Speaker 1: Coming to you from the dining room table at East
Speaker 1: Barbary Lane. Welcome to another special episode of Full Circle
Speaker 1: the podcast. I am your host, Charles Tyson Jr. And
Speaker 1: I am thrilled to be sitting with a bevy of
Speaker 1: fabulous guests today. I am sitting down with the Strides Collective.
Speaker 1: We are just with an embarrassment of riches of creative
Speaker 1: folk these days, and today is no exception. I'm going
Speaker 1: to just let these fabulous people introduce themselves to you
Speaker 1: so we can know who we're talking to. Let's start. Jonathan,
Speaker 1: tell us about yourself.
Speaker 2: My name is Jonathan Edmondson. I am the founding artist
Speaker 2: director of the Strads Collective, and I'm also the director
Speaker 2: of our upcoming world premiere production of Confabulation.
Speaker 3: My name is rain Dias. I'm an actor based in
Speaker 3: the Philly area and I'm playing Grant in the production
Speaker 3: of Confabulation.
Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 4: I'm Catherine Wilde and also an actor playing the role
Speaker 4: of Agnes in Confabulation.
Speaker 1: Fabulous. Welcome all of you to the Full Circle Table. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, you are Strides Collective. Tell me about Jonathan.
Speaker 1: Tell me about what the Stridees Collective is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so The Strides Selective is a Philadelphia based nonprofit
Speaker 2: queer theater company. We produce and develop work by emerging
Speaker 2: queer play rights. We were founded in twenty twenty and
Speaker 2: have been doing seasons ever since. We work on new
Speaker 2: play development programs to give emerging play rates and opportunity
Speaker 2: to develop new work for the stage, particularly focusing on
Speaker 2: queer stories. And we also produce one world premiere queer
Speaker 2: production each fall. And this upcoming production of Confabulation will
Speaker 2: be our third full in person production that we're doing
Speaker 2: at the Hamilton Family Art Center, which is attached to
Speaker 2: the Art and Theater Company in Old City. And the
Speaker 2: Stradspective was really founded with the idea to provide a
Speaker 2: space for queer play rights and queer artists designers to
Speaker 2: be able to explore the themes they want to explore
Speaker 2: in a room that doesn't have the same judgment in
Speaker 2: some other rooms, and just the safer space to explore
Speaker 2: and be supported in the things they want to talk about.
Speaker 1: I love that, I love that, I love that. We
Speaker 1: need we need to support queer art. So is it
Speaker 1: a Is it an assumption that everyone that is a
Speaker 1: part of the Stride's collective is a member of the
Speaker 1: LGBTQ community in some way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. We have a wide array of people who
Speaker 2: we have collective members. There are eight of us who
Speaker 2: function and do like the day to day administrative work
Speaker 2: and the producing work, and then we have folks like
Speaker 2: Rain and Catherine who are actors in our production. So
Speaker 2: we have a rotating group of people who come in
Speaker 2: depending on what we're doing. But yeah, we you know,
Speaker 2: usually work with queer artists and they self identify usually
Speaker 2: in that in that group.
Speaker 1: So tell me about this upcoming production entitled Confabulation.
Speaker 2: Yes, So, Confabulation is a world premiere play by Matt
Speaker 2: shriff Koff, who's a playwright based in New York City.
Speaker 2: We first worked with Matt a couple of years ago
Speaker 2: in our new play development program. Really loved his writing.
Speaker 2: He was working on a different playback then, and then
Speaker 2: we approached him last year to see what he was
Speaker 2: up to, and he was working on this play talking Fabulation,
Speaker 2: which takes place in a support group that is for
Speaker 2: past life regressions, So folks who are experiencing some difficulties
Speaker 2: in their current life that may or may not be
Speaker 2: connected to who they were in past lives and the
Speaker 2: group is led by this character named Agnes, who's able
Speaker 2: to guide these individuals to interact with their past lives
Speaker 2: and sort of see how that influences who they are
Speaker 2: right now. So it's really a journey of identity and
Speaker 2: figuring out what makes us special, what makes us not special,
Speaker 2: and sort of dealing with past and current and future trauma.
Speaker 2: And as the play goes on, those layers get more
Speaker 2: and more murky and things become a bit more complicated.
Speaker 2: It is a very like complex, sort of like mental
Speaker 2: show that is so hard to describe in one sentence.
Speaker 2: I've been trying to for the past couple of months
Speaker 2: and I haven't been able to figure it out. But
Speaker 2: I think that just complexity is in the nuances in
Speaker 2: the piece, which we all find really exciting and challenging
Speaker 2: as artists, I think, which makes it a very interesting
Speaker 2: piece to explore, particularly with the identity piece obviously really
Speaker 2: to like queer theater. Some of the characters in the
Speaker 2: play are queer and are sort of experiencing some you know,
Speaker 2: journeys with that and as it relates to their overall
Speaker 2: identity as just a human being, and ultimately it's about
Speaker 2: like human beings trying to like move forward from things
Speaker 2: that they've gone through that are difficult. So I think
Speaker 2: it's a universal story with a lot of queer elements
Speaker 2: mixed into it.
Speaker 1: I love it, And you know, I don't think there's
Speaker 1: anything wrong with not being able to elevate or pitch
Speaker 1: your art. You know, so many times, you know, we're
Speaker 1: expected to be able to encapsulate what it's about, and
Speaker 1: sometimes you need to experience it, and that's there's nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with that. So let me talk to our actors
Speaker 1: really quick, actually not really quick. So Rain and Catherine
Speaker 1: tell me about you, the characters that you play, and
Speaker 1: you know, anything that you had to bring from yourself
Speaker 1: into the role. Rain, let's start with you.
Speaker 3: Sure, I play the character of Grant. Grant is sort
Speaker 3: of an anomaly compared to a lot of the characters
Speaker 3: who are in the support group in that he has
Speaker 3: been court ordered after a misunderstanding and an assault charge
Speaker 3: outside of a gay bar. So Grant has some demons
Speaker 3: and a sort of the skeptic among the entire group.
Speaker 3: He doesn't want to be there. He's constantly trying to
Speaker 3: get out. He doesn't think that he needs any help.
Speaker 3: Despite this sort of repression around his own identity and
Speaker 3: his own sexuality. Frankly, so, he offers a lot of
Speaker 3: sort of cynicism and groundedness for better for worse for
Speaker 3: the show.
Speaker 1: Nice, I think I've met him before. You probably have, Yes, Catherine.
Speaker 4: Agnes is sort of the ringleader of this whole thing,
Speaker 4: and working on her has been a lot of fun
Speaker 4: because she presents in three different ways throughout the play,
Speaker 4: and that's given me, yeah, our particular vehicle for articulating
Speaker 4: the ways that we change through our lives and the
Speaker 4: ways that we change in our relationships to each other.
Speaker 4: And it's been really interesting to explore that dynamic throughout
Speaker 4: this play. It's interesting because I'm the group leader and
Speaker 4: I am a support group leader in real life, so
Speaker 4: I've been able to bring some of that. But you know,
Speaker 4: by the end, I'm also the main character's mother, and
Speaker 4: I've been a mother and I have adult children, so
Speaker 4: it's interesting to also, you know, bring that into the
Speaker 4: dynamic and to see how they do overlap and kind
Speaker 4: of speak into the same space. I am with a
Speaker 4: better support group leader and a better mother because I
Speaker 4: fill each of those other roles in real life.
Speaker 1: Nice, that actually brings me to my next question. I
Speaker 1: was going to say, like, uh, is there anything that
Speaker 1: you learned about yourself after immersing yourself in this project.
Speaker 4: I don't know if I've necessarily learned anything about myself,
Speaker 4: because I've done a lot of self discovery over recent years.
Speaker 4: But it's been interesting to poke into that space of being,
Speaker 4: particularly the distant cold mother, and how how close to
Speaker 4: home that is despite not thinking of myself that way.
Speaker 4: So it's been it's been a little self confrontational there.
Speaker 3: I would say for me, anything that I've learned would
Speaker 3: be most taken from the other characters in the show,
Speaker 3: because Grant is, I suppose, the least introspective out of
Speaker 3: all of the characters and the least interested in investing
Speaker 3: the vehicle in which we are sort of exploring these ideas.
Speaker 3: Though he does offer a lot of to me intriguing
Speaker 3: kind of dynamics around the idea of accountability and just
Speaker 3: by virtue of what it is that he's going through.
Speaker 3: To me, he's offered some interesting thoughts around like whether
Speaker 3: anyone needs somebody else to take accountability in order for
Speaker 3: you to move on from a given situation, So whether
Speaker 3: someone has wronged you, whether someone has traumatized you, or
Speaker 3: you feel someone is accountable for your own hurt. Do
Speaker 3: we need that person to own up and to apologize
Speaker 3: for that thing in order for us to make peace
Speaker 3: in ourselves. That's been a really interesting piece that I think,
Speaker 3: once again, for better for worse, looking at Grant and
Speaker 3: his character and what it is that he's working through
Speaker 3: has sort of offered me in my own life.
Speaker 1: Nice Jonathan, how about you? Any things you've learned about
Speaker 1: yourself from your role in this project?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely like that idea that Ran was just
Speaker 2: talking about, you know, needing the sort of something from
Speaker 2: someone else to move on, the sort of permission from
Speaker 2: somebody else or like seeking this approval or whatever it is.
Speaker 2: Is really I think been very interesting for me to
Speaker 2: be introspective about, and just this idea of like being
Speaker 2: able to move forward from something, and even if it's
Speaker 2: like a really small step moving forward, like how you
Speaker 2: do that and how you push forward through things? And
Speaker 2: like is it actually like do you actually need anything
Speaker 2: from anybody else? And if you do get that, how
Speaker 2: does it actually feel? Because it never feels as good,
Speaker 2: like in your head when you finally have that confrontation
Speaker 2: with someone and then you leave and you're like, well,
Speaker 2: I still feel bad and I still don't feel like I've,
Speaker 2: let you know, done anything, because it kind of comes
Speaker 2: from within ourselves. So I think the show takes like
Speaker 2: a really really hard at times bleak look at how
Speaker 2: difficult like being alive is and having relationships is, and
Speaker 2: it's not always the most uplifting thing to like think
Speaker 2: about those things all the time. But it's really human
Speaker 2: and it's real, and I think that's what's interesting about it.
Speaker 2: I know it is challenging me as like an artist
Speaker 2: and a leader and a director to sort of dig
Speaker 2: into this type of material that is a bit more
Speaker 2: like introspective and more just like complex than since some
Speaker 2: other pieces I've worked on and really tackle things that
Speaker 2: are like bleak and not super fun to talk about.
Speaker 2: So I've been pushed in ways that have been surprising
Speaker 2: to me, even though this is something that I knew
Speaker 2: we were going to be working on because it's a
Speaker 2: world premiere. The also like unique challenge is that it's
Speaker 2: the first time the play is being produced ever for anybody,
Speaker 2: So the playwrights also working on the script as we're like,
Speaker 2: as we're working on it too, so things have changed
Speaker 2: quite a lot over the last year, especially since this
Speaker 2: cast was brought on like in the early summer, so
Speaker 2: we've all had to roll with the changes as well,
Speaker 2: and it's exciting to make those changes, but also like
Speaker 2: really daunting. So as an artist, I think I've learned
Speaker 2: a lot about how to navigate that process of just
Speaker 2: having suddenly like a new scene or like an entirely
Speaker 2: rewritten scene from the thing that you read before, and
Speaker 2: working with that on the fly is just something you
Speaker 2: don't get if you're not working on a world premiere.
Speaker 2: You know, if you're doing an established play, you just
Speaker 2: have what it is and you can't change anything. And
Speaker 2: here we're like, great, this word isn't working. Let's suggest
Speaker 2: something else, or let's bring the play right in to
Speaker 2: like write us a new sentence to like bridge this thing.
Speaker 2: And it's it's really awesome and also like very overwhelming
Speaker 2: that you don't just know from like day one, you
Speaker 2: know how you're gonna get from a to Z. You're like, well,
Speaker 2: it's a to Z for now, and like we've had
Speaker 2: so many drafts of this play we've lost count. So
Speaker 2: it's that's very very interesting and unique to this process.
Speaker 1: And you know that's the good thing about being a
Speaker 1: queer collective because if nothing else, we are resilient and adaptive. Yes,
Speaker 1: And you know, I appreciate the introspective nature of this
Speaker 1: work because you know, we're each individually and together approaching life,
Speaker 1: you know, as outsiders, even if we have you know,
Speaker 1: a supportive family or support group or or chosen family,
Speaker 1: because you know, you might be the only one in
Speaker 1: your in your circle who comes from a supportive family,
Speaker 1: or you might your situation might be completely different from
Speaker 1: from everyone else. And we and we all have that
Speaker 1: unique thing as as a queer collective of people that
Speaker 1: we're the outliers even in the most normal circumstances. So
Speaker 1: I appreciate the fact that we get to take this
Speaker 1: moment to see moments of introspection. So which you know,
Speaker 1: talk to me about how important it is to be
Speaker 1: a collective of artists who you know, uplift queer queer
Speaker 1: art and tell queer stories. Why is that important?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I have like my thoughts of like
Speaker 2: making the stays with Kat and Rain, and I'd be interested,
Speaker 2: like you know, coming into us to join this process,
Speaker 2: Like how has it been for for y'all to like join.
Speaker 2: I know, the OBVI isn't always the case where you're
Speaker 2: working with team of predominantly queer folk on a queer play,
Speaker 2: so you may have a more interesting perspective than I
Speaker 2: do on it from the outside in.
Speaker 4: I guess one of the things that stood out to me, like,
Speaker 4: often when you're in theater spaces, there are other queer people,
Speaker 4: so you don't necessarily feel alone. It's usually a fairly
Speaker 4: diverse group, but in this in particular, it's like so present,
Speaker 4: we don't have to talk about it, if that makes sense,
Speaker 4: Like it's right, Yeah, it's just sort of a different,
Speaker 4: cozy space where nobody I mean, I don't know. I
Speaker 4: guess I'll work off of. Like, one of the things
Speaker 4: I like in the script is one the fluidity of
Speaker 4: people as their relationships and their relationship with their self
Speaker 4: and their relationship with other people is changing. I think
Speaker 4: that happens in life, and it's nice to see it
Speaker 4: within the context of a single story. But also there's
Speaker 4: nothing confrontational really about the queerness. Like, yes, the one
Speaker 4: character's incident is kind of incited Grant's character by a
Speaker 4: perception that there's you know, an anti queer thing. Everybody's
Speaker 4: just sort of existing. Nobody's defending their queerness. It just
Speaker 4: is And I like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I second that. I mean, I think it's clear
Speaker 3: that despite Strides being such a new collective, that there
Speaker 3: is such a clear vision for what it is that
Speaker 3: everyone is trying to achieve, and.
Speaker 2: Everyone takes their work very seriously.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I feel like that there's such a supportive
Speaker 3: nature that I think is probably probably sort of there
Speaker 3: seems to be such a supportive nature that I think
Speaker 3: is sort of innate to the group of folks that
Speaker 3: are coming together that you don't always find, frankly in
Speaker 3: a lot of theater spaces or a lot of professional
Speaker 3: creative spaces in general.
Speaker 2: So that's been really lovely to be a part of. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think like we yeah, that innate understanding, the sort
Speaker 2: of unspokenness that just is there. So lovely doing work
Speaker 2: where like yeah, like the characters aren't fighting for their
Speaker 2: lives because of their identity is refreshing. Like the main
Speaker 2: character Caroline is queer, and it just is a fact.
Speaker 2: She has a lot of other trauma going on and
Speaker 2: a lot of other history, but like her sexuality, it's
Speaker 2: so sure, it's all like imbued in there, right, but
Speaker 2: like it's not the it's not the inciting incident of
Speaker 2: the play. It's not the main motivational factor. And the
Speaker 2: people around Caroline don't blink an eye, and the same
Speaker 2: thing with other characters when they when they delve into
Speaker 2: that identity to nobody blinks an eye anything. So the
Speaker 2: sort of you know, the quote unquote normalizing of that
Speaker 2: in the narrative is really refreshing because we just don't
Speaker 2: see that a lot in media. Like when queer stories
Speaker 2: are on stage or on film or whatever, it's usually
Speaker 2: there's something hateful happening or very very difficult related to it, right,
Speaker 2: and we try as a collective to like find stories
Speaker 2: that aren't always just about that. It's very real obviously
Speaker 2: that you don't want to shy away from just like
Speaker 2: the realness of what we all go through. But also
Speaker 2: we see so much of it, we live it, so
Speaker 2: like to live something else is nice. To just like
Speaker 2: play queer on stage and like have other issues is
Speaker 2: also like you know real, so that I think is
Speaker 2: something that is unique to us. And we also like
Speaker 2: we clearly have like a goal and a vision and
Speaker 2: you know, theater costs some money, and there's the business
Speaker 2: side of it, which is like boo boring, but it
Speaker 2: is unfortunately like a thing to keep in mind that
Speaker 2: we have to because things cost money. But you know,
Speaker 2: I think prioritizing like humanity and creativity and fun as
Speaker 2: much as we can over anything else is really important too,
Speaker 2: and constantly trying to remind ourselves that, like that is
Speaker 2: why we're here and that's what we want to do
Speaker 2: with our time, because none of us are doing this
Speaker 2: for full full time jobs by any means at all.
Speaker 2: We're all working other jobs and doing this on the side.
Speaker 2: So like trying to emphasize the humanity always, I think
Speaker 2: is something that is really really important and hopefully is
Speaker 2: how folks feel working with us and working on this process.
Speaker 2: Is that you know, we're all there for each other
Speaker 2: and are like the same team working on something really supportive.
Speaker 2: And I think that speaks to the like larger idea
Speaker 2: of like queer chosen family and just communities and stuff like.
Speaker 2: There is just that vibe as we were building this
Speaker 2: little community like working on a show, between designers and
Speaker 2: actors and everybody, and it's fun to see it all
Speaker 2: like come together and just have that supportive space, and yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's nice.
Speaker 1: I love that, Like Martha refers to that as you know,
Speaker 1: the shorthand you know, we have a shorthand with each
Speaker 1: other that we know where each other is coming from,
Speaker 1: so we don't need to start at square one with exposition.
Speaker 1: And I do I do like that, And I like
Speaker 1: that you mentioned you know, you're telling queer stories, but
Speaker 1: the queerness is not necessarily the focal point of the work.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not a very special episode of you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. I do appreciate that, which brings
Speaker 1: me to a question that is, you know, it's a
Speaker 1: topic that's kind of a hot button. Now, So how
Speaker 1: do we feel about non queer actors taking on queer roles?
Speaker 1: Like I personally like, of course, the best actors should
Speaker 1: get the should get the gig. However, why do we
Speaker 1: act like there's like four queer people on the planet
Speaker 1: and you know, if the role doesn't fit those four people,
Speaker 1: let's give it to Brendan Fraser, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So how do we feel about that?
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, that's so interesting. I mean we're on such
Speaker 2: a small scale here with what we're doing, so it's
Speaker 2: like there's such a there's obviously such a difference of
Speaker 2: like thinking about what's at stake for like our show
Speaker 2: versus a you know, two hundred million dollar like Hollywood film, right, because.
Speaker 1: Philly's slopping over with queer folks, So that's not the
Speaker 1: same issue.
Speaker 2: I get that, yeah, but it is it is something
Speaker 2: that is. I think it's obviously of course for us,
Speaker 2: since we're a queer theater collective, it's on our minds always.
Speaker 2: But it's interesting because we do sort of just like
Speaker 2: when we put out a casting call for our shows,
Speaker 2: we give as much information as possible about the show
Speaker 2: and about the characters. We say, like what pronoun are
Speaker 2: used in the script for the characters, and we ask
Speaker 2: folks to just submit for for roles that they would
Speaker 2: feel comfortable playing, because we don't it's you know, far
Speaker 2: be it from us on the other side to prescribe anything.
Speaker 2: So we just say, like, if you want to submit,
Speaker 2: submit with what you're comfortable with. And then you know,
Speaker 2: once we're starting work to work with people and in
Speaker 2: the team, we can see so we try to approach
Speaker 2: it that way. I do think that there's there's no
Speaker 2: denying that, like, you know, and obviously Cat and Rain
Speaker 2: can speak even more to this than I can as
Speaker 2: actors in this particular show. But like you bring your
Speaker 2: lived experience to the roles you're doing, sometimes a lot,
Speaker 2: sometimes a little, but like you always do because you
Speaker 2: are when you step off stage, like you're back to
Speaker 2: being yourself, right, So there's no denying that. So there,
Speaker 2: and I think there's a short there's a shorthand we
Speaker 2: talked about. There's also a sort of like if you
Speaker 2: had to give everyone the backs, like you know, if
Speaker 2: someone had never come out, for example, or adult with
Speaker 2: anything like that, then having to sort of like go
Speaker 2: and tell an actor about that, like I don't know,
Speaker 2: it would be it would be different. It wouldink it
Speaker 2: would be it would just be different. It would just
Speaker 2: be different to work with an actor who hadn't had
Speaker 2: that experience versus someone who has had that experience. And
Speaker 2: you don't even, like Cat said, that's just like unspoken.
Speaker 2: It's just sort of like you know, is what it is.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I don't know, it's it's tricky as I
Speaker 2: don't know, rayin kind of you have any thoughts as
Speaker 2: as folks portraying people on this show, But.
Speaker 4: I don't know, I think this is a question that
Speaker 4: we're like, having representation is just such an important question
Speaker 4: all around, And Brendan Fraser specifically, like, yeah, I saw
Speaker 4: the whale and was like, why didn't you give an
Speaker 4: opportunity to a heavier actor instead of picking a big
Speaker 4: name and cgi ing it? And yeah, lived experience is
Speaker 4: part of it, and you can't. I mean, yes, you can.
Speaker 4: It's our job as actors to kind of find those
Speaker 4: experiences we don't relate to and find ways to relate
Speaker 4: to them and connect to them and make them real
Speaker 4: and lived. But there's a nuance that I think an
Speaker 4: actor with lived experience is likely to bring that another
Speaker 4: actor isn't, And I think a lot of it right now.
Speaker 4: It is just a representation is so important. Like, yes,
Speaker 4: maybe in a hundred years we've got straight people playing
Speaker 4: queer people and nobody cares because there's plenty of roles
Speaker 4: for everybody to go around. But I think right now,
Speaker 4: as an actor, being able to be visible about my
Speaker 4: queer play is important to me and is a component
Speaker 4: of it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like the two examples that Martha and I
Speaker 1: use when we have this conversation are Coleman Domingo in
Speaker 1: rustin versus Brendan Fraser in The Whale, Because when Brendan
Speaker 1: Fraser got his award, he talked about how this was
Speaker 1: a universe story. But I call bullshit because a straight
Speaker 1: person in this scenario isn't being ostracized and losing his
Speaker 1: family because he's straight. So you know, that's cute and everything.
Speaker 1: Whereas com in Domingo, there were certain nuances and inflections
Speaker 1: and body postures that you can't teach that. You know,
Speaker 1: you there's no method for that. You have to just
Speaker 1: you know or you don't. If you know, you know,
Speaker 1: If you don't, you don't. And I guess my personal
Speaker 1: stance on that is, you know, again, all things being equal,
Speaker 1: the best the role should go to the best actor,
Speaker 1: but give queer actors write or first refusal, you know,
Speaker 1: before we before we widen the pot because you know,
Speaker 1: don't have a DEI department and then immediately go to
Speaker 1: a straight person for a queer role. That's just me.
Speaker 1: So where do we see strides collective? This might be
Speaker 1: an odd question, but where do we see strides collective
Speaker 1: as part of the Greater Philadelphia Theater tapestry, Like, there's
Speaker 1: definitely room for plenty more queer centric work, whether that
Speaker 1: be the subject matter or you know, just focusing in
Speaker 1: terms of who is one and behind the stage, Like
Speaker 1: where do we see ourselves in the Philadelphia art scene.
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I think we're like we're constantly
Speaker 2: finding our footing and I think evolving year over years
Speaker 2: since we are so new and like next year is
Speaker 2: our fifth year, so we have all a lot as
Speaker 2: a company, and I think the more that we produce
Speaker 2: work and the more that people know us, the more
Speaker 2: that we're getting ingrained in the community, which is really awesome.
Speaker 2: We don't have a physical space. We just like rent spaces,
Speaker 2: so we don't have a physical presence anywhere in the city,
Speaker 2: which is cool because then we can sort of like
Speaker 2: hop around the different neighborhoods and produce work in different communities,
Speaker 2: which is really awesome and it doesn't tie us down
Speaker 2: to anything particular. There's also hard because we don't have
Speaker 2: like a place people can like it's not like we're
Speaker 2: like the Walnut or the Woma where people know exactly
Speaker 2: where we are and they can come to our shows,
Speaker 2: you know, year round. So in terms of like physically
Speaker 2: being in the community, it's it's still sort of a
Speaker 2: work in progress as we just get people to know
Speaker 2: that we exist. But I think that what of course
Speaker 2: the queerness of everything we've talked about, But I think
Speaker 2: something else that we've been able to start offering is
Speaker 2: like a place for emerging artists who are maybe you know,
Speaker 2: newer to to what they're doing, or out just out
Speaker 2: of college or just move to the city, who don't
Speaker 2: know a lot of people. We actually with a lot
Speaker 2: of folks who are like sort of new to Philadelphia,
Speaker 2: and the work we're doing is at a scale that's
Speaker 2: in a way that you can have you can hold
Speaker 2: other jobs, Like I work full time in a different
Speaker 2: position than what I do now, so you can have
Speaker 2: another job, but you can still practice your art and
Speaker 2: get and get paid something for it and work on
Speaker 2: a you know, semi professional level without being in a union.
Speaker 2: So there's a little bit of like a bridge I
Speaker 2: think between like doing like community theater and then there's
Speaker 2: like us what we're doing, and then there's the woman
Speaker 2: of the woman at the art and who's producing you know,
Speaker 2: seven shows a week for equity pay and union pay.
Speaker 2: So I think we're able to provide that space for
Speaker 2: people to sort of cut their teeth and like be
Speaker 2: a full set designer for us and and be a
Speaker 2: full landing designer and act in a lead role as
Speaker 2: opposed to maybe interning in those departments or understudying at
Speaker 2: a large institution. We're able to provide those opportunities, which
Speaker 2: is something that you know, again, it's all scalable, and
Speaker 2: it's still small scale and it's not the right fit
Speaker 2: for everybody, but we're able to, like, you know, do
Speaker 2: things on a little bigger scale and have a bit
Speaker 2: of a reach because of you know the fact that
Speaker 2: we are non and we've been around and we have
Speaker 2: a little bit of a following. So that I think
Speaker 2: is something that I really love that we're able to
Speaker 2: do because I know, like when I graduated from college
Speaker 2: and sort of looked around, I was like what do
Speaker 2: I do now? Like the big theaters aren't going to
Speaker 2: hire me, no way, I have no experience, right, so
Speaker 2: it's like where do I go? And community theater is awesome.
Speaker 2: I direct in community theater too. It's absolutely no no
Speaker 2: shade to community theater. But it's nice to have a
Speaker 2: different thing where like you're doing world premiere plays too,
Speaker 2: which totally different like community theater, you're just usually usually
Speaker 2: not getting that. Sometimes you do, but usually it's you know,
Speaker 2: more classics and stuff. So to be able to provide
Speaker 2: that space, I think is something that excites me and
Speaker 2: something I wish that I had, which is part of
Speaker 2: the reason that we wanted to start in the first place,
Speaker 2: is to provide that opportunity for people.
Speaker 1: I love that. It's like a bridge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, And hopefully right like we've already
Speaker 2: had some folks who've done shows with us go on
Speaker 2: to work at those those theater companies are just mentioned,
Speaker 2: and I think that everyone I work with and who's
Speaker 2: on the show deserves all of that attention and jobs
Speaker 2: and stuff. Of course, so hopefully that happens with every
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think it's a little bit of a
Speaker 2: bridge and a nice way to support people.
Speaker 1: I dig it.
Speaker 3: I totally agree. I mean, as someone who has moved
Speaker 3: to Philly not long ago, just shied two years now,
Speaker 3: this gig came at a really lovely time for me,
Speaker 3: as I have been auditioning for every single theater company
Speaker 3: and coming up against that inevitable actor thing of like, wow,
Speaker 3: it's really hard to break in and strides and Jonathan
Speaker 3: took a chance on me as as someone who is new,
Speaker 3: who didn't have much on my resume, and it's been
Speaker 3: really affirming in a lot of ways. Obviously, because you know,
Speaker 3: a job is a job, and it's affirming to be
Speaker 3: led into any creative space and to get to do
Speaker 3: what you love. And also, yeah, for the reasons that
Speaker 3: Jonathan is mentioning, because I find this work really important
Speaker 3: and have felt really race creatively, and also that like
Speaker 3: Strides sort of being who they are and allowing to
Speaker 3: giving themselves permission to take up space in the way
Speaker 3: that they have have also made a bit of a
Speaker 3: name for themselves. And so I'm hopeful that plenty of
Speaker 3: Philly theater folks, whether they're directors or playwrights, artistic directors,
Speaker 3: come to the show and you see the work that
Speaker 3: they're doing and find it important too, and hopefully build
Speaker 3: connections with the theater artists that are working with Strides
Speaker 3: and are able to again bridge that sort of gap
Speaker 3: between where folks are and where they would like to be.
Speaker 4: I'm coming from I guess a slightly different track. I
Speaker 4: didn't go to the college route. I jokingly say that
Speaker 4: I got my bachelor's in community theater. They sort of
Speaker 4: cut my teeth there and have been you know, sitting
Speaker 4: here and s having a pro kind of area for
Speaker 4: a little bit kind of looking at you know, I'm older,
Speaker 4: and my place in life and where I see myself
Speaker 4: and the industry working together are maybe a little different.
Speaker 4: I'm more in a space of I've come into owning
Speaker 4: myself as an artist. Now what do I want to
Speaker 4: do with that power? What do I want to do
Speaker 4: with this voice? And Yeah, I think Strides has been
Speaker 4: out there as kind of a beacon. I've seen them
Speaker 4: on the audition boards and existing in the community and
Speaker 4: putting stuff on for a few years. And I'm excited
Speaker 4: to finally I feel like, you know, like I got
Speaker 4: on the island and have seen Strides as sort of
Speaker 4: this rising beacon for the queer theater community to say like, hey,
Speaker 4: we're here and we're trying to do something with this
Speaker 4: voice that we have. We're creating a space where we
Speaker 4: want to say something and what do y'all want to
Speaker 4: speak into it? And what can we find to do there?
Speaker 4: And I think that's really exciting and very much in
Speaker 4: long where I'm trying to go with Okay, I'm a
Speaker 4: favorite artist with a voice. What do I want to
Speaker 4: do with that? What do I want the world to know?
Speaker 4: And Yeah, I'm excited to be in this space together.
Speaker 1: I love that. And you know, from where I sit,
Speaker 1: Strides is definitely definitely a place that is indicative of
Speaker 1: the d i y ness and the lean and meanness
Speaker 1: that is the Philly arts community. I do love the
Speaker 1: fact that you know, you serve as both a company
Speaker 1: that is putting forth serious work, but it's also sits
Speaker 1: in that that sweet spot where you can have a
Speaker 1: production on your resume that will that can boost you
Speaker 1: to uh quote unquote bigger things, but at the same
Speaker 1: time growing yourself an as an entity. I love that.
Speaker 1: It reminds me of what feels like a lifetime ago.
Speaker 1: I produced something called the et Cetera performance Series at
Speaker 1: the CEC and it was basically an opportunity for artists
Speaker 1: of all genres of performing art to be able to
Speaker 1: get their work seen in front of an audience. And
Speaker 1: you know, you got actual lighting and promotion and marketing,
Speaker 1: and it gave you. It gave you something to be
Speaker 1: able to show, you know, like something professional looking to
Speaker 1: be able to show. If you weren't in that space
Speaker 1: of like being in an actual company or something or
Speaker 1: an actual theater. So I love that this feels like that,
Speaker 1: that that community orient but still like a significant force.
Speaker 1: I'm digging that. I'm digging that. Yeah, props too, Strides Collective.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah, that's what we're trying to do. It's
Speaker 2: not easy because there's the business side of it, and
Speaker 2: there's the the resources and all of that, so we
Speaker 2: come up against a lot. But yeah, getting people to
Speaker 2: see the work is like the most important because it's like,
Speaker 2: once you see the work, hopefully you love it. Even
Speaker 2: if you don't love it, hopefully you appreciate it for
Speaker 2: what it is, right, you know, everyone loves everything. But
Speaker 2: getting people just in the door is hard. So even
Speaker 2: just having a little bit of a following is helpful
Speaker 2: to have that at least as though like now we've
Speaker 2: done a couple of shows, people are like, oh, like
Speaker 2: I want to see whatever Strides is doing, the same
Speaker 2: way that like the larger theaters in the city have
Speaker 2: like they're following, right, So we can keep building that
Speaker 2: and have you know, good products and stuff. Hopefully people
Speaker 2: will continue to come because there's i mean industry wide
Speaker 2: right now, it's very hard to get people to come
Speaker 2: see theater unfortunately, so small and big theaters are experiencing
Speaker 2: that for sure, but it does hit small theaters really
Speaker 2: hard because you know, we only do one whole production
Speaker 2: a year, so this is our opportunity to to make
Speaker 2: an impact in the community and also you know, ticket
Speaker 2: sales just you know, we need people that comes see
Speaker 2: your work so we can keep doing it. You know,
Speaker 2: we're nonprofits. All it does is just regenerate our you know,
Speaker 2: go right back into the work for next year because
Speaker 2: we want to keep doing it. But in order to
Speaker 2: do that, we got to have people who support us,
Speaker 2: and we do. We have lovely supporters right now. But
Speaker 2: of course we would also like to grow as we
Speaker 2: get bigger and provide more opportunities, which we can only
Speaker 2: do with you know, access to funding and access to
Speaker 2: space space as a resource. People don't I don't think
Speaker 2: people realize is like so scarce in Philly that we're
Speaker 2: not just rehearsing in like a room closet somewhere that
Speaker 2: we're rehearsing and has a little bit of space and
Speaker 2: like something that's like nice for five people, you know,
Speaker 2: and then performing as well, so there's all of those
Speaker 2: business decisions that I knew going into this would be difficult,
Speaker 2: but then the realities of it day to day, it's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: this is a thing I have to always think about.
Speaker 2: I wish I could just like live in the dreamy
Speaker 2: art of it all all the time, and I do,
Speaker 2: and I allow myself to live in the dreamy art,
Speaker 2: but then you know, the reality sets back into It's like, okay,
Speaker 2: we got to also, you know, sell some tickets to
Speaker 2: the show. But the dreamy art part is what keeps
Speaker 2: I think, everybody going and why we're all here, and
Speaker 2: the you know, the mission of the company, I think
Speaker 2: is what leads us to it no matter what you.
Speaker 1: So, so wait, you said Strides began in twenty twenties.
Speaker 1: That what I heard. Yes, yeah, wow, so that was,
Speaker 1: you know, for obvious reasons, a crazy year to be
Speaker 1: an artist. Yeah. I can't imagine starting an entity. Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: how how crazy was that?
Speaker 2: Well? I think we had just I'm a playwright as well,
Speaker 2: and I had been self producing my work for a
Speaker 2: few years and then had a show that had like
Speaker 2: minor success at the Jersey Fringe Festival, which doesn't really
Speaker 2: exist anymore, but did exist, and then we wanted to
Speaker 2: bring it to Philly. It was a two hander, so
Speaker 2: when and keep the same cast, and then I asked
Speaker 2: some of my friends to help produce it, make it
Speaker 2: a little bit bigger. So we did that in February
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty when when Philly when Theater Philadelphia did
Speaker 2: I think it was their first or second Philly theater week.
Speaker 2: We were part of that. So we were like and
Speaker 2: it was like really fun and like people came and
Speaker 2: liked it and like we had a good time, and
Speaker 2: we were like so energized to like meet. I think
Speaker 2: we like literally had like a meeting, like the show
Speaker 2: closed in February, and I think we had a meeting
Speaker 2: on the calendar for like March thirteenth, like literally like
Speaker 2: the day like Broadway shutdown. So then we were like
Speaker 2: we should probably cancel the meeting, and the meaning was
Speaker 2: going to be about like what we're going to do next,
Speaker 2: and then you know, blah blah blah. Everyone knows what
Speaker 2: happens after that. So I think we were like on
Speaker 2: the cusp of about like about to officially be the
Speaker 2: Strids Collective, and we put it on pause and then
Speaker 2: like the summer happened, and then we should have revisited it,
Speaker 2: and we were all at home. You know, a lot
Speaker 2: of us like had were were laid off from jobs
Speaker 2: or on furlough or whatever, so you're sort of like
Speaker 2: losing our minds like that. You know, we're like, well,
Speaker 2: let's try to like channel all like and then you know,
Speaker 2: the world at large obviously as well. So there's just
Speaker 2: so much going on. So those of us who felt
Speaker 2: like we wanted to do something about everything, whether let's
Speaker 2: just get together and start like trying to plan this,
Speaker 2: and it actually ended up being like all like the
Speaker 2: boring paperwork part of it all. We had time because
Speaker 2: we were just like get home. So you know, I
Speaker 2: don't know if I would have had the capacity to
Speaker 2: to build the team and do all the filing and
Speaker 2: all of that stuff if if I didn't get furloughed
Speaker 2: from my full time job, which I'm not thankful for,
Speaker 2: but like it was just the reality, right, So there
Speaker 2: was a little bit of space. But yes, starting the
Speaker 2: company and then trying to get people to like do
Speaker 2: anything virtually was hard and then but at least we
Speaker 2: had the foundation. So when theaters were ready to open,
Speaker 2: we had already had like ten to twelve months under
Speaker 2: our belt of like doing some stuff together that we
Speaker 2: knew each other, and like, I think we're ready to
Speaker 2: like then start right away. I think it would have
Speaker 2: taken us longer to do our first in person production
Speaker 2: if we hadn't had that like runway of at least
Speaker 2: working together and getting like mission vision values and like
Speaker 2: all of that stuff, because that all could be done
Speaker 2: like virtually, so that was like like healthy conversations and
Speaker 2: we could really like sink our teeth into all of
Speaker 2: that without and then we were like, well, we're no
Speaker 2: rush to do a show because we can't do a
Speaker 2: theater right now. So we just sort of like allowed
Speaker 2: ourselves time to do that stuff, which was you know,
Speaker 2: I think really good work that we did and helped
Speaker 2: obviously set the foundation for what we are now. And
Speaker 2: then we came back and then we started you know,
Speaker 2: doing stuff, and now it's a couple of years later,
Speaker 2: so so there's interesting time. But yeah, yeah, well that is.
Speaker 1: One thing about being an artist, and you know, feel
Speaker 1: free to agree to disagree, but I feel like that time,
Speaker 1: if you were already a working artist in whatever capacity,
Speaker 1: you were able to appreciate being a process driven creator
Speaker 1: as opposed to a product driven creator, Like we all
Speaker 1: learned to embrace the process because the hell other choice
Speaker 1: that you have, and I imagine, you know, we all
Speaker 1: learned a lot about, you know, what our individual processes were,
Speaker 1: what worked, what didn't, what could be Like do we
Speaker 1: all feel like we came out on the other side as,
Speaker 1: if not better, at least different.
Speaker 2: Artists definitely different for sure. I think it started my
Speaker 2: personal journey of like shifting how I view opportunities and
Speaker 2: gigs and how I want to spend my time. I
Speaker 2: think that suddenly came into focus of like how precious
Speaker 2: time is and how quickly it can all be taken
Speaker 2: away because it was right and then suddenly it was
Speaker 2: like the hustle culture of it, of taking gig after
Speaker 2: gig and just doing all this stuff just stopped. And
Speaker 2: then it was like, well, let me actually reflect to
Speaker 2: be like why am I doing this? Like like do
Speaker 2: I actually want to say yes to this gig that's
Speaker 2: like an hour and a half away from my house
Speaker 2: that pays me like twenty bucks? You know, like is
Speaker 2: it creatively worth it? And if it is, then how
Speaker 2: do I manage that? With my So I just think
Speaker 2: it gave me that personally speaking, that just gave me
Speaker 2: that opportunity to reflect and then you know, think about
Speaker 2: how I want to move forward in my like creative
Speaker 2: journey while I balance everything else. Because that idea that
Speaker 2: I had, I'm sure it's like so many people I
Speaker 2: had like wonderful like jobs lined up, like directing jobs
Speaker 2: lined up for like late twenty twenty and early twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one, and then that I worked really hard to
Speaker 2: get and we're like gonna be like really good gigs,
Speaker 2: and then they were just gone and they never came
Speaker 2: back and I never you know, it's four years later,
Speaker 2: and it's not like I didn't get them again. You know,
Speaker 2: it was just like right time, right place, and then
Speaker 2: suddenly wrong time, wrong place. So the idea that could
Speaker 2: be taken away like that was like, well, that's that's hard.
Speaker 2: So you sort of start to reevaluate of like how
Speaker 2: you really want to be spending your time on things.
Speaker 2: And I know, obviously everyone's situations are difference. I don't
Speaker 2: know Rain and Catherine how you all navigated that, but
Speaker 2: it was definitely a shock to my system of just going, going, going,
Speaker 2: and suddenly being like nope, And then for the foreseeable future,
Speaker 2: which ended up being a long future, there was just
Speaker 2: like nothing, very different, very hard for me.
Speaker 4: COVID was the reset that I needed. I had actually,
Speaker 4: literally like two weeks before the world shut down, decided
Speaker 4: that I didn't want to run the business I was
Speaker 4: running anymore, and I was trying to do construction and
Speaker 4: I just like put down a standing sponge one day
Speaker 4: and said I quit. I'm going to go call my
Speaker 4: mom and walked away from it. And I had no
Speaker 4: idea what was coming next. I had a training for
Speaker 4: something else scheduled like the day the world stopped, so
Speaker 4: that got canceled. I did have some creative project going on.
Speaker 4: Most of them did actually happen in post COVID, but
Speaker 4: it gave me the time and the space and the
Speaker 4: financial resource is not going to lie to reset my life.
Speaker 4: And I came out of COVID with some money in
Speaker 4: the bank and a plan and was just like I'm
Speaker 4: leaning into this. I didn't have any job prospects at
Speaker 4: the time. I found something that is blissfully part time
Speaker 4: and gives me lots of freedom to focus on my creativity.
Speaker 4: And yeah, I mean COVID was a tragedy, but a
Speaker 4: lot of us were able to turn it into a win,
Speaker 4: and I did.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have probably a unique experience in that I
Speaker 3: I was in school still and fulfilled half of my
Speaker 3: schooling during the pandemic, like peak pandemic as well, And
Speaker 3: so yeah, I have a lot of feelings about it,
Speaker 3: I think that are very specific and tied to the
Speaker 3: education system in America and what it's like to pursue
Speaker 3: the arts.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's that's a story for another podcast, I think.
Speaker 1: But it's its own episode show. It really is, though.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's all about learning, right, And I
Speaker 3: do think that if the pandemic offered us anything anything positive,
Speaker 3: that is is.
Speaker 2: That it was a time for us to sort of
Speaker 2: learn and take.
Speaker 3: Stock and where where we were at in our lives.
Speaker 3: And while I was still really young and having to
Speaker 3: navigate school and again reevaluate with why it was that
Speaker 3: I wanted to be an artist in the first place,
Speaker 3: I learned a lot, which which I am really grateful for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think if you want, I'm I'm like, my
Speaker 1: superpower is finding the silver lining in anything. If there's
Speaker 1: one silver lining to be found, I feel like we
Speaker 1: as people in general, but artists in particular, learned what
Speaker 1: we are and are not willing to go back to,
Speaker 1: you know, like things that weren't really working before, but
Speaker 1: we were just like going with the flow because that's
Speaker 1: the way it's always been. Once you step out of that,
Speaker 1: it's like, why go back to that. It wasn't really
Speaker 1: working before. We're going to do and I'm not willing
Speaker 1: to sacrifice my soul again, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like so many of us re entered the world on
Speaker 1: our own damn terms, and I love that. I love that,
Speaker 1: and I do feel like the artistry and across the
Speaker 1: board from what I've seen Philadelphia in particular, but in general,
Speaker 1: has got this new sense of purity, for lack of
Speaker 1: a better word, authenticity, because we all had the opportunity
Speaker 1: to sit with ourselves and you know, discover or rediscover
Speaker 1: ourselves and who we are, who we aren't, who we
Speaker 1: want to be. And I feel like that's how we
Speaker 1: move forward now. Power structures are different, you know, and
Speaker 1: folks at the quote unquote top are shaken in their
Speaker 1: boots because folks aren't willing to do what we were
Speaker 1: willing to do before. Necessarily, you know, and I love it.
Speaker 1: I think it's the first steps toward revolution. Yeah.
Speaker 2: That was also one of the beautiful things about starting
Speaker 2: the Collective during that time was there were so many
Speaker 2: conversations happening within the theater industry and also just the
Speaker 2: world at large. Of course, that like when we the
Speaker 2: Collective came to the talk, we were like, we can
Speaker 2: make this like whatever we want it to be because we're
Speaker 2: starting at zero. And it was felt like just a
Speaker 2: really like generative time to start at zero and think
Speaker 2: about all the things that like we're not working for
Speaker 2: us in other places, and like what we wanted to
Speaker 2: do moving forward, and that was there was no obligation
Speaker 2: for us to do anything other than like what we
Speaker 2: felt we wanted to do. And that doesn't mean that
Speaker 2: we always made like the right decision every time, but
Speaker 2: it was it was great to just not have to
Speaker 2: uphold to like thirty years of history somewhere or whatever.
Speaker 2: It was like, we'll just do what starting now, starting
Speaker 2: now and forward, we want, you know, make this what
Speaker 2: we want to make it. And that was really like
Speaker 2: liberating for a lot of us who were coming from
Speaker 2: other jobs and places that you know, were a bit
Speaker 2: less than ideal for us and able to start creating
Speaker 2: something that we felt was a little bit better for
Speaker 2: the time we're living in and the people that we
Speaker 2: want to work with, and as a work in progress.
Speaker 2: Always they were always evolving, always thinking of ways to
Speaker 2: make things better, safer, happier, more fun, you know, more professionally,
Speaker 2: you know, all the things. But I'd be starting at
Speaker 2: that place than having to start with, you know, the
Speaker 2: old ways that just weren't working. So that was definitely
Speaker 2: a plus side too of starting during that time, was
Speaker 2: starting at zero in a positive way.
Speaker 1: I think it's beautiful. I think it's beautiful, and you know,
Speaker 1: we have these opportunities to sift through the traditions because
Speaker 1: there were certain things. There are certain traditions in art,
Speaker 1: in theater in particular, that will always be beautiful. And
Speaker 1: then there's certain traditions that you know, we can leave
Speaker 1: by the wayside, even dumb little things like the unnecessary
Speaker 1: power struggle. That is a handshake, you know what I mean. Like,
Speaker 1: I love that we decided, you know, and we get
Speaker 1: to create new traditions and rewrite, rewrite our own history.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: So Okay, Confabulation tell us one more time, where and when?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: So, Confabulation starts performances Thursday, October tenth, and we run
Speaker 2: until Sunday, October twentieth at the Hamilton Family Art Center
Speaker 2: in Old City, Philadelphia, owned by the Our and Theater Company,
Speaker 2: and we will be performing there if evening shows matinee shows.
Speaker 2: Tickets are available at start elected dot com, slash tickets,
Speaker 2: various discounts and things for industry folks and students, and
Speaker 2: other tickets as well. Yeah, that's where we are. That's
Speaker 2: where we'll be for the next two weeks.
Speaker 1: And I will put all that information in the notes
Speaker 1: this episode so that everyone within the sound of our
Speaker 1: voice can take advantage and check out this wonderful performance.
Speaker 1: If we wanted to learn more about each of you
Speaker 1: your work, where could we visit?
Speaker 2: You can learn more about Strides at stris Sellective dot
Speaker 2: com or follow us on Instagram at the Stratus Collective.
Speaker 2: Me personally, Jonathan Edinson dot com is my portfolio of
Speaker 2: my directing and playwriting work.
Speaker 3: You could follow me on Instagram at rain drop dass.
Speaker 1: I love it, I love it? So do we have
Speaker 1: any final thoughts? I would like to share.
Speaker 2: We're really excited to share the show with people. It's it's,
Speaker 2: like we said, hard to do theaters, so we appreciate
Speaker 2: anyone's support. Also, taking a chance on our world premiere
Speaker 2: is difficult, but I think it can be really rewarding,
Speaker 2: So I hope that people come and enjoy it and
Speaker 2: keep supporting small theater companies. We really need the support,
Speaker 2: And thank you Charles for the for the opportunity to
Speaker 2: speak about it and share thoughts. It's always great to
Speaker 2: get things out there and spread the word in any
Speaker 2: way possible, so thank you for the platform.
Speaker 1: It is indeed my pleasure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been really gratified and energized by this process,
Speaker 3: and also again being someone who's near to the Philly area,
Speaker 3: like pleasantly surprised at how many folks seem willing to
Speaker 3: come to the show. To be honest, and I say
Speaker 3: that to say that, you know, it's it's not something
Speaker 3: that I think is the experience of every industry and
Speaker 3: in every theater industry in any given city. I think
Speaker 3: Philly theater artists are very willing to support each other,
Speaker 3: and it's something that I found through my time auditioning
Speaker 3: and meeting folks, and it's not something that I take
Speaker 3: for granted. So I'm really excited to share this work
Speaker 3: with folks. Really grateful for you having us, Charles, and
Speaker 3: I hope that people learn from it.
Speaker 1: My pleasure collect Thank you so much for joining me
Speaker 1: here at the Full Circle table, Jonathan Rain and Catherine.
Speaker 1: It was a pleasure meeting you and chatting with you,
Speaker 1: and I can't wait to see everything that you all do.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having us.
Speaker 1: Of course, thank you so much. You take care now.
Speaker 1: Full Circle is a Never Scurreed Productions podcast hosted by
Speaker 1: Charles Tyson Junior and Martha Madrigal, Produced and edited by
Speaker 1: Never Scurd Executive Produced by Charles Tyson Junior and Martha Madrigal.
Speaker 1: Our theme in music is by the jingle Berries. All names, pictures, music, audio,
Speaker 1: and video clips are registered trademarks and or copyrights of
Speaker 1: their respective copyright holders.