July 13, 2024 • 20 mins
In her second episode, Amora dives into how professional creatives can take care of themselves during times of stress with her friend and co-star, Austin Sasser!
Sasser plays Fairy King Oberon & Duke Theseus in Janani Sreenivasan's upcoming production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Under St. Mark's Theatre in the East Village, NYC, opening July 18th-28th. Buy in-person & livestream tickets here!
Amora talks kings, cats, origin stories and a certain love-affair with the voice acting in the popular cartoon, Hazbin Hotel with Sasser.
Sasser regales us with his affinity for Shakespeare, his experiences as an African American actor learning to embrace classical roles at the Atlantic School of Acting in NYC with the help of Anya Saffir, and how he invests heavily in the Canadian body care company, Lush.
Amora & Austin touch on other actors of note who have inspired them, including Dame Judy Dench (a Titania of the ages), and Alan Rickman (Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman can be bought anywhere fine tea is spilled).
All elements of this podcast written, created and produced by Amora Sun. Yeah, she was the one singing in the beginning and ending segments. The songs were "Happy Day in Hell" and "It Starts with Sorry," written/composed by Sam Haft & Andrew Underberg.
Follow Amora and reach out for media/production inquiries on IG: @wecolorblush
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/saturday-night-shrinking--6225217/support.
Sasser plays Fairy King Oberon & Duke Theseus in Janani Sreenivasan's upcoming production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Under St. Mark's Theatre in the East Village, NYC, opening July 18th-28th. Buy in-person & livestream tickets here!
Amora talks kings, cats, origin stories and a certain love-affair with the voice acting in the popular cartoon, Hazbin Hotel with Sasser.
Sasser regales us with his affinity for Shakespeare, his experiences as an African American actor learning to embrace classical roles at the Atlantic School of Acting in NYC with the help of Anya Saffir, and how he invests heavily in the Canadian body care company, Lush.
Amora & Austin touch on other actors of note who have inspired them, including Dame Judy Dench (a Titania of the ages), and Alan Rickman (Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman can be bought anywhere fine tea is spilled).
All elements of this podcast written, created and produced by Amora Sun. Yeah, she was the one singing in the beginning and ending segments. The songs were "Happy Day in Hell" and "It Starts with Sorry," written/composed by Sam Haft & Andrew Underberg.
Follow Amora and reach out for media/production inquiries on IG: @wecolorblush
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/saturday-night-shrinking--6225217/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's a more funny feeling than wolfs through the air.
Every street's so revealing it's hard not to stare. It's
a realm, so appealing, it beats anywhere if you don't
mind the small.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's a happy day in Hay. I'm mister, go fuck yourself.
There's an endless trash fire that's burning my soul.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Got a ton of barb wire to shove in the school.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Doing water is required.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
We all have our room.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm not doing well.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Another shitty day in Hay. Hello, this is a Morris Sime.
Welcome to another episode of Saturday Night Shrinking. I'm here
today with my good friend and co star of a
Midsommer Night's Dream, directed by Jana Nice Serini Fassan. His
name is Austin Sasser. He is a graduate of the
prestigious Atlantic Acting School program and he is playing the
(00:56):
role of Oberon as well as Sethius with me and
I would just like to chat with him today a
bit about you know, his journey here.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
How are you today, Austin?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I am doing very very well.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
Happy to be here, happy to be you know, around
the practice and get this thing going.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Amen.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
I know, so I know that You're from Michigan, and
I know that you came here to pursue your dream
of acting. And you've told me before that you've been
cast as kings for a good majority of the time.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Do you think that you.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Like emote a kind of kingly energy to attract that.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Kind of casting.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
You know, it's so interesting because I think the majority
of the times that I've played kings, which have been
actually quite a few times.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I think it's the voice.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I think because of all these like practice and vocal
classes and you know, all the acting techniques that we do.
I think it's led to getting like a sense of
residence and a sense of deepness and a sense of power.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
And I think it's just served me well.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
I think I just got blessed with a good voice
that can carry, you know, a kingly role in a
kingly spirit.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And I'm I'm glad. I love it. I love playing kings.
I hope we can keep it going this way too.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
I concur you know, and Austin, you have this beautiful
cat named Cherry who you've adopted from an adoption center
here in New York City. Do you know much about
kings and cats and their connection?
Speaker 5 (02:23):
You know, as I'm actually answering this question. You should
see my black panther jersey right now. So it's funny
when I was thinking of a name with her, because
I'm a big Marvel fan, and I'm a big nerd
when it comes to like comic books and movies and everything,
and I think the black panther when it comes to
you know, cats and kings.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
It's so crazy. Did you ask me that same question?
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I would like to do more on the non nerd
aspect of it, and like more like the historic aspect.
But I think it has something like a prestigious vibe
to a prestigious and a royalness to it, a prosperous.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Vibe to it.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
And I think, honestly, she's sitting here looking at me
right now, I think you've helped me benefit.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You looked up as I said that.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
She's aware.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
She is so aware, she's so cute.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I actually have a tattoo of a big cat right here.
We're kind of a face of it.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
But I think I'm I've always been a dog person.
I think I'm leaning towards cats now. I think y'all
are transforming me.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Yep, cats are very avantageous to professional creatives. They're said
to anchor us and to also like just kind of
reinforce our energies and what we're dreaming about. You know,
cats were the accompaniers to the underworld and the Next
life and Egyptian prophecies and legends. So and I know
(03:46):
that when you said, you know an interesting voice, that's
what attracts you to these casting directors putting you in
the roles of kings. You know, I'm quite a fan
of funny voices.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Oh thank you, me too. I can throw a lot
of them out there.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I can throw a lot of them out there right now.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Probably my favorite funny voice that I'm very attracted to
is the voice actor who plays Alistair from Has Been
Hotel cartoon series.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Are you familiar with him?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I am not. I am not. You have to educate me.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Coming from someone as ancient as you, right, quite a compliment.
He kind of sounds a bit like my favorite guy.
I have a bit of an embarrassing obsession that I
have shared with Austin in the past around the vocal
effects of a certain comedian.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yep, I know exactly who we're talking about. I know
exactly who you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Right now, and you know, I made another friend who's
lived in the city. He lives in Astoria for a
couple of years, and he really followed the trajectory of
John Mulaney and his first wife for quite some time.
And his first wife was this really wonderful visual artist.
She was Jewish, So their connection and a Roman Catholic man,
John Mulaney.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Jewish woman, this wonderful artist, woman Adam Marie Tendler, was interesting.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
And my friend had a visceral response to their breakup
and how John Mulaney came across his new love affair
who he just married over the weekend.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
N Congratulations to the big.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Homie, Olivia.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
How important is voice to you and who you gravitate towards.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
It's so interesting because I think voices when it comes
to especially it's different type of roles and like Shakespearean
and you know performance. As I said, I think I'm
a big nerd. Well I know I'm a big nerd person.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So when it comes to.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Video game voicing and like anime voicing and cartoon voicing,
all of that speaks so much to me because you
can do I think some of our favorite voice actors
at least I'll speak for myself. I've never actually seen
what they look like, but when it comes to their voice,
I can kind of distinct, like, oh, this person is here,
this person sounds a lot like this person. Then I'll
google the name and it'll be the exact same person.
(06:01):
But I think the biggest person that I would say
is my as a voice person, as Tony Todd.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And what did Tony Todd's star in that people might.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Recognize Candy Man?
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Candy Man, I think the distinctness of his voice and
like the octave and the deepness of it.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And then he made a lot of other cameo appearances.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
A final Destination, he was the one in the back
with the dead bodies and he had like a fantastic monologue.
Then he actually finished up doing Spider Man two, the
game that came out a couple months ago that was
a big seller on PS five and he played the
voice of Venom and so he he I watched an
interview with him and he was speaking about how like
(06:44):
all of these like the voice and the deepness, you
can carry it around to so many different roles and
like play with the octaves and the tonality of everything
that they can get you in the door with a
lot of places, So I think Tony Todd is probably
one of the biggest influences.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Also, Judy did Oh.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
I think her voice is very the regalness of it
and the oh.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
That's another big person that I think.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Yeah, a lot of Shakespearean people, even m Kela and
Sir Patrick Stewart, you know, Kathy Bates, like all these
people have such distinct voices that I very much.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Love to just listen to Joe Edgerton.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
It's another big one in Denzel as so many Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I remember listening to an interview where Maggie Smith and
the woman who also plays Professor the hufflepuff Leader. They
were talking about how annoying Judy Dench was because whenever
they applied for any kind of American role.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Judy always got it.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
They had to just check if Judy was unavailable before
they even put their hat on, because Judy just snatches
everything up.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Oh everything, double O seven.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
I could watch I love all those I love Bomb,
James Bomb like I love Oh.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I love listening to her. I listened to her podcast
that she's been on.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
I've been looking more into like Shakespearean podcasts on Apple Music,
so I'll sit and I listened to like the Older
Shakespeare podcast, and they had a whole interview. She was
going through every single one of her Shakespearean roles of
all time for like fifty minutes.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
And I sat there with the imaginary popcorn and six
and just ate it up. I just ate it up.
And I just kind of drifted and said, oh judy ah.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
The popcorn eating a vocal noises were an added benefit
to that description.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Oh man, oh man, I do it all the time.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
You just see what I'm just by myself. I need
everything ships or everything comes out.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
You gotta gotta And you described me earlier in one
of our rehearsals who had interest in pursuing RADA in
England to kind of extend your Shakespearean studies.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yes, yes, tell me more about that.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Yes, well, I started my journey not too long ago
when it comes to Shakespearean things. Mostly I did a
little bit at university at the Baldwin while University in
Ohio where.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I graduated from undergrad.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
But then I most explored it in here actually at
the Atlantic with one of my biggest teacher inspirations. Big
shout out to Anya Anya Saffer, Big shout out to her,
she phenomenal teacher. Gave me so much confidence and outlook
on just being Shakes and doing Shakespeare, and especially you
know when it comes to being an African American and
(09:25):
not feeling like I had a voice in a lot
of the Shakespeare stuff that I couldn't rerelate that she
was the just a lovely vessel and in check off
also with all those type of plays.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
But it started this path where I just wanted to.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Keep diving in and diving in and diving in, and
then all of a sudden I kept getting cast into
so much Shakespeare and stuff that I said, you know
what would be really fly going over to England and
study because I had some friends that actually studied over
there recently, and they were saying, how much of a
great experience it was, r actually doing a show together
right now, how much of a great experience it was.
(10:02):
And the difference is that they were kind of listing
between over there on the West End and here when
it comes to studying Shakespeare and how there's different you know,
intricate things that they do differently.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Like a lot of more.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
It's from what they told me, it seems like it's
a lot more stanch and like heavy when it's like
the rhythms and the line endings and you know, the
trophies and like all those things versus me over here.
I think I've been mostly taught to thalk chunkin and
then that's you know, So I think it would be
so cool to blend those two to be like.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
What is really different? Like what is going on?
Speaker 5 (10:38):
So I would like to Now it's expensive, Yeah, it's expensive,
so hopefully we can pass some money. But that's I
would love to rot up lamb dump. I believe it's
another one, just any one.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Of them over there.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Have you ever visited the UK before?
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I sure have not.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Well, well, well, so my mother is English. I have
a lot of English relations, which is part of the
reason why I got into Shakespeare, and she's why I
can easily fall into quite a convincing English accent.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I just think of my mother and I'm there. I'm
already there.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
So if you've never been to England, what a wonderful
like journey to explore? Like you're not just hitting the
London town to see the beef eaters at the Tower
of London. You're going to try and expand your persapacity
with some of the toughest Elizabethan language humanly possible, with
(11:38):
some of the people that coached you know, Sir Anthony
Hopkins or my personal favorite, Alan Rickman. He went to Rada, yes,
and now taught down that man's voice. Like I saw
a photo of him when he was in his mid
twenties or late or early thirties. Ugly as f but
it doesn't matter because of the voice.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Page three hundred and ninety.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Watched all two young rythandoles such as yourselves dream here inside.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
They like their.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Max books anytime anywhere, Alan Rickman. And did you read
his wife's publication of his his diary entries? His wife Rita,
she posthumously published all of his diary entries from all
these amazing projects that he started.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Really, yes, I had no idea that is at what
yeah is? Did you go to just the books to
pick up read it?
Speaker 5 (12:38):
You can?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yes, I own a copy. It's dense.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
But you know when I before I moved to New York,
I got a copy and I was reading through it.
And sometimes it's tough to keep up with journaling, you know.
But how Alan Rickman did it is he just wrote
a couple of lines every day, and it could be
very bland. It can just be like about what happened,
or who he talked to, or his impressions of who
he talked to, or like. But he's very like he
(13:04):
throws shade on a lot of industry professionals.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I think one was like.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Had had to work with this person with them, and
they didn't support our co star ron bitch and they
didn't help him come up with.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
The process at all. It was very disappointing. Still tomorrow
I speak with my agent about negotiating another raise on
the next one.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Oh simple pleasures, A nice glass of wine.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
That's like I would recommend buying the book sounds.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
I never I had never heard that today. I would
love to sit down because he's so interested. He would
be somebody that I would love to study and see
if he like dropped some gyms on like you know, yeah,
like the process of his own process or something like that.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Well, the cool thing about Alan Rickman in terms of
what people like Emma Thompson and of course his wife,
who he dated and was very seriously committed to for years.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
They only married later.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
He was very encouraging of younger talent, and he was
always very collaborative, and if there was some kind of
caddy effing bullshit within these productions, he would try and
just stay slightly removed from it. Like he could still
get caddy, he could still get bitchy himself. But he
was introverted and he took the opportunity, when it was
(14:19):
safe to do, to extend love to other cast members
and crew members who he could identify and wouldn't need it.
He didn't have any kids of his own, and before
he became an actor, he was a graphic designer, so
he had an understanding of how hard creatives can be
on themselves and on each other if they're under stress.
So my next question for you, Austin is how do
(14:40):
you take care of yourself as a professional creative when
you're under stressed.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
That is such an amazing question. I think I have
recently found meditation. I think that is something that I
really enjoy. I call it the sass Or version of meditation,
meaning I will buy a beautiful candle, I will turn
every light off in this room, and I will light it,
put on some background music. I'm a big soundtrack fan.
(15:04):
So my favorite movie of all times Gladiator. That's number
one and that soundtrack is phenomenal, so I could sit
and put that in the back and just listen to it.
I actually started and need to keep up with journaling.
I looked on Amazon and I found that there is
a black Man Journal, and I love that because it
(15:27):
was full of affirmations and full of different type of
like little motivational things to say, and it's it's just
really it's very uplifting.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And then it has you write out your goals.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
It has you write out affirmations about yourself, it has
you write out take a breath.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
It has you write out all these beautiful things.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
And unfortunately, because do to busyness and everything, I fell off.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
But I need to. I need to get back into
it because that was something beautiful. I love.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
Usually gaming, I think that'll stress me out unless it's
demon souls or like a souls born or elden ring
causes my blood pressure and to raise through the roof
and need to be more stressed than I was gaming.
I love listening to music. I love putting on sea
sounds in the background of like oceans, and just relaxing
a nice steam shower for like a stressful day after
(16:17):
I've spent all my money at Lush, getting all of
the body washes and the scrubs and the soaps, all
of those things.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I love a man who takes care of himself.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Lush has my entire bank account, and I love it.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Did you know that Lush is a Canadian company?
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I actually did not until you told me.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Yes, you know, I'm always eager to point out what's
Canadian around here.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Oh I need to go, I need to go. I
love Canada. I'd love to move there and just visit me.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You know, You're always welcome to come. Your dollar goes
a long way. Think of what it's like for me here.
I think I can afford something. And then I checked
the conversion rate and I'm thirty.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Oh no, no, but that's the price we pay for
following I dreams, Amara.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yes, we are acting. We are acting in New York City,
in New York. I am not just anyone.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I am the action.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Well this has been lovely, mister Austin.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
If people are interested in finding out more about you
or finding you on the great world Wide Web, where
should they start?
Speaker 5 (17:34):
If you google my name Austin Blake Sasser, my website
comes up. There's a lot of cool articles I have
in Instagram the Austin B. Sasser, where I would be
sharing things about our lovely show coming up. And then yeah,
that's mostly where I usually hang out.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
At usual hang out or the drama bookshop. I'll usually
be there too, me too.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I freaking love that place.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Do you know?
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I got Dracula, a feminist revenge fantasy playbook there.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Oh, everything, everything, and they do they do.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
And I bought a second copy of the musical Scored
a Waitress because I forgot I already had one.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I don't know. I'll probably just use both of them.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Take one, mark it up, maybe pick a role in
your dream role, and then use that one.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Reading exactly or you know what, because I have to
do a lot of collaborative stuff in my musical theater masters,
I'll use one while the accompanists or whoever I'm working
with these is the other. And that will be sad,
saving money and time and lives. Well, we're gonna sign off.
Thank you so much for chatting with me, Austin. It's
(18:44):
an absolute pleasure pretending to.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Be your wives too.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I'm the Queen of the Amazons, who he woos through
Marshall Acumen through his dominating sword and then I'm also Titanya,
his fairy queen who.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
He freaking the tray that never happened. That was only
in the first version of Midsummer Ice Dream. But Oberon
and theseus are both right on both sides.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
You know what, No, but you should come and see
maybe you'll enjoy it. Come and see us perform at
under Saint Mark's Theater in the East Village. Opening night
is July eighteenth, running to twenty first, and then we
do it all again the next weekend. Between July twenty
fifth to the twenty eighth, we got matt Naese. On Sundays,
we got twentieth and twenty seventh live stream. If you
(19:38):
can't make it in person to New York, people in Michigan,
people in Canada.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Et cetera, come on so and of course.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
You can find all this out on my speaker profile,
the podcast website.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And my own Instagram. Thank you very much. A good
good night's cheery the sweet cat. She's left us
Speaker 1 (20:00):
And fucking but back like me, I don't deserve your
ah Misty
There's a more funny feeling than wolfs through the air.
Every street's so revealing it's hard not to stare. It's
a realm, so appealing, it beats anywhere if you don't
mind the small.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's a happy day in Hay. I'm mister, go fuck yourself.
There's an endless trash fire that's burning my soul.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Got a ton of barb wire to shove in the school.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Doing water is required.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
We all have our room.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm not doing well.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Another shitty day in Hay. Hello, this is a Morris Sime.
Welcome to another episode of Saturday Night Shrinking. I'm here
today with my good friend and co star of a
Midsommer Night's Dream, directed by Jana Nice Serini Fassan. His
name is Austin Sasser. He is a graduate of the
prestigious Atlantic Acting School program and he is playing the
(00:56):
role of Oberon as well as Sethius with me and
I would just like to chat with him today a
bit about you know, his journey here.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
How are you today, Austin?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I am doing very very well.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
Happy to be here, happy to be you know, around
the practice and get this thing going.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Amen.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
I know, so I know that You're from Michigan, and
I know that you came here to pursue your dream
of acting. And you've told me before that you've been
cast as kings for a good majority of the time.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Do you think that you.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Like emote a kind of kingly energy to attract that.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Kind of casting.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
You know, it's so interesting because I think the majority
of the times that I've played kings, which have been
actually quite a few times.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I think it's the voice.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I think because of all these like practice and vocal
classes and you know, all the acting techniques that we do.
I think it's led to getting like a sense of
residence and a sense of deepness and a sense of power.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
And I think it's just served me well.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
I think I just got blessed with a good voice
that can carry, you know, a kingly role in a
kingly spirit.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And I'm I'm glad. I love it. I love playing kings.
I hope we can keep it going this way too.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
I concur you know, and Austin, you have this beautiful
cat named Cherry who you've adopted from an adoption center
here in New York City. Do you know much about
kings and cats and their connection?
Speaker 5 (02:23):
You know, as I'm actually answering this question. You should
see my black panther jersey right now. So it's funny
when I was thinking of a name with her, because
I'm a big Marvel fan, and I'm a big nerd
when it comes to like comic books and movies and everything,
and I think the black panther when it comes to
you know, cats and kings.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
It's so crazy. Did you ask me that same question?
Speaker 5 (02:43):
I would like to do more on the non nerd
aspect of it, and like more like the historic aspect.
But I think it has something like a prestigious vibe
to a prestigious and a royalness to it, a prosperous.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Vibe to it.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
And I think, honestly, she's sitting here looking at me
right now, I think you've helped me benefit.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You looked up as I said that.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
She's aware.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
She is so aware, she's so cute.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I actually have a tattoo of a big cat right here.
We're kind of a face of it.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
But I think I'm I've always been a dog person.
I think I'm leaning towards cats now. I think y'all
are transforming me.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Yep, cats are very avantageous to professional creatives. They're said
to anchor us and to also like just kind of
reinforce our energies and what we're dreaming about. You know,
cats were the accompaniers to the underworld and the Next
life and Egyptian prophecies and legends. So and I know
(03:46):
that when you said, you know an interesting voice, that's
what attracts you to these casting directors putting you in
the roles of kings. You know, I'm quite a fan
of funny voices.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Oh thank you, me too. I can throw a lot
of them out there.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I can throw a lot of them out there right now.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Probably my favorite funny voice that I'm very attracted to
is the voice actor who plays Alistair from Has Been
Hotel cartoon series.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Are you familiar with him?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I am not. I am not. You have to educate me.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Coming from someone as ancient as you, right, quite a compliment.
He kind of sounds a bit like my favorite guy.
I have a bit of an embarrassing obsession that I
have shared with Austin in the past around the vocal
effects of a certain comedian.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yep, I know exactly who we're talking about. I know
exactly who you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Right now, and you know, I made another friend who's
lived in the city. He lives in Astoria for a
couple of years, and he really followed the trajectory of
John Mulaney and his first wife for quite some time.
And his first wife was this really wonderful visual artist.
She was Jewish, So their connection and a Roman Catholic man,
John Mulaney.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Jewish woman, this wonderful artist, woman Adam Marie Tendler, was interesting.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
And my friend had a visceral response to their breakup
and how John Mulaney came across his new love affair
who he just married over the weekend.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
N Congratulations to the big.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Homie, Olivia.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
How important is voice to you and who you gravitate towards.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
It's so interesting because I think voices when it comes
to especially it's different type of roles and like Shakespearean
and you know performance. As I said, I think I'm
a big nerd. Well I know I'm a big nerd person.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So when it comes to.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Video game voicing and like anime voicing and cartoon voicing,
all of that speaks so much to me because you
can do I think some of our favorite voice actors
at least I'll speak for myself. I've never actually seen
what they look like, but when it comes to their voice,
I can kind of distinct, like, oh, this person is here,
this person sounds a lot like this person. Then I'll
google the name and it'll be the exact same person.
(06:01):
But I think the biggest person that I would say
is my as a voice person, as Tony Todd.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And what did Tony Todd's star in that people might.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Recognize Candy Man?
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Candy Man, I think the distinctness of his voice and
like the octave and the deepness of it.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And then he made a lot of other cameo appearances.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
A final Destination, he was the one in the back
with the dead bodies and he had like a fantastic monologue.
Then he actually finished up doing Spider Man two, the
game that came out a couple months ago that was
a big seller on PS five and he played the
voice of Venom and so he he I watched an
interview with him and he was speaking about how like
(06:44):
all of these like the voice and the deepness, you
can carry it around to so many different roles and
like play with the octaves and the tonality of everything
that they can get you in the door with a
lot of places, So I think Tony Todd is probably
one of the biggest influences.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Also, Judy did Oh.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
I think her voice is very the regalness of it
and the oh.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
That's another big person that I think.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Yeah, a lot of Shakespearean people, even m Kela and
Sir Patrick Stewart, you know, Kathy Bates, like all these
people have such distinct voices that I very much.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Love to just listen to Joe Edgerton.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
It's another big one in Denzel as so many Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I remember listening to an interview where Maggie Smith and
the woman who also plays Professor the hufflepuff Leader. They
were talking about how annoying Judy Dench was because whenever
they applied for any kind of American role.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Judy always got it.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
They had to just check if Judy was unavailable before
they even put their hat on, because Judy just snatches
everything up.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Oh everything, double O seven.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
I could watch I love all those I love Bomb,
James Bomb like I love Oh.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I love listening to her. I listened to her podcast
that she's been on.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
I've been looking more into like Shakespearean podcasts on Apple Music,
so I'll sit and I listened to like the Older
Shakespeare podcast, and they had a whole interview. She was
going through every single one of her Shakespearean roles of
all time for like fifty minutes.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
And I sat there with the imaginary popcorn and six
and just ate it up. I just ate it up.
And I just kind of drifted and said, oh judy ah.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
The popcorn eating a vocal noises were an added benefit
to that description.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Oh man, oh man, I do it all the time.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
You just see what I'm just by myself. I need
everything ships or everything comes out.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
You gotta gotta And you described me earlier in one
of our rehearsals who had interest in pursuing RADA in
England to kind of extend your Shakespearean studies.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yes, yes, tell me more about that.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Yes, well, I started my journey not too long ago
when it comes to Shakespearean things. Mostly I did a
little bit at university at the Baldwin while University in
Ohio where.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I graduated from undergrad.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
But then I most explored it in here actually at
the Atlantic with one of my biggest teacher inspirations. Big
shout out to Anya Anya Saffer, Big shout out to her,
she phenomenal teacher. Gave me so much confidence and outlook
on just being Shakes and doing Shakespeare, and especially you
know when it comes to being an African American and
(09:25):
not feeling like I had a voice in a lot
of the Shakespeare stuff that I couldn't rerelate that she
was the just a lovely vessel and in check off
also with all those type of plays.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
But it started this path where I just wanted to.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Keep diving in and diving in and diving in, and
then all of a sudden I kept getting cast into
so much Shakespeare and stuff that I said, you know
what would be really fly going over to England and
study because I had some friends that actually studied over
there recently, and they were saying, how much of a
great experience it was, r actually doing a show together
right now, how much of a great experience it was.
(10:02):
And the difference is that they were kind of listing
between over there on the West End and here when
it comes to studying Shakespeare and how there's different you know,
intricate things that they do differently.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Like a lot of more.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
It's from what they told me, it seems like it's
a lot more stanch and like heavy when it's like
the rhythms and the line endings and you know, the
trophies and like all those things versus me over here.
I think I've been mostly taught to thalk chunkin and
then that's you know, So I think it would be
so cool to blend those two to be like.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
What is really different? Like what is going on?
Speaker 5 (10:38):
So I would like to Now it's expensive, Yeah, it's expensive,
so hopefully we can pass some money. But that's I
would love to rot up lamb dump. I believe it's
another one, just any one.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Of them over there.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Have you ever visited the UK before?
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I sure have not.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Well, well, well, so my mother is English. I have
a lot of English relations, which is part of the
reason why I got into Shakespeare, and she's why I
can easily fall into quite a convincing English accent.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I just think of my mother and I'm there. I'm
already there.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
So if you've never been to England, what a wonderful
like journey to explore? Like you're not just hitting the
London town to see the beef eaters at the Tower
of London. You're going to try and expand your persapacity
with some of the toughest Elizabethan language humanly possible, with
(11:38):
some of the people that coached you know, Sir Anthony
Hopkins or my personal favorite, Alan Rickman. He went to Rada, yes,
and now taught down that man's voice. Like I saw
a photo of him when he was in his mid
twenties or late or early thirties. Ugly as f but
it doesn't matter because of the voice.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Page three hundred and ninety.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Watched all two young rythandoles such as yourselves dream here inside.
Speaker 5 (12:07):
They like their.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Max books anytime anywhere, Alan Rickman. And did you read
his wife's publication of his his diary entries? His wife Rita,
she posthumously published all of his diary entries from all
these amazing projects that he started.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Really, yes, I had no idea that is at what
yeah is? Did you go to just the books to
pick up read it?
Speaker 5 (12:38):
You can?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yes, I own a copy. It's dense.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
But you know when I before I moved to New York,
I got a copy and I was reading through it.
And sometimes it's tough to keep up with journaling, you know.
But how Alan Rickman did it is he just wrote
a couple of lines every day, and it could be
very bland. It can just be like about what happened,
or who he talked to, or his impressions of who
he talked to, or like. But he's very like he
(13:04):
throws shade on a lot of industry professionals.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I think one was like.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Had had to work with this person with them, and
they didn't support our co star ron bitch and they
didn't help him come up with.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
The process at all. It was very disappointing. Still tomorrow
I speak with my agent about negotiating another raise on
the next one.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Oh simple pleasures, A nice glass of wine.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
That's like I would recommend buying the book sounds.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
I never I had never heard that today. I would
love to sit down because he's so interested. He would
be somebody that I would love to study and see
if he like dropped some gyms on like you know, yeah,
like the process of his own process or something like that.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Well, the cool thing about Alan Rickman in terms of
what people like Emma Thompson and of course his wife,
who he dated and was very seriously committed to for years.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
They only married later.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
He was very encouraging of younger talent, and he was
always very collaborative, and if there was some kind of
caddy effing bullshit within these productions, he would try and
just stay slightly removed from it. Like he could still
get caddy, he could still get bitchy himself. But he
was introverted and he took the opportunity, when it was
(14:19):
safe to do, to extend love to other cast members
and crew members who he could identify and wouldn't need it.
He didn't have any kids of his own, and before
he became an actor, he was a graphic designer, so
he had an understanding of how hard creatives can be
on themselves and on each other if they're under stress.
So my next question for you, Austin is how do
(14:40):
you take care of yourself as a professional creative when
you're under stressed.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
That is such an amazing question. I think I have
recently found meditation. I think that is something that I
really enjoy. I call it the sass Or version of meditation,
meaning I will buy a beautiful candle, I will turn
every light off in this room, and I will light it,
put on some background music. I'm a big soundtrack fan.
(15:04):
So my favorite movie of all times Gladiator. That's number
one and that soundtrack is phenomenal, so I could sit
and put that in the back and just listen to it.
I actually started and need to keep up with journaling.
I looked on Amazon and I found that there is
a black Man Journal, and I love that because it
(15:27):
was full of affirmations and full of different type of
like little motivational things to say, and it's it's just
really it's very uplifting.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And then it has you write out your goals.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
It has you write out affirmations about yourself, it has
you write out take a breath.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
It has you write out all these beautiful things.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
And unfortunately, because do to busyness and everything, I fell off.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
But I need to. I need to get back into
it because that was something beautiful. I love.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
Usually gaming, I think that'll stress me out unless it's
demon souls or like a souls born or elden ring
causes my blood pressure and to raise through the roof
and need to be more stressed than I was gaming.
I love listening to music. I love putting on sea
sounds in the background of like oceans, and just relaxing
a nice steam shower for like a stressful day after
(16:17):
I've spent all my money at Lush, getting all of
the body washes and the scrubs and the soaps, all
of those things.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I love a man who takes care of himself.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Lush has my entire bank account, and I love it.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Did you know that Lush is a Canadian company?
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I actually did not until you told me.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
Yes, you know, I'm always eager to point out what's
Canadian around here.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Oh I need to go, I need to go. I
love Canada. I'd love to move there and just visit me.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You know, You're always welcome to come. Your dollar goes
a long way. Think of what it's like for me here.
I think I can afford something. And then I checked
the conversion rate and I'm thirty.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Oh no, no, but that's the price we pay for
following I dreams, Amara.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yes, we are acting. We are acting in New York City,
in New York. I am not just anyone.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I am the action.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Well this has been lovely, mister Austin.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
If people are interested in finding out more about you
or finding you on the great world Wide Web, where
should they start?
Speaker 5 (17:34):
If you google my name Austin Blake Sasser, my website
comes up. There's a lot of cool articles I have
in Instagram the Austin B. Sasser, where I would be
sharing things about our lovely show coming up. And then yeah,
that's mostly where I usually hang out.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
At usual hang out or the drama bookshop. I'll usually
be there too, me too.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I freaking love that place.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Do you know?
Speaker 4 (17:57):
I got Dracula, a feminist revenge fantasy playbook there.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Oh, everything, everything, and they do they do.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
And I bought a second copy of the musical Scored
a Waitress because I forgot I already had one.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I don't know. I'll probably just use both of them.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Take one, mark it up, maybe pick a role in
your dream role, and then use that one.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Reading exactly or you know what, because I have to
do a lot of collaborative stuff in my musical theater masters,
I'll use one while the accompanists or whoever I'm working
with these is the other. And that will be sad,
saving money and time and lives. Well, we're gonna sign off.
Thank you so much for chatting with me, Austin. It's
(18:44):
an absolute pleasure pretending to.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Be your wives too.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I'm the Queen of the Amazons, who he woos through
Marshall Acumen through his dominating sword and then I'm also Titanya,
his fairy queen who.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
He freaking the tray that never happened. That was only
in the first version of Midsummer Ice Dream. But Oberon
and theseus are both right on both sides.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
You know what, No, but you should come and see
maybe you'll enjoy it. Come and see us perform at
under Saint Mark's Theater in the East Village. Opening night
is July eighteenth, running to twenty first, and then we
do it all again the next weekend. Between July twenty
fifth to the twenty eighth, we got matt Naese. On Sundays,
we got twentieth and twenty seventh live stream. If you
(19:38):
can't make it in person to New York, people in Michigan,
people in Canada.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Et cetera, come on so and of course.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
You can find all this out on my speaker profile,
the podcast website.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
And my own Instagram. Thank you very much. A good
good night's cheery the sweet cat. She's left us
Speaker 1 (20:00):
And fucking but back like me, I don't deserve your
ah Misty
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