Alabama - Alabama Shakes, Auburn University, and Storie for All! - Play to Z

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, welcome to play the Z.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Please rise for this season's introduction song It Connecticut.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Good job.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hell, Hello, everybody, welcome to play to ZE. I'm your
co host, Justin Borak.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
I'm your co host Erica kuz.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
And welcome to season three. Technically, the first episode of
season three was the announcement episode, but this is the
first episode episode. I guess not letters. It's a first
state How you doing, I'm good?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
How are you?

Speaker 1 (00:50):
I'm good? We uh. Last night we recorded the announcement
and we also musical improvised a bunch of stuff that
was very fun and made a new theme song, had
a new game song that you hear at the end
of this episode towards the end. Yeah, it's been fun
to like hop back to Like I feel like it's
taken at least personally, It's taken me a month to
like settle into living in New York and like working

(01:12):
nine to five, and like I work at Broadway Licensing now,
which is awesome, but it is like a nine to
five job. It's a lot. So like it's taken me
a while to like settle in, and I feel like
this was a nice weekend to like get back into
the groove of this.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, this has been a part of our like lifestyle
routine for years now.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
It's nice to have it worked in. Yeah, like I
have it kind of be back.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, it's nice to at least know, like I'm going
to touch base with Justin when you play the e stuff. Yeah,
like the hustle and bustle now more than ever. We
thought grad school is intense, but you know, managing auditions
and callbacks and job applications and side projects.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
So this has been really, really, really awesome to lock
back in on.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
And oh for sure, I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Excited to see how it goes too, because this is
kind of a new premise for us.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, and so I.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Think each episode is going to be really differ depending.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
On king about Like I think there are like so
many things you can talk about when it comes to
states in the sense of like different theaters, different colleges,
different play rights, different plays set in those places, different
like theater cultures, different.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Like theater relationship that like certain communities have to theater.
It's been very fascinating, Like this is we're alternating you know,
state by state, co hosts by co host, but this
is far more research intensive than you know anything we've
done in the past, So stay tuned.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
Maybe there will still be.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Some classic Erica deep dives. Yeah, maybe Justin will find
a way to work and check off.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
And again we're oh, one hundred percent. And again like
there will be like episodes where we like I feel
like there's gonna be episodes where we're like very goofy,
and I feel there's gonna episodes that might be taken
over by like history too that like we weren't even expecting.
Like I know, like the New York episode is going
to be really fun, and like I think we're that's
one that we're co doing, right, I think so. Yeah,

(02:52):
But like and like there's obviously so much theater history
in New York. I don't even know how we're going
to tackle that. But then like there's like idea random
states like Idaho and Wyoming where I'm never thought about
like their connection to theater, and I'm super excited to
like dive in and like try to find the nitty gritty,
Like already in Alabama, I got to talk about some
big stuff, but also like I'm excited to talk about Alabama.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
Well, do you want to dive right in?

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (03:12):
Oh, yeah, three, which means you get to go first.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Oh man. But also we don't get to do the
We don't get to hash it out on air because
there's only one of us researching every week. We can't
fight else to hash out that's so funny.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Today.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah's hash Oh let's see at the top of our episode.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Let's hash out today because you started your morning with
a callback. Oh yeah, a real outfit?

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Oh wait? I yeah, yeah I did. I did start out.
But can I see something? I think you're pretty here
because you're wearing your classic. This is horizontal, right, You're
wearing your classic. Erica has like seven or eight horizontal
T shirts that I do think are very very nice
on her. They look nice.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
Love a big tea.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Also, I do love this. The sweatpants, thank you. They're
like your comfy sweatpants, but they like look cool.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
They're cool.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
They're like an acid wash black sweatpant.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
You're really painting the picture.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, okay, so what I'm looking at right now?

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Okay, So the cross legged So.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
There's a week between.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
There's a week there's a woman who a woman is
still in her last night's PM comfies and she's sitting
on her own bed, because we don't know where the
question I.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Had to be perceived this morning.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
Also, can I say something.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
This is a total sidebar, but we should bring it
up as long as I will forget we're recording in
my bedroom because we predicted be the quietest in her
big ass New York City apartment building.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
However, Yeah, a drummer. He's a drummer. He drums sometimes.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
He drums twice a day for a hour.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
And for the first month I was living here, he
was so good that I thought there was a sketchy
laundromat next door, Like he was doing all these certain rhythms.
I thought it was a spin cycle twice a day,
and I was like, Oh, that's strange, but I can
deal with it. So if there's any weird editing, or
if we acknowledge it as we as.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
We like, he was just oh wait before we get
into it. Yeah, wow, that's good. I missed doing that. Yeah,
it's nice to have a sound effect.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
I miss seeing my mom. I got to see Oh wait,
I haven't done my family summer.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Okay, that's cool and emotional everything, but I haven't done
this in forever.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, what's up? Everybody from the old from apartment opener
up now a coluarter. You know, I just started thinking
about that.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
That's good.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
I haven't done that it for ever.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
I stopped back out of me.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
It's so good.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
Time went by.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
So yeah, this is season three, Justin's gonna kick.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
It off Alabama time. Something new at the top of
every so and yeah, I like hashing it out over
something ran about the top of every episode. So again,
these episodes are going to be very different because like obviously,
like the last two seasons, like we've like both had
a section of the episode and we would research things differently.
You were like hyper fixated on like deep dives sometimes
and then I would really love to dig into a

(05:57):
playwrights backstory, like and we would shift between those two
also like we both did the others kind of go
to sometimes. But but now, like with every episode being different,
I'm excited for like our go tos to become different,
but then also like full episodes to maybe be like
different lengths, like who knows.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
I have no idea, no idea how we divveated up.
I don't remember who gets like Rhode Island exactly.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
She's tiny.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
Alabama also didn't have a huge like theater thing. So
I'm kind of like, I wonder if, like the New
York episode is gonna be like a two hour feast
for the mind, and then like Rhode Island might be
like but then Rhode Island is like the like the
prop and you got the province players, right or the Yeah,
so that's in Rhode Island, I think sonn Yeah, pe Town. Well,

(06:41):
that's that's what people call it here in New York.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Wait, really, I think so wow?

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Anyway changed, I'm kind of becoming a new guy street smart.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
Yeah, do you want to kick it off?

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, I'll kick it off. Yeah, let's do it. Oh wait,
should we start every time by singing the entire song
until we get to the letter in.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
The last episode? Yeah, like a year and a few
months from now.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
It'll be like a two minute thing.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
You guys know that song, right, dude?

Speaker 1 (07:05):
If they don't, we're screwed.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
We're screwed.

Speaker 4 (07:07):
I'm pretty sure people know that song.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Almost just had the word oh well, which I don't
want to but I do like that our new sound
as an Eagle.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
It's a really really fun new Oh that was really good.
Can I say something a little chicken eye?

Speaker 1 (07:21):
I think you just like having the power in this
relationship of the person who does the ego, cause I
think you just like having the power. Yeah, I think
you just like that, and that's what you like.

Speaker 4 (07:30):
I am not the person who does.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
Can I say something? Yesterday when we were okay, I'm
going to say something, Can I say something? Yeah, yesterday?
Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? You're ready?
You're ready. So yesterday we were like, I was like
in my room editing and I couldn't figure I couldn't
find a good public domain eagle call. And I was
like figuring out what I wanted to do with like
the like sound effects and the like songs and stuff
for this season. And like I came out and I

(07:56):
showed Eric or something, and she was so quick to
be like, yeah, it sounds like bad creak. It does
sound like an eagle call becomes.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
Public domain bird.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
It's like squawky, it sounds it sounds like a bed
like when stuff is happening.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
No, I know, And here's the thing. And and Eric
ended up finding out a really good eagle public domain.
But I do want to say the first solution to
the problem was her saying I can do it.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Why don't we just be our own eagles? Like, why
are we reinventing the wheels? But I will see a
little vocal production.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
You know what, I'll fight this out. Let's we're gonna
do two hash outs today. I think I have a
better ego than you.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
Okay, I guess, like prove it?

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Okay, ready, yeah, that one is better. Actually, thank you.

Speaker 4 (08:34):
I feel like yours is going to be better than mine.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
There you go, one shot, no practice.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
I'm scared.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
My throat's all cheerio, gunkey.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
It doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
Here I go.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
You do a better screech.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
I don't think I do Either of those were the best,
but I do think yours is better to do.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Can I say something you may I think eagles don't call.
I think eagles screech. I think birds call. I think
I did a better bird call. I think you did
a better screech.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
I guess.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
I guess we hashed it out.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
We'll figure it out.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Let's talk about Alabama.

Speaker 4 (09:04):
Tell me about it, all right.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
So I'm going to start every one of my episodes
with something I like to call the Wikipedia paragraph, which
is the first paragraph of every single state's Wikipedia.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
So we're all starting on the same places.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
King Alabama a Libama Alabama. That's the pronunciation that they
have in parentheses.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
I'm going to do.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
Everything Alabama Alibama. Alibama is a state. Stuff laughing at me.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
It just sounds like you're casting spells.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Albama Libama. I was just talking about Harry Potter all morning,
So yeah, makes sense. Is a state within the South
Eastern region of the United States. It borders Tennessee to
the north, Georgia to the east, in Florida and the
Gulf Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west.
Alabama is the thirtieth largest state by area in the
twenty fourth most populous of the fifty United States. Right
in the middle, right in the middle, baby playing Midtown. Okay, okay, okay.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
I know you're all thinking. These episodes might be a
little different because one of us is doing all the research.
So we've kind of made it a goal to like
either make games or make like prompts or something throughout.
So one thing that I don't know we'll do every episode,
but I like, I have one, two, three, four, five, six,
I have six Alabama facts and I want you to
try to guess them. Okay, okay, ready, what is Alabama's

(10:22):
state bird? Oh?

Speaker 4 (10:24):
Honestly, I look this up.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
It's if you Oh, that's it's yellow.

Speaker 4 (10:28):
It's a yellow.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Wait. Can I give you a like hank, a yellow
wall banger. It's yellow close yellow whistled blower, whackham hammer, yellow.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Hammer.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
What are you doing with your fingers? Whack hammer hammer?

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Whack you see his hands, it's the yellow hammer. I
was just trying to get rid of that word.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
You gotta give you the old de old what's the.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
We're swapping the e k R for tutures in the line.
And so when I was looking for truths and lies,
that makes sense information.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Wait, you just gave away our game.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Call that out.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
I'm not gonna no. You've messed up. You've messed it up.
They're gonna know whatever. They don't know whatever, they're gonna know. Like, okay, okay,
Alabama state flower.

Speaker 4 (11:25):
I know my state's flower.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
We don't say it because we'll get there one day.
Because I know my state's flower. Actually I don't know
Ohio state flowers. The buck eye. That might be the
state nut, because a nut it is a flower. Nut
is God, let's hash it out again.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
I don't know what your I don't know what your
flower is the Camillia. Yeah, I was gonna get there.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
What's the Alabama capital? Oh, Birmingham, Montgomery, you stupid idiot.
State mammal right, state a state, mammal, state mammal.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
Little time. You should know this, you any tiny bunny rabbit.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
It's a black bear Alabama state. Yeah it is.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
I don't associate Alabama with bears.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Neither did I. Alabama state amphibian. You should know this.
We all learned this in school.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Little tiny frog, tiny useless.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
The red hill salamander. And then do you know the
state nickname?

Speaker 4 (12:22):
Alabama?

Speaker 2 (12:25):
That's the state.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
It's the heart of the Dixie.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Oh that does feel like something I read in something?

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, it's Yeah, it definitely is something that we've read. Yeah, okay, ready,
So I want to start off with a little theater history.
And what I want to start off with is the
oldest theater, the Alabama Theater, now the Lyric Theater, attracting
more than four hundred thousand people a year to a
variety of performances including Broadway type theater, ballet, opera, concerts,
film everything. This is in Birmingham, Okay. In nineteen thirty four,

(12:52):
the adjacent Loveman's of Alabama department store was destroyed by
a a fire, not a flower, by a fire.

Speaker 4 (12:59):
Worse if you can imagine.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
However, a thick firewall protected the theater and limited the
impact to smoke damage around the air vents in the auditorium.
The smoke stains would remain until nineteen ninety eight. Theater
restorations so like for like they have they have all
these like smoke stains within the theater, which is really
cool and it's early days. The Alabama Theater hosted weekly
Saturday meetings of the local chapter of the Mickey Mouse Club,
which is formed in nineteen thirty three, and by nineteen

(13:22):
thirty five, the club had more than seven thousand members,
making it the world's largest Mickey Mouse.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
I don't know why. I thought the Mickey Mouse Club
was just where like two thousands pop stars met as children.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
I didn't know it was nineteen thirty three since nine
many thirty children membership membership ready for this membership eventually
peaked at more than eighteen thousand in Alabama. In this
in this this Mickey Mouse club.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
That's too many. That's a that's a militia.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Before the club closed nearly ten years after it had
been formed. Boom, How wild is that within ten years.
That's a lot of people insane. But that's the Birmingham
that's like the big national tourhouse in Alabama is the
Lyric Theater now is what they call it, but it's
it's just really it's the oldest theater that you used
to call the Alabama Theater. It's the spot, right. One
thing I wanted to do with like the state of

(14:08):
Alabama is I wanted to look at like different areas
of Alabama and see, like what theater is happening where, right,
So the first theater that I would I would argue
the main equity and also if you're from Alabama and
I'm wrong, please let me know because I would love
to talk about it. The main equity theater I found
is Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Okay, cool, Alabama Shakespeare Festival. The

(14:29):
State Theater builds community by engaging and entertaining and inspiring
people with transformative theatrical practices and performances and compelling educational
and outreach programs. OOH as the region's most Ooh the
reasons most valued arts leader and community resource. We strive
to build upon our reputation for artistic excellence, brought on
our reach for throughout the state and beyond, and expand

(14:51):
public participation and support.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
And do they are they like you worked at Oklahoma
Shakespeare Festival? Are they ripping out just Shakespeare place.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
We're gonna get to it, brother, Oh, We're gonna get
to it. But before I get to the season, I
wanted to talk about They had this article on their
website called Stories for All a Place for Everyone, and
it's like one of my favorite things I've read. If
you're like like Erica and you're really into the front
matter of a play, this is kind of like the
front matter to a theater. It's not a mission statement.
It's like this thing that talks about storytelling is universal.

(15:22):
And how like they brought this because they wanted to
bring storytelling to their state because they thought their state
was lacking it and they thought there wasn't nothing in
their state, and they wanted to create a community for
theater artists and make theater artists in Alabama and not
feel like they have to leave and go to like
New York, or go somewhere else to be able to
do work, to be able to stay in Alabama and
do work as artists as theatermakers in Alabama, which I
thought was just so beautiful. Go read stories for All

(15:43):
a place for everyone on their website because it's wonderful.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
What is the website? Did you say?

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Already?

Speaker 1 (15:47):
Alabama ShakespeRe Festival.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Perfect.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, and then it's ASF dot net. But I want
to talk about their season now because their season is fire. Okay.
So they're doing Ken Ludwig, Dear Jack, Dear Louise Boom.
Then they're doing Christmas Classic, They're doing The Watson's Good
to Birmingham. M hmmm, weird but fun. They're doing Sherwood.
So they're doing a lot of things that sell really well. Yeah,
and then they get into uh oh, they're Shakespeare. They're

(16:12):
doing freaking Hamlet. I know, they're doing Hamlet, which I'm
really excited about. They're doing The Wizard of Oz and everything.
But the show that got me most excited is they're
doing a world premiere of a play called Kudzoo calling
uh It's and I'm gonna read you the description because
it sounds amazing. It's by Danetta Laviana Gray's she has
some stuff on New play Change, which is awesome, and

(16:34):
she's very poetic. I would say she's like an Alabama
Sarah Rule almost. It's like really really cool. Yeah, but
like this interweaving of poems and moments seeks to expand
the complicate or seeks to expand and complicate the Southern narrative.
A celebration of black Southern love, queerness, playfulness, culture, spirituality.
It's the playwright's love letter to the place that made her.

(16:55):
It maybe sounds like the most like Alabama play for
right now I've ever heard. It seems so fun Kudzuo
calling It's at Alabama Shakespeare Festival is May twenty ninth
to June fifteenth on their Octagon stage of twenty five. Yeah,
twenty twenty five cool. Yeah, but it's like a really
cool season. Like they're doing a lot of stuff that
like very clearly is like they're in Alabama, they want

(17:15):
to like sell tickets and like create stuff for the
whole community. But like that they're tossing stuff in there
like that that is like a queer black Alabamian story,
which like is a very specific niche story, but perfect
for their company. Ye. So yeah, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, super
freaking rad. That was like the big theater I saw,
right yeah, and then I was like, oh, well, now

(17:36):
where do I want to look? How can I find
How can I find other places for people to go
see theater? And one thing I love to do? One
thing that we were just at We were just at college. Yeah.
College just have great theater seasons they do. And fun
fact of the day, Auburn University has a very cool
story of how their theater started. Do you want to

(17:56):
hear the said story?

Speaker 2 (17:57):
I want to hear the story, all right, ghit me
the tale.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Okay, I'll paint you the tale. In the fall of
nineteen thirteen, fifteen young men form the Auburn Footlights, which
would go on to be called the au Players in
nineteen nineteen.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
The Auburn Foight pause. The Auburn Footlights is a bang.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
It's a sick name.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Wait, because I know that I know what a footlight
is obviously, Yeah, but it's very evocative of like, very
very jazzy. I know we're gonna just like cut a rug.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Isn't it sick? Like that? The rug is good? You
should say cut a rug war. That's good, you should
cut a rug twenty twenty five, twenty twenty four. Still
I'm looking forward to you won't play it against and
again that's the year.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
That's the year.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Very okay.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
In the fall nineteen thirteen, fifteen young men form the
Auburn Footlights, which would go on to be called the
AU Players. In nineteen nineteen, when the first women were
permitted to join the organization. Over the following yearteen ninety nineteen, nineteen,
oh god, it was just a couple of years later, like.

Speaker 4 (18:50):
Eighty five years.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Nineteen thirteen the Auburn Footlights were formed, and then in
nineteen ninety nine finally women were allowed in No, oh god.
In nineteen nineteen the first women four years, year, four years,
they're permitted to join the organization. Over the following years,
the Players maintained a strong presence on campus, creating and
performing in various locations all over campus, including the Attic
Theater in Sanford Hall, the Chapel. One person who went

(19:14):
to Alabama University or Auburn University and is listening to
this podcast gonna be like.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
The Chapel also called the y Hut, and the Players
Theater and Langdon Hall before landing in the newly constructed
Telfair B. Pete Theater Complex in nineteen seventy three. So
basically they were like this like no mad collegiate theater
troupe that wasn't affiliated with the university for fifty years. Wow,
Like you know how hard it is to keep a
like a student organization going for from nineteen thirteen to

(19:43):
nineteen seventy three, and they finally joined the Telfair B.
Pete Theater Complex in nineteen seventy three, which is now
still home for the Department of Theater. Right, so, the
demand of theater soon outgrew the AU Players Drama Club
and on the journey of finding a new permanent home,
theater as a degree was offering a move through departments
of like English and Speech to architecture to find arts,

(20:06):
and finally theater found its current place in the College
of Liberal Arts in nineteen eighty seven. That mean that literally,
like from nineteen thirteen to nineteen eighty seven, the only
way theater was existing on Auburn's campus was this weird
group of like goofballs who would just find whatever space
they could and like create art.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
Oh my god, isn't that cool?

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Years it's so cool for like very cool, and like
the other thing is like it can't have a founder
who's been there for like fifty years, you know what
I mean. It's a college group. So every four years
you're seeing this turnover passing the torch. Yeah, you're like passing.
Think of all of the like moments of like passing
the torch for this group, and it really meant something
because if the torch had pased as someone who didn't
care enough, yeah, it would die. The theater program might

(20:45):
not exist.

Speaker 4 (20:46):
That almost happened at my undercrad. I remember being scouted.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Someone came up to me it was like, if you
don't agree to head this up as like the artistic director,
it'll just die. And it had gone on for so long,
and I was like, I am at capacity and yes,
I will do it. Yeah, and I think it's still
exists now. Good so somebody can then somebody after me.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
It's really really cool. Yeah, it just it seems so dope.
But yeah, but uh in nineteen eighty seven and it
remains a proud purveyor of the college's mission, which which
is encouraging civic engagement emphasizing global perspective, promoting diversity, and
prioritizing public outreach within theater. So cool, I thought the
creation of a theater program coming from a student group.

(21:24):
I don't know if I've heard of that before. And
it's so sick to way around. Yeah, exactly, like it's
always like a theater program exists and then people program.

Speaker 4 (21:31):
Isn't serving everybody, so we're going to do this thing
or this other thing.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
This came from a fifty year long fight from the
students creating theater wherever they were allowed, being shifted from
different like they were literally in the School of Architecture
for like six years just because they had those space.
They were just going wherever they could. They They've done
a bunch of cool past shows. They did a Dollhouse
and a Dollhouse two in a rep. They did Mister Burns.

(21:55):
They've done a ton of Sarah Rule, like a ton,
like so much Sharah Rule. Whoever over there picking the
seasons for the last ten years, they're a big SI
to me. They really want to be friends, my friend.
Oh yeah, and then let me read you through their
current season because this is a it's a great season too.
So if you're near Auburn, Alabama. There's some really really
cool theater going up. Uh, there's The Wellesley Girl, which

(22:16):
is a I believe it's a brand new play. The
year is twenty four, sixty four or sixty five, and
the United States is struggling with the ecological fallout from
a massive and toxic algae bloom. And in enclave of
four communities in Massachusetts has this is like someone who
loves lore and on clear. Four communities in Massachusetts has
what is believed to be the only remaining source of

(22:38):
pure drinking water. A mysterious army threatens to the protective
walls of this citadel. Every citizens voice and voice has power.
Every citizen voice and voice has power in this miniature republic,
as together they must decide what is best and good
for the community. Biting, sharp and witty, Wesley Girl explores
themes of environmental destruction, collective action, and the power that

(22:59):
our decision has for future generations.

Speaker 4 (23:02):
And who is this?

Speaker 1 (23:03):
This is by Brendan Poluse Pollue suit I don't recognize it.
I don't either. I've never heard of this play before.
It sounds sick, sounds very cool, It sounds so cool.
It sounds like this is a show that like if
I saw what was happening in New York, I would
be there immediately.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
Yeah, it's just like it sounds very cool. It's it's
super sick. It's like it feels like someone who like
loves Star Wars, like loves like the idea of like
lore and fights between armies and stuff like that, and
like the Republic versus being like, you know, the Gothic
Empire like that kind of stuff, but then also like
this really cool environmental take. It's it's very very fun,
and it's so original. It's like very cool and original,

(23:39):
I think. Yeah, they're doing Ordinary Days, which is a
really fun musical. They're doing a big dance show called
Flying and Falling, and like all of this stuff. It's
just like they're gonna throw people in the air, which
is rad. They're doing Orlando mm hm, adapted by Sarah Rule,
which is super super sick, another Sarah Rule play. They're
doing Violet, which is an amazing musical with music by Jinnina.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
Sorry, here's the thing.

Speaker 4 (23:58):
Do you know why I recognize that show? Two rounds of.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
The ek Thee. Yeah, my sister did do it. She
light designed it at UNLV. But yeah, but yeah, it's
it's a great season. Auburn has some great stuff going.
The thing I'm I truly most excited about is Orlando
happening next year February twentieth to March first in twenty
twenty five. And oh the well, I don't know if
I'm saying this right. Wellesleie, Wellesley, Wellesleigh, you know what.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
I think You're on the right track.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Wellesley girl, I have Brendan. Yes. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry,
but I'm I I hope. I'm giving it a resounding
review without even seeing it because it just sounds so
very cool. It sounds super cool. But yeah, so that's
their that's their show, that's that's their season. That's Auburn University.
I thought it was really cool. Another spot in Alabama.

(24:49):
Oh do we have another one? Yeah, we do, the
University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Now, all these places I'm
talking about Birmingham with the National Tours, Auburn and like
where Auburn you know, ver Is, Tuscolos that were University
of Alabama is all of these are in different parts
of Alabama. I didn't realize how big they were, Yeah,
and Alabama doesn't have as cool as a story. I'm sorry,
University of Alabama. I'm not gonna talk about you forever.

(25:11):
But their season looks really cool. They're doing a new
play called Huntsville. It's the winner of their New Voices
festival from last year. It's compelling examination of the depths
of human motivation. When a determined social worker is brought
into a prison in Huntsville, Texas to rehabilitate inmates, she
crosses paths with Jess mad and Chef, and their stories
unfold through a series of shocking twists and turns and
a poignant look into how we are bound by the

(25:34):
systems that surround us. A very cool new play that
they commissioned because like they have a new University of
Alabama has a New Works festival. I think they're doing
Your good Man, Charlie Brown. They're doing The Crucible, They're
doing The Odd Couple, They're doing Cabaret. So you're doing
like a bunch of really yeah, like really really fun stuff.
But yeah, so like there's a bunch of theater happening
in those three places. But then I was like there

(25:55):
were two spots in Alabama that I haven't really been
able to hit yet to dive in a little more, right,
So I wanted to look into Mobile, Alabama. Mobile Alabama
is a place where there's not a ton of theater
and everything. And I found a community theater company called
the Joe Jefferson Players and Boyle Boy The story is Wild, Okay,

(26:17):
Okay unbuckled In nineteen forty seven, a small group of
Mobilions that's what they call themselves, intent on restoring the
city's waning theater activity after the Depression and war years,
initiated the Joe Jefferson Players. Successful in their efforts of
the Players were in possession of their own permanent playhouse
from nineteen forty nine or a ninety nine, and by
nineteen sixty one, membership totaled over one thousand. By nineteen

(26:39):
sixty seven, the membership limit was raised to two thousand,
and continued popularity demanded the expansion of an already once
rebuilt playhouse in the same year. Despite the challenges of
subsequent years hurricanes, financial difficulties, increasing competition from other sources
of local live entertainment, the Joe Jefferson Players remain active
to this day, having finished their fifth teen ninth season

(27:01):
at the time this guide was written, Joe Jefferson Players
took their name from the point nineteenth century actor Joseph
Jefferson the Third eighteen twenty nine to nineteen oh five,
A man born into a family of notable actors and
theater workers at the age of four, Joe Jefferson devoted
their next seventy two years of their life to the theater,
traveling around the world from London to New Zealand and
performing a variety of roles. In eighteen ninety three, he

(27:23):
succeeded Edwin Booth as president of the Players Club, a
national organization, making him the acknowledged head of American actors.
Joe Jefferson died in nineteen oh five in Palm Beach, Florida,
and was buried in Sandwich, Massachusetts. By far the best
fact of that whole story. Beautiful, This like company is
so cool.

Speaker 4 (27:43):
That's a rich history.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
It's a rich history for this theater company that has
fought tooth and nail to like keep theater going and
to like have stuff to do and like and give
this area where I was like, oh, there's nothing really
going on amobile like shows and stuff and stuff to
do and their season is awesome. They're doing the doing Greece,
they're doing Cinderella, they're doing the Glass Menagerie, they're doing
Taming of the Shrew, They're doing After Midnight, They're doing

(28:05):
the Adams Family. They're doing nice spread. They're doing a nice,
huge season full of shows at Mobile. It's all communities
either their auditions are free to go to open every
single show. Like it seems like a really wonderful community
to get involved in that you never expect. I think
Alabama for me, has like just shown this wild history
of like not having the artscause. Like going into researching

(28:27):
this season, I was like, there is nothing in Alabama,
and don't the one I'm going to talk about. Yeah,
And I think they we're like researching it and going
into it. It's kind of like, oh yeah, it's so
interesting too. They feel the same way.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Alabama is one of the states and we're going to
have a lot of these where like you and I
I assume I've never been there. I haven't been passed
through it ever, right, Like it's just not been on
my radar. It's not somewhere I've gigged or done anything with.
And so you can just kind of really easily make
that assumption of like, well, I haven't heard of it,
so yeah, if we knew a single person from Alabama, like,
there are certain states where I'll be able to talk
about that.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
I bet if you ask the average.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
Person like, oh, there's no theater in Iowa, me a
person who grew up in Waterloo, I'd be like I
could talk about Iowa theater for an hour straight without stopping.
Oh yeah, you know, because like I know that it's there.
I have access, I have that understanding of those communities.
But for these states where we don't, yeah, like getting
into it like I was.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
I was like for my state, just.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Like going in the weeds of being like, okay, I'm
not finding things with these typical Google searches or whatever.
Let me go on Facebook. Let me just google who
has nonprofit status in that state? Yeah, and then reverse
their grants and it's like, oh, okay, well this theater
company won a grant from an arts nonprofit.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
They didn't pop up on.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
A Google search because their website isn't well built, right, Yeah,
and so we've we've been very sleuthy. Oh yeah, yeah,
it's very cool.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
Hundre percent this is the last one. I'm going to
talk about. Theater Huntsville. So Huntsvill, Alabama is another place
in Alabama. I've given you five locations in Alabama. I
think you, I personally think you can see good theater.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
Well.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
University of Alabama has a great season, Auburn University has
a great season, rich history, the Joe Jefferson players. I
would give them all my money, support to them forever.
If you want to go see National Tours, you got
them up in not Tuscalos in Birmingham. And then Huntsville
was kind of the last place I was like, oh,
there's nothing here. There's a very very cool community theater
that looks like they like pay their actors a little
bit and they do really cool stuff. But they do

(30:14):
like weird cool shows. Their season this year, they're doing
Ken Ludwigs Moriarty. They're doing the Lauryn Anderson Miss Bennet
christmast Pemberle Christmas at Pemberley. They're doing The Girl on
the Train, which is a new play based on that Novelneapolis.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Then they're doing by the Way, Meet Viera Stark by
the Knownedge, Oh Wow, which is awesome. Yeah. Then they're
doing something rotten. Like, it's like a really really fun
group of shows. This company, Theatre Huntsville, also has something
called the Rocket City Playwright Series, which is this annual
event features six ten minute plays by North Alabama authors
specifically selected by our panel of judges and presented to
the public in a reader's theater format. I think that's

(30:52):
so cool. They're literally being like, hey, play rates in
this area. We are giving you opportunity to get work up,
which is rad. This first one is well those two
weeks ago at the time of recording, so there was
about a month and a half after you guys listened
to it, but it seemed really cool. I'm seeing to
give shout out to all the play rights because they
seem rad. Sarah Sizemore, Sorry, Moon, Leanne Trees, Haley Loved Lady,
John Witt and Juan E. Badola and Andy Case the

(31:16):
like seven or eight of them who wrote plays for
this congratulations so so awesome. They talk about like their
purpose for why they do it, and they're like the
Rocket City Playwright Series supports the creation of new work
for North Alabama writers. At some point, every famous playwright
was an unknown struggling to get their first play, read, produced,
and published. I know that's right, I know, I know exactly, dude.
Someone had to take a chance on the unknown, and

(31:36):
that is what Rocket City Playwright Series is all about.
We believe that locally written and creative productions can be
a unique cultural opportunity, providing a direct lens into the
identity of our local community and the surrounding communities of
Northern Alabama. Theaterre Huntsville and Evil Chaz Productions are committed
to investing in and supporting our local storytellers and theater
artists who are interested in the creation of new, live works.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
Doesn't that sound awesome? That's awesome if you're in Alabama, dude.
This is like something that I would I would drive
really far. I would drive to go see a night
of cool new works by cool new playwrights from a
company that is devoted to uplifting these playwrights at the
beginnings of their career.

Speaker 4 (32:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
That's well, that's exactly what we look for on play
the Ze, you know what I mean, That's like what
you and I look for every day. Yeah, it's awesome, So,
like I cannot give enough. And then also, you know,
these theater companies I feel like always have like their
thing once a year that like probably makes a lot
of money, and like they do. So there's something called
Fright Nights. Kids outgrow the pumpkin patches, not quite ready

(32:31):
for a terrified hunting house or looking for another excuse
just ware Halloween costume then joined theater hunts Field for
a brand new fall event at Wick's Family Field. Fright Nights,
the spine chilling pop up experience includes tricks and treats
for every ghoul to get their eerious and darkness descends,
making it perfect for families with children of all ages
and adults alike. It just sounds like they're setting up

(32:51):
this like it's like, uh, it's like from October twenty
fourth to November two birthday. Yeah, oh oh thanks enough
doing that. It just seems like a really fun Halloween
night and I feel like it's it's gonna be really
awesome for them and very fun. I love the theater
company that does a bunch of stuff. It does like
a bunch of cool stuff, and it's just like clearly.

Speaker 4 (33:09):
Someone locked into their community.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah, that's exactly like there's a bunch of people who like,
you know, I like saying that to me, that's the point.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, if you have her last year for your birthday, we.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
Went to an amazing We went to.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
An amazing house. It was like one of the most
like fun nights ever. I was so scared.

Speaker 4 (33:25):
I can't believe that was a year ago.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
I know it was a year ago. I'm so excited
to see what we do for Halloween. But like I do,
that is something that like I I.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Don't wait, okay, okay, I.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Grew up with that a lot. I grew up with
like pumpkin patches and with like haunted houses and stuff.
That's what I was gonna say. You guys go hard
on that corns kind of well anything, what was your
like childhood Halloween? E That was there something that like
in high school you and your friends would all like
drive to and go like goof off around that. You know.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
I grew up like adjacent to a couple like very
very I mean my neighborhood was very beautiful as well,
but some very very cool like boulevards and stuff like that. Yeah,
and so honestly and strategize like getting dropped off in
a nicer neighborhood, candy bars, it goes a little pack.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
We try to just get like the most loote.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
But then past that point, yeah, if you drive out
into the country in any direction, there's like apple orchards,
there's corn maze.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Things are like kind of cute and like pumpkin spice
corps by day that at night they're like scowy.

Speaker 4 (34:27):
Haunted hay ride.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
I love that because where I'm from, like everybody's got
a tractor.

Speaker 4 (34:31):
So you just like leave town for a little bit.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
And then you do, you know, do like something fun.
We had, so we had a place where there's a
bunch of haunted houses, like they had like four or
five built kind of like the thing that you and
I went to last year. But they had a haunted
hay ride and you could pay, you know how like
if you go see like Evil Dead the musical, or
like Teeth coming up off Broadway again, you can pay
cheaper for like a bloody ticket and you can get

(34:54):
like bluzz for you splash them. That's what I'm thinking of.
So there, This definitely is illegal, but there was a
haunted hay ride where you could pay. I remember it
was fifteen dollars for a seat on the haybail on
the on the thing and then it was five dollars
to hang your legs off, and you'd always pay the
five dollars ticket to dangle because it was cheaper. But

(35:17):
they would like touch you and grab you and stuff
perfect and like it was very clear. Like some of
these like probably like nineteen year old theater students who
were like coming home and a day cross. Oh one
hundred percent. Yeah, like these like nineteen year old theater
students who were like I was in Rochester, so it
was like like University of Nazareeth, like Saint John Fisher
that were like community theater like people who were just
like I want to do something fun, I want to
make some money. They would go, but you could tell,

(35:38):
like the colored people that were really into it would
like grab your leg and like almost pull you off
the hay ride. It was so scary and you had
to like pretend you were cool because you were like
with a pretty girl or something like that. So like
it was those are like my favorite like events. They
were so fun. Maybe not that part was bad, but
I do think that it made me think of that.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
But yeah, fright nights that theater Huntsville is gonna be
really fun. So if you're in northern Alabama, if you're
a playwright, if you're just looking for something scary to
go to, if you want to see a fun season,
Theater Huntsville. I mean, I'm not trying to like rank
anything at all, but it's by far one of my
favorite seasons I saw in Alabama. So very very cool.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
The last thing, so, okay, those are all the locations
I wanted to like. I don't know if I'll do
that for every episode, but I wanted to like like
a place like that, or like Texas. I mean, especially
Texas places that are really big or just have a
lot of highway between them. It's nice to like give
some different spots to be able to like go and
travel and see theater. So if you're in Alabama, those
are a bunch of areas. The last thing I wanted
to talk about I after finding the Rocket City New

(36:35):
Place Festival through Theater Huntsville, I was like, oh, like,
I want to look into some Alabama play rights and
I found two that are awesome. I found two that
are very very cool. But before I get into it,
I didn't find something and I wanted to pitch it
to the group. I know we do playtos and that's fine,
but I'm I'm calling upon the gods for a It's

(36:57):
gonna be a random button for a a mini plato
a mini because I searched for so long.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
It's so much longer than I remembered. Why are they
still laughing?

Speaker 1 (37:10):
Let them get it out of the really funny, We're Jesus,
they go for so long, so long, keep.

Speaker 4 (37:18):
On going, relax.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
So I talked about it last night and by a
long time, and I searched for like ten minutes, So
there probably is one, but I just couldn't find it. Yeah,
I couldn't find a Bama Rush play.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
Because you're the one who wants that to exist. Yeah,
I know nobody's thought of it because you're supposed to
do it exactly.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
But I thought it would be fun if I gave
us like a couple of minutes and we try to
think of like a couple of plots for different Bama
Rush style play.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
I wanted to start doing this the other day and
you were like, you need to stop.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yeah, well, so I brought up the idea. You on
the tring says like, I bet that's exists. I wasn't
able to find.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
I immediately started riffing, and then you started riffing.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
I was like, wait, stop because if I can't find anything,
I want to do like a little mini plato on
the episode, I think.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
I started by saying title Bama Rush colon, it's all
Greek to me.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Oh yeah, you did say.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
It's all Greek to me? Is crazy?

Speaker 1 (38:03):
So wait, So if we were to do a Bama
Rush plate, would we do like that Bama Rush documentary?
Because I know there's that lady who like went and
like interviewed people and know that they're like like they try
to get people into Bama Rush and like try to
like follow students and like sneak them in. I would
want to do, like you want to be like a
becoming of age story for somebody.

Speaker 3 (38:19):
I like a.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
Mockumentary of that documentary because I remember there was a
lot of I didn't watch it personally, I watched, but
there were a lot of takes about how it was received.
I think it'd be funny to do a mockumentary of
that documentary. But like, the gag isn't about anyone's personal process.
It's just that like is in charge.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Well, the gag about the thing people had the gripe
with the documentary was the lady who was making it
had alopecia, which is like fine to have. I don't
judge anybody with.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
Alo, but like.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
The documentary, she kept on like comparing the plight of
these girls in Bama Rush to her having alopecia.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
It seems like a stitch where like the marketing of
it and then the actuality of it were we're very different,
and I think that's why a lot of people were
caught off guard.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
But it's like you never see in documentaries. Were like
the interviewers usually on camera yea, and they cut to
her so many times and so many times she's like,
you know, this reminds me a lot of the struggles
I go through by having alopecia. Yeah, And by the end,
I was like, wait, was this a documentary for alopecia.
It wasn't. It was Bama Rush. Yeah, but that was
like the thing people were having. We're like, I don't
understand what this was. There's like two different things in one.
But I do remember like watching it and watching like

(39:25):
them interview these girls who were like going into Bama Rush,
and it was so intense and I was like, oh
my god, it's crazy. So I was like, what would
be like a mockumentary would be really fun? Maybe like
I'm really in a horror horror plays right now. Maybe
like a horror play where like hazing goes a little
too far, or like a Hunger Games esque thing to
get into like sig Beta SIG I don't know what

(39:47):
they are.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
You're still opposed to cannibalism, right, not like in general,
but like.

Speaker 4 (39:52):
You don't like it.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Well, I I don't like it in movies. I like it.
I like it in real life. I like when people
eat people and like.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
Yeah, the cont I don't like.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
I don't like, I don't like, I don't like.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
I don't like.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
I don't like horror movies about cannibalism. When when someone
offers me a nice slab of human meat boiled blay.

Speaker 4 (40:09):
You don't want to be rude.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
I'm not gonna be really neat the whole thing. A
little bit of barbecue sauce tastes like chicken. Yeah, I'm
not a fan of canibalism.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
You wou want to.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
Certain horror tropes, yeah, Because I was like, devil worship
kind of seems like right there.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
We always see, like did you ever watch the videos
when they opened the door and they were like.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
We're talking to Hell, Like every time they're doing that,
like it's an incantation.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
And if you play those backwards.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Demons just like a grody adults whim animated, I feel like, yeah,
it's mister Pickles ask. Yeah, that's so funny.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Oh god, I forgot when that went viral.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
Oh man, that was crazy. But yeah, there's no Bama
Rush play. I might write it, but if I don't,
you should write it because I want to read it.
Or if you do know the Bama Rush plays, please
let us let us know because I will give it
a shout out in a later episode. Okay, but I
do want to talk quickly about these two play rights
because I think these two are cool. They haven't written
abamarash play, okay, but they had them cool stuff. Quentin

(41:08):
Cockrell is a native Birmingham, Alabamian. He received a BFA
at Birmingham Southern College and an MFA from the Alabama
Shakespeare Festival's Professional Actor Trading Program. He's worked with numerous
theater companies in New York City and throughout the United States,
including Riverside Shakespeare Company, West Beth Theater, Soho Rep, the
John Houseman Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Studio Arena Theater,

(41:30):
Heritage Repertory Company, Birmingham Children's Theater, and City Equity Theater.
Quentin is a recipient of the Alabama State Council of
the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting for his plays of Low
Life and Shothouse. Quinn was selected as the Kennedy Center
Player in twenty eleven. He's also performed as a vocalist
in cabarets in New York and Paris. Two thousand and nine,
he joined the Troy University Department of Theater and Dance,
and he's a five to recipient of the Kennedy Center

(41:52):
American College Theater Festival Achievement Award for Excellence in Directing. Wow,
this dude has a killer and I love that his
talent has brought him all the way to Playwright Horizons,
to Soho Rep, to these like huge New York theaters.
Orlando ShakespeRe Theater is one of the biggest shaspeare theaters
in the country. And he still comes back to Troy,

(42:14):
and he still comes back to like creating and writing
stuff for Alabama and like doing all this stuff and
the player I want to talk about. It's called City
Limits and the town of Apex, Alabama. A young black woman, Justinita,
works at a store in the country's largest retail chain.
A stifling summer day, she recognizes the new coworker, Wane Lee,
a young white man with whom she went to school.
A friendship begins, despite severe racial hostility on both sides.

(42:36):
The coming together of these two Las souls creates a
dangerous storm of conflict, secrets, and violence. City Limits touches
on racial disparity, mental illness, and the soul's desperate desire
for freedom as it builds to a perilous and surprising climax.
This play is wonderful. I loved reading it. Amazing, amazing

(42:57):
two person scenes so good. I mean, the whole play
is a two person play, but it's just so such
good scenes, such good monologues. If you are a young
black woman or young white man, they're like age twenty
five in the show. So if you're able to play
that age, go read City Limits. It's on. It's on
Quentin's new play Exchange, as are all of Quentin's plays.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
A ton of great stuff on there. And if i'd
like talk about his style, he kind of reminds me
of like David Lindsay a Bear, but like for like
the Black South, it's really really wonderful. His his comedy
is Quippi, but everything has meaning, which I think is
really important, Like it still is funny while it also
still like really has meaning behind it. He he does
a good like it's like Douglas Lions, but skews a

(43:39):
little bit like darker with his comedy, Like like he
plays the balance of comedy and drama really really well,
but he's ECUs a little bit darker like David Lindsay
A Bear does. Yeah. But yeah, so there's that. That's
one player that I wanted to talk about. And then
La Darien Williams. I found this in an article with
in the Birmingham Times about a struggling playwright finding success
in New York City hailing from the small town of Hull, Alabama. Boom,

(44:01):
Alabama Takes that World. Ladarian Williams is a self taught playwright, filmmaker,
author and creative who aims to cultivate a new era
of black fantasy. As a playwright, His plays have been
a part of the the Echo Theater, play Rights Lab,
Great Playing Theater Conference in Omaha, Nebraska, TSU's Black and
Latina's Playwright Festival, and the Boise Contemporary Theater, the Boise

(44:21):
Contemporary Theater b IPOC Playwrights Festival, and an alumni of
the eugen O. Neil National Play Rights Conference. Killer Resume.
His play Cogo Queens was invited to participate in the
twenty nineteen sun Dance Institute Playwrights Festival. Some other people
who have done the Sundance Playwrights Festival Annie Baker, Chloe X,
Tina Jen Silverman, Crazy Names, Yeah, I'm still going It's crazy.

(44:45):
It also won the New Works at the Works Playwriting
Festival and was given a world premiere at the Playhouse
on the Square in July twenty twenty four. His Jeff
nominated play Boulevard of Bold Dreams, a Story about a
Haitian about Hattie mc daniel's historic oscar Win, was a
part of the New Works Festival at Morgan Wilson Theater

(45:06):
in Santa Monica, California. It was a world premiere production
at Timeline Theater in Chicago. The East Coast premiere at
the Greater Boston Stage Company. In March or twenty twenty three.
He's worked at Orlando Shakes two. He's done so much,
so much cool stuff but fun tact of the day.
He was writing in Alabama, he wasn't getting anywhere. He
got the Rocket City New York's Festival. It was like

(45:26):
one of the only things he got. Yeah, And then
he moved to New York City. He was struggling to work.
He was like trying to like find stuff, and he writes.
He starts a young adult fantasy novel called The Young
the Blood at the Root series, and it is currently

(45:46):
a New York Times bestseller and has sold over like
five million copies.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Yeah, so he like has really diversified his array of writing. Yeah,
because he came from Alabama, there wasn't a ton of opportunity,
and he like really grinded his way, which I think
is a story of all of these Alabamas, of all
of these like Alabamians, Alabamas, Alabama. I think we can
make one out for every state, perfect, perfect for all
of these people from Alabama, for all these Alabamas, Like

(46:12):
they're looking for art as hard as they can because
they love it, and they weren't given that opportunity. So
hopefully this episode shouts out a little bit like what
they do. His play Hurt People is on New Play Shane.
It's a wonderful, wonderful play, a coming of age play
about black people in the South. It's a beautiful story
rip from his own heart. It was really really great.
There's a note from the play right at the top

(46:33):
of this play which is so good and it's short,
so I'm gonna be the whole thing, Okay. It's one
of my favorite notes some players I've ever read. Note
for the play, right, dear black man, you have a
space to be soft, to be and feel hard. Just
explore that. Please. Dear black woman, you have a space
to be angry, to feel unprotected, and you can call
that shit out if you want to be angry. It's justified.

(46:56):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
And then it goes into a play that it's all
about his raid. It is hurt as pain of being
of growing up black in Alabama in the South. Yeah, amazing.
There's also this really cool mythological kind of like theme
that I love throughout it. But both these play rates
are awesome. Both these players have amazing stuff on New
play Exchange. Both these play rates are smart and wonderful

(47:16):
and brilliant and like show such good work that revolves
around being black in Alabama and it's just beautiful. I mean,
these two playrates are awesome and I was super excited
to find them. I cannot went to read more of
their stuff. I've downloaded every single play possible. I've only
read Hurt People and City Limits so far, but I

(47:37):
plan on reading everything of theirs. And they're freaking rad
that's awesome. So yeah, that's Alabama for me. Baby boom dude.

Speaker 4 (47:45):
Boom, Bama.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
What do you think?

Speaker 2 (47:47):
First state of the list, first date down. I didn't
know anything, like, literally not one thing about Alabama theater.
I assumed that the universities there like had stuff going.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yeah, it's not Auburn's story.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Crazy, that's a crazy story.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
That's It's definitely a state that it hasn't been on
my radar. I don't have exposure to it. Yeah, you're
someone who's from Alabama. I hope that's something you've been
involved in. Just got shut it out, and I will
say if you're any of those neighboring states that he
wikipedia in the beginning.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana.

Speaker 4 (48:14):
Yeah, I hope you're I hope you're checking that out
as well.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
Yeah. You know, what's a fun fact. Last year SETC
was that Mobile was in Mobile, Alabama?

Speaker 3 (48:21):
Remember that? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (48:22):
And I feel like everybody was like, oh man, why
is it in Alabama so far away? After doing this,
I'm like, oh, that's awesome that I was in Alabama.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Yeah, and I remember considering like, are we going to
go to that?

Speaker 4 (48:31):
And I think I think I had to do that?

Speaker 2 (48:32):
You did will Yeah, but yeah, no, people were trying
to figure out, like what do I do there?

Speaker 3 (48:37):
What's this?

Speaker 2 (48:37):
What's that? And yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
Wish your man this episode a year ago so people
would know. But I mean it's just like.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
After sent them in the right direction the after doing.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
All this research for this episode, Dude, I like, I
thoroughly fell in love with Alabama theater. I thought it
was so cool and it made me regret not going
to SETC. Yeah, it made me regret not flying SETC,
renting a car and just driving around and visiting all
these theaters and doing all this stuff. And it made
me really excited about this season because there's so many

(49:04):
times where we just passed through states.

Speaker 4 (49:06):
Yeah all the time.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
I remember this past summer, I do Oklahoma Shakespeare, and
I can't wait. I don't know who's doing Oklahoma, but
I probably I think it's me. But I like to
drive to Oklahoma, so I have a car there when
I do Oklahoma Shakespeare, I hope to do it every summer.
I love them there. But I drive through all these
states that I never go to and I never spend
time at. Yeah, And after a season a year and
a half of doing this podcast, I'm really excited to

(49:28):
be able to drive through states and be like, oh
my god. Every forty five minutes, I'm recognizing the name
of a city and I know they have like a
cool theater somewhere there.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
And also, you know, I know we have a few
rogue international listeners, which I always think is so cool
and fascinating me.

Speaker 4 (49:40):
Guess how'd you find us?

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (49:42):
Cool?

Speaker 2 (49:42):
But I do think that that's something that if you
are not someone who's visited the United States before, like
to put into comparison, Like when we're talking about like
statewide travel, sometimes that is day triple. Sometimes it takes
you days to cross to certain states. Yeah, so like
in terms of like the geos graphy of.

Speaker 4 (50:00):
What we're talking about.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Yeah, like when I would drive home from grad school
back to Minneapolis or something like that, Like that's about
fourteen hours. I'm passing by several states, but I'm not stopping,
like you're just going through because.

Speaker 4 (50:11):
Oh yeah, with gas prices or whatever.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Right.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
So yeah, the breadth of this season and how much
like kind of ground or literally covering is just to
give you a little context, It's massive.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
It's huge. Yeah, That's the other thing is why I
kind of like that this doing this research, it kind
of sent me down a spine of like of trying
to find places in every corner of Alabama. Yeah, because
it made me think, like when we do Texas or
we do California, like it's going to be a mammoth.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
I mean any state that has its own varied regional dialects.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
It's wild, like a state or region that is so
big that like an Alabama accent or dialect is.

Speaker 4 (50:47):
Different from Mississippi, from Texas.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
Yeah, or like it's it's.

Speaker 4 (50:51):
Yeah, our kind of cultural epicenters are crazy.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
So I'm excited that I hope that we both kind
of bring in the like the help to like facilitate
and look into every corner of the state, even if
it's just a little bit. Like I know, I didn't
have as much research about University of Alabama as I
did as Auburn or I didn't. I just barely kind
of talked about like Mobile, but like I wanted to
give those things. So if you are someone who is
like within thirty to forty five minutes of Mobile, Alabama,

(51:17):
you're like, oh, shoot, I'm gonna go check out the
Joe Jefferson players. Yeah, I see what's going on over there.
They have a cool season. I love that show. So yeah,
I don't know that's Alabama.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
Baby, beautiful boom.

Speaker 4 (51:26):
It's time for.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
It's time for our new game.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
Justin hit the music.

Speaker 1 (51:32):
All right, let's lay one down.

Speaker 4 (51:35):
Uh huh.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
This is play disease to choose, send a lie six
seven to cheers, a lie to cheer and.

Speaker 4 (51:50):
Tell lies about the states talking about.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
This is the one. This is the one that's right.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
It's time for too true a lie.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Because we don't we don't play that while I put
it in posts.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Yeah all right, So we were doing and I started
to recognize the musicals, which is the opposite of the point,
the opposite.

Speaker 4 (52:19):
We're switching it up.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
We're learning a lot about these different states as we go,
and so I'm going to test Justin's knowledge of the
state he just talked about, and he's gonna have to
tell me if three random facts are true or false. Yeah,
one of them is false.

Speaker 1 (52:33):
We're basically the two trees and a lie for each state,
and the person who didn't do the research is preparing
the two trees and a lie to test the person
he did.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
Do the state bird yellow hammer.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
Yellow hammer, llow under his arms.

Speaker 4 (52:47):
Wings in this scenario.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
All right, you ready, yeah, I'm ready?

Speaker 4 (52:50):
All right.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Fact number one the first African American bank in the
United States was in Alabama.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
That didn't sound right.

Speaker 4 (52:59):
Fact number two, Channing Tatum is from there.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
That also doesn't sound right.

Speaker 4 (53:05):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
I'll tell you at the end if it's wrong, but
for now, just sit with it, okay. Fact three, Yeah,
Hank Williams died there.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
I don't know what Hank Williams is.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
Who's Hank Williams.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
Hank Williams is like a country music star, right?

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Oh well, that makes sense to me. Then okay, okay,
let me process this through my head.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
Are you ready? Yeah, first African American bank in the
United States.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
I don't think that's true because of the Civil War.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
I will say it was founded in eighteen ninety.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
Oh I guess mate, Well, this just show my like
bad US history. Was Alan a state in eighteen ninety?

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Were all of our states states at eighteen nineties?

Speaker 2 (53:50):
Well, actually no, Columbus, No, because we had territories, so
we had Alaska and Hawaii wouldn't have been states.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Yet, but we did a forty states in eighteen ninety.

Speaker 4 (53:58):
Yeah, the lower forty eight.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
Okay, I think unless unless I'm showing my ass to.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Be honest, I have no idea if you'd told me,
if you told me US was the US was founded
in nineteen twenty one, I would believe you.

Speaker 4 (54:11):
It'd be like, yeah, baby, twenty.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Twenty is hell. Yeah, yeah, we started Chritopher Columbus sailed
the Blue in nineteen twenty two.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
Okay, so what is it? Did Hank Williams?

Speaker 1 (54:20):
I think it's Channing Tatum. I think he made up
the changing.

Speaker 4 (54:22):
I think that I made up that Channing team.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
I don't think he doesn't at all read like Alabama.

Speaker 4 (54:27):
That's not the one.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
Wait he's from Alabama.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
Yeah, the incorrect one is Hank Williams. Hank Williams was
born there, but he didn't die there. He died in
West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
Oh my god, now it came back.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
No, the first African American bank in the US was
the Penny Savings Bank, and it was in Birmingham.

Speaker 4 (54:43):
In eighteen ninety.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Oh my god.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Yeah. And Channing Tatum is from there, which also felt
wrong to me.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
That's so weird.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Yeah, I was like, I don't know why that felt fake.

Speaker 4 (54:51):
So that's why I included it, because I also thought
it would seem big.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Can I say something? Yeah, I don't believe it.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
Well, now here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
What if we found check strong in fact?

Speaker 1 (55:00):
What if we wait? What if we improvise? What if
we just improvise teachers that always lies?

Speaker 2 (55:07):
Every time it's a lie, but we feel like one
is the truth the other exactly know. Channing Tatum I
think is from there. That's hey, Williams is from there too.
It's just like he didn't die there.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
He died in West Virginia, just like we all did.
Just like we all did.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
So. Yeah, that's that's.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
A lot.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
That was good.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Sometimes we tell Lizebana that was Alabama.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
Than for listening.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
Yeah, thanks for starting this new journey we're doing for
me next week.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
We're super excited. Great. Yeah, thank you so much for listening.
You can reach out to us if you want to
tell us anything about your state at Platzy Podcast at
gmail dot com. Give us a follow on Instagram at
actual Ercoon. At justin Borak, we'll post a bunch of
stuff about the show that well, we'll post up there. Well,
we'll be there sometimes we'll be there. We'll be there.
Follow me on TikTok at Mediocre Jokes for more theater content,

(55:56):
and follow me on YouTube at justin Borack. Maybe I
make another video. It's been a year.

Speaker 4 (56:02):
We'll see if he gets right.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
We'll see read our stuff. We both have new play changes.
Go read kill the Bird, Go read my stuff over
there on a new place change, and then please buy
and produce my play got in Cabin Chronicles. Oh also
I can say this because kind of official doing an event
at the dram Bookshop. I don't know what it's going
to be, but it's on February sixteenth, I think so

(56:23):
come to the dram book Shop on February sixteenth. I'll
post more information on my Instagram about it. Yeah, make
sure you go see theater. If you're in Alabama, now
you know where, but yeah, go see theater. We are very,
very lucky now to be in the city where like
the most theater in the world happens. But if you're not,
which I know if you listen to this, aren't like
hopefully we get to your state. If you were from Wyoming,

(56:45):
I'm so sorry, but you're gonna be pumped in a year.

Speaker 4 (56:47):
Hang in there.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
Hang in there, brother, It's the one The one thing
we have is alphabetical.

Speaker 4 (56:51):
Stue of the country.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Yeah, yeah, we that's the one constant through this series
is alphabetical.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
We'll get there.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
I'm so sorry West Virginia shout out, but but uh yeah,
we are so excited to do this season. I don't know,
I'm freaking pumped.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
Yeah, thanks for listening.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
Anything else you want to shout out?

Speaker 2 (57:09):
I have one last thing I want to say.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
Well, let me say it because I want to end
this episode the way I end every episode. But look
at my friend in her beautiful by and saying Erica Cone,
I love you so much.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Justin Borak, the co host to one prettiest of the day,
I love you so much.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
Roll Tied Bye,

All Episodes

Alabama - Alabama Shakes, Auburn University, and Storie for All!

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Alabama - Alabama Shakes, Auburn University, and Storie for All!