was, but everyone just it just clicked, it just meshed in such a natural way that was unexplainable. Yeah. And uh the audiences, the schools, the students, and the you know, the public shows just roared at each show, and uh that's it's gonna be very, very, very tough to top that one.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

And see, that's why we do theater. Oh, yeah. Is because it's so human. Oh, very much so. It it's theater in the connection that we get from it, this is so cliche and deep, so I apologize. But the connection or heartfelt now. The connection we get from it is like what I use to like explain what it means to be human. Yeah. Like Yeah. There is something. I'm not calling my own.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

It's also the uh the it's stop lying, you're crying. But it's also the unity, the unity aspect. There's something about watching a show, a great show with a group of people, it like a great movie or listening going to a great concert where everyone just forgets about the outside world and is just locked in on this story and the emotions that everyone else for the duration of this is universally feeling. And yeah, and a lot every show I've been a part of here has had that. Yep. Has had that feeling.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Let me tell you, once you catch the bug, there's not it's hard, yeah. There's not much you can do. It's hard to replace it. It is hard to it's like an addiction, but a good addiction. I I I will forever say that humans need art, and I know that not everyone agrees with that, but like from a personal standpoint, I I like I need that.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Well, everyone needs art, but everyone's art is up to them. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:35

Like you could watch when I say art, I don't just mean like theater.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

Like you could watch a dunk contest, and people are just that is yeah, just incredible how some people can do what they do. Um Yeah. The art is the art is the art.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Um one of my favorite speeches of all time was I forget the context of the speech, but it was Ian McKellen talking about a very, very famous man. Gandalf. Gandalf. Magneto. Um and he was talking about he was telling the audience practically demanding to practice any type of art that you can, no matter what it is, because we we need it, and it is the most important thing that we have. If you have like two minutes in your day, I highly recommend looking up Ian McKellen's speech about the importance of art.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

You're demanding a lot of our audience. They have to listen to Bright Star, they gotta go find a specific Ian McKellen speech. I'm not apologizing. Here's what I'm gonna tell you. You go out there and do you and have a great rest of your day. No, don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Oh! Go listen to Bright Star, and then after you do that, listen to Ian McKellen's speech about practicing art.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Do we have any other uh big memories we want to talk about?

SPEAKER_01 41:53

Well, okay, so there's there's show memory lane, but then there's also workplace memory lane. Workplace lane and workplace memory lane is entirely different. There have been some workplace memory lane doozies. We are probably the the most recent notable memory lane in the workplace event was the egg hunt.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

But yes, we did an egg hunt. No, but it's just it's uh we they said the the saying is you shouldn't you shenan once, you'll shenan again. And by goodness, do we look for the shenanigans in everything we do?

SPEAKER_01 42:31

White oak setting up for white oak the white oak craft fair typically gives us a good enough memories to like last us for like a few months.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

Just the setting up of the White Oak Craft Fair.

SPEAKER_01 42:42

We're White Oak Craft Fair is so much work for us, but like We're a disaster. We have so much fun, and no one can explain why. Because we're all exhausted from the sun and we've been awake for 30 hours and we're sore, but then like the food trucks show up and it's all over like it's all okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

They give you a microphone and a camera. You you you were like a four-year-old who saw a dog for the first time. You were chasing dogs.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

We know what I'm excited about. People were actually scared. I'm excited about this year's wedding because in the dog interview segment this year, my own dog is gonna be here. So Penelope Potato. I'm gonna do a 1v1 exclusive.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

A 1v1 exclusive. Yeah. Let's see. Do we have do I have any workplace memories of the thing with the workplace memories? We have that wedding that's let's talk about that. We have that. Because they do all no, they do all sort of blend together. Yeah. Because something ridiculous happens almost every day. For example, what happened today on day of recording? Our boss, our fearless leader. She's had a long week. Beth has had a long week. Long week, but to alleviate the stress of this long week, she had in her car what she brought in for a prop show we're gonna have here. She had a she made it herself.

unknown 44:14

A crocodile.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

She made it herself 15 years ago. That's important to note. And I'm not exaggerating that number. Like it's 15 years old.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

It's a crocodile mask. It's massive.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

It's like made out of foam and chicken wire.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

She's just walking around wearing it. As a crocodile.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

And she'll like scream my name at 10 o'clock in the morning. And I'm thinking she's like asking me to do something, and I look over and it's just Crocky! This half reptilian. Look at that beauty. This half reptilian Person. Person.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Like, this is a very deep uh reference. Not a lot of people will get it. But the old miniseries V, the letter V from the 80s. Don't know it. It's uh aliens invaded and they look human, but then at the end of one episode, the head gets ripped off and it's a lizard! Beth was one of the V people.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

Okay. I I was thinking about Remember when back in the early 2000s when ESPN would do those like commercials. ESPN commercials with famous uh people. There was one ESPN commercial where it was like a few ESPN analysts and Steve Irwin.

SPEAKER_00 45:27

Yes, and he wrestled Albert the Alligator from the University of Florida.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

The Florida mascot walks out of an elevator and Steve Irvin's like, oh, isn't he gorgeous?

SPEAKER_00 45:36

We need to do this jumps on him and like the art center TikToks. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Thank goodness for this episode. Thank goodness we didn't have your green notebook, and we were coming up with great ideas. The past two episodes are telling me that maybe the notebook just needs to go away. No, no, the notebook is good for when we have business. Right now we don't have any pressing business. Yeah. Of course we have classes.

SPEAKER_01 45:57

We have pressing business, but we've talked about it in previous episodes. Classes are still coming up. Auditions for Big Fish coming up. Yep, nine to five cast just got announced. It's stacked. Check it out. Tickets on sale.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

Yep, tickets on sale now. Yeah. Um I think we're almost out of time, but I think what we need to do before we uh wrap it up is check our email. Do we have any emails, Patrick?

SPEAKER_01 46:21

Good news. We actually do have an email. We have an email. Yes. Let's see. Hold on. Because I remember seeing it and I got so excited. It's Sunshine Robins again.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Sunshine Robins, my school mom, back again. Thanks, Sunshine Robbins. What did Sunshine Robins say?

SPEAKER_01 46:40

She says, Patrick, how is the princess potato? Mrs. Sunshine. Uh of course, in Russia. That's it? That's it. That's it. Nothing for me. Nothing for RJ.

SPEAKER_00 46:51

Huh.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

Nothing for RJ. One sentence only for Patrick. Okay, then. How is your potato dog? Uh Sunshine, thank you so much for asking. Um, for those of you who are just now joining us, uh, Potato is my rescue French bulldog, who I would jump in front of a train for. I love her so much. Oh. Um Potato is fantastic. She's living life. The only issue right now is that right before we we rescued her, um uh she got fixed at the um rescue sh or the people at the rescue shelter took her to get fixed before she was given us, and the surgery uh didn't quite go according to plan, so they think they have to uh go back in and kind of fix it. Fix the fix ins yeah, fix the fix-ins a little bit. Um, but it should be very, very minor. Um and it's not really bothering her that bad. It's just m mostly precautionary. Um but she is living life. She is getting chunky. Oh. Um, she's been going on car rides and getting pup cups. Oh.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

Um, she's finally take the dog for a walk.

SPEAKER_01 48:07

Uh oh yeah. Good. Um, but she also she gets like she is round, but gets the fastest like zoomy sprints ever. She's so fast. Um we do. She moved her for a big girl, huh? Yeah. We do give her exercise daily though. Okay. Um, she's great. Snores. She sounds like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. Just like.

SPEAKER_00 48:36

Is that something the doctor should look at? Well, that's a French Bulldog thing. Oh, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:41

But I got it. I I love her. I made her an Instagram. All the things. She is the most spoiled dog on the planet. That's lovely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

It's complicated. Yeah. That's another Steve Martin movie. Just thought of it.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

RJ RJ's getting RJ's getting a little sniffy because he wasn't mentioned at all in your email. Miss Sunshine.

SPEAKER_00 49:06

I'll just remember that when uh you need help cleaning out your room.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

So thanks for uh making my life more difficult. We'll remember. Or I'll remember. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:16

To say that.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

This will be fun.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Patrick, I think that's it. Are we really out of time? We're we've been talking for 50 minutes. Dang. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:25

Okay. Man, time flies away. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

Thank you, of course, for tuning in to the Castlist. It's a five-star review on your podcast listener of choice. It helps us find more people for tuning in.

SPEAKER_01 49:36

Yeah, we always have more memories to talk about, so I'm sure more will be a memory episode. Yeah, more will be dropped in future episodes.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

But we hope you uh continue to listen and we hope to see you out here at the Art Center of Cannon County real soon. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 49:48

Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you all next time. I'm RJ. I'm Patrick. And this has been the Cast List. Turn us off.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:59

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.artcenterofcc.com. Or give us a call at 615-563-2787. We hope you enjoyed this episode, and we hope to see you at the Art Center soon.