December 3, 2023 • 9 mins
Tony Koehler, Production Manager for the Contemporary Theater, talks about a new production of a Christmas Carol with only one actor!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Earlier, we were talking about thingsthat gets you into the Christmas spirit.
Christmas songs, the music that youhear on the radio or when Michaela's things
it in your ear, and alsoChristmas shows. We're talking about TV shows
and specials that you have, Butwhat about going to the live theater when
you can get into the Christmas spirit? Do you know? That was one
of the things we did consistently asa kid. We went to Chicago to
(00:23):
see a show in the theater everyChristmas with my extended family. That was
something my mom and dad did forus every year. That's a wonderful tradition.
Yeah, really it is. Youhaven't carried it over with your boys,
though, have you not yet?I've taken them to see some shows,
and I think maybe it's time tostart taking them mis seymore, given
their ages and given that we havea great theater company that we're talking to
you today, the Contemporary Theater ofOhio. Tony Kohler, Am I saying
(00:44):
that correctly? Actually, Kaylor liketrailer? Thank you, Kaylor. I
won't forgive that one. Are thoseweird German last weemes? Well? And
they both discovered Mindy they're a blendof German and Italian, both of these
two that are sitting across, whichis so funny. I meet Tony and
I look at him and I seethe name Tony, and I'm like,
you're Italian. And Michaela's like,why do you think that with his last
name. I'm like, well,Tony and he looks Italian and then we
(01:07):
have the same exact roots. Mymom's side of the family Italian, my
dad's side of the family German,and it's just like the same. And
he's got an Italian horn on.I used to have one years ago.
I just don't know whatever happened toit. And tell everyone what you said
about an Italian horn. Well,you can't buy one for yourself. You
have to either be gifted it oryou have to steal it. And I
was like, what, so,I'm learning all kinds of things today.
(01:30):
But it's supposed to keep evil away. Yes, it keeps the evil eyeway.
Does it work for you? Itdoes? All right, Mandy.
We got to find you a horn. I may know what I'm getting you
for Christmas. At does the joint? You could steal it? I could
steal it too, not from me, not from Tony Tony Kaylor, production
manager for the Contemporary Theater of Ohio. So, you guys are doing a
Christmas Carol? You are, yeah, And it's a fun little spin on
(01:53):
the original classic. So what isthe spin about? So this is a
one person show about you know,the Christmas Carol, but it's with a
fabulous actress, Angela Yononi is alsoa talent, not Taylor. So Angela
(02:14):
portrays Charles Dickens and then goes into tell the story and does all of
the characters, literally every character inthe novella. And she does it without
the use of costuming or you know, hats or anything. All she does
is change her voice or her physicality. And I when I tell you that
(02:35):
it's magical, it's truly magical towatch this woman portray all these people.
So as a production manager, whatdo you do? How do you produce
just a one person show like that? Well, so I am in charge
of all the shows for this seasonand from beginning to end, from where
we choose the show to closing itout at the end of the run,
(02:55):
I'm in charge of helping to finddesigners and the actors. We don't have
designers on this show because there's noprops, there's hardly any lights. But
we have a nice relationship with Angela. She's performed with us before. She
was in nine to five the musicalwhen we did that a couple of months
ago, and she did another onewoman show, an Iliad. It's based
(03:19):
on the Odyssey Ameliad obviously, andshe really carried that production as well.
So it's easy as a production managerwhen you have someone like Angela in the
lead. Yeah, so you don'treally have to source much of anything.
She's she wearing some kind of costume. Yeah, she's dressed in Victorian era
like Dickens would. It's period accurateclothing, but everything's interacting. And so
(03:40):
Charles Dickens did a version of thisactually, which I don't think I knew
this. He went around the countryand did something similar. Yeah. So
after the book became very famous,he would come to America and do recitations.
So you would read the novella togroups of people, sometimes very intimate
(04:00):
in someone's home, but also likebig auditoriums. And he actually did it
here in Columbus, which is wildand the hotel that he stayed at,
the Neil House is is across thestreet. From the State House and it's
actually where the current theater where we'reperforming stands today. So Charles Dickens has
been like on that block where we'reperforming his work. Who knew. Yeah,
(04:21):
it's very wild. Oh my gosh, there's some history there, there's
some meaningfulness there. Absolutely. What'sthe best part of the show that you
think like that, the part thatyou think the audience is going to love,
you know, watching the Angela transformfrom character to character just in an
instant with her voice or just agesture. It again, it's truly magical.
(04:43):
I found I saw the show Thursdaynight rehearsal, and I found myself
like leaning in big dumb grin,just like really entranced in the story.
At one point when she's talking aboutTiny Tim, I like had a tear
and it's I forgot that I waswatching one person tell this epic, you
know tale. It was was fascinatingso that everybody, yes, you gotta
(05:05):
come for Christmas present, Christmas past, Christmas a scooge tiny Tim does it
all? Does it all? Ithink I would just want to go to
just to see how it's done.Well, I know, because I don't
think i've I've seen some kind ofwhat what i'll call like monologue type only
performances. But this, this isa difference. It is how did you
get there? Tony? Like youyou were talking about selecting the plays,
(05:29):
how did you select this specific onefor this specific part of the season.
Well, at the Contemporary, ourmission is to tell stories that meet the
current moment and and with it sowe can have empathy with our community.
And this story is easy to youknow, reach that point because it's a
story about redemption. It's a storyabout charity. It's a story about reaching
(05:54):
out to your community. But that'sthe versions that we see are normally very
epic and and fun and scary andbecause of the ghost and all the magic
and stuff. But this story isreally distilled down into this storytelling version that's
so intimate that really speaks to thequality of theater that we like to do
at the Contemporary. So it reallyit was a home run for us to
(06:17):
choose this play. How much yourtickets tickets are twenty seven dollars, which
are it's less than our normal ticketrate, so it's very accessible. Also,
the first Thursday, it's a preview, it's a pay what you can
or pay what you want performance,so you can come to the theater and
pay as little as a dollar tocome see the show. That's a brilliant
(06:39):
idea. Have you guys done thatall alone? Yeah? Yeah. Robert
Weiler is a big sponsor and thatallows for us to be able to keep
theater accessible to the community. Anyonepay a penny. We have had people
pay a penny. You can really, you can really what you want?
Yeah, pay what you want?And with the show, is there anything
else surprising that you might find withinthe show if we pay that penny or
(07:02):
more to come? Which one?You know? I was really taken with
the historical aspect of this show becausewe see how storytelling would have been in
the Victorian area and that it's allthat that is to say, it's not
boring. It's not boring at all. So you get a little bit of
history, but you get a realreal bang for your buck as far as
(07:25):
the entertainment value. So, okay, where do people go to get those
tickets? You can get tickets atour website, which is the Contemporaryohio dot
org and all of the ticket informationis there. Fantastic. We're going to
give away a couple of tickets.So if you would like to go experience
this one woman phenom of a showfrom what it sounds like, so curious
(07:46):
to see this whole thing come together? I think yes, six one four
eight two one nine eight eighty six. That's six one four eight two one
WTV end. We'll take our thirdcaller and you'll get those two tickets to
see the show in the run ofthe show. Because it's the holidays,
it's I would take it it shorter. Yes, it's shorter. It's two
weekends. We start December fourteenth andwe go all the way up to December
(08:07):
twenty thirds, right before the ChristmasEve. Have you ever acted? Are
you just a long long time?Really? What made you go from the
acting world to being the outside ofthe world like calling the shots? Correct?
You know? I wasn't very Idon't like no, and I got
told to know a lot as akid. So I went to the other
(08:28):
side, the business side of thetheater. Uh, and you know I
call the shots from behind the table. Now, yeah, thriving at it.
Where he's been and he's been acrossthe country. Well again, that
third caller six one four eight eighteight six six one four eight two one
w TV and some calls are comingin now, Tony, thank you for
being with us today. Thank youso much for having me marry christ Christmas
(08:48):
to you. Yeah, like mypon, yes pison, And now we
got to get you an Italian horn. I'm on it like this is.
You're going to walk out of hereand I'm going to reach it. Tony
Taylor with the Contemporary Theater of Ohio. Thanks Tony, this is what matters
on six' ten at WTVN.I'm gonna get your pictures.
Earlier, we were talking about thingsthat gets you into the Christmas spirit.
Christmas songs, the music that youhear on the radio or when Michaela's things
it in your ear, and alsoChristmas shows. We're talking about TV shows
and specials that you have, Butwhat about going to the live theater when
you can get into the Christmas spirit? Do you know? That was one
of the things we did consistently asa kid. We went to Chicago to
(00:23):
see a show in the theater everyChristmas with my extended family. That was
something my mom and dad did forus every year. That's a wonderful tradition.
Yeah, really it is. Youhaven't carried it over with your boys,
though, have you not yet?I've taken them to see some shows,
and I think maybe it's time tostart taking them mis seymore, given
their ages and given that we havea great theater company that we're talking to
you today, the Contemporary Theater ofOhio. Tony Kohler, Am I saying
(00:44):
that correctly? Actually, Kaylor liketrailer? Thank you, Kaylor. I
won't forgive that one. Are thoseweird German last weemes? Well? And
they both discovered Mindy they're a blendof German and Italian, both of these
two that are sitting across, whichis so funny. I meet Tony and
I look at him and I seethe name Tony, and I'm like,
you're Italian. And Michaela's like,why do you think that with his last
name. I'm like, well,Tony and he looks Italian and then we
(01:07):
have the same exact roots. Mymom's side of the family Italian, my
dad's side of the family German,and it's just like the same. And
he's got an Italian horn on.I used to have one years ago.
I just don't know whatever happened toit. And tell everyone what you said
about an Italian horn. Well,you can't buy one for yourself. You
have to either be gifted it oryou have to steal it. And I
was like, what, so,I'm learning all kinds of things today.
(01:30):
But it's supposed to keep evil away. Yes, it keeps the evil eyeway.
Does it work for you? Itdoes? All right, Mandy.
We got to find you a horn. I may know what I'm getting you
for Christmas. At does the joint? You could steal it? I could
steal it too, not from me, not from Tony Tony Kaylor, production
manager for the Contemporary Theater of Ohio. So, you guys are doing a
Christmas Carol? You are, yeah, And it's a fun little spin on
(01:53):
the original classic. So what isthe spin about? So this is a
one person show about you know,the Christmas Carol, but it's with a
fabulous actress, Angela Yononi is alsoa talent, not Taylor. So Angela
(02:14):
portrays Charles Dickens and then goes into tell the story and does all of
the characters, literally every character inthe novella. And she does it without
the use of costuming or you know, hats or anything. All she does
is change her voice or her physicality. And I when I tell you that
(02:35):
it's magical, it's truly magical towatch this woman portray all these people.
So as a production manager, whatdo you do? How do you produce
just a one person show like that? Well, so I am in charge
of all the shows for this seasonand from beginning to end, from where
we choose the show to closing itout at the end of the run,
(02:55):
I'm in charge of helping to finddesigners and the actors. We don't have
designers on this show because there's noprops, there's hardly any lights. But
we have a nice relationship with Angela. She's performed with us before. She
was in nine to five the musicalwhen we did that a couple of months
ago, and she did another onewoman show, an Iliad. It's based
(03:19):
on the Odyssey Ameliad obviously, andshe really carried that production as well.
So it's easy as a production managerwhen you have someone like Angela in the
lead. Yeah, so you don'treally have to source much of anything.
She's she wearing some kind of costume. Yeah, she's dressed in Victorian era
like Dickens would. It's period accurateclothing, but everything's interacting. And so
(03:40):
Charles Dickens did a version of thisactually, which I don't think I knew
this. He went around the countryand did something similar. Yeah. So
after the book became very famous,he would come to America and do recitations.
So you would read the novella togroups of people, sometimes very intimate
(04:00):
in someone's home, but also likebig auditoriums. And he actually did it
here in Columbus, which is wildand the hotel that he stayed at,
the Neil House is is across thestreet. From the State House and it's
actually where the current theater where we'reperforming stands today. So Charles Dickens has
been like on that block where we'reperforming his work. Who knew. Yeah,
(04:21):
it's very wild. Oh my gosh, there's some history there, there's
some meaningfulness there. Absolutely. What'sthe best part of the show that you
think like that, the part thatyou think the audience is going to love,
you know, watching the Angela transformfrom character to character just in an
instant with her voice or just agesture. It again, it's truly magical.
(04:43):
I found I saw the show Thursdaynight rehearsal, and I found myself
like leaning in big dumb grin,just like really entranced in the story.
At one point when she's talking aboutTiny Tim, I like had a tear
and it's I forgot that I waswatching one person tell this epic, you
know tale. It was was fascinatingso that everybody, yes, you gotta
(05:05):
come for Christmas present, Christmas past, Christmas a scooge tiny Tim does it
all? Does it all? Ithink I would just want to go to
just to see how it's done.Well, I know, because I don't
think i've I've seen some kind ofwhat what i'll call like monologue type only
performances. But this, this isa difference. It is how did you
get there? Tony? Like youyou were talking about selecting the plays,
(05:29):
how did you select this specific onefor this specific part of the season.
Well, at the Contemporary, ourmission is to tell stories that meet the
current moment and and with it sowe can have empathy with our community.
And this story is easy to youknow, reach that point because it's a
story about redemption. It's a storyabout charity. It's a story about reaching
(05:54):
out to your community. But that'sthe versions that we see are normally very
epic and and fun and scary andbecause of the ghost and all the magic
and stuff. But this story isreally distilled down into this storytelling version that's
so intimate that really speaks to thequality of theater that we like to do
at the Contemporary. So it reallyit was a home run for us to
(06:17):
choose this play. How much yourtickets tickets are twenty seven dollars, which
are it's less than our normal ticketrate, so it's very accessible. Also,
the first Thursday, it's a preview, it's a pay what you can
or pay what you want performance,so you can come to the theater and
pay as little as a dollar tocome see the show. That's a brilliant
(06:39):
idea. Have you guys done thatall alone? Yeah? Yeah. Robert
Weiler is a big sponsor and thatallows for us to be able to keep
theater accessible to the community. Anyonepay a penny. We have had people
pay a penny. You can really, you can really what you want?
Yeah, pay what you want?And with the show, is there anything
else surprising that you might find withinthe show if we pay that penny or
(07:02):
more to come? Which one?You know? I was really taken with
the historical aspect of this show becausewe see how storytelling would have been in
the Victorian area and that it's allthat that is to say, it's not
boring. It's not boring at all. So you get a little bit of
history, but you get a realreal bang for your buck as far as
(07:25):
the entertainment value. So, okay, where do people go to get those
tickets? You can get tickets atour website, which is the Contemporaryohio dot
org and all of the ticket informationis there. Fantastic. We're going to
give away a couple of tickets.So if you would like to go experience
this one woman phenom of a showfrom what it sounds like, so curious
(07:46):
to see this whole thing come together? I think yes, six one four
eight two one nine eight eighty six. That's six one four eight two one
WTV end. We'll take our thirdcaller and you'll get those two tickets to
see the show in the run ofthe show. Because it's the holidays,
it's I would take it it shorter. Yes, it's shorter. It's two
weekends. We start December fourteenth andwe go all the way up to December
(08:07):
twenty thirds, right before the ChristmasEve. Have you ever acted? Are
you just a long long time?Really? What made you go from the
acting world to being the outside ofthe world like calling the shots? Correct?
You know? I wasn't very Idon't like no, and I got
told to know a lot as akid. So I went to the other
(08:28):
side, the business side of thetheater. Uh, and you know I
call the shots from behind the table. Now, yeah, thriving at it.
Where he's been and he's been acrossthe country. Well again, that
third caller six one four eight eighteight six six one four eight two one
w TV and some calls are comingin now, Tony, thank you for
being with us today. Thank youso much for having me marry christ Christmas
(08:48):
to you. Yeah, like mypon, yes pison, And now we
got to get you an Italian horn. I'm on it like this is.
You're going to walk out of hereand I'm going to reach it. Tony
Taylor with the Contemporary Theater of Ohio. Thanks Tony, this is what matters
on six' ten at WTVN.I'm gonna get your pictures.
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