April 29, 2025 • 20 mins
Death has a way of revealing who we truly are. In this captivating episode of Steps to the Stage, we dive deep into one of the most intriguing productions in the Three on the Edge Festival – "Breathing Corpses" by British playwright Laura Wade.
Director Lauren Bell and actors John Nisbet and Amanda Flanagan take us behind the scenes of this darkly comedic play that unfolds in reverse chronological order. Beginning with a hotel maid discovering a dead body, the narrative moves backward through interconnected scenes that reveal how death impacts various characters in profound, absurd, and unexpectedly funny ways.
What makes this production particularly fascinating is the creative team's approach to Wade's distinctively British dialogue. The script captures realistic speech patterns – complete with interruptions, false starts, and natural rhythms – creating challenges for the actors but resulting in an authenticity rarely seen on stage. The cast shares how they've navigated these complexities while maintaining the delicate balance between humor and heartbreak that defines the play.
"Every time the play tries to go deep," Bell explains, "something happens to bring it right back up." This tonal rollercoaster mirrors real life, where even in our darkest moments, absurdity and laughter often break through. The production doesn't shy away from heavy themes – including domestic violence and suicide – but presents them through a lens of human complexity rather than melodrama.
Perfect for the intimate setting of 7th Street Community Theatre, this stripped-back production focuses on the emotional journeys of its characters rather than elaborate staging. As Nisbet notes, without being "encumbered with props or entrances and exits," the actors can fully immerse themselves in the psychological depth of their roles.
Catch "Breathing Corpses" on May 8th, 10th, 16th, with matinees on May 18th and 24th. This 80-minute exploration of mortality and human connection promises to spark conversation long after the final blackout – you may even want to see it twice to catch all the connections you missed the first time around.
Find STTS:
Steps To The Stage (@stepstothestage) | Instagram
Facebook
Steps To The Stage (buzzsprout.com)
Steps To The Stage - YouTube
Please follow on your favorite podcast platform and we appreciate 5 Star ratings and positive reviews!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Steps to the Stage.
A 7th Street Community Theatrepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to Steps to the Stage, the
community theatre podcast, wherewe talk to theatre
professionals you know and love.
I am Marlee Lane, one of thehosts on Steps to the Stage, and
today we have a very specialpresentation of the Three on the
Edge Festival featuringBreathing Corpses, savage in
Limbo and Bending the Spoon.
So we're starting off withBreathing Corpses and I have a
(00:31):
nice little set of peopleinvolved, so we have the
director and some actors.
So if I just have you introduceyourselves.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hi, my name is John Nisbet.
I play Jim.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Hi, my name is Amanda Flanagan and I play Amy.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
My name is Lauren Bell and I am directing
Breathing Corpses.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Amazing.
So obviously we have this Threeon the Edge Festival, which is
a fun thing everyone's alwaysexcited about, because I always
like plays that like maybe wedon't, we haven't heard about
yet, but it's like, oh, we get alittle chance to get a little
something fun in.
So, just starting off for ourdirector, what connected you to
this play?
How did you feel when you firstread it?
(01:07):
Or, like, why did you want tolike make it come to life?
Speaker 5 (01:09):
Well, back in college I was collecting a lot of plays
and I would go by likeplaywright and I realized that
there was a lot of maleplaywrights there, like a lot of
Odettes and Simon, and they'reall great, they're lovely people
, they're lovely playwrights.
But then, more recently, Iwanted to focus more on female
playwrights and so I stumbledupon Laura Wade, and she has an
(01:33):
incredible litany of wonderfulplays.
She is pretty fearless with herhumor, her shock, and she's from
Britain, so everybody here hasa British accent in the play and
I stumbled upon one of hercollections and Breathing
Corpses was part of it, and Ireally couldn't believe what I
(01:54):
was reading and I thought hasanybody else done this?
I haven't seen this over hereon the West Coast a whole lot.
It was just.
It was interesting.
And it was also it's very muchan actor's play.
Every actor here has a reallynice chonky role.
They have some sort of heavylifting to do, which is so nice.
(02:14):
I'm an actor first and adirector second, so reading it I
was just like, wow, I wouldlove to do this play, I would
love to direct it, I'd love tobe involved in some way.
It's very enticing.
It's also very interestingbecause it has a backwards
timeline, so it's a bit of apuzzle piece about death.
So we start off with the twoactors that are with me today.
(02:35):
It starts off with a hotel maiddiscovering a body inside of a
hotel room and then the nextscene.
We go backwards in time towhere that body, who is Jim, is
alive and we start to piecetogether this puzzle Amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Amazing.
And then, on the actor's pointof view, it's such like an
interesting plot we're dealingwith and such interesting
characters.
So how did you feel when youfirst read it?
And then how do you kind offeel like, okay, how do we feel
now?
From the beginning of theprocess to the end.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Oh man, I would say.
I read with one of the othercastmates and we were freaking
out.
It was insane.
Every single scene it was likenew information.
You're slowly just getting thisrealization of something and
it's just, it's horrifying, it'swholesome in some ways and
honestly it's just.
I felt all the stages of griefin a way.
(03:27):
Wow, it's very strange.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, it's really interesting because you know
this play is about death, youknow there are corpses in it in
the title, and so it's reallyabout how those deaths can like
affect people and as an actor.
It's really interesting to playthat kind of internal stuff
where you know you haven't hadan accident, where you're
outwardly disfigured or injured,but really inside this is
(03:49):
having a huge impact on you andchanging your life.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Wow.
Yeah, it's interesting becauseit's about how death affects us
and how encountering it, how itaffects us in deep but also kind
of absurd ways.
Also kind of absurd ways, allof the act, all of the
characters who encounter a deadperson, react in a very absurd
way.
For example, amanda plays amythe hotel maid and she begins
(04:12):
talking to the corpse as if it'salive, because that's just how
she needs to cope with it, right?
So there is actually a lot ofhumor in this.
It sounds it's a heavy subjectmatter, clearly, but there is,
because death is upon us, it's,it's everywhere, it's a part of
our lives since, uh, the dawn oftime.
We haven't gotten used to ityet we really haven't.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, I love it feels kind of like a british mystery
tv show where you have like dark, like crazy like human concepts
.
But you're like it's a littlefunny.
How is that like kind of takingon British humor and British
sensibilities into America withan American audience?
Speaker 5 (04:50):
It's very dry.
Some of the humor is very dryand it's very layered, as they
are Some of it's shocking.
British humor tends to pushsome of the boundaries that
we're not really comfortablewith the edge.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
See, like three of these, you're onto something.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
And I grew up on Monty Python.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
So I appreciate that kind of British humor and where
they would often go into weirdterritory.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Oh, there you go, exactly, and I think, yeah, it's
almost, it's not quite a MontyPython, but yeah, but that's
that similar, like just thelengths, and the culture of
their humor is very much a partof it.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
We also brought up.
We were talking about it.
I was like this kind of remindsme of Fleabag.
I love Fleabag.
It's very just like quickcomments, the dialogue is very
natural, so there's like a lotof stuttering.
It's not just like perfectsentences said perfectly, you
know.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
It's written the way people talk Exactly I love that,
and what's also really specialabout this play is each scene is
it's kind of a vignette play.
So a lot of these scenes thecharacters don't overlap but
they affect each other.
So because someone has found abody and then the next one is
how they were affected by thatbecause of some other person,
and it just keeps connecting.
(06:03):
You have to watch the play tosee how everyone gets connected.
However, each scene also haskind of a different genre.
Very interesting, yeah.
There's kind of a sitcom-y vibewith Jim's scene with his wife
and his employee and there's abit of a farcical scene at the
very end.
It's a surprise and we don'twant to give away any spoilers.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
You'll have to watch it there are spoilers for this
play.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
And then there's another scene which is quite
violent and ends in a murder.
Very raw, very raw, veryviolent, you know.
So trigger warnings there isdomestic violence and talk of
suicide in this production.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Something for everyone.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Yeah, Absolutely yeah .
So at the end of this play,when the curtain is down?
Well, there is no curtain whenthe lights are down and the
house lights are back up.
You will explode inconversation.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I promise you that's a lot to discuss.
I promise you.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Because every time I've ever read this, I've heard
people read it in a group.
People cannot shut up.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Well, and we want people to come see it early so
they can come back and see itagain, because you'll want to,
yes, you will, you will missthings.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
You will realize oh my gosh, this person said a
thing about the next scene.
I didn't notice it the firsttime and it's only like 80
minutes.
So it's not that it's not thatlong.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So, every detail counts for sure.
I love that.
I love.
Okay, I'll be there.
Please, please, come yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And I also wanted to bring up too.
It also shows that, likethere's no correct way to react
to death, it's the one thingthat's guaranteed in life and we
don't.
There's no way to properlyprepare for it.
I feel like everyone's like ohwell, you know it's okay to be
upset.
What if they don't?
(07:50):
What if your whole life?
It's just an ever-changing wayof just coping with this
experience.
You know, and the way it's justso like the spectrum of emotions
coming out in this play hasreally shown me like, yeah,
there really is no right way andyou can't shame yourself.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Well sure, Everybody reacts to death differently.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
That's what this really kind of showcases.
Right, yeah, it seems like avery human play.
I feel like always whensomething's about death, it's
about life, obviously, but Ithink that's what people will
attach themselves to.
That's the exact word.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
I use to describe this, because whenever I tell
people there's humor in this,they kind of tilt their head and
I say, well, because that'slife and humans are humans.
We crack jokes at people'smemorials because we want to
know fun and exciting thingsabout their life.
We're not there to just cry andsob and kind of go for the
(08:43):
obvious emotion.
Humans are very complexcreatures, dead and alive, and I
think this shows that.
And speaking of early, if youwant to come early, our first
show Actually we open on aThursday, so we open May 8th and
we're also on May 10th, 16th,and then we have matinees on May
(09:04):
18th and 24th Because we are inrep with two other awesome
shows yes, so get your ticketsnow.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
As you can see, it's very interesting you might as
well just see all threeabsolutely exactly you know, and
if you just saw um little shopof horrors.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
If you want more blood, definitely come to this
show.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yes, there will be more of some dark humor and
explorations on life right yes,okay, going more on the
production side, how's like youknow what was like your vision
design, like how's that been?
And also, I always like to belike this is an interesting
theater because we're such likea small stage, so how's that the
whole production experiencebeen for you?
This theater is the perfecttheater for a show like this.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
It is truly a black box show I've seen.
I explored a couple like otherproductions and some of them
have been very bare bones, youknow, just really truly like
black boxes as furniture andthings like that.
So I was willing to go thatstripped back as much as
possible and overall I knew Ihad to have a really, really
(10:13):
good cast.
I could not settle and I didn't.
I absolutely could not settleand I had a few really amazing
people show up at auditions andsome of the roles were very hard
to cast because I had a lot ofcontenders.
But ultimately I knew thatthese people had to be
emotionally mature.
They also had to be funny.
(10:36):
Everybody had to understand.
That's a harder skill than youthink it is Right it is.
You can be a truthful actor andit's almost easier to be
slapstick and inappropriate, butwe also want it to be real and
hit the human heart in a softand cheerful way and that every
(11:01):
single actor in this has that.
They have truth, they havehumor, they're all funny.
They vibe really well togetherand it's been hard During the
rehearsal process.
We've been so separated becauseof the vignette style of the
play, but now that they've beentogether they get along so well.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
And I love all the laughter.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
So, yeah, I wanted good actors stripped back show.
I wanted to focus in on thestory and the situations that
these humans are in.
And also music.
Music is so important, soimportant.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
People don't think about it in a play.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
It sets everything.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yep, yeah, amazing.
I feel like the audience canalso feel when the actors are
together and you just feel likesomething like you feel a little
zing between the stage.
Yeah, so that'll be cool.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, go ahead.
I was going to say it's justbeen a great experience working
with the other actors, becausenot only are the people good,
but, like Lauren said, this iskind of a black box type of show
.
We're not encumbered with a lotof props or entrances and exits
or all sorts of that extrastuff that you have to think
about, so we can really focus onthe character development.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, your mind's kind of freed up so you can just
like put it all, put it all onthe stage from the actor's
perspective, and we also have,like, like what I'm hearing, we
have a little interestingconcept, we have a lot of cool
things going on.
What's been your best moment inthe process so far?
Speaker 4 (12:23):
oh my gosh.
I'd say my favorite part of theprocess is, um, oh, actually we
did, uh, one of our rehearsals.
Um, so, since I have tointeract with a dead body, we
were like, why don't we have thedead body like react to your,
your conversation?
So we had a rehearsal and I wasdoing my dialogue and our um,
(12:48):
dead hard corpse was actuallysitting up and listening to me.
So it was very interesting.
I was like, well, like I like Iwonder, like how this is going
to work, how I'm going to feel,and you know I it actually
helped a lot.
It helped, like the eye contactand doing those exercises that
we would do to like practice,you know, keeping that chemistry
(13:08):
there, not only building it,but keeping the chemistry there
between me and the cast.
So it's been a wonderfulprocess.
And I'd say another part isdefinitely going over lines with
each other.
I've never had anyone be like,oh, like you know, like I can
ask, saying, hey, could you,like you know, read this scene
for me and make sure I'm on book.
I'm doing good.
And I'm like, yeah, of course,and I feel comfortable with
(13:29):
everyone.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So it's amazing.
Yeah, We've come together as ateam pretty well.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I think Pretty well yes.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Very much so.
I'm watching.
The chemistry between everyonehas been a blossom, and grow and
develop has been such a joy,and I can't wait for people to
see them.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I know I love doing these and being like, oh my gosh
, I'm so excited.
Guys, how has doing the Britishaccents been?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
You want to go first?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
on that one.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Both of them are great.
I would say it's oh man, it'schallenging to enunciate, it's
easy, it comes easy for me toproject, so I'm not worried that
, like people won't hear mespeaking, it's more like what
I'm exactly what I'm saying youknow, and it does add another
(14:20):
layer.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
you know, you gotta not only remember your lines,
but then you gotta try to soundlike you're from somewhere else
exactly.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, but it's written so britishly, so you're
the syntax, the syntax.
Well, it's like we couldn't.
We couldn't Americanize this ifwe tried.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
It wouldn't sound right.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
There's just no way One actor is going to be an
expat, we decided, but weactually had to change a couple
of the lines because they arewritten with a very British
syntax and they cannot soundcorrect in an American accent.
It's tough, yeah.
So she writes.
The way Laura writes is verymuch the way people speak.
There's a lot of interrupting,a lot of talking over people and
(14:55):
there's a lot of what I'm aboutto do right now, which is like
a start-stop conversationsentence, where you start a
sentence and then you stop andyou start it again, which is so
interesting.
Usually we just do that,naturally, but she actually
wrote it into the play, which isso hard for these guys to
memorize, and they have been,they've, they're absolute rock
stars.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
I think I have one line where I say I felt four
times in a row, yeah, becausejust that.
He's trying to get the sentenceout.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, I love plays written.
It always looks so scary on thepage.
But then, like, when you like,get into it and you're like,
okay, no, it was worth it tolike.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, you're like, I've spoken like this before.
You know it's just seeing itand trying to follow something,
like consciously follow a script, you're like it's challenging
in your mind, but we do it everysingle day.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Right Because we don't even text that way.
Yeah, right, text the way thatwe speak, exactly.
Yeah, we text the way.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
We think maybe, but like she literally writes the
way people speak, sentences Veryimpressive, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Have you had anything like challenging to overcome
throughout the process?
Was there anything that you'rejust like stuck on for a second,
or has everything been kind ofin harmony?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I mean, I think everything has gone really well.
What's terrific about workingwith Lauren is that she will
work with the actors.
You know she said she's anactress as well, and so she
knows.
Okay, well, if we can't do itthis way, we can do it this way,
and you know what's going towork best for the dialogue and
for staging and how everybodylooks.
So she's also part of the team.
For sure that we've all beenworking together really well.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Exactly.
I'd say.
A challenge for me wasdefinitely putting the dialogue
and the blocking together.
That was definitely like it'sjust hand-eye coordination.
Oh, like wait, what part are weon?
When do I, on this line, I moveright here.
That's when you start doingthis.
It's hard, like rounding it out.
That's when I'm like okay, okay, we have to, like you know,
(16:45):
stay on the path.
I know it's frustrating, but wegot to keep going.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Yeah, and it was nice because we had to kind of come
up with tracks for her of whereto go, because Laura Wade God
bless her she gives a lot oflike directions in some of her
plays.
But you don't.
It's like, for example, one ofthe directions is Like but you
don't.
It's like.
For example, one of thedirections is Amy is cleaning,
and that's about it.
Like, where is she cleaning?
(17:09):
When is she doing this?
Like, how involved is she?
You know that sort of thing,and it's kind of like in and out
.
So we have to decide on it,which is fine and that's part of
the process.
I think some of the challengeshave been normal challenges,
like deciding to what level arewe going to push certain subject
matters.
You know, how far are we goingto push certain humorous moments
(17:32):
?
How far are we going to pushcertain dramatic moments?
A lot of the reviews I read ifthey critiqued the play, I
noticed it was a critique oflack of chemistry between
certain characters.
So I thought, okay, we're goingto, really we're going to hone
in on that, or they would focusit.
They would say that they missedthe humor and I said, okay,
we're going to hone in on that,or they would say that they
missed the humor and I said,okay, we're not going to miss
the humor, but we're also notgoing to push it so far that
it's unreal.
It's such a balance.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It's not wacky.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Yeah, but it's normal humor you would hear every day,
but some of it's shocking, likeevery time the play tries to go
deep, like it's, for example,jim slash.
John has a really deepmonologue at the end about the
effect of finding a dead bodyhat on him.
He gets really in there and hetalks about the smell and how
(18:17):
the smell is stuck in his noseand he can't get it out and it's
so deep and heavy and theaudience is going to get drawn
in and then suddenly his wife,played by Christy Papay, she
says have you tried VIXX?
Speaker 4 (18:32):
It brings it right back up To a hard stop.
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
It's every time that happens, and so to make sure
that those moments are real,yeah, instead of like garish.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yes, yeah, finding the rhythm of the show, the show
yeah well, this has been anamazing conversation and, as we
wrap up, I would just like eachof you to describe the show in
one word, like you're gonna sellit in one word for our
listeners.
What would you say?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
oh, in one word, um introspective love.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Man, I'd say insightful.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Insightful.
I love it.
We're using a lot of N words.
I was like N, I'm going to callit absurd.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Absurd, that's good.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
I love it.
Well, everybody, this has beenBreathing Corpses.
We have amazing actors anddirectors, so get your tickets
now.
Can you say those dates againfor us?
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Yes, we are performing in rep with also
alongside Savage in Limbo andBending the Spoon Breathing
Corpses is performing May 8th,10th, 16th.
We are also performing matineeson May 18th and 24th Amazing,
thank you so much, thank you and24th Amazing.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Thank you so much Enjoy it.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Thanks for listening to Steps to the Stage, a 7th
Street Community Theatre podcast.
Follow us on your favoritepodcast platform and leave us a
review and a five-star rating.
It really helps.
You can also find us onInstagram, facebook and YouTube.
Special thanks to ChinoCommunity Theatre and Chino
Community Children's Theater fortheir generous support and very
(20:09):
special thank you to thelisteners.
Steps to the Stage was createdby Joey Rice and Kirk Lane.
Logo created by Marley Lane.
Original music by Joey Rice.
Your host, marley Lane.
Engineer and producer, joeyRice.
Engineer and executive producer, kirk Lane.
Welcome to Steps to the Stage.
A 7th Street Community Theatrepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to Steps to the Stage, the
community theatre podcast, wherewe talk to theatre
professionals you know and love.
I am Marlee Lane, one of thehosts on Steps to the Stage, and
today we have a very specialpresentation of the Three on the
Edge Festival featuringBreathing Corpses, savage in
Limbo and Bending the Spoon.
So we're starting off withBreathing Corpses and I have a
(00:31):
nice little set of peopleinvolved, so we have the
director and some actors.
So if I just have you introduceyourselves.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hi, my name is John Nisbet.
I play Jim.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Hi, my name is Amanda Flanagan and I play Amy.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
My name is Lauren Bell and I am directing
Breathing Corpses.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Amazing.
So obviously we have this Threeon the Edge Festival, which is
a fun thing everyone's alwaysexcited about, because I always
like plays that like maybe wedon't, we haven't heard about
yet, but it's like, oh, we get alittle chance to get a little
something fun in.
So, just starting off for ourdirector, what connected you to
this play?
How did you feel when you firstread it?
(01:07):
Or, like, why did you want tolike make it come to life?
Speaker 5 (01:09):
Well, back in college I was collecting a lot of plays
and I would go by likeplaywright and I realized that
there was a lot of maleplaywrights there, like a lot of
Odettes and Simon, and they'reall great, they're lovely people
, they're lovely playwrights.
But then, more recently, Iwanted to focus more on female
playwrights and so I stumbledupon Laura Wade, and she has an
(01:33):
incredible litany of wonderfulplays.
She is pretty fearless with herhumor, her shock, and she's from
Britain, so everybody here hasa British accent in the play and
I stumbled upon one of hercollections and Breathing
Corpses was part of it, and Ireally couldn't believe what I
(01:54):
was reading and I thought hasanybody else done this?
I haven't seen this over hereon the West Coast a whole lot.
It was just.
It was interesting.
And it was also it's very muchan actor's play.
Every actor here has a reallynice chonky role.
They have some sort of heavylifting to do, which is so nice.
(02:14):
I'm an actor first and adirector second, so reading it I
was just like, wow, I wouldlove to do this play, I would
love to direct it, I'd love tobe involved in some way.
It's very enticing.
It's also very interestingbecause it has a backwards
timeline, so it's a bit of apuzzle piece about death.
So we start off with the twoactors that are with me today.
(02:35):
It starts off with a hotel maiddiscovering a body inside of a
hotel room and then the nextscene.
We go backwards in time towhere that body, who is Jim, is
alive and we start to piecetogether this puzzle Amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Amazing.
And then, on the actor's pointof view, it's such like an
interesting plot we're dealingwith and such interesting
characters.
So how did you feel when youfirst read it?
And then how do you kind offeel like, okay, how do we feel
now?
From the beginning of theprocess to the end.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Oh man, I would say.
I read with one of the othercastmates and we were freaking
out.
It was insane.
Every single scene it was likenew information.
You're slowly just getting thisrealization of something and
it's just, it's horrifying, it'swholesome in some ways and
honestly it's just.
I felt all the stages of griefin a way.
(03:27):
Wow, it's very strange.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, it's really interesting because you know
this play is about death, youknow there are corpses in it in
the title, and so it's reallyabout how those deaths can like
affect people and as an actor.
It's really interesting to playthat kind of internal stuff
where you know you haven't hadan accident, where you're
outwardly disfigured or injured,but really inside this is
(03:49):
having a huge impact on you andchanging your life.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Wow.
Yeah, it's interesting becauseit's about how death affects us
and how encountering it, how itaffects us in deep but also kind
of absurd ways.
Also kind of absurd ways, allof the act, all of the
characters who encounter a deadperson, react in a very absurd
way.
For example, amanda plays amythe hotel maid and she begins
(04:12):
talking to the corpse as if it'salive, because that's just how
she needs to cope with it, right?
So there is actually a lot ofhumor in this.
It sounds it's a heavy subjectmatter, clearly, but there is,
because death is upon us, it's,it's everywhere, it's a part of
our lives since, uh, the dawn oftime.
We haven't gotten used to ityet we really haven't.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, I love it feels kind of like a british mystery
tv show where you have like dark, like crazy like human concepts
.
But you're like it's a littlefunny.
How is that like kind of takingon British humor and British
sensibilities into America withan American audience?
Speaker 5 (04:50):
It's very dry.
Some of the humor is very dryand it's very layered, as they
are Some of it's shocking.
British humor tends to pushsome of the boundaries that
we're not really comfortablewith the edge.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
See, like three of these, you're onto something.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
And I grew up on Monty Python.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
So I appreciate that kind of British humor and where
they would often go into weirdterritory.
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Oh, there you go, exactly, and I think, yeah, it's
almost, it's not quite a MontyPython, but yeah, but that's
that similar, like just thelengths, and the culture of
their humor is very much a partof it.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
We also brought up.
We were talking about it.
I was like this kind of remindsme of Fleabag.
I love Fleabag.
It's very just like quickcomments, the dialogue is very
natural, so there's like a lotof stuttering.
It's not just like perfectsentences said perfectly, you
know.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
It's written the way people talk Exactly I love that,
and what's also really specialabout this play is each scene is
it's kind of a vignette play.
So a lot of these scenes thecharacters don't overlap but
they affect each other.
So because someone has found abody and then the next one is
how they were affected by thatbecause of some other person,
and it just keeps connecting.
(06:03):
You have to watch the play tosee how everyone gets connected.
However, each scene also haskind of a different genre.
Very interesting, yeah.
There's kind of a sitcom-y vibewith Jim's scene with his wife
and his employee and there's abit of a farcical scene at the
very end.
It's a surprise and we don'twant to give away any spoilers.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
You'll have to watch it there are spoilers for this
play.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
And then there's another scene which is quite
violent and ends in a murder.
Very raw, very raw, veryviolent, you know.
So trigger warnings there isdomestic violence and talk of
suicide in this production.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Something for everyone.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Yeah, Absolutely yeah .
So at the end of this play,when the curtain is down?
Well, there is no curtain whenthe lights are down and the
house lights are back up.
You will explode inconversation.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I promise you that's a lot to discuss.
I promise you.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Because every time I've ever read this, I've heard
people read it in a group.
People cannot shut up.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Well, and we want people to come see it early so
they can come back and see itagain, because you'll want to,
yes, you will, you will missthings.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
You will realize oh my gosh, this person said a
thing about the next scene.
I didn't notice it the firsttime and it's only like 80
minutes.
So it's not that it's not thatlong.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So, every detail counts for sure.
I love that.
I love.
Okay, I'll be there.
Please, please, come yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And I also wanted to bring up too.
It also shows that, likethere's no correct way to react
to death, it's the one thingthat's guaranteed in life and we
don't.
There's no way to properlyprepare for it.
I feel like everyone's like ohwell, you know it's okay to be
upset.
What if they don't?
(07:50):
What if your whole life?
It's just an ever-changing wayof just coping with this
experience.
You know, and the way it's justso like the spectrum of emotions
coming out in this play hasreally shown me like, yeah,
there really is no right way andyou can't shame yourself.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Well sure, Everybody reacts to death differently.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
That's what this really kind of showcases.
Right, yeah, it seems like avery human play.
I feel like always whensomething's about death, it's
about life, obviously, but Ithink that's what people will
attach themselves to.
That's the exact word.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
I use to describe this, because whenever I tell
people there's humor in this,they kind of tilt their head and
I say, well, because that'slife and humans are humans.
We crack jokes at people'smemorials because we want to
know fun and exciting thingsabout their life.
We're not there to just cry andsob and kind of go for the
(08:43):
obvious emotion.
Humans are very complexcreatures, dead and alive, and I
think this shows that.
And speaking of early, if youwant to come early, our first
show Actually we open on aThursday, so we open May 8th and
we're also on May 10th, 16th,and then we have matinees on May
(09:04):
18th and 24th Because we are inrep with two other awesome
shows yes, so get your ticketsnow.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
As you can see, it's very interesting you might as
well just see all threeabsolutely exactly you know, and
if you just saw um little shopof horrors.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
If you want more blood, definitely come to this
show.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yes, there will be more of some dark humor and
explorations on life right yes,okay, going more on the
production side, how's like youknow what was like your vision
design, like how's that been?
And also, I always like to belike this is an interesting
theater because we're such likea small stage, so how's that the
whole production experiencebeen for you?
This theater is the perfecttheater for a show like this.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
It is truly a black box show I've seen.
I explored a couple like otherproductions and some of them
have been very bare bones, youknow, just really truly like
black boxes as furniture andthings like that.
So I was willing to go thatstripped back as much as
possible and overall I knew Ihad to have a really, really
(10:13):
good cast.
I could not settle and I didn't.
I absolutely could not settleand I had a few really amazing
people show up at auditions andsome of the roles were very hard
to cast because I had a lot ofcontenders.
But ultimately I knew thatthese people had to be
emotionally mature.
They also had to be funny.
(10:36):
Everybody had to understand.
That's a harder skill than youthink it is Right it is.
You can be a truthful actor andit's almost easier to be
slapstick and inappropriate, butwe also want it to be real and
hit the human heart in a softand cheerful way and that every
(11:01):
single actor in this has that.
They have truth, they havehumor, they're all funny.
They vibe really well togetherand it's been hard During the
rehearsal process.
We've been so separated becauseof the vignette style of the
play, but now that they've beentogether they get along so well.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
And I love all the laughter.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
So, yeah, I wanted good actors stripped back show.
I wanted to focus in on thestory and the situations that
these humans are in.
And also music.
Music is so important, soimportant.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
People don't think about it in a play.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
It sets everything.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yep, yeah, amazing.
I feel like the audience canalso feel when the actors are
together and you just feel likesomething like you feel a little
zing between the stage.
Yeah, so that'll be cool.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, go ahead.
I was going to say it's justbeen a great experience working
with the other actors, becausenot only are the people good,
but, like Lauren said, this iskind of a black box type of show
.
We're not encumbered with a lotof props or entrances and exits
or all sorts of that extrastuff that you have to think
about, so we can really focus onthe character development.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, your mind's kind of freed up so you can just
like put it all, put it all onthe stage from the actor's
perspective, and we also have,like, like what I'm hearing, we
have a little interestingconcept, we have a lot of cool
things going on.
What's been your best moment inthe process so far?
Speaker 4 (12:23):
oh my gosh.
I'd say my favorite part of theprocess is, um, oh, actually we
did, uh, one of our rehearsals.
Um, so, since I have tointeract with a dead body, we
were like, why don't we have thedead body like react to your,
your conversation?
So we had a rehearsal and I wasdoing my dialogue and our um,
(12:48):
dead hard corpse was actuallysitting up and listening to me.
So it was very interesting.
I was like, well, like I like Iwonder, like how this is going
to work, how I'm going to feel,and you know I it actually
helped a lot.
It helped, like the eye contactand doing those exercises that
we would do to like practice,you know, keeping that chemistry
(13:08):
there, not only building it,but keeping the chemistry there
between me and the cast.
So it's been a wonderfulprocess.
And I'd say another part isdefinitely going over lines with
each other.
I've never had anyone be like,oh, like you know, like I can
ask, saying, hey, could you,like you know, read this scene
for me and make sure I'm on book.
I'm doing good.
And I'm like, yeah, of course,and I feel comfortable with
(13:29):
everyone.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So it's amazing.
Yeah, We've come together as ateam pretty well.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I think Pretty well yes.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Very much so.
I'm watching.
The chemistry between everyonehas been a blossom, and grow and
develop has been such a joy,and I can't wait for people to
see them.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I know I love doing these and being like, oh my gosh
, I'm so excited.
Guys, how has doing the Britishaccents been?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
You want to go first?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
on that one.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Both of them are great.
I would say it's oh man, it'schallenging to enunciate, it's
easy, it comes easy for me toproject, so I'm not worried that
, like people won't hear mespeaking, it's more like what
I'm exactly what I'm saying youknow, and it does add another
(14:20):
layer.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
you know, you gotta not only remember your lines,
but then you gotta try to soundlike you're from somewhere else
exactly.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, but it's written so britishly, so you're
the syntax, the syntax.
Well, it's like we couldn't.
We couldn't Americanize this ifwe tried.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
It wouldn't sound right.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
There's just no way One actor is going to be an
expat, we decided, but weactually had to change a couple
of the lines because they arewritten with a very British
syntax and they cannot soundcorrect in an American accent.
It's tough, yeah.
So she writes.
The way Laura writes is verymuch the way people speak.
There's a lot of interrupting,a lot of talking over people and
(14:55):
there's a lot of what I'm aboutto do right now, which is like
a start-stop conversationsentence, where you start a
sentence and then you stop andyou start it again, which is so
interesting.
Usually we just do that,naturally, but she actually
wrote it into the play, which isso hard for these guys to
memorize, and they have been,they've, they're absolute rock
stars.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
I think I have one line where I say I felt four
times in a row, yeah, becausejust that.
He's trying to get the sentenceout.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, I love plays written.
It always looks so scary on thepage.
But then, like, when you like,get into it and you're like,
okay, no, it was worth it tolike.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, you're like, I've spoken like this before.
You know it's just seeing itand trying to follow something,
like consciously follow a script, you're like it's challenging
in your mind, but we do it everysingle day.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Right Because we don't even text that way.
Yeah, right, text the way thatwe speak, exactly.
Yeah, we text the way.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
We think maybe, but like she literally writes the
way people speak, sentences Veryimpressive, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Have you had anything like challenging to overcome
throughout the process?
Was there anything that you'rejust like stuck on for a second,
or has everything been kind ofin harmony?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I mean, I think everything has gone really well.
What's terrific about workingwith Lauren is that she will
work with the actors.
You know she said she's anactress as well, and so she
knows.
Okay, well, if we can't do itthis way, we can do it this way,
and you know what's going towork best for the dialogue and
for staging and how everybodylooks.
So she's also part of the team.
For sure that we've all beenworking together really well.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Exactly.
I'd say.
A challenge for me wasdefinitely putting the dialogue
and the blocking together.
That was definitely like it'sjust hand-eye coordination.
Oh, like wait, what part are weon?
When do I, on this line, I moveright here.
That's when you start doingthis.
It's hard, like rounding it out.
That's when I'm like okay, okay, we have to, like you know,
(16:45):
stay on the path.
I know it's frustrating, but wegot to keep going.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Yeah, and it was nice because we had to kind of come
up with tracks for her of whereto go, because Laura Wade God
bless her she gives a lot oflike directions in some of her
plays.
But you don't.
It's like, for example, one ofthe directions is Like but you
don't.
It's like.
For example, one of thedirections is Amy is cleaning,
and that's about it.
Like, where is she cleaning?
(17:09):
When is she doing this?
Like, how involved is she?
You know that sort of thing,and it's kind of like in and out
.
So we have to decide on it,which is fine and that's part of
the process.
I think some of the challengeshave been normal challenges,
like deciding to what level arewe going to push certain subject
matters.
You know, how far are we goingto push certain humorous moments
(17:32):
?
How far are we going to pushcertain dramatic moments?
A lot of the reviews I read ifthey critiqued the play, I
noticed it was a critique oflack of chemistry between
certain characters.
So I thought, okay, we're goingto, really we're going to hone
in on that, or they would focusit.
They would say that they missedthe humor and I said, okay,
we're going to hone in on that,or they would say that they
missed the humor and I said,okay, we're not going to miss
the humor, but we're also notgoing to push it so far that
it's unreal.
It's such a balance.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It's not wacky.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Yeah, but it's normal humor you would hear every day,
but some of it's shocking, likeevery time the play tries to go
deep, like it's, for example,jim slash.
John has a really deepmonologue at the end about the
effect of finding a dead bodyhat on him.
He gets really in there and hetalks about the smell and how
(18:17):
the smell is stuck in his noseand he can't get it out and it's
so deep and heavy and theaudience is going to get drawn
in and then suddenly his wife,played by Christy Papay, she
says have you tried VIXX?
Speaker 4 (18:32):
It brings it right back up To a hard stop.
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
It's every time that happens, and so to make sure
that those moments are real,yeah, instead of like garish.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yes, yeah, finding the rhythm of the show, the show
yeah well, this has been anamazing conversation and, as we
wrap up, I would just like eachof you to describe the show in
one word, like you're gonna sellit in one word for our
listeners.
What would you say?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
oh, in one word, um introspective love.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Man, I'd say insightful.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Insightful.
I love it.
We're using a lot of N words.
I was like N, I'm going to callit absurd.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Absurd, that's good.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
I love it.
Well, everybody, this has beenBreathing Corpses.
We have amazing actors anddirectors, so get your tickets
now.
Can you say those dates againfor us?
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Yes, we are performing in rep with also
alongside Savage in Limbo andBending the Spoon Breathing
Corpses is performing May 8th,10th, 16th.
We are also performing matineeson May 18th and 24th Amazing,
thank you so much, thank you and24th Amazing.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Thank you so much Enjoy it.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Thanks for listening to Steps to the Stage, a 7th
Street Community Theatre podcast.
Follow us on your favoritepodcast platform and leave us a
review and a five-star rating.
It really helps.
You can also find us onInstagram, facebook and YouTube.
Special thanks to ChinoCommunity Theatre and Chino
Community Children's Theater fortheir generous support and very
(20:09):
special thank you to thelisteners.
Steps to the Stage was createdby Joey Rice and Kirk Lane.
Logo created by Marley Lane.
Original music by Joey Rice.
Your host, marley Lane.
Engineer and producer, joeyRice.
Engineer and executive producer, kirk Lane.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com