Amy Jo Jackson

On the Season 3 premiere episode I sit down with the wildly talented Amy Jo Jackson. We discuss everything from their work in Red Bull theatre's new production of Titus Andronicus (starring Patrick Page) to our mutual obsessions with early BBC comedies!

If you're looking for handmade wooden home decor then my Etsy shop is perfect for you! For a look at my catalog go to: JohnMadWoodworking.Etsy.com

You can find more info about my work as an actor and voiceover artist on my website at: www.johnmaddaloni.com

Thanks for listening to this week's episode. Be sure to rate the show, enable automatic downloads and, if you're interested in becoming a donor, you can go to workingclassacts.com and press the support button at the top right corner of the page to donate today!

Support the show

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
This is a cold read of August Osage County with
improv.
I'll be playing Gene Fordham.
Amy Joe will be playing everyoneelse.
Yes.
Here we go.
Yeah.
Phantom of the Opera, 1925, LonCheney.

SPEAKER_01 (00:19):
Yeah, he really hurt his eyeballs with all those
special effects.
Or was that Boris Carloff?

SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
No, but they're they're showing it with the the
scene in Color Restored.

SPEAKER_01 (00:30):
The scene.
Yeah.
That that seems thrilling.
The one where uh let's see, heplays that organ real loud and
shakes the girl's brains out hereyes.

SPEAKER_00 (00:41):
I guess.

SPEAKER_01 (00:42):
That's what I remember.

SPEAKER_00 (00:44):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (00:45):
My my favorite scene in Lon Cheney and The Fan with
the Opera 1925.

SPEAKER_00 (00:49):
Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
Boy, you know what other movie I really liked was R
S Nick and Ole Lace.
That Cary Grant.

SPEAKER_00 (00:56):
I know.
So cute.
Cute as a butt.
Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01):
Wow, you sure got a lot to say, Gene.

SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
I've seen the one with Claude Rains.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
Are you thinking notorious?
Because that is not our snickand old lace.
That is another Cary Grantpicture altogether.
That has Ingrid Bergman in it.
I don't remember it.

SPEAKER_00 (01:14):
So hot.
I was just a kid.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17):
You were a kid when you were seeing notorious?
Well, I probably shouldn't haveshowed you that.
Then there's there's a lot ofdeath in that one.
What?
Yes, they they poison IngridBergman and then they they shoot
Emile or they drop him off acliff.
I don't know.
I mean, yeah.
I'm telling you, I justre-watched it, and this is what
happens.
It's not my fault.
You was a kid when you sawnotorious.

SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
Fifteen.

SPEAKER_01 (01:41):
Alright, well, that's not too bad.
You can have an appreciation forAlfred Hitchcock when you're 15.
What?
I don't know what you aretalking me in circles round for,
Gene.
It doesn't sound good.
Alfred Hitchcock?

SPEAKER_00 (01:54):
That's disgusting.

SPEAKER_01 (01:55):
Now, look, we do not need to be grass.
It's the man's name.

SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
Food.
From the kitchen.

SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
Gene, I I think you need to go lie down.

SPEAKER_00 (02:08):
What do you smell?

SPEAKER_01 (02:10):
What I don't know.
Are you smelling toast?

SPEAKER_00 (02:12):
I think you smell food from the kitchen.

SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
Oh God, you're having a stroke, Gene.
What are you I need?
I think you need to lie down.
Let's get a cold compost.

SPEAKER_00 (02:20):
Oh, I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (02:22):
I d I do know.
I once took a CPR class andshirt.
Wouldn't you doubt my prowess?
Oh, come on, Gene.

unknown (02:31):
Oh, it's hot.

SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
Yes, you're having a stroke.
You're having a medical advance.

SPEAKER_00 (02:35):
Yeah, really hot.

SPEAKER_01 (02:36):
Yes.
Oh my god, Gene, I gotta get youan ice pack.

SPEAKER_00 (02:39):
Yeah.
Jesus Christ, Gene.
Say something.

SPEAKER_01 (02:43):
Well, Gene, if you aren't gonna help yourself, I
don't know what you want me todo.

SPEAKER_00 (02:50):
That would be great, because I just smoked my last
bowl and I really needed to getfucked up.

SPEAKER_01 (02:54):
Alright, well, you're not having a stroke,
you're a drug addict.
I really needed to get fuckedup.
Oh, well don't I uh I was fuckedup.
I am scandalized.
And you was making fun of thename Alfred Hitchcock.
You're bad.
Who's the one talking aboutjoints and bowls over here?

SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
Genus.
That's it.

SPEAKER_01 (03:17):
Gene was remarkably unhelpful.

SPEAKER_00 (03:19):
Yeah, G that was maybe the worst scene to choose.
But funny.
Yeah, it was very funny.
It worked for a while because itwas like so So yes ending
whatever you're scared.
You know, literally yes endingthe whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 (03:33):
I will just talk about Alfred Hitchcock as well.
That was very impressive.
Look, I do love, I do lovenotorious excellent film.

SPEAKER_00 (03:41):
Oh hell yeah.
Oh boy.
We had to watch that in uh ingrad school.
God, it's so it's so frickin'.

SPEAKER_01 (03:46):
I went for my birthday this past year.
Um, that they were screening abunch of Hitchcock at the Paris
during May, June, and so I Ijust like got a bunch of people.
You know, it's like now theNetflix theater, but they also
do a yeah, they also do a lot ofreally great programming of like
older films and all sorts ofstuff.
So, like, what have I been tosee at the Paris?
I have been to see 8 Femme,which is a French film from 2001

(04:07):
starring Catherine Deneuve.
Oh my god.
One of my faves.
Um, so I went to go see that andthen notorious for my birthday.
I'm going to All About Evetomorrow, I think.
And uh I went to a screening ofdeath by lightning because I was
on the I was on the SAGnominating committee this year
for TV, so I got to go to thatscreening.

SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
That show is fucking.

SPEAKER_01 (04:25):
Well, and I only watched the first episode
because I was trying to cramp.
And my partner's like, well, I'mnot gonna wave here, I'm gonna
finish all of them.
I'm like, it's really good! Iwanna see it all.
So I've got to watch the otherthree episodes.
But they were all there.
It was like their premiere, soit was really easy.
They all did a QA panelafterwards.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (04:39):
I love that.
Welcome to Working Class Acts.

(05:00):
I am here today with anincredibly talented individual.
A crazily talented individual.
Theyslash all is a performer,playwright, compute composer,
lyricist, and award-winningcabarettist.
As a writer, they have two playson the uh Kilroy's list, excuse
me, Hatchetation and Peggy andBen, which I saw and was very,

(05:22):
very good.
And their work has has beendeveloped with the O'Neill
Theater Center, National MusicTheater Conference, untitled
music project, She Collective,Greenwood Lake Theater, and Red
Bull Theater.
She's been commissioned by ESTslash loan and flat rock
playhouse, and has been afinalist for the Larson, the
Stanley, and Ashland New PlayFestival, and the recipient of
the Litzahol.

(05:45):
That was me saying that.
Emerging artist grant.
Bistro Award-winning cabarettistfor their Tennessee Williams
solo show, The Brass Menagerie,which was so fun.
I watched that.
I watched half of it when I wason the treadmill this morning.
As an actor, Amy Joe has workedat WP Theater, Ensemble Studio
Theater, Red Bull, the The OldGlobe, Regency Girls, Company
14, Weston, Speakeasy Stage,Flat Rock, Nantucket Performing

(06:08):
Arts Center, Arkansas Rep, andmany more film and TV credits
include Here They Come, SisterTammy, and Dicks, the musical,
A24, and just like that, HighMaintenance, and the singing
voice of an animated crab inUnder the Boardwalk, Paramount.
AJJ, ooh, AJJ is also anaccomplished voice text dialect
coach, most notably for the TonyAward-winning production of

(06:30):
Broadway's Kinky Boots, BFA fromBoston Conservatory.
Folks, I'm here with Amy JoeJackson.

SPEAKER_01 (06:38):
That was exhausting.
Who else?

SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
That was too much.

SPEAKER_01 (06:44):
I wrote it and I apologize.

SPEAKER_00 (06:48):
Amy Joe, how are you doing?
I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
I'm delighted to be here.

SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
I'm so glad you're here.
We met a few months ago via ourfriend Andy Ingalls doing a
little Shakespeare.
We did our uh a little cold readShakespeare.

SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
Of Much Ado About Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 (07:04):
Yes.
And we all did our best Keanuread Don Juan.

SPEAKER_01 (07:08):
When because we we had talked about like what's
your relationship to the playbefore we started reading?
And we all kind of talked aboutKeanu.
Of course.
As as John the Bastard.
And then when it when it got toyou, I think you were the first
one that had a line, and I sawyou like look up and make eyes
at all of us, like, are we doingthis?
I was like, You did it, and Iwas like, that's right.
It was so exciting.
I was like, all I really want isto just uh do Keano the entire

(07:33):
And we did Buraccio so good.
So yes, I was like, this personis Ken.

SPEAKER_00 (07:39):
It was so fun.
It was so, so fun.

SPEAKER_01 (07:41):
Amy Joe, where are you originally from?
Um I grew up in Fort Worth,Texas and Littleton, Colorado.

SPEAKER_00 (07:47):
Ah, another Texan.
Yes.
Are you a Texan?
No.
I've had many roommates who areTexans.

SPEAKER_01 (07:52):
Oh, well, I don't like to lead with it, but you
ask.
So there it is.
Fair enough.

SPEAKER_00 (07:57):
You know, did you like growing up there or I mean
it was a place.

SPEAKER_01 (08:00):
Yeah, fair enough.
The food is great.
Most places are a place.
Um, you know, and I it was asuburb.
When I moved to Colorado in highschool, people would be like,
Did you ride a horse to school?
I'm like, I've seen more horseshere.
What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 (08:13):
I was gonna say, I feel like Colorado is more of a.

SPEAKER_01 (08:15):
I know, but they they have their own ideas about
uh what the rest of the world isin relation to them.
They're like all very outdoorsyand and uh but I don't know, it
was very interesting and to togo from a place that was like
just a suburb to another placethat was just a suburb in the
mountains.
Do you know what I mean?
Like from the plains to themountains, but um yeah, I mean

(08:36):
it was one of those I I I don'tknow.
It was fine, but I've never notwanted to live in New York City.
Like since I can remember havingthoughts, yeah, yeah, I've
wanted to be an actor and livein New York.
So it was always like not evenlike, oh, I resent this place,
but I was like, I'm leaving thisplace at my desk as soon as I
can.
Less about less about the placeand more about where I wanted to

(08:59):
be.
Um and then you know, Coloradowas beautiful, but the also just
like Texas has a far more, atleast like where where I grew
up, a far more like just betterinfrastructure, sure.
And more like uh competitivearts programming, you know, even
though like in Colorado, like alot more uh like the football
players actually came to see theshows in Colorado and they uh

(09:21):
did not in Texas, but there wasjust more more of a community,
maybe well it not not even that,just just like uh a more rigor
because it was more competitive,uh like the choir program was
like insane.
Like, like, and I mean that tomean like it was both good and
it was also deranged.
I was like, why do we care thismuch about Soulfeg?

(09:42):
You know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But so it that kind of thingwere just like Colorado everyone
was like, oh, you know, like alot just a lot more laid back to
a point where I was like, thisis not my speed.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, um, it went so far aslike how I like to to work and
the kind of time I like to putinto a thing.
Totally.
Um, but again, I was like, I'mI'm out of here.
These mountains are pretty.
I gotta go to a pedestrian city.

SPEAKER_00 (10:02):
So when did you uh catch the proverbial bug?

SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
I did I I didn't I do really think I was born with
it.
Like I've I've truly I'm I'mlike not being hyperbolic when I
say of I've never genuinelywanted to do anything else.
Like and my my aunt, my mom'ssister was like, Oh yeah, since
you were four, you're saying I'mgonna move to New York and be an
actor.
Like, I don't I don't know whereI got that idea in my head, but
I think it was because also Iwatched a lot of um my mom like

(10:28):
loves Rogerson Hammerstein andJulie Andrews and all that.
So I grew up watching all theold movie musicals and I I just
knew Broadway happens in NewYork City, yeah, and I want to
do that.
Totally, and I so I don't Idon't remember any other uh
option occurring to me.
There there was a while inelementary school where I got I
realized like people were likethought that was like like

(10:49):
saying you want to be anastronaut is like saying you
want to be an actor kind ofthing, and so I started saying,
like, this is that much better,but I started saying I wanted to
be a zoologist because thatseemed more serious.
And I was like, I like animals.
And I remember being in thefifth or sixth grade, and we
were like broken off into smallgroups, and the teachers coming
around, and we're all talking,we're supposed to be talking
about like careers that we couldhave, whatever.

(11:10):
It was like a social studiesclass or something, and the
teacher like comes over andtalking to us, and she's like,
Well, what Amy, what do you wantto be?
I was like, um uh, you know,maybe uh an actor or or a
zoologist.
Maybe I even just led withzoologists because I was really,
you know, trying to make it lessgreat.
Exactly.
She's like, Oh, so you'll take alot of science classes.
I'm 10.
And I went, Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 (11:31):
Hell no.

SPEAKER_01 (11:32):
I absolutely's like, oh, I won't be doing that.
So I'm gonna be an actor.
Like, which is what I alwaysknew I was gonna do, but the
only thing felt like I was forother people's benefit.
Yeah, um, but I dropped thatfacade as soon as I was like,
science, that won't be happeningfor this guy?
No.

SPEAKER_00 (11:47):
It's so interesting to me, like growing up because
when I grew up, it it took me alittle while to get to acting,
but I feel the same way thatlike it was always the thing I
wanted to do, but like Irealized it through other
things.
I I was like, oh, I want to be acartoonist, I want to be, you
know, a firefighter or whatever.
There was like so many things Iwanted to be.
Yes, that is literally what itcame down to.

(12:10):
I was just like, no, I just wantto like put on their clothes and
pretend to be a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
I want to do the poll and then I want them to go
do the dangerous part.
Do you draw?
Are you good at drawing?
I I'm quite I'm pretty good atit.

SPEAKER_00 (12:23):
I'm good at like real life drawing.
If I can see it, I'm pretty goodat drawing it.
My brother is an amazing likecartoonist.
Like he he he draws so I'venever so unique.
I don't see anyone who likedraws like him.

SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
I played Alice and Bechtel in Fun Home, and I was
in a small theater.
I mean, it's my favorite thingI've ever done, but we were in a
small three-quarter thrusttheater, like 250 seats,
something like that.
And so because of the layout ofthe space, and because the
audio, like if we wanted theaudience to feel like they were
in the house with us, yeah,yeah.
I'm I'm terrible at drawing.
But I was like, I want them tobe able like they were like, oh,
we can have it printed.

(12:56):
I was like, no, I want them tobe able to like hear the
scratch.
I want to be really drawing.
I don't want to also feel like Ihave to hide when I'm drawing.
I want to be able to be drawingand have them feel like they're
part of it.
So we the stage manager and Ihad developed this.
Uh, I I like went through andcut out a bunch of like
photocopied and cut out a bunchof the actual Bechtel drawings
from the cartoons and like tapedthem on the thing, and then we

(13:16):
photocopied it super, super,super light, pasted it into a
sketchbook, and that way I couldtrace it.
And no one could see that'sbrilliant.
But it was it was great, andthen like during tech, because
the other two Allison coulddraw.
So we're during tech and we'redoing some bit where I'm on
stage with small Alan, likewe're on a break, so I'd put my
my pad down, and then we comeback.
She's like, Heymy Joe, did youdraw this?

(13:38):
I was like, Yeah, well, youknow, I traced it.
She was like, Oh, I was gonnasay you've gotten better.
Burned by a 12-year-old.
But she was right.
But it is the kind of thingwhere I was just like, Oh, I've
I've always just it's it's likethat and and dance are are you
know, uh I've never longedreally to be able to unlock the
mysteries of science, but likelike I love visual art and like

(14:00):
you know, physic physical, likemovie.
It's it's just a sort of form ofexpression that I'm you know,
I'm good at plenty of forms ofexpression, so like it's just me
being greedy, but it's like no,I feel that I wish it could like
capture that anyway at all.

SPEAKER_00 (14:12):
I feel like too, that's like a thing that like uh
like our age of artists reallywant to be uh good at a lot of
things because it feels likeexactly you kind of have to be,
yeah.
Um, and so that that's justfunny.
That's all I had to say aboutthat.
We have to do a lot of shit.
That's so true, so true.

(14:33):
So you left Colorado, you movedto the big city.
No, I moved to Boston.
Oh, so the medium city.
Boston's not a big city.

SPEAKER_01 (14:42):
Look, compared to when you what like the tea
stops, the the the M the MBTA,as my grandfather always called
that.
Oh, because he got his he gothis uh masters in Boston.
So I was like, Are you takingthe MBTA?
I was like, yes, yes, sure.
Grandpa's taking the tea.
Um but the MBTA, the stops areso close to one.
Like once you moved to New Yorkand come back, because my

(15:03):
brother was two years below meat school, so I'd come back a
lot.
And I was just like, this is youcould like spit and you're there
when you think about how muchfurther the stops are apart in
New York.
And then I went back and did acontract in the winter, and I
was like, oh, oh, I get it.
They they should be less spacein between them.
I can't walk anywhere, it's justsnow and ice.
I get it.

SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
Oh, yeah, but so you went to Boston Conservatory.

SPEAKER_01 (15:24):
I did, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (15:24):
How was your time there?
Did you enjoy it?
Yes and no.

SPEAKER_01 (15:27):
Yes and no.
You know, I went I wasn'tmarried to doing a musical
theater program, but I went tothe best program I got into.
Right.
Uh which was that.
And also I knew the actingtraining wasn't gonna be what I
wanted, but I also knew that waswhere my curiosity was.
So I was like, well, I'm gonnaseek that out anyway.
And I knew I wouldn't pushmyself vocally because I just
didn't care.
Um, and I I'm in hindsightreally glad that I did that

(15:49):
because it forced me to pushthrough a lot of my discomfort
with like it's so funny thatcabaret is like one of the
things that I do now and thatpeople, if they know me at all,
like know me for because it'sall singing stuff out of
context.
Granted, you're building a newcontext, you know.
But I would get so nervous at arecital or something like that.
We're just like, I'm singingthis one song, and it's just
like about the vocal and not,and yes, it's about the

(16:11):
performance, but you know, it'sit's much more about how well
are you singing the thing.
Yeah, and to just have to be onyour feet singing all the time.
I did push through to a new low.
I got I got past that discomfortso much faster than I would have
if I had just gone to a straightacting program.
But you know, it was a bitmiddle school in its like
pettiness and competitiveness,and I've just never cared for

(16:34):
that.
Yeah.
I, you know, as I'm I'm veryambitious and I I'm competitive
with myself.
I like hold myself to anincredibly high standard of
excellence, but I I I just don'tI never understood needing to be
the fiercest.
I'm like, can we all just likedelight one another and like
play?
Apparently not.
So, but I you know, I met somepeople that you have liberation

(16:54):
up on your your wall here thatone of my dear like my college
roommates was in that.
Oh, you know, and so like thepeople that I'm like still very
close with and that I'm I'mgrateful for.
Um, but I do want it it's one ofthose things, and I don't like
to live in a state of justregret, but I do wonder, like,
oh, having now worked with a tonof people professionally from a
bunch of different schools, I'mlike, I would have been much

(17:16):
happier at Carnegie Mellon or aplace like that where it's like
the acting and the focus on thatisn't thought of as like, oh
well, okay, if you care aboutthat.

SPEAKER_00 (17:24):
I'm like, of course I care about that.
Well, I mean, in musicaltheater, of course, like uh it's
the the notion of like tellingthe story through song is like
has become less importantsometimes when I see like
musical theater performances.
That's a very good idea.
Yeah, no, no, no, yeah, forsure.
But like I feel like sometimeswith commercial theater in
particular, it's like theyreally want to sell the like can

(17:46):
you hit this crazy I know?
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (17:49):
Well, it to me is a post-Wicked syndrome situation,
like to to and that is anoversimplification, but to me,
because wicked came out when Iwas in college, yeah.
So I felt the shift in theexpectation for femme voices to
some extra.
I'm like, look, now I I don'twant to say sing like that
because I have no desire, uh,but like I sing really high and

(18:09):
really loud in part becausethat's the expectation.
And I was like, well, if I wantto work, I gotta figure out how
to unlock other skill setsbecause I'm really like a legit
soprano with like a lot ofrange.
Yeah.
But guess what?
There's not a lot of it's likeyou want to play the mother
abbess in the sound of music,and that's it, or do you want to
do something else?
So um, you know, it's it's a itis a sort of, and I'm sure

(18:35):
there's been so manypermutations of that throughout
the ages and ours that we'vebeen in for a while.
It's just like the the Americanidolification of of Broadway.
Wow, that's a very good way ofputting it.
The kind of like over riffing,which I think we're like moving
out of a bit, thank goodness.
But there were years.
Oh, where I was like, Where Ifelt like I hear the words.

SPEAKER_00 (18:54):
Yeah, exactly.
Where it's just like, what'sgoing on?

SPEAKER_01 (18:57):
Yeah, and I'm not a riffer, like I'm not an agility,
like you know, it a coloraturayou can be a coloratura and not
be a coloratura soprano.
The coloratura is the the theagility part, is the you know
like I it's I almost laughedlike that too.
Yeah, but it's like I don't haveI have like thick chords, I have

(19:20):
a big like trumpet of a voice.
So it's just I don't uh I don'tand I also learned to sing not
by listening to Mariah Careylike a lot of my friends, but
Liza Manelli and BarbaraStreisand, you know.
So it's like I can give like alittle bit of that shading, but
it's just not what I do, and Iso that's partially like my
disinterest comes from beinglike that's just not how I
storytell.
Yeah, but I'm also like if Ican't, if I can't receive the

(19:41):
story, what do we do?
This isn't a pop recording, thisis a musical.
And I feel like there are placesfor that kind of color to come
in, but I think it was reallyover overwork for a while.
But I do think we're moving outof it.
But yeah, the expectation islike hit the high note, make us
cheer.
And I and I then you see someonelike Audrey McDonald, and it's
like, well, when it's good, dowe care?

(20:03):
Like when the storytelling isright, exactly.
And she's someone who has aglorious instrument, but like
for me, it's never about hervocal.
It is it's how she's it is thestorytelling, and it's just like
I I went and saw her Mama Rose,a show that I know very well,
and I've seen a number of peopledo.
And I like had both of my handslike during her rose's turn, I'm

(20:23):
getting emotional.
I had both of my hands over mymouth, just stifling audible
sobs.
Like, and I've I I love going totheater.
I'm very moved by performers,but that that happens like very,
very rarely.

SPEAKER_00 (20:38):
I'm like, Where it's like, I can't control this right
now.

SPEAKER_01 (20:41):
I don't know how I'm going to endure this in the best
possible way, you know?
Ugh.
And that's not that was not ashow where she was like, Let me
show you my like the beautifulcontours of my voice.
It was like, let me show you theparts of my voice that I'm not
in control of.
Like, yeah, very gritty, yeah,and in a way that I found
thrilling because it was notabout showing off.
And look, I'm I'm an absoluteshow-off, I'm completely guilty

(21:04):
of this.
Like when I sing Mama Rosestuff, you better believe it.
It's loud, there's a lot ofvibrato, you know, but exactly.
Exactly.
But it's you know, but when Ithink about what do I actually
like, what am I drawn to, it'slike, well, some like that.
It was like, I I kind of don'tcare if you like my voice, fuck
you for caring about that.

SPEAKER_00 (22:04):
This is kind of the perfect segue into your cabaret
your work.
And uh, as I mentioned before, Iwatched about half of the brass
menagerie this morning, and Iwas uh loving it for a lot of
different reasons, which likemainly learning a lot more about
Tennessee Williams in thisreally fun way.

SPEAKER_01 (22:20):
Oh, great.
Um we love to be nerdy uh andstupid simultaneously.

SPEAKER_00 (22:25):
That's the best way to learn, though, I feel like
you gotta be stupid while youlearn.
No, but what I was reallyimpressed by was just your
ability to garner so manydifferent types of voices and
also.
So the all the different musicalstyles that are in there that
you're taking from other shows,which I also think parody

(22:46):
singing or like using music thatalready exists with lyrics
attached to them and thenchanging them is way fucking
harder.
I love that.
So learning it's just a song.

SPEAKER_01 (22:56):
Because I'm assuming probably most of your listeners
have not seen me perform thebrass manage.
The brass manage is great.
It's set up like a uh a lecture,a musical lecture on the women
of Williams, and it is dumb.
Um like the first big set pieceis Maggie the Cat doing her act

(23:21):
one like harangue, her lovingharangue to brick, uh, but to
the music of cats.
Yes.
Um and wouldn't you know Maggiethe Cat scans perfectly with
Jellico Cat.
Um that so I I went away and Ilike wrote the whole thing and
then I brought it to my musicdirector to be like, now how do
we stitch this all together?
So and the I knew I was reallyon to something when he had to

(23:41):
walk away from his piano.
He was laughing so hard.
When I get to, I got hit withthe hot buttered biscuit at
lunch.
That killed me too.
Step away, and I was like, okay.
We're and so um, yeah, how fardid you get?

SPEAKER_00 (23:57):
I think I got um oh, I just got through the uh the
Italian uh Oh Rose tattoo.
Yes, yes, I loved that one.
That one was really fun.

SPEAKER_01 (24:06):
That was very fun.
So what's fun uh I don't know,my favorite thing to do too is
like because I'm I'm I I'm afunny person, I'm a funny
performer.
And so I'd be interested to hearalso your thoughts on the back
half because like it gets itgets really stupid, and then I'd
like drop us into something likemore real.
And then the back third is meplaying all three Wingfields um

(24:29):
to the score of gypsy.
Um which you'd be like if you ststep back and think about you're
like, Well, that that reallyworks.
Actually, you've got adomineering mother, and you've
got like kids, like two kidswith uh various attachments to
doing or not doing what theirmother wants, and uh so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (24:47):
Well, that was the other thing about it too, was
the music that you've chosen foreach person, even though they're
from totally different shows.
I was like, these are all greatchoices that work so well with
the the character's life.

SPEAKER_01 (25:01):
I like didn't grow up listening to anything that
was popular at the time.
Like for instance, I should havelike if taken this'll age me,
but the taking the temperatureof my peers, I should have been
a huge Britney Spears, ChristinaAguilera, and Sink and
Backstreet Boy stand.
Yeah during the pandemic, when Iwas writing songs for uh a show

(25:22):
of mine, uh there was one that Iwas thinking might want to feel
like boy band, and so I was likewatching a lot, I was like, Oh
yeah, like I knew a bunch of thesongs because I went to malls,
yeah, but um I was watching themusic video for I guess it's
Backstreet's back, and I hadnever seen it, and I was like,
why that Halloween party?
You know, and like and I'm like,I like think I put something on

(25:42):
Instagram, people were like, AmyJoe, what the hell?
I was like, why would I watchit?
Why would I watch this?
They're like being around.
I was like, no, no, no.
At my high school parties, wewere watching exclusively
Waiting for Guffman and MontyPython and the Holy Grail and
occasionally Rocky Horror.
We weren't watching BackstreetsBack, the music video.
So like I grew up just, I mean,as my like, you know, Hitchcock

(26:07):
uh uh little tangent earliermight have given away, like kind
of more obsessed with stuff thatwas around before I was born.

SPEAKER_02 (26:15):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (26:15):
Um, and that all you know, the golden age of musical
theater was, you know, the 50sand 60s, if you're you know, uh
and so I uh grew up very wellversed in all that because that
was what I was interested indoing.
It was the kind of music I liketo sing and I was interested in.
So then when I was building thisshow, I have really strong
referential retention in thatway, you know.
So as I was like poking aroundand being like, well, what does

(26:37):
this want to be?
When does this want to be, youknow, I just some some things
came about really quickly.
Like the the rose tattoo thing,that was a joke that I had like
the first day that it came up,but I was like, Oh my god, you
could just do Bet Midler's theRose, yeah, but just sing it in
a heavy Italian accent.
It'd be stupid, that'd be sofunny.
And like that didn't require anyparody lyrics.
And a lot of other things.

(26:58):
I think when I initially decidedto do it, I thought it was gonna
be a bit more like this songpaired with this character.
And then as I started working onit, I was like, no, I gotta
rewrite a lot of this.
But my favorite thing withparody lyrics, which I've been
doing since like I don't know,fifth grade.
Um really?
Wow.
Yeah, like for after not afterschool, for like school extra
credit projects, like I would Iwould rewrite lyrics of they

(27:18):
would give you extra credit forwriting parody songs?
Not for necessarily that, butlike if uh like sometimes you if
you did like a video a creativeproject on something related to
what you're doing, you could geta little extra credit.
Or or if like there was aproject and it was a little free
form, I would always try to dolike write a play, write a
parody lyric, write a poem.
I wrote I wrote in the eighthgrade an entire lengthy, let's

(27:42):
call it retitative.
I was calling it a rap at thetime of the entire plot of
Midsummer Night's Dream.
Oh, I love it.
Um, it wasn't good, but itscanned correctly and it rhymes
because even in like the eighthgrade, I was like, no, I
understand rhythm and meter,please, you know.
But um, but yeah, my favoritething to do with parody lyrics
is especially with big songsthat people know, you know, is

(28:04):
like how closely can I hew tothe original?
Can I obviously you want to keepthe rhyme scheme and and the
scansion as much as you can,because that's really what's
also gonna sell it, but alsolike how close can you get to
the original rhyme?

SPEAKER_00 (28:16):
That's the thing that I think some parody people
don't consider.
And I'm like, that if you gavethe vowel is the same, so good.

SPEAKER_01 (28:24):
It really like, or if you just change, you keep the
setup of the rhyme, but changethe fulfillment.
Yes, you know, uh that like thatsort of thing.
Like so, did you see did you getto Suddenly Last Summer?
Had that happened yet?

SPEAKER_00 (28:37):
I think I j I think I got about halfway through that
one or something.

SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
So it goes to a place, I'll just I'll just I'll
spoil it for you, and you'relistening.
It gets so Suddenly Last Summer,you know, uh ends up being about
cannibalism, of course.
Yeah, oh yeah.
And so like that's one where Imix a bunch of different musical
theater songs, it's not like oneshow in particular, so it has
you know, uh she's doing likesome of her monologue that she's
under, she's she's under the uhthe truth serum that Dr.

(29:02):
Sugar gave her.
Like, what happened next in thevision?
And she's I have her startsinging uh from Funny Girl,
people, people who eat, peopleand they're hungry, it's people
just stupid.
Yes, but keeping the hook asclose to the same.

SPEAKER_00 (29:16):
Yeah, it's the perfect kind of parody.

SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
At the end, it then goes into because then like Dr.
Sugar, which I had my my MD likebe the voice of Dr.
Sugar, and that's probably likewhat happened next, come on,
Kathy.
And so then I have him start theunderscoring to being alive,
very famous underscoring that onthe recordings have all the
other people being like, comeon, add him up, Bobby, add him
up.
So I have him start thatunderscoring being like, add him

(29:39):
up, Catherine.
So like the musical theaternerds get that reference, but it
pairs exactly with the Williamsas well, and then singing Eaten
Alive instead of being alive,you know, just again being like,
What's the closest thing that'sstill gonna like feel like it's
honoring the original whilecompletely subverting the
expectation?
And like I I think we really gotwe really got somewhere with the

(30:01):
colour.

SPEAKER_00 (30:01):
If you're if you're a connoisseur of musical motifs,
you're gonna love the breast.

SPEAKER_01 (30:06):
And that's that's the thing that I said, I think,
because because the capture Isent you is from January 2020.
One of the few I noticed thattoo.
I was like, oh my god, they didthis right before the world no
more.
So because I did that then, I II've done it like I did it five
years in a row because I did itat the duplex in 2019 in a kind
of a like I hadn't come up witha framing device yet.

(30:27):
Uh and then I did it in 2020, asyou saw, and then I took it to
54 below in 2021, 2022, and didhave a whole A V like PowerPoint
thing.
So a lot more visuals and it'svery, very fun.
I have the the more statistics.
More statistics.
Well, and I have it's calledStanley Kobotsky, and it's a
little like Wally with MarlonBrando's face on it.
Uh my partner did that uh uhvisual edit for me.

(30:50):
Um but yeah, just just more dumbjokes, basically, is the thing.
But um yeah, yeah, I'm reallyI'm really proud of it.
It's really uh it's also justlike I started doing cabaret
like uh 2014, partially justbecause I was looking for
something that felt like itchallenged me.
Um because I, you know, gethired to do a lot of stuff I'm
good at, or that I'm it just itjust doesn't require that much

(31:14):
of me.
Do you know what I mean?
And I like to put my whole selfinto something so I can do that,
but when you're like, well, itjust doesn't, it's not I'm not
being challenged.
It's like how do I work out andhow you know, and then so
started doing a lot of just um II don't I'm not a big fan of
like confessional cabaret unlessyou're you've got a really good
story to tell.
Do you know what I mean?
So I get you too.
You're like, and then I moved toNew York City.

(31:35):
I'm like, why do I care?
So did we all exactly this wholeroom.
I saw Cheetah Rivera do one likethat, but I was like, but the
reason I care is because whenyou sing these songs, you're
also the person on the originalcast album.
So I grew up listening to yousing, and now I'm hearing you
sing it live and talk about theshow.
That's interesting becauseyou're Cheetah Rivera.
Yeah, yeah.
But most people aren't.
So I I don't know.

(31:56):
I just I I so I looks kind offramed.
Like, it's a party in my livingroom, but my living room happens
to be 54 below, and you're allinvited.
Like that kind of vibe.
So so brass was the first, likemore tightly structured thing
that I wrote, and that kind ofthen led me to being to the
realizations like, oh, okay, Icould actually really write

(32:17):
something if I wanted.
That isn't because because I dothink of cabaret as like
collage.
Um, and I'm very intentionalwith my set lists, and I, you
know, I I I don't know, I loveputting together a set list.
I I love it.
Um, but but there is somethingdifferent to okay, well now I'm
going to like take an anotherstep forward into like I'm gonna
write the music, I'm gonna writethe dialogue and all that.

(32:37):
But I but doing brass menageriebecause I did it was such a
heavy lift with all the parodylyrics and the and the framing
device, I was like, oh I I couldI could do this.
I have more to say maybe than Ithan I was giving myself credit
for before that.
So that was like summer 2019,then I did the first iteration
of brass, then I did that inJanuary 2020.
But in between then I hadwritten the libretto for my

(33:00):
musical hatchetation, and thenthe world shut down, and I
always knew, kind of like youwere saying, like a part of me
always kinda knew I wanted to bean actor, but I didn't know that
that's what it was necessarily.
Like I knew I was gonna try towrite the music, but I hadn't
allowed myself to say thatbecause it felt like it felt
like I don't know, well, who doyou think you are?
You know, yeah, but then theworld shut down.

SPEAKER_00 (33:18):
I was like, yeah, like why am I not giving myself
permission?

SPEAKER_01 (33:23):
It is amazing what we will do to take up less
space.

SPEAKER_00 (33:27):
Well, it's it I think it it's this interesting
thing.
I think our our generation inparticular, like we got very
much sold on the notion of likeyou go and get a good education,
and then that's your thing.
Yeah, and that's it.
And then you as an artist, youcan't really do that, or like
not now, not anymore.

(33:47):
I feel like you need to have somany different outlets to feel
fulfilled and also just to likelike put yourself out there,
yeah.
Because the industry has grown,to my opinion, a bit more
elitist over the many years, andso you have to do a lot to get
seen hi, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (34:04):
There's more people in it, yeah.
There is, you know, you listento cast recordings from look,
there's there's been incrediblerenowned vocalists all through
the history of recorded sound,right?
But you listen to like a castalbum from the 70s versus now,
and it's like the expectation ofyour skill set is astronomical.
And you you listen to like theoriginal Brigadoon cast

(34:27):
recording.
You have the ensemble, but youalso have the pit singers, and
then you have the ensemble whowould come on and dance.
Agnes Agnes de Mille's dancersweren't the same people who were
singing like I'm in the pitsinging the theme of the show.
You know, and now it's like,yeah, they're the same people,
yeah.
You know, those are the samefolks, and so it is yeah, it's
like, well, what?
I I can't like do Agnes DeMillechoreography.

(34:48):
So what hoops can I jump throughto ensure that I can still get a
job, you know, yeah, to makemyself valuable in another way.

SPEAKER_00 (34:54):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (34:55):
And also, as you said, just be creatively
fulfilled, which is why Istarted No one does cabaret to
make money.

SPEAKER_00 (35:00):
They don't.
Uh news flash.
No, but I think it's also thatthing of just like I it only
helps you as an artist, too, tolike learn these different forms
and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 (35:10):
Like it it unlocks different neural pathways, and
you Well, and I think onceyou've also I did my very first
cabaret show in September of2014, and I got off that stage
and I did feel a bit like I'dleft the planet and come back.

SPEAKER_00 (35:25):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (35:26):
Like I remember wandering kind of dazed back in.

SPEAKER_00 (35:28):
Wait, was it like a so the your first solo show?

SPEAKER_01 (35:30):
My first solo uh yeah, yeah, my first solo show.
And it was, you know, it was anhour.

SPEAKER_00 (35:35):
My pants doing my first solo show.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (35:38):
I'm I really I could but the thing is I came back, I
did feel like I left the planet,but I can't, I but I could feel
this.
There's something about thisthat is so right.
Like there's I've always feltmore comfortable on stage than
like in person.
You know, I'm and I'm one ofthose people to I love being in
a rehearsal room, but I willnever claim that's my favorite
part of rehearsal because thatwould be a fuck fucking high.

(35:58):
We're clowns, we need theaudience, and I don't think
there's anything wrong withthat.
I think it's great, you know,and I feel like there's this
like virtue of like my favoritepart is rehearsal.
I'm like, well, good for you.
I like a good rehearsal roomtoo, but I've been in a lot of
bad rehearsal rooms.
Yeah, but I can get in front ofan audience and and not, I'm not
gonna like leave my castmates inthe dust, but uh, but we can it

(36:19):
grows into something else.

SPEAKER_00 (36:21):
Totally.
It's so it's funny you mentionedthat because I I I played the
clown in Winter's Tale atHartford Stage a couple of years
ago, and it it is one of thosethings where it's like I love
being in the rehearsal room aswell as well.
And the first time you try ajoke and it like really gets a
laugh from everyone behind thetable, and you're like, oh
great, that works, but thenyou're still rehearsing for like

(36:42):
two more weeks, and everyone'severyone's gotten used to the
joke.
Yeah, they're saying they'relike, What's next?
Uh, and so it you can get inyour head about it too, and just
be like, I want to know thatthis is still fresh to the
fresh, to fresh eyes.
Absolutely.
Amy Joe.

SPEAKER_01 (36:58):
Yarp.

SPEAKER_00 (36:59):
Yarp! Did you just quote Hot Fuzz today?

SPEAKER_01 (37:03):
I absolutely did.

SPEAKER_00 (37:05):
That is my favorite movie.
I love the coordinate utility.

SPEAKER_01 (37:10):
I um say that so often.
I say that so often that Iforget I'm even quoting hot fuzz
because it's so much apart.

SPEAKER_00 (37:18):
The Hound from Game of Thrones.

SPEAKER_01 (37:19):
Well, which is not a show I watched.
I'm bad at television.
Oh, okay.
Anyway, I'm bad at TV.
Well, he's great in hot fuzz.
Who isn't great in hot fuzz?
It's the Dalton.

SPEAKER_00 (37:29):
He is so great.

SPEAKER_01 (37:30):
So well cast.
Lucy Punch.
Oh my gosh.
Perfect use of Lucy Punch.
Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 (37:34):
And Olivia Coleman has like maybe 10 lines of the
city.
Well, she was doing a lot ofthat kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 (37:39):
Like, did you did you ever see Green Wing, the TV
show?
Okay, let me set it up for you.
She's in it, but she's just oneof many.
It's a British comedy.
It is basically a medical soapopera, but written by and
performed by comedians.
Oh my god.
So it is deranged.
It's it's um Tamson Grieg,Steven Mangen, and like uh uh uh

(38:05):
Melissa Gomez and uh uh like uhMark Heap and so many great I
think Oliver Chris is in it.
Yeah um is Oliver Chris in itright there, yeah.
He's definitely in it.
Um all these all these Britsthat I'm obsessed with.
Yeah.
Like Stephen Mangan.
So I saw the uh uh uh Normanconquests when it came through

(38:25):
New York.
Nice and it I love I can'tcommunicate to you how much I
loved it.
It was just so I mean, numberone, the plays are so good, but
this is like the best you'llever see it acted, yeah, you
know, and I became like I hadthe hugest crush on Stephen
Mangen, like playing this likeabsolute, like just shaggy dog
kind of character.
And so then, you know, I stillhave just like such fondness for

(38:47):
him, but he's hilarious.
And you should, I feel like youwould absolutely love it.
It's great.

SPEAKER_00 (38:52):
I love I love BBC comedy.
That was like I grew up on it,like I love spaced uh black
books.

SPEAKER_01 (38:58):
Uh I see, I grew up like on a slightly earlier like
because my parents loved BlackAdder, a bit of Fry and Lori and
Jeeves and Wooster.
Like from the age of eight,we're like watching a bit of Fry
and Lori non-stop in our house,you know.

SPEAKER_00 (39:13):
So like it's Jeeves and Worcester?

SPEAKER_01 (39:15):
Yeah, oh yeah, that's Jeeves and Worcester.
I actually never watched it allthe way through, and I've been
well there's a lot, I mean it'sa long, it's a lot of episodes,
you know, but it's so funnybecause Wodehouse, my god, could
that man right?
Like the books are so the shortstories are so funny, but it's
you know, it's Stephen Fry andHugh Lori.

SPEAKER_00 (39:30):
They are in their so good.

SPEAKER_01 (39:33):
So when House happened, yeah, everyone's like,
oh, this guy, I'm like, don'ttalk to me.
Like you don't know my man, youmy favorite.
Um, but yeah, uh they're that soI grew up like on all of that,
and and I think spaced inBlackboards was like a little
younger than my parents, so itkind of missed me a bit, but um

(39:54):
he is also Lori, is a superbjazz pianist.
Yes, well, you can say and theyuse it a lot in a bit of fry and
lorry.

SPEAKER_00 (40:25):
You did he was it was so he was so fucking good.
He was so good.

SPEAKER_01 (40:31):
There's one of the sketches.
I mean, they do a ton ofsketches on a bit of fry and
Lori where he's playing, and heplays as as Bertie Worcester a
lot.
Like there's this one song thathe does where he's like
abbreviating everything, and Ithink it is just like a real
song of the period, but asperformed by Hugh Laurie, he's
like, it really doesn't pay tobe a gloomy pill, it's
absolutely most ridiculouspositively still, and Stephen

(40:52):
Fries is in the background like,oh, stop singing this stupid
song.
And that is, yeah, that thatthey raised me.
Those men raised me.

SPEAKER_00 (41:01):
I love it, I love it.
This is Lipton Classics.
This is where we do the classicinside the actors studio
questions, uh, hosted by therest in peace, James Lipton.
Uh, but these original questionswere by the French journalist
Bernard Pivot.
And so Mon Dieu.

(41:21):
Mon Dieu, Pivot.
I speak so much French.
So much French.
Here we go, Amy Joe.
Oh.
You ready?
Oi.
What is your favorite word?

SPEAKER_01 (41:33):
Oh, I should left prepared.

SPEAKER_00 (41:35):
No, it's funny.
It's better when you do it inthe moment.
Favorite word.
God, I love words.
Words, words, words.

SPEAKER_01 (41:42):
Hamlet said a lot of them, didn't he?
Um, favorite word.
I'm just gonna go with like goodmouthfeel and not necessarily
mean.

SPEAKER_00 (41:51):
No, I think that is the better thing.
Great.

SPEAKER_01 (41:54):
You know what I like actually?

SPEAKER_00 (41:56):
Sorry, I did not mean to cut you off.

SPEAKER_01 (41:57):
Cut me off.

SPEAKER_00 (41:59):
But I think it's good mouthfeel and mouthfeel
that f feels like the definitionof the word.
You know what I mean?
Yes, I like bulbous.
Bulbous.
Bulbous.
Yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 (42:13):
Yeah, I do because I teach voice and text.
And this is the thing I I'vetried to communicate.
This is the thing I have triedto communicate.
And I really wish more peoplewould understand how helpful it
is to your acting if you use theconsonants.
Um great.
Let's go with ostentatious.

SPEAKER_00 (42:30):
Ooh, ostentatious.
What is your least favoriteword?

SPEAKER_01 (42:35):
Well, now I might go with meaning.

SPEAKER_00 (42:38):
Well, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 (42:39):
Yeah.
Oh God, I just I was having aconversation.
I'll cut out all anypossibilities.
Oh, we'll talk about that.
So I this is no I I I like thiscolor, but the feeling of gray.
Gray.

(42:59):
Yeah.
Gray.
Gray.
Yeah.
Where I was just like, I've mademyself gray so that this person
stops picking on me.
And I'm like, I'm I'm not agray, I'm a sparkly person.
Wait, in this show that you'reworking on?
Not this show.
Oh, oh, I was gonna say, no,this one, the no, this castmate
and I were kind of swapping.
We're swapping stories.
And we were just talking abouthow we had both recently, not re

(43:22):
I mean, like in in the lastcouple of years, post-pandemic,
I've both like worked with a fewpeople that have made us just
like feel like I've got to likeshut down to come to work.
And I'm like, I didn't gothrough a pandemic for this.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (43:34):
No, no way.
No freaking way.
No.
Yeah.
Fuck him.
What turns you on?

SPEAKER_01 (43:42):
Uh unbridled enthusiasm.

SPEAKER_00 (43:44):
Oh, I like that.
What turns you off?
There's a theme here you'reseeing back and forth.

SPEAKER_01 (43:51):
Yeah, bullies.

SPEAKER_00 (43:53):
That's a great answer.
What is your favorite curseword?

SPEAKER_01 (43:58):
There are so many good ones.
I know.
I s I use fuck the most.
You've got the fricative and theplosive, what's not to love.

SPEAKER_00 (44:05):
It's pretty fucking great.
Fucking sick.
Fucking awesome.
Fuck! What sound or noise do youlove?

SPEAKER_01 (44:16):
Like an old-fashioned baritone.
Gordon McCrae.
You know?
Gordon McCraa singing the end ofsoliloquy, you know?
Love it.

SPEAKER_00 (44:25):
Rich, rich tones that we don't write for any
longer.
What sound or noise do you hate?
Tenors?
Gratuitous riffing?
Um I mean not a bad answer.

SPEAKER_01 (44:38):
Not not a bad, not untrue.
I don't think I don't think it'sa good thing.

SPEAKER_00 (44:42):
I don't think that's petty.
I think gratuitous riffing isgratuitous.

SPEAKER_01 (44:47):
Yeah.
Let's just say that.
Where where it's for the sake ofshowing off and not for the sake
of ev even what the song needs.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (44:56):
Yeah, yeah.
Fair enough.
What profession other than yourown would you like to attempt?

SPEAKER_01 (45:01):
Uh look, I wear a lot of hats in one industry, so
I have a ton of things.
They're wearing a lot of hatsright now.
I'm wearing so many cloches.

SPEAKER_00 (45:08):
And you're listening to this and not watching it.

SPEAKER_01 (45:10):
Well, seven hats on my so many cloches.
Um God, I would be bad at a lotof things that are No, that's
not true.
I would be adequate.
You don't want me doing yourtaxes, you know, but like I'd be
that's a great answer.

SPEAKER_00 (45:24):
I'd be so bad at that.
Oh, what would you like toattempt though?

SPEAKER_01 (45:27):
Oh, what would I like to attempt?
I'm doing a lot of things Ilike.
I like I mean I the writing is athing that still feels pretty
new for me because I picked itup like really late 2019, early
2020.
So that's that's you know, onlyin the last five years.
And yeah, yeah, like that's amusical.

(45:48):
It is um and uh that's all I'llsay about that.
Um for for someone to be in yourmid-30s and discover there's
this whole other set of thingsthat you are good at and have
aptitude for and and and enjoywas I I can't describe the level

(46:13):
of like thrilling that that wasand freeing, um, even beyond the
cabaret stuff because like theplays can exist whether I'm in
them or not.
Like you saw a reading that Iwasn't in, you know.
Um and like that I don't thatthat was just something I never
saw for myself.
So it it is a thing that I donow, but still something that
feels new enough to feel likethat's a thing that it took me a

(46:37):
while to claim.
Like I I I got announced that mymy musical is going to the
O'Neal, and a lot of people werelike, You write?
Like I wasn't out as a writer,you know, before people were
like, Wait, so um, I don't know.
I feel like I'm doing the thingsI want to do.

SPEAKER_00 (46:52):
I don't think but that's great, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (46:54):
But as far as like what I'd like to attempt, I feel
like I've taught.
I've I've worked at Starbucksand I don't do that anymore, you
know.
Um, I don't know.
I feel I'm I'm pretty thrilledwith what I am doing.
Yeah, that's wonderful.
Okay, that's great.
Is that a cheating end stuff?
No, that's not cheating.

SPEAKER_00 (47:12):
I don't think that because that that honestly I
I've gotten into writing in thepast couple years too.
I'm like on the cusp offinishing a play.
Like tomorrow, I'm so close.
I finally figured something out.

SPEAKER_01 (47:25):
Nothing beats typing end of play.

SPEAKER_00 (47:26):
Oh my god, and nothing feels better than that
moment where you're like, I'vegot all of this going on at the
start, in the middle, and then Ihave this end.
And I just need to tie thosepieces together, just that tie,
and I finally figured it outthis week, and I'm like, ugh, it
feels so good.
It feels so good.

SPEAKER_01 (47:45):
Just like because I I I'm working on a piece now and
I finished a very loose firstpass.
Like I went from outline tofirst draft pass, knowing like,
and as I was writing, I waslike, oh, there's a scene
missing here, and I know whatthe content need, I know what it
the the two characters that needto be in conflict need to be in
the scene.
I don't know what that is, youknow.
And then I was like, well, now Ihave to go back and reshape a
lot of stuff in order for thatto happen.

(48:06):
And I finally, like yesterday onthis no day, yeah, was able to
like unlock and sequence that,and I was just like, God, that
feels even better than finishingthe draft.
Because I know I know it'sbetter, yeah, and it's more
settled, and it's like a bigstep, and there's just something
so satisfying.

SPEAKER_00 (48:21):
So satisfying.

SPEAKER_01 (48:21):
I made that.
Yeah.
Well, and you do woodworkingtoo, right?

SPEAKER_00 (48:24):
Yeah, it's so you like literally make things with
your hands, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (48:27):
Which that's good for you.
I can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 (48:31):
It's fun.
It's fun.
This side table right here Ibuilt.
You made?
I made that.
How thrilling.
You can't see it, but it's cute.

SPEAKER_01 (48:37):
It's a triangular shape.

SPEAKER_00 (48:40):
What profession would you not like to do?
I feel like you kind ofanswered.

SPEAKER_01 (48:44):
Yeah, look, my my taxes.
Yeah, my father and my my mom'sfather are both accountants, and
it's like they're good, they'regood at my dad likes numbers.
So it's not even like uh Iwouldn't want to be an
accountant.
I'm like, I know who's good atthat and how his brain works.
And my mother, my mother waspraying.
My brother and I would get themath brain, and instead we're

(49:04):
like, sorry, we like English andhistory, just like you, mom.
She's like, uh, well, at least Ihave people to go to.
Yeah.
Well, I'm my brother doesn'tlike to go to the museums, but
she's like, at least I havesomeone to go to museums with.
I'm like, you sure do.
Yeah.
Let's go look at every Da Vincisketch in this place.
Um, but so like I I just know itwould I would be bad at it and
it would feel oppressive to me.

SPEAKER_00 (49:26):
If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God
say when you arrive at ZipperliGates?
At Zipperley Gates.

SPEAKER_01 (49:34):
Ooh, for both a lapsed Baptist and a recovering
perfectionist.
This one's tough, right?
Like, how do I frame this?
Um, thanks for being nice.

SPEAKER_00 (49:45):
Thanks for being nice.

SPEAKER_01 (49:46):
Thanks for being nice, maybe.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (49:49):
I think that's a nice answer.

SPEAKER_01 (49:51):
Thanks for being.
Maybe that's also just where mybrain is at this point in the
industry.
Yeah.
I just want to work with nicepeople who are fun.
I just want to go play.
I don't I want to do good work.
I want to do rigorous work withfun people.
Who cares?

SPEAKER_00 (50:06):
Who cares if it's a good thing?
I'm gonna hang out with people Ilike.
Isn't that what it's all aboutat the end of the day?

SPEAKER_01 (50:10):
Isn't it about a good hang and about the bits?

SPEAKER_00 (50:13):
I love the bits.

SPEAKER_01 (50:14):
Come on.

SPEAKER_00 (50:15):
We love the bits.
Well, Amy Joe.
Yarp.
The yarp.
That was Lipton Classics.
Fantastic job.
Um, let's talk about some stuff.
Let's talk about the show you'rein right now that you are
rehearsing right now, but whenthis comes out, I think you'll
be mid-production.

SPEAKER_01 (50:34):
Fab.
Yes, I'm in Titus Andronicus.
Titus Andronicus with Red BullTheater starring Patrick Page.
So wild.
Yeah, it's going great.
It's a really warm room.
Everyone, everyone's very kindand very funny.
Um, I'm playing the nurse, soit's a pretty small part, but I
do come on with a child and thendie on stage.

(50:55):
Love it.
We're doing all the, we're we'restaging all the fight stuff
tomorrow.
Spoilers.

SPEAKER_00 (50:58):
If you don't know the end of Titus Andromeda.
Unnamed nurse doesn't make it.
Um It seems like uh, at leastfrom the poster that I have or
the the mailer that I got.
Yeah.
It seems like a different kindcan you talk about how it's like
design the design of it or likewhat's the other one.

SPEAKER_01 (51:13):
What I know so far, yeah, we're it's kind of like
set in a like a not too distantdystopian future, shall we say?
So like Rome is meant to standin for pretty clear, like maybe
America in 50 years, sure, youknow, kind of thing.
But it's but not not hammeringany of that.

(51:35):
Do you know what I mean?
Like um the wonderful Matt Amentis playing Saturninus, and he's
such a like I just think I meanhe makes me laugh so hard
because Saturninus is such abrat.
But I just I I just always thinkwatching over that he's just
like, ain't I a stinker?
Is like what I always that's thethat's the subtext for
everything.
But it it is in the best way,and when you see it, you'll

(51:58):
understand like he this guy is astinker.
Oh my god, he knows it and heloves it, but like, but there is
something about that kind of umloose canon who's very
ego-driven that feels, I don'tknow, resonant, you know, but
yeah, he's just doing his it'snothing that is meant to

(52:18):
explicitly reference anypolitical figures we might
recognize, which I alwaysappreciate.

SPEAKER_00 (52:23):
I think that's always better.

SPEAKER_01 (52:25):
It helps because an audience can come to it on their
own terms, exactly, exactly.
Yeah, you know, I'm like, Idon't need to go like see some
of these things that like havelike recognizable figure.
I'm not like I I see it on myphone whether I want to or not,
you know.
So it's it's like uh a way ofgrappling with where we are in a

(52:47):
genuine way without with withwithout it, yeah, trusting the
audience to put things togetherfor themselves and also be able
to like we've had a lot of talkin the room about Putin too.
Like we've actually had a lot oftalk about like because that
feels like actually likecontemporary Russia feels like
with their system feels a littlebit closer to what we're doing.

(53:07):
We're not doing anything thatfeels Russian, but you know what
I mean, insofar as like theautocracy and all and that kind
of thing feels like actually thenotion of his authority and and
like how he behaves.
It's it's like a society thathas gone like really uh like
very religious, you know, likein in our rendition.
So and it's also stuff that's inthe text that then we're just

(53:28):
like highlighting, we're justlike really bumping up.
Um, and you know, Patrick and uhJesse Berger, the director, have
been talking about doing thisadaptation for like four years
and kind of like I thinkinitially they were discussing
about like doing it in rep withum the Tempest, uh with him
playing Prospero, but then Ithink they at a certain point
decided to settle on likefocusing on Titus.

(53:49):
So Patrick's also the one who'sdone the adaptation, but
adaptation's a strong word, butthere's like a lot of like
because of the size of the castand because of like the the the
way that they're trying tosculpt the the kind of like
contemporary lens on thenarrative.
There's a lot of like what if wecut this part of the scene and
pasted it a little earlier, juststuff like that that makes also
because it's an earlyShakespeare, makes it leaner and
clearer.

(54:10):
Sure, sure.
Um, and so that's been reallyfun to be in the room with
Patrick.
But Patrick today, as we werestaging the the last scene, the
which is famously a banquet,there's a certain point where he
just goes, food fight.
So, but yeah, everyone is lovelyand funny, and and you know, we

(54:30):
we'd spent a lot of time at thetable going around in a round
robin way.
So, like you uh you'd go aroundthe table, whomever it was,
including like the ADs andeverything, and and all the us
who are playing the much smallerroles and understudying.
I'm also I'm understudyingTamara, Basianus, and Quintus.
Oh my god.
So um, yeah, I've never donethree.
I was gonna say that's quite aand I'm on stage with them on my

(54:51):
regular track.
A lot of the time, I'm like,this is my brain.

SPEAKER_00 (54:53):
You're going up to the performance, be like, do not
get sick.

SPEAKER_01 (54:57):
Well, like, because I understudied at the globe, but
it was it was a lead, but it wasone art.
And that's just so much.
Even when I'm on stage with her,I'm like, I can watch the video.

SPEAKER_00 (55:07):
And even if it's like more, it's like at least
it's one person's one line,yeah, as opposed to this, which
is like discerning three.

SPEAKER_01 (55:14):
Yeah, it's three, and and and like Tamara is I'm
finding a lot other than likeshe has this one great speech
when it's the first time she andAaron are alone in the woods
together.
Yeah, and it's a very uh FrankieFaradani, who's who's wonderful,
who's playing Tamara, wasdescribing it.
We were doing our table work aslike it's very Titania, like the
language is very lyrical andpoetic and like descriptive of

(55:36):
nature and everything.
And I was working on that speechthe other day.
I was like, this is so hard tomemorize.
And I was like, I've playedTitania, and I was like, and so
was Titania, actually.
I found Titania difficult tostick in the brain because so
much of it was descriptive andevocative rather than
action-driven.
But then, other than that,everything else Tamara has is
like, do this, I'm not doingthat.
We should do this, think aboutthis.

(55:57):
Oh, it's the you know, it's veryuh action action-driven.
Whereas like Basianis andQuintus are much more not
necessarily reactive, butthere's just a lot of like, yes,
I will do that in this formalway.
And so that's a little harder tostick in the brain.
But it's you know, it's good, itkeeps keeps the brain young.
But um that's the hope.

(56:17):
That's the hope.
I gave up Sudoku, so I'm reallyrelying on understudying to do
that for me.
But but yeah, you know, it'sit's fun, but I it feels like
everyone has a voice in theroom, which as yeah, as someone
playing a smaller part, but getgetting to go around and do the
tablework that way where likeyou'd read a line and then like
paraphrase it and it would openup conversation, and yeah, it it
helped, I think, all of us feellike we're all allowed to speak,

(56:40):
you know.
It's not like we're gonna bestepping on anyone's toes.
If we're like, well, no, whatabout this, you know?
Yeah, um, which is always great.
You never want to feel like I II'm not allowed to open my mouth
in this room.
Yeah, it's a very, very on site.
It's you know, and it's all likeactors who've done every kind of
thing in the theater, you know,and it which is is great.
Everyone's just like warm andswapping stories and blowing.

(57:00):
Everyone knows all theShakespeare references, and it's
just like a room of nerds, yeah,which I love.

SPEAKER_00 (57:05):
Love it.
And when does the show start?

SPEAKER_01 (57:09):
We begin previews at the Signature Center on March
17th, and we open the 29th orthe 30th.
End of the mirror just rightover there.

SPEAKER_00 (57:19):
Good.

SPEAKER_01 (57:19):
Well, I'll be there regardless of what day it is,
and then we run throughmid-April, potentially longer,
but I don't fantasy.
Check the website, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (57:34):
Uh well, when this is coming out, you'll be mid
mid-run.

SPEAKER_01 (57:38):
We will be slashing and dashing all over that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 (57:41):
Exactly.
That's right.
Amy Joe.
Thank you so much for coming.
Thanks, man.
This is so much fun.

SPEAKER_01 (57:46):
Yeah.
Oh my god.
Well, one one clown to another.
Exactly.
Takes one to know one.

SPEAKER_00 (57:51):
Takes one to know one.
Yarp.
Yarp.
Yup.
All right, y'all.
That's this week's episode.
We'll see you next week.
Bye.