Podcast

Will Parry

About This Episode:
This week on Stageworthy, host Phil Rickaby welcomes Will Parry, actor, singer, and content creator based in Toronto. Known for his work as a musical theatre performer and social media consultant for artists and theatre companies, Will shares insights into how creatives can better express their authentic selves online while building stronger connections with audiences.

This episode explores:

  • Balancing social media and theatre careers
  • Authenticity and “brand voice” for artists and theatre companies
  • Finding confidence in sharing your work online
  • Discovering puppetry through The Wizard of Oz and beyond
  • The art of cabaret and creating personal connection on stage
  • Writing for young audiences and exploring digital culture through theatre
  • and more!

Guest:
🎭 Will Parry

Will Parry (they/he) is an Actor-Singer-Content Creator based in Toronto. Recent theatre credits include Hare in Hare & Tortoise (Carousel Players), Milky White/Steward/etc. in Into the Woods (Koerner Hall), Seán/Donald The Leprechaun in The Wild Rovers (Smile Theatre), Toto in Wizard of Oz: The Panto (Drayton Entertainment), Magician/Demonstrator in Illusionarium (Starvox Entertainment), and Scuttle in The Little Mermaid (SLC Stage). They have also created and performed in cabarets with Theatre Gargantua, Icarus Theatre, and a self-produced virtual cabaret during isolation, Here I Am: A Cabaret. He is a graduate of the St. Lawrence College Music Theatre Performance Program. In addition to being a performer, Will is a Social Media Content Creator. As a creator, Will has collaborated with brands including Fabricland, White Claw, and Freshii with management clients including CBC Kids’ Ukulele U, Koerner Hall, Drayton Entertainment Youth Academy, CGDC, and more!

Connect with Will:
🌐 Website: http://www.will-parry.com
📸 Instagram: @willxparry
🎵 TikTok: @willxparry

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Transcript

Transcripts are auto generated and may contain minor errors.

[Phil Rickaby]
Hello, welcome to Stageworthy Canada’s Theatre Podcast. I’m Phil Rickaby, the host and producer of this podcast. This week, I’m going to be talking to Will Parry.

Before I talk a little bit more about him, I want to remind you that if you’re watching on YouTube, make sure that you like this episode, hit that subscribe button, and also that bell icon so that whenever I put out an episode, you’ll get a notification that that episode is available. And while you’re there, if you like anything in this episode, leave a comment and let me know what you think about this episode in this conversation. If you’re listening to the audio version, make sure that you’re subscribed to your favorite podcast app and search for Stageworthy then hit the follow or subscribe button.

And that way every time I put out a new episode, it will get downloaded directly to your device. While you’re there, if you’re on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, make sure you give a rating and review those ratings and reviews do help new people to find this show. Make sure that you stay tuned to the end of the episode when I will tell you about next week’s guest.

Now on to this week’s guest. Will Parry is an actor, singer, content creator based in Toronto. He’s a musical theatre performer and also works in social media and specializes in helping theatre artists and other artists maximize their use of social media.

We have a great conversation about that as well as theatre in general. So please enjoy my conversation with Will Parry. Will Parry, thank you so much for joining me.

I really appreciate you giving me some time. I kind of wanted to start with a question that occurred to me because you are somebody who works in both social media and theatre. And I’m curious just off the top to jump into some real meat.

Is there something that theatre professionals, either companies or performers, miss from their social media?

[Will Parry]
Yeah, I think one thing that I’m seeing across the board is I think people are either deciding when it’s personal and when it’s professional, and they’re living in these two super specific laneways. And I think we can all benefit from having a little bit more fun with our social media, leaning into our eccentric, whimsical, fun personalities that we naturally have from doing theatre, and allowing that to seep into your content and just maintain that authenticity, which really brings people in.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah. Yeah, I’ve definitely seen that as well, and it drives me a little bit crazy when somebody’s like, this is my professional site, and this is my personal site. And I’m like, but you’re the product, right?

You, as a performer, are the product. And if you don’t give your potential audience all of that, then it’s a really boring feed of like, I’m in rehearsals.

[Will Parry]
Absolutely. And I think also, it’s social media at the end of the day. That social is the first word, and being able to create that human connection through authenticity and showing the full breadth of yourself through that platform, I think is really helpful and really just creates an authentic you, which is really cool.

[Phil Rickaby]
What about theatre companies? Because here’s the thing, it kind of drives me a little bit crazy. So there will be a social media trend, and then around the time when it starts to die off, suddenly all of these theatre companies will jump in doing the trend, but it feels like they don’t really understand the trend.

They just know that everybody’s doing it. What, aside from like jumping on the tail end of a social media trend, what should theatre companies be doing just generally in terms of how they deal with their social media?

[Will Parry]
That’s a really good question. I think that’s what a lot of people perceive, quote-unquote, I don’t know if we’re seeing this, air quotes, good social media is to hop on the trends, whereas I think something that’s really important, and especially with companies and when you’re doing it from a business perspective, is to really find that personal brand voice and make it feel like it’s an actual human speaking to you, rather than just like, here’s an ad, here’s a promotion, here’s us selling you something, and really finding that humanness. Because I think as well with theatre specifically, it’s so much based in human connection, and to be able to bring that to your audiences at every vantage point, be it social media, be it email marketing, be it in the theatre itself, be it in any sort of marketing materials, I think it’s really important to keep that human side of things. Yeah, for sure.

[Phil Rickaby]
Because I will say there hasn’t been a single instance of a theatre company jumping on a trend that I haven’t felt internally embarrassed for the theatre company, for the people in the video, because it just feels a little desperate and unnecessary.

[Will Parry]
Yeah, I think you definitely verge on a territory, especially if it doesn’t align with the brand voice. Sometimes I love when we’re getting a little silly, when we’re getting a little fun with our socials and creative, but I definitely think finding that brand voice and locking into that is where you’re going to find the most efficacy and when you’re going to find the most success with your socials.

[Phil Rickaby]
Years ago, I was having a conversation with Sue Edward, I don’t know if you know Sue, Sue’s a marketing and promotional genius in the Toronto theatre scene for a long time. And Sue, and I think this is a truth that for the average person who’s not in the industry, what we do is magic. It’s a magic trick, but we have the opportunity to pull back the curtain in a way that magicians can’t and show them all of the pieces of how things come together in a way that can be engaging and interesting without having to resort to highly scripted or cringy memes.

You are primarily a musical theatre performer. I am curious about your background, what brought you to theatre? What is your theatre origin story?

[Will Parry]
My theatre origin story, I was actually thinking about this the other day, and I realized that it was so based in movie musicals, which is awesome, like Annie in Grease and all those fun ones, even Sweeney Todd when I was like eight, which is probably a little early for that. But you know, we watch what we watch. We love musical theatre.

And just seeing that over the years, I was like, oh, this is so cool. And then when I was 11, there was a production of Willy Wonka Jr. happening in Barrie, which is where I grew up. And I loved that movie as a kid, especially the original G Milder one.

So all the stars aligned and I was like, I’m gonna audition. Let’s do this. Let’s see what happens.

And then I got to do that. And from that moment on, I was pretty hooked. Mind you, I definitely did mouth the words to some of the songs, said no breath support at the time.

But you know, if Brittany can lip sync, so can I. Am I right?

[Phil Rickaby]
It’s true to go from sort of doing it when you’re a child to like making that your career can be a bit of a leap. At what point did you figure out that this is what you wanted to do?

[Will Parry]
I remember when I was really young, my parents would always take me down to Toronto to see a lot of Mervis shows, and lots of touring companies of different things like Hairspray, Wizard of Oz. I think I saw Vulcan Mormon really young, which looking back at it now, I’m like, whoa, Will is watching really adult musicals at a really young age, but just getting to see those and sort of over time seeing the archetypes established and understanding like what different types of roles there were out there. I was like, oh, I see like where I live within this landscape and what I want to do because I love musical theatre because it’s so bright and so fun and so exciting.

There’s this exciting whimsy to it and being able to spread that to other people through joy and laughter is something I feel really passionate about. So it just clicked for me one day. I was like, oh, they’re making people laugh with songs and words.

That’s cool. I want to do that. Yeah.

[Phil Rickaby]
It’s interesting. You mentioned two musicals that are at least a little inappropriate for somebody your age to be seeing. First off, Sweeney Todd, probably not right for an eight year old.

And let’s face it, Book of Mormon has about 20 minutes of it’s good, like a child could sit through this and then it goes. And at any point, did you feel like your parents were like, maybe this one was a bad idea or were you just like, we watch what we watch?

[Will Parry]
I think the movie musicals was more of an independent venture with one of my stepbrothers, who at the time was just like obsessed with them as well. So we watched a lot of them together. It was like parents weren’t there, so I don’t think they necessarily clocked it.

But Book of Mormon, my mom was definitely like, I don’t know about this one, but that’s OK, because it ended up leading to a career. So, you know, we do what we do.

[Phil Rickaby]
I recall when I sort of when I was in high school and I sort of told my guidance counselor that theatre was what I wanted to do. And they were kind of like, I’m not prepared to help you with that. I don’t know anything about that.

How was your support in school and at home about pursuing theatre as a career?

[Will Parry]
Yeah, I think at home both my parents were really awesome about it and they were really great about supporting me at a young age and obviously like supporting me in terms of driving me back and forth from rehearsal, but also supporting me in terms of bringing me to things and letting me do all these super cool pay to play programs like workshops and like full two act musicals and all that type of stuff and getting to have that training.

So they were really supportive of that, which is awesome. I think schooling wise, I didn’t necessarily go to an arts high school or an arts forward high school, so I didn’t have a ton of support there. A lot of my teachers and friends and stuff like that, but it was super cool.

So they were supportive in that nature. How did you prepare? Did you go to theatre school?

Yeah, I went to theatre school in Brockville at St. Lawrence College and I went there for three years. The Brockville campus where that program was located at the time is right in between Kingston and Ottawa. It’s smack dab in the middle.

It’s a super small town, so we were able to get super focused on the curriculum and just the learning aspect of things, which I’m really grateful that I was able to go somewhere with a small town. Toronto is very exciting, lots of lights. I would have been distracted.

[Phil Rickaby]
I remember I came from a relatively small town and so coming to Toronto to go to theatre school, it was one thing, but they kept us so focused. It was like, yes, I know that the main college is having a party tonight, but none of you will be attending. You will be here working, which was always like, oh, right.

And then eventually we forgot about the rest of the college. So, you know, not so bad. Yeah.

In terms of your, you know, sort of going through that program, does that program still exist, by the way? Because I know that a lot of colleges are dropping the theatre programs.

[Will Parry]
Yeah, that program still exists. I think in the next couple of years it is fizzling out and finishing off with the current cohorts that they have. But at the moment it still exists and I wish it could exist forever because I think it’s such an important program for so many, especially because it is in a more rural area, so it provides access to a lot of students who wouldn’t necessarily think of that as a career path, which is really cool.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah, I could see it also being a really great way to connect to those rural communities in a way that the theatres in the city can’t.

[Will Parry]
Yeah, there’s a lot of different regional theatres out there that the school started to connect with in terms of them coming to have auditions at the school or there’s partnerships between the theatres and the program. And in terms of guest artists coming, like that’s really been a huge support to the program. And as the program’s grown and become more on the map, a lot of those guests have been able to come in, which is super cool.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah, now you’ve done a bunch of work with Drayton Entertainment, especially in the Youth Academy. How did you get involved with Drayton in the Youth Academy and exactly what do you do with Youth Academy?

[Will Parry]
Yeah, so my connection to Drayton started way back in 2014. I was in their youth chorus of their original Peter Pan the Panto, which was so fun. I remember that being a super formative experience and it was so cool getting to learn from the professionals and also just do a musical of that scale at that age was super, super cool.

And then a couple of years went by, I went to St. Lawrence and my final semester of school, I was doing Going Under, which was directed by David Connolly, who is the now Artistic Director of Drayton Entertainment. And through that, we were able to do a lot of awesome work together. I was also taking his Zoom workshops at the time because it was in the middle of the pandemic and I was really enjoying those.

And we developed a great professional relationship, which was awesome. And we aligned on a lot of things. And he initially asked me to help out with curriculum and building out sort of what materials the students would be learning from.

And then from there, I was like, hey, I work in social media, what can we do? And the position continued to scale into teaching. So I did a few summers of their summer camps.

I did my fourth summer with them this year, I think that math is correct. And I’ve also done a bunch of their March break camps as well. So teaching like improv, audition prep, acting, puppetry recently, which is super cool getting to delve into that.

And Drayton is where I started my puppetry stuff, which was awesome. And I’ve also done like Showtunes Wellness, which is their like Broadway fitness classes. And I love busting a move and I love finding musical theatre remixes.

So it’s a really great alignment there.

[Phil Rickaby]
You mentioned sort of doing it over Zoom during the pandemic and stuff like that. How does the relationship change between when you’re doing things remotely and when you’re doing them in person?

[Will Parry]
All my teaching was in person. So I never had to teach on Zoom, thankfully. Thoughts and prayers to all those who have to teach on Zoom.

That sounds really difficult.

[Phil Rickaby]
Honestly, I wonder about the people who had to both teach and learn in theatre on Zoom.

[Will Parry]
I think learning I really benefited because I don’t know if I would have like delved into the world of social media had I not had that experience just because there is so much of promoting yourself on social media during that Zoom time because there was no other real avenues to focus on, especially on a smaller budget. But in terms of that relationship, changing from virtual to in-person, aside from the teaching, most of my work was remote, which was awesome and super convenient. And I’m really grateful to that.

And getting to have both just really enhanced it and it really just made it exciting. So when you’re in person, there’s that extra giddiness of like, oh, I get to teach today. Like, that’s so cool.

And that’s awesome. And yeah, it just made it all the more exciting to have that opportunity to teach in person.

[Phil Rickaby]
Now, you weren’t in college during the pandemic, were you?

[Will Parry]
Yes, I was in college for half of my experiences of the pandemic. So I got through all of first year, most of second year, and then about four weeks out from our second year show, which was Sweet Charity for our YouTube viewers, vinyl there. I was so sad I didn’t get to do it.

But yeah, my whole third year and last second year was in the pandemic.

[Phil Rickaby]
I’ve spoken to people whose whole experience was in the pandemic, and I really feel for them because I don’t know how they managed. But it must have been very difficult to go from the in-person learning into a pandemic, like remote learning situation, especially when nobody’s figured out how to do like a show online yet. Like, how are we doing any of that?

What was that switch like for you?

[Will Parry]
Yeah, I think the switch initially in second year was really weird because it went from being in person at school to just finishing all our assignments as best as we could, but we still have some lectures and we have some vocal lessons. It was just really interesting to the focus shift was really interesting because I think in person, there’s that energy exchange that makes it a lot easier to pay attention. And obviously, with it being theatre school, it was just a lot easier to engage with the material had you been in person.

And in some cases, like you can’t necessarily do things from home. But I feel like with third year, I really found a nice benefit to it and being able to learn how to document your materials and document your work. It also was nice learning how to like bring those practices that we have in theatre school, whether it be like scene study, whether it be dance classes, whether it be, I don’t know, vocal lessons and be able to bring that home and establish that practice at home because that’s so much of what we did right after.

But I still find myself like taking Zoom lessons just because then it’s easier to have a consistent teacher, regardless of where I am in the world, depending on my contracts and stuff. And also just with a lot of first round auditions that being based in self tapes, it’s like nice to have that educational backing to support that. And then it just feels like second nature rather than a whole other setup and a whole other set of learning.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah. I mean, it’s one thing to be in the work world and have that happen. I can’t imagine like I’m trying to think, as you mentioned, like doing some classes and doing like because I keep thinking about vocal classes, like trying to do choral work, especially considering as my workplace during the early days would attempt to sing Happy Birthday to the people whose birthdays were happening.

And what we very quickly discovered was how bad lag time can be between different computers. At best, it’s like a one millisecond lag. But then everybody would be like singing at different times.

And I don’t know how anybody deals with it, like in a school situation or in a chorus.

[Will Parry]
Thankfully, I was in third year for the majority of the pandemic learning and we only had ensemble singing in first year. Thank God for that for shows that we did in third year. Everything was prerecorded that had ensemble singing.

So we’re still able to experience that. And we also use a program called Jamulus for a bit. It was a quick fix for the moment.

I still think about all the voices in my headphones being like, well, there’s so many people in my ears. But like it was pretty cool getting to experience that in the pandemic, especially since it was such newly discovered technology at the time, which was really cool. And then for scene study and things like that, there was a lot of us that had bubbled together.

For example, I had a friend group of I’d say like nine or so of us that were all bubbled together throughout the pandemic, just because we were in Brockville. So numbers were a bit lower and it worked that there was less than 10 of us. So we were able to bubble and we do a lot of our scenes together.

So then we still have that in-person experience and we’d be able to work together on things, but not necessarily have to be in person at school.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah. In terms of finishing school and coming out of that, what was the transition like from leaving school into being a professional actor in the world, both coming out of a remote setting as everything sort of slowly opened up? What was the learning curve like out of that?

[Will Parry]
I think the learning curve was just remembering there’s other people. There’s so many other people doing the same thing that you have. And it’s just really interesting learning how we can gain from each other and how our different lived experiences can sort of enhance one another.

And I think that when I realized that and that we could just help each other and that so many people are open to help, that was a big shift for me. But I feel like out of school, I was like, whoa, what’s happening? This is isolating.

So that was a big transition. And also just like living in Toronto for the first time, whilst also auditioning. I personally believe there’s so much self-discovery that happens through living on your own and just living out in the world and being able to experience that all at once with Toronto, theatre, self, young 20-something.

I was like, whoa, there’s a lot going on here. So that’s what I experienced.

[Phil Rickaby]
You said something that I think is really interesting and I think it’s worth highlighting because the idea of people being willing to help you is I think something that a lot of young performers who are entering the business don’t even consider. Don’t even think about the fact that you can ask somebody for help, for knowledge. And nine times out of 10, they will happily give it to you.

I was talking with somebody years ago and they were like, here’s the secret. People want to help you. And once you understand that, that people want to help you, a magic ceremony that kind of opens up the world to you, was it difficult for you to come to the realization that people will help you or did that come naturally?

[Will Parry]
Yes and no. I feel like I’ve been good about asking for help, especially in the past couple of years. And I think it’s sort of happened pretty quick after theatre school, but it wasn’t like an immediate discovery.

I think a lot of it came from when I went to life coaching in the fall of 2021, fresh out of school. Shout out to Alex Herzog, next up life coaching. Two thumbs up, 10 out of 10.

And just being able to develop those skills with her were really helpful. And one of the big lessons that we had was this idea of the power of asking and the worst you’re going to hear is no. And so many people are open to helping you with a variety of projects, whether it just be like a simple question or like going for a coffee with someone.

I love a coffee, I love a matcha. And also just like in terms of working with them creatively, collaborating with them. I was able to do a virtual cabaret right out of school because I was like, oh, I love this art form.

It’s the pandemic, let’s film some stuff. And that was really cool and really informative. Just being able to assemble my team and assemble the people that I was working with.

And it was all just messaging them on Instagram or emailing me like, hey, do you want to do this thing? Let’s make it happen. So it was a really cool game to experience that and discover that out of school.

[Phil Rickaby]
I definitely want to come back to the cabaret, but I do want to ask you about life coach. At what point did you decide that a life coach was somebody that you wanted to talk to? What was the journey that took you to that?

[Will Parry]
Yeah, I think I saw her Instagram reels quite frequently. And I was like, oh, this seems cool. And I followed along and I read the tips.

And I was like, this is really smart stuff, like taking control of your life and taking control of opportunities and finding success are all things that I was super eager to learn more about right out of theatre school. And I got to the end of my first summer out of theatre school, finished that cabaret, finished my first theatre contract out of school. And I was like, I’m feeling a little lost.

Let’s figure this out. Let’s navigate this. And I had a really good friend at the time who was super close with her.

So I was like, you know, I think it’s time. Let’s see what’s up. And we did the 15 minute discovery call.

And I was instantly mind blown at the work that was about to happen. And I was so excited. I was like, okay, let’s do this.

So we did eight sessions right off the bat, which is her typical session model. And then I was like, okay, but I want more. So then a couple of months later, we ended up doing another eight sessions as well.

And I think 100% of my success since then, I attribute to that.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah. Well, I think that a lot of people don’t anticipate the difficulty of leaving theatre school and trying to figure out the theatre world and how they want to take their career because it is a transition. You’ve been in a sort of a bubble of an environment and going out into the world where you feel like maybe you’re out of that.

And now you have to figure out like, what is the professional world look like? So talking to somebody, getting help as a career is super helpful.

[Will Parry]
I think it’s super useful. And I think anyone coming out of school can really benefit from that type of work. And also just seeking out those mentors and seeking out people who you’re like, oh, I like that person’s career.

Or, oh, I like his thing that this person did. Let me ask about it. Because the resource is there and people want to share and help out.

Like when people reach out to me, they’re like, oh, let’s go for a coffee. I need social media help. Like whenever they’re asking, I’m always super inclined to help and support.

And whatever that means is super cool. So yeah.

[Phil Rickaby]
When people come to you for social media help, what’s the number one question that people want to ask?

[Will Parry]
I think people mostly just ask, how do I social media? Question mark, question mark. Like it’s always just that question.

And I’m like, hey, let’s talk about it. And I think most of the pain points that I find with people, whether it be clients or whether it be friends, whether it be whoever, is a lot of people are just finding discomfort with it because it’s sharing yourself with the world and it is putting yourself out there, which can be super scary. And we want to be super particular and specific with how we’re putting ourselves out there because once it’s out there, it’s like toothpaste.

It’s already out. So a lot of the work I do, I try and infuse with some level of social media mindset as well. And just reframing where your vantage point is on socials.

I think it’s so easy to get caught up in the metrics, whether it be followers, likes, views, what have you. And I think a lot of people get stuck on that. Whereas I think as soon as you start focusing on your social media community and how to benefit them and how to provide value for them, A, your metrics are going to naturally go up and B, you’re going to have a really strong community audience follower base to support you through things.

So it’s a lot of people that are just like, I’m uncomfortable by social media and I like to help them unwrap that discomfort and figure out how to overcome it, whether it be personal insecurity or metrics are scary or I don’t know how to film a reel without using super fun Snapchat filters with eyelashes.

[Phil Rickaby]
You know, as somebody who puts things out on the internet, it is sometimes so difficult not to like upload something and then immediately start watching the stats, right? We have this, listen, we’re performers. We love to have a response.

And sometimes it can be difficult to let that go and like be like, that’s going to take care of itself. I did the hard part, which was making the thing. Years ago, I read the book, Show Your Work by Austin Kleon, which I found transformative as far as just the encouragement to literally talk about how you do things, show the in progress.

So when it’s messy, show all this stuff to connect with the audience. I still have difficulty putting that into practice sometimes, but I come back to that book really frequently because I’m trying to get better at it. But also I think it’s a good reminder that a way an artist can connect with the potential audience is to show the process.

I wanted to talk about cabaret. I want to talk about creating cabarets. There’s a lot of people who really excel at that art form, but it is an art form that is adjacent to, but separate from theatre.

What drew you to cabaret?

[Will Parry]
I think as a youth, as a teen, I was always watching 54 Below videos on YouTube, like all the famous NNY ones. And I’ve watched the concerts and I’ve listened to the albums. There was like Aaron Tveit one in 2015, where it was like radio in my head.

And I was like, that’s so cool that you can take other people’s songs and share your own stories through it. Also, I just have no idea where I’d start with writing music. So like taking that stress away, I’m like, oh, that’s so beautiful, less stress, more fun.

And that art form always interests me from the get go. And then more recently, I think I’ve really found it powerful, just I’ve delved so deep into the musical theatre canon. And I’m like, I love these songs.

And I love what they can do. And I love how at different moments of your life, you’re like, oh, that song I need right now. And that song I need like six years ago.

And being able to discover the canon through that lens and that personal connection. And being able to enhance it is super cool. I also just like the freedom, love a bit.

So cabarets are full of those.

[Phil Rickaby]
Do you think it’s also there’s a way like revisiting a song from before and having like age and experience changes the way that you approach a song? And that makes the song into something kind of new?

[Will Parry]
1000%. And I think especially with the cabaret art form, this idea of like making this song into something new, whether it be a new arrangement or just a new perspective on it. That’s where the beauty comes.

And that’s where the excitement comes.

[Phil Rickaby]
So your virtual cabaret was called Here I am a cabaret. What was the process of putting that together? And how did you decide what songs to include?

[Will Parry]
Yeah, so the process for that, I gathered an awesome team, a music director and director. And I was like, hey, I want to do cabaret. They’re like, great.

And I was like, Oh, I have to write it now. Cool, cool, cool. So then I figured it out.

I put the songs together. And I had it super organized. Initially, I remember it was like, this chunk is about me moving, this chunk is about me dating, this chunk is about friendship.

That’s how it goes. And then I think we looked at as a group or a few of us looked at it, we were like, I think it needs to be more intermixed. And sort of just that writing process started from song, and then went to monologue.

And my process for it now, which I sort of established in the latter half of that project, was I like to have my songs, figure my connective tissue in like a sentence or two and be like, here’s how I get from song A to song B. Here’s some experiences, just a sentence or two to like, get me there. Then I’ll just stream of consciousness out, like a seven minute monologue on voice note, and then I’ll listen to it.

I’ll be like, how do we feel about that? And then I’ll go back and I’ll take the parts I like and just start writing. Or I’ll just put my phone to the side, tape it down on the desk, and then write, write, write, write.

But I always like to start with figuring that connective tissue out. So then I have a thesis and somewhere to go. So your songs first, and then figuring out how they connect?

Yeah, songs first, less so from a perspective of like, oh, I want to do this song. But in the way where certain songs, I’m like, oh, like, that song is this story. And then I start putting those songs in order.

So then I at least have those goalposts, then it’s less intimidating is like, I have to write this full hour show. And it’s more so like, okay, I have to write like a two minute chunk, and I have to write another two minute chunk. And just putting into bite sized things, really helps the writing feel less daunting.

And it makes it easier to incorporate the themes and incorporate different aspects of the writing.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah. You’ve done a couple, you mentioned the Peter Pan, Panto. You’ve done Wizard of Oz, Pantos, mostly with Drayton.

But I think that Pantos have a particular usefulness and a particular connection in that in a lot of cases, that’s how children first come to the theatre. And it’s a way to kind of early on connects children with live performance. How have you found the process of connecting with an audience and just doing Panto in general?

[Will Parry]
Yeah, I think, especially over the past year, getting to work with carousel players, going to elementary schools and connecting with youth specifically, and then also working with Smile Theatre, going into retirement homes and connecting with that community, specifically, and doing Pantos, I think there’s this beautiful intersection, people that need theatre most at the beginning and the ends of their lives, not to be morbid with the end part, but just this idea of how impactful it can be.

And I think it’s super important that we’re spreading art and spreading joy, especially in the pandemic. We all felt that part of us that was like, Oh, I really miss that thing. And being able to share that, especially for the first time for people and be able to spark that passion, spark that joy is really important to me.

And it makes doing it feel very purposeful, and it feels intentional. And those days when you show up and you’re like, you know, my body’s a little tired today, or I don’t know if my brain is super feeling going in front of hundreds of people, you just remind yourself that someone in that audience that day is going to either feel inspired to do this as a career, or it’s going to give them an interest or it’s going to brighten their day, whatever it is, there’s just that emotional impact.

And there’s that exchange between performer and audience, I think is so impactful, especially when it’s young folks.

[Phil Rickaby]
I do think that connection with an audience is an important skill for every performer to learn, whether they learn it in a panto, through a cabaret or solo performance, just being able to connect with an audience, feel the audience and get over the fear of like, looking an audience member in the eye, which I struggled with for a long time and then realized how essential it was in certain performance styles, but it was an incredibly hard hurdle to get over. How did when you because you did your first cabaret virtually, but I assume that any recent cabarets have been in person, how do you find connecting with the audience in person and like, like literally connecting with with people in the audience?

[Will Parry]
Interesting question. I think transitioning from online to in person. I thought it was going to be a bigger transition.

But I realized that through my online when I was looking down the barrel of the lens a lot, which I don’t always do, and I don’t always think it’s super necessary. That was almost like an even more intimidating eye because you can kind of see yourself back because it had more reflection than like human eye. So I was like, whoa, that’s even scarier.

But through the in person cabaret is just with that nature of storytelling. I think cabaret is so casual, and it’s so personal. It’s so like telling your best friend a story that it was so easy to connect with the audience members in that way, especially like I’m lucky enough that a lot of my friends are super supportive and they’ll show up and they’ll always be in the front row.

Hi, mom, if you’re listening. So yeah, just being able to connect with people in that sense, because it feels like you’re just talking to friends and making that direct contact is definitely super important, especially when like telling jokes and telling stories. It’s like, if you’re looking at the back of the house, and you’re setting that eye line a little higher, like you would a traditional performance, it sort of loosens that connection doesn’t keep the audience as engaged and doesn’t make it as fun for you either.

[Phil Rickaby]
One of the things that was always distracting for me and you know, doing like virtual meetings and stuff that happens all the time. And it happens in this sort of thing where I have to you know, we’re recording this in a virtual thing with cameras, I have to turn off my, my, like my ability to see myself. Because listen, we’re all vain creatures.

And we can’t help but kind of like, watch what we’re doing. And so we’re not don’t have a is that what I’m doing my face moment. And that you mentioned that being kind of scary the first time you were like, sort of doing a cabaret kind of like seeing yourself.

Were you surprised at how frightening that was in the moment?

[Will Parry]
Not entirely. Because I think I was doing self tapes through school for about a year ish prior and I had gotten over a lot of those jitters. A lot of those stomach things were like, Oh, this is uncomfortable.

But I think the fact that it was for a bit longer than a traditional self tape, I was going for like 20 minutes at a time before we had it like interspiced with music videos. That was the scary part because I was like, I’m going and it isn’t stopping and in the regular show, you don’t stop.

[Phil Rickaby]
Sort of aligned with your social media work. I do want to talk for a second about your website. I always feel like a bit of like a website evangelist.

Whenever people don’t have a website, I’m kind of like you got to have one. And sometimes people will have a website, but it’s like a generic URL, like wix.com. And I always kind of have a moment of like, you need to have your own name, you need to have a space that’s yours, you need to have a domain that’s yours.

It’s not just enough to have Instagram and all these other things. Did you always know you’re going to have a website? Or was that something that you came to?

[Will Parry]
I think it was at a time in school, and I just got really excited about it. So I remember as a kid, this ages me really quickly. As a kid, I would love designing websites for school.

Like I was a part of the webmasters team in my elementary school. So we developed the school’s website as like seven year olds, which is kind of crazy now that I’m thinking about it. But like, I always like this idea of the website and that platform.

And I think it definitely does have something a bit different than socials, especially now that I’m sort of using my website as a vessel for like theatre and socials. It’s just nice to have that in one place. And like, here’s my professional offerings.

Here’s my professional persona. Here’s what I do. In a much shorter answer than an Instagram feed that’s filled with those personal experiences that we talked about earlier.

But I’m very particular about my website. Once a year, I do a rehaul just to make sure that still aligns with me. And I think it’s super important work to be doing that as well and establishing that branding.

And I think, especially as someone that’s more of an emerging artist, being able to establish that brand through a website of social media is so key and essential to introduce yourself to the industry. So I think the website was a really great piece for that.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah, I think it also helps you connect with an audience, right? It’s a place where an audience can go, listen, we have to take, in Canada, we have to take every opportunity we can as performers to connect with an audience to grow a following if that’s even possible. So having a place where people can go to do that is super important.

And I think it’s a tool that not enough people are using.

[Will Parry]
And I think also if you have a really nice website, people want to commission you. So show those web designing skills in your own website, and it doubles the work for you.

[Phil Rickaby]
In terms of the things that you’ve been working on in the recent, like, let’s say the last six months, what’s your favorite thing that you have on the go right now?

[Will Parry]
My favorite thing I have on the go right now, I’m getting more into writing, which is super cool. And I’m working on two shows at the same time, which most people are like, I don’t know about that. But I think this idea of being able to take a break from one and go to the other and switch back and forth, really helps me from getting bored.

Because as a freelancer, I love getting just to do so many different things at once. So the first one I’m doing is a solo show, which follows similar vibes to a cabaret, but I wouldn’t call it that because it’s a little bit more structured. And there’s like, some tech elements and all that type of stuff that isn’t in the classic cabaret art form.

And it’s about me and my vinyls. Whoa, brought it back to the vinyls. And I’m hoping to get started workshopping that later this year and also into the new year trying to find a way to mount it in some capacity.

So we’ll see how that goes. And then the other one I am currently writing with Rose Thief Theatre. I’m writing a TYA show about a puppet and his best friend and some conflict that happens there because puppets seemingly have access to TikTok.

So the puppet gets TikTok famous, and they have some interpersonal drama to deal with, because kids love their phones. And I wanted to write something to help them get off them and realize there’s more of a world than just that.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah, I feel you’ve come to something naturally, which took me ages to realize is that switching between projects is not a bad thing. Switching between writing projects is a way to keep each one interesting. My process used to be start to write, it gets hard, new ideas come, I throw this one away, I start to work on the new one, it gets hard, new ideas come, I throw that away, I work on the new one.

Whereas having no more than two allows me to when I have a moment where I get writer’s block or this one gets hard, I can put it aside until the epiphany comes on that one and work on the other one. And I found it really helpful. Did anybody suggest that to you?

Did you just do that naturally because you have naturally so many balls in the air?

[Will Parry]
In terms of writing projects, I have the same thing in terms of throwing things out. I think I spent about two years. I think there’s probably 14 different documents on my computer of like, Will’s solo show draft.

And it’s like three pages. And I was like, I don’t know about that. Or I’d get like halfway through it, I’d be like, I don’t know about that either.

Let’s try again. So I forced myself to put it in Google Doc. That was a big step.

Because if I put it on Google Doc, it’s on my email. I see it every day. It’s a reminder.

And then I had that project going and I also had the TYA one. It was like, I have to get both of these done. What if I do it at the same time?

Let’s figure that out. And I think it’s really been able to enhance both those projects as they answer questions for one another in a weird way, even though they’re very different subject matter. Just this idea of writer’s block.

It’s like, oh, I get stuck on this one. Time to go to the other one. Right, right, right, right.

Okay, time to switch. And going back and forth has really curbed that, which is nice. And I’m making a lot of progress that I wasn’t necessarily making for a hot minute.

[Phil Rickaby]
Yeah. All right. Let’s talk puppets.

I grew up with the Muppets. I was in the Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, all of that stuff. I am a sucker for a puppet.

What your puppet origin story and how did you fall in love with puppets?

[Will Parry]
Okay, so I loved the Muppets as a kid. That’s completely separate. I didn’t even put two and two together until maybe just this moment.

I was like, oh, I love the Muppets movie, the 2011 one with Walter. That was my favorite. So good.

Life’s a happy song. Banger. And then in terms of my puppetry origin story, I got the offer for Wizard of Oz, the Panto back in 2022 with Drayton.

And I played Toto, who was a super cute dog puppet. And the rest is sort of history. Like I remember during that rehearsal process, day one, I put my hands on that puppet and I was like, I am gonna do my best.

Let’s see what happened. And it was really nerve wracking. I was like, holy moly, this is a whole other creature.

I don’t know how to walk myself, but I don’t know how to walk this puppet dog. So then I was staying in the dorms in Cambridge, which is where the rehearsal space is as well. So you were able to access the rehearsal spaces after rehearsals themselves.

And I’d go down, I think every night, if not most nights, and I would rehearse with the puppet and practice movements. And I’d look in the mirror and I’d see what looks good, what doesn’t. And at one point I started making little obstacle courses for the puppet.

So I’d have all my stuff in my bag from rehearsal and I’d just dump it out. I’d dump out the Toto on the floor so there’d be like a deodorant stick somewhere and like a water bottle somewhere. And I would just practice like running around them and interact with the items and jumping because there’s a lot of like running and jumping for Toto.

So yeah, that’s sort of how it started. And then from there I was like, oh wait, this is really cool because I got to do that show for a lot of months. I don’t remember exactly in this moment.

I think it was four. And I just really loved getting to explore that. So from there I decided, hey, I think it’s time that I should probably invest in some training for this.

And I was able to train at Puppet Mongers in 2024, which was super cool and do their two-week intensive, which answered a lot of questions about puppetry. I ended up teaching puppetry to kids through Joint Entertainment Youth Academy, which was awesome. And getting to teach them how to bring objects to life and see that excitement and joy in their eyes was like so cool.

I love that. And from there, a lot of my contracts ended up being puppet-based as well. For example, with Smile Theatre, the Wild Rovers, there was a leprechaun puppet.

His name was Donald. He was kind of scary, but we love him. And then also with Into the Woods at Kerner Hall, in the early stages, there was the idea for Milky Way to be a puppet, which ended up just being me.

But there was an idea at some point for there to be a puppet. And I think that’s where the connect happened. So thank God for puppets.

We love them. And I just think it’s so cool getting to discover that movement vocabulary for a different being that you’re in control of.

[Phil Rickaby]
Now you’re working on a play with Rosenith that involves a puppet that gets famous on TikTok. So when did that idea come to you?

[Will Parry]
I work for Next Generation Showcase, which is the new Theatre Ontario. And every year I’d see the artistic director of Rosenith at this showcase symposium. We’d have a weekend where students were able to come engage with workshops and the industry lunch, which is a lot less scary now.

We have a lot more brie. It’s awesome. I’d see him every year.

And I was like, I think this is someone that I want to work with because Andrew has great energy, amazing human, all the great things. And I was like, hey, we should work together. I sent an email and then we went for lunch and we talked about potential writing ideas, like what could that be?

And one of the ones that I wrote was this puppet TikTok play. And I was like, I think this is the one. And then it was really fleshed out.

My other ideas were kind of fleshed out. And Andrew was like, I think that’s the one. So that’s where it came from.

And yeah, I’m excited to see what it becomes and if it becomes anything.

[Phil Rickaby]
So now you have these two writing projects that you’re working on, the solo play and the TYA play for Rosenith. As you are writing, what’s the biggest discovery that you’ve had as part of the process of writing, both or either?

[Will Parry]
I think the biggest discovery I have is when I’m writing, I like to think of it as if it’s coming out of my mouth. For example, for the solo show, I always try and think through that lens and I go back through it and I read it in my head. And if it doesn’t sound like something I’d say, cut it.

Because I think it’s so easy as someone that went through school to write in more of an academic format when it comes to dialogue. So being able to speak it aloud and be like, no one actually says that, is really important and really helpful and has really helped with the streamlining and editing processes for both.

[Phil Rickaby]
It is certainly a great, saying it out loud, getting other people to read it out loud, always helpful. Because if they’re stumbling, you know that there’s something wrong, something missing, always helpful to have the words spoken. Because you’re right, sometimes things make more sense in the writing of them than in the speaking of them.

And what are you most looking forward to in the next few months?

[Will Parry]
That’s a really good question. That’s really good questions. I think you had a podcast for a minute.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to continuing those writing projects and start focusing on those and hopefully getting some robust drafts done so that I’m able to start focusing on the development process for both of those. But also just lots of fun theatre coming up. I’m really excited to see what the next little bit of Toronto theatre is.

[Phil Rickaby]
Well, Will, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. It’s been a fun conversation.

[Will Parry]
Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Phil.

[Phil Rickaby]
Thank you for listening to this episode of Stageworthy. Before I tell you about next week’s guests, I want to talk about my Patreon because I can’t do this show without the people who’ve chosen to back me on Patreon. Putting out a podcast that you give away for free does still cost money.

There are a lot of costs involved in producing a podcast, everything from website hosting to audio hosting and distribution to all of the podcast platforms, editing software, and so many other things. And that doesn’t even account for the time spent organizing interviews, doing the interviews and editing. And that’s why the people who are backing this podcast on Patreon are so important.

If you would like to be part of that if you like this show and you want to help me to make it because that’s what you’re doing. You’re helping me to make this show then go to patreon.com/stageworthy. People who join the Patreon get early access to episodes as well as have the ability to participate in conversations about upcoming episodes, issues that are facing the theatre industry might want to talk about and so much more.

And the more people that join, the more we’ll be able to offer. So if you’re interested in joining if you want to help me to make this show, go to patreon.com/stageworthy. My guests next week are Aaron Joel Craig and Stephanie Hope Lawlor from Same Boat Theatre and Rooks Theatre who are producing a very unique production of A Doll’s House in Hamilton, Ontario.

I hope that you’ll tune in for that because we will see you next week for that conversation on another episode of stageworthy.