While The Applause Is Paused: Conversations With Regional Theater Makers

Meet Julia Brothers, a prolific actor who has worked all over the country. She was commissioned to write her first play during the pandemic, then starred in a streaming production of it. Join us for Julia's wisdom and her pandemic experience.

San Francisco Playhouse website

Target Margin Theatre website

ACT (American Conservatory Theater) website

Theaterworks Silicon Valley website

Marin Theater Company website

Gulfshore Playhouse website

Merrimack Repertory Theater website

B Street Theatre website

Arthur Miller wikipedia

Death of a Salesman wikipedia

Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Get in touch at [email protected]

Music by: Drew Wutke

Drew’s website

Logo design by Sarah Kleist, Kleist Creative

Sarah’s website

Photo by Billy Bustamante, Billy B Photography

Billy’s website

This week Lacey chats with Bryce McDonald, Producing Director of the Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville, TN. Join in the conversation with one of the only theaters in the series so far that has been producing shows inside, and hear about their slow climb back to full houses. Hear about their unique small town in Tennessee where the theater nonetheless attracted nearly 90,000 visitors a year pre-COVID. Get curious about the realities of producing theater in a socially conservative environment and hear some really great stories about CCP’s productions of A Chorus Line and Sweeney Todd.

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Show Notes

Bryce’s Instagram

Cumberland County Playhouse website

Cumberland Plateau wikipedia

Savannah Sipping Society teaser

Clue On Stage teaser

Edward Villella and football article

Bright Star wikipedia

Sweeney Todd wikipedia

A Chorus Line wikipedia

Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones website

Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Get in touch at [email protected]

Music by: Drew Wutke

Drew’s website

Logo design by Sarah Kleist, Kleist Creative

Sarah’s website

Photo by Billy Bustamante, Billy B Photography

Billy’s website

This week Lacey chats with Ginger Poole, Producing Artistic Director of Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, VA. Despite having spent 8 weeks working at Mill Mountain, Lacey did not know the story of its 10-year journey to reduce debt and rebuild its relationship with the actor's union.

Join the conversation to hear the theater’s amazing survival story and how it was poised to complete its comeback just as the pandemic hit. Get curious about how Ginger remade the theater’s business model. Follow her careful plans for the next several productions leading to a full mainstage show in the Fall. 

Show Notes

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Mill Mountain Theatre website

The Mill Mountain star at night photo

Equity EMC program webpage

Million Dollar Quartet Tony Awards performance

Equity COVID-19 safety documents webpage

Meet Me At Mill Mountain podcast

Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Get in touch at [email protected]

Music by: Drew Wutke

Drew’s website

Logo design by Sarah Kleist, Kleist Creative

Sarah’s website

Photo by Billy Bustamante, Billy B Photography

Billy’s website

This week Lacey chats with Sean Daniels, Artistic Director of the Arizona Theatre Company in Tucson and Phoenix. Sean is also an award-winning director and a playwright.

Join the conversation to hear about what may be the only theatre company in America with two hometowns, and how that was further complicated in the pandemic. Get curious about how Our Town influenced Sean at a young age and how he imagines the first live show back at the theatre will go.

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Show Notes

Arizona Theatre Company’s website

Sean’s email

Sean’s twitter

Our Town by Thornton Wilder wikipedia

Private Lives by Noel Coward wikipedia

Merrimack Repertory Theater website

My 80 Year Old Boyfriend by Charissa Bertels, Christian Duhamel and Ed Bell website

LORT Theaters website

Native Gardens by Karen Zacarias article

Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Get in touch at [email protected]

Music by: Drew Wutke

Drew’s website

Logo design by Sarah Kleist, Kleist Creative

Sarah’s website

Photo by Billy Bustamante, Billy B Photography

Billy’s website

This week Lacey chats with Kate Galvin, Artistic Director of Cardinal Stage and Barrymore Award-winning director. She recently directed Cardinal Stage's virtual production of Adam Gwon's Ordinary Days.

Join the conversation to hear about Cardinal Stage's challenging relationship with its subscribers in the pandemic, its site-specific, walking audio plays, and the flash mob choreography at its Social DisDance Party.

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Show Notes

Cardinal Stage’s website

Kate Galvin’s website

11th Hour Theatre Company’s website

Ada and the Engine by Lauren Gunderson webpage

Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon wikipedia

National Alliance of Musical Theater (NAMT) website

Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Get in touch at [email protected]

Co-Editor: Kelly Gabrielle Murphy

Kelly’s website

Music by: Drew Wutke

Drew’s website

Logo design by Sarah Kleist, Kleist Creative

Sarah’s website

Photo by Billy Bustamante, Billy B Photography

Billy’s website

Lacey chats with Dina Janis, Artistic Director of the Dorset Theatre Festival in Dorset, VT. Dina has led the Festival for the past 11 years, turning it into a powerhouse of new works development for diverse voices.

Take a listen to why Breaking Bad is proof that regional audiences are ready for more than we used to think they were. Hear about Dina's preference for audio plays over Zoom theatre. Get curious about Dina's reaction to the social justice protests and why it matters in Vermont, the second whitest state in the union.

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Dorset Theatre Festival website 

Joe Papp and the Public Theater wikipedia

Steppenwolf Theatre website

Labyrinth Theater website

Theresa Rebeck website

Heidi Armbruster interview

The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez

Alan Ayckbourn wikipedia

Merrily We Roll Along at Menier Chocolate Factory, London 2013

Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Get in touch at [email protected]

Co-Editor: Kelly Gabrielle Murphy

Kelly’s website

Music by: Drew Wutke

Drew’s website

Logo design by Sarah Kleist, Kleist Creative

Sarah’s website

Photo by Billy Bustamante, Billy B Photography

Billy’s website

This week Lacey chats with Mark Fleischer, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (CLO), a 75-year old institution devoted to the preservation and development of musical theater. 

Join us as Mark describes the development process of the CLO’s pandemic Google Doc Musical, Jagoff The Musical. Hear about the $6 million revenue loss of a $12 million institution and what Mark has done to keep the CLO relevant during this time. And get curious about why Mark puts aside an hour a day to dream about the ideal post-pandemic theatrical landscape. 

PCLO website

CLOse Ups webpage

Google Doc musical webpage

Songs For A New Year webpage

Jason Robert Brown, Songs for a New World

National Alliance of Musical Theater (NAMT) website

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Get in touch at [email protected]

Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Co-Editor: Kelly Gabrielle Murphy

Kelly’s website

Music by: Drew Wutke

Drew’s website

Logo design by Sarah Kleist, Kleist Creative

Sarah’s website

Photo by Billy Bustamante, Billy B Photography

Billy’s website

Lacey chats with Mary Kate Burke, Artistic Director of Cape Fear Regional Theatre in Fayetteville, NC. Mary Kate arrived at CFRT 4 years ago and is only the 3rd Artistic Director in the theatre’s 59 year history. CFRT is an integral part of its community and wants its friends and neighbors to “think harder, laugh deeper, share experiences, and grow as a community.”

Join the conversation about a very special production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grille in a gas station parking lot, an on-line education program called Edutainment, and Mary Kate’s thoughts on current funding in the arts and the importance of not losing time. 

And thanks to my new Co-Editor, Kelly Gabrielle Murphy!

Show notes

Mary Kate’s website

Cape Fear Regional Theatre’s website

Langston Hughes Wikipedia

Fort Bragg Wikipedia

Jelly’s Last Jam 1992 Tony Awards performance

Murder For Two Wikipedia

Shrek the Musical pre-Broadway Seattle production You Tube

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grille Tony Awards performance

Arts North Carolina website

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Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Get in touch at [email protected]

Co-Editor: Kelly Gabrielle Murphy

Kelly’s website

Music by: Drew Wutke

Drew’s website

Logo design by Sarah Kleist, Kleist Creative

Sarah’s website

Photo by Billy Bustamante, Billy B Photography

Billy’s website

Join the conversation with Dawn Meredith Simmons and Maurice Emmanuel Parent, co-founders of The Front Porch Arts Collective, a young but mighty theatre company in Boston, MA. Dawn is a director, playwright and arts administrator. Maurice is an actor, director, educator, and mentor. Together they represent decades of experience in the Boston market, having worked at many of Boston's oldest and most prestigious institutions.

Their company's mission is dedicated to stories of the Black diaspora, with Black creatives represented not only as actors but at every level, from creative teams to management.

So, want to know how they did it in only 4 years? Who supported and nurtured their idea and helped them grow? What they mean by being a theatrical family? How they responded to the pandemic shutdown? Tune in.

Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Get in touch at [email protected]

Music by: Drew Wutke

Drew’s website

Logo design by Sarah Kleist, Kleist Creative

Sarah’s website

Logo photo by Billy Bustamante, Billy B Photography

Billy’s website

This Episode:

The Front Porch Arts Collective website

Federal Theater Project Wikipedia

Nile Scott, Photographer’s website

Central Square Theater website

Nora Theater Co website 

Underground Railway Theater website 

The Porch’s God’s Closet Reading Series webpage

Fiscal sponsorship for nonprofits information

Violet the musical Wikipedia and Roundabout Theatre NY Times review

Lyric Stage Company website

Greater Boston Stage website

Stagesource website

Starlight Square website

Join the conversation with Ethan Paulini, Artistic Director of the Weathervane Theater & Out Of The Box Theatrics, and also an actor, director, choreographer, educator, writer, arts administrator, and acting coach. 

Ethan and I talk about all the things pandemic, re-opening, social justice, anti-racism, losses in 2020, and hope in 2021. 

Want to know how the Weathervane was able to have an in-person Fall 2020 season? Ethan's anti-racist intention in how he combines roles in the audition packets for the repertory season? Patrons reactions to the theater's statement on social justice? Take a listen.

Podcast website

Lacey’s Instagram

Episode transcript

Get in touch at [email protected]

Ethan's website

Ethan’s actor coaching website

Weathervane Theater’s website

Out Of The Box Theatrics website

Actors Equity Association website