#37 – Adrianna Prosser
Adrianna is a storyteller: online, onstage, and on film as a playwright, actor, geek and social media guru. She is a host and Executive Producer for the award winning education webseries Cranium Cookie, Producer of her smash hit one-woman show Everything But the Cat… and the Social Media Community Manager for the City of Toronto Historic Sites.
http://www.adrianna-prosser.com
Twitter: @adriannap
Instagram: @adriannaprosser
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Transcript
Transcript auto generated.
Phil Rickaby
Welcome to Episode 37 of Stageworthy, I’m your host Phil Rickaby Stageworthy is a podcast about people in Canadian Theatre on stage where they, I might talk one on one with an actor, director, playwright or producer, or I might get a group of people together to talk about a specific aspect of theatre in Canada. If you’d like to be a guest on stage or the or just want to drop me a line, you can find Stageworthy on Facebook and Twitter at stage really pod and you can find the website at stage for the podcast.com Adriana Prosser is a storyteller. She’s a playwright, actor, geek and social media guru as well as a host and producer for the educational web series. Cranium cookie and creator and performer of her hit one woman show everything but the cat. If you enjoyed the podcast, I hope you’ll subscribe on iTunes or Google music or whatever podcast app you use, and consider leaving a comment or rating.
Actually, earlier, we were talking about how you were taking the C library when you’re quite young. Yes. How when you’re when you’re when you’re first taking.
Adrianna Prosser
I’m pretty sure I turned six and it was a birthday gift C and A Green Gables and that the school trip was going to see the secret garden at Elgin theatre, because for obvious reasons, the garden the Winter Gardens there. And I loved it so much that my mom was like, Oh, wow, this is something that she’s really into. Let’s foster that. And then I saw a fan with the opera, I believe for my seventh birthday. And I was completely amazed by it. And after I left the theatre, I told my mom and like, I want to be Christine de. And she’s like silly, that’s an actor’s not a real person. And I want books. And thus, the idea of me playing pretend for a living who was born. So yes,
Phil Rickaby
I mean, the practical. We’re sitting for live theatre that it just is pretty rare. Not a lot of kids can can do that. Were you just awful.
Adrianna Prosser
Like no, I mean, yes. I mean, I love my parents, and they are good parents. But I think I think I have one of those blind like blinders on, like, like, horses with their blinders on. So they only see what’s in front of them. Because when I’m reading, the world is gone. When I watch TV, the world is gone. When I’m working on a project, the world is gone, much to the detriment of my loved ones who are always yelling Adri, Adri, Adri white and listening to me. I’ve been calling you for like half an hour. And I think I get that from my dad, because when he when he plays video games, my mom would recall the Larry Larry, wait, I’d like the house could be on fire. We’re just very focused individuals as processors. Swing on don’t know, I think I think it was just, it’s just a lucky personality trait as well. Like, there are just some people who are very good at being still the kind of focus really is kind of like going on a recurring thing. It really is like that kind of this is the thing you’re doing. Because like, if you and your whole world. Yeah, no, I guess that’s true. Yeah, it does lend itself to my nerd dumbs as well. So I get very passionate and I can be very, very, very, very focused.
Phil Rickaby
So when you were when you decided that you want
to play for a living? When did you figure out that it was a thing?
You know, to do for a little bit because, you know, when when God gives, you know, the occupations that they are aware of, to do so they want to be a policeman, fireman,
astronaut
those sorts of things. It’s rare that a kid like realises realises that this is
Adrianna Prosser
a thing that one can do. That kind of thing. Well, thanks to my mother spilling the beans that this was actually a career choice. I think I think all was lost. Because up until that point, I mean, that was around the time that I was becoming obsessed with, with back to the future as well. Right. And, and then understanding you know, having that snowball effect of like, well of Christine de and you know, Phantom of the Opera guy isn’t real, then all of these people are fake. All of these people do this. And so that realisation I think was a nice big snowball of Oh my goodness. All of these people are playing pretend for money. You know, or at least get to do it as their job from as much as you know, a seven year old can understand that as well. Right? But that people want them to do this people, you know, expect this of them. And I’m playing pretend was like the best thing in the world is the best thing that so I think because like there was you know how every kid wants to do a thing? Like I think I wanted to be a marine biologist. I don’t know why I haven’t really ever had like a pension for dolphins or anything like that. I don’t even know where that came from. And then for realsies Yeah, I definitely had all of the the nerd nerd cred stuff like I had the microscope with like the whole like that wooden case with the slides and everything like this. Oh, yeah, I didn’t go as far as getting a telescope because my mom I think weighed her options. And she caught the microscope and said of the telescope, much to my chagrin, because dark brown and Back to the Future is just like, all about showing Claire the constellations and about space and time travel. So I know that it was a little sun above. But yeah, like all of these very nerdy pastimes and whatnot. But at the end of the day, it was better to think. But I could play a marine biologist, but I could play a scientist. But and you know, and be racecar driver the next day or whatever, like I could do whatever I wanted. Because playing pretend was a job.
Phil Rickaby
Like, when did you start actually doing stuff? Like even as a as a as a
kid for you really paper?
Adrianna Prosser
What do you use? I was in the school play. And it was back before I moved. So I was in grade three, grade three. And it was the trial of the Big Bad Wolf. And I was in that Lord knows what I actually played in that play. I just remember it being the big bad wolf. I think I was like one of the one of the little creatures from the forest because like I was in grade three. And you know, when it’s like a children’s show, they fill the bigger roles with like the grade eights, right, right. And then whoever else is interested or roped into it for that matter. So I think I might have been like one of the three little pigs as friends or something. I might have been a chipmunk for all I remember. But I remember that being a thing and that being really exciting. And then the next big thing that I think happened other than, you know, school projects and and speeches and monologues and stuff like that was Anna Green Gables. Of course, yeah, of course, of course.
Phil Rickaby
You have red hair, you’re either an embrace that spend the rest of your life running from
Adrianna Prosser
them, or both of the above and play in Green Gables regardless because people, people like to pigeonhole you. Yeah, but I loved and I absolutely adored. And
Phil Rickaby
you I mean, did you seen a Green Gables as one of your early early theatre experiences? This is true, I always find that your first experience stays with you in a way that you’ll pretty much always be fundable. Absolutely. It doesn’t seem to matter. When people do it is like you always love it.
Adrianna Prosser
Yeah. Yeah. And it helped that it was a protagonist that really spoke to me. And that, not not just superficially, like, not just because she had red hair, and freckles, but because she was Canadian, because she was very temperamental, and because she had like, bombastic, hyper, like hyperbolic tendencies, which, you know, definitely doesn’t happen to me whatsoever. And, and like the fact that like one of my very favourite books growing up wasn’t a book at all it was it was the tempest because I liked the act, sorry, was the champion as well. Oh, my goodness. Now I’m completely blanking. It was the Tempest and Midsummer Night’s Dream with all of like the magic and the fairies. Right. But the tempest was even better because there wasn’t some silly lovers. You can kind of ignore the silly lovers. And you could really what a lot of people still do. Well, there’s that too. So yeah, but I really liked Ariel in The Tempest. And I would I would search for her parts. And I think it was it was the Charles Lamb as well like reading that as well. So I was really freaking out my mom because I was like, into time travel and Shakespeare. And I think she really wanted to push the end of Green Gables because that was more conventional. But But overall, I mean it that has also stuck with me not just because it’s an but Canadian history. And, you know, I’m really big into Canadian history as a as a lifestyle for that matter. So it’s really nice to keep circling back to an
Phil Rickaby
you So the mentioning that your mom was I think it sounds like your mom had difficulty raising a new child.
Adrianna Prosser
Well, she’s, she’s a muggle. And if she’s listening to this, she won’t even know what a muggle is. So, she is a muggle. Yeah, bless her love her, because it didn’t matter what, you know, this little wizard wanted, she would, she would fuel that fire, even though she had no idea how to be supportive other than to get me more books, or to take me to that audition or take me to rehearsal. She was lovely, she is lovely.
Phil Rickaby
That’s good. That sort of, because some people, you know, not only some parents have difficulty with, you know, raising their child, but then to find out what that child wants to do an unconventional thing with their life, and not like, go into business or something like that.
Adrianna Prosser
What’s really funny is, is that I have never, never felt any of that negativity from my family. They have always been 100% Yes, of course, you’re going to be an actor? Yes, of course, you’re going to go to university for acting. And what’s funny is, is that most recently, I’ve been moving away from from acting is more of a full time, focus, and more of a side and complimentary a career, more into business more into marketing, and it’s that that’s getting them out of sorts, they’re just like, but but what, what are you working on, and I’m like, but I’m not working on a show right now. So
Phil Rickaby
it’s, it’s, it’s one of those difficult transitions that I found happening in my early 30s, because I was no longer happy to just struggle with
paycheck to paycheck.
Adrianna Prosser
And that’s the word is it is a struggle, and, and granted, I am playing more than happy to struggle for my passion in my heart, because like, what else is there? This is your life, and one must follow and be happy. But, you know, there there are some other other elements at work that restrain me from from being in acting full time. And, and it is it’s a it’s kind of a growing up of sense. It is not, you know, not a Peter Pan about about the acting. It’s hard. It’s really hard.
Phil Rickaby
You know, it’s funny, because I know when I was, you know, I don’t think anybody really expressed the difficulty in acting. When I was a kid teenager, no interest, nobody around me. And it really wasn’t until I went to theatre school people say, my audition. Nobody wants you.
Yeah, like, Yeah, this is the reality. You were
special. Yeah, you are not a unique snowflake.
A bunch of other unique snowflakes, you can do just what you do,
Adrianna Prosser
right? And the sooner you embrace the fact that everyone’s a unique snowflake, and that it is equal parts luck situation, people, you know, you know, and and the Yeah, okay, sometimes in networking as well, right? You never know who you’re gonna meet at that after party from that show. Or even just you know, growing up, you never know that that guy that was in your math class is now this marketing representative that needs somebody who sounds and looks like you. So you get that commercial? Because Oh, my goodness, I remember you from 20 years ago. Like it’s just it’s so many random elements that actually can go into making what looks like a career. When really, it’s a lot of stars aligning. And I say that hopefully that people are not turning this off being like, wow, she’s she’s jaded. But like that there is only so much work you can put into it. And then you have to let the rest of it go.
Phil Rickaby
Yeah, it’s true. I think not discovered how much I enjoy making my own thing.
Adrianna Prosser
Oh, yeah.
Phil Rickaby
I wouldn’t I don’t think I’d be doing
Adrianna Prosser
Amen.
Phil Rickaby
Because I know people. I know a lot of people in their career where they’re attempting career, or the career that are behind, they’re still working on is it exhausting? And people I know who have left the business, they will say one of the reasons I bought it was because I spent all of my time either looking for auditions and going to auditions or trying to keep on top of who was the artistic director of where
was the marketing? Like, what was this person? Yeah,
so they can change to meet them. And that was exhausting. And that was my life. And I thought that that was the life. Yeah, and the idea of but not so I don’t have to rely on somebody else to make a thing. Yeah, I can make my own.
Adrianna Prosser
Well, and that’s the great. That’s the great thing about this golden age of production self producing YouTube and, and you know, you can you can buy a studio kit off of amazon.ca Because I did for like tune in 50 bucks for like a lighting system a backdrop. You get a bounce in there and you buy a DSLR from BestBuy and bam, you can make yourself a web series, you can do your own self tapes Steadicam for under $20. Okay, well, you need to link me because that sounds amazing. And it’s things like that. And that’s why I think the way that I’ve kept my head above water, from the rejections from the chance from all of these things that can get you down, is self producing, and writing and creating, and I didn’t ever think that I would become a writer. And lo and behold, I have written almost like a dozen or so either web series scripts for shows for theatre site specific museums. Yeah. And one of them is being optioned for the Canada 150 next year. Yeah, the rebellious women teaspoons raised. That’s awesome. I just found out today, so that they want to put that in. Because again, a lot of women in history get glazed over Yes. And you need to read between the lines about what was happening either on the homefront with them or the fact that they’re completely left out of the picture. So I wrote a story about Mrs. Gibson that that deals with that. And it’s a one woman show that deals with specifically Mrs. Gibson but also has voices of her neighbours. So there’s the Mrs. Comer character and Mrs. Shepherd of the shepherd line, the shepherd subway station fame. and Mrs. Gibson and they all come together, for the first time having tea after Mrs. Gibson comes back from being a fugitive in America. And this is her first at home, which is the Victorian equivalent of like, come over for some tea. And, and they just kind of hanging out for the first time in like, over 11 years. And she recalls what happens and and it’s site specific. So so it’s in, in the house happening in what I hope people understand is so called real time, like it’s it is November 1851, in this parlour happening now, and she’s recalling what happened. And it’s some of the memories play out in real time, like the fire in the house. You know, all of a sudden, I’m running through the house and slamming doors and picking up a fake baby that’s crying and like tossing stuff down the stairs, and people are a part of that chaos. So I’m really I’m blessed with with site specific inspiration. Which has happened a couple of times like the school mr. show, and Zion was really cool. I’m completely floored that Canadian literary icon and Marina Donald came and was like, Hey, that was that was pretty good. And I’m like, Oh my God, you came in yourself and you thought it was okay. So it’s been really cool to have that as an unconventional means of producing and creating because a lot of people again in the trappings of being an actor think that they need to be at Stratford at Shaw, at Factory and like, like household name, and you know, and things like that. And it’s, it’s something that I have found is as satisfying granted. I would love for Stratfor to call me right now. That you the way that you can express yourself and keep yourself in the so called game which is to keep just to keep moving, you know and keep the passion flowing is to create. You can’t you can’t stop your momentum. And that’s one of the ways that I’ve found has worked.
Phil Rickaby
So which came first for you, your love of history museums.
Adrianna Prosser
I guess harkening back to my inner Green Gables done, I think it was something that was an early seed because I read all of the Evergreen gables books, and that is a snapshot of Canadian history. That’s what LM LM Montgomery did really well, and that she herself was a school mistress and was an Edwardian woman and it really came to be in her books. And it’s the Canadian country sign and whatnot. So I guess, I guess the love of history came first. And then museums was a fluke. Yeah, it was my first job out of university because I can’t wait tables because of my redheaded blood.
Phil Rickaby
Because when somebody has a pitch to
Adrianna Prosser
you, I am and surely they will see red.
Phil Rickaby
For many years, I would not like I did not want to go If it was because I knew somebody would be a bitch to me, it would immediately show my face for like a second, and they would know exactly because I couldn’t I cannot I can I can shut off and like,
Adrianna Prosser
it would just be, it would be too much of the mask, you know, the mask that you have to wear in certain situations. And I just think it would be exhausting to wear that mask as a daily thing. Because at the museums, I, I rarely wear a mask. It’s always Yeah, I’m here because I love history because I love can Canadian figures and icons that made this country what it is. And it is very akin to being an actor, because I have to read these historical documents and interpret them, I get to wear a costume. And I get to interpret and acting is kind of synonymous with that interpretation. So how did
Phil Rickaby
you start? When you were saying you said that? Doing a lot more things in the marketing realm? Like when? And and to me, from what I know what it sounds like. And that started because you started doing some of that stuff before the receipt of some of the museums trip? And then what? Like how what’s your role from being an interpreter at the museum’s to becoming a social media expert for one of the
Adrianna Prosser
better? That’s very kind. I was gifted this position of social media management and community management. Strict because the curator and the site coordinator were like, Oh, please don’t make us do it, you do it. And because I was more than happy to play on Facebook and Twitter, and to me, that’s what it was. It was He was something that I felt like I was getting away with it. And, and it was one of those you know, love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life. I never really understood that unless I was on stage. But then all of a sudden, I felt that way when I was on Facebook, creating content. And again, creating the ease is not just creating character and being on stage but that I was creating a series of videos and coming up with characters that can best represent the sites I created the last ladies and I love Myrtle Myrtle is Myrtle. The last lady is a child of my clowning workshops and my historical background at the school and she became this entity and character.
Phil Rickaby
What are the last names?
Adrianna Prosser
No loss, ladies. They all have a first name starting with m minus lady Myrtle. And Myrtle has a friend named Mildred middle da Maleficent Oh no, Millicent, not Maleficent Millicent. Oh, my goodness, who else? They’re all they’re all her little friends and she keeps losing them. She’s a loss lady. And she likes to get lost in history. And like we play with the word loss. She likes to get lost all around Toronto and different historical sites. And it was an Outreach Programme that I created through these characters that people could then keep bringing back to Zion schoolhouse. So it was actually a marketing thing. It was a tactic to get design school heads, which is obviously stuck at Finch and Leslie to get their programming to leave that place and go to McKenzie house or go to steampunk festival because that’s Edwardian hate sci fi is great, right? It takes you through history to so they there’s little videos of them. My favourite is when they go to the diner, when we go to the Spadina Museum for their Gatsby party, and they get the date wrong. And hilarity ensues in the clowning style, and they don’t speak because they’re from the Edwardian times, of course. So they there’s that silent film aspect to them as well. So it’s it’s really interesting, because a lot of these design elements I went behind Myrtle in the last ladies as a marketing campaign was really an amalgamation of all of my theatre background as well. Yeah. And my film studies class. Yeah. Which was fun.
Phil Rickaby
And then. So you, you went from just sort of playing on Facebook and Twitter.
And you decided you decided to get serious about
Adrianna Prosser
it, or other people decided for me. Other people started to say, hey, you know that thing that you do for Gibson? Can you do it for us? Hey, you know that thing that you just did furs ion. It’d be really great if you could help us with something like that. And it became the other museums asking me for help the best practices. It became other actors needing help behind the scenes about their own branding. And then it became theatre, theatre companies who actually was like, Do you think you could do that for us? C n and I have a very hard time saying no. I have some serious FOMO. Yeah. And it was, it has always been my pleasure, because that’s exactly what I want to do is I’m very selfishly happy to be the, the centre of a party I like being in touch is that what is it a keystone or a touchstone? The thing that like keeps the Keystone, the Keystone keeps everything there. And like, I like being that the base of how people know each other. It’s really selfish of me, I love introducing people to people who I think will enrich their lives or make them make them better. Right. And that happens very much on social media. It’s all about networking.
Phil Rickaby
You said that you you helped actors to talk to you about their personal branding? Is there something that actors, theatre companies take for granted? Social media? Or don’t do what they should?
Adrianna Prosser
I think they should remember the first word in that is social, because a lot of and it’s and it’s everybody, it’s not just actors and theatre companies, but but like anybody who thinks to use it as a marketing tool, that it needs to be it that it will be the answer. And it’s not, it’s complimentary to what you’re doing. It is your voice box, it’s, you know, it’s your it’s your little milk crate that you can stand on. And people may or may not listen. It’s not a direct channel, to people, which a lot of people seem to think that because they’re posting on Facebook or Twitter, that it’s always reaching their, their audience. And the answer is no, no, there are little tiny robots and codes that prevent that from happening. So it’s up to you to converse, and to connect, and that it’s a tool to do that. It’s not a billboard, and it’s not a commercial, be social on social media.
Phil Rickaby
I mean, I’ve seen a lot of Twitter accounts, for example, which are all just one way. Yeah. You know, it’s just, they say one thing, and often the worst are the ones that say the same thing.
Adrianna Prosser
Three times a day. Yeah. Oh, if you want
Phil Rickaby
me to unsubscribe from Twitter, say the same thing all the time. I hated it. Yeah. More.
Send out all your tweets. Yeah, like it’s one thing. If it’s a tweet storm,
Adrianna Prosser
yeah. If it’s a chat, if you’re participating in a chat, or whatever, sure.
Phil Rickaby
Some of you don’t send all your advertisements at one time a day, and also don’t send the same thing.
Adrianna Prosser
No, because it’s a conversation. And you wouldn’t you wouldn’t say hi, Adri. Hijri. Hi, Adri. Right, like, you wouldn’t repeat it, you would engage and you would wait for the talkback, right. And I think that’s something that a lot of people don’t understand about social media is to get involved. And that is where a lot of people don’t understand just how just how much engagement is worth. But also just how much effort it takes. And that social media is not as easy as me saying, I’m playing around on Twitter and Facebook, like that’s another thing that people take for granted is, you know, the the mom idea of like, oh, you’re just playing on Twitter. And it’s like, that’s not my mother, by the way. But you know, like that idea of, how can you make a living out of this, you’re playing on Twitter. I don’t know what that accent is. But that it’s so much more than that. It is engagement, it is staying on top of trends. And like, that’s what theatre companies in branding needs to do best is to be in engaged. And I don’t know how else to put that in the layers of the word engagement.
Phil Rickaby
Definitely. Because I know that, you know, you see all the time. These Twitter accounts, it only goes one way. Never participates doesn’t retweet other people doesn’t respond to questions, just send a message and just kind of do it gets really boring. Yeah. And also, nobody really wants to
Adrianna Prosser
know, because it’s like that guy who’s like, the hands over the ears going. Like, no, you have to be two way.
Phil Rickaby
Yeah. Yeah. Frustrating. It is. It’s really it’s really good. It’s a hard thing for people to wrap their head around. Especially if you come from a more old media background, where
Adrianna Prosser
things are very static. You just like,
Phil Rickaby
Oh, I’m just going to get my my hand in the paper. I’m going to sit down and get it. You think that it’s important for actors to be on social media?
Adrianna Prosser
Absolutely. I have my own website, I have my own YouTube channel. I have my own Twitter. I do not have a Facebook page because I would rather people go to my website. And, and I have my own Instagram. And that’s not to say that everything is always about acting. My website is is about all of my creatives. You I have a blog there so that people can see what I’m up to. Because I also think it’s important that, you know, your resume can only say so much. Plus, there’s things that I can put on my resume, like the acting classes that I’m going to, like the web series that I’m in, you know, like, all of these things that I can showcase on my website. And also people can get a sense of who I am a persona and also like, can go deeper than a demo reel. And you know, and people have contacted me, through my website. And because of my website, I’ve had several people say, Well, you know, we watched all of your videos, and I’m like, all of them. All of them. Yeah. Okay, what does that mean?
Phil Rickaby
audition for a film. It was short film. But I walked in. And the casting people greeted me like they were exactly because they were on their website, and they all watched my videos and things. Yeah. It was like, they gave me such a like, I feel like, I want cash, because they already had goodwill towards me when I walked in.
Adrianna Prosser
Exactly. And I’ve had so many gigs, where were that, in itself is been worth the effort to, to get something up there to write the blog that tells them what I’m up to, or why I’m not available. Yeah, you know, like, that’s the other thing too, is you’re living your life, and they just kind of want to know, it’s a very transparent age. And, and I live my life by that motto of being transparent and authentic. And the best way to do that is to have control of your narrative. But through your own branding, and but it is difficult, because when you understand what your branding is, and then a gig comes along, that speaks against it, I recently just had to walk away from a fantastic project, because it dealt with suicide. And I am a huge advocate for suicide prevention and mental health awareness. And the character herself was was seeking was seeking aid to end her life. And I had to contact. Right, yeah, and, and the character was wonderful, nuanced, a really great short, it would have made a fantastic reel. But it was everything against what I stand for. And I totally understand that people could be like, well, it’s just a character, Adrian, you’re playing, make believe, and I’m like, but I’m investing in projects, and investing in projects that showcase what I want to work with, and who I want to work with.
Phil Rickaby
I think that I mean, if you were not somebody who is creating their own stuff, maybe you could do it, because just like taking whatever job comes along, but as soon as you start, like producing your own product, attaching your name to something, even if nobody knows, nobody knows your fucking name, even if you are like not a household name, it’s just something new something. So that if you are somebody who’s like making your thing you can’t,
or you probably should not do something that goes against everything that you have put into your life, I have
Adrianna Prosser
been very vocal, and very public about my advocacy. Since my brother died about five years ago, that as soon as I read it, as soon as I read the script, I knew that I couldn’t do it, it would just not be you know, on a very simple level in a way that you can talk about a business way. It’s not my branding, but also more so it’s not who I want to project and it’s not and hey, hey, you know, those those actors out there who can completely disengage their feelings. I am completely baffled by that. I think it’s amazing. I must be one of those terrible actors that invests and goes maybe a little bit too far. But that I would have and living with that script and like like being in that role for an enough of a period for me to actually bring something authentic to it and to do a good job in my view would mean that I would feel really awkward the whole time. And it would it would it would read Yeah, I think he could read so I feel really good about not not happening
Phil Rickaby
yeah so the
places for the museum’s you created everything.
Which was a play that I think I mean, you were dealing with your other songs and things writing the play helped you.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Before that, have you ever thought of putting that much of yourself and your story to a project that you were
Adrianna Prosser
writing, never, absolutely not everything to that point was historical fiction. Like it was, it’s, uh, it was, it was all representative of what I was reading in diaries and letters. And it was it was other it was it was out of self. It was inspired by, by actual events. So I mean, I guess that’s the only other thing that really was akin to. But I never, I never thought that that would be anything I would ever want to write about. Everything but the cat was something that, you know, when when, when people keep asking you the same question, you know, what happened? How are you? And it was really funny that usually when I told the story, a story took about an hour to tell, in a coffee shop or in somebody’s living room or at a pub, and at the end, nine times out of 10? Because that’s how many times I’ve told it. If not more, people would say, you know, that would be a good show. Because they were completely wrapped course, yeah, they didn’t, they didn’t say anything, or they would say something. And then what happened next, you know, and I’m like, Well, okay, I guess I’ll keep telling you this story, which I think is completely banal, and depressing and terrible. And yet, people would would want to know it. People came in from out of town to hear one on one. My story. Granted, most of the time, it was a loved one that just wanted to be there for them. And let me you know, let me connect with them. And this was the only thing that I could really talk about, because it’s really overwhelming grief is overwhelming. But then, you know, friends, and people would be like, Yeah, you know, I told them that story about you. In Vienna, it was really funny. And I’m like, Oh, okay. And so that made it into the show, like, and it was just all of these things where I started piecing it together. And yeah, it was kind of a good show. How long did it take you to put it together? Once you started working on it, yeah. That is a good question. So 2011 After one year of grief, I think I started sorting things out. And then I believe by 2012, I submitted it to the alumni, theatres, New Ideas Festival. And some lovely people took it on, they believed in the project, and it went into the reading series. And it sold out. And I was completely floored. So then I took that, and I started doing it. For like, touring, to to high schools and stuff like this. And, and speaking at events, I do a lot of storytelling events. One of the first events before the bigger for the New Ideas Festival, just to see if it was actually a good idea. Can stage has like this incubator kind of series. And I did a 10 minute piece there and, and people loved it. And I was like, Okay, I don’t know why this is working, but something’s working. And so I worked with some fantastic people. We’ve got grey and Jamie and and I’ll link you to their fantastic puppet company, because I wanted to do shadow puppets. Because I do believe that the whole story being from my point of view, it was important not to get other actors in there. Because it was my story. And not at all the truth. Like it’s my truth. Like it did happen. But like, in a way we should other people embody my caricature of the person that I represent. I think it was just really complicated. So I went in, and I had this idea of, of shadows like that shadows of the past or some other dramatic ridiculousness that came to mind. And so I had people act out on an on a screen so that I could capture their their shadows. And I interacted with the shadows in real time on stage to represent everybody that I was talking about. And I also got voice actors to do it. Phil, you were in it. It was it was really great. And, and it was really neat how it all came together. And then people kept wanting to see it. And so I went to a couple high schools. I sold out the solo Festival in 2014. I believe 2015. I did a couple of high schools. And now that it’s 2016 there. I’ve been doing storytelling events for the past two years ever since this wedding sold out at the solo festival. But it’s not. I’m not pushing for bookings, because now it’s a matter of going there. Going back there, right,
Phil Rickaby
I can see that that’s difficult. That’s Yes, you wrote it at a particular time. Yes. And to, to perform it, you have to go back in time,
Adrianna Prosser
you got no place to be. It’s not, it’s not a great place to be. And now I’m also feeling that the story that I want to tell is, is the long game is now is now the different conceptions of grief, bereavement, depression and mental illness, and it’s the success of everything, but the catch has prompted me to, to keep writing to keep writing and and we, you actually made a fantastic writers retreat. And then I got some more work done on my web series that deals with the same things that everything that the cat does, but it’s an ensemble cast, and it’s, it’s a web series for now. And it’s called two weeks to paradise. And, and it deals with, with grief, a sudden loss and family that the ensemble cast deals with, with all of these different stigmatised parts of life. Yeah, and that’s where I’m going with it, then. Yeah, so it’s really evolved. And who knew, I never knew that this would be a thing that I would be doing, of course,
Phil Rickaby
I mean, it’s funny, when we’re starting out, especially when we’re at school, or whatever it is that we’re taking, and we think that our life is gonna go a certain way. Yeah. And we’re like, this is this is exactly what’s gonna happen. Never quite
Adrianna Prosser
know, it’s not that cut and dry. So the web series, where are you? Where are you with that? I’m about halfway through. With it being called two weeks to Paradise, I always imagined that it would be 14 episodes, and that it will kind of roll out in real time. That may or may not be true at this point. But I’m on about episode eight. And it’s an ensemble cast of this woman named Deanna who’s spent like, three, seven, and her dad drops dead. And you know, he was doing Tough Mudder and, you know, he was getting into being vegan and all this stuff, never smoker. And it’s just a tragic loss. Yeah. And, and she doesn’t know how to deal with grief. And so her the ensemble of people around her at work, her friends, her family, her estranged brother. And then the odd one out the the weird element is that I was really taken with my own families. The way that a lot of my family dealt with my brother’s death was actually leaning on religion. Because my step family is, is very religious. And it’s always been something very fascinating to me, because I am not religious, but that they could find solace, and they could find a different resource than I did to deal. And so I delve into that. And that’s where the the paradise person comes in, is that Deanna, the lead character, she prays for the first time since she was a little girl, because her her father was religious. And he was named Michael after after the Archangel Michael. And he prayed every night and she didn’t really get it. When she grew up, she kind of gave it up and whatever, like the secular society that we live in. So she prays for the first time and lo and behold, an angel comes she they actually hear her prayers. The only thing is, is that this angel is not is not anything she expects. It’s it’s a substitute Angel because she hasn’t prayed in over 20 years so she doesn’t necessarily deserve to be heard by an archangel or anybody who actually knows what they’re doing with their wings. So Tony, Tony shows up and he’s like this liver spotted Angel have a whole man and it’s hilarious and wonderful and hopefully all of the above and yeah, and it’s it’s their hurt her foray into depression and grief and bereavement and finding out that a lot of her friends admit to her about their, their there their struggles as well.
Phil Rickaby
It is interesting how when you experience a loss of some kind or other people share theirs.
Adrianna Prosser
Oh, oh, there were so many. And I’m sure you can speak to this as well, with the show that we just worked on. But that everything but the cat, I would have to stay at least as long as the show. Host show because people wanted to share. People wanted to connect. People wanted to just shake my hand people wanted to give me a hug. People wanted to say, I’ve been there, it gets better or even the fact that it doesn’t get better but you learn to live with But like, there were all these parting messages and just needing to connect.
Phil Rickaby
Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, I think that like if I hadn’t been on that show the commandment at a Fringe Festival, where it’s like everybody out. Yeah, I think it would have been a lot longer. A lot of people. It’s lovely. Yeah, it is really good. It’s really amazing when you
Adrianna Prosser
touch people. Absolutely. A lot of the time, when we went to high schools, it was it was it was really wonderful that these teenagers, you know that the stereotype is that they don’t want to share with adults and like, you know, you don’t know me, You’re not my mom, and all this blah, blah, blah. But that after the show, a lot of the time, I had a lineup of kids who I used to talk to me or just, you know, give me a high five or just like, that was great. Thanks for not talking down to me. And the light, you know,
Phil Rickaby
they’re, they’re, you occupied an interesting place in the building, performing that show? Being one, really honest and to not sugarcoating, not talking about things, but a lot of kids right now we’re spending a lot of time to talk down to
a certain level, not quite creative people. So
Adrianna Prosser
yeah, it’s it’s always really hard to remember that Andrew was only 22. And that these kids who are making the transition from high school to university, are in the same trappings that he felt he himself was in, and that he felt trapped. And then, to speak to that. And I think that was something that really allow these kids to either speak up to me, or I heard from some teachers that they spoke about it several days afterwards, that they needed to digest it, and they needed to talk about it. Because it’s heavy, it’s really heavy, you know, suicide is, oh, is heavy.
Phil Rickaby
It was funny, because, you know, I’ve known people who are depressed and perhaps, you know, to them, they would argue that is their choice. You don’t have the right to argue with them. Oh, no, I’ll argue, do like, you don’t,
you’re not thinking about what it does. No, don’t like, you don’t realise what it does. Until that happens,
Adrianna Prosser
it’s very, very difficult. On that note, I will share a very private story, the fact that when my brother passed, I had to call people because I was working the next day. And I had to call friends to let them know not to worry about me, because I was going to drop off the face of the earth for the next little while. And I phoned somebody. And, and basically told them, you know, like, this is what has happened. I’m sorry, I’m phoning, you know, 1230 in the morning? You know, please don’t worry. I’m okay with my family. And, and they’re like, yes, of course, of course. Thank you for calling, you know, just do what you need to do. Let me know if you need anything, you know, very, very, very, you know, scripted. This is the thing that happens. And, and years later, years later, this person came to me and said, You know, I was very depressed. And I was in a very bad place. And then you called me at 230 to 1230 in the morning with this, and you were crying, and I couldn’t believe what had happened. And I felt so bad. Because I was thinking of taking my life. And you phoned me, and you were devastating. And all I could think of was, oh my god, I’m going to do this to my family, to my friends to my circle, and I’m going to devastate that. And the next day, this person decided to get help. And it’s, you know, as these little things Yeah, and that is why I think everything but the cat and and, you know, fantastic groups like art with impact. Your show the commandment, me tried to write some things for two weeks to paradise. I think it’s a fantastic way to start that conversation. And I need to also recommend Luisi Ks, horse and Pete because oh my god, oh my God, oh, my God. His transparency and authenticity was soul shattering and I cried so much watching that show, not just because obviously it’s moving inside, but because it was so terribly authentic, that it was hard to watch for beautiful reasons. And that being truthful will will bring truths to people’s lives. So, and we’ll help them also see through the marten fruit see through the muck and see what what you know, such such terrible terrible decisions can lead to. So it was really quite fascinating that that actually that actually happened. And I, you know, I still can say that, you know, I can call that friend up and be like, hey, buddy I’m so glad you’re still here. And I love you.
Phil Rickaby
Yeah
let’s let’s do the litany of the social media. Okay, through your website.
Adrianna Prosser
My website is Adriana dash prosser.com Your Twitter. Adriana P. Your Instagram. Adriana Prosser Are we missing any? Um, no, I think that’s that’s pretty much like the big stuff. You don’t want to find me on Snapchat. I’m so lame on Snapchat. Terrible. You find me on Pinterest, but it’s all like puppy thing.
Phil Rickaby
Number one, we are all on Snapchat. Everybody’s on Snapchat. Even people who don’t think they’re lame on Snapchat, right? Sorry people that work for you Snapchat? Yeah.
Adrianna Prosser
Can I can I shout out the fact that I’m really excited about a new project that’s coming up. I am again, I’m moving more into social media and I’m really excited for me working with eldritch theatre. They are puppet magic horror.
Phil Rickaby
And we say the magic word.
Adrianna Prosser
And it’s just the coolest thing in the world. Funnily enough, again, one of those things where you can’t ever be like, Oh, well, that’s how that’s gonna work. I saw Eric wolf show. He’s the artistic director and he does the puppeteering and the magic and the horror. And it was a whim it was a date night that I went with me and my partner and and I emailed him being like, you know, that show was awesome. We’ve been talking about it for days, who knew that puppet horror magic was amazing, but it is and you are amazing. And so he wrote back he’s like, Oh my god, this is amazing. You’re so nice. And and I said, you know if you ever need any social media management kind of stuff, I would love to shout you out. And he’s like, Okay, I don’t really know what that means give thanks. Bye. Fine, fair enough. And then like eight months later, he calls me up and he’s like, Hey, so social media what? And now I’m like helping create their branding and their tone and their story. And and it’s horrible magic puppets and amazingness and so I’m really really excited to work with them. That’s great. Yeah, so coming this fall you need to see the harrowing of brimstone McCready, which again is cool because it’s puppet World Magic, and Canadian history. These are all things I like. Yeah,