Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the exclusive cosmic curtain interview with Travis Walter, Ron Williams and Stephen Blackwell. I'm Brian Kitson, head writer of the Cosmic Circus and the Cosmic Circus Broadway.
Travis Walter is the artistic director of Meadowbrook Theater here in Michigan. And Ron Williams and Stephen Blackwell are stars of the Strangers on a train, the season opener for the theater. In this interview, I speak to all three about their time on the production, how they brought this exceptional story to life on stage, and what they hope audiences take from this incredible production. Enjoy.
Thank you so much, the three of you, for being here today. I was able to see the show last weekend, and it was absolutely fantastic.
So how is the production of strangers on a train for the three of you going so far?
Whoever wants to go first? Travis, we'll throw it to you.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: I can go first. Hey, I'm really excited, first of all, Brian, thanks for letting us be here. But I'm super excited at how well the show is going. The audiences are really reacting in a very positive way to the show, and it's also, it's very psychological, thriller sort of atmosphere. So they're, they're a little creeped out sometimes, but they always say that even though they were, they were creeped out, they had a great time. And so I'm really excited with how it is going. Yeah. How about you guys?
[00:01:23] Speaker C: Yeah. Just iffy.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Just so, so.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: No, we're loving it. And I, I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a journey, every, every show, emotionally, for sure.
I don't know how, Steven, how you feel at the end of it. I feel, especially the end of act one, I feel pretty good. I feel like I got it all out there and I'm ready to. Ready to move on. But we've been really pleased.
I think. I know you and I have talked about it, Stephen. This week starting, you know, our first full week, starting Wednesday and Thursday, we've had good size audiences, which is a good sign that word is getting out and hopefully feeling the same way that you felt about it, Brian.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Absolutely. Stephen, what are you, what are your thoughts on it?
[00:02:09] Speaker D: Yeah, I think it's going really good. And Ron and I, even just yesterday when we got done with the first act, and we've been running this for 31 days, and just yesterday, Ron and I were like, did you notice the bar scene? We were hitting some different notes that we didn't normally hit, and it felt really working. So it's nice to still, after 31 days of running the show, being like, there's still some stuff that we're finding in this it's going great.
[00:02:36] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: So you're telling me you've only run this for 31 days? Cause I know that, like, there's a lot of other productions that run it for, like, months on end. It's that smooth sailing after 31 days.
[00:02:48] Speaker C: But what was our first day of rehearsal, Travis? It was.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Yeah. September 17. Right. So there's always. It's a. It's a three week rehearsal process, and it's six days a week. So three times six is 18. However, one goes to restage, and one goes to tech. So it's really 16 days of rehearsal, and then it gets on the stage, so it's very fast. And the wonderful thing was that both of these gentlemen knew that they had lots to say in the show, so they came in very familiar with the script.
[00:03:24] Speaker D: Yeah, it's very.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: I love that. I mean, you go ahead, Steven.
[00:03:31] Speaker D: I was gonna say it's very important, especially with a play like this. You want to do as much prep work before day one, even if you aren't getting paid for it. It's just the way that you use your time. Like, I can't spend all of my time learning the lines in rehearsal. We have to learn the blocking, the motivation, you know, everything else that's going on with that. So one thing that you could check off is lines. That first day rehearsal, it's awesome.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: Yeah. I think the first text I got from. After we got. After we both found out that we got cast, Stephen texted me. I think your first text was, I'll leave out the language was like, man, this guy never shuts the f off.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: He goes from start to finish.
[00:04:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:14] Speaker D: My gosh.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: I think he talks more than Iago in Othello. I think it's gotta be. It's gotta be. He just doesn't stop. Yep.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: I think that opening scene sets it so well where, you know, you know, Charles is just talking, and pretty much it's. It's almost like a monologue. And you just get, like, as you're going through it. And again, as a psychologist, I'm always looking for, like, the different aspects between these people. And you're just slowly watching this character kind of descend into, like, this. Like, this madness in that first scene. And you're like, oh, shit.
[00:04:44] Speaker C: Like, so charming too. You know? At the same time, you can see the attraction. He's so gregarious and not what guy is. He's very easy with people, even though he's hiding it with liquor and whatever mental problems that he's dealing with.
Yeah, I think it's still my favorite scene is that first scene just the whole. The banter is great, that the script is written well, and the dialogue is excellent, but it lets me take in the charm and at the same time, appreciate that.
Wait, what did you say?
It gets a little too much, and anybody. But then, you know, Charlie, I'll call you Charlie for this, because I never do in the show.
Charlie always brings it back to the Plato book. You know, it's kind of his little worming into keeping it on aethere on a somewhat normal level, somehow, even though he's talking about murdering people.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I think.
Yeah, I was just gonna say, I think I love that first scene and everybody who comes to see the show, because it's called strangers on a train, and we've done trains on our stage many different ways. Obviously, Moriarty had the little itty bitty, tiny train that ran behind them. That was funny. We've done murder on the Ornate Express, which has that huge train which moved back and forth on stage. And I think there's surprised that it is such an intimate moment, that opening on that train, and it's just two guys sitting there talking for, like, 15 minutes. But it's so engaging because of the dynamic between the two characters. And as you said, brian, with just the psychology of, like, what's gonna happen? Why is, okay, he is charming, but, like, is he. Is he is guy falling into it? Is he not? What tools is Charles asks three times. He tells him, well, you can say whatever you want. We don't know each other. And we try to make sure that Steven, as the actor, uses three different tactics, because why does the character repeat himself?
I love how that draws the audience in. And then they get a feel for the fact that a lot of our spaces are intimate. They're intimate scenes as we drive you from one scene to the next.
And I guess I've just been impressed with the audience. Cause they're saying it's the most intense thing they've ever seen. And I'm so thrilled, because there is quite a distance between the audience and the actors in this show, and I'm happy that they're still feeling that it's an intimate experience. I guess I love the psychology of the whole show. There's so much to delve into, and I'm not even sure that we have it all sorted out yet. Right, Stephen?
[00:07:42] Speaker D: Plenty we can find. We could go darker, darker places if need be.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Steven, what is that first scene for you? Because, you know, you do have this, you know, I will say this. I was, before coming to the show, I was expecting, like, a train set. You know, I was like, okay, we're gonna be on a train. Like, I had known nothing about this. I've never seen the Alfred Hitchcock film, but I was like, okay, we're gonna go to this. And I didn't see the train when I got there. And I was like, okay, this is interesting. And the first moment you see, you know, Steven, you walk across the stage and you're stumbling like you're on a train. Like, not like while you were also. Your character's also drinking. But it was like, clearly, like, this is a train setting. And I was just like, that was. Not only was that impressive, but you set the tone, but then your character does run off the tracks, you know, what is that for you?
Yeah.
[00:08:30] Speaker D: And I think that that's part to Travis as well, in him just saying, like, you guys are good actors. The language is there. We don't need to get up and move and do all this thing. It's there. We can sit down this entire time, and we'll be able to draw the audience in, and I think it works. My favorite parts of that scene are definitely when there are times when Charles gets guy to agree with him, when he says, oh, you know, that's something you've got to decide for yourself. And they both share a laugh together, and it's, ha ha ha.
And things go immediately. Things get ramped up. I immediately say, hey, you want to come with me to Santa Fe? Whoa, wait, what?
[00:09:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it's intense. And there's actually a laugh that I don't know if you do this every show or not. I'd love to see it again. But, like you did, like, a laugh, a guy's laughing, and then you, like, stop. And it's very much. Those are things. Again, as a psychologist, I'm looking for people's faces and how they're responding to each other, especially. One of my specialties is couples therapy. So you're looking how people interact at all times. And as a reviewer, I'm always looking for the audience interaction. And I was sitting next to this teenager who clearly did not want to be there at first. And when you did that, when you had that moment where you stopped, he took off his headphones, and he folded them up and put them under his chair, and I said, oh, that caught him.
[00:09:56] Speaker C: That's funny. I mean, I think it's. And I don't know that moment, Brian, but it's. I think that that scene is.
Is different. It's got to be every night. I mean, we're. We're listening, really. I'm really engaged. And we've discovered that, I think with, you know, with the rehearsal process being the way it is, too, and it's. And knowing. And knowing lines really well, that helps us. But. But if we do, which we have gotten off a little bit on a couple lines here and there, we know, and we can continue on and bring. And make sure that that piece fits back in. So we're always listening to each other and what we're saying. So the reactions are real. I have no idea what that. What that moment is.
[00:10:37] Speaker D: I think it's that last laugh right before the call me chart.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:42] Speaker C: Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: And there's just, like, a pause. There's just, like, a, like.
[00:10:46] Speaker D: And that laugh comes out of kind of out of nowhere, too, so it's doubly creepy.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: If I got the very, like, joker feels, and I was just like, oh, this is like, like, I definitely got the chills from that, and I just kind of buys into it a little bit and goes along with that.
[00:11:02] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, it's a little. I mean, we do the cheers and, you know, about to take a little sip, and then a laugh comes out, and it's.
It's, like, a bit much.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: It's disconcerting.
[00:11:16] Speaker C: But then I hear him asking me to call him Charlie. Call me Charlie. And I. It's still a little crazy, but, you know, the night progresses after that, which we don't really see. But seemingly, we've had another few drinks and, you know, had some more laughs, and we'll see who knows what happened.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: For those people who. Brian, just real quick. For those people who like you. Like, if you were to come see it again, I encourage when people do come, just watch somebody else, because there is. I mean, everyone is reacting. So, like, for instance, guy does a lot of wonderful reactions when Charles is doing his big monologue about having gone to metcalf in the New York bar, and Ron is sitting there just listening to this whole monologue and reacting. And just, you can see if you're, you know, usually you're looking at the person who's speaking, so you're looking at. You're looking at Stephen, but if you watch Ron, you can just, I mean, watch the carpet get pulled out from under him. And it's just heartbreaking the work that everyone does in all of the scenes. There's a scene with Ashley as Anne where you're just, you just watch every little thing they do. Just the way she straightens her back when something happens. It's just a little tiny thing. And it's just. I'm just so impressed with all of the actors and what they're doing because it really feels, I don't know, that this is good for the audience to hear, but we did have someone on opening night tell us she was leaving the theater, and she said, I almost vomited three times during this show.
And I said, oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. She's like, no, that's a good thing. She's like, you made me so upset with just, just. She was. And I was watching her. She was in front of me, and I was watching her watch the show, and you could see her shifting in her seat, putting her hands up over her face sometimes. And there's no gore in our show. We don't. We don't. It's all literally, it's what your brain is doing. It's the psychology of the thing. So that I said was the greatest compliment we could get.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: You know, speaking of Ashley, there is one of the scenes I'm wondering if it's the one you're talking about, but it's when the detective is in the house and she is sitting behind guy, you know, sitting behind Ron. And her reactions are almost more visceral than anything else happening in the entire scene because, like, guys trying to keep a very straight face, you know, and, like, things are okay, and she's just being disappointed step after step as she's all unfolding.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: She's being disappointed as she's hearing new information. But she was also just told to lie.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: So it's like. So she has. I mean, I don't know what it's like to have a spouse who tells you to lie about something, but I can't imagine that that is a good feeling. And then the investigator comes in, and you're like, what? And she tries to get out. She says, I'll leave you two alone. And he's like, no, no, I want to talk to both of you. And then, yes, we specifically put her behind him on the couch so that we, the audience could watch her reactions to that.
[00:14:25] Speaker C: We probably do some couples therapy.
[00:14:28] Speaker D: You got the guy.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: Right. And not just that, though, but she's also dealing with the fact that she's realizing that there's somebody unsettling upstairs. And, like, yeah. What do you. What do you do with that when you know that? Like the monsters in your closet.
[00:14:40] Speaker C: Yeah. Right.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: And if you notice that scene that we end that scene and then we go to another place in time. We never know how he. He gets out of there, how he leaves.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: They don't tell us.
[00:14:55] Speaker D: Right.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: And that is also, as. That is also causing us to be very entitled as the audience, because we're just like, you know, it is these, like, these. These. These vignettes of life. But, you know, that there's.
Things are happening in the meantime. And, you know, again, as I was researching some of this, I was looking at the novel and I was looking at the movie, and I was like, oh, there's these other scenes that, like, could still be in the story if, you know, they would still fit there, but you just don't. You don't get that. And that makes it much more unsettling. It was like. It's like the perfect October play to start off.
[00:15:24] Speaker C: What did you. Can I ask you a question, Brian?
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:15:27] Speaker C: So what did you think about? Because in the book, there's. There's a little more detail on this, but what did you think about? Okay, the first scene, I discuss Miriam and how awful she is that she's been cheating on me with, you know, God knows how many people and having another man's child, blah, blah, blah. And then the next scene that I'm in is I'm, you know, in Mexico with Anne, obviously having an affair.
Did that affect your perception of, like, my character? Like, wait a minute. What? This guy's kind of a jerk, too.
[00:15:59] Speaker A: So with my education, you know, in one of my marriage counseling class, we learned that people don't cheat to get out of a marriage. They cheat to stay in a marriage, and they cheat to make their marriage work, because a triangle, it's much more. It's much stronger than a line. And so when I'm hearing. When I hear. Actually heard you talk about Miriam, I actually. I was like, I'm pretty sure there's somebody else in the picture here. Like, so I wasn't shocked by that, but I heard gasps and definitely who I came with, my friend was just like, wow. Like, that was kind of like. That's like a dick move, you know? And I was almost expecting that.
[00:16:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:33] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:16:34] Speaker C: Because in the book, Miriam and him have been separated for quite some time. Three years, traveling to see her. Yeah.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: You know, that's one of the things that I liked about this, and I want to ask all of you about this, is that it seems like in, like, the book and the movie, there's almost this, like, fine line of, like, there's clearly, like, one character who's more villainous and one who's supposed to be like that hero role, you know? Oh, sorry, Stephen, you're playing the villain here, but in the, in the play, there's much more, there's a lot more gray area and nuance, and there's a lot more dancing on that fine line where neither one of these characters are necessarily good and they're not necessarily bad. You can see their motives. Like, if they've done bad things, how is that like, what is that like as an actor and as, like a director of, like, we're playing with this idea that people aren't always good and always bad, but they're somewhere in the middle and. Travis, I'll start with you.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Yeah, sure.
I'm glad you bring that up, because we talked about that early on about, because if the audience, like, if the audience hates both of them, we're done. We don't have a show. Right. But you also don't want to give favoritism to one or the other. In fact, the other day we had a woman at a talkback who told me, she said, you know, I really, I actually feel kind of bad for Charlie. She's like, I actually, I got some empathy for him and I understand why he does what he does. And I was like, you might be a serial killer, but no, but that's really what we wanted to. Right. Because it's, again, do your deeds make you a bad person? Right. You always talk about motives and things like this. You know, what were their motives? What are they both trying to get? And so we really wanted to discuss that in the, the rehearsal process because I don't just want, I mean, yes, some people are going to come in and they're going to hate Steven, and some people are going to come in and, sorry, Ron, but they're going to hate guy. They're going to like Steven. Now that's going to be less, a smaller amount of people.
But we really want that in our show because I think that's the only way that it works, because you're trying to shine a light on the human experience. And we have to make decisions every day that aren't necessarily black and white. We always like to think things are black and white, and they are just not. They are very colorful shades of gray, and then you have to own it after you've made those choices.
So I really, really, that's one of the things that drew me to this piece itself, is that there is a lot of gray area.
And I used Patricia Highsmith's novel. A lot we talked about, because there's a lot more information in there that I could give the actress and say, hey, you know, what's really happening in this scene? She can tell us what your characters are thinking, and we use that a lot to sort of inform us to just go back to the source.
But I personally love that people are torn and that they're torn at intermission. They're torn because they don't know what happens at intermission. The lights come up at intermission. They all take this collective side together.
They're not sure what's coming until act two comes. And I just. I don't know if that. I don't know how that feels for the gentleman. I'm sure they can feel when the audience is with one of them versus the other, but I loved exploring that in the rehearsal process.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: Stephen, how about you?
[00:20:08] Speaker D: I think when we came into rehearsal, the first rehearsal we had, I know I called Ron beforehand, and I said, hey, wouldn't it be cool if I wore all black and you wore all white? Because we mentioned the white horses and the black horses, like, oh, they'd be so cool. And then I want to say, and then the second day of rehearsal, Travis specifically said to me, to my character is like, you're gray.
You're gray.
You might think you're white, but you're gray. And that informed a lot of, like, the morality. He's not all good. He's not all bad. You might think he's doing good when he's actually doing bad. And at different times, you know, at the end of the play, he almost considers himself a black horse in with what happens, with how he decides to end their. Their relationship. So it was. It was definitely a different way of looking at it than when I just reading it on the page, getting Travis's on it and getting another opinion, it's like, oh, yes. That makes way more sense. That's why we have a director. It's not just what. What I bring. It's what everybody brings and what we add, and that's nice. Booyah bass, if you will, that we put on stage.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: And it's interesting, too, because he is very great because you do feel bad for. You do. Like, there's a. Especially when you see him with his mom, and you see, like, first off, sometimes it's a little creepy, but, like, that's, like. Like, a little bit. A little psycho there. And I was just like, okay, you see that? And you're just like. But you also understand of, like, this is like, he's a product of the. The world that he comes from. And, yeah. Yeah, that's not a bad thing. But, like, it does. It does explain, you know, some. Maybe not a good thing either, but explains why he dances with that. The black and the white a little bit.
[00:22:00] Speaker D: Yeah, very much.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: So, Ron, how about for you? You know, because you also are this great character. Like you mentioned, you're cheating on your wife, you're torn, and you become a little like, you dance a little closer to the lightness at the beginning. But, like, by the point that you've decided that you're gonna do it, the mirror scene, which is crazy intense, you're pretty much clear. You're no longer like this white knight. You are in that gray area, and you've made that decision. So what's that for you?
[00:22:30] Speaker C: Yeah, it's a pretty cool. It's a pretty cool journey on that, I think. There's a lot of stuff. And, again, we source it off of the novel, too, where, you know, there's a point in a novel where it's a very cool little. I don't know if it's really a speech or it's just a thought of guy thinking about what he did to the father. I mean, in the description of it in the play is horrible. Both the descriptions of the deaths are really horrific, and it really leaves a picture in your mind. But in the book, guy thinks about what he did and how could he do this? He would consider himself to be a normal person, a good person.
Was there something in him that enjoyed doing this?
How could he do that and then go get married? And I talk about that with Anne? How could I be walking around with a smile on my face when I have a death, you know, have death on my soul in any way? But at the end of that thought, he said, I didn't think about it. It was something. Was there something about it that it was enjoyable? And the conclusion it came to is, yes, that there's.
And there's something dark in there that perhaps you. You can tap into. Perhaps Guy had to tap into it to try to resolve this thing, which ultimately didn't do it because he's a psychopath.
But, yeah, it's a really interesting place to go to try to. It's almost like getting psyched up for a game. I feel like I have to go through that because there's so much.
To kill another human is a very unnatural thing, and to be able to do it is got to be just some mental gymnastics or mind f to try to get you into it. You know, I think that's, that's what I'm really going through during that, and then just trying to live with it, you know, trying to live with it is, I think I, you know, you think I was through it, but, you know, it just keeps coming. It keeps coming back. And I say that even at the end, as a, you know, she burned the letter, and I tell her right off that you can't burn it, though. You can't just physically burn it, because what happened is there.
I am this killer, but I'm still trying to do good.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: It's a dark ending.
It's dark.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: And one of the cool things about it, and I guess this might be a question for Travis, but when we're bouncing back and forth between guy being this, trying to live the double life before it's happening, he's slowly descending into his decision. You're bouncing back and forth between his home and the apartment he can't let go of, which feels like that dark spot in the back of your mind that just the primal instincts. Is that intentional?
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, you know, in the, I mean, obviously, it helps that the novel has him keep that New York apartment.
[00:25:39] Speaker C: So that helps.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: So then the play says, yes, this is what it is, but I think it helps in, in the writing of it with Craig Warner, the way he adapted it, because when Ann comes and is like, this is your old life, come to the new house. This is your new life. And the fact that he can't let it go, I think there's a lot that should be said about the fact that Charles inundates him, almost conditions him to do what he wants him to do. Right. It's almost like you're a prisoner of war guy. Right. Because it's, I mean, all of the phone calls, all of the letters, all of the, all of the blackmail, I'll tell Ann all of the, you know, all of these things that are coming every single day. The letters come every single day. And I love watching the tortured soul of Ron, like, try to make his decision with that. It's, it is, you know, I mean, how many times do you hear about someone who has signed a confession because the police coerced them or, you know, whatever? And it really feels like that in a modern day setting. I know it's 1950s, but I know that's only 74 years ago, but it still feels psychologically, I think the show is not only doing that to guy and to Charles. I think it's working on the audience as well. I love that we don't meet the father or me. I love that they are not characters in our show, because I learned a long time ago that sometimes the audience's mind is going to do that work, and it's going to be better than anything you can show them.
[00:27:26] Speaker C: And they don't sound despicable, but they're Miriam and Charles father, Sam, but they're still human.
That's a struggle that I know I have as guys.
He calls, and we call her dark, black spot, warm, warm, black, ugly spot. Like, he makes it like a, you know, a thing, you know, which, again, is that conditioning. It's like how they condition soldiers. They. They give the enemy a name, like a, you know, false thing. You know, with the Vietnamese who did it with the Japanese, they always do that to take the humanity out of it and make it into a thing.
And I think the audience can do that some level with Charles dad and Miriam. But then you remember that these are human lives, because it's such a scale. It's a difficult thing.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: And you mentioned Brian, you mentioned the mirror bit, which, of course, we don't want to spoil it unless we do.
But in the script, it's not written. I mean, the lines are all there, but it's not written to be that.
And that is a device that we came up with, with our goodness in our production meetings, because I really wanted it. I mean, Charles is getting into his head, and I just. The mirror bit, I think, cinches, like, it seals the deal.
And the audience is really creeped out, and they understand what's about to happen, and they're not expecting it. We're trying to do something that's unexpected for them. So I'm really happy that you enjoyed that, because we worked really hard at getting that just right.
And like I said, it's not in the play that way. I mean, the lines are there, but it's not. It's scripted to be a completely different thing.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: I mean, it's the perfect way to do it because it also gives you that comparison of, like, we are actually two sides of the same coin. We're the same. Like, when you look at it, you were not that much different from each other in what we do in those actions.
[00:29:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: Something else that this show does really well. And I'm gonna start with you, Stephen, with this question, because your character is probably the one that probably does it the best, but, like, it also plays with this, with the darkness and light, but with humor and the terror and the horror. And your character is very charming and very funny and you have a lot of lines that the audience responded with, with laughter. And I don't know if sometimes they were laughing because they were like, it's that terrified laughter or they're laughing because it's funny. But, like, you are very funny of a character. How do you, as an actor, how do you balance that? How do you, like, what, the motive of your character and all of that?
[00:30:11] Speaker D: You pick moments on when you're specifically trying to be charming and nice, especially that first scene.
The scene when I'm alone with Anne in. In her house, it starts out very charming, and then it just slowly goes downhill. The more drunk he gets, the more he keeps talking about guy.
So you. You find moments where the audience will identify you and laugh with you. And there's other times where you. You never know when. When the audience is.
When I talk about the. The murder I commit, I want to say it was on one of our first nights.
At the end, somebody laughed, and it was kind of like, oh, what? But it's that nervous kind of energy of just like, this is so weird. This is so. I have to let. I have to laugh at something. It's so awkward. It's so disturbing. I have to let something out. But when I do make a joke on purpose and they laugh, I'm just like, okay, if they're with me when I'm charming, hopefully they'll be with me when I'm creepy and be like, ooh, now I don't like him so much as I say.
[00:31:25] Speaker A: There's definitely a part where, like, when you. With the wedding scene, when you show up at the wedding, which I was. I didn't expect, that shocked me. But, like, everybody kind of, like, did this. Like, like, there was a nervous, like, oh, like. And then you became charming again, and people were laughing with. You were like, oh, okay. No, it's okay. It's fine. But you. If you're. If you're watching guy down, you know, down in the living room, it's like, you're like, oh, no. Like, we should not be laughing at this because it's not funny, but it's. Everybody was just kind of like, that nervous laugh that turned into, like, an actual laughter. So it was like, this really cool moment of, like, oh, you can see that. The other side of that, we're not sending into, like, the awkward laughing, but we're descending into, like, that. This is funny, but it's not.
[00:32:00] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. And we've been getting audible gasps every night for that. That first entrance in. Yeah, act two, people are like, oh, gee. Because everything's going well up until then. He's just got offered his dream job. The wedding happened. Everyone's happy to. And then I just step out on stage. Right.
[00:32:21] Speaker C: But I feel like people don't even maybe know if he did. Cause he steps out, and then he steps back out, and he's not really acknowledged by anyone. And even with, even with me, I'm like, did.
Is he really, is he really here, or is this just haunting? Is it haunting me?
He's really there.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I think you're right, Ron, because you don't notice him at first, because you're so focused on Ann and guy talking, and then all of a sudden, you know, Charles just says his line, and you're like, wait a second. There's, there's. How long has he. I think I even said, like, in my head, like, how long has he been standing there?
[00:32:57] Speaker B: And you can't miss him in that suit, right?
[00:33:00] Speaker A: No. Yeah.
[00:33:01] Speaker D: Next to Liz, our costume designer, everybody else is wearing just very, you know, white wedding dress, black suit, or white top, black pants. And then I come out in just a black and white striped suit, like, six foot four of just all stripes, and it's. To not see me there.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: What we talked about in the production meetings was, Charles could probably get away with this if he would just stay away. But he can't stay away. He just wants a friend so badly. And so what we tried to do was make sure that even at a wedding where you're like, even if you were at the wedding and blended in, you'd be fine. But we're like, he doesn't try that. We're like, he has to stay. Stick out like a sore thumb because. Because he just. He tries too hard.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: No, I was gonna say that scene, it does. The story transitions a little bit because, you know, you're almost expecting it to be over. Like, okay, we've done the murders. We're. It's over. It's done with. And that's when it starts to border. It felt like almost infatuation of just being like, I'm so, like, I'm almost obsessed with guy in his life, and I want to be around this person.
[00:34:12] Speaker D: I was, um. I was thinking about that the other day. It's, um. Without giving anything away, it's. My character does the one thing in the world that he's the most proud of, the most proud of is in his entire life, and he can only talk to one person about it, and that's this guy. And that guy. The thing that he's most ashamed of is in his entire life, he has the most shame about.
I keep bringing it up because I.
So it's this perfect thing of, just like, these two should not be together, but they won't leave each or one won't leave the other alone, and they're gonna. Somebody's gonna destroy something.
[00:34:56] Speaker A: You know, it's like a ticking time bomb. You're just waiting for something to happen.
[00:35:01] Speaker D: Add the private, private investigator on top of that, and it ticks even quicker comes Columbo.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: It becomes, how do we catch them? Are we going to catch them?
[00:35:13] Speaker A: It is almost like two separate shows, you know, of like, like the before and the after, like watching dateline. And you get through the first hour, and then the second hour is like, okay, how do you catch them all? You know, that's right.
[00:35:23] Speaker C: When you're almost shut up and don't come to the wedding. I think it would be all right.
[00:35:26] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:35:28] Speaker C: Mental problems.
[00:35:29] Speaker A: But I mean, let me ask you that, Ron. Do you feel like your character would have ever gone over it?
[00:35:35] Speaker C: I don't. I don't think so, no. I think it would have had to eat at him over time. Yeah.
You try to put it away. You try to put it away, but it's not. It's not going to go away in you. So I think at some point, guy would, would probably turn himself in.
[00:35:59] Speaker A: Definitely, because he's, he's kind of spiraling. And I, you see it when he doesn't want to take the job. And even if Charles had disappeared, I think that eventually would have.
[00:36:07] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. He's running away from just thought and wants to just be a drone. It's the only way to calm his guilt, maybe.
[00:36:19] Speaker B: Yeah. In the book, it says Gerard even says the investigator says he was like, I may not. He has the suspicion that that's what happened is this double murder thing. But he said they're like, well, how are you going to catch, how are you going to catch guy? And he's like, I can catch him because he has a conscience.
He's like, so if I just wait it out, I will catch him. Because he eventually is going to do something.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: Yeah, because most people who feel bad are going to eventually tell them themselves because it solely eats away at them.
Was there any specific moments from this production that were challenging, like, to, like, you know, this is, you know, a job, a career, you know, your actors, directors. Is there anything that challenged you about this production?
[00:37:06] Speaker B: Well, if I could just say working with Steven, Ron was the biggest challenge.
It's who we could get.
[00:37:14] Speaker A: So I.
I'll write that in my review. Don't worry.
[00:37:20] Speaker B: Just kidding. Biggest challenges for me. I'll just take this one first. One of the things we really tried to do was create that film noir style. So I asked for sets and costumes to keep the color palette down a bit. I wanted a set that I asked Brian Kessler, our set designer, to create a set that we could really use in multiple different ways.
We asked the lighting designer to give us lots of those strange shutter cuts and lots of gobos with lines on people's faces looking through windows and things like that. And then the sound designer to, you know, amplify or at least to help us get into some of the psychological things. And one of my favorite things that I'm the most proud of, which I felt was challenging, is in Steven's monologue, where he's talking about seeing Miriam on the island, and you're hearing all of, like, he's. It slowly goes from the New York bar music into this drone, and then all of a sudden, you hear everything. Oh, she was laughing. You hear the laughter. You hear the car door shut. You hear it drive away. You hear the merry go round. You hear the boats in the water. You hear. I mean, up until you hear the crack that he talks about.
And I loved the way we were able to integrate all of those things to really keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
So, for me, the challenge of this one was being honest with the story. I wanted to make sure that we were telling a good, honest story, but that we were telling it in a way that was fast enough paced, that the audience didn't have time to think about it. So it really goes from one scene to the next, and then getting all of those film noir aspects to work together, those were the big challenges for me because Ron and Steven and the rest of the cast made the direction part of it very easy because they came in and understood, as they say, they understood the assignment.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Ron, how about for you? What was the biggest challenge?
[00:39:24] Speaker C: I think, like, just regular technical, just getting your head around in a studio, too. I mean, the concept was so good with the film noir, and then we were told right off the bat that we were going to be mic Ed, which is really unusual for a play at Meadowbrook and so trusting that it frees you up on stage. But it's. It's. It's, you know, there were times in the studio where, you know, I'm living the. The scene, and I'm like, boy, afterwards I'm thinking back and thinking, I'm judging myself. I'm like, that was too, that's, that's too quiet. Is it? Is it too. Am I not going to be heard? I'm just thinking of that. Just that, those kind of aspects of it, getting over that, trusting that.
It took me. It took me a while to get used to. Also, the physical space was so radically different in the studio than it is on stage. Just because there's so many levels we didn't have. We didn't have stairs. It just was very strange to do restage and be like, oh, this is stairway. This is a, this is a door. This. And I mean, radically different for this show.
And I'm not gonna lie.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: Those stairs I was worried about a few times, I was like, somebody's gonna fall down those stairs, especially the ones for Charles's room. And I was like, oh, my gosh, please, nobody fall down those stairs.
[00:40:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:56] Speaker C: Even can handle it. He does some pretty good falls on stairs, as we know. Noises off.
Yeah, that's nice. Those are the main physical challenges, practical challenges that has as far as the. I think the dialogue and the story are so good. It's all I need to do is listen. And it takes me there.
It's interesting going offstage. Sometimes after Gerard comes after that scene, me and Ann have a moment downstage, and we usually get off. We have a long cross offstage there, and usually we get off and we're both like, all right, that's all right. Get some tissues.
Yeah, let's get a drink.
[00:41:44] Speaker B: So.
[00:41:45] Speaker C: I love it. Yeah.
[00:41:47] Speaker A: How about for you, Stephen?
[00:41:50] Speaker D: I think it was really initially reading it and seeing where Charles ends, ends with his mother and ends at the end of the play and reading it and me thinking, how the fuck am I gonna get there?
How do I get. I gotta. I gotta hit a ten. And, like, all right, try to not worry about it. And, and Travis spoke to this too, in rehearsal, because this one, we didn't always rehearse it in order.
[00:42:22] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:42:23] Speaker D: On people's schedule. So sometimes, you know, one day I'd be rehearsing all the and scenes, then I'd be rehearsing all the LC scenes, then just the Gerard scenes. So it wasn't always in order. And Travis would say, it's like, it's. It's gonna be so much easier once we do it in order. It's like, just, just trust the process. And I did. And so once we started running it, you know, from a to z, you could get to that ten easy because you have 123-45-6789 building up to it, you know, so that kind of thankfully took, took care of itself just as the process went along.
[00:43:01] Speaker A: That's fantastic. Okay, so good. Just for time's sake, we're going to cut to the last question.
What are you hoping audience take away from strangers on a train? This runs through November 3. Obviously, we'd love to fill every single seats. What do you want them to walk like, what is that thought? Or what is that idea you want them to walk away from besides just enjoying it? And Ron, we'll start with you.
[00:43:27] Speaker C: I want him to be scared. I want him to enjoy the.
I think it's a great Halloween thriller.
Surprised? Shocked.
I mean, I love hearing the reactions in the show so much.
I think people come into it. I'm not sure after you saw Moriarty was your first show, you said, typically in this slot, meadowbrook usually does something that's dark but comedic. And this is not really funny at all. But I love just the breathlessness. I want them to walk away feeling like they really experienced something, like a visceral reaction.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: Perfect. Travis, how about yourself?
[00:44:14] Speaker B: Oh, geez. I should have been thinking when Ron was talking.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: We could go to Stephen if you want.
[00:44:20] Speaker B: No, it's totally fine, because I don't want him to take my answer.
No. Like Ron, I want them to be scared, but I want them to have a good experience at the theater, but an experience they don't normally have. And I want them to really feel like I said, we don't. We don't. There's no blood. There's no, we don't see the murders. We don't see. And I want them to appreciate that, like, the thing that made them uncomfortable was just literally the acting on stage, just the talking about the subject matter made them uncomfortable, but that it's okay at the end of the day, they're like, because we had, at one of the talkbacks early on, we had some younger students who were there, and they couldn't get over it. The one girl said, it feels like I was at the cinema, you know? And besides wondering who says cinema?
I loved the fact that she loved that it was different than just seeing a regular stage show. It really was. The lights are focusing you one place to the next to the next. There is underscoring through a lot of the show, and it does feel realistic. So I really want them to get the fact that that all can be done on stage in a comfortable way that can challenge you and still have a wonderful time, and that people like this could be living right next door to you.
[00:45:51] Speaker C: Your intimate details on a train.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: I mean, that's the beauty of this show, is to be careful who you talk to.
[00:45:59] Speaker A: Absolutely. And real quick, Ron, just going back, you said this isn't funny, but Travis has a whole bit at the beginning where he gets to, you know, have a stand up comedy moment.
[00:46:08] Speaker C: So, yes, he does always gets the laugh.
[00:46:11] Speaker B: We try to give him that. We try to give him that. They might not be getting anything else.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: Stephen, how about you? What do you want audiences to walk away with?
[00:46:19] Speaker D: I think it just comes down to we're telling a story, and the point of a story is to get a good reaction, whether that be a laugh, a fear, a creeped out, something like that. It's to draw something from the audience. The worst thing that the audience could say is like, well, that was, I feel nothing. I don't think I want people to be driving on the way home. Say, what was your favorite part? Oh, this, this and that. What was your least favorite part? Like, oh, this made me feel so weird and bad. But that's a good story, and I think we have a solid, good story from everything. Lights, costumes, sound, the acting, the direction. I think it's one of the most solid productions I've ever been a part of, and I think that goes to being a great story, first and foremost, so people will leave happy being like, wow, that was well done.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: Couldn't say better myself. So, again, this show runs through strangers on a train runs through November 3.
Thank you so much, the three of you, for talking to me. I really appreciate it, and I look forward to seeing the show again. Thank you.
[00:47:35] Speaker B: Let us know, Brian. We'll get you in.
[00:47:36] Speaker D: Yeah, for sure.
