Steps To The Stage
Steps To The Stage
The Birds (3 on the Edge) Guests: Christopher Diehl, Emma Kuhn, Paige Polcene & Aaron Pyle
Step inside the haunting world of "The Birds" as director Chris Diehl joins us with actors Aaron, Emma, and Paige from 7th Street Community Theater's latest spine-tingling production. They take us behind the scenes of this Hitchcock-inspired play, revealing the intricacies of transforming a tale of suspense and survival into a stage thriller. As we chat with Chris, whose passion for character studies shines through, we uncover the secrets to crafting a homage that's sure to captivate Hitchcock enthusiasts. The actors share their personal journeys, delving into the challenges of their roles and the thrill that comes with performing in a story where strangers are bound by crisis.
This episode is a celebration of the collaborative heartbeat that keeps theater alive and throbbing with creativity. Discover how a small cast can lead to a deeper, more intimate exploration of the script and characters, fostering an environment where the artistry of playwright Conor McPherson is vividly brought to life. We'll also reflect on the timeless relevance of Daphne du Maurier's storytelling, drawing surprising parallels between the eerie isolation in "The Birds" and our recent collective pandemic experience. Join us for a compelling conversation that not only spotlights the transformative journey from script to stage but also connects the dots between classic narratives like "Vertigo" and the societal issues of today.
May 9, 11, 17 @ 8pm
May 19 & 22 @ 2:30pm
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Paige sometimes will text me with something and say, hey, I had a thought about Diane.
Speaker 3:Yesterday I thought I was the only one that received late night text from Paige about the play. Yeah, some are inappropriate but we won't go into that. No, no, no, it's the picture. Jesse Darling is the one.
Speaker 4:The lights are on the curtain's up. This is Steps to the Stage. Hello and welcome to Steps to the Stage, the 7th Street Community Theater podcast, where I talk to the community theater professionals you know and love. Today, for our 3 on the Edge special, we are talking about the birds. We have our director, chris Deals, along with some of our actor friends, aaron, emma and Paige. Welcome you all to the show, thank you. Thank you, great to be here. Yeah, great to have you, chris. Why don't you start off while talking about sort of the birds in general for people who somehow don't know?
Speaker 1:what this is. Yeah, well, you know, there's actually a lot of people that don't know the play, because the play is not done very much At least I don't know of it having been done in this area. I kind of did some online research when I knew we were doing a Hitchcock festival, and so when I came across the birds I was like, ooh, that's interesting. Um, how, how does that go on the stage? Because I had only known the movie. Um, but you know I'm a Hitchcock fan, so what I see this play as closer to. Uh, the Hitchcock movie is actually Lifeboat, which is one of his 1940s movies that not a ton of people know. But it's about a ship during World War II that gets torpedoed by the Germans and a whole bunch of survivors gather together on a lifeboat and they're strangers most of them and they're from different walks of life, and the whole movie is set on this lifeboat, the entire thing. There's no prologue, there's no tag scene at the end where they're rescued or anything like that. The entire film is set in this lifeboat during World War II, and the Birds is very much like that. This play it's about strangers who are huddled together in a home in New England while the birds are attacking, and so they have to learn to survive together. So they have to learn to survive together.
Speaker 1:And I think one of the interesting things about Lifeboat, as well as this play, is that we only know the characters in times of extreme distress. We have Julia, who are our three main characters. We also have Tierney, who comes in later, but Tierney and Diane and Julia and Nat these are all these great characters and we see how they cope and how they get along together in an extreme situation. So we never know what they're really like in their normal life. We only know what they tell us and so it's kind of a mystery as far as who these people are that we're following as the show goes on.
Speaker 1:But then of course, there's also the birds that comes into it, and so there's this outside threat. You know that is present throughout the whole play. So we think it's pretty suspenseful. It's a great character study. We've been having a great time talking about these characters together and yeah, and I have three just amazing actors who are bringing these characters to life. So I said at one rehearsal I'm like you know, we don't even really need the birds because this show is so interesting with just the people, just these characters. But when you add the birds, it just adds, of course, an extra.
Speaker 1:You don't know where it's going to go, so it always keeps you on the edge of your seat and listening and watching and looking at these people and like who are? They really, and what's going to happen with them? And it's just the best kind of theater. I love it.
Speaker 4:You've already done this a little bit, but would you mind speaking a bit more on sort of what attracted you to the show as a director?
Speaker 1:Yeah, for one, I love directing shows that deal with kind of a small cast, and especially after my last show, which was August Osage County, where we had just a huge family, it's nice to deal with like a little group of people and we can really explore all the like kind of the little moments, you know, between everybody and really get really, really almost like an x-ray, you know, into these people and to their relationships. So that's one of the things that I loved about the play. And of course, I also love Hitchcock. So I love trying to maybe bring some homages to the movie, because even though this play is closer to the original Daphne du Maurier story, there's still little things that I'm trying to for fans of the birds and there are many that they will see this play and at least pick a few things out. They're like, oh, they played that song in the movie and you know just little touches like that that we've added for Hitchcock fans. So, yeah, that really appealed to me too.
Speaker 4:And then I would love to extend that question out to our actors what drew each of you to this show as a performer?
Speaker 3:Well, I'll say real quick that I love the playwright, connor McPherson. The first play I read by him, shining City, at least a handful of years ago Just great characters, you know, funny, heartbreaking all the stuff I love. Right, funny, heartbreaking, all the stuff I love. And the Seafarer, another great one. So I had happened to read this. I happened to read this in a collection of his, probably about a year ago, and then the auditions came up. I thought, oh, I just read that. So I looked at it again and it really surprised me. I really enjoyed it my first reading, but I honestly had no idea which is really true for most well-written scripts anyway. There's so much to uncover that I really had no idea quite what sort of gem that I.
Speaker 3:You know that analogy doesn't really work but what sort of you know of incredible show I was entering into and I'm just so fortunate, and then also actors that I haven't worked with and that maybe goes in another direction. But as far as this play goes, it's just like any well-written script. It's just a beautifully layered onion script. It's just a beautifully layered onion and uh, again, like chris was uh saying the you know, the characters in the in this, the character studies uh are have been just so fascinating and I I couldn't have wished for a better group to to dig into with.
Speaker 5:Yeah um well, I, I really love horror and suspense. That's something I fully dive into as a general lover of horror and that kind of stuff. But to actually get to play a character in suspense can allow to really dive deep and have a director who can keep you on pace but let you grow and let you really flesh out a character. And even though it's a glimpse into these people's lives and it's, as Chris saidris said, in their extremes, it's so much fun and I mean it's it's so. It's so much fun to play comedy, so much fun to play really, really dark drama. But like this is suspense drama, which I think is its own precious little gem that a lot of actors they never realize they want to do it until they're in it, and I think that's something that entices me. And you know, like I thank Chris for this opportunity and Paige and Aaron for letting me play, because this is a lot of fun and it's a lot of fun to create a character that you don't know how you feel about them Interesting.
Speaker 1:And I'd like to just jump in and say that for CCT audiences who have come to see other shows here, they will definitely recognize Emma, and she was just in Noises Off, so this is a very different role for her. She has played mostly comedy that I've seen her in and I was just like I want to see her do this part because I just know she would kill it. And she absolutely does, and so I think audiences who are used to Emma playing in farces and running around half naked in you know little, whatever she's wearing, they're going to really have their eyes opened in this one, yeah.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, I of course agree with everything that's been said, but for me, two things stood out. One was the opportunity to work with Chris again, because he is one of the most phenomenal directors I've ever worked with. He really is an actor's director, and I think part of it is because he's such a good actor too, but he knows the script inside and out and wants to really create just as much as the actors do, and that feels wonderful. But one thing I love about this script, this story, is that every one of these characters is a full person, even though we have this very scary environment, and the environment illuminates the character. There is no caricature in this. Every one of the characters is a full person, so they each have their vulnerabilities, they each have their anger issues, they each have their fear. They have all of this and we've had the opportunity to really bring that to life, and you don't, which brings so much. But for the actors, we don't have much else going on except what we're. Every scene has really one story that is being told.
Speaker 1:And that's why I said kind of I think I said at one point this is almost like a series of short stories rather than a novel, you know, because we get kind of a glimpse. Like Emma said, we get these like I forget how many scenes there are, 16 or something like that. It's a one act play. I should mention it's 90 minutes straight through, so there's no intermission. But yeah, it's like you keep getting these little stories throughout that all add up to something. And sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt the page but continue.
Speaker 2:And they're all character-driven. That's what I love about it. I mean, it is these characters in these particular circumstances. But so much is revealed in these little interactions we have, and, as an actor, it's just a phenomenal process to have just a few of us like this, so that every rehearsal we've been able to, we've had the time to go. What do you think about this? Well, what do you think about this? And oh, I didn't notice that. Well, what do you think about this? And oh, I didn't notice that.
Speaker 2:And once again, to have a director who is as engaged with the script as the actors are and trusts us and allows us to have those conversations, it's an incredibly fulfilling place to be as an actor, right, where a lot of times, we do so much of our work outside of the rehearsal room, which is fine too. We don't have a choice, but we've been able to really and I feel like in a way, it kind of mirrors the story of the play, right, because we've and once again we have the three of us have never worked together before, and so we don't really know each other. In that sense, we don't. We're discovering as we go, and we've been able to really do that as actors, as well as creating the story together, so it's been a really unique and precious experience for me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean that all just sounds incredible. It's just really really great that you guys have that experience and are able to work together like that, and that Chris is such a wonderful director and is able to provide that for you as well. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it really seems to me and again a testament to the director and the cast it really seems to me that often I feel that playwrights sometimes leave open spots for you to collaborate with them. They're looking for you to kind of come up with some of your own answers. I really kind of feel that with this. Maybe that's why on the first time on the page I really liked it, but I had yet to fall in love with it because I had yet to answer you know those questions upon first reading, once we start laying those bricks that were missing before.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, it's truly a collaboration with the playwright himself and, yeah, it's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 1:And one of the reasons that I like to work with small casts is because you can really be collaborative. When you have a big cast, it often gets to be too many cooks in the kitchen, there's just too many voices and you kind of have to say you know, great, you know, give me your ideas. But ultimately I got to steer the ship. But this I really felt like this is such a group effort for everyone, where we just all got together and the best idea wins. You know, whoever says, hey, you know, why don't we do this instead of this? I certainly don't have all the answers and I love when you know. Even if you think you know the script backwards and forwards, you're always introduced to new ideas. Paige sometimes will text me with something and say, hey, I had a thought about Diane.
Speaker 3:Yesterday I thought I was the only one that received late night text from Paige about the play yeah, about the play yeah.
Speaker 1:Some are inappropriate, but we won't go into that.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, it's the picture, jessie.
Speaker 1:Darling.
Speaker 5:Yeah, about the play.
Speaker 2:Yeah, some are inappropriate but we won't go into that. No, no, no, it's the picture.
Speaker 4:Jesse Darling is the picture, yeah.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, everybody's always thinking like nonstop about this play and so, yeah, you keep getting little epiphanies. You know, as you go on, you know as you go on, and I think all of our opinions have probably changed from when we started to when we, at this point right now, we're a little less than a week away from opening and I'm sure we're still going to have more epiphanies before our opening this Thursday.
Speaker 4:And again, because this is a play based off of the original novel more than it is based off of the Hitchcock movie. It was a short story, first by Daphne du Maurier. She also wrote Because this is a play based off of the original novel more than it is based off of the Hitchcock movie.
Speaker 1:Yes, it was a short story first by Daphne du Maurier. She also wrote Rebecca, that's probably one of her most famous plays.
Speaker 1:He also did a movie of that. He liked, actually, daphne du Maurier. He adapted two more of her stories. But, yeah, hitchcock took elements from the, which he often did. Actually, he took elements from the story and was like I'm going to make this into a Hitchcock movie. So he added his own characters and added his own stories and stuff like that. But yeah, there's still a lot that's similar, one of the things being that the birds, you know we don't have a resolution you know you don't really get a resolution to this.
Speaker 1:It just is like an act of God and and, speaking of God, there's a, there's a lot of interesting things about. There's so many things that this play touches on, you know, religion, we talk about religion, we talk about children and families and and there's just so much going on and and and, like Aaron said, you know, some of it we brought ourselves. You know, I think, and you know, the playwright really did give us this ability to kind of, you know, add to it and embellish.
Speaker 3:And, as Paige said earlier, these are real people, and not only that, they're diverse enough to I really believe that every audience member can see themselves and possibly that changes. Yeah, as do the characters change, but I think everyone will be able to sort of place themselves in this situation because they see real people, that they see reflections in themselves.
Speaker 5:I'm sure, yeah, they can definitely connect to at least parts of us, or all of us at the same time. And even Tyranny, like even that glimpse of that character you like guarantee an audience member is going to go. I would do that too.
Speaker 5:It's all a what if you know Like this is something that, especially because it was adapted recently, like 2009,. I believe right, and I think you can definitely see yourself in a modern time. If this were to happen now, who knows what would happen, but this is kind of a glimpse to maybe, maybe, well, that's another thing we we decided this kind of has happened.
Speaker 5:I know we all have an experience of being trapped in a house with something terrible outside, and that's the amazing part of chris because literally I think the first rehearsal, second, second rehearsal Chris just said COVID and I was like, oh my God, and it's something that I think is going to really like, because you sometimes with Hitchcock, a lot of people are going to be like, oh, it's dated, it's not, it's not really. If you think of the main idea of what Hitchcock brings and his movies, it can resonate with anyone. And this one is just going to hit home, I really think, with COVID and everything happening and being trapped and I even had a friend who got trapped with a few strangers because they couldn't travel and certain things like that. So it's a glimpse into what we've been through and what could be a resolution.
Speaker 1:And Hitchcock often does this in his films where he uses kind of the trappings of a spy story or a horror story or a mystery to tell a deeper story of, you know, the human condition. And you know Vertigo is a great example of you know a movie that has, you know, a far-fetched, typical mystery plot that you would expect in a thriller. But it goes so much deeper than that and I feel like this play and the birds, even the birds, the movie. It uses the birds to tell a much deeper story. But you could also appreciate it on that level as well as just a good kind of scary night out at the theater, you know. So not everybody is going to come out from this play and be pondering the the you know, the mysteries of life.
Speaker 4:The world.
Speaker 1:It's not that.
Speaker 3:It doesn't have to be that deep. You may look at birds differently.
Speaker 1:Oh, as we have, we definitely will yeah for sure, just see a crow and go nothing. Yeah, and I should say, if you're scared of birds in real life, don't let that keep you from this show, because you're not going to be attacked by birds. We're not going to have any weird things where you know they're going to come down out of the audience.
Speaker 4:So yeah, so as part of the festival and rotating rep, you were sharing this stage with the two shows you previously mentioned. Would you mind talking about that experience?
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's always interesting because you have to collaborate with two other directors and you have to kind of fit the needs of everybody. All the shows you know. So luckily we have a Dial M for Murder that we're sharing the set with, so audiences will see a modified version of the. You know the sets for these shows, but what we hope to do is have a very specific experience for everybody who comes, so they don't just feel like they're seeing the same show three times, you know, with the same set and the same. You know everybody's bringing something different, even if we're using kind of the same structure. We're trying to make it, you know, different for everyone. So, and we have, you know, the wonderful, our wonderful founder, paul Larson, and his wife Karen, who've been so great in. You know just, they even postponed their trip that they had planned so they could, they could finish up our set for us, and you know it's, it's that's what community theater is all about. You know everybody chipping in.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and then, on that note, would you mind mentioning the costumes and namely the costume designer for the show?
Speaker 1:Well, we don't really have a costume designer, because this is set in the future, not in the future, but this is more of a present day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not a period.
Speaker 1:We're actually keeping it kind of kind of vague, Okay, as far as the time list, yeah, so we're we're just kind of doing it ourselves and and and figuring out what works for our characters. And one thing is we really don't have a whole lot of changes. You know, they're kind of living through the show, so you'll see that even when the set, when the scenes change, they're still on stage moving around as in-air characters, you know. So it's not like the set changes and you see a crew come out and change things. They're all kind of just living on the stage this whole time we are stuck in this house, exactly.
Speaker 1:They can get in, but they can't get out.
Speaker 4:And then this is the first show of the Threat on the Edge Festival.
Speaker 1:It is, we kick it off.
Speaker 4:Yes, would you mind telling me the dates so people know when to come down and see it?
Speaker 1:The dates are May 9th, 11th and 17th. Those are our evening shows at 8 o'clock, and then we have two matinees, one on a Saturday and one on a Sunday. So May 19th and 25th are our 2.30 pm matinees and, of course, we are alternating with two other shows Dial M for Murder and the 39 Steps, and we encourage our people to come and see all three and, as well, get a festival pass, because, as I explained in the last time I I had the pleasure of joining colin uh, we, we are offering a festival pass and we're, we're, uh, we're gonna offer people the chance to win a 2025 season ticket from cct. Uh, just by purchasing a festival pass, you will, you will be eligible to that, or also a festival pass for next year's Three on the Edge. So we're really trying to get people in to this.
Speaker 1:You know, doing a Hitchcock festival was one thing. I can tell you that we've had so many people just like, oh, I can't wait for the Hitchcock. Even you know the newspaper which you know. Sometimes it's hard to get coverage in the newspaper, but they were like, oh, a Hitchcock festival.
Speaker 1:Even people who aren't regular theater goers, they hear the name Hitchcock and they think oh, okay we had people come in for Spamalot just because they're Monty Python fans and they came from far places just to see our Spamalot production.
Speaker 4:That's really cool.
Speaker 1:So you know, there are certain names that have a you know kind of a brand that really means something to people, and Hitchcock is one of them. So I'm really hoping that this year's Three on the Edge, because all three shows are very different. You know, as I'm sure you'll find out with you know when you do the episodes with the others, but Dial M for Murder is much more of a classic mystery. And then the 39 Steps is just silly spoofery. So that's, and then ours is definitely not. Ours is the much more serious.
Speaker 4:And the collection of talent in these three Very lucky to be a part of all of this, for sure. Well, be sure to check out the birds at the 7th Street, 3 and the Edge Hitchcock Festival. Thank you, all four of you for joining me today. It was a blast.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Thank you so?
Speaker 4:much, colin. Thanks for listening to Steps to the Stage. And now it's time for the Curtain Call. Time for the curtain call.
