Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 605
(upbeat music) - Welcome back and everyone to a fabulous new Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. We have a great, great show coming to you by way of the Atlanta area. I cannot wait to dive more into this piece. Joining us today to talk about it, we have the playwright and director, Sawyer Estes, the assistant director and movement director, Aaron O'Connor, and one of the lead performers, Aaron Boswell. They're joining us to talk about Vernal and Seer theater makers presentation of hurricane season. It's playing August 23rd through September 7th at theater row, and you can get your tickets and more information by visiting hurricaneseasonplay.com. I can't wait to share this show with you all. This is one of the shows that reopens theater row from its summer slumber, if you will. So we're really excited to have the show coming up and premiering here in New York. So why don't we go ahead and welcome on our guests, Sawyer, Aaron and Aaron, welcome in to Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper. - Hey, thank you. - Thank you for having us, Andrew. - Yes, we're excited to be here, thanks so much. - I'm so excited, the three of you are here today. I want to know everything and anything about this show, hurricane season. So Sawyer, why don't we start first with you as the playwright? Can you tell us a little bit about this show? - Yeah, I think to begin with, it's essential to know that it's kind of an extension of the doppelganger genre. I think like dead ringers or despair and the bakavs despair. We've ever seen Denis Villeneuve's film, "Enemy." There's these kind of great doppelganger films and literature that I've kind of been obsessed with for a very long time. So it essentially goes from there. It's a husband and wife, middle class. They're in the eastern part of the United States. It's hurricane season. The wife is reading news articles. It's in the morning, she's reading news articles that are just written with anxiety about natural disaster, government regime change and just everything that we read all the time. And across from her, her husband is waiting for the stock market to open and he's scrolling through pornographic images. And so he's locked in this escapism of desire and she's locked in this kind of escapism of anxiety in a way and information. And from there, they become one of the characters who enters is a young woman who is the spinning image of his wife at a very young age. And through a kind of theatrical conceit, she's able to kind of see his mind and see what he's seeing. And she becomes obsessed with this young version of herself. And then later on in the day, fast forward, the roles shift and a young man enters the screen while the woman is watching the young girl. And the husband sees a version of his young self and he becomes infatuated and obsessed with finding the young man who is his doppelganger from 30 years prior. And so from there, the play just explodes outward into this kind of reaching for longing and love and desire and reconnection with the old self before everything kind of went awry. - Wow, what a story. - So, I mean, the first part, as you were explaining it to me, I was like, cool, yep, this is relatable. This is 2024, we've all been there. But when you threw it, like you said, that doppelganger twist, I mean, we really went off almost every saying the fantasy kind of realm. So tell me Sawyer, what inspired you to write this piece? - Yeah, so I think we closed Sarah Kane's 448 psychosis. I think it was maybe in 2018. So, and I immediately began writing this piece after closing 448 psychosis. And so I was kind of dealing. - Can I jump in? I'm so sorry, yeah. So one of our friends invited us to go after we closed that show to like take a little retreat down at her beach house in 38 and Florida down, kind of by Dustin and that panhandle area. But we didn't know who we were gonna get to go because there wasn't a hurricane that was coming in. And so she's like, I'm not sure if you'll get to be there or not, we're gonna find out. And we ended up getting to go, but as we were driving to the beach like after it, we were just like driving through kind of wreckage to get to the beach house. Anyway, sorry, I just had to jump in 'cause I was like, that was a little detail that I was like. - Yeah, it was catastrophic and it never was wreckage everywhere and one particular image, which definitely made it to a end of the play, was just this massive tree that was totally uprooted. And on its side, and it's just one of those grand images for me of a very beautiful brokenness. So I think that, and then of course, I was writing it for several years and I finished it at the, I think maybe month three into the pandemic, into the lockdown of COVID. And so just, I think formally it was a bunch of Sarah Kane, 448 psychosis, a lot of Edward Albee is reading a lot of Anne Carson, Doppelganger films. Those were inspiring me. We had done a version of Madea and that obviously like Greek tragedy is very like driven by fate. And I really wanted to make a play that was driven more by chance and that felt more like life in that way. I felt like my life felt like it was reeling and there was no like clear causality. And so I think the play kind of came through from that as well. I don't know if that answers. - Yeah, no, what a powerful inspiration. I love that term you use the, I'm not gonna say I've already butchered it, but like the beautiful tragedy or whatever about the tree. - Yeah, beautiful, beautiful brokenness. - Beautiful brokenness. - I love that, I love that. Aaron O'Connor, you're the assistant director and the movement director. I would love to know how did you come up on this project? - Well, at the time I lived with these two. I was there living an assistant director and yeah, I think the first time that I looked at the script would have been early COVID. We had like a, we zoomed in and just did a reading with the majority of the cast that we have now with one exception. We found Pascal Portney later on. And yeah, Sawyer and I have worked on and off as a directing team for about eight years now. So he gifted it to me really more than anything. And yeah, we're a movement company. Sawyer and I tend to direct in some dynamic together and then Aaron Boswell and I teach movement for actors here in Atlanta. So we are, our company is ever changing because of our education program and how we are approaching that. So the movement director thing has always kind of been in my wheelhouse but more and more we're refining what that looks like. But that means our first draft of this show, this might be jumping the gun a little bit but we've performed this show before in 2020 and we've come back to it in the last few months but we approached it with a very different mentality in terms of movement. Really attempting kind of a high style and then just learning those life lessons that that wasn't suiting the script or the actors or the story. And so we've gotten to kind of take this down to the studs and reapply a new idea of what the movement directing is needed for this show, yeah. - We were very inspired obviously like many directors by Robert Wilson, the first go around and maybe trying to emulate something that we couldn't quite achieve and didn't have the resources to achieve and maybe that the point didn't need. And so we definitely through this one have gotten away from a kind of abstract, there is quite a bit of abstract still like movement in it. There's some dance in it but for the most part we've gotten to a kind of really kind of raw behavioralism which is still needs a lot of movement direction as well but it's really the ground of the piece and that shift that we've come to in this in the way that the stories hold physically is completely different from when we did it in 2022 and it's a much more successful this go around I think. - That's fantastic. Now Aaron Boswell, I would have bring you in who are one of the lead performers in this show. What has it been like developing this piece particularly this current iteration that you're about to bring to New York? - That's a great question. Coming from like an acting perspective, this go around just it feels very different than the last time as an actor. I mean, it's interesting because most times I work with this company, I tend to be like an assistant director, a movement director, an intimacy director, vocal coach, music supervisor, like I tend to take on a lot of different roles and then specifically because this play, this character for me is so challenging. I was like, I have to just absolutely step back completely and just only focus on being an actor and remember what it means to do the job and just really like put everything into that. And honestly the last time around I think like, yeah, I think my brain was even still a little bit in the directing world last go around as much as I didn't want it to be. And then this go around, it's a little bit more, you know, trust in these people that I do trust, but I think it's really more trust in myself to then be able to trust them more and trust, you know, trust their vision and trust the new way that we're doing the play. So I'm not really sure if this answers the question, but I guess as an actor, this go around. It just feels different, it feels easier, it feels there's more ease to it, it feels like there's more space. Last time it felt like, I don't know that there was a lot more like anger in the play, like the anxiety from the start of the play of like the catastrophes in the world was like seeping into the interaction between characters and that like colored the way in which the performance was delivered. And then this time from the acting standpoint, I think it just kind of comes from more of this, like the escapism is really just like, just more of an absence of something in the self longing for something. So this go around, I think it's just easier and it's just we're coming from a place of longing and need for something to fill the emptiness rather than anger. And so to me, this go around, it's just, it's very exciting to get to re-approach it as an actor and feel like your acting style is different, to feel like the ensemble is different, that we're listening and playing with each other in a way we definitely did not in the past. So yeah, I'm really excited to re-approach this as an actor. - That is awesome. Erin O'Connor, I wanna ask you that same question because we've kind of touched on the fact that you're a movement based company as well. So what has it been like as the assistant director or movement director, putting the pieces together and getting the show on its feet before your New York run? - Yeah, I think, I mean, definitely Sawyer is leading the charge on this. And when we first started talking about re-approaching this, I think we easily could have just tried to mimic what we did before, but we liked football coaches, we watched the tapes back and looked at it. And you quickly, and sometimes probably a very critical, human way, we're looking at it and going like, "Ugh, what did I do there?" But I think we were able to put aside kind of ego and just go like, "What does this really need to do to be more effective?" So we brought it down to the studs and said, like, "What is working? What's good about this?" The presence of our actors, fantastic, the characters, the writing, he did a little bit of rewriting on some stuff, but we had just such good bones, a structure of how we staged it by and large was good. And then we took apart kind of these sinewy things. And yeah, like Sawyer mentioned, I'm a huge Bob Wilson fan and I've been for a long time. I like in my own work, I like the idea and concept of restraint and stillness. And that was a core movement thing from the time before. And we were probably not setting anybody up for success in wanting that and really urging restraint and stillness. And so we've just kind of let it fly. And we've, I think we're really listening to our actors. I'm listening to their bodies as we're watching them work. I mean, I think we've even had some kind of monumental shifts in the last four or five rehearsals and just like being open to listen. We're also two years older and have lived a lot of life in two years, like everybody has. And yeah, we're able to re-approach. And as much as acting is about listening, directing certainly is about listening. So we've let our actors kind of lead the charge and then we're there to kind of, you know, hopefully help them hone rather than do the honing ourselves, not applying that kind of stuff. We also get to do, a lot of that is about like, you know, the pedestrian movement, the moments in between how they can make sure that they're changing from their person to their character and how to do that physically, what that looks like. But then we also get to dance around. In a very silly and, you know, kind of sexy little dance. And then halfway through the show, we also, the actors embody the hurricane, which sounds really like heady and trippy. But I think it's kind of sweet and simple. - So it's like some strange apartment theater you'd be invited to, how I met your mother or whatever. No, but no, it's cool. It's a very long, durational sequence of movement that is with the tech and everything that's going on. It's just a great reflection on destruction. So we've talked about brokenness, beautiful brokenness. Maybe we could say, maybe, I don't know, beautiful destruction too, yeah. - That is a wonderful answer. I love it. And actually, I wanna snowball off of that into my next question and start with you. You're not only the playwright we've mentioned, you're also the director. So is there a message or thought your hulking audiences take away from hurricane season? - Yeah, I think the essential, it's a very difficult play to boil down or to whittle down. I studied with Edward Albie and he'd always quip if it's like, what's the play about? And he'd say, it's about everything that happens in the characters' lives before, during and after the play. Or he'd say, it's about two hours, you know. But to be, you know, without those like little clever, like with-a-sisms, this is particularly tough because there's so many different ideas in the play. There's so many different things at work that it is really, it's a bit of an enigma and it's tough to boil down. But for the sake of boiling it down for one particular viewer, when I'll say for myself, I think it's very much, it exists in a state of brokenness. And formally and in terms of its content. So the play itself, really, you know, I'm thinking about as many writers do and like to go back, like I studied with Albie and I came from like my first like seven plays that I wrote as a student I would send to Albie and get notes on became very close for a little short period of time. And so I came from that view of theater and of theater making. And so his plays are often very much these like classic American family dramas. You take of him, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, just, you know, these canonical American dramas. And so I think the play, it begins in that and in that vein and speaks to that tradition. But then it totally breaks down and deconstructs itself almost as if, you know, I myself don't believe in those plays anymore or don't believe in that, like in fitting into that mold or that that doesn't fit our lives anymore. And so I think the characters and, you know, the play itself and us, the audience, I think are haunted by that worldview or that construction of reality, this kind of nuclear family or whatever, it's haunting this play and haunting our politics maybe and our social lives. And so I think the play is about the breakdown of that and then not necessarily a negativity, but I think it almost finds a kind of valor in those who are broken and maybe a kind of rallying cry for brokenness within a country that's so obsessed with might and strength. - That is a wonderful answer. I love, especially that tail end there. That's a really powerful thought. Aaron Boswell, I wanna ask that sing thing to you 'cause you're one of the lead performers. So, you know, is there a message or a thought you hope you're conveying or that the audience will take away? - Mine's not gonna be as eloquent as that, formerly by any means. I'm a little bit more of like an emotional pathos person than Sawyer is. That's why we work really well together. - We're buried in a room. - We're buried. We got, I don't know. You know, when I think about this play, I think about my family and for different reasons. In the sense that I'm terrified, they're coming to see it. And if you listen to this, that'd be awesome. But I'm so scared for them to see it. They weren't invited to the last time to see this play. They were actually uninvited. Not because the play is not good, but because it's me in a certain, you know, light. But I think it's, you know, I have to get past my fear of that, you know, like, I just-- - And your twisted husband wrote it. - Oh yeah, my twisted husband's brain. Yeah, so I think, you know, I think about, I think about my family and I think about like, I think about my mom who's got a personality and my dad's got this personality and they love each other very much, but they don't talk, you know what I mean? Like they talk and they know each other, but they, I'm sure they've got their secrets. And then I think about my uncle who like, I think there's a part of himself that he just hides from our family because if he told the truth, I think our family would just look at him in a different way without saying too much. And I don't even know that that's true because he's never spoken about it. It's just like a hunch that I have. So I'll just say, I think that like, this play to me speaks to the secrets that keep people keep for a long period of time. And they, even the people that they love the most, they can't speak to because speaking to those truths about themselves demands, maybe the most courage and the most risk to show yourself to the people that you love the most. So I, you know, and then that your life, your life slips by and you start at 25 and you marry this person and you just, you think that you've got this life and then you just actually don't talk and you just keep living these lives and having your own little personal secrets. And then, you know, and then life keeps moving and then you're at the end of it. And it's like, what did I, what happened to this time? And do I actually know you? Do you actually know me? Where did it go? Should I have done this? You know, and then your life's over. So for me, it's a little bit more like about the slippage of time and like what we do with it. It kind of makes me think about play we did. We adapted, Louie Spinwell is the exterminating angel. A couple years ago, 2021, we did the world premiere of the play before there was a Broadway musical, by the way, or off, I guess it was off Broadway. I'm just gonna let you say, before Sondheim, we loved Sondheim before Sondheim. We did our production before Stephen Sondheim's production went up. (laughs) There was a little bit of time when we were able to get the rights because there was a little, yeah. - We got a discount on this. (laughs) - There's a whole story there. - Thank you to the Spinwell Institute. - Yes, thank you to the Spinwell Institute for that. But I'll just say that, you know, that makes me think about that. And there's like some lines and soiers adaptation, or, you know, that's just like, you know, we're kind of, I mean, even in the film itself, it's just like you're trapped and that there is no reason for you to be, I mean, like what keeps you here? Yeah, so, yeah, what keeps you in your life, what keeps you in these paths that you set for yourself. And is that the nuclear family thing, whatever that is. So, yeah, I guess this is a really long way, winded way of saying, I don't know. I think if anyone takes it away, I think that maybe they can just kind of take a look at their lives and see if like, if they're being truthful with themselves, if they're being truthful in the lives that they lead. And I don't know, like, if there's a limited amount of time that you've got in this life to live, like do you take the plane to LA? Do you take the plane to Amsterdam? Do you have the conversation with your husband or your wife or your partner? Do you have the conversation with yourself? Yeah, so that's kind of, that's kind of it for me. Yeah. - I'm just lovely though, I love it. My final question for this first part, Erin O'Connor, I'm gonna send to you. And that is, who are you hoping to have access to hurricane season? - Oh gosh, I mean, who am I not hoping to have access to hurricane season? I know we've been working with some great people on the ground in New York and talking about who is our audience. You know, we've been working for eight years. I'm also the marketer. We all wear many, many hats here. So we consider and think about who our audience is, who's coming to these shows, who is liking these shows, who comes back, who is our retentive audience. And obviously that is all null and void once we go to a new city and everything is a new approach, a new tactic. But I think we've had some really good conversations with the teams we're working with there about like who, this exact question, who do we want to see it? Who do we feel like we'll get the most out of watching it and who will walk away with what Boz just said about, you know, who wants that kind of look at their life. And so I know we really want like young students to have access to it. We're really paving some ways to make sure that different students that are in programs like Erin was, like I was, we want people that are probably new playwrights to have access to be coming out to see that so that Sawyer can have discourse with them beyond this would be wonderful movement directors, people just in the movement world, Erin worked with City Company, not that long ago, a couple of years ago, I've got different people, you know, we want the people that kind of fit the bill. Frankly, there's not a lot of that in Atlanta. There are not other movement theater companies, movement based theater companies. There are not a lot of, well, there are some new playwrights that are out there working, but obviously we're looking to kind of expand those circles and bringing this to New York. It's a very, it is intentionally, the script is a very middle class. It's a very middling set of people, right? They're the two main characters that we start with, they're white middle class people that live somewhere on the Eastern seaboard. The intention is that they feel ubiquitous. And then the knowledge that we also have is that they are not ubiquitous, right? They're very privileged in so many ways. They have this life that they've become despondent with and it is a ultimately very, very privileged life that they have that then they kind of destroy. They help a hurricane destroy that life. And I think while it is that kind of white middle class narrative, I think their actions, their curiosities, their romances, their humanness is something for everybody. So I hope whoever that would speak to, that's who I hope has access to it. - I wanna jump on that one quick thing too. And that's like, you know, the fact that, and we're very excited to play this show at theater row, to be back after their, you know, kind of summer hiatus. That said, I think there's an awareness on our team and then on our marketing team and our press team that this show is not a traditional show that you would typically see at theater row. Maybe from like what they typically program or what companies are drawn to there. So we really have this desire to attract some audiences that maybe typically go see shows at St. Anne's warehouse or, you know, BAM or the Connolly or LaMama and your theater workshop. Like these companies that we're looking at and that they will, you know, look at our show and take our show in. And even though it's maybe not in a venue where they typically frequent, they might come and check it out here. 'Cause I think it's gonna really resonate with those audiences from those other venues too. - And then I got one more thing. You know, it's a big part in Atlanta. Like we, in terms of access here in Atlanta, we base all of our ticketing on like, pay what you can model here in Atlanta. So we have like sliding scale ticket prices or educational program is like tiered educational program. It's like 50% of the cost of what any other training program for anything else is anywhere in Atlanta. So kind of like coming with that, you know, same like desire to make things accessible for anybody regardless of like what their income level is, you know, and taking that to New York, like, you know, being mindful of like the budget that we have and like what we're trying to like feasibly make back to be able to pay, you know, our team and like make sure that we are not like just, you know, absolutely gonna lose everything on this show. If anyone's a theater maker, you know, exactly. Like it's just a real thing. - You're gonna spell the farm, but yeah. I think like, you know, intentionally like we said, our ticket price at like a lower, a lower point then we felt comfortable with and then had like additional discounts through TDF and today ticks, I think. And there's just, but because it is important to us to make sure that the ticketing and the pricing is still accessible for really anybody because we know that like you want to go see Haveray, great, that's $500. Our show's not $500. So if you want to come see a show at the theater room instead you should come see us. Okay, that's all I had to say about that. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Well, for the second part of our interviews we love giving our listeners a chance to get to know our guests a little bit better. Pull the curtain back, if you will. And I want to jump right away to my favorite question and ask guests 'cause I'm excited to hear yours. And that of course is what is your favorite theater memory? - I'll start, I'll give you all time to think over there. Okay, this one's just kind of, I don't know, it's kind of special just 'cause, you know, I love my dad and my... - Mm, it's a good one. - Do you know what I'm gonna say? I have to, yeah, yes, yes, you knew it, okay. Okay, so a couple of years ago, it's been like four years ago maybe. The signature was producing Wilenos, Tom Payne based on nothing. And so the start of the play, it's like, it's just, I mean, it's just so simple. If anyone's seen it or read it, but like the staging is so simple, it's just like there's nothing out there except like, it's just the space. It's like the signature is nothing on stage. You see the full all the way back, you know, through the open stage. And I think there might be a ghost light on stage perhaps. Like I vaguely remember that, but it goes out. It's like pitch black and I just remember sitting with my dad and I could just feel my dad sitting next to me. And you know, my dad just like a very, very serious, thoughtful, very, I'm like, I get all my melancholy for my father. My mom's like this fiery, happy Italian woman and my dad's just like Dr. Boswell. Dr. Boswell, Dr. Boswell, melancholic, thoughtful, cautious. And I have way more of him in me, I think, than my mom. Anyway, so we're just sitting there and the lights go out and then you can just hear the footsteps on stage and I'm how am I forgetting this actor's name on the side. He plays Dexter. Yeah, it's how I just forget him. Michael C. Hall, there we go. Okay, Michael C. Hall is playing Tom Payne. And so he's like walking out on stage and you can just hear it's like it's so powerful that you could feel like the air gets like sucked out of the room and like I grew up in a super evangelical church and like there were moments like that I'm not going to go into but that it just felt like, like when the spirit would fall kind of thing, you know? Like, and it felt like that but in just like a different way but like silence and like no commotion, it's just the opposite. And it was just pitch black footsteps on stage and then you just hear his voice like coming through, you know, the darkness. I could just feel my father next to me and then we watch this play and it's like 90 minutes long. I think the play ends with like the line. I don't know, I can't remember it off the top of my head but he's like how wonderful it is to be alive or isn't it like something like something like that that just like you listen to this guy's life and these memories and being a child. And like at the end of it, I just like look over my dad and my dad's just like tears are coming out of his face and like I just start crying and I just like, I can just feel him like we don't even hold hands or anything, I just like feel his shoulder against mine. Yeah, and I just want to cry thinking about it now but just to share that with my dad and like feel my father who's aging, like watch this and just feel him, his young child's self through that and then with me and it was just like such a... Well, then he gave you a one line, he gave you a one line response that was great. I don't remember that. He said something about, 'cause he's like this incredible anesthesiologist and like like pain doctor, he's like been, you know, like nationally known, recognized this man. It's just so serious. He said something about, it was something along the lines of like, you know, medicine and then like what, like it was about like the human soul or something like that, like about like, you know, the body and like the difference between medicine and what you do. He made a book. Oh yeah. You don't remember that line. That was like the whole point of the whole story to me. It was something... (laughing) It basically was like... It was like, it was like, you know, like, you know, I'll never like, you know, like work medicine my whole life. Like, you know, like, you know, like investigating pain and it was something along the lines of like, I'd never like, we can never like capture like what it means to be alive, like what you do, you know? Yeah. And he was like, we're basically like, we're responsive like to this, you know, and then like this is almost like, this is like why we live, you know? Yeah. I love that. I mean, that you remember that part. I was like the, that was like the most profound thing. You're like... I mean, to me, I mean, that's... I love that. She connected with her father. I connected, I mean, I connected with my dad and you got a different memory out of this awesome story too. We got to get two memories out of one story. (laughing) I was my favorite theater memory though. Well, that's awesome. Then I will go. Then I can go. I wasn't there for this. So mine has nothing to do with any of that. Mine will be about, I think, the biggest show that we did, we've talked about it before already. Bob's brought it up, the exterminating angel, the play. When we staged that, it was 25 people, I believe, on stage? 21. Okay. So 21, 21 people on stage and the cast was kind of split up and we had this huge opening number that I, it was a nut, I could not crack. And then we also had a pre-show with the other half or the other several five people, I think, of the cast. And we just needed to get to work. Like, we needed to get these two huge movement pieces done. And in one, you know, probably two hour block. Hour block. I went into one of the rooms with our small cast and banged out our pre-show work that we did that was essentially this, like, insane chaos ballet. And then Bos led the rest of the team with this, what you called it, the grand entrance. And then as a movement director, I got to leave one very successful room that felt like, okay, that all lined up very quickly. That's all I'm gonna do. Like, that was all I had planned, that was, that's it. Wonderful, we did it, it felt like too easy, you know? And then the other space that was this thing that we had been working on and hadn't really been panning out. And then that I got to walk in and was shown it. I mean, in my mind, there's like costumes and lights for how I remember seeing it the very first time. But I was like, like lurching forward, watching this cast do Bos's choreography for the entrance. And it was just so stunning. And that is like a memory of one of, that's when our team is working and operating at its best. It feels like that and it's so wonderful. And to lead that many people and to lead it so swimmingly successfully is a privilege. Yeah. - I love those. Those are so, so wonderful that you all so much for sharing those. Well, as we wrap things up, I would love to know, do any of you have any other projects or productions coming down the pipeline? We might be able to plug for you. - We always have a number of things. We kind of are project to project with Vernal and Sierra right now. We've never put out an official season or anything. We develop things over a long period of time. There are often things that are in discussion. So right now we have, you know, five, six different, you know, projects which we may or may not take on. We, last year we staged, I did an adaptation, adapted and directed a piece from Ann Carson, a poem called The Gold Class Essay. And so I'm very much interested in finding another home for that or remounting that or giving that another life. That's a pipe dream thing at the moment. And then as a company, it's we're just in discussions of what's speaking our interests and what's exciting us once we do this and come back home, yeah. - Our process is very, just since we've talked so much about destruction, really once we get to close a chapter with a show, we get to really go to Ground Zero, find some nuggets, some kernel, a script, a movie, an idea, and then see if we can fan that flame. That tends to be the process. So we will wait until our wild success in New York. Fingers crossed, yeah. - Do we have any money to do at that show? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah, that'll be actually the big factor about what our next show might be. Yeah, it is what our bank account looks like. - It'll be Tom Paine, it'll be Tom Paine. - I don't know if y'all knew this, but it's kind of expensive to take a show from Atlanta to New York. - It is a little expensive, yeah. - I have complete faith. The show is gonna be a huge success. And you know, leading off of that, 'cause we have a reason to stay tuned to y'all. If our listeners would like more information about hurricane season or about any of you, maybe they'd like to reach out to you. How can they do so? - We definitely email vernalseertheater@gmail.com, and that's theater with the RE. - Yeah, if you want information on hurricane season, believe our website is hurricaneseasonplay.com. And if you're interested in learning more about our theater company, our training program, that is vernalandseertheater.com. - You can also, DM me and the Instagram. It's quiet these days. We've been working. - Well, Sawyer, Erin, Erin, thank you both so, so much for your time today. This has been an absolute blast. I'm so excited about this show. I can't wait to see it. I will be there with bells ringing. So thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. - Thank you, this was lovely. - Thank you. - You're awesome. And thanks, Kira. My guests today have been the incredible playwright and director, Sawyer Estus, the amazing assistant director and movement director, Erin O'Connor, and the fantastic lead performer, Erin Boswell. They joined me today to talk about vernal and seer theater makers presentation of hurricane season. This is happening August 23rd through September 7th at theater row, and you can get your tickets for more information by visiting hurricaneseasonplay.com. We also have some contact information for our guests, which we'll be listing in our episode description as well as on our social media posts. But head over now to hurricaneseasonplay.com. Get your tickets while you can. This is one of the shows that is reopening theater row from their summer hiatus. So you're gonna wanna jump on this. It's a great way to kick off the fall theater season here in New York. Once again, the show is hurricane season playing August 23rd through September 7th. And we wanna add for our American listeners that election day is November 5th. Make sure you are registered to vote and do your democratic duty. You can find out how and where to register to vote by visiting vote.gov. The future demands that we fight for it now. So until next time, I'm Andrew Cortez, reminding you to turn off your cell phones and unwrap your candies. And keep talking about the theater. In a stage whisper. Thank you. (upbeat music) If you like what you hear, please leave a five star review, like and subscribe. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at stagewhisperpod. And feel free to reach out to us with your comments and personal stories at stagewhisperpod@gmail.com. And be sure to check out our website for all things stage whisper and theater. You'll be able to find merchandise, tours, tickets and more. Simply visit stagewhisperpod.com. Our theme song is Maniac by Jazzar. Other music on this episode provided by Jazzar and Billy Murray. You can also become a patron of our show by logging onto patreon.com/stagewhisperpod. There you will find all the information about our backstage pass as well as our tip jar. Thank you so much for your generosity. We could not do this show without you. ♪ A long way from there I'll swear ♪ ♪ I don't care anywhere near your town ♪ ♪ Makes me there ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]