Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Kristen, for joining me today. How are you doing?
[00:00:03] Speaker B: I'm good, Brian. How are you?
[00:00:06] Speaker A: I'm doing great. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule with Come From Away.
How has the tour been so far?
[00:00:13] Speaker B: It's been so good. I mean, this week I'm spoiled. We're in Philadelphia, and that's where my hometown is. And it's just so nice to get to experience so much of the country. That's really my favorite part of touring. And it's. I'm just. It's one of the things that I look forward to, for sure.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: I mean, it has to be cool. I mean, granted, I know you are working. There's a lot of work put into it, but it is cool to kind of get to see different cities and how life is like across the North America.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I mean, of course, touring can be exhausting, but the pro of it is I have fond memories from random small towns across America. You know, of course, we all love, you know, Chicago, Philly, Detroit, the big cities. But sometimes going to these tiny towns. Oh, yeah. Remember that restaurant? Oh, remember that coffee shop? I love that place. The people there are amazing. And I just love that about touring. I think that's so funny.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: How long have you been with this production of Come From Away?
[00:01:14] Speaker B: Yeah, so I've been with the production since September of 2023, when the second national tour started.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: So you've been on the road for well over a year?
[00:01:24] Speaker B: Yes. Yes, over a year. And now on the second version of the cast, which was really fun to kind of bring in new energy to the show, we kind of brought in almost half. So it was really a different experience to have our set shows. And then all of a sudden, you know, it gets a little rocky when you're joining in with new people. And especially with this show with Come From Away, it's so integrated. It's such an ensemble piece that those types of things are really interesting to deal with, but really fun because you get to play with new people, you know, and that's always the excitement.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: So those who maybe aren't familiar with Come From Away, I actually have not got to see it yet. And so I'm really excited because I know this is one that a lot of people have talked about. My broadcast partner here, he has raved about it for years. But for those who maybe don't know the story, can you tell us a little bit about it and then how your character or characters kind of factor into that?
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Sure. So Come From Away is the Story of a tiny town in Newfoundland called Gander, where there is an airport that kind of laid dormant for many, many years. It used to be the biggest airport in the world where planes would go and refuel before they went over to Europe from America.
And on 9 11, when American airspace was closed, they had to emergency land 38 commercial airlines to Gander. And so there were over 7,000 people that were stranded in this. And it's the story of how the town took care of them. And especially in such a scary time for so many people and being away from home and not knowing where they were, this was pre cell phones, pre Facebook, all that type of stuff, and having to try and communicate with their friends and family back home and how this small town really impacted how those people felt about being taken care of. And so I play a character who is local to Gander. Her name is Beulah Davis. She is a combination of two different women, Beulah Cooper and Diane Davis.
And she is the school teacher in the town. She works at the Gander Academy, which is their little. Their elementary school. And this is just her. Her try. Her arc is she's the mother, I like to call her. She's the mother of the play. She takes care of everyone. She wants to feed people. She wants to give them clothes. She wants to make sure they're okay. She also likes a good joke. So a lot of she loves to make her little joke quips. And whether or not the people are wanting to hear a joke in that moment is always a funny time in the show. So that's kind of my part in.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: The show, you know. But the thing about that character, you know, about Beulah, is that even in the darkest times, people do still need to laugh. You know, they need to especially.
What else? Sometimes what do you do? You either laugh or you cry, you know?
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's the show in general. I think people are surprised when they come to see the show, especially if they don't know it at all, that it is funny. There are many moments of humor, and I think at first you can kind of feel the audience is hesitant to laugh sometimes because no, it's. They think they're going to see a musical about 9 11, and that in itself is like, what am I? What's happening? What's going to happen? I don't know.
But the show has a lot of levity to it, and I think obviously it's necessary. You can't watch a show for an hour and 40 minutes and cry the whole Time you need. You need moments of happiness.
And so I think. But it does a great job of bringing us back into the reality sometimes reminding us what's going on at the same time that you're watching these funny scenes, all of a sudden we'll have a song or a scene that will bring us back down into remembering what's actually going on at the time.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: With a musical that's based on like a real life event, is there like a pressure that comes with that? Like telling the story?
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, for sure. Especially when they come and visit the show.
That's a big moment. I mean, what actor gets that opportunity to have the real life person that they play in, watching them in the audience at the same time, or when we take the show to Canada and we're trying to do these dialects in front of the real people who speak that way, there's lots of pressure for that.
So I now, granted, they are the loveliest people. I had the pleasure of having Diane Davis come to see the show when we were in Halifax last year. I remember in the wings before being like, oh, my gosh, I hope that I do her justice. I hope she likes me. And that's just like another element to add to your pre show before you go on the stage. But everyone's been nothing but welcoming and wonderful and they just love the message of the show and they know that that's more important than anything. And so I try in moments on the stage when I'm tired or I'm not feeling it, I always have to think to myself, like, what would I always say to myself? What would Diane do? What would Beula do? They didn't get to rest for five days when they were taking care of people. You can do this for another 45 minutes.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Sure, sure. I mean, still, that's a lot of high intensity for, you know, 100 minutes of non stop going.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I don't leave the stage for the first 40 minutes of the show. And I think most people are probably similar in that the beginning of the show is definitely go, go, go, go, go. Because that's kind of what happened. I mean, they weren't sure what to do in the beginning. They had to make a plan quickly. And I think that moment. Well, and then finally towards the end, we can settle in and take a deep breath and have that first moment off the stage. Sometimes I come off and I'm just like, okay, okay, regroup, reset.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: Sure, absolutely.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: All of the movements. Most of the show. Our set is just 14 chairs and two tables and we're moving them around and getting them to set up these vignettes of explaining kind of the location of where each scene takes place. And we switch characters on a dime, and there's just a lot going on, but I think that keeps the audience's attention really well, for sure.
[00:07:22] Speaker A: Speaking of, you said switching characters, because I noticed that when I was kind of doing my research of this, it says, you know, you're playing Beulah and others.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: How is. What is it like juggling multiple roles? Like you said, you have to switch kind of on the dime. Like, what is that like for you?
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, for. For me, I think I have it easy. I only have, really, one other character that I play. I think the character. The person who plays Oz, he has up to eight different people that he plays in the show. We, you know, sometimes. So I only have two. My secondary person, I guess her name is Dolores. She's a panicked New Yorker on one of the planes who's been stuck on that plane for 20 hours, and they just want to get off. And she's just like, someone get me off this plane.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Which is really fun. She's very different, you know, a different dialect. So trying to balance that, I actually had a harder time with the New York dialect than I felt like I had with the gander dialect.
And so we're switching dialects, but, like, every. Every switch is very kind of simple or. But effective. Like, it's just a sweater. Like, I have a very specific sweater that I put on as Dolores, and when it's on, I'm Dolores. And when it's not, I'm not. You're just switching glasses for some people, or hats or just a dialect change.
And so I think it makes the audience really focus in and, okay, I need to pay attention and make sure I get what's going on. And you have to bring enough of a change to kind of explain that it's a different character for the audience. But we don't have a lot of options to do a full costume change. So it's often just little moments like that, for sure.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: You know, in between. Like, just the small costume changes. And you said. What you said is very. It's like a very simplistic set with just the seats and the tables. It does seem to put more emphasis on the actors and the characters and the people interactions of this.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I know that this, you know, everyone says Come From Way is this great musical, and it is. Of course, the music is astounding, how they've managed to make such intricate harmonies with 12 people is amazing, but this show has really stretched me as an actor, and I've really, really enjoyed the process. My character. Most of my stuff is really monologues and acting, and I don't have. I don't get the. Like, I don't get to rely on my voice, which is my comfort spot.
You know, I'm part of my ensemble singing, for sure. But most of my work is done through the scene work. And it's also special, this show is because we talk to the audience a lot. We break that fourth wall, and we're direct addressing the audience, which is a whole nother skill that I feel like I had to learn and. And almost get over that fear of looking someone in the audience straight in the eye and delivering the line and seeing them react back to me. And that's something that I had to really adjust to because I am definitely team. Like, there's a individual wall here, and I. No one can see me. And so now looking people in the face is. It's definitely a different experience with it.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: Being a show that has, like. So obviously with being about September 11th, there is, like, a level of darkness with it or, like, sadness, but there's also, like you said, there's a lot of levity. How do you feel like the show balances those two tones, specifically, Like. Like, do you feel like it. Like, does it dance that line, or does it. Do it pretty well of reminding people, but also, like, not dwelling on it?
[00:10:36] Speaker B: I think it does. I think it does it really well. I think probably as I'm biased, probably, but I think it does it probably as well as it possibly could for such a subject that it would be about. Because we've seen shows about many other horrible moments in history that tend to really dwell on that, which is still important. It's still a form of storytelling, and we all are still. We still love these shows. But this show, I think, does a really good job of how I mentioned before of. We'll have a, you know, a segment. A good chunk of explaining the hard stuff, and then we'll have a nice. There's a really long chunk in the middle that's mostly scene work. There's not. There's not a lot of song happening in this moment. I think for at least 15 minutes. It's just scene after scene after scene, and it. It just builds into this great, funny stuff ending with. Not to give any spoilers, but dancing cardiologists. That's all I'll say. Okay. And then we're reminded immediately. And then a song comes in to kind of, I think, refresh everyone, remembering everyone, this is a musical. A song comes in with the woman who is desperately trying to get a hold of her son, who's a firefighter back in New York. And so we kind of go back and forth. And after that song, I have a scene with her where I tell her a joke, even though she doesn't really want to hear this joke at this point. And, you know, so it really goes kind of back and forth.
But. And then there's a big song that everyone loves, it's called Screech in, where they do the ceremony to make everyone honorary New Newfoundlanders. And that's a big ensemble. So that one feels like the end of Act 1 if you're going to put an Act 1. You know what I mean? Okay. And that is a really fun musical number where it's one of the only times that we allow the audience to applaud. And I think when they were. When we're going through rehearsals, they explained to us this idea of there used to be an intermission to give people this kind of break. And they decided to take it away because they said that the people in gander didn't get a break during those five days. So we're going to. We're not having. We're not going to have a break either. And allowing the audience to only really applaud three times in the show, which is after the first number, after Screech. And at the end, you know, they're looking for this release of something like, it's kind of feeling this underlying sense of tension of like, I want to clap, but wait, we're not. We're not doing that. We're not ready yet. We're not allowed to. And so I think that's really interesting that they built that in too. Like, that is something that we are told, like, move right away. You're not waiting for applause because, you know, they didn't. They weren't waiting for applause the entire time either. They were just doing their jobs. And I think the idea that they thought about something like that and try to infuse it into the show is something really special.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: I was going to say you don't see, like, that. You don't see it. But like, to hear that, like such a. Like the real life events, like, helped kind of dictate some of those decisions is. That's interesting. But it also makes a lot of sense for this show.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: Yeah, they also, like, we try and keep the show at A running time of an hour and 42 minutes, because that is the time it took for the first tower to fall after it was hit.
And I think that's something that's like, wow, we're really getting into these specifics and these details, but it's the way that they try and honor this situation. And I think that's always something that's in the back of my mind of like, okay, I'm feeling like we're maybe taking too long on this show. We gotta, you know, pick up the cues. Let's get going. And those little moments. I love detail work like that. And so knowing that the writers and the creators of the show thought about that type of thing really, like, makes my heart happy.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: Now if things are feeling like, like a little slow, you're not hitting them like, like, do just like, as a cast, like, you guys know, just like, kind of pick it up to catch that.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: I don't know if we all. There's no, like, communication about it. I just know that that's something that I try and keep myself accountable with sometimes. I'll finish a little scene, I'll be like, wow, I really dragged that out. I need to, you know, make sure I go back to basics. I always have our director's voice in the back of my head sometimes, and I can just hear him in that moment being like, okay, Kristen, we really milked that one. Like, let's. Let's move on, and let's make sure that we keep the story the focus and not your performance the focus. And that's something I love about this show, is that because it's such an ensemble piece. It really is. Go back to the basics of acting, of just passing the ball to someone else. You know, you don't take the time and make your line the funniest. Like the joke. The. The punchline of the joke is always pushing it on to someone else kind of thing.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: And. And I love that. And I think another testament to the creation of the show and the direction of the show is just, next, next person, next person, next person. Tell the story, Keep the story moving.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Sure.
Speaking of, you kind of mentioned, like, that there's no intermission and that this is like, this is a one act, a musical. What is. How is that? Like, that has to be challenging, I would assume. Like, what kind of challenges does that bring other than maybe, like, fatigue?
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, a big challenge for a lot of us. And it's something you have to learn just as you do the show is like, when am I going to Get a drink of water.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Like, I mean, I don't come off for 40 minutes, so I have to make sure I'm pre hydrated. But then we also don't have time to go to the bathroom. So like, I certainly don't. Some people do.
Some people, there are moments where they can sneak away if there is one close enough to the stage because we're in a different theater every day. So real or not every day, but often, and you don't know where they're all located. And these are the funny like behind the scenes moment that the actors are thinking of in the moment of okay, when am I have water time to a science. I know exactly when and where I can step away and take literally one sip before I can I have time to walk right back on. And you're just kind of trying to bank those moments until you have some. I have some like longer offstage moments towards the end of the show. But the beginning is so go, go, go. And sometimes I'm sitting there like, oh God, we have so long until I can have that drink of water. You're just thinking about it. But those little moments, everyone has their, their water planned.
Everyone knows exactly when they're going to have time to go to the bathroom if they have to.
And I just think that's, that's so specific to this show, the backstage life of this show or like, I mean a lot of the props are delivered to us by someone else. For a long time I didn't even know where my sweater came from. It was just on the chair. So when we would like we would be running a rehearsal, we would go to reset and I'd be like, I don't. Who brings this? Like, I don't know even where this comes from. Now I know because I've been with the show for so long. I, I figured it out. But there are still moments every once in a while as I'll turn around because I'm not facing that scene. I'll go like, is that where you sit? Like, I have no. I had no idea because I'm just not facing that direction. Like you're, you're here this whole time. Like things like that of just. It's hard to keep track because it's so intricate and we talk about this all the time. Like, I wish there was footage of them figuring this out. Like, how did you even plan who's bringing what on and who to pass what off to? And, and how many times did they have to go backwards and figure and retrack a A sweater, like, that's something that I would love to know. Those are questions I want to ask. I don't know if they'd even remember at this point. Point. How. How that even.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: How it came to be.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: Right, exactly.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: You had mentioned that there are. There was a cast change. Well, since you've been on, where a lot of. Quite a bit of cast, you know, changed out. And as my. As my partner. And this would tell me that, like, you are the most important person because you carry over, and so you're kind of this backbone. So how is that. How has that changed for you? And also, how did the. How did it change the show? You mentioned it was a different kind of energy.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, every individual actor always brings a different type of energy. Just the same way as when you do a show and you might have a standby or an understudy on, it always comes into just a different energy on stage. But when that comes in six at a time for a show where there's only 12, you know, it was a different experience, for sure. I mean, we knew it was coming. So those of us that came, that were coming back, we know how hard the rehearsal process is. We actually had to rehearse separately because the first year tour was still going on when they started rehearsing the new cast. So they had about 10 days of rehearsal before we joined them, which was great because it gave the offstage standbys time on their feet to learn part of their cover tracks. And it was really important to us at the time to try and make sure that they knew that it's gonna get better. We remember the rehearsal process and how daunting it was, because with this show, like, you have to go chronologically because it's so intricate. There's nothing you can do. And you have to be off book because you can't have a script in your hand and moving all these chairs at the same time. And we remember how hard and scary the rehearsal process was and how much it really pushed us as actors. And so we were like, you know what, guys? Why don't we send them a little treatment for the. After the first. The first week. So we sent some Schmackery's Cookies, which is a great bakery in New York City. And we just sent them a little note being like, you can do this. It's going to be okay. We know it's scary right now, and it feels like you can't, but you can.
And then we ended up meeting up for about a week and a half of joining the cast together in Vancouver ahead of our opening.
And, you know, it was a very expedited process. I wish we could. I think everyone wishes we could have had more time. Like most productions, people wish you had more time before you're just thrown out there in front of thousands of people.
And, you know, it's adjustment for us. And the directors even said to us who are returning, like, listen, you got to get. Put your listening ears back on and make different choices, because there are. People are different, and you can't just do the same choice that you've been making.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: 200 performances, which is very difficult. That's one thing I think about touring. I think we're getting close to. I'm getting close to my 400th show with this production. And it's hard. It's so hard to even just hear a different cadence of a line when you've been used to it for 200 performances. And even the band had to adjust to different things like that for cue lines for the music. And it just takes some time. And we just didn't have that time. So it was very much a learning process for everyone.
But now it would be. I think it would be weird. It would be hard to go back to the old way, because I'm so used to this way at this point. But I love when we get a standby on the stage because it really forces me to be like, okay, I need to look them in the eye, and I'm going to react to what they're doing. I'm not going to try and push whatever acting choice I've tried to push on anyone. Like, this is a different person. And I love that about this show. And it's also. I've learned so much through the whole process, and I think that's what's really been fun.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: You almost can't rely on your muscle memory. You have to.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: No. And I definitely am an actor who does. And so muscle memory for me, especially with. Because I have so many lines in this show, muscle memory for me is important to help me remember where I am in all of these monologues. So that's something different with this character. Specifically. I feel like everyone kind of knows that Beulah has so many lines, so many things that she's saying, and so many monologues where she's kind of like addressing the group of people that she's trying to take care of. And I think that's why there are monologues like that. And for me, I always. I kind of tend to attach lines to physical Movements to help me remember.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:22:32] Speaker B: And so it can be. It can be hard when there's different faces looking at you and different things that have changed and. And I think that's something that I definitely had to learn this year for sure.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: How has this experience with. Come from a way maybe different from some of your other experiences? Because you were in Sister Act, Sound of Music, Margaritaville, like you were. You've had a few big shows that you've been a part of.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Yeah, well, that was. What's so funny is that I was in Margaritaville at the time when I was auditioning for this show. And so. And I'm talking, like, we were in tech for Margaritaville when I had my first. When I had to first tape for this show, which was just like, my brain was about to explode because we were trying to put up this show and had been working so hard and making sure. And we were changing that show a lot at the moment. We were trying to redo this one number, and I'm trying to take care of this and then learn the gander dialect, which felt insane at that time. Nowadays, it's like nothing to me. But at the moment, I was like, how am I gonna do this? At the same time of trying to do Margaritaville, which is also just a completely different type of show then, and so to go. And that was the first time in my career that I have been able to really, like, jump from one show to the next. Usually I have some time in between where I'm not working in a show and you're just auditioning. And this was the first time where I've booked one after the other and was really kind of ready to move on to the next show.
But I think Come From Away is special.
But, I mean, every show. Every show is so fun, and Margaritaville had its own prose and things. And that one was a fun show to be in, just like Sister Act, I mean. But with Sister Act, I was in the ensemble. And so going from ensemble, more ensemble. And that was the last tour that I did. So going from an ensemble track in a tour to doing more of a principal track in a tour was a very interesting different experience. And I'm also older. I'm 10 years older than I was the last time I toured. So I. You know, I can't get. Can't get away with a lot of the things that I did on that tour, for sure, in terms of, like, lifestyle choices of staying up late. Staying up late, and, you know, going and grabbing a drink after the show. And nowadays I just go home and I'm quiet and I try to get as much sleep as possible because the show, while it is only 140some minutes, it's exhausting.
[00:24:52] Speaker A: I can imagine.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: It is a workout.
Everyone kind of talks. It's emotionally exhausting and it's physically exhausting. And so this show has just really taught me to make sure that I put all of my effort into doing my job, which is the show.
And yes, I maybe have missed out on a few fun things of exploring cities or going and seeing some cool things, but the. But I'm here to do the show and that's what's the most important aspect of my job.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: I was going to say I always ask everybody, but you just kind of answered. I'm a psychologist during my day job, so I'm always wondering, how do you keep your mental health strong on the road? And it sounds like you prioritize it by making sure you get enough sleep and that you're taking care of yourself.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Yeah, for me, I'm definitely a little bit more of an introvert. And so I need that quiet, like, alone time in order to be a happy, healthy person in the day. And, you know, when you're on tour, tour life, you are living with these people 24 7. You know, not only are there are they your co workers, they're who you live with, they're who you socialize with. And sometimes you just need time by yourself. And sometimes that means I'm. I'm gonna go do an activity outside by myself because I just need some time alone. And I think that's something you have to learn about yourself. And. And then there are people the opposite way. Like, they need to be. They need to spend time with other people or they need to call their people off the road. And everybody has their own little activities like. Or hobbies that they try and find.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: Half of most of our band, Cross Stitches, which I think is so cute. I love that I also have my little craft. I do. I have. I do needle pointing, which is another version of kind of. Kind of like cross. And I'm training for a 10k currently, and we're all kind of doing these.
These little other activities to kind of fill our cups off of the stage for sure.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: Sure.
What themes from. Come from the way resonate with you the most?
[00:26:55] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. I really love the overall theme of. Of kindness for everyone.
Something I kind of love to think about is that they're just ordinary people doing extraordinary things and anyone can make that choice to. To be that person for someone in their time of need. And so I. Especially with what's. Everything that's been going on lately, I, like, I'm always kind of reminded of, like, how can I bring this. This sense of kindness and security to people that I interact with every day? And not in. Maybe that is not in some big, grand gesture, but in the small ways of, you know, smiling and saying hi and treating people. Every single person that I interact with, with kindness, regardless of maybe. Maybe they're not treating me with kindness. But I'm still gonna make an effort to do that for myself because I know. I know that it comes back around. And I just want. I want that to be what I take away from this show, is trying to make sure that we treat everyone as. As well as I possibly could and make them feel good and make them feel safe. And that's really important to me.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: I love that answer, and I appreciate your time and taking. I know that you're very busy, and I appreciate it. So thank you for talking with us today.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: Thank you so much. It was so fun.
[00:28:23] Speaker A: Come From Away runs at the Fisher Theater in Detroit from February 11th through the 16th. So get your tickets from Broadway in Detroit, and we'll see you there.
