myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
Women of Burbank: Andrea Daveline and Lisa Dyson, “The Civility of Albert Cashier”
myBurbank reporter Ashley Erikson sits down with Lisa Dyson and Andrea Daveline to talk about their roles in the new Colony Theatre musical, “The Civility of Albert Cashier.” The powerful and moving new musical tells the true-story of a Civil War soldier whose life defied definition and who served his country all while keeping the secret that he was born Jennifer Hodgers.
Lisa who is currently the Huerta Middle School Librarian, shares her journey bringing theatre into Burbank schools over the years and exposing kids to Shakespeare and arts education. Andrea recently moved to Burbank and shares how her and her family have adapted to the city, and have been so impressed by the school’s show choir and arts choices. The two discuss their roles in the new musical, and how their characters go head-to-head on stage doing what they believe to be best for Albert in his older years. The three women talk about the importance of the story in today’s climate and how the creative team has put together something that appeals to the modern times but feels completely enveloped in the era of the Civil War and post years.
To learn more about “The Civility of Albert Cashier” and get tickert during it’s run through September 22, 2024, visit www.colonytheatre.org.
This episode was sponsored by Compass Realtors Mike McDonald and Mary Anne Been. https://burbankarealiving.com/
From deep in the Burbank Media District. It's time for another edition of my Burbank Talks, presented by the staff of my Burbank. Now let's see what's on today's agenda as we join our program.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another episode of the Women of Burbank. Today I have two incredible Burbank women, lisa Dyson and Andrea Dave Line, who are part of the cast of the Civility of Albert Cashier, a new musical that is performing at the Colony Theater here in Burbank. The show, which opened this past Saturday, will be running through September 22nd and is about the true story of Civil War hero Albert Cashier, who was born Jennifer Hodgers. He immigrated from Ireland in 1862 and worked as a laborer until President Lincoln's urgent call for soldiers to fight in the Civil War ignited his sense of adventure and he enlisted as a member of Company G under the name Albert DJ Cashier. So welcome, ladies, thank you. Thank you for being here. Before we get into the show and your roles, I just want to get to know you guys a little bit better and hear about where you were born, where you're raised and when you came to Burbank. So whoever would like to start, go for it, lisa. Thanks Andrea.
Speaker 3:I was born and raised outside of Philadelphia. I've been out in California now, so basically I feel like a native forever and ever and ever and moved to Burbank 20 years ago, so I've lived all over the place. Oddly enough, one of the places I lived you know, because being an actor we travel everywhere was I shared a house with a couple other actors that was literally right across from the football field of Burroughs. Oh, wow, long before I was married, long before I had a daughter who went to Burroughs, and so that was kind of a fun little fact. The house is still there. I walk by it every once in a while and relive memories. And so, technically, 20 years in Burbank Okay, yeah, and you raised your kids here.
Speaker 3:I have one child. Yes, she is now 25. And so she went through the Burbank School District and, yeah, that's why we moved to Burbank, because we had, you know, it was a good school district and we squeaked by because we were actors, never thought we'd afford a house and actually squeaked in right before they jumped sky high. So we lucked out and, you know, actually raised her here with a bunch of great neighbors and cool people. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'd say you're pretty much a Burbank native. 20 years is a good time, two decades.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that's a big chunk, but you're super new to Burbank.
Speaker 4:I am. We just moved in April. So I grew up in American Fork, utah, and then my husband and I spent the early parts of our career just kind of going around from theater to theater earning equity points and doing little tours and all that kind of stuff, and then ended up in New York City where we spent the majority of our time and then when the pandemic shut everything down, we were like, hey, you know what? Our family's getting bigger. This five of us in one bedroom is not working out as well when our giant son keeps growing. Why don't we switch over? We had talked about moving to, you know, la, um, and discussing some of the ideas between theater and film. How, uh, film is maybe a little bit more permanent. The magic of theater is that it's that moment right then, um, and only those people in that show are sharing that, and and it's a really incredible experience Some of the discussions we want to have, we were wanting them to be a little bit more permanent.
Speaker 4:So we moved out to LA during the pandemic and ended in Sherman Oaks and spent that time just kind of figuring out where in LA we wanted to live. And every single time we came to Burbank we're like how does this exist? This is magic. It's like a bubble. It's well, it's like huge big city stuff where you have all the arts programs and you have food and you have film and you have theater and all of that and yet it like feels like a little community. It was it. It's incredible. So we started looking for a place and as soon as one came available, we're like it's ours.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so do you plan on staying here for a while? Oh yeah, I don't think we'll be moving anytime soon.
Speaker 4:No, no, no, no. Our oldest is in high school, so he just started, and then we have two in elementary school, so the school system here is incredible and the people, like the community, has been so welcoming.
Speaker 2:Yeah is incredible and the people like the community has been so welcoming.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, that's amazing well welcome to burbank.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I love it and you guys have been in theater for a very long time. Yeah, um, you were saying that your first role was a chicken. At age four I was in mary poppins.
Speaker 4:My dad was a director and he just kind of threw us all on stage and any show that he directed in town I was a part of, no matter what. And then all through middle school, high school, college, I went to school college on a theater scholarship and somehow it was surprising to my parents when I grew up and was like I'm an actor and they're like wait what? And I was like, yup, thanks for casting me as a chicken. Yep it all started with you dad, so that's been quite a few years and yeah.
Speaker 2:And another really cool experience that I read that you worked at the Finding Nemo, the musical World Kingdom. Yes, Tell me about that experience. It's amazing.
Speaker 4:So Bobby and Kristen Lopez, who are big Broadway composers and they have amazing shows they were hired to do a full-length musical. They cut it down to 48 minutes and they have amazing shows. They were hired to do a full-length musical. They cut it down to 48 minutes and they put it in the park and so Adam and I got cast together in that. So he played Bruce, the great white shark, and that shark we learned puppetry, which was Michael Curry puppets the same ones they use on Broadway for Lion King. So Bruce was like this 20-pound, 27-pound shark that Adam had to learn how to like, swim around and manipulate. And then I played Dory, so I got to learn mechanical eye blinks and lip syncs and I got to fly Like. I learned flying and the foy system and everything.
Speaker 4:It was such a fun time and we were there for two years and then Adam went and got his master's degree and then I went back for another year just with myself and my son while he was. So we were like apart from each other. For a year Adam was in San Diego and I was in Orlando with Xander. So that's such a cool experience. It was amazing and the people down there are incredible and the it's an equity park, so they're really really good about you know, owning your time, Like you own your time, and it was such an incredible experience. Yeah, Loved it, you're young and vibrant again.
Speaker 2:The check is in the mail and um, you know you were talking about. A lot of the theaters that you have been at are not in existence anymore.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sadly, um and and I think that's just a sign of the times is that the the big, big houses, um and and you can see it now with downtown the Center Theater Group and just trying to get people in Subscription audiences, are not really there anymore. I mean, I know that was my mom's generation, you know, would have season tickets, and we don't really do that anymore, and so it's hard to fill those 2,000 plus seats.
Speaker 3:So, they're beautiful theaters. I'm lucky to have worked in them prior to them no longer experiencing actual stage plays. And dinner theaters out here have all gone away. I mean, there was a time when, literally, you could just make your living going from dinner theater show to dinner theater show, because each one would be three months or six months and it was great. And that doesn't exist anymore. Um, not out here. It does sort of in other parts of the country, but but not out here. Um, people kind of got away from and the pandemic didn't help. No, right, because everybody got used to just sitting at home with their big screen tvs and and at a time when live theater is so important right now, the storytelling of it and just getting people out there to experience that, that feeling is that, um, all together as an audience. You know the gasps or just the applause there's nothing like it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're so lucky to have the colony theater here. Very lucky that's another whole story?
Speaker 3:yeah, it is. It is a whole story, that's a whole podcast in itself.
Speaker 2:I do feel like the arts really begins in the classroom. Like you know, you both have raised your kids here in burbank, um you know how important is it for you to have arts incorporated in the school system I mean for me, if it's not in the school system.
Speaker 4:like when we were in new york city, they didn't have a theater program. So our theater company Mott Theater Company made a theater program for the school, because one of the things that I say is we spend so much time and effort on athletics and there's so much great things that kids learn from that. However, if you can stand in front of people and say your piece, if you can speak confidently, if you can take a moment and put yourself in someone else's shoes, that is a lifelong skill that will benefit you, no matter what you do in the future. Your ability to speak and think through things in a different way is vital, and without the arts I don't know how you do that. Quite as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly To piggyback on that, because that's exactly what I would say, because I used to do out here in Burbank School District, I interviewed before we moved to Burbank to see how they had arts education, because in my resume for five years I worked with a company that worked through Music Center on tour. Yeah, and we saw, we went to every elementary school and red heart happened to be one of those tryout schools for music center on tour. So when I went and interviewed because we were living in that neighborhood, um, the principal at that time, diane burger, was oh yes, I love being the one to have the, you know, try out all the new acts or whatever you know. And so that was like, oh, sold.
Speaker 3:You know, I mean, that's what I want I want kids and for me it's always not just about my child because she, just because of her DNA and who she was born to, she was always going to be exposed to the arts. It was about all those kids that I would see going to each elementary school who never got exposed to it ever and their faces would just light up with live music or live stories and there's just nothing like it. And so, knowing that Burbank supported that and that they would get the assemblies from Music Center on Tour which was kind of a big deal as I date myself in the 90s Told you I was a dinosaur. It was. It's really cool and that has continued.
Speaker 3:I mean, we fought a group of parents that we could not believe that Burbank was cutting music education. That did not have it. We were in the media capital of the world and we did not have music education or theater or arts, visual arts for our students. You know, almost everyone here is in the business at some point, and so it was just appalling to us that that would happen. So the Burbank Arts for All was started up, a foundation for that, which provided grant money for teachers. We paid for elementary school music teachers to come in and we paid for visual arts teachers to come in and theater programs and I mean, and we kept it going. That was a really long time. It's only very recently that that's been taken over and become the Burbank Arts Education Foundation. They still provide grants for arts education as well.
Speaker 3:But arts integration and education is so important because, as we say, it's not just that, it's about your building confidence and to me, it's the most common core of every common core academic thing, because you have to learn it all Problem solving, working with each other, ensemble building, everything. Whether you become an actor or not. It's not even about that, it's about life skills.
Speaker 2:It's always the first thing that gets cut. When there's a budget crisis, right, it's always the first thing to go.
Speaker 4:Which is so interesting to me? Also because it doesn't take much. It takes one person with passion In New York, our theater company would take a box of just stuff and say what can we make out of this and what stories can we tell out of this? It doesn't take much, so I'm always confused as to why it's one of the first things to go when it's so vital, and it doesn't take much.
Speaker 2:Especially here in Burbank. We're creating the future generation of people that are working here in Burbank. Yeah, and you know, keeping the city surviving yeah, so it's very interesting.
Speaker 3:It's money. I mean it comes down to money. You know, yeah, I mean we can provide money. You know, yeah, it's a life.
Speaker 2:It's a career. You've done theater with kids Like. What I want to talk about is your Burbank Youth Summer Theater Institute. Misty, is that your baby? Is that our baby? Yeah, the funny story.
Speaker 3:Sure, the funny story is Peggy Flynn, who is our Vapatosa at the district. This is all new to you Hi.
Speaker 3:She's great. She was a teacher. We met at a music center on tour professional development thing, and then she called me up and said hey, woodbury University here wants to see if we can come up with some sort of summer program. Shakespeare the dean at that time had had a similar program in Maine and he wanted to bring something like that to here, and me, being always the improv saying yes, said sure, I can do that. And so I, we, jumped into it. It's literally you jump off the cliff, you know, and you go. Okay, let's make this work. And I hired two other parents, burbank parents, who also happen to be actors, david Prather and Crystal Robbins and Beth Morrison, who is still the art teacher, visual arts teacher at Burroughs, and we had our team.
Speaker 3:We did Shakespeare in the Park for kids 8 to 16 and we did it for nine years and I always I edited the scripts um down to a manageable hour ish, because it was Shakespeare in the Park with no lighting, no lights, um, so we had to be done before it was dark and uh, and for three weeks every summer, um, from nine to three, the kids would learn Shakespeare, they would learn character, they would learn what it means, how to understand it, how to decipher Shakespeare, how to, how to play and make everyone understand what they're saying. And, um, there was always a musical element, because it was me. Um and uh, um, and Beth would have them, they'd visualize the props and, you know, foam core for days and just pieces for costumes, and those kids were amazing, amazing. And then they'd do it, you know, for an hour and not, you know, we, you know say you have to memorize your lines, and they'd all memorize their lines and all different kids from all walks of life would do it. And it's one of the things I'm proudest of, because then they don't you know, we, you know say you have to memorize your lines and they all memorize their lines and all different kids from all walks of life would do it. And it's one of the things I'm proudest of, because then they don't, you know, be like, oh, wow, we totally get it, you know, before they even get to high school and do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's an experience that not a lot of kids get to have to participate in. Something like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and even though it was hard, I remember it was like oh, it's hard, it's still every year. It was like what are we doing this year? You know, as soon as you'd finish the one, they'd be like what are we doing next year? And we did them all. And I think I wrote on my bio that there's nothing better than 13-year-olds acting out as rebellious teenagers in Romeo and Juliet.
Speaker 3:It's just so real they're like Mom, I don't want to do this. It's like, oh my gosh, you don't even have to act. That's amazing. I love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was really, really fun, so super proud of that yeah, and another thing it's always kids in in theater here um time travelers, oh yeah. So that's parents and actors dressing up as historical figures and visiting elementary schools, which is still happening today, um, it's still happening.
Speaker 3:Uh, on the hill, on your section, the woods. Your kids will see it this year because I think they go to Emerson. It originally started two moms who wrote for TV and film and one was a sculptor, just put this program together called Time Travelers. And then by the time I got here their kids were out and they were like, yeah, just keep going. And so at that point we had adults doing it and, like I said, everybody's an actor, so you know, parents would be like, sure, whatever, um, and then my goal, my personal goal, was to have it be the play pro. Students in the high schools come to the elementary schools and do it. And that goal was realized.
Speaker 3:Like my friend crystal again, she was on the hill, her kids went to burbank high, um, and then they, uh, they hit this hill, the schools on the hill and burrows hit the flatlands so we would go to bret, hart, mckinley and disney, and you know, I mean it's just, it's a really cool thing to keep going and so, um, like I said, I I was betsy ross at one time and so the dress had been made for me and I think it was maybe last year. Um, I was at miller and I could see, and betsy ross walked by oh my god that's my dress, like it was so cool so now it's still the play pro kids doing it again.
Speaker 3:It's. It's about trickle down, right. So once I left, there's nobody really stepped up. Yeah, so no, that's what kind of got and and. And Guy Myers was there. It was my um drama teacher. I was a drama mama.
Speaker 3:Um and uh, and that's changed as well. He's gone back to teaching English. So it's all about the relationships that you do and the thing. Oh, and another thing I forgot is that I was the parent who brought the fundraising um Burroughs Play Pro fundraising to the colony because I'd had a colony, because I'd had a relationship with the colony and Barbara Beckley long before my child and so, and people in Burbank had never heard of the colony to me yeah, Was this before it was in the location that it was at?
Speaker 2:No, it was when it was right here right here in Burbank and they're all like.
Speaker 3:I never even knew this existed and so we'd do our fundraising there. And that was Brenda. Thank goodness to Brenda Kalkoff, who actually was like sure let's try and make this happen, and Barbara Beckley's blessing as well, but still it was just like so. Then that became a tradition every year and the kids got the experience of being on the colony stage. And then Burbank High now still does that I think they take. Sometimes they'll do their plays there as well, because they're close enough.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh well, because they're close enough. Yeah, yeah, they have really. Yeah, so there's it's like right on the corner so you can walk right over.
Speaker 4:So yeah, so I feel like I have a lot of burbank experience. It's really kind of bizarre. I just love it. It's called the hill and the flatland. Putting that in my little brain for later got it.
Speaker 3:You're on the hill. There's a lot to learn.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, are your kids into theater or the arts at all?
Speaker 4:Yeah, Not that I want them to be, but not that I don't want them to be, meaning I don't want to pressure them to have to do it, but all three of them love it. So all three of them sing and all three of them play instruments, and all three of them have been in shows and they love it.
Speaker 2:And so for as long as they love it, they will be involved and you said your son is in the show choir at Burroughs, which is like a huge thing. Yeah, I didn't know. Burroughs is very like world renowned for that.
Speaker 4:I didn't know, it was a big deal. He's like I'm going to do show choir and I was like great. And I, you know, show choir when I was going to school was like sequin bow tie.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Some pot of arrays and some grapevines to some Broadway songs, and that is not what we've gotten ourselves into. So he's in Men at Work and Sound Waves.
Speaker 2:So how has that experience been like? Going into Burbank show choir with him, have you seen? Have they had a first show yet?
Speaker 4:So we went to the final concert last year to see what it was, into Burbank show choir with it and like, have you seen? Have they had a first show yet? So we went to the final concert last year to see what what it was. He's like, mom, you don't know what I'm talking about. And I'm like, you're right, I have no idea. So we went and I was like, oh my word, this is, this is so much work and the mamas and papas there that do all the work is incredible. This year I'm taking kind of a backseat to just kind of look and see what this is, because these people all have expertise where I have none, and so I want to learn what they're doing and see how I can support and then we'll see. You know, I've got three total.
Speaker 4:So I'll be there for a while. It's going to be, it's going to be a process, so I want to see you there sometime We'll be there.
Speaker 2:Our oldest are there, and then my youngest will probably be there. When your youngest are there, it's going to be a life commitment. It is.
Speaker 4:It's a life like we signed the contract in blood and then we'll go all the way. It's fine. No, but they're incredible. We just had a meeting last night and it was really great and I'm excited to support. He's very excited about it. That's awesome. I love it. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and back to you, lisa. Another way you're tied into Ravink Schools. As people don't know this already, you are the Huerta Middle School Librarian. Oh that you forgot about that. That's a huge thing. You went from volunteering and building these programs to now working with the district.
Speaker 3:So how has that been? I did it's actually um, uh, it's great. Um, I got into it because, um, my husband said oh, you know what? Um college is approaching and maybe you should go back to work, um, because I at that point I mean I was still doing show to show, to show, to show to show, but you know there is college and so, um, so I knew the principal, bret hart. I started to bre Bret Hart first as part-time Librarians. I don't know if anybody understands this, but the elementary librarians are only part-time.
Speaker 4:They're only there.
Speaker 3:Four hours a day and they do an incredible amount of work and all of them have amazing expertise in their fields. A lot of them were animators, a lot of them were just major, major people in their own fields and then, because they had children and they wanted to be part of the schools, then that's, you know, that's a way for them to give back and be with their kids, um, and be off at the same time. That's really kind of what it came down to, so that I could be off in the summers to do the shakespeare camp.
Speaker 3:yeah it's a perfect schedule really, and be off when she was off in the whole nine yards, um, and then still do summer stock, you know, and there just was, timing was perfect. And then, um, and then I went to edison so I did burp red heart and edison and also because they didn't have, like that was another thing it was cut library coordinators were cut elementary school, and then that was a big mess.
Speaker 3:And then, um, they brought that back with a lot of push back from people um and uh and then just to read out loud to kids to get them to understand that you can read with expression, because you know we all get tired of hearing and then they did. You know, it's just all that stuff and it's like no, it can be fun, and so, um and then, uh, stacy cashman brought me over to huerta, which at that time was still jay. Would start jordan um which is another podcast um the uh.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of burbank history.
Speaker 4:You've got a lot of history like we need to have a sit down chat and then uh so I've been there now 10 years.
Speaker 3:I think it goes by really fast. Once they're in school, it's like you're, you're like done right, you just lose track of any time what year you are. Yeah, um, and I love it. I actually love middle school kids. Um, I think it's part of my dna that I just like that age, that's a hard age to love, you know, and it is gonna be honest.
Speaker 2:I have a middle school but they're just, they're still.
Speaker 3:Don't tell your middle schoolers but they're just they're still. Don't tell your middle schoolers, but they're still kids right, it is that limbo.
Speaker 2:It's like that between like figuring themselves out and like growing into their bodies and all of those things and wanting to be so grown up, but they're really just still yes, 100%.
Speaker 3:It's just an awkward age, forever. We've all gone through it. It's just awkward, no matter who you are, and I just love it, so I love you, know. And so then part of the thing is to make sure that.
Speaker 3:um, my deal unfortunately the administration feels the same way is to make sure that every kid in the school feels that they're represented when they walk in the library yeah and and I think we're there and it's, it's really, really nice and it's, I think they feel it and I think that they, the teachers, are great and so, um, and they, they, you know, and I actually do Shakespeare for one of the seventh grade classes. I go in and do it somewhere for her, and so I've been doing that for her. And they're like oh, my, you know, because they don't know, Like oh, and they really get into it and it's fun because, you know, it's just, it's a fun way to express themselves.
Speaker 3:So wonderful.
Speaker 2:So there, that's so wonderful same way. Yay, all little kids at heart Love that. So tell me about what you're doing, right?
Speaker 3:now.
Speaker 2:I mean, we'll talk about the theater and stuff like that, but you're in some writing groups that you joined when you came to LA. So what's your days look?
Speaker 4:like when we first moved here. The whole goal was to take Mod Theater Company from New York City and make it into Mod Productions, and my husband jumped into UCLA Film Directing extension program because he'd been a theater director. But we didn't know much about film and he actually just finished his last master thesis class yesterday.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 4:Congratulations.
Speaker 4:So he has completed his program. And then I jumped into a screenwriting program here in Burbank with the group labs called Bad Pitch Writers Lab and it has like changed my world. It's Lab and it has like changed my world. It's incredible. So I took a four week course with them, just kind of an entry level, and then now every single week for the past three years I get to go to a writer's room basically and I pitch either five pages of my script or if I'm struggling with structure or if I'm trying to get my cards right, like whatever it is. I take it and I have X amount of time and the the teachers there are incredible. Alexa and Caden are amazing and they've they're both professional teachers but also professional writers themselves.
Speaker 4:So we've been working. We just wrapped our first short that I wrote, called Bigfoot in the Park, and we're going on our second one. We're starting it called Private Burials. Bigfoot in the Park is kind of like a short or a half-hour comedy. That's kind of what the world I live in is half-hour comedy and network, because I don't have the swears inside of my body or inside of my head.
Speaker 4:So everything I write tends to be pretty clean but awfully silly. We try to talk about things that are important in the funniest way possible, so that when you have those poignant moments they really hit home. Private burials is about. I actually have four sons. My youngest passed away right after he was born, and so the half hour comedy genre that I work in is with my husband. We're team writers and then the stuff that I do by myself is a lot about women's roles and feminism and kind of specifically the roles we just kind of put on moms and expect them to bear, and then we don't talk about it and we expect them to get over things, and so it's trying to shine a light on some of those difficulties and nuances. That's beautiful.
Speaker 2:I thank you for sharing those stories. Yeah, absolutely yeah. I'm excited to learn more about them. They're gonna be great me too. Well, we're gonna take a quick commercial break and then we're going to talk about the civility of Albert Cashier.
Speaker 1:Oh, I can't wait, that's so good.
Speaker 1:Discover your dream home in the captivating city of Burbank, introducing you to Mike McDonald and Marianne Bean, burbank area specialists. With over three decades of combined experience, mike and Marianne have the privilege in assisting numerous clients in finding their perfect homes in and around Burbank. They understand each of their clients' unique needs and provide personalized guidance. As Compass Realtors, they leverage cutting-edge technology and stay informed about market trends to maintain an edge in the dynamic real estate landscape. Discover why they've earned the reputation as the go-to agents for all your Burbank real estate needs. Reach out to them today at 818-266-9766 and start a conversation. Disclaimer Mike McDonald and Marianne Bean are licensed real estate agents license numbers 01004729 and 02044937 with Compass, an independently owned and operated real estate brokerage firm. The California Department of Real Estate oversees real estate licensing and the activities of real estate agents in California.
Speaker 2:All right, welcome back. Thank you for that message from our sponsor. I want to talk about the show Abra Cashier, your characters and how your two characters especially kind of go head to head in their scenes. You know it's like you know good and evil, hot and cold. So tell me a little bit about your characters and their roles in this show.
Speaker 4:So tell me a little bit about your characters and their roles in this show. Sure, so I play Abigail Lannan, and she is a friend and ally of Albert in his later years. She is definitely on the side of a suffragette and votes for women and equality, and she's just also kind of entitled, like she's had the world go her way and she knows how to work within it, and so it's kind of shocking to her to see the world not go the way that she decided it should go, and so she has kind of some difficulty with this idea that she couldn't work things out for Albert the way she would have had them.
Speaker 2:And I guess a little backstory in this. This is, the show kind of goes in two folds, two parts, and it kind of intertwines. You know, young Albert during the civil war and old Albert when he's injured by a car accident. He's in a home that's taking care of him and they don't know that he was born female. And so your role, you're kind of keeping things undercover, correct.
Speaker 2:You're showing up, I'm aware of it, and so I'm there to help him and support him, but I can't be in the home Right and you want to take him home to take care of him, to protect him, but then, nurse, won't let me Head nurse, she wouldn't say that Head nurse.
Speaker 3:Yes, so my character, um, um, is the the some call her mean, but she's really not. She's well-meaning, um, I, I believe I know I recognize her, um, even contemporarily these days. Um, she means well, she, she feels bad, I mean, because she finds out that Albert was a female, is a female which goes against everything she believes in. And so her, her plan is to save him, which is slightly different from Abigail's plan. Is is to, is to just have him admit it that it was all a lie, that he's lying and so he doesn't go to hell is basically what the deal is you know, it's like I want.
Speaker 3:I want to make sure that he's he's safe and he's happy, and and and and gets over this, whatever delusion he's under, you know she's under, so so I go about it that way, which sort of is completely the opposite way of Abigail, and we do our foes.
Speaker 4:We have some words on stage, but it is interesting the way they've crafted it. There's a lot of disagreement and there's actual physical war and dying and everything right. There's a lot of masculine things, that I would say masculine energy, and so, when it comes to our arguments, they tend to be a little bit more polite. They tend to be a little bit more well, let's have tea and talk this out.
Speaker 1:We're going to discuss this as civilized people.
Speaker 4:So it is also, I think, a foil to all of the deep masculine difficulty and death and issues there. And then we as the women come in and it's a little bit more mannered a manners play.
Speaker 3:And the way, like Andrea just said, the way it's crafted and is written is the women are both very clear-cut characters. I mean, you're not, you could meet them on the street today. I mean, you absolutely could. And so it's just, they're so fascinating to play. They're not stereotypical, they're not, they're real humans, which I think makes it even more interesting the dynamic between the two of them. It's just, you can understand both points of view.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially when you take that time period into consideration and everything that's going on yeah, 100, yeah, if you.
Speaker 4:If you take nurse smith's position of I'm trying to save you, like I literally I like you and I want to save you, and it comes from a place of I I I'm only doing this for your good, not I hate you and you're a terrible person Right it adds that other layer on top of it where you're, because we all know those people right who genuinely fear for our souls or our well-being and you're like I really appreciate it. But if you could just back all the way off of that, that'd be great. So she's that well-meaning person who just sees things in black and white.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a great way to explain it. I love that. I feel like now that I'm gonna see the show again, I'll see in a different light.
Speaker 4:I'm just like ah, that nurse okay, no, she genuinely wants to help, and especially when she oh, I see, now you really were, jenny, this is actually a whole. You're not a bad person, you're just having mental instability. You're not just a crotchety old man, you're like oh, I get it.
Speaker 3:The term. I think the script is so good Way to go.
Speaker 4:Jay.
Speaker 3:Because we get it. Yeah, it's just so brilliant Just when she is called, when he calls her hysterical, when he calls her hysterical when he calls abigail hysterical and we have all heard that, and we've all heard that recently is that, you know, women can't show emotion because then you're hysterical and it's just like it's just so brilliantly written that she goes no, not call me that. Yeah, I am no different from any guy that's gonna have whatever emotional you know outburst and uh, I think I just love that. I mean, that's the lines that are just so smart and so spot on to what we're all seeing today.
Speaker 2:It's just not a historical piece, you know it's universal, taking that modern, the modern themes, and putting into this historical era which is so beautifully done and I know the choreography and the movement and the songs, everything kind of falls into that time era, which is really incredible because you feel like you're transported in that piece.
Speaker 4:Yeah, great. I think one of my favorite things about it, too, is that the directing team, the artistic team, everybody talks about how we're all learning from each other. Right in his younger years, learns from H Ford, who is striving for his own personhood as a black man in the civil war. I'm trying to learn from Albert. Albert learns from me. Jeffrey learns from like we're all and how, even though our experiences might differ, we all can learn from each other and become better together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. It's such a beautiful story of brotherhood and friendship and identity and I got to sit in the table, read and gosh, that was so hard to get through, I mean everybody there was not a dry eye in that room, and it was just sitting down, yeah, yeah, talking and singing. So I mean everybody's put their heart into these characters. Why do you think this story is so important to be told today?
Speaker 4:I think there's just, uh, even in the title, the civility, like everybody is fighting their own battle. The first time I worked with this show was in 2021. I'm going to say 2021. Might have been 2022.
Speaker 4:It was a reading up in the hills the Hollywood hills, not the Burbank hills and I came in being like amazing, I'm going to be like an ally. This sounds like a great piece. I want to be here for people who have a different lived experience. But in the process of understanding how the humanity of this show comes out, I was again reminded of the things that I am fighting for the individual rights, freedoms, even in some cases, like the son that I lost his personhood and representing him, and the things that we do for each other and for ourselves in order to have that. This is my life moment. You know what I mean.
Speaker 4:It's gonna differ for every, every single person, but I love how this show shows you that it it shouldn't it shouldn't have to happen to you to matter to you, right like you shouldn't have to be a trans person to want to have rights equal rights for everybody. You shouldn't have to be a trans person to want to have rights equal rights for everybody. You shouldn't have to be a person of color in order to want and yearn and vote for people and be active for equality. You shouldn't have to be a woman in order to have your voice. You know to feel like, hey, my voice matters to listen to me, you know.
Speaker 4:So that's, I think, something that they've done so incredibly well. It's not just about this one thing, it's about all of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do feel like those walls of divisiveness kind of just melt away on that stage. You can kind of find yourself in every single character. Yeah, which is pretty incredible and that's probably my favorite thing about it. I love it, yeah. And so you guys just had opening night the weekend walking the red carpet, interviews, photos how was that experience for you guys? It's bizarre. You had, you had your opening night of footloose, so you, you know how crazy it gets at the colony.
Speaker 3:Oh, to that one, because we let we let the kids go to that one because they were all dressed to the nines.
Speaker 4:The adults were like no one wants to see us.
Speaker 3:So it's really footloose, no one wants to see the principal, but this one was super fun. It was really fun, it was really well done, everybody got dressed up and it happened to be Phillip's birthday. Our friend who plays Booker in the show sings Chicago Chicago. For those of you who have, seen the show.
Speaker 2:Also one of my favorite parts of the show, my husband's favorite number.
Speaker 3:Um and they uh. So it was just it was super fun. Yeah, we had a blast. I know I had fun and I wasn't expecting to as much like oh my gosh, we have to walk the red carpet. It's like, oh my gosh, this is really fun.
Speaker 4:One of the fun things is is that they really did a great job of bringing people in you know what I mean and being like, hey, we've done this thing, but we want you to join us, to join the fun. Come be part of this, be part of this movement, be part of this musical, be part of this feeling.
Speaker 2:There's people that flew in from all over for this show. You had celebrities, you had council members. I mean, it was a really a big mix of incredible people that got to witness that night, which was really cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think Jay and Christine and Robert the producing team have just been all out incredible, and then Heather, of course, with all of her work and contacts at the Colony it's incredible.
Speaker 4:So with all the shows I've done, I think this is the first one that every single person cast crew, creative, producing everybody is on the same message you know, what I mean, and everybody believes so much in this message that we're all like, yes, I will say everything and get everybody there, because it's really not about us, it's about this story, important story, yeah absolutely, I 100 agree with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I feel like it's hard to explain. You know, we're trying to promote it ahead of time and you're trying to explain the story. Until you're there, until you witness the music and the feelings that you, that come out of your body during these, some of these songs, you walk out there like how do I get everybody else to come see this show? Right, it's just incredible, isn't it what?
Speaker 3:um, what is Sid's first line? Is that nobody wants to be forgotten? Yeah, which is so universal, right? Nobody wants to be forgotten, yeah, and you want to be remembered in the way that you want to be remembered and that's, that's kind of the, the underlying message as well, and it's just yeah, you want your personal dignity, and I mean the character faces dementia as well. I mean, there's like so many different levels.
Speaker 2:Grief and loss and so many, so many aspects are touched on this musical.
Speaker 4:It really is hard. Also, I think, when you're like, hey, I'm in a new musical, and people are like, oh, cool, yeah, and you're like, no, no, like I have had that reaction so many times I'm like great. Another jukebox music, cool, go you. But this one is. It is interesting because it's the. The power behind it is very unique yes, yeah yes, so if you are listening, please, please go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this show, yeah, you won't be sorry. Yeah, and it's only there until september 22. We only have a couple more weekends left. But something else I want to bring up which is really cool during rehearsal is you brought in a book that you had purchased for your library before Albert Cashier was even on your brain. Yes, which?
Speaker 3:was so cool. It's so bizarre, the Fighting.
Speaker 2:Infantryman by Rob Sanders. She brings it in and we're just like there's a children's book.
Speaker 4:Seriously, it was so I got to take it home to my boys, did you? Yeah, it's, it's so clear too, like it's so well written. I think that there's a lot of fear mongering out there, uh, about books, and we need to ban this, I mean, and this book does such a lovely job of just saying, hey, look at this piece of history, how interesting, yeah, what a surprise yeah, yeah, um, I actually had read the first.
Speaker 3:The civil war of amos abernethy was the middle grade book that I also bought, and I and this was literally the the year before- yeah robert cashier even came into my really yeah, so bizarre.
Speaker 3:Um, so that when I saw the audition notice for this show, I was like that name sounds familiar. Why does that name sound familiar? And I went, did I read about this? And I look look up and I went, oh, I did In a middle school book, oh my gosh, in my library. So I was like, okay, I have got to share this because this is such a timely thing. And then thank you to you, ashley. Well, we worked together and contacted these authors.
Speaker 2:That's going to be after the matinee show, after your two o'clock, so hopefully some of the cast will stick around. There's going to be a live Q&A. They're going to talk about integrating this book into the classroom and the themes, and you're going help moderate that.
Speaker 3:I am going to help moderate, thank you, and then they'll have a couple books for for sale.
Speaker 2:But they'll also be signing, I think, some postcards or some bookmarks as well, so everyone can have their signature so it's gonna be really really neat.
Speaker 4:The. The book itself is gorgeous. Yes, like such a gorgeous piece and the story the way that the author has put it together is accessible and easy and and not like, uh oh, this is clearly a side that I'm taking politically, but just a look at this story. This is what happened yeah, it's a.
Speaker 2:It's incredibly well done well, I'm very excited for it. So that will be saturday. Saturday, you said what time at 4 30.
Speaker 4:Okay, I'll bring my boys yay, that'd be great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we've been trying to invite all of the educators around burbank trying to get librarians at the schools, at the public libraries, just to kind of hear these pieces and hopefully integrate them into their classrooms and to their, to their libraries and things like that. So, uh, just thank you guys so much for being here.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah I really appreciate it, so fun I love that you're both.
Speaker 2:you know Burbank moms yeah.
Speaker 4:Welcome to Burbank. Thank you, I'm going to claim that title. You do? I'm going to claim it.
Speaker 2:The second you step foot in, here you're now a Burbank mom, we'll bring you in. So come see the civility of Albert Cashier. The tickets are at colonytheaterorg and I will put that link in our bio in the show. And thank you guys, so much for being here.
Speaker 4:It's been so great.
Speaker 2:All right, awesome, I'll see you guys in the next podcast.