Actress Susana Cordón joins Avery to talk about starring as Lucy in the Straz Center’s Dracula: A Comedy of Terror—why rooting comedy in truth makes it funnier, what “belonging” in the arts actually feels like, and yes, a healthy amount of Audra McDonald worship. Plus: first impressions of Tampa Bay’s arts scene, from murals to humidity.

What does it feel like to carry an entire Andrew Lloyd Webber show on your back? For hometown artist Julia Rifino, star of Tell Me on a Sunday at freeFall Theatre, the answer is joyfully... a lot of things. In this conversation, Julia opens up about going from shy kid with a sketchbook to singing 26 songs solo onstage, why she refuses the “starving artist” narrative, and what it means to celebrate a breakthrough moment on her own terms.