Michael Ross Albert and Cass Van Wyck

Recorded via live stream: April 7 2020.

Michael Ross Albert
Michael is the author of several plays including Miss (FringeNYC; Unit 102 Actors Company); The Farmers Lit the Fields on Fire (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); The Grass is Greenest at the Houston Astrodome (FringeNYC, published by Applause in Best American Short Plays 2014-2015); and Karenin’s Anna (Toronto Fringe Festival, “Outstanding New Play,” — NOW Magazine), as well as the 2018 Toronto Fringe hit, Anywhere and the 2019 Fringe hit The Huns, which was to travel to the Brighton Fringe, until that festival was postponed.

http://michaelrossalbert.com/
Twitter: @michaelralbert
Instagram: michaelralbert

Cass Van Wyck
Cass is an actor and producer, one of the co-creators of the new works series, Open Open Open, and one of the forces behind Toronto’s Assembly Theatre. Cass was part of the cast of The Huns.

Twitter: @classvanwyck
Instagram: classvanwyck

Please consider supporting The Assembly Theatre. Due to the current mandated closure and the multiple cancellations of shows and events, The Assembly Theatre is taking a significant financial loss and is struggling to stay afloat. This is a very difficult time for all of us societally, and in the arts community, independent theatre is uniquely vulnerable.
GoFundMe Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-assembly-theatre-covid19-help

Transcript

Welcome to episode 233 of Stageworthy. I’m your host, Phil Rickaby. Stageworthy is a podcast about people in Canadian theatre featuring conversations with actors, directors, playwrights, and more, and this is the first live episode.

My guests this week are Michael Ross Albert and Cass Van Wyck. Hello, both of you! Hi! Hello! So this is a weird time. I mean, here we are, we’re just, you know, at a time when we should be gearing up for Fringe Festivals, we are hearing about cancellations, and you guys were going to be going to the Brighton Fringe, if I recall correctly.

We’re diving right in, aren’t we? Oh sure, yeah, we’re just jumping straight in. Sorry about these wounds. Yeah, that’s okay.

It’s somewhat comforting to know that everyone is in the same boat. But yeah, we were planning on going to the Brighton Fringe, and now we’re not. Yeah.

It’s very sad. And also, I’m not taking any visual cues, so Cass, interrupt me whenever you want to. I will, don’t worry.

Okay, good. So yeah, our production of The Huns from the Fringe Festival last year was very graciously extended an invitation to participate in the Brighton Fringe. And we were, Cass was producing the heck out of this tour.

We had, you know, marketing materials made, we had posters being printed, and flights were booked. We had this gorgeous Airbnb. Oh my God.

That we wanted to stay in. And, you know, everything had a certain point, I think. We were talking pretty much every day and knew that we weren’t going, but no one wanted to say it first.

Yeah. And it became very clear, I guess, around the 12th or the 13th of March. And then as we were making plans to sort of assess what we had, what money had been spent and what could be saved, we received notice officially that the Brighton Fringe would be postponed until the fall.

So sadly, we are among the countless artists from across the globe who won’t be able to share their work with audiences in a physical space. Yeah. And, I mean, postponing a Fringe Festival is kind of a big idea because it sort of throws off the rhythm of the summer, for one thing, but also a lot of times it’s easier for people to do a Fringe in the summer than it is in the fall.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s a huge component, not only from, you know, companies like having the availability to participate, but also from a, you know, space availability. So theaters, you know, are, you know, traditionally pretty open and available to host shows during the summer.

And, yeah, it’s really, it’s a crazy thing. I mean, I can’t think of a time when, I think I read an article today saying that this is the first time since the history of Toronto Fringe anyway that they’ve run into a cancellation like this. So in a similar way to it being brand new for, you know, the government, for us as a society trying to figure out what these new, you know, precautions are that we have to take and rules that we have to follow, it’s going to be a same thing where this is just so unprecedented that it’s one thing, I think it’s one thing to cancel it and kind of hope for the best next year.

It’s another thing to postpone it. And I do know that Brighton has decided to postpone it until September, October, but again, I was speaking with folks there and the logistics of trying to figure that out are just a nightmare. And I really, I send all my good wishes out to them right now because I can’t even imagine the logistical nightmare that they’re dealing with trying to figure it out.

The idea of postponing a Fringe, the idea of postponing a Fringe seems like a thing that’s easy to say. Yeah. And harder to do.

The London Fringe in Ontario has also postponed to the fall. And I think they may be in the same, the same kind of boat. Easy to say that you’re going to do it much more difficult to actually make.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, we, I think on in, in our little, what’s the word I’m looking for in our bubbles, in our echo chambers online, we’re inundated with the struggles of, of artists who have been affected by this, but arts administrators at this time are like, in my opinion, they’re up there with frontline workers, the, the, the, the level of, of difficulty that their jobs now involve. And the way in which the arts administration community, certainly here in this country, but I’m sure everywhere has been pulling together to share resources and to try and save these institutions from crumbling at a time where this could be hugely devastating to their, their business structure. They all deserve a really good night at the bar.

Once we’re allowed to go to the bar once again. No, absolutely. And I mean, it’s, it’s, you know, there’s all, all these fringe festivals that are making these tough calls that Edinburgh fringe has, has called it and canceled for the first time.

And, and as we get closer and closer, I was talking to, Sarah Rankin from the Fundy for Injun, she’s hoping that they can still go ahead. Although it may be in a very reduced capacity because they won’t get those people because people are probably going to make the choice not to bother touring. Well, that’s the other thing too, is you can, you can go and participate as actors, but is anyone going to come and see it because there’s a real fear of, you know, and, and sure enough, and rightly so of people congregating right now, that was actually one of our, our choices around we actually, as a group decided not to although they’ve postponed to September and October, we’ve decided not to participate in that.

Postpone the date just because, I mean, logistical sides, you know, illicit school reasons aside that we actually don’t know what international travel restrictions are going to look like in September, October, but the fear of, you know, going and spending all that money and going to the other side of, you know, the, the, the, the ocean and, and then having no one come and see the show. So it’ll be an interesting, I’m actually quite, I was, I’ve been having some conversations with people in the indie theater community and, and it’ll be interesting to see if the fact that most of these indie theater theaters are, are 50 seats and under. So it’ll be interesting to see if, you know, I think about like the Shaw festival or the Mervis productions where these, these are, you know, and, and, and Stratford where it’s 200, 300 plus seat houses.

I wonder, I mean, they’re going to have a hard time filling, filling those spots. So it’ll be interesting to see if the indie theater community kind of can take, steal some of those patrons to see if they, people are more comfortable in a, in a smaller, a smaller group. But I guess it’s one of those things, like I guess time will tell because there’s really no way at this point.

We’re, we’re in this crazy, like social experiments almost where I’ve found comfort in physical distancing. And I don’t know when I want to do my commute at rush hour again, or when I’ll be comfortable to sit in a room with someone directly with a stranger directly next to me, you know, like this is, this is bringing up a whole sense of anxiety around being in crowded places. And that’s kind of the thing that makes theater awesome is being, it was sharing a live communal experience.

And yeah, it’s a really, it’s, that’s a really tough one. No, go ahead. Yeah.

Sorry. Go ahead. No, I just, cause here we are, you know, a theater needs that live audience and as you can try to do stuff online, but it’s, it can’t ever be the same.

And you know, we can only hope that, you know, in some cases that cause all of these theaters are, are, are closed. And they don’t want to be closed, but they have to be closed and, and that that’s revenue out the door. Oh yeah.

Yeah. Big time. Yeah.

I mean, here you’ve got the assembly theater, for example, that, that is it has canceled all of its, all of its shows and, and, and cast, you know, this very well. And you’ve got this, the GoFundMe campaign to try to keep those doors open because the shows are the revenue. Yeah.

And I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a crazy thing because like to your point, it’s this whole situation is kind of the antithesis of what theater is, you know, coming together as a community to share work that you’ve worked in a group with to present. Like it’s really the exact opposite of what we’re now being told to do. And so how now do theaters like the assembly theater adopt to these new restrictions? I mean, any theater artists are used to, you know, working under crazy restrictions, mostly financial.

But this is just unprecedented. Like there’s no, it’s, it’s one thing to be working with, you know, a tiny, tiny budget to put on a production. It’s, it’s another to have no revenue and no money coming in.

And it’s, it’s, it’s I mean, nearly impossible at this point. Like, and, and the problem is it’s like, okay, we want to see, you know, and be able to not only hope for, but also from just a running of a space perspective, we need to be planning to see what beyond this is going to look like. But it’s hard to do that when in the interim, all you’re thinking about is how are we going to pay rent? Yeah.

You know, it’s a weird, it’s a weird in between kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place kind of thing, because you want to really be focused on, you know, being positive and looking to the future and what is the, what is the, what is, how is this going to affect this once this is all over? And what does that look like? Oh, but by the way, rent is due in a week and we don’t have it. So this is like, this is hard in between stage that we kind of find ourselves in. And also, I mean, we, we love being in Parkdale.

We absolutely love it. We, Louis Fernandez specifically is very involved in the Parkdale community sits on the BIA. But unfortunately there, you know, it’s a, it’s a well-known fact that it, you know, houses some specific members of our community that are a little, you know, down and out.

And with that comes some crime. And fortunately about a week and a half ago, we discovered that someone had tried to break in to the space, which was a real bummer. He had tried to jack open the door and they’d completely broken the door.

Luckily they didn’t get in luckily. They didn’t get in and, and, but they really damaged the door really bad and really kind of gave us a scare. And so we boarded everything up, which just breaks my heart.

You know, it’s, it’s almost like the, it’s one thing to be emotionally upset about this and have the emotional connection to not being there, but to physically be barring yourself from that space, like with literal boards is very, very disheartening. And yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s now managing that as well. You know, there’s, there’s a lot of components to trying to manage how everyone’s feeling about this moment right now.

And, and it’s hard with that umbrella of rent is due, rent is due, rent is due, just kind of looming over everyone. And how do we, how do we solve that problem? Is it, is it, is it through GoFundMe? Is it, you know, trying to figure out online platforms to make money as many companies are doing now. But at the same time, it’s really hard to, you know, ask people not, not only to donate to a campaign, but also buy a ticket to something because we are all literally in the exact same position right now.

Everyone is going through a really, really rough time. So yeah, trying to find that balance is really it’s been something that Lewis and I’ve been struggling with over the last couple of weeks, trying to figure out exactly the way to move forward. And I think we’re all kind of in a similar state where it, because things are changing daily, like the prime minister speaks every day at 1115 and I tune in every day at 1115 and every day there’s something new.

So it’s absolutely impossible to know what tomorrow’s going to bring. So how do you plan beyond that? Yeah, no, but it’s so crazy to be, you know, I mean, yes, it’s true that every day before this, we never really knew what tomorrow held, but there were things that you could assume about tomorrow. You know, you could assume your job, you could assume traffic, you could assume certain things and now we can assume nothing about tomorrow.

And when this is all over, however long that is, when we get back to it, as Michael was saying, we have to relearn how to be in a room with strangers. And also it’s not like the day after this, the social distancing is over that we can just sort of throw on a show. There’s a recovery period where we then have to start, you know, planning for shows, which we haven’t been able to do.

And then, yeah, it’s going to be. Yeah. And, you know, just like from an organizational standpoint, the cancellation and reprogramming of many shows that happened this season are already taking their, the coronavirus is the gift that keeps on giving.

After I found out about the Huns not moving to Brighton, I have a commission that was going to take place at the theater center in May of 2021. And because this company’s spring programming this year had to be canceled and financially they need to, you know, make these tough decisions that play that was going to happen in May, 2021 will be replaced by a project that was canceled in spring of 2020. And so the, like, we’re feeling the, the reverberations of we will be feeling the reverberations of this from for quite a while from a logistical standpoint.

And then from an artistic standpoint and maybe this is, this is like one of those, one of those coronavirus days, but I wonder, I wonder how, like to a certain degree, a lot of this all seems, a lot of what we do seems meaningless when you think about, you know, a project that was dealing with the current political moment, that current political moment is now completely different. The, the, the, the reality that we will return to is going to be very different and it makes everything. So, so, you know, there, there are a lot of projects that are, that are being put on hold, that are going to be re-evaluated through post-coronavirus eyes.

And, and, and that’s, that interests me in particular keeping we’re, we’re planning on doing the Huns next year in the spring and thinking about, I was, I was thinking about that play in terms of a like post-coronavirus lens. And I think there are, there are certainly themes about, you know, the rat race and trying to, trying to keep up and, and being, being close with, with your colleagues, but also being distant from them. You know, in a sense I’m rambling, but ultimately it means I’m now looking at, at art differently because of how they, how they engage with this current or near future moment.

It’s true. You make a really good point because I mean, it’s the biggest, you know, true cliche of them all is, you know, art imitates life. Right.

And we as a society, as a world are going through an incredible shift right now. I mean, it’s really shifting the way people look at their government. It’s shaping the way we, it’s real, making us reevaluate what’s actually really important to us and what’s not.

It’s, you know, it’s, I think for me personally, I can only speak to my own experience right now, but it’s really stressing for me just how important community and physical touch and actually being able to talk to someone in person, not through a screen is. And it’s one of those things that these luxuries are all very good and wonderful when you have a choice. And as soon as you don’t have a choice, you’re like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

It’s like, it’s like, here’s all these delicious cookies. Look at all these wonderful, wonderful cookies. And as soon as someone says, no, you can’t have the cookies.

All you want is the cookies. The cookie all of a sudden becomes very, very important. And I think culturally as a society, we are really now shifting and kind of, I mean, again, I can only speak to myself, but really taking stock in, in what’s really important.

And I think, like you said, Michael, I think there’s going to be an interesting shift in the art that, that comes out of that, because I mean, we will be fundamentally different after this as a world, as an entire world. And it’s, and it’s very, I mean, obviously the three of us aren’t old enough to have experienced like world two or anything that would have affected the entire world in this kind of on a similar impact culturally significant. But, but for us, this is our kind of big moment and it’ll be really, really interesting to see what the art does with it.

Like how, what, what, what is produced because of it. That’ll be, it’s true because you can’t help it and see things through this lens. Now you just, you just can’t help it.

Well, I mean, I see everything through the lens of like, how close is that person to me every time I leave my house for a while, you know, like, Oh, why is that jogger running so close to me? You know, why is, you know, why, how dare that person not wear a mask? There’s all these like things. Exactly. Exactly.

So it’s, it’s just a matter of, of like, all these things are changing. And also we’re trying to, to, to still try to do something with our art in a way that, because the video, a video, a play over video chat doesn’t, it’s not the same, you know, you’re seeing just, there’s no production value to it. You know, it’s not quite.

Can you still hear me? Yes, we can. Oh, good. I’m sorry.

I cut you off. That’s okay. I, when, when I was in theater school, I had an undergrad, I had this a professor who was very keen on theater and new media.

And I, you know, slings and arrows that just come out and I was like a tin sheet and like, you know, I, I didn’t think, I really believed in, in, in theater in terms of its physical space and the connection to the audience and very, you know, low, low production value, high emotional content. And I wish I had paid more attention to him. I wish everyone had listened to those crazy, visionary people that were pushing the boundaries of the media and of liveness and of ephemeral experiences as they can exist in a virtual space, because these zoom things are so boring.

And, and we’re all like, that’s going to be posted. Well, I mean, I, I’ve tried them myself and I, and I realized I just, I don’t, we don’t have the panache yet. We don’t, we don’t know how to utilize this to their greatest capabilities.

I mean, maybe we have, maybe we have realized that and there’s a, there’s a platform that doesn’t yet exist for musical performances. I know people are having a really hard time synchronizing, like when different musicians play in different spaces. And it’s, and maybe this pushes that envelope.

Maybe this forces the innovators to think of more unique ways for us to create and to perform in a, in a virtual space. You know what it is too, I think, sorry. I, what I think, even from an audience side of things, because if I, I mean, if I go, if I watch a movie at home versus going to watch a movie at the movies with a, you know, 150 people in the audience, even if there isn’t a live component to what’s being presented, there still is a community aspect to it that enhances what you’re experiencing.

You know, I would even argue even more on like a, you know, like a superhero or something very culty, you know, that people are all major, major fans of and all, you know, share those common interests and everyone’s there to experience this together. And regardless of the actual, I mean, obviously movies, there’s no live component. There isn’t a physical person in front of you performing, but even the act of coming together as an audience to experience the same thing for the love of what you’re about to experience is complete.

That component is completely gone, like completely wiped out. Because you become complicit in the action. You are an important factor.

If you get up and check your cell phone and go to the bathroom and make a snack in the middle of a movie or a live theater performance, you have ruined the experience for everyone involved. But it has no consequences when we’re sitting and watching at home. No, on the other, on the other hand, you know, yeah.

On the other hand, I spend, you know, with my day job, I spend my time in several hours a day of zoom meetings. And I find it then difficult to that, to come and try to think of this zoom window now as a theater when it’s been dry meetings all day. Yes.

Yes. How do we now turn those mediums into creative mediums as opposed to the business models that have, they’ve been designed for? I mean, I think I know Howland right now, Howland Theater Company has come up with a really creative way of using Instagram live where they’re doing this murder mystery, this improvised murder mystery saga this week. I think it’s on in half an hour.

So if we’re done in half an hour, tune in for episode two. But even using Instagram, so Instagram is not a business platform. It is not, you know, used for meetings and calls and this that the other is specifically a creative platform.

So I don’t know if that was their own, you know, recognizing that this was a non-businessy platform or much just on the fact that it’s much more accessible to most people to just kind of log into their Instagram and click the live button. But I watched a bit of it last night. It worked really well.

I was very impressed with what they were able to do on that platform. And I’m actually excited to see what the creativity, because I mean, created the best creativity comes out of the biggest obstacles, right? That’s just a fact. And so this is a, I would argue financially a little bit more difficult of an obstacle for us to all overcome, but creativity, I’m really excited to see what comes from that.

And myself included, like I, myself is not only being worried about the finances, but myself as an artist, I’m curious to see how I can adapt what I want to be doing to meet these new restrictions. Yeah. Michael, next time you talk, can you just check your distance to your microphone? Cause you’re sounding a little far away again.

Oh, I’m sorry. That’s okay. That’s perfect.

That’s perfect. Thank you. I started to get up and walk around.

I’m pacing. I understand. I understand.

I would, I would be pacing if I could, but I have to be in front of the computer. I always find it’s, it’s so much easier to have one of these conversations. If you couldn’t, if you can’t see the person to be able to talk.

The problem with these, the, these, these video platforms is that it’s business that’s creating them for a business use. I see what you’re saying. Yes, yes, yes.

And somehow we need to find a way, some kind of adjustment or some innovator to come in with something that works both as a, for business and for theater or for. Yeah. And I think to a degree, a lot of it is a similar problem that we were encountering with the imminent cancellation of the Huns is that we don’t want to acknowledge that this will go on for a long time.

You know, we’re, I think collectively we’re we’re in a kind of a holding pattern that feels comfortable. And we know that sooner or later we’ll be back in a room with other people and, and life will continue on. But I don’t know that anyone.

And, and so because of that, I don’t know that anyone is like, is, or maybe they are, maybe there’s someone who’s been recently laid off and is sitting in their basement and thinking, I need to find a way to connect the members of this band to live stream their concert. And I hope they do because it’ll be useful in the future. And for now we, we take the platforms that we have at our disposal and, and make the best of them.

And I think, you know, all it takes is looking around the Toronto community to see people who are innovating and adapting like the Howlin’ Company, like Outside the March. There are, there are so, it’s such a, it’s such a strong, vivid, imaginative community and people are really banding together to make great things together. So, you know, it’s funny.

I’ve been, I’ve been doing that. Yeah. I’ve been, I’ve been participating in some of the Zoom, you know, readings.

And I also was participating in, I have a friend who hosts a trivia night at a pub on Monday nights in the, in the pre-coronavirus world. In the current coronavirus world, the pub owner contacted my friend and said, is there a way for us to do this online? Because it is actually a huge community event at this pub. A lot of people come on Monday nights and get together and play trivia.

It is, it is just part of the culture of that neighborhood. And in order to continue that, he wanted to try and find a solution for people to still be able to commit to, to connect. So my friend developed this pub night or this trivia pub night via Zoom.

And I was watching the difference between him, because it is a very performative thing. It’s essentially a one man show just asking questions at people, right? It’s essentially, you’re, you’re playing the, you know, the role of host and MC and running this night. And I was, I was kind of analyzing the difference between what he has been doing versus what the, the readings that I’ve been participating in is.

And it really seems like when it’s one person performing to a camera of people watching, it works really well. But as soon as you add a second person to perform with, it falls flat because when you’re performing to someone, there’s a visceral physical connection of having them right there. Unless of course you’re performing a monologue and all these other components, obviously, but, but there’s something that’s really lost as soon as there’s a back and forth via a platform like Zoom.

There’s also that, that lag that happens where the conversation can’t flow because the video is lagging or somebody’s frozen or all of these things because our technology is not quite where we need it to be. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Michael, as a, as a, as a creator, I don’t know about you, but I was finding for the first probably about two weeks of, of the, the social distancing and the stay home and all of that, the level of anxiety in the air was not exactly conducive to creating anything. I would tell myself I should be doing something. There’s this time now, I’m not doing anything else, but I just couldn’t get past that.

And all those jerks, all the jerks on the internet started spreading that meme about how Shakespeare wrote King Lear when he was in quarantine. And they’re like, no pressure, right? None. None.

Yeah. Well, I guess this is the time I should write one of the greatest masterpieces of Western art. Yeah.

Yeah. I think, they didn’t mention how far into quarantine it took Shakespeare to get out of bed and start writing. No.

And that might be worthwhile. It’s been very, yeah. It’s been strange, honestly.

I have felt the pressure to work on stuff. Both societally, there are people who are really great at, at taking lemons and making lemonade. And, and also the fact that I, like, I, I do have, I have writing contracts that I should be fulfilling.

I have deadlines in the world that, that continues to march forward. And I have found it very difficult to, to get anything done, to think about anything but the circumstances. I also have a full-time job and have been working from home and that has brought with it a whole new set of realities and anxieties and, and, and new things to adjust to.

I’m, I’m very grateful that my, my, my, one of my deadlines has been pushed forward. It’s forcing me to work. I say that, but I haven’t really started doing anything yet.

But it’s forced me to think about working. You know, I, I read an article that, that, that likened this to the grieving process. And I think there was a while there where we were all in a, a very prolonged state of either denial or bargaining.

And I’m, I’m so, I’m really grateful for this, but also a bit overwhelmed by it, that, that there are people that have written plays in a week or two days, or have tackled the next draft of their screenplay and have sent them to me, like looking for notes, asking for my, my thoughts. And I just sit there and think, you sons of bitches. I can’t believe you are getting any work done.

I haven’t done a sit up in days. So, so is that an answer? That’s absolutely, that’s absolutely an answer. I just found it difficult.

Cause you know, I don’t know about you. I heard a term within the first few days of, of the quote unquote quarantine. I started to hear it on podcasts that the people had spent the weekend panic scrolling.

And as soon as I, as soon as I heard that phrase, I was like, that phrase didn’t exist before now, but I know exactly what that means because I too spent the weekend panic scrolling. And I still catch myself panic scrolling. I have days.

I definitely, I there was one evening last week where I watched the national twice a row. Oh, they play it four times in a row. The CBC is making some great content that we can talk about that later.

Yeah. I’ve, I’ve been, I, I either binge the news or I don’t pay attention to it at all. Right.

Either panic scroll or I keep my phone in another room for an entire day. Um, it, there have been really extreme, uh, emotions and adjustments, uh, that I’ve been navigating throughout this thing. Uh, and hopefully at a certain point writing will enter back into the equation.

I’m kind of assuming that after a period of terrified inaction of paralytic anxiety, that, that, that, as that subsides time will allow the writing and, and creative pursuits to come up. I, I also, these people who are writing a lot of stuff, I don’t know how they’re doing it. So, um, good on them.

I don’t know how, but how dare they, um, but one thing that I, I would, as we, yeah, go ahead. At the beginning of this, um, I was thinking about doing, uh, I had really high hopes for like bringing back some of my hard grad school exercises, like write a play a day every day for seven days, uh, or, you know, like these, these, these games. The like home workouts, you know, there was a, and, and, um, and I was very enthusiastic about building that program for myself.

Uh, and then, and then didn’t do it. So, uh, hopefully, so I, I think that that was part of it. I think that that was kind of like bargaining, you know, this won’t be so bad.

I will write every day. This won’t be so bad. I’ll lose 25 pounds.

Like, you know, whatever it was that, um, and I think there are, there are people that are very good at, um, at, at restructuring under difficult circumstances. And then there are people that watch the national twice in a row. I’m trying not to be judgmental of my, of who I am.

Um, the really good thing is, uh, that the Howland company, um, it has very graciously, um, decided to work on, uh, or workshop a play of mine. And, and I think they had, and we were going to, um, we were planning on doing this in the fall and, uh, um, they have pushed that date forward by, uh, quite significantly so that we can do it, um, in a fun zoom reading or, or, or some other kind of creative method, um, in order. So it’s, it’s, and I’m, uh, I, I it’s a script that I really care about and is, um, not that I don’t care about every script, but like it’s something that requires my attention and, um, thinking about it under these circumstances and, um, and, and planning for the, the changes that are going to be made to it have, have, have been a real help in getting back to a certain kind of normal, uh, after adjusting to this new craziness.

Yeah. Um, just as we sort of like start to start to, uh, head towards the end, we’ve been talking a lot about, about anxiety and all kinds of things that are, you know, that are at the top of mind, but are not necessarily positive things to think about. And I would like to ask you each, um, what’s something that you have that has been, uh, uh, uh, enjoyable for you, something that’s been exciting, something that’s been new, something that’s made you happy in the last couple of weeks? Oh, good question.

Um, uh, I will say I’m finding that I’m reconnecting with a lot of people, um, that I haven’t, not that haven’t had the desire to, but maybe on both ends, we haven’t necessarily had the time, um, or, you know, the bandwidth to be able to reach out and say, Hey, how’s it going? What’s up? Um, I think there’s something really interesting that’s happening because we are all literally in the exact same boat, all of us that there’s a real camaraderie that’s coming out of that. Um, and perhaps maybe, you know, friends who we’ve lost, you haven’t stayed in touch with and maybe under different circumstances would assume we don’t have the same commonalities anymore. Now all of a sudden, uh, find ourselves having something to use to re-engage that friendship.

Um, so I will say I have been, um, had the opportunity. I dropped my, my earplugs. Sorry.

That’s all right. Okay. I’m back.

Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Okay.

Good. Sorry. I dropped my, my phones came out of my ears.

Anyway, um, this beautiful heartfelt thing and now things are falling apart. State of the world. Um, uh, yeah.

So that’s, that’s, that’s, that’s what it is for me. I’ve had a really, a lovely time reconnecting with it. I had the best talk with, I’ve had the same, uh, best friends, best girlfriends since I was in kindergarten.

I grew up in a very small town. So, um, the joke was that you were either friends or you just didn’t have friends. I think we’ve remained friends beyond that.

Um, and, uh, I had a, a, a three hour FaceTime chat with the three of them on Friday. And that was something, you know, they, a lot of them are married with kids and, you know, careers and this, that, and the other. And although we do try and get together once a year, just having the time to kind of just sit and talk and without kids, without husbands, without the craziness that’s going on was really, really, really lovely.

And I didn’t know how necessary until, um, I, I had it. There was a real, I think, I think over the last little bit, I’ve had an opportunity to participate in a lot of these readings, which has been really lovely from a creative standpoint, because the artist in me is very happy who, you know, can sit down and read a script and think about a character and this, that, and the other. But from a human level, I hadn’t, I was really missing, um, the human connection.

And over the last two weeks, um, I’ve really been able to, uh, keep up that human connection by, by reconnecting with people that I haven’t spoken with in a while and also reconnecting with, with very, very, very close friends. So yeah, that’s, that’s what I would say. That’s, that’s made me happy over the last couple of weeks.

Nice. Michael? Um, well, you know, really all of the things I just spent the last, however long complaining about have brought me a ton of joy. Honestly, like, um, it’s the flip side of the coin is that, yeah, my inbox is full of, um, projects by amazing friends, uh, who are fantastic artists that are making things and want to share them with people or people trying to adapt to the circumstances that we’re in and overcoming these collective doldrums to, to like spice up everyone’s lives.

Um, there’s, there has been a really, a really welcome, um, embracing of community through this. And, um, uh, I, I participate in like weekly town halls, uh, about, um, how this is affecting arts organizations across the country and seeing everyone committed, passionate and, um, uh, and, and, and, and determined to share resources and come out at like it’s business as usual after this. It’s so inspiring.

I, I, or been more proud of the local arts community and, um, happier to be a part of it. Um, and I have been taking walks in nature, which is maybe not what I’m supposed to do for social distancing, but, um, uh, there has been a real, um, a slowing down, um, uh, kind of relaxed pace that, that this is forcing everyone to go to move at. And I think that the world was moving very fast.

And perhaps this is the universe’s way of telling us we all need to take a sick day. The, the reality of it is quite frightening, but, um, but hopefully we will gain a lot of patience and perspective and, um, and it will reinforce a lot of values that I think we might have been losing sight of, namely the need for community, the need for the arts and, um, and, uh, using that to take care of one another. So I’m also eating all of the chips.

Yeah. People think that there’s a shortage of toilet paper right now. There is going to be shortage of chips to, uh, sustain Michael’s, uh, very aggressive addiction.

Um, I just received a message on Facebook from Phil saying that his computer has, uh, randomly shut itself down. So, um, are we still going? If a podcast falls in the woods. No.

Um, first of all, fuck Donald Trump. Um, why am I apologizing for that? Don’t apologize for that. Never apologize.

And on that note, I think perhaps we need to shut this down. Uh, thank you very much. But how do we, I think we just ended.

I think we just did. Yeah. Is it still being recorded? Hang on.

We apologize. I think it’s still going. I think we’re still going.

There are four people listening. Identify yourselves. Um, yeah.

Anyway, uh, should we just, should we leave? We just closed this off, I think. Well, thank you. Thank you, Phil.

Yes. This is very silly. Um, but yeah, thank you very much for, uh, having us and, um, we really appreciate you giving artists a platform.

Um, to talk about their trials and tribulations during this. I managed to get back in you guys. Thank you so much for, for, for talking.

We were nothing. Nothing happened. We were holding it down.

We were being completely professional. I have no doubt. I have no doubt.

And Michael has no opinion on Donald Trump. Do not worry. Oh, I’m not worried at all.

Who, what, what problem could come from from somebody saying something about Donald Trump. Thanks a lot. You guys are really appreciate you guys having this conversation with me tonight.

Of course. Thanks so much. Thank you, Phil.

Thanks for having us.