May 7, 2024 • 18 mins
Ever wonder what it takes to turn a classic Hitchcock thriller into a side-splitting stage show? Well, cue the laughter and hold onto your seats, because Cameron is here to reveal the backstage antics of adapting "The 39 Steps" into a comedic masterpiece. With only four actors, a multitude of characters, and enough quick-changes to make your head spin, this episode peels back the curtain on the art of farce and the meticulous choreography that keeps the audience roaring.
Behind every great performance lies a world of creativity, and that's exactly what we explore with our guest in the heart of theater production. We're talking minimalist sets, a Hitchcockian palette of grays, and the kind of costume magic that only Megan Harris could conjure up. Meanwhile, casting woes are no match for the collaborative spirit of the Three on the Edge Festival, proving that it takes more than a village—it takes a community theater—to raise the roof with laughter.
As the spotlight fades and the applause crescendos, our conversation with Cameron comes to a close, but the excitement lingers. There's a special kind of buzz that builds towards the closing night of a show like "The 39 Steps," and we're here to share every last giggle and gasp. So, whether you're a thespian at heart or just love a good chuckle, be sure to catch this unforgettable performance at the 3 on the Edge Festival and remember to tune in for more behind-the-scenes banter here on "Steps to the Stage.
May 16, 18, 24 @ 8pm
May 11 & 26 @ 2:30pm
Festival tickets available at the box office now!
PLEASE NOTE: Festival passes with discounted prices ($39 student/senior and $48 general) CANNOT be purchased online - they are available by phone or at box office ONLY.
Reservations 909-590-1149
www. chinocommunitytheatre. org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
But it's like shadow puppet theater too.
Okay, oh fun.
It's so much representation andit's so open for interpretation
that you know the audience willhave to use their minds as well
, as which it was kind of whatHitchcock wanted to do when he
was directing his shows.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The lights are on, the curtains up.
This is Steps to the Stage.
Hello and welcome to Steps tothe Stage, the 7th Street
Theater podcast, where I talkwith the community theater
professionals you know and love.
Today, I'm here with my friend,cameron, and we are talking
about the 39 Steps.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me.
So why don't you start off bywalking us through what the 39
Steps is for people who aren'tfamiliar with the story?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Gotcha.
So the 39 Steps.
I'm not going to tell youexactly what the 39 Steps is,
because that's a whole secret ofthe play.
But the 39 Steps is a play thatwas based on a movie by Alfred
Hitchcock, which was actuallybased on a book, back in like
early 1900s.
And so Alfred Hitchcock madethe movie, which is kind of like
a film noir, detective, likemurder mystery type thing, black
(00:54):
and white, lots of fun, youknow, deep and dark and haunting
secrets.
And then they turned it into aplay, which is a comedy.
It's not presented in a comedy,but how things are done it
comes off as a comedy.
It's very funny.
So instead of you know in themovie, when there's, like you
know, 20, 25 people, we havefour.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, we have only four people.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And I'll let your mind wander.
We can talk about that in alittle bit too.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, why don't we start offwith that?
Well, why don't we start offwith that?
Because you said there isinitially a very large cast of
characters in the story.
What is it like translatingthat into only four?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
actors, so they basically wrote it like the one
main character, mr Hene.
He is the lead character.
He plays himself the entireshow, okay.
And then he comes across threewomen along the way you got to
have your damsel in distress andyou know, type thing and that's
played by one woman, okay, typething and that's played by one
woman.
So she plays three differentcharacters.
She plays an English person, anIrish person and a German, and
(01:50):
then the rest of the characters.
All 100 other characters areplayed by two people Clown
number one, clown number two.
And they change costumes veryfast, they change settings very
fast, they move the pieces onand off.
They're basically the.
If something needs to get done,they have to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
They do it.
Okay, yeah, sounds very, veryhectic.
It's very hectic.
You mentioned that this wasn'ta comedy until it was adapted to
the stage.
I think that's a veryinteresting way to make that
transition, especially withsomething like Hitchcock, would
you mind?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Well, see, like I said, in order to make it a
comedy, they make it only forpeople, and that's what makes it
funny, I see, and we're able totake liberties here and there,
we're able to add some funnystuff here and there.
So we kind of play it asstraight as possible, where the
detective is like trying tosolve the case and let the
audience, yeah, but then thepeople behind him, the people
acting with him, the clowns andthe lady, the things that they
(02:40):
do are what's funny, not whatthey say, but it's what they do,
okay.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So it's really cool.
I see, yeah, that sounds reallycool.
Would you mind talking aboutwhat attracted you to this show
as a director?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah.
So here at Chino I've directedI think this is like four or
five shows and all but one weresmall cast, everyone plays
everyone type of thing.
They kind of drew me and I likeplaying the the farce.
The farce is always what grabsme the most, I mean besides
musicals, but the farce gets, itplays to my heart and I love it
(03:13):
so much.
So this one it's basically withthose four people being on and
off stage so quickly and playingdifferent characters.
They have to be someone veryfast.
They have to be somewhere elsevery.
They have to be somewhere elsevery fast.
They have to change theiraccents, they have to change
their costumes and trying tofigure out those things rather
than just like let's cross fromthis side of the stage to that
side of the stage, let's come inthis door when we're supposed
(03:34):
to.
No, they have to.
It's choreography.
It's really what it is.
It's not just blocking.
It's choreography.
So it's a lot more concept, alot more thinking and I love
that about it.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, and then you mentioned you've done what was
it?
Five other shows, I think, yeah, four or five.
Because you've done Elf, whichwe talked about when we did an
episode about.
Would you mind talking?
What were the other two, three?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So it's Elf.
And then I had the CompleteHistory of America.
Yes, yes, yes, I remember thatwhich was three men doing 10,000
years of.
American history in an hour anda half.
And then I came and didCompletely Hollywood Abridged
yes a similar concept which waswritten by the same people.
Yeah, which just they'replaying all the famous movies
with only three people playing,One playing Dorothy and
(04:18):
another's playing the dog, andthen they're playing Alfred
Hitchcock.
So it's kind of fun.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So.
So this is kind of a return toform after the big sort of
grandioseness of Hell they trustme doing that small cast, big
show type thing.
Yeah, you mentioned that.
Because there's two peopledoing most of the roles, there's
a lot of onstage sort of hecticcostume changes, would you?
Mind talking about the costumes.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah.
So my wife Megan she had sometime off, she was playing with
the kids I said, hey, I needhelp, and she's like what?
And so I brought her on andshe's like, yeah, let me go see
what we got.
So my home theater Realtor,community Players, we have an
entire what I like to call thethrift store upstairs of just
costume after costume aftercostume think 40 or 50 jackets,
(05:02):
another 20 vests, hats for days,wigs for days.
So anytime someone comes outthey're representing a different
character and hopefully that'llbecome clear to the audience,
that when that person steps outon the stage they can tell that
it's somebody totally different.
And my wife has a good eye forthat.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, so the costume designer would be your, my wife.
Yeah, megan Harris.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, and I gave her my concept to make it even
harder on her in this shortamount of time.
I said Alfred Hitchcock isknown for his black and white
type theming, so we want to tryand make all the costumes in
black and white.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Okay, or at least gray scale.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So she tried to follow it as much as she could
with the limited resources wehave.
So anytime someone comes on thecostume, it's either black,
white or gray.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh, that's really cool, we'll see if anyone
notices it but it's kind of cool, yeah.
And then I assume this is alsovery prop heavy it is, but it
isn't.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So it's like this play could be very prop heavy,
but with how two people areplaying so many people, your
imagination has to take control,as it is.
So instead of like taking aglass of milk and drinking a
glass of milk, you can pantomimethe glass of milk.
Same thing with the door wehave a real door.
So we're, going to use a doorthat they have to open.
So that's real.
So some set pieces are real,okay, but props, we're trying to
(06:15):
the.
But it's like shadow puppettheater too Okay.
Oh, fun so it's so muchrepresentation and it's so open
for interpretation that theaudience will have to use their
minds as well.
It was kind of what Hitchcockwanted to do when he was
(06:35):
directing his shows.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You mentioned, the set would be fairly bare bones,
very bare bones.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Okay, we're pulling the black curtain, the or up and
around the side stages, butit's just a door.
We've got some chairs, we'vegot some tables, a window piece,
an armchair.
That is very, very funny alittle bit in the show, I'll
leave it at that.
But just these small littleprops and set pieces that create
(07:02):
the world.
Okay, because in the scriptthey even break the fourth wall,
like they're talking aboutthere's something going on in
the show and then they say let'sget in the car, and then they
all stop and like ugh, the car.
So then they have to get thecar, together with just four
chairs that are backstage.
So instead of bringing out likea real car, we just use that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
That's very fun.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yes, so in terms of sharing, this stage with the
other two shows in the Three onthe Edge Festival.
This is relatively more simple.
I'm trying to make it moresimple.
Okay, with Three on the Edge,we all got to play together,
yeah.
And so in order to do that, Isaid I'll take care of my
rehearsals, okay, and I'll beoff site.
I'll do what I got to do.
I'll get all my stuff.
You guys worry about your setbecause the other shows have two
(07:40):
interior settings and minetakes place in 33 different
locations.
So, in order to have that, Ijust kind stage.
I said, if I can just have thedownstage bare area.
You guys can build whatever youwant upstage and we'll have fun
with it.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
And they said that's great, and so working together,
yeah, working together Very mucha theme of this festival.
Would you mind talking aboutthe casting process for
something like this?
Oh yeah, the balance of fourpeople versus however many roles
, and having to figure all thatout, yeah, so we had to find a
leading man and a leading womanwho can do their business, and
(08:13):
auditions were on the kind ofsmaller side and I saw some good
talent.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
But then there are other shows that audition the
same people.
So it's one of those thingswhere we had to kind of share.
So anyone who I wanted or theywanted we had to kind of go
through.
Well, I think they'll be goodfor us.
And I said, okay, go ahead anduse them.
So once that was being done, Iwent to my pool and I found my
two clowns, both totallyauditioned, fully auditioned,
but then my leading guy and myleading girl who I wanted to use
(08:38):
they took.
So I was like, ah, let's gofind someone.
So, of course, mike Trueluck,who is native to this theater,
native to my group as well.
I was like Mike, I got aleading guy.
He's like say no more.
I got a leading guy.
He's like say no more, I'mthere.
So I said okay.
So he was in and then trying tofind a leading woman who was
also a native to this theater,who was also a native to Rialto,
julie Kirkpatrick.
I was like I need someone who'sstrong and powerful and who can
(09:01):
do film noir, and Julie is sogood at that.
And she's like let me read it.
And 10 minutes later she saysI'm in.
I was like, well, that's a fastread, perfect.
So she just likes the.
You know the multiplecharacters, multiple accents and
things like that.
And the other two theyauditioned so funny.
Uh, terry, christopher, clownnumber two, uh, he was in funny
(09:22):
mirrors here, okay, um, and hedid a great job.
Everyone loved him.
He's such a pleasure to workwith his.
His characters, his voices, hischaracters, his voices, his
personality.
He's a clown, he's a clown andhe will love to admit it and
he's my favorite clown.
You know, bozo's fun too, butTerry's pretty good.
My other favorite clown, milad.
He's new to me, new to thistheater.
(09:44):
He's a graduate down in Irvine,I think, going to school.
He auditioned, he read prettywell and I said you know what?
I'm going to give this guy atry, let's bring him into our
little community theater world.
And sure enough, he said yesand gave him some of my tips and
other cast members.
He's having a great time, he'sdoing a fantastic job.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Fantastic, it's very cool.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
So again, I can imagine that the rehearsal
process for this is also veryhectic.
You know, one person can tryand think as much as they can
when they read it and write asmuch notes as they can on a
piece of paper, but I also haveto go back and say, terry, where
did you exit last?
Oh, you exit over there.
So let's have you enter overhere because you need to change
into this costume.
He's like, but wait, I have tohave that hat.
(10:30):
Oh, yes, you do, ok, so let's.
So it's definitelycollaborations huge and the
actors I have are very good andhave been doing this for a very
long time, so they're easy tocollaborate with.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, fantastic.
Would you mind talking aboutthe technical aspect of this
show?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Oh, yes, tech is crazy.
Like I said, there's 33 scenesand it's film noir.
So film noir is kind of likeback in the radio show days and
types where you have to leavethings up to the imagination.
The best way to do that is withsound.
So I'm the sound designer andI'm not necessarily the lighting
designer, because the theaterhas their own lighting designer,
but I'm kind of like lights upon this side of the stage,
lights down on that side.
(11:05):
We're using the house a lot.
The house is going to be funwith the audience.
The actors go through theaudience a lot, so it's pretty
cool.
But as far as the tech goes, thesound is the most challenging
and I've recently started doingmy own sound designs and I'm
having so much fun because Ilove sound editing Finding songs
, finding other songs, puttingthem together to make something.
And this show, every pageprobably has two or three sound
(11:26):
effects, somewhere Betweendoorbells and phone rings to
door slams, to romantic music,to film noir music, to
voiceovers with plane fights.
So we've had to do somerecording with the actors and
then I'd have to take that intomy computer and edit it and
everything.
It's a lot of work but it's sorewarding.
It's so much fun Because whenyou play it and then you get to
see the actors play with mysound, because I think
(11:48):
underscore is one of the mostimportant things, so I try to
add as much underscore as I canhere and there, especially with
film noir.
Film noir, 90% of the movieusually has underscore, unless
it's some kind of deep and darksecret meeting.
That's supposed to be serious.
So yeah, the sound has been fun, lights are good.
Like I said, we already talkedabout the set and it's kind of
been easy, but the sound iswhat's killing me.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
But in such a good way.
Would you mind talking a bitmore about the music and the
underscoring for the show?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah.
So there's a couple of websitesout there that I usually go to
that I find free stuff.
I don't want to give away mysecrets or anything like that,
but it takes a long time tryingto find that perfect underscore
and sitting there and listeningthrough track after track after
track.
I listen to it and I just writedown a note.
What?
Track after track after track,I listen to it and I just write
down a note.
What does it remind me of?
So then maybe later on in thescript, when I get to something
else, I'm like, oh, I'm going togo back to that track I just
(12:35):
listened to.
So it's just basically spendinghours trying to find the right
one and then putting it in there, listening to the actors act
with it, and if it works then wekeep it, and if it doesn't, Now
, one of the questions that Inormally ask when talking about
plays that are adaptations ofother media are how does this
differ from the original concept?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
But there's already such a large sort of.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
So here's the thing with me I like to try and do as
much research as possible basedon past and history and stuff,
but I don't like to watch thoseother things.
I don't like to watch otherpeople's versions of what I'm
going to try and do.
This one I didn't.
I watched like the first 10minutes of it.
I was like this is fun, I'mgoing to take it now.
Okay, maybe I should havebecause I think I could have
(13:22):
gotten more ideas.
I'm like, oh, that's funny,let's parody that a little bit
more.
It's not supposed to be funny,but let's parody that or this is
why they wrote that scene LikeI think I could have done a
little bit more of that, but Ithink, coming into it with fresh
new eyes and fresh new thoughts, we can make it our own.
People like that, because this39 Steps, I think, is done, at
least around this area, quite abit.
(13:43):
My home theater did it a coupleyears ago, riverside.
They've all done it and there'sall different ways of doing it.
People say that they're happythat I'm only doing four people,
which is really cool, but I'mglad that we're able to take it
and make it our own rather thancopying something else.
Yeah, so the idea is someoneelse's, but it's our prosecution
the execution exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, I like that idea of choosing new parts of
the film to sort of satirize andpoke fun at.
I think that's a really fun.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
There's some parts in the play that I'm like why is
this in here?
Especially one part with likethere's an election, that
happens.
So I went back and watched Iwas like, okay, this is why they
wrote it.
It's kind of dry, but let's seeif we can play with it.
So we added some old people,gestures and some very, very
funny moments to try and make itas interesting as possible.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, it's cool.
Yeah, I think this is a reallyfun concept.
Yeah, do you happen to know thedates for your show, because
you're the last of the?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
cast to win the rep, let's see.
So I know we perform on the11th, which is yeah.
So we perform on the 11th,which is a 2.30 matinee, and I
believe we're doing a talkbackright after that, because I
think every show gets a talkback.
So we perform on Saturday.
That's our only day next week,okay, and the week after that we
get the Thursday and, I think,the Saturday night.
(14:56):
I think that's right.
Yeah, so we get the Thursday.
I think that's the 16th at 8,and then the 18th at 8 pm and
11th at 8 and then the 18th at 8pm, and the following week we
have the Friday at 8 pm and thenthe Sunday at 2.30.
So the Friday would be the 24that 8 pm and then the 26th
closing show.
We're the third show in the rep.
Oh, hey, we get the closingnight.
Nice, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
You've talked about how your sort of whole
production is a little bitseparate from the other two in
the festival.
But would you mind talkingabout the instance the instances
that you do have of workingwith those other two groups and
sort?
Speaker 1 (15:29):
of yeah.
So the main word and theme thatcomes to mind is text message
feed.
We have a huge feed between thethree directors of like hey, I
need this for the set.
Hey, I need this prop, do youhave this piece, do you have
this?
And we've all been kind oftalking.
I kind of I'm a little on theoutside because I think Ken and
Chris have been talking morethey do more stuff here than I
do, so they know more about thisplace and then we have another
(15:49):
few with Jeff, one of theproducers, to help out in
anything that they may need.
So they've been doing a lot ofthe communication, but we had a
pre-production meeting at thevery, very start of the show to
discuss our needs and that wasthe communication between the
three of us have been very, verypoignant, it's been there.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Well, because you like you're a little bit more on
the outside, but you've doneyour fair share of work here.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, I'm like you, so I feel Idon't feel left out, that's for
sure.
Yes, yeah, it's not lights up,play lights down.
Yeah, I completely agree, butin the best way.
I think it's really unique,especially for this, for sure,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Anything else that you would like to add?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
It's been such a great process.
I haven't done one of thesesmall person shows, fast-paced
farces, in a long time, so it'snice to get the quick wittiness
coming out.
Yeah, the fun.
So it's nice to get the quickwittiness coming out.
The fun blocking the funmoments, creating moments
because the script allows us to,and I think that's been one of
the best parts.
And, of course, working withthe four fantastic actors has
(16:53):
been such a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I mean I can't wait to see it.
It sounds really electric andreally fun.
It's so much fun.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It's so fast-paced.
Yes, it's got to be fast-paced,because then it turns into a
1930s film noir and then is thisone-act play, or is there?
There's two, okay, but it'sactually on the shorter side, I
think even with the intermissionit's about an hour and a half
Okay, so it's pretty quick.
Act one happens pretty quick.
Act two same thing.
So things get a-moving.
Yeah, I imagine.
(17:19):
Yeah, less than 10 seconds.
So it's like we don't spendtime, because I feel like
blackouts take away fromaudience their attention span.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah the rhythm.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
The rhythm exactly.
So, we want to keep it up.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah, it sounds fantastic, right.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Thank you for having me againthis is always so much fun, of
course, and be sure to check outthe 39 Steps at the Three on
the Edge Hitchcock Festival.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thanks for listeningto Steps to the Stage, and now
it's time for the curtain call.
(17:51):
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
Rice, and our producer, kirkLane.
Without the two of you, thisshow would not be possible.
But it's like shadow puppet theater too.
Okay, oh fun.
It's so much representation andit's so open for interpretation
that you know the audience willhave to use their minds as well
, as which it was kind of whatHitchcock wanted to do when he
was directing his shows.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The lights are on, the curtains up.
This is Steps to the Stage.
Hello and welcome to Steps tothe Stage, the 7th Street
Theater podcast, where I talkwith the community theater
professionals you know and love.
Today, I'm here with my friend,cameron, and we are talking
about the 39 Steps.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me.
So why don't you start off bywalking us through what the 39
Steps is for people who aren'tfamiliar with the story?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Gotcha.
So the 39 Steps.
I'm not going to tell youexactly what the 39 Steps is,
because that's a whole secret ofthe play.
But the 39 Steps is a play thatwas based on a movie by Alfred
Hitchcock, which was actuallybased on a book, back in like
early 1900s.
And so Alfred Hitchcock madethe movie, which is kind of like
a film noir, detective, likemurder mystery type thing, black
(00:54):
and white, lots of fun, youknow, deep and dark and haunting
secrets.
And then they turned it into aplay, which is a comedy.
It's not presented in a comedy,but how things are done it
comes off as a comedy.
It's very funny.
So instead of you know in themovie, when there's, like you
know, 20, 25 people, we havefour.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, we have only four people.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
And I'll let your mind wander.
We can talk about that in alittle bit too.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, why don't we start offwith that?
Well, why don't we start offwith that?
Because you said there isinitially a very large cast of
characters in the story.
What is it like translatingthat into only four?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
actors, so they basically wrote it like the one
main character, mr Hene.
He is the lead character.
He plays himself the entireshow, okay.
And then he comes across threewomen along the way you got to
have your damsel in distress andyou know, type thing and that's
played by one woman, okay, typething and that's played by one
woman.
So she plays three differentcharacters.
She plays an English person, anIrish person and a German, and
(01:50):
then the rest of the characters.
All 100 other characters areplayed by two people Clown
number one, clown number two.
And they change costumes veryfast, they change settings very
fast, they move the pieces onand off.
They're basically the.
If something needs to get done,they have to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
They do it.
Okay, yeah, sounds very, veryhectic.
It's very hectic.
You mentioned that this wasn'ta comedy until it was adapted to
the stage.
I think that's a veryinteresting way to make that
transition, especially withsomething like Hitchcock, would
you mind?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Well, see, like I said, in order to make it a
comedy, they make it only forpeople, and that's what makes it
funny, I see, and we're able totake liberties here and there,
we're able to add some funnystuff here and there.
So we kind of play it asstraight as possible, where the
detective is like trying tosolve the case and let the
audience, yeah, but then thepeople behind him, the people
acting with him, the clowns andthe lady, the things that they
(02:40):
do are what's funny, not whatthey say, but it's what they do,
okay.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So it's really cool.
I see, yeah, that sounds reallycool.
Would you mind talking aboutwhat attracted you to this show
as a director?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah.
So here at Chino I've directedI think this is like four or
five shows and all but one weresmall cast, everyone plays
everyone type of thing.
They kind of drew me and I likeplaying the the farce.
The farce is always what grabsme the most, I mean besides
musicals, but the farce gets, itplays to my heart and I love it
(03:13):
so much.
So this one it's basically withthose four people being on and
off stage so quickly and playingdifferent characters.
They have to be someone veryfast.
They have to be somewhere elsevery.
They have to be somewhere elsevery fast.
They have to change theiraccents, they have to change
their costumes and trying tofigure out those things rather
than just like let's cross fromthis side of the stage to that
side of the stage, let's come inthis door when we're supposed
(03:34):
to.
No, they have to.
It's choreography.
It's really what it is.
It's not just blocking.
It's choreography.
So it's a lot more concept, alot more thinking and I love
that about it.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, and then you mentioned you've done what was
it?
Five other shows, I think, yeah, four or five.
Because you've done Elf, whichwe talked about when we did an
episode about.
Would you mind talking?
What were the other two, three?
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So it's Elf.
And then I had the CompleteHistory of America.
Yes, yes, yes, I remember thatwhich was three men doing 10,000
years of.
American history in an hour anda half.
And then I came and didCompletely Hollywood Abridged
yes a similar concept which waswritten by the same people.
Yeah, which just they'replaying all the famous movies
with only three people playing,One playing Dorothy and
(04:18):
another's playing the dog, andthen they're playing Alfred
Hitchcock.
So it's kind of fun.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So.
So this is kind of a return toform after the big sort of
grandioseness of Hell they trustme doing that small cast, big
show type thing.
Yeah, you mentioned that.
Because there's two peopledoing most of the roles, there's
a lot of onstage sort of hecticcostume changes, would you?
Mind talking about the costumes.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah.
So my wife Megan she had sometime off, she was playing with
the kids I said, hey, I needhelp, and she's like what?
And so I brought her on andshe's like, yeah, let me go see
what we got.
So my home theater Realtor,community Players, we have an
entire what I like to call thethrift store upstairs of just
costume after costume aftercostume think 40 or 50 jackets,
(05:02):
another 20 vests, hats for days,wigs for days.
So anytime someone comes outthey're representing a different
character and hopefully that'llbecome clear to the audience,
that when that person steps outon the stage they can tell that
it's somebody totally different.
And my wife has a good eye forthat.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah, so the costume designer would be your, my wife.
Yeah, megan Harris.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, and I gave her my concept to make it even
harder on her in this shortamount of time.
I said Alfred Hitchcock isknown for his black and white
type theming, so we want to tryand make all the costumes in
black and white.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Okay, or at least gray scale.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So she tried to follow it as much as she could
with the limited resources wehave.
So anytime someone comes on thecostume, it's either black,
white or gray.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh, that's really cool, we'll see if anyone
notices it but it's kind of cool, yeah.
And then I assume this is alsovery prop heavy it is, but it
isn't.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So it's like this play could be very prop heavy,
but with how two people areplaying so many people, your
imagination has to take control,as it is.
So instead of like taking aglass of milk and drinking a
glass of milk, you can pantomimethe glass of milk.
Same thing with the door wehave a real door.
So we're, going to use a doorthat they have to open.
So that's real.
So some set pieces are real,okay, but props, we're trying to
(06:15):
the.
But it's like shadow puppettheater too Okay.
Oh, fun so it's so muchrepresentation and it's so open
for interpretation that theaudience will have to use their
minds as well.
It was kind of what Hitchcockwanted to do when he was
(06:35):
directing his shows.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You mentioned, the set would be fairly bare bones,
very bare bones.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Okay, we're pulling the black curtain, the or up and
around the side stages, butit's just a door.
We've got some chairs, we'vegot some tables, a window piece,
an armchair.
That is very, very funny alittle bit in the show, I'll
leave it at that.
But just these small littleprops and set pieces that create
(07:02):
the world.
Okay, because in the scriptthey even break the fourth wall,
like they're talking aboutthere's something going on in
the show and then they say let'sget in the car, and then they
all stop and like ugh, the car.
So then they have to get thecar, together with just four
chairs that are backstage.
So instead of bringing out likea real car, we just use that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
That's very fun.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yes, so in terms of sharing, this stage with the
other two shows in the Three onthe Edge Festival.
This is relatively more simple.
I'm trying to make it moresimple.
Okay, with Three on the Edge,we all got to play together,
yeah.
And so in order to do that, Isaid I'll take care of my
rehearsals, okay, and I'll beoff site.
I'll do what I got to do.
I'll get all my stuff.
You guys worry about your setbecause the other shows have two
(07:40):
interior settings and minetakes place in 33 different
locations.
So, in order to have that, Ijust kind stage.
I said, if I can just have thedownstage bare area.
You guys can build whatever youwant upstage and we'll have fun
with it.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
And they said that's great, and so working together,
yeah, working together Very mucha theme of this festival.
Would you mind talking aboutthe casting process for
something like this?
Oh yeah, the balance of fourpeople versus however many roles
, and having to figure all thatout, yeah, so we had to find a
leading man and a leading womanwho can do their business, and
(08:13):
auditions were on the kind ofsmaller side and I saw some good
talent.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
But then there are other shows that audition the
same people.
So it's one of those thingswhere we had to kind of share.
So anyone who I wanted or theywanted we had to kind of go
through.
Well, I think they'll be goodfor us.
And I said, okay, go ahead anduse them.
So once that was being done, Iwent to my pool and I found my
two clowns, both totallyauditioned, fully auditioned,
but then my leading guy and myleading girl who I wanted to use
(08:38):
they took.
So I was like, ah, let's gofind someone.
So, of course, mike Trueluck,who is native to this theater,
native to my group as well.
I was like Mike, I got aleading guy.
He's like say no more.
I got a leading guy.
He's like say no more, I'mthere.
So I said okay.
So he was in and then trying tofind a leading woman who was
also a native to this theater,who was also a native to Rialto,
julie Kirkpatrick.
I was like I need someone who'sstrong and powerful and who can
(09:01):
do film noir, and Julie is sogood at that.
And she's like let me read it.
And 10 minutes later she saysI'm in.
I was like, well, that's a fastread, perfect.
So she just likes the.
You know the multiplecharacters, multiple accents and
things like that.
And the other two theyauditioned so funny.
Uh, terry, christopher, clownnumber two, uh, he was in funny
(09:22):
mirrors here, okay, um, and hedid a great job.
Everyone loved him.
He's such a pleasure to workwith his.
His characters, his voices, hischaracters, his voices, his
personality.
He's a clown, he's a clown andhe will love to admit it and
he's my favorite clown.
You know, bozo's fun too, butTerry's pretty good.
My other favorite clown, milad.
He's new to me, new to thistheater.
(09:44):
He's a graduate down in Irvine,I think, going to school.
He auditioned, he read prettywell and I said you know what?
I'm going to give this guy atry, let's bring him into our
little community theater world.
And sure enough, he said yesand gave him some of my tips and
other cast members.
He's having a great time, he'sdoing a fantastic job.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Fantastic, it's very cool.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
So again, I can imagine that the rehearsal
process for this is also veryhectic.
You know, one person can tryand think as much as they can
when they read it and write asmuch notes as they can on a
piece of paper, but I also haveto go back and say, terry, where
did you exit last?
Oh, you exit over there.
So let's have you enter overhere because you need to change
into this costume.
He's like, but wait, I have tohave that hat.
(10:30):
Oh, yes, you do, ok, so let's.
So it's definitelycollaborations huge and the
actors I have are very good andhave been doing this for a very
long time, so they're easy tocollaborate with.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, fantastic.
Would you mind talking aboutthe technical aspect of this
show?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Oh, yes, tech is crazy.
Like I said, there's 33 scenesand it's film noir.
So film noir is kind of likeback in the radio show days and
types where you have to leavethings up to the imagination.
The best way to do that is withsound.
So I'm the sound designer andI'm not necessarily the lighting
designer, because the theaterhas their own lighting designer,
but I'm kind of like lights upon this side of the stage,
lights down on that side.
(11:05):
We're using the house a lot.
The house is going to be funwith the audience.
The actors go through theaudience a lot, so it's pretty
cool.
But as far as the tech goes, thesound is the most challenging
and I've recently started doingmy own sound designs and I'm
having so much fun because Ilove sound editing Finding songs
, finding other songs, puttingthem together to make something.
And this show, every pageprobably has two or three sound
(11:26):
effects, somewhere Betweendoorbells and phone rings to
door slams, to romantic music,to film noir music, to
voiceovers with plane fights.
So we've had to do somerecording with the actors and
then I'd have to take that intomy computer and edit it and
everything.
It's a lot of work but it's sorewarding.
It's so much fun Because whenyou play it and then you get to
see the actors play with mysound, because I think
(11:48):
underscore is one of the mostimportant things, so I try to
add as much underscore as I canhere and there, especially with
film noir.
Film noir, 90% of the movieusually has underscore, unless
it's some kind of deep and darksecret meeting.
That's supposed to be serious.
So yeah, the sound has been fun, lights are good.
Like I said, we already talkedabout the set and it's kind of
been easy, but the sound iswhat's killing me.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
But in such a good way.
Would you mind talking a bitmore about the music and the
underscoring for the show?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah.
So there's a couple of websitesout there that I usually go to
that I find free stuff.
I don't want to give away mysecrets or anything like that,
but it takes a long time tryingto find that perfect underscore
and sitting there and listeningthrough track after track after
track.
I listen to it and I just writedown a note.
What?
Track after track after track,I listen to it and I just write
down a note.
What does it remind me of?
So then maybe later on in thescript, when I get to something
else, I'm like, oh, I'm going togo back to that track I just
(12:35):
listened to.
So it's just basically spendinghours trying to find the right
one and then putting it in there, listening to the actors act
with it, and if it works then wekeep it, and if it doesn't, Now
, one of the questions that Inormally ask when talking about
plays that are adaptations ofother media are how does this
differ from the original concept?
Speaker 2 (12:58):
But there's already such a large sort of.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
So here's the thing with me I like to try and do as
much research as possible basedon past and history and stuff,
but I don't like to watch thoseother things.
I don't like to watch otherpeople's versions of what I'm
going to try and do.
This one I didn't.
I watched like the first 10minutes of it.
I was like this is fun, I'mgoing to take it now.
Okay, maybe I should havebecause I think I could have
(13:22):
gotten more ideas.
I'm like, oh, that's funny,let's parody that a little bit
more.
It's not supposed to be funny,but let's parody that or this is
why they wrote that scene LikeI think I could have done a
little bit more of that, but Ithink, coming into it with fresh
new eyes and fresh new thoughts, we can make it our own.
People like that, because this39 Steps, I think, is done, at
least around this area, quite abit.
(13:43):
My home theater did it a coupleyears ago, riverside.
They've all done it and there'sall different ways of doing it.
People say that they're happythat I'm only doing four people,
which is really cool, but I'mglad that we're able to take it
and make it our own rather thancopying something else.
Yeah, so the idea is someoneelse's, but it's our prosecution
the execution exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, I like that idea of choosing new parts of
the film to sort of satirize andpoke fun at.
I think that's a really fun.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
There's some parts in the play that I'm like why is
this in here?
Especially one part with likethere's an election, that
happens.
So I went back and watched Iwas like, okay, this is why they
wrote it.
It's kind of dry, but let's seeif we can play with it.
So we added some old people,gestures and some very, very
funny moments to try and make itas interesting as possible.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, it's cool.
Yeah, I think this is a reallyfun concept.
Yeah, do you happen to know thedates for your show, because
you're the last of the?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
cast to win the rep, let's see.
So I know we perform on the11th, which is yeah.
So we perform on the 11th,which is a 2.30 matinee, and I
believe we're doing a talkbackright after that, because I
think every show gets a talkback.
So we perform on Saturday.
That's our only day next week,okay, and the week after that we
get the Thursday and, I think,the Saturday night.
(14:56):
I think that's right.
Yeah, so we get the Thursday.
I think that's the 16th at 8,and then the 18th at 8 pm and
11th at 8 and then the 18th at 8pm, and the following week we
have the Friday at 8 pm and thenthe Sunday at 2.30.
So the Friday would be the 24that 8 pm and then the 26th
closing show.
We're the third show in the rep.
Oh, hey, we get the closingnight.
Nice, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
You've talked about how your sort of whole
production is a little bitseparate from the other two in
the festival.
But would you mind talkingabout the instance the instances
that you do have of workingwith those other two groups and
sort?
Speaker 1 (15:29):
of yeah.
So the main word and theme thatcomes to mind is text message
feed.
We have a huge feed between thethree directors of like hey, I
need this for the set.
Hey, I need this prop, do youhave this piece, do you have
this?
And we've all been kind oftalking.
I kind of I'm a little on theoutside because I think Ken and
Chris have been talking morethey do more stuff here than I
do, so they know more about thisplace and then we have another
(15:49):
few with Jeff, one of theproducers, to help out in
anything that they may need.
So they've been doing a lot ofthe communication, but we had a
pre-production meeting at thevery, very start of the show to
discuss our needs and that wasthe communication between the
three of us have been very, verypoignant, it's been there.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Well, because you like you're a little bit more on
the outside, but you've doneyour fair share of work here.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, I'm like you, so I feel Idon't feel left out, that's for
sure.
Yes, yeah, it's not lights up,play lights down.
Yeah, I completely agree, butin the best way.
I think it's really unique,especially for this, for sure,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Anything else that you would like to add?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
It's been such a great process.
I haven't done one of thesesmall person shows, fast-paced
farces, in a long time, so it'snice to get the quick wittiness
coming out.
Yeah, the fun.
So it's nice to get the quickwittiness coming out.
The fun blocking the funmoments, creating moments
because the script allows us to,and I think that's been one of
the best parts.
And, of course, working withthe four fantastic actors has
(16:53):
been such a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I mean I can't wait to see it.
It sounds really electric andreally fun.
It's so much fun.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It's so fast-paced.
Yes, it's got to be fast-paced,because then it turns into a
1930s film noir and then is thisone-act play, or is there?
There's two, okay, but it'sactually on the shorter side, I
think even with the intermissionit's about an hour and a half
Okay, so it's pretty quick.
Act one happens pretty quick.
Act two same thing.
So things get a-moving.
Yeah, I imagine.
(17:19):
Yeah, less than 10 seconds.
So it's like we don't spendtime, because I feel like
blackouts take away fromaudience their attention span.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah the rhythm.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
The rhythm exactly.
So, we want to keep it up.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah, it sounds fantastic, right.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Thank you for having me againthis is always so much fun, of
course, and be sure to check outthe 39 Steps at the Three on
the Edge Hitchcock Festival.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thanks for listeningto Steps to the Stage, and now
it's time for the curtain call.
(17:51):
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
Rice, and our producer, kirkLane.
Without the two of you, thisshow would not be possible.
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