October 7, 2024 • 32 mins
Allison and Marlee, the visionary directors of a unique community theater production of "Carrie," join us to share their intriguing adaptation of Stephen King's classic tale. Set against the backdrop of the 1970s, this take on "Carrie" revives the musical version, infusing it with the raw energy of King's novel and De Palma's film. Our conversation unveils Sue as the central storyteller, guiding the audience through a police interrogation-style narrative that explores the complexity of memory and perspective—guaranteeing a gripping theatrical experience.
We tackle the profound themes of trauma and power that underscore "Carrie's" narrative. Allison and Marlee unravel how generational and religious trauma, societal bullying, and the complex dynamics between Carrie and her mother, Margaret, drive the story to its explosive climax. The exaggerated horror elements serve as an allegory for real-world issues such as abuse and unchecked power, resonating deeply with audiences. Dive into the surprising layers of teenage life and social hierarchies that further complicate Carrie's world and shape her tragic journey.
The episode also takes a behind-the-scenes look at the collaborative magic bringing this production to life. With a mix of fresh talent and seasoned veterans, we celebrate Erin's leading performance and the bold inclusion of female actors in traditionally male roles. Discover the innovative musical direction and choreography aimed at capturing the emotions and horror themes of the show. Allison and Marlee emphasize creating a respectful and fun rehearsal environment, spotlighting their commitment to empowering individuality and fostering a supportive atmosphere. This production of "Carrie" promises an unforgettable experience, from rehearsal room to stage.
This show is PG-13 and contains mature themes.
Weekends Oct 25th through Nov 9th $15 general admission -- $12 seniors and students
Tickets available at: https://chinocommunitytheatre.seatyourself.biz -- chinochildrenstheatre.org -- or contact the box office at (909) 590-1149
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our idea of theater and stuff is not what a lot of
people are used to, and a lot ofpeople I don't know guys come
from where theater is somethingthat's so stressful for people.
They love it so much but youput yourself through abuse
because you love it so much andwe're like what, if we had fun,
didn't do that?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
The lights are on the curtain's up.
This is Steps to the Stage.
Folks at home, do you have abusiness, small or otherwise,
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(00:37):
We're talking business cards,banner stands, LCD displays,
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Again, that is Graphic DetailsInc here in Chino, California.
Thank you so much.
Hello and welcome to Steps tothe Stage, the 7th Street
Theater podcast, where we talkto the community theater
professionals you know and love.
Today, on a very spooky episodeof the show, we have our
(01:00):
friends Allison and Marleedirecting Carrie Hi.
Welcome back, both of you.
Great to be back.
Of course it's great to have youback.
It always is.
Would you mind both of you sortof talking about for those of
you who don't know what the showis, would you mind talking
about sort of the basic sort ofstructure, the plot of Carrie
and sort of what drew you to theshow, each of you Sure?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Of course.
I mean obviously.
I think most people think ofthe Brian De Palma film from ooh
, I don't know the year late 70s.
So you know we have.
And also the Stephen King novelthat has been adapted into a
musical.
There's so much to delve intothat, but anyway, basic plot.
Basically, girl Carrie White,we're in Maine.
(01:41):
She's a little, she's gottrauma.
She's a little weird Highschool students, you know them,
big bullies.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Big bullies, big crazy bullies.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Big bullies and basically, basically everybody.
If you're mean, your town burnsdown and you all die.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yep.
And then you go home and yousee your mom there, who is also
not great, and then you're like,hey, we're also going to die.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So basically, don't pour blood on people, don't be
mean.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Don't go to prom, don't go to prom, don't go to
prom.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We didn't go to prom and look at us.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Don't go to your senior prom, because if you
don't go to prom, then you'll bethe one that lives and survives
.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, exactly so basically, was that a basic plot
structure?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
no, no it was a little, it was girl girl, weird
girl go school.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
School not like girl pig blood.
They make trick pig blood theymake trick pig blood, girl says
ah, kill everyone.
Then girl outside go, oh no,and follow her home.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
And then see kill mom and now mom dead, girl dead.
If you don't know, if that's aspoiler for you, I don't know
what to say.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, I mean hello, you're not seeing, do you not
know if?
If you're uncultured swine,there's nothing I can do about
it swine?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
oh god, I'm picked one you're not uncultured.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
If you haven't seen it, just go see.
It just go see it.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's a great show yeah, it is.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
The musical is a little bit different too.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, I was about to ask about that so of course,
this is based on a book.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
More originally.
But of course you said, themovie by Brian De Palma Does
this adaptation just.
First of all, does it take morefrom the book or from the film?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I would say more.
It was a musical in the 80s.
Yeah, it's Broadway's biggestflop.
It was on Broadway for threedays, three days and so this
version that we're doing is alsothe revival of that musical oh,
like the restructuring Okay2012.
And it's based in the early2000s, but we changed it to be
in the 70s to suit the bookInteresting.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Okay okay, okay yeah.
Would you mind delving a littlebit more into some of the
differences?
Sure yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Between, between the book and this version, also just
more.
It's more like the book in thatSue is more centered, as like
the storyteller.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
And that also changed from the 2012 production.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So now she's kind of our narrator, almost like
surrogate more.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yes, exactly like our guiding light through
everything.
Yeah, so that's, that's thebiggest like okay thing from
that.
So we kind of get a flat.
We're going like back and forthin time a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Okay, that's kind of fun not like super specifically.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
We're not getting.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Technically, the whole show is like a flashback
yeah, so yeah, sort of likethat's more like the book yeah
yeah, it's like she's in theinterrogation yeah, like police
interview style, right, and it'ssupposed to be like we don't
ever really see theinterrogators okay only see sue
in that room and then we go backinto her memories and we're in
her version of the story oh, Ilike that, yeah, okay, yeah, so
(04:42):
it's, it's, it's quitecomplicated because you've got
Sue's version of the story, butthen you're telling the story of
another girl.
So it's like the actors kind ofhave to think about, like, okay
, yeah, I'm portraying mycharacter, but I'm also
portraying a memory of someoneelse.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, it's an unreliable narrator.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, in ways yeah, because you're not really sure,
like, what really happened toSue, but she's doing her best
Because also, it's clear she'sbeen in this interrogation room
for a minute and as the solesurvivor they're kind of like,
hey, over 30 people just diedand we're a little confused how
you got out of that.
Yeah, with narrow eyes, yeah,so she has that pressure.
(05:21):
And then, of course, like, it'salso this tale of like oh, I
realized what my part in all ofthis was.
Right.
So she's really recountingwhere she messed up, and that's
kind of the big plot of it all.
That's the message of it.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I guess I really like that.
Yeah, yeah, if we want to talkabout sort of Carrie's version
of this story, sure A little bit, and sort of talk about, like,
her trauma in a way and sort ofhow that informs her actions and
sort of how that sort ofcreates the events that we see
towards the end of the show.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Sure Obviously got a big old heaping of religious.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yes, I have lines and lines of notes about that.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
But it's kind of just used as like a vessel of like
parent-child dynamic.
So it's just kind of a.
It's a really convenient likesymbolism for like how there's
like a weird with like parentsand children about like also
like God and, you know, human inthere.
(06:26):
So it's a nice, like beautifullittle symbolism and like
margaret, the margaret white,carrie's mom kind of attaches
onto from her trauma.
So yes, it's like it'sgeneration.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
We're going to like generational trauma, cycles of
abuse and and also you're reallygetting the female perspective
of both of sexual trauma andreligious trauma, the not so
many especially back then whenyou think about it of like how
many women for so long inhistory don't know about their
own bodies and aren't told aboutthings until much later in life
(06:59):
.
Which is really what startsthis whole thing of Carrie not
knowing what a period is and notknowing that that's going to
happen to her, but Margarethiding that from her because of
her own traumas of beingsexually abused and being like
thinking that that's apunishment from God and so not
telling her daughter about it to, in a sense, protect her, but
(07:20):
in reality it didn't protect herfrom anything?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, she's just harming her even further.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Exactly, and now she's also a pretty late bloomer
, so like now in high schoolgirls are already ready to talk
about those things and so hernot even knowing what that is
really kind of.
It's like the traumas are allinterlinked, you know, like
everything's crossed over and inthe religious part of it all,
(07:43):
like even the bullying, like allthese things are pretty heavy
and pretty deep but at the sametime, like we're touching on
things that a lot of people canrelate to, right, and I think
the bullying too, like she's alittle quirky, she's a little
weird, she's different, andinstead of back then people kind
of bringing those people in andbeing like it's cool, we
(08:03):
embrace that.
People definitely completelyand totally ostracize you, like
you do not belong here at all,and that's a different, because
then the only place you dobelong is the abusive home.
So now she's confused because,oh, I can't be at school, but
the only place that loves me isthe place that hurts me.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So it's really like she's messed up, you know, yeah,
and then we get a funneledthings about power and, like you
know who has power, like theparent or a child, and what
happens when your child haslegit powers, yeah, legitimate
magical powers.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
What do you do with that?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
so that's a fun little thing to go in there.
Yeah, and we don't know how shegot these powers exactly and
it's interesting and it's justfun to be like the what ifs and
things made bigger to meandifferent things so we're able
to see like obviously this is anextreme reaction to abuse and
bullying, but it's.
(08:59):
It's like the horror alwaysdoes it it's based based in
truth, with like a dose ofextremism, so we're able to see
it better.
The audience.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
So it's so cool to have it based in like religion
and power and destruction.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, there's a lot of like cool tropes and stuff in
this too that like lean intothose.
We go more extreme with thetropes.
Oh okay, so you can see thembetter.
Okay, that's a good way to sayit.
See them better, yeah I likethat yeah thanks.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
You mentioned sort of at the aspect of her power.
We don't really know where itcomes from, but her mother
certainly seems to think thatshe does, especially going back
to what she thinks is sort of apunishment for her existence.
And that comes back in when shereveals sort of the truth of
her birth and sort of copulation, in a way.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
You are the love.
I was betrayed for One of thehardest lyrics to hear in
Margaret White song, like it'sso crazy because it's so
manipulative, it's socodependent in its own sense.
You know, yes, she loves herdaughter, but her daughter was
born out of a really traumaticsituation for her.
In order to save Margaret, tosave herself from that trauma,
(10:10):
she turned to God, becausethat's where she can find purity
.
And so when she thinks God ispunishing through Carrie, it's
like, oh, you're the curse.
You've always been the curse,the curse of blood, now You're
the curse.
So there's this, yeah, it'slike she definitely believes.
Like, oh, my daughter is awitch and now I need to get rid
of her.
Which is where we get to theend, where it's like I gotta
(10:32):
sacrifice her because it's theonly way I'm gonna save both of
us and it's really interesting.
It's very deep, yeah, hiddenunder this, like musical tone,
and then you're like whoa, youactually listen to the lyrics
like oh my god, yeah, yeah andit's crazy, it's crazy.
It gets crazy up in there andthe the vibe of the show is all
over the place on purpose.
Like we cover tons of genres ofmusic, we cover tons of
(10:54):
different types of charactersand traumas and issues and
people, and then you throw itall together and it's just about
this girl who people are beingmean.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
She was pushed to a breaking point for no reason.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Exactly, and it's so complicated because it's so
simple.
That's why it's complicated,because you're looking at it
going, going.
Well, we could just stop that.
Why did this have to happen?
And that's kind of the wholemessage of the story, right?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
it's like what can humans make true like?
Yeah like is is margaret oreveryone's like feelings, or the
idea of obviously we can't makesomeone have telekinesis, but
like if someone believessomething so strongly that like
it is a curse and like she'sterrible, it almost like
manifests into something real.
Or we, we like, have so manyfeelings about carrie, it
(11:40):
manifests into something so justinteresting with like, what if
humans had the power, with ourthoughts and feelings, to make
something true?
like if someone believescarrie's a monster or like from
the devil, or whatever, thenlike, did margaret make it true
or did carrie make it trueherself by, or whatever?
Then like, did Margaret make ittrue or did Carrie make it true
herself by thinking that, ormaybe it's both.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Oh, exactly, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Sort of that.
You want me to be the bad guy?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, fine, I'll be the bad guy, and was she ever
really scary or was she justdifferent?
And then now you've made herthe monster that she is, and you
know that's the teenager of itall, because we've all listen
we've all been teenagers.
We were either on the outsideor we were on the inside.
Especially like me, I grew up alittle bit older than all of
you.
The early 2000s were wild, andso it's kind of crazy because
(12:24):
the year I graduated the show isthe year the revival graduated.
High school is the year therevival set set in.
So there's like things when Iwatch that that I'm like, like
it feels so real, but like, yeah, the high school of it, all the
like there really ishierarchies in american high
schools oh yes, you know, andlike it's just a crazy dynamic
that you have to shift through,and like it's even harder to
(12:45):
portray it on stage because ithas to be so dramatic for it to
land.
And then when you watch, watchit you're like but it feels real
, like popular girls ostracizingsomeone.
But also there's always thatone nice popular girl that will
talk to you in English class andyou're like, why don't you talk
to me at lunch?
Or why don't you say hi to mein the halls?
And it's like that's kind ofwhat Sue is giving, in a sense
(13:05):
of like she's starting torealize, like, oh, I'm actually
not this person I'm portrayingmyself to be, and she's kind of
the example of the change.
Yeah, but then it's too late atthat point she doesn't go away.
It's too late, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
That is the one thing that I think kind of shocked me
the first time I watched themovie and sort of engaged with
the story, was that Sue andTommy were actually trying to do
something nice and yet Carriehas every right to be
apprehensive about thisAbsolutely, Absolutely,
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
And I think Tommy too is such an interesting
character.
You know, he really is thesweetheart of the show.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
As we say, the Troy Bolton blueprint.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, he is Troy Bolton.
It's like if Tommy Ross andDanny Zuko had a baby.
You have Troy Bolton.
Can I play?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
sports and write poems.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, poetry Words and our amazing actor nate.
He always is like when we dostuff he's always like tommy run
, tommy like poet, you know, andit's like that's so real,
because in a sense he is kind oflike yeah, and then that's it,
you know.
But he has this sweetheartnessthat there's an innocence to him
(14:07):
that carrie sees in him andthat's why she can trust him a
little bit more than the girls,I think.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
But it's you know, and that's why I always love
like sometimes people get sodefensive about like in Romeo
and Juliet, like they didn'thave to take the potions, or
potions Like they didn't have to.
You know, like go through thiswhole thing to like pretend
you're dead or whatever, butlike the worst, what makes it a
tragedy, is that it ispreventable.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I love that so much.
What makes it a tragedy?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,Absolutely.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
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So moving on from sort of theplot and details of the show
into the actual production of it, again, both of you are
directors.
Would you mind sort of talkingabout?
(14:57):
Oh, you've mentioned, of course, nate Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Would you mention talking about some of the other
people in the cast and what thecasting process was like for
both of you?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, the casting process was fun.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, it was really fun.
It was cool because you know,we didn't know what kind of
crowd this show was going tobring out.
We haven't really done anythinglike this in a long time.
I would say it's a horrormusical we haven't really done.
And then you know, I was seeingthat Carrie's kind of been
buzzing around on social mediaand stuff the last year and kind
(15:29):
of grabbing attention and so itwas like, okay, are we going to
get new people, are we going tohave some veterans come back?
Like what's going to be?
And we got a really good mix ofboth and it was actually a
really crazy process.
It's always like we have likeyou never know what's going to
walk into your room and for uswe always do like a monologue
and a song.
(15:50):
So we got to see them act alittle bit before bring them to
callbacks, do the whole thing.
But it was more like whichpeople are going to work with.
What I mean.
Our callbacks lasted a while wehad.
This show is vocally insanebecause you cover so many genres
.
You have that opera style-esquemusical theater and then you
have this like really likerugged, weird, like sound for
(16:15):
Carrie, like it just kind ofcovers so many different vibes.
And then there's like the 80sballad that they kept from the
original and it was like threwit in there and you're like this
is so 80s, it's crazy, um, butit's perfect.
And so we really kind of had tobe very tedious about the vocal
parts of it all.
But in the end we ended up witha really solid cast and I think
(16:37):
we almost casted pretty mucheveryone who auditioned oh no,
wow, we had a low boy countcoming in, but you know what?
It didn't even matter.
The boys that we have are sostrong and you know, we have
female actors playing malecharacters and then they're
really stepping up to the platein the sense of like giving it
(16:59):
all they've got, and they'rejust a really great cast.
Together.
They're very different.
We have a new.
Our lead is Erin, and she goesby Ronnie in our cast, but she
is a star, and she goes byRonnie in our cast, but she is a
star and she's amazing, and itwas really great to see someone
we've never seen before have theconfidence to come out and be
like boom, you know, yeah, so weyeah, we love them yeah, we do
(17:24):
really love them.
and then, like some people havecome in later and our very own
Joey Rice is in the show, whatclosing weekend.
And our very own Joey Rice isin the show what Closing weekend
.
He stepped in for us for a roleand so Joey will be playing
George, which is a really funlittle character.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
George and so yeah, so it's been exciting to see
them come together as a group.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
You mentioned that this show feels very musically
challenging.
Who is your musical director?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
So Luke Shaman, who, if you remember if you were have
listened before to the showlast year we directed percy
jackson and luke played percyand he wanted to challenge
himself musically as becausehe's going to school for music
and things like that and he wasjust looking for a role where he
could really challenge himselfin something, and so he asked us
if he could musically directand we put our trust in him and
(18:10):
he's been doing pretty good,yeah yeah, and then we're
choreographing it, both of usyes, okay, let's talk about
choreography and movement inthis show.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, crazy, crazy I well, first of all.
First of all, we're actually Ilove horror and all that stuff
and I think we don't get to alot.
We don't get to see it a lot onthe theater stage and we don't
get to see I mean, I think wesay it a lot like we're really
into acting and movement that'snot beautiful, like there's a
(18:42):
time and place for it, but likehumans aren't beautiful
sometimes.
So it's like the combination oflike there's a lot of like
classic musical theater songsthat need like musical theater
dancing and then like where wecan bring moody movement that
like with their bodies, that'slike weird and out of being a
(19:03):
human and like bringing thehorror genre.
So it's like a fun, weird mixof things.
There's some really funchoreography that we've like
based on like images of art andbased on it's really like we're
trying to be outside.
They're not just high schoolstudents, but they're also like
embodiments of different thingsgoing on in the show.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Yeah, yeah, it's definitely like we always talk
about with the cast.
It's a little bit of achallenge because you kind of,
as a dancer, have to get out ofthe like tropiness of being
pretty.
Like we said, we always saythis.
Like we like that ugly to liveon stage, like ugly should be
the center of attention there.
Um and like with carriesometimes they're representing
(19:41):
her powers, sometimes they'rerepresenting the relationship
dynamics that are taking place.
Um, that's one of my favoritedances we have of.
Like there's a sue and tommyhaving a moment and chris and
billy having a moment andthey're both trying to
manipulate their other partnerand how they go about that,
because Chris doesn't do it thesame way Sue does, and so
they're the ensemble'srepresenting that and it's a
(20:02):
really cool like, not that we'reforce-feeding the plot to the
audience, but that the ensemblegets to really dive into the
emotions of things yeah, morestrongly people's bodies doing
the storytelling as well as likethe lines and like everything
going on, yeah, yeah, and Carriemoves pretty quickly, so the
more storytelling we can do, thebetter.
Okay, this is very exciting.
I'm getting as well as thelines and everything going on
yeah and Carrie moves prettyquickly, so the more
(20:22):
storytelling we can do, thebetter.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Okay, this is very exciting.
I'm getting very.
I love it.
Yeah, Would you mind talkingabout the set design for the
show Sure?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
sure thing I'm also the set designer for the show.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Oh my gosh, so that's fun.
You both wear so many hats inthis.
I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Exactly, yeah.
So this one's kind of fun,because I always like to do
things that aren't necessarilylike realism, like this is a
high school.
So we're kind of taking thingsfrom all the different
productions that have gonearound and all the different
ideations of Carrie.
So it's kind of we see a spacethat could be like after
(21:00):
everything's been burnt down anddestroyed, and maybe like in
the middle.
So it's not exactly a highschool, but not exactly ruins
Whoa.
Not exactly ruins and then wehave some fun stuff that I won't
reveal yet.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Oh, she wants to hide things Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
But basically the set will also be doing a lot of
storytelling okay yeah, this setis definitely a character in
itself, I love that yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Were there any specific challenges in set
design that you had to sort ofovercome, or was it yes, and
we're still about to have toovercome okay, yes because we
have a lot of.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Obviously, Carrie has telekinesis, so that's fun.
Obviously, we have the thingthat happens at prom that nobody
knows about.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
It's a big secret.
It's a big secret.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
So it's more like engineering problems, okay,
mechanics problems.
Yes, and logistics we haven'tspaced yet that it's going to be
a lot of trial and error, butI'm excited to figure them out
and we have a lot of peopleinvolved in all the different
like theater departments.
So we have like an art team, aset team, a construction team, a
(22:09):
makeup team, a costume team.
So we have like a huge groupready to like battle it out with
us.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah, I think our student design team overall is
like 13 people split up, justbecause, like also costume wise,
like we've got a lot of bloodgoing on, so we have to have
people who are going to be ableto take care of that kind of
stuff.
And then, with hair and makeup,you know, there's not like a
heavy amount of makeup becausewe're doing 70s, but it's very
(22:36):
yeah, everyone is going to behands-on every show, like it's
not just like come and do yourjob and then head out, like this
show is actively going to needthem to stick around and be
doing their work.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And who are your costume and makeup designers?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
for posterity's sake, yeah sure, for our costume
designer is Debbie Horner, whichwe love, and she's really
eating it up and, as I dare Isay, I'm a little too much of an
iron fist, with historicalaccuracy especially the 70s, her
baby girl.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
I need someone I can trust and she's just been
nailing it like it's.
We are so like.
Our costume rack is sitting inthe hallway and every time I
walk by it I'm like, oh my God,it looks so good have to check
that out.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yes, please.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
And then our MUA and hairstylist is Melissa Hogan-Rad
.
Yes, and then she has herstudent team as well.
That'll be working with themFantastic.
Yeah, and also, I just want tomention that Luke Hogan-Rad is
our AD.
Oh, yes, our assistant director, director, and yes, and he's
been doing a, really.
So it's us and the lukes,that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, our baby boys so special effects, you
mentioned sort of representingcertain things.
Yeah, with the ensemble andwith sort of the movement of the
body.
Are there things that arerepresented in other ways?
Speaker 3 (23:50):
yeah, um, we definitely have, uh like the
whole telekinesis powerhappening, um also like using
the set pieces to kind of shiftinto different spaces, um,
obviously, but also like notjust like literally.
Oh we're in a home, but, likeyou know, there's the whole
getting locked in the closetthing, but we're not like
(24:11):
creating a closet on stage youknow, feeling more right,
exactly, um, yeah, we kind ofhave to work with things with
like we don't have a large stagewhere we're going to be able to
create two layers where someonecan like walk up and put the
bucket of blood at the top ofthe you know gym.
So like we kind of have tocreate with lights.
There's going to be a lot ofstuff that's going on.
(24:32):
Lights is going to really be abig part of the storytelling as
well.
So it's going to be a lot oftricking.
We're also really close.
Our audiences literally couldtouch our actors if they're
sitting in the front row.
So we have had to do a lot ofthings where it's like we're
kind of tricking their brain andalso being really real about
like you know what's coming andyou know what's happening.
(24:52):
So just suspend your disbelief.
Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I really like that.
Thanks, yeah, would you mindtalking about the rehearsal
process for the show?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Sure, yeah, it's been fun.
It's been because I think ouridea of like theater and stuff
is not what a lot of people areused to and a lot of people, I
don't know guys, come from wherelike theater is something
that's so stressful for people,like they love it so much but
like you put yourself throughabuse because you love it so
much and we're like what if wedidn't do that?
(25:23):
What if we had fun?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
and some people are like I can't do it and you can
kind of see them like having toforce themselves to enjoy the
process rather than be like I'llenjoy it when I do the work and
it's like, well, you're neverreally gonna learn to enjoy it
when I do the work and it's like, well, you're never really
going to learn to enjoy it thenyeah, so we're just kind of
always being like have fun,because my thing is too like as
someone who's now in her 30s.
(25:47):
No, I love my 30s, but the thingis you get burnt out.
If that's your process, ifyou're constantly going to be
coming at art like that, youwill burn out.
And so our goal is, yes, theshow we want to hold its
integrity and we want it to be agood show.
We very much love excellence,but we are not going to expose
and abuse our people to getthere.
(26:09):
And so it's really like,honestly, we have fun when we
come in.
We do crazy warm-ups.
They're weird.
It's my favorite thing in theworld.
Yeah, like we did it with Percytoo, and that was fun for us
because that was our first showdirecting together, and so we
had to learn our process too.
And we like to do crazy thingsbecause it also gets us out of
our head and so, you know,runways Like weird disco music,
(26:31):
everyone just go dance likeyou're at a club, like, and
that's what our.
You know it's not like everyone.
17,000 jumping jacks, getfocused, get ready, take a
minute.
You know it's not like that,but we still appreciate those
things.
And so the first couple ofweeks was I mean, we are in our
fourth week of rehearsals and wejust finished music, but that's
(26:51):
a lot of music that we got donein a really short amount of
time.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, it's mostly music.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
But I like to kind of work that way.
That's something that I reallytook from kevin gassio actually
one of the directors here, buthe always did the music first,
which most shows do, but musicfirst.
That way you can have thatsolid and then go move into the
movement of it all.
And so it's been really nice,because now we're in the
choreography and the staging ofthings.
But you know, we're a sharedspace, so it's kind of like
(27:17):
we're going to do all of thisand then it'll probably change
once we have our entire set andall the.
So it's just been great seeingthese kids come to life and, you
know, tell a story, but tell itin a way that that is fun for
them and us.
We want to have a good time too.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
And us, we want to have a good time too, yeah
absolutely yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah.
I really appreciate that,especially when you're working
with kids, and especially peoplein high school, as we've talked
about, which can be freakingbrutal.
Yes, absolutely so.
Yeah, I'm glad you guys arecreating such a healthy
environment.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah, we always tell them.
Like you know, a lot of ourkids are also doing multiple
things.
Oh yeah, they're really goodstudents they are.
Some of them are driving fromthe OC, so they take a two-hour
drive to get here, and we knowthat they're coming out of that
two-hour drive straight intorehearsal.
And so it's really importantfor us that we're one, making a
great environment but also beinglike, hey, you're a person,
(28:17):
tell us what you need, tell uswhat you need as an actor, tell
us what you need here, and we'lldo our best to achieve that.
And then we all have, like westarted our rehearsals making a
cast um contract of like, theseare the things we value as a
group, these are the things wewant to see, these are the
things we want to do for eachother and for ourselves, and
then we are always committed tothat throughout this whole
process, and that's somethingthat's always really important
(28:38):
for us to do, and they've beenupholding it pretty well.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, that's a really smart idea actually.
I really like that.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, it's like a classroom contract.
Yeah, because it gives you thepower.
It's your show, it's yourjourney, it's your process, so
why wouldn't you have a voice init?
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Would you mind talking about some of the things
on that contract, sure.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I mean, I think it's a lot of like how the cast is
going to treat each other, hownotes are given, like requesting
intimacy, coordination.
I think those are the kind ofthings that kind of came up at
the beginning.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And we were like, yes , it's funny because everyone's
really like I don't want sayanything and all of a sudden
they're like wait, I have somany ideas and they had so many,
and you're like see, you liketo say things?
Yeah, I think this show coversharsh topics, covers really
important, deep things, that tonot have intimacy coordination
would be a disservice, and so,luckily, you know, marley's
pretty heavily trained in thatand I have some training too,
and so that's a big part of whatthey were asking for, you know,
(29:44):
and I'm glad that theyadvocated for themselves of like
, yeah, I don't want to bemaking out with someone I've
never talked to.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Especially in our stage, which is like there's
people right there, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
You're going to turn your head while you're making
out and see somebody staring atyou and it's going to be your
dad and he's going to be likeright.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's like the girl that you'rekissing her grandpa, you know.
So, yeah, well, at the time, myhusband at the time was in the
audience, and that's a weirdexperience because you're like,
ah, you know.
(30:13):
Or you're like, yeah, my dadwhen I was 13.
That's crazy, that's a crazything to go through, that's wild
Again.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
you both wear so many hats in this show.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
You know you got to do what you got to do.
I love hats.
I have a hat collection.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Well, thank you both so much for joining us here on
the show today.
Quick question when does yourshow open and where can people
buy tickets for this awesomesounding show?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Of course it opens October 25th and I think pretty
soon the tickets will bereleased.
You can find it on Instagramlink in the bio and on the
website.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, if you go to our website.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Tickets being released.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Yeah, if you go to our website, click that ticket
that you see like a picture ofan image and it'll take you to
the tickets on seat yourself.
But yeah, I would definitely,especially because we have a run
through halloween.
Yes, I would definitely getyour tickets as soon as you can.
We run through november night,also something cool.
Special night we have specialnights every weekend.
So every friday of everyweekend we have a special night.
So opening night is a promnight, so after the show we'll
(31:12):
have prom and a gala here.
That's right.
And then the second weekend isum halloween costumes because
it's the day after ha, right.
And then the second weekend isHalloween costumes because it's
the day after Halloween.
And then the third weekend is70s night.
So, yeah, special little funthings.
That is so fun.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Oh my God, I love that.
Thanks, yeah, well, be sure tocheck out Carrie.
October 25th Perfect forHalloween.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
That's right, rookie, rookie, rookie.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Rookie Rookie.
Thank you both so much, thankyou.
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(32:00):
Thanks for listening to Stepsto the Stage and now it's time
for the curtain call.
You can follow us on Spotify,apple, google or any podcasting
platform.
We have videos up on YouTubeand you can visit our website at
stepstothestagebuzzsproutcom.
And, as always, a special thankyou to our audio engineer, joey
(32:22):
Rice, and our producer, kirkLane.
Without the two of you, thisshow would not be possible.
Our idea of theater and stuff is not what a lot of
people are used to, and a lot ofpeople I don't know guys come
from where theater is somethingthat's so stressful for people.
They love it so much but youput yourself through abuse
because you love it so much andwe're like what, if we had fun,
didn't do that?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
The lights are on the curtain's up.
This is Steps to the Stage.
Folks at home, do you have abusiness, small or otherwise,
that isn't pulling in trafficthe way you want it to?
Well, it might be because theydon't have something to remember
you by, and that's why today weare sponsored by Graphic
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Signs and displays.
They will print out yourbanners, they'll cut vinyl,
they'll do window graphics forthe company cars.
(00:37):
We're talking business cards,banner stands, LCD displays,
tabletop displays, logos, all infull living color.
Again, that is Graphic DetailsInc here in Chino, California.
Thank you so much.
Hello and welcome to Steps tothe Stage, the 7th Street
Theater podcast, where we talkto the community theater
professionals you know and love.
Today, on a very spooky episodeof the show, we have our
(01:00):
friends Allison and Marleedirecting Carrie Hi.
Welcome back, both of you.
Great to be back.
Of course it's great to have youback.
It always is.
Would you mind both of you sortof talking about for those of
you who don't know what the showis, would you mind talking
about sort of the basic sort ofstructure, the plot of Carrie
and sort of what drew you to theshow, each of you Sure?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Of course.
I mean obviously.
I think most people think ofthe Brian De Palma film from ooh
, I don't know the year late 70s.
So you know we have.
And also the Stephen King novelthat has been adapted into a
musical.
There's so much to delve intothat, but anyway, basic plot.
Basically, girl Carrie White,we're in Maine.
(01:41):
She's a little, she's gottrauma.
She's a little weird Highschool students, you know them,
big bullies.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Big bullies, big crazy bullies.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Big bullies and basically, basically everybody.
If you're mean, your town burnsdown and you all die.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yep.
And then you go home and yousee your mom there, who is also
not great, and then you're like,hey, we're also going to die.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So basically, don't pour blood on people, don't be
mean.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Don't go to prom, don't go to prom, don't go to
prom.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We didn't go to prom and look at us.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Don't go to your senior prom, because if you
don't go to prom, then you'll bethe one that lives and survives
.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, exactly so basically, was that a basic plot
structure?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
no, no it was a little, it was girl girl, weird
girl go school.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
School not like girl pig blood.
They make trick pig blood theymake trick pig blood, girl says
ah, kill everyone.
Then girl outside go, oh no,and follow her home.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
And then see kill mom and now mom dead, girl dead.
If you don't know, if that's aspoiler for you, I don't know
what to say.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, I mean hello, you're not seeing, do you not
know if?
If you're uncultured swine,there's nothing I can do about
it swine?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
oh god, I'm picked one you're not uncultured.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
If you haven't seen it, just go see.
It just go see it.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's a great show yeah, it is.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
The musical is a little bit different too.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, I was about to ask about that so of course,
this is based on a book.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
More originally.
But of course you said, themovie by Brian De Palma Does
this adaptation just.
First of all, does it take morefrom the book or from the film?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I would say more.
It was a musical in the 80s.
Yeah, it's Broadway's biggestflop.
It was on Broadway for threedays, three days and so this
version that we're doing is alsothe revival of that musical oh,
like the restructuring Okay2012.
And it's based in the early2000s, but we changed it to be
in the 70s to suit the bookInteresting.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Okay okay, okay yeah.
Would you mind delving a littlebit more into some of the
differences?
Sure yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Between, between the book and this version, also just
more.
It's more like the book in thatSue is more centered, as like
the storyteller.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
And that also changed from the 2012 production.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So now she's kind of our narrator, almost like
surrogate more.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yes, exactly like our guiding light through
everything.
Yeah, so that's, that's thebiggest like okay thing from
that.
So we kind of get a flat.
We're going like back and forthin time a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Okay, that's kind of fun not like super specifically.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
We're not getting.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Technically, the whole show is like a flashback
yeah, so yeah, sort of likethat's more like the book yeah
yeah, it's like she's in theinterrogation yeah, like police
interview style, right, and it'ssupposed to be like we don't
ever really see theinterrogators okay only see sue
in that room and then we go backinto her memories and we're in
her version of the story oh, Ilike that, yeah, okay, yeah, so
(04:42):
it's, it's, it's quitecomplicated because you've got
Sue's version of the story, butthen you're telling the story of
another girl.
So it's like the actors kind ofhave to think about, like, okay
, yeah, I'm portraying mycharacter, but I'm also
portraying a memory of someoneelse.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, it's an unreliable narrator.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, in ways yeah, because you're not really sure,
like, what really happened toSue, but she's doing her best
Because also, it's clear she'sbeen in this interrogation room
for a minute and as the solesurvivor they're kind of like,
hey, over 30 people just diedand we're a little confused how
you got out of that.
Yeah, with narrow eyes, yeah,so she has that pressure.
(05:21):
And then, of course, like, it'salso this tale of like oh, I
realized what my part in all ofthis was.
Right.
So she's really recountingwhere she messed up, and that's
kind of the big plot of it all.
That's the message of it.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I guess I really like that.
Yeah, yeah, if we want to talkabout sort of Carrie's version
of this story, sure A little bit, and sort of talk about, like,
her trauma in a way and sort ofhow that informs her actions and
sort of how that sort ofcreates the events that we see
towards the end of the show.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Sure Obviously got a big old heaping of religious.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yes, I have lines and lines of notes about that.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
But it's kind of just used as like a vessel of like
parent-child dynamic.
So it's just kind of a.
It's a really convenient likesymbolism for like how there's
like a weird with like parentsand children about like also
like God and, you know, human inthere.
(06:26):
So it's a nice, like beautifullittle symbolism and like
margaret, the margaret white,carrie's mom kind of attaches
onto from her trauma.
So yes, it's like it'sgeneration.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
We're going to like generational trauma, cycles of
abuse and and also you're reallygetting the female perspective
of both of sexual trauma andreligious trauma, the not so
many especially back then whenyou think about it of like how
many women for so long inhistory don't know about their
own bodies and aren't told aboutthings until much later in life
(06:59):
.
Which is really what startsthis whole thing of Carrie not
knowing what a period is and notknowing that that's going to
happen to her, but Margarethiding that from her because of
her own traumas of beingsexually abused and being like
thinking that that's apunishment from God and so not
telling her daughter about it to, in a sense, protect her, but
(07:20):
in reality it didn't protect herfrom anything?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, she's just harming her even further.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Exactly, and now she's also a pretty late bloomer
, so like now in high schoolgirls are already ready to talk
about those things and so hernot even knowing what that is
really kind of.
It's like the traumas are allinterlinked, you know, like
everything's crossed over and inthe religious part of it all,
(07:43):
like even the bullying, like allthese things are pretty heavy
and pretty deep but at the sametime, like we're touching on
things that a lot of people canrelate to, right, and I think
the bullying too, like she's alittle quirky, she's a little
weird, she's different, andinstead of back then people kind
of bringing those people in andbeing like it's cool, we
(08:03):
embrace that.
People definitely completelyand totally ostracize you, like
you do not belong here at all,and that's a different, because
then the only place you dobelong is the abusive home.
So now she's confused because,oh, I can't be at school, but
the only place that loves me isthe place that hurts me.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So it's really like she's messed up, you know, yeah,
and then we get a funneledthings about power and, like you
know who has power, like theparent or a child, and what
happens when your child haslegit powers, yeah, legitimate
magical powers.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
What do you do with that?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
so that's a fun little thing to go in there.
Yeah, and we don't know how shegot these powers exactly and
it's interesting and it's justfun to be like the what ifs and
things made bigger to meandifferent things so we're able
to see like obviously this is anextreme reaction to abuse and
bullying, but it's.
(08:59):
It's like the horror alwaysdoes it it's based based in
truth, with like a dose ofextremism, so we're able to see
it better.
The audience.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
So it's so cool to have it based in like religion
and power and destruction.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, there's a lot of like cool tropes and stuff in
this too that like lean intothose.
We go more extreme with thetropes.
Oh okay, so you can see thembetter.
Okay, that's a good way to sayit.
See them better, yeah I likethat yeah thanks.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
You mentioned sort of at the aspect of her power.
We don't really know where itcomes from, but her mother
certainly seems to think thatshe does, especially going back
to what she thinks is sort of apunishment for her existence.
And that comes back in when shereveals sort of the truth of
her birth and sort of copulation, in a way.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
You are the love.
I was betrayed for One of thehardest lyrics to hear in
Margaret White song, like it'sso crazy because it's so
manipulative, it's socodependent in its own sense.
You know, yes, she loves herdaughter, but her daughter was
born out of a really traumaticsituation for her.
In order to save Margaret, tosave herself from that trauma,
(10:10):
she turned to God, becausethat's where she can find purity
.
And so when she thinks God ispunishing through Carrie, it's
like, oh, you're the curse.
You've always been the curse,the curse of blood, now You're
the curse.
So there's this, yeah, it'slike she definitely believes.
Like, oh, my daughter is awitch and now I need to get rid
of her.
Which is where we get to theend, where it's like I gotta
(10:32):
sacrifice her because it's theonly way I'm gonna save both of
us and it's really interesting.
It's very deep, yeah, hiddenunder this, like musical tone,
and then you're like whoa, youactually listen to the lyrics
like oh my god, yeah, yeah andit's crazy, it's crazy.
It gets crazy up in there andthe the vibe of the show is all
over the place on purpose.
Like we cover tons of genres ofmusic, we cover tons of
(10:54):
different types of charactersand traumas and issues and
people, and then you throw itall together and it's just about
this girl who people are beingmean.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
She was pushed to a breaking point for no reason.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Exactly, and it's so complicated because it's so
simple.
That's why it's complicated,because you're looking at it
going, going.
Well, we could just stop that.
Why did this have to happen?
And that's kind of the wholemessage of the story, right?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
it's like what can humans make true like?
Yeah like is is margaret oreveryone's like feelings, or the
idea of obviously we can't makesomeone have telekinesis, but
like if someone believessomething so strongly that like
it is a curse and like she'sterrible, it almost like
manifests into something real.
Or we, we like, have so manyfeelings about carrie, it
(11:40):
manifests into something so justinteresting with like, what if
humans had the power, with ourthoughts and feelings, to make
something true?
like if someone believescarrie's a monster or like from
the devil, or whatever, thenlike, did margaret make it true
or did carrie make it trueherself by, or whatever?
Then like, did Margaret make ittrue or did Carrie make it true
herself by thinking that, ormaybe it's both.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Oh, exactly, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Sort of that.
You want me to be the bad guy?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, fine, I'll be the bad guy, and was she ever
really scary or was she justdifferent?
And then now you've made herthe monster that she is, and you
know that's the teenager of itall, because we've all listen
we've all been teenagers.
We were either on the outsideor we were on the inside.
Especially like me, I grew up alittle bit older than all of
you.
The early 2000s were wild, andso it's kind of crazy because
(12:24):
the year I graduated the show isthe year the revival graduated.
High school is the year therevival set set in.
So there's like things when Iwatch that that I'm like, like
it feels so real, but like, yeah, the high school of it, all the
like there really ishierarchies in american high
schools oh yes, you know, andlike it's just a crazy dynamic
that you have to shift through,and like it's even harder to
(12:45):
portray it on stage because ithas to be so dramatic for it to
land.
And then when you watch, watchit you're like but it feels real
, like popular girls ostracizingsomeone.
But also there's always thatone nice popular girl that will
talk to you in English class andyou're like, why don't you talk
to me at lunch?
Or why don't you say hi to mein the halls?
And it's like that's kind ofwhat Sue is giving, in a sense
(13:05):
of like she's starting torealize, like, oh, I'm actually
not this person I'm portrayingmyself to be, and she's kind of
the example of the change.
Yeah, but then it's too late atthat point she doesn't go away.
It's too late, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
That is the one thing that I think kind of shocked me
the first time I watched themovie and sort of engaged with
the story, was that Sue andTommy were actually trying to do
something nice and yet Carriehas every right to be
apprehensive about thisAbsolutely, Absolutely,
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
And I think Tommy too is such an interesting
character.
You know, he really is thesweetheart of the show.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
As we say, the Troy Bolton blueprint.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yeah, he is Troy Bolton.
It's like if Tommy Ross andDanny Zuko had a baby.
You have Troy Bolton.
Can I play?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
sports and write poems.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, poetry Words and our amazing actor nate.
He always is like when we dostuff he's always like tommy run
, tommy like poet, you know, andit's like that's so real,
because in a sense he is kind oflike yeah, and then that's it,
you know.
But he has this sweetheartnessthat there's an innocence to him
(14:07):
that carrie sees in him andthat's why she can trust him a
little bit more than the girls,I think.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
But it's you know, and that's why I always love
like sometimes people get sodefensive about like in Romeo
and Juliet, like they didn'thave to take the potions, or
potions Like they didn't have to.
You know, like go through thiswhole thing to like pretend
you're dead or whatever, butlike the worst, what makes it a
tragedy, is that it ispreventable.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I love that so much.
What makes it a tragedy?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,Absolutely.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
If you need high quality headshots or other
professional photo work done,visit Zochi Neri Photography at
fbme slash xneri photos.
So moving on from sort of theplot and details of the show
into the actual production of it, again, both of you are
directors.
Would you mind sort of talkingabout?
(14:57):
Oh, you've mentioned, of course, nate Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Would you mention talking about some of the other
people in the cast and what thecasting process was like for
both of you?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, the casting process was fun.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, it was really fun.
It was cool because you know,we didn't know what kind of
crowd this show was going tobring out.
We haven't really done anythinglike this in a long time.
I would say it's a horrormusical we haven't really done.
And then you know, I was seeingthat Carrie's kind of been
buzzing around on social mediaand stuff the last year and kind
(15:29):
of grabbing attention and so itwas like, okay, are we going to
get new people, are we going tohave some veterans come back?
Like what's going to be?
And we got a really good mix ofboth and it was actually a
really crazy process.
It's always like we have likeyou never know what's going to
walk into your room and for uswe always do like a monologue
and a song.
(15:50):
So we got to see them act alittle bit before bring them to
callbacks, do the whole thing.
But it was more like whichpeople are going to work with.
What I mean.
Our callbacks lasted a while wehad.
This show is vocally insanebecause you cover so many genres
.
You have that opera style-esquemusical theater and then you
have this like really likerugged, weird, like sound for
(16:15):
Carrie, like it just kind ofcovers so many different vibes.
And then there's like the 80sballad that they kept from the
original and it was like threwit in there and you're like this
is so 80s, it's crazy, um, butit's perfect.
And so we really kind of had tobe very tedious about the vocal
parts of it all.
But in the end we ended up witha really solid cast and I think
(16:37):
we almost casted pretty mucheveryone who auditioned oh no,
wow, we had a low boy countcoming in, but you know what?
It didn't even matter.
The boys that we have are sostrong and you know, we have
female actors playing malecharacters and then they're
really stepping up to the platein the sense of like giving it
(16:59):
all they've got, and they'rejust a really great cast.
Together.
They're very different.
We have a new.
Our lead is Erin, and she goesby Ronnie in our cast, but she
is a star, and she goes byRonnie in our cast, but she is a
star and she's amazing, and itwas really great to see someone
we've never seen before have theconfidence to come out and be
like boom, you know, yeah, so weyeah, we love them yeah, we do
(17:24):
really love them.
and then, like some people havecome in later and our very own
Joey Rice is in the show, whatclosing weekend.
And our very own Joey Rice isin the show what Closing weekend
.
He stepped in for us for a roleand so Joey will be playing
George, which is a really funlittle character.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
George and so yeah, so it's been exciting to see
them come together as a group.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
You mentioned that this show feels very musically
challenging.
Who is your musical director?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
So Luke Shaman, who, if you remember if you were have
listened before to the showlast year we directed percy
jackson and luke played percyand he wanted to challenge
himself musically as becausehe's going to school for music
and things like that and he wasjust looking for a role where he
could really challenge himselfin something, and so he asked us
if he could musically directand we put our trust in him and
(18:10):
he's been doing pretty good,yeah yeah, and then we're
choreographing it, both of usyes, okay, let's talk about
choreography and movement inthis show.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, crazy, crazy I well, first of all.
First of all, we're actually Ilove horror and all that stuff
and I think we don't get to alot.
We don't get to see it a lot onthe theater stage and we don't
get to see I mean, I think wesay it a lot like we're really
into acting and movement that'snot beautiful, like there's a
(18:42):
time and place for it, but likehumans aren't beautiful
sometimes.
So it's like the combination oflike there's a lot of like
classic musical theater songsthat need like musical theater
dancing and then like where wecan bring moody movement that
like with their bodies, that'slike weird and out of being a
(19:03):
human and like bringing thehorror genre.
So it's like a fun, weird mixof things.
There's some really funchoreography that we've like
based on like images of art andbased on it's really like we're
trying to be outside.
They're not just high schoolstudents, but they're also like
embodiments of different thingsgoing on in the show.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Yeah, yeah, it's definitely like we always talk
about with the cast.
It's a little bit of achallenge because you kind of,
as a dancer, have to get out ofthe like tropiness of being
pretty.
Like we said, we always saythis.
Like we like that ugly to liveon stage, like ugly should be
the center of attention there.
Um and like with carriesometimes they're representing
(19:41):
her powers, sometimes they'rerepresenting the relationship
dynamics that are taking place.
Um, that's one of my favoritedances we have of.
Like there's a sue and tommyhaving a moment and chris and
billy having a moment andthey're both trying to
manipulate their other partnerand how they go about that,
because Chris doesn't do it thesame way Sue does, and so
they're the ensemble'srepresenting that and it's a
(20:02):
really cool like, not that we'reforce-feeding the plot to the
audience, but that the ensemblegets to really dive into the
emotions of things yeah, morestrongly people's bodies doing
the storytelling as well as likethe lines and like everything
going on, yeah, yeah, and Carriemoves pretty quickly, so the
more storytelling we can do, thebetter.
Okay, this is very exciting.
I'm getting as well as thelines and everything going on
yeah and Carrie moves prettyquickly, so the more
(20:22):
storytelling we can do, thebetter.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Okay, this is very exciting.
I'm getting very.
I love it.
Yeah, Would you mind talkingabout the set design for the
show Sure?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
sure thing I'm also the set designer for the show.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Oh my gosh, so that's fun.
You both wear so many hats inthis.
I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Exactly, yeah.
So this one's kind of fun,because I always like to do
things that aren't necessarilylike realism, like this is a
high school.
So we're kind of taking thingsfrom all the different
productions that have gonearound and all the different
ideations of Carrie.
So it's kind of we see a spacethat could be like after
(21:00):
everything's been burnt down anddestroyed, and maybe like in
the middle.
So it's not exactly a highschool, but not exactly ruins
Whoa.
Not exactly ruins and then wehave some fun stuff that I won't
reveal yet.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Oh, she wants to hide things Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
But basically the set will also be doing a lot of
storytelling okay yeah, this setis definitely a character in
itself, I love that yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Were there any specific challenges in set
design that you had to sort ofovercome, or was it yes, and
we're still about to have toovercome okay, yes because we
have a lot of.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Obviously, Carrie has telekinesis, so that's fun.
Obviously, we have the thingthat happens at prom that nobody
knows about.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
It's a big secret.
It's a big secret.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
So it's more like engineering problems, okay,
mechanics problems.
Yes, and logistics we haven'tspaced yet that it's going to be
a lot of trial and error, butI'm excited to figure them out
and we have a lot of peopleinvolved in all the different
like theater departments.
So we have like an art team, aset team, a construction team, a
(22:09):
makeup team, a costume team.
So we have like a huge groupready to like battle it out with
us.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah, I think our student design team overall is
like 13 people split up, justbecause, like also costume wise,
like we've got a lot of bloodgoing on, so we have to have
people who are going to be ableto take care of that kind of
stuff.
And then, with hair and makeup,you know, there's not like a
heavy amount of makeup becausewe're doing 70s, but it's very
(22:36):
yeah, everyone is going to behands-on every show, like it's
not just like come and do yourjob and then head out, like this
show is actively going to needthem to stick around and be
doing their work.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
And who are your costume and makeup designers?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
for posterity's sake, yeah sure, for our costume
designer is Debbie Horner, whichwe love, and she's really
eating it up and, as I dare Isay, I'm a little too much of an
iron fist, with historicalaccuracy especially the 70s, her
baby girl.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
I need someone I can trust and she's just been
nailing it like it's.
We are so like.
Our costume rack is sitting inthe hallway and every time I
walk by it I'm like, oh my God,it looks so good have to check
that out.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yes, please.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
And then our MUA and hairstylist is Melissa Hogan-Rad
.
Yes, and then she has herstudent team as well.
That'll be working with themFantastic.
Yeah, and also, I just want tomention that Luke Hogan-Rad is
our AD.
Oh, yes, our assistant director, director, and yes, and he's
been doing a, really.
So it's us and the lukes,that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, our baby boys so special effects, you
mentioned sort of representingcertain things.
Yeah, with the ensemble andwith sort of the movement of the
body.
Are there things that arerepresented in other ways?
Speaker 3 (23:50):
yeah, um, we definitely have, uh like the
whole telekinesis powerhappening, um also like using
the set pieces to kind of shiftinto different spaces, um,
obviously, but also like notjust like literally.
Oh we're in a home, but, likeyou know, there's the whole
getting locked in the closetthing, but we're not like
(24:11):
creating a closet on stage youknow, feeling more right,
exactly, um, yeah, we kind ofhave to work with things with
like we don't have a large stagewhere we're going to be able to
create two layers where someonecan like walk up and put the
bucket of blood at the top ofthe you know gym.
So like we kind of have tocreate with lights.
There's going to be a lot ofstuff that's going on.
(24:32):
Lights is going to really be abig part of the storytelling as
well.
So it's going to be a lot oftricking.
We're also really close.
Our audiences literally couldtouch our actors if they're
sitting in the front row.
So we have had to do a lot ofthings where it's like we're
kind of tricking their brain andalso being really real about
like you know what's coming andyou know what's happening.
(24:52):
So just suspend your disbelief.
Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I really like that.
Thanks, yeah, would you mindtalking about the rehearsal
process for the show?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Sure, yeah, it's been fun.
It's been because I think ouridea of like theater and stuff
is not what a lot of people areused to and a lot of people, I
don't know guys, come from wherelike theater is something
that's so stressful for people,like they love it so much but
like you put yourself throughabuse because you love it so
much and we're like what if wedidn't do that?
(25:23):
What if we had fun?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
and some people are like I can't do it and you can
kind of see them like having toforce themselves to enjoy the
process rather than be like I'llenjoy it when I do the work and
it's like, well, you're neverreally gonna learn to enjoy it
when I do the work and it's like, well, you're never really
going to learn to enjoy it thenyeah, so we're just kind of
always being like have fun,because my thing is too like as
someone who's now in her 30s.
(25:47):
No, I love my 30s, but the thingis you get burnt out.
If that's your process, ifyou're constantly going to be
coming at art like that, youwill burn out.
And so our goal is, yes, theshow we want to hold its
integrity and we want it to be agood show.
We very much love excellence,but we are not going to expose
and abuse our people to getthere.
(26:09):
And so it's really like,honestly, we have fun when we
come in.
We do crazy warm-ups.
They're weird.
It's my favorite thing in theworld.
Yeah, like we did it with Percytoo, and that was fun for us
because that was our first showdirecting together, and so we
had to learn our process too.
And we like to do crazy thingsbecause it also gets us out of
our head and so, you know,runways Like weird disco music,
(26:31):
everyone just go dance likeyou're at a club, like, and
that's what our.
You know it's not like everyone.
17,000 jumping jacks, getfocused, get ready, take a
minute.
You know it's not like that,but we still appreciate those
things.
And so the first couple ofweeks was I mean, we are in our
fourth week of rehearsals and wejust finished music, but that's
(26:51):
a lot of music that we got donein a really short amount of
time.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, it's mostly music.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
But I like to kind of work that way.
That's something that I reallytook from kevin gassio actually
one of the directors here, buthe always did the music first,
which most shows do, but musicfirst.
That way you can have thatsolid and then go move into the
movement of it all.
And so it's been really nice,because now we're in the
choreography and the staging ofthings.
But you know, we're a sharedspace, so it's kind of like
(27:17):
we're going to do all of thisand then it'll probably change
once we have our entire set andall the.
So it's just been great seeingthese kids come to life and, you
know, tell a story, but tell itin a way that that is fun for
them and us.
We want to have a good time too.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
And us, we want to have a good time too, yeah
absolutely yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah.
I really appreciate that,especially when you're working
with kids, and especially peoplein high school, as we've talked
about, which can be freakingbrutal.
Yes, absolutely so.
Yeah, I'm glad you guys arecreating such a healthy
environment.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah, we always tell them.
Like you know, a lot of ourkids are also doing multiple
things.
Oh yeah, they're really goodstudents they are.
Some of them are driving fromthe OC, so they take a two-hour
drive to get here, and we knowthat they're coming out of that
two-hour drive straight intorehearsal.
And so it's really importantfor us that we're one, making a
great environment but also beinglike, hey, you're a person,
(28:17):
tell us what you need, tell uswhat you need as an actor, tell
us what you need here, and we'lldo our best to achieve that.
And then we all have, like westarted our rehearsals making a
cast um contract of like, theseare the things we value as a
group, these are the things wewant to see, these are the
things we want to do for eachother and for ourselves, and
then we are always committed tothat throughout this whole
process, and that's somethingthat's always really important
(28:38):
for us to do, and they've beenupholding it pretty well.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, that's a really smart idea actually.
I really like that.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, it's like a classroom contract.
Yeah, because it gives you thepower.
It's your show, it's yourjourney, it's your process, so
why wouldn't you have a voice init?
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Would you mind talking about some of the things
on that contract, sure.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I mean, I think it's a lot of like how the cast is
going to treat each other, hownotes are given, like requesting
intimacy, coordination.
I think those are the kind ofthings that kind of came up at
the beginning.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And we were like, yes , it's funny because everyone's
really like I don't want sayanything and all of a sudden
they're like wait, I have somany ideas and they had so many,
and you're like see, you liketo say things?
Yeah, I think this show coversharsh topics, covers really
important, deep things, that tonot have intimacy coordination
would be a disservice, and so,luckily, you know, marley's
pretty heavily trained in thatand I have some training too,
and so that's a big part of whatthey were asking for, you know,
(29:44):
and I'm glad that theyadvocated for themselves of like
, yeah, I don't want to bemaking out with someone I've
never talked to.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Especially in our stage, which is like there's
people right there, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
You're going to turn your head while you're making
out and see somebody staring atyou and it's going to be your
dad and he's going to be likeright.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's like the girl that you'rekissing her grandpa, you know.
So, yeah, well, at the time, myhusband at the time was in the
audience, and that's a weirdexperience because you're like,
ah, you know.
(30:13):
Or you're like, yeah, my dadwhen I was 13.
That's crazy, that's a crazything to go through, that's wild
Again.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
you both wear so many hats in this show.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
You know you got to do what you got to do.
I love hats.
I have a hat collection.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Well, thank you both so much for joining us here on
the show today.
Quick question when does yourshow open and where can people
buy tickets for this awesomesounding show?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Of course it opens October 25th and I think pretty
soon the tickets will bereleased.
You can find it on Instagramlink in the bio and on the
website.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, if you go to our website.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Tickets being released.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Yeah, if you go to our website, click that ticket
that you see like a picture ofan image and it'll take you to
the tickets on seat yourself.
But yeah, I would definitely,especially because we have a run
through halloween.
Yes, I would definitely getyour tickets as soon as you can.
We run through november night,also something cool.
Special night we have specialnights every weekend.
So every friday of everyweekend we have a special night.
So opening night is a promnight, so after the show we'll
(31:12):
have prom and a gala here.
That's right.
And then the second weekend isum halloween costumes because
it's the day after ha, right.
And then the second weekend isHalloween costumes because it's
the day after Halloween.
And then the third weekend is70s night.
So, yeah, special little funthings.
That is so fun.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Oh my God, I love that.
Thanks, yeah, well, be sure tocheck out Carrie.
October 25th Perfect forHalloween.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
That's right, rookie, rookie, rookie.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Rookie Rookie.
Thank you both so much, thankyou.
Thank you, if you needinsurance, vince will work for
you.
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(32:00):
Thanks for listening to Stepsto the Stage and now it's time
for the curtain call.
You can follow us on Spotify,apple, google or any podcasting
platform.
We have videos up on YouTubeand you can visit our website at
stepstothestagebuzzsproutcom.
And, as always, a special thankyou to our audio engineer, joey
(32:22):
Rice, and our producer, kirkLane.
Without the two of you, thisshow would not be possible.
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