Stage Whisper
Whisper in the Wings Episode 632
(upbeat music) - Hello everyone and welcome back into a fabulous new whisper in the wings from stage whisper. We are speaking once again about, so this is just such an a fun event. I love that they continue to do these. If you haven't had the chance to see one of these, this is your chance, don't wait any longer. We are here of course talking with members of Odd Salon and today on our show we have the guest curator for the upcoming show, Jennifer Bat, as well as the co-producer Olivia Orbell. They as I mentioned are here to talk to us about Odd Salon NYC's presentation of Raisin. And this is happening on Wednesday, September 18th at Under St. Marks. You can get your tickets and more information by visiting frigid.nyc. We have had the distinct honor speaking with both of our guests before, but it never gets old. We love talking Odd Salon, it's just so much fun. So we're not gonna waste any more time. We're gonna just welcome him on in. Jennifer Olivia, welcome back to Whisper and the Wings from Stage Whisper. - Thank you so much, Andrew. Happy to be here. - Thank you for having us. I'm so happy you're here, you're back talking Odd Salon. This is so fantastic. I've circled this date on my calendar. This is gonna be my Odd Salon debut. I'm determined to make it because I hear nothing but great things about it. And then I see all the pictures afterwards and I'm like, oh my gosh, I should have, I should have. No, I've already circled, it's put in, I'm bringing a friend, it's gonna be great. But enough about me. Let's start by reminding our listeners or maybe those who don't know out there, what Odd Salon is. And Olivia, if I could start with you with that question. - Of course, yes, love talking about Odd Salon. It is a great community. Our shows happen about every other month. And they are kind of a mix between Ted Talks and Drunk History. We have six 10 minute talks prepared by experts or very enthusiastic amateurs who want to tell a story about history. And we've got some amusing slides that each of the presenters bring to it. There's audience participation is encouraged as is positive heckling. And we just have a really great time. Yeah, three talks, then a short intermission, then the final three talks and then a after party that everyone is welcome to at a local bar. We really try to build that community and just have a great time talking about really weird corners of history. - I love, this is like the ultimate, just let your hair down, you know, theater kind of hang out thing. Especially I love the fact, and I remember we'll just head over to a bar, have a few drinks and talk. I mean, I love that, I love that. - So Jennifer, you are the guest curator for this edition of Odd Salon, which is entitled "Brazen." Can you tell us a little bit about what we're in store for with the show? - So what we're in store for is six carefully curated talks that span the topics of history, art, science, and adventure. And they take brazen in all sorts of different directions. We have some very sexy brazen people that defied convention with their sexuality, such as Mae West, who was a very sexy lady at the turn of the century and ended up going to jail for her plays, including a play called "Sex" and a play called "The Pleasure Man." So that's going to be covered. We're gonna be talking about some of the decadent French poets of the 19th century. They got into some very public, very scandalous love affairs. We're also gonna be talking to people that had adventures. There is Carissa Crosby. She had an accidental dinner with Adolf Hitler. And we have, I mean, yeah. There's a couple others. I don't wanna give all the talks away, but let me just say, you do not know all these stories and you definitely have never heard them told the way they're gonna be told on September 18. - Now, Jennifer, I'm curious to know how did you pick the talks and the artists that you did? - So I have to say some of the speakers are some of my favorite previous speakers from previous talks. They all have very engaging styles, but all in very different ways. But also we wanted to get a breadth of interests in the story. So we have history, we have science, we have adventure, but also we span the entire world. We have two stories that are based out of New York. We have one that deals with history in Japan. We have one that's dealing with Captain Cook. So we're really kind of encompassing that we have our French poets. So we're really trying to encompass the entire world and just how bold and convention-defying people can be kind of across the planet. - That is wonderful. Now, Olivia, bringing you back into this, I'm really curious to know what has the development been like for this upcoming set of stories as well as like what exactly goes into developing and also on? - Yeah, well, we are a community-based group. So anybody can present a talk and say, this is something I want to share. It's the curator's job. In this case, Jennifer, she looks at all of the prompts and the suggestions for talks and tries to pick the six that she feels is best fit the theme and works with the speakers on how to hone those, how to tighten them up, how to make them more memorable or make them pop. And once those six are in, we lock them in, we work on a lot of stuff. And then hopefully those speakers will keep coming back. So like Jennifer said, we've got some real greats in there. And once you've given three talks at Odd Salon, you're considered an Odd Salon fellow. And I believe we've got four of the six are Odd Salon fellows and the other two are in the second or third. Do we have any follows making? I don't think we have any fellows making, but we definitely have people giving their second talks. So they're well in the way. Yeah. So it's always a great encouragement. We want more people to come to the show and because again, these stories can come from anywhere. We certainly haven't memorized all of the encyclopedia from every country ever. So we want to know more, we need more people to come and tell us these more interesting stories that we haven't heard yet. This is so fantastic. I mean, this just gets me so excited. Jennifer, coming back to you, the theme is brazen for this edition of Odd Salon. So is there a message or a thought you hope that audiences take away from this? I just hope they walk away with kind of a renewed sense of wonder at all the hidden and the untold and underappreciated were simply unique takes on individuals that kind of defied societal convention. They defied expectation and they kind of went their own way despite the obstacles that they were facing. And I think that can be an inspiration for us all to kind of see what happens when you become, when you defy the rules, like where can you go with that? And I think that's very inspiring. So I hope at least one of these stories are presented as something that can resonate and see like what you can do when you actually defy what the rules are. I love it. It's great. My final question for this first part is, and that of course is, who are you hoping have access to this edition of Odd Salon brazen? So we hope to make it as accessible as possible. So we're at under St. Mark's. And so anybody who is in New York can come to under St. Mark's and access to theater. But if that's not accessible to you or you can't make it out of the house or you're diagnosed with COVID or you live on an opposite coast, we do have a live streaming option. So it should be accessible in some way to just about everyone. But if you are looking to come in person under St. Mark's is quite a small theater. So get your tickets in advance. Yeah, the ticketing is, we have a suggested price, but we don't want that to be a limiting factor as well. So there's a pay as you wish option to hear about it. (upbeat music) Well, as you both know on the second half of our show, we love letting our listeners get a chance to know our guests a little bit better. And since you're returning guests, I actually want to kick the can down the road a little and ask the both of you, you know, how is it you came into the performing arts? And Olivia, can we start first with you on that please? Sure, I grew up as a dancer and my dream when I was nine years old was to be a rock hat. And then I had many other dreams along the way, but moving to New York and seeing them again for the Christmas specials is always just such a fun thing. And then my background and my day job is in science education. So I kind of use teaching as a performative space. And then when I connected with odd salon, it was like, oh, I can do even more of a comedy side, even more of a interactive side. And like we said, there is a stage. If I need to twirl around to do a kick line, it is there for us. So it is just a great opportunity for anybody that still wants to perform. And that's what brought me to it. I love that, love that. Jennifer, how about you? How did you come into the performing arts? So I've always been in the audience. I used to live in London after college. And so with a college discount, I used to go to all the West End shows, the off West End shows and move to Chicago because it was a theater city and then later moved to New York because it was a theater city. And I have a master's in library science and I was volunteering at an archive with another person who was a fellow with odd salon who invited me to come see this cool thing that she was doing and asked me to speak. And so I came and saw this cool thing that she was doing. And I gave my first talk about Dr. Cooney and the premature baby side show that he ran. And Olivia was my mentor for that to kind of show me the ropes and how to get things done. And I've been hooked ever since. And so five years later, after having given some talks in between, I'm curating for the first time, so. - It's so amazing. That's a great journey. Also as a side note, both of you have incredible backgrounds, your education and your other fields. Well, I want to ask my favorite question to ask guests as always. And I'm really excited to hear another one from the two of you, which is what is another of your favorite theater memories? - So I can start, there are so many memories. I mean, the thing that I like most about theater is you're alone in the dark with a group of strangers experiencing something that is very transient. It's not coming back. You have to be in there at that time to see it happen. And my favorite is a very respectful audience that has their phones off and all attention is focused on the stage. And I had an absolutely magical moment, actually last night when I saw Tim mention perform for the first time in eight years in New York, and he had the entire audience sing the chorus of weather, colons, Alleluia, while he performed the verses. And it was really just kind of a magical moment of what theater can be and bringing a whole audience together like that. So that was pretty special. - It's amazing. What a memory, wow. Thank you for that. Alleluia, how about you? - I can't really top that, that's some wonderful. Guess I'll say I went to my, a couple of years ago when the music man was in town, I on a whim called my friend was like, let's just try to get day of tickets at the box office. He had never seen the show before and I grew up on that movie and that story. And I was like, all for it, Sutton Foster, huge, Jackman. It was delightful. And my friend ended up like, I'm mouthing all the words. I'm trying not to dance too much in my seat. And my friend was just like, are you? I don't know what's more entertaining. This is such a good show, but also you're like on a different plane right now. And I was like, that's what Broadway will do. And it's great. And the horse and the kick, it was great. Stop dancing all around. - I love that memory as well. Thank you both so much for those great memories. Well, as we wrap things up, I would love to know, do either of you have any other projects or productions coming on the pipeline? We might be able to plug for you. - Well, we're getting through Brazen first. Odd Salon has two more events, Humbug in November. And our annual December show of Oddments, which is the show where if one of those suggested stories didn't fit a particular theme very well, we invite those speakers to come and do this Hodge Podge Oddments show. And that'll be December 18th. So yeah, November 13th and December 18th, more Odd Salon on the calendar for 2024. - Right. And then we flip the page and all of a sudden here we come Odd Salon 25, yeah. - Yeah. And we hope to be back and sharing those dates and those stories. - Yes. - Anything for you, Jennifer? - I mean, I'm going to be at both Humbug and Oddments. So those are all just one of my calendar as well. - Amazing. Well, that leads to my final question, which of course is, if our listeners would like more information about Odd Salon or about either of you, maybe they'd like to reach out to you. How can they do so? - We are on Facebook and on Instagram, we're on the socials. And we can give you those connections to share that works for you, Andrew. - Wonderful. Well, Jennifer, Olivia, it has been so wonderful speaking with you. As always, I am so pumped for my first Odd Salon. I can't wait. This is going to be so amazing. I look forward to seeing you there. And thank you both so much for taking the time to stop by and speak with us again. - Well, thank you for having us. We really appreciate it. And we can't wait to meet you in person. - Yeah. My guests today have been the amazing guest curator, Jennifer Bad and the incredible co-producer, Olivia Orbel. They joined me today once again to talk about another fabulous Odd Salon. And this time, Odd Salon NYC is presenting their show, Raisin. This is happening Wednesday, September 18th at Under St. Mark's. And tickets and more information can be found at frigid.nyc. In fact, tickets should be gotten now. Or in fact, yesterday, because it's a smaller venue and they will sell out. And you're not going to want to miss this. These shows are so much fun. We will be there. So make sure you come out and get your tickets to see Odd Salon New York City's presentation of Raisin Wednesday, September 18th. And we want to add for our American listeners that election day is November 5th. Make sure you are registered to vote, have a plan to cast your ballot and do your democratic duty. You can find out how and where you can 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, 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 on to 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. ♪ Way from there I'll swear I don't care ♪ ♪ Anywhere near your town makes me there ♪