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Lauren O'Brien and "Lolo's Boyfriend Show"
505 Plays4 months ago
Lauren graces the show again to talk more about her exciting solo play "Lolo's Boyfriend Show." It was such a thrill to talk to Lauren about art, the development of Lolo, taking risks on the stage and the hopes and dreams we all need : - )
We also talk about so many costume changes, fashion and design!
Bunch of John Leguizamo love at the end.
Here's a little pshow review here from Broadway World
This is Lauren on the SRTN Fringe Episode
This is SRTN
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing, creator and host Ken Volante, editor and producer Peter Bauer.
00:00:16
Speaker
All right, everybody, this is Ken Volante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. Super excited to welcome back Lauren O'Brien. Lauren, how are you doing? I'm wonderful. How are you doing, Ken? I'm doing well.
Ken's Vacation and Work-Life Balance
00:00:31
Speaker
I am on um the vacation away from my ah regular union rep ah gig that I've done for quite some time. And I'm hanging around in the Oregon Forest with time off.
Lauren's Fringe Fest Experience
00:00:48
Speaker
i'm ah yeah i'm going I've gone to a different different place of
00:00:53
Speaker
reduction of stress and otherwise, which probably doesn't resemble your recent time because you've been up on stage doing a solo show. ah Tell us like, tell us about when when we talked to you, you were just about doing or starting to do the play at the Fringe Fest and it's been picked up um at Playhouse 46 St. Luke's and tell us about Lolo and like What's been happening? and We talked in April, but we're here in July and let's go. Yeah. You know, last time we talked, I had never done the full Lolo's boyfriend show show in front of an audience. I had workshopped it and I had done segments in front of small invited audiences, but I'd never done the full show. Yeah. And, you know, I love it. I believe in it. And.
00:01:51
Speaker
But you never, even with all the work you put in, you don't know how an audience is gonna respond. It's live, right? It's live. Yeah, live theater. um And of course it's different every time. It's like, I don't know if I'm allowed to say it, it's like making love. It's different every time. Of course, we're trying to get people to your show as well.
Performance as Philosophy Teaching
00:02:14
Speaker
I was I was I don't mean that I don't mean to interrupt but no there was something when when I when I I taught philosophy for a short period of time and I'd love philosophy like I get jazzed about it and I found it so curious like I had two different sections ah different days different times of day one was mid-afternoon one was once one day Wednesday Friday at noon or something like that but I
00:02:39
Speaker
same university, same kind of set of demographics to the kids when I taught, but it was such a different experience from time to time in between those sections. And it's live, right? Like there's a bit of performance and teaching and such. So um you do the fringe
Creative Process and Performance Refinement
00:02:55
Speaker
now. So you're doing the fringe and you're putting it together. Like yeah you're but you're putting it together as you're going through it. So talk about that creatively. What was going on? Because each needed performance that you would have done, you'd look back and say, oh, that's the whole thing. I did it. So what was going on with that development? Well, I guess there's been different phases of development. I don't know if we talked about before that I had done another show at the French in 2020, which won an award.
00:03:28
Speaker
Yes, thank you. with yeah one Also won Audience Choice Award. yeah hate yeah like get bookss you know both both both Both the experts, both the great expert voters which we need in in in the audience stem themselves. Awesome. That's a great comment. Yeah, very, very happy. so um So that show was shut down. it It actually was also extended, but our extension was shut down due to the pandemic. We received the award on March 7th, and then everything shut down the next weekend, like March 14th. People were advised to stop their shows, stop sports, and just kind of hang tight for a while.
Art and Personal Struggles
00:04:13
Speaker
So that happened, and I always,
00:04:18
Speaker
You know, leading up to that, I had had um a lot of personal struggles and obstacles in my life. I don't know if we had talked about this before or not to get to it. No, no, no, no, no. Like seriously, right now I'm establishing it. One of the things when when we talked and asking you. you know, back on is because I felt some strong connections about like, you know, working through things. I've struggled with and some some serious, ah you know, I think over the last two or three years, to put it plainly, um dealing with loss or in suicide, which I knew you had you had covered that ground. You know, part of it was like there was an openness in talking. It was such a great episode. We did all together like ah and that was episode um
00:05:08
Speaker
ah two sixty but what ah What a fun time with the other gals um from you know from Fringe. But when we were talking, there's the person. I was very um interested in the the the bravery. I talk you you know like a being on the stage and dealing with this because I feel like myself as a human dealing with more and more like the least last few years but also seeing like why I'm doing this podcast is why the fuck like how do how do I process this shit like I don't I and when he told you when I asked you what is art and you talked about ah the mud the we're in the mud yeah
00:05:51
Speaker
And the lotus flower, as an extension to that, is ah really I really connected to that. All this to say, talk about, yeah, is as you are comfortable, talk about yourself in connection to the aura and how you process it yourself.
Buddhism and Artistic Growth
00:06:08
Speaker
Yeah, I love what you were talking about, like we talked about last time. I do practice Buddhism. I practice the lotus sutra. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the title of lotus sutra in Sanskrit and ancient Chinese. So it's kind of coming together East and West. It literally means devotion to the mystic law of cause and effect through sound as embodied in the lotus flower, which blossoms in seeds at the same time.
00:06:36
Speaker
symbolizing the simultaneity of cause and effect. And the fact that it blooms out of this muddy swamp symbolizes and encourages the rest of us to, um and amid the reality of our daily lives, amid the struggles, the suffering, the political conflict, the personal issues, that we can create something beautiful. And in fact, we need that mud to push down into because the lettuce flower doesn't bloom on top of a pristine mountain or on a beach, it only blooms in that mud. So I had the experience of having a lot of obstacles in 2018-2019. I had written a punk cabaret show
00:07:23
Speaker
and called The Devil's Girlfriend. I co-wrote it. and i to listen play again Tell us the title again. The Devil's Girlfriend. All right, go ahead. And I got to tour Germany with that, and I came back. I was so happy, so excited, riding high. And shortly after I returned, my best friend committed suicide. Oh. And she had had a really intense, interesting, beautiful, magical life. Yeah, sure. Yeah, she was the victim of child abuse. her Her father abused her once so badly. He put her in the hospital. She ran away from home, became addicted to drugs. But she overcame her addiction and revitalized her life to the ex extent she became the head of IT at Yahoo. She built a music studio in her apartment. She had books published on her teen ecologist. She had this incredible life.
00:08:18
Speaker
but at a certain point she succumbed to whatever mental health issues and she took her life, which was absolutely devastating for me. sure And i I went through this process of um yeah just so much that happened of um writing about her a lot to just process it for myself. sure And as I was putting these different writings together, I remember she had always wanted to write play about her life. So I wrote it for her.
00:08:58
Speaker
And then that won the fringe in 2020 and I was feeling like I had this huge victory. And then that show got shut down. Prior to that, my father was diagnosed with cancer and ah eventually he did pass away. And I was in a terrible accident and had a horrible concussion. that took me a very long time to recover from. For a while I couldn't read, I couldn't focus, I had a constant migraine. It was so hard for me to do anything. Those are so debilitating. I can't imagine. So debilitating. Yeah, yeah. And sometimes I would just lay in bed and chant and I couldn't read, I couldn't write, I just listened to audiobooks and it was a very long healing process. Yeah, yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
So I was dealing with all these obstacles and I had written this show about, you know, my friend's death. And because I was facing so much kind of, you know, I was facing the hardest things a human can face on some level, death and loss and injuries and I wanted to write something funny. I was like, you know what? I want to write a funny show about dating, because what's funnier than dating? and And then I started just writing stream of consciousness dating stories, some that I had experienced, some I dreamed, some that I
00:10:27
Speaker
made up after meeting somebody that were inspired by friends and weaving them together. And at first, I just wanted to write a book because I didn't want to perform anymore at that time because I was dealing with my health and still grieving. I had so much healing to do. And I decided I wanted to write a book. So I wrote a book version, and then I took about a year and a half or two years working on the book, and then started sending it out to agents. And then I don't know what happened. At the end of 2022, it struck me i that I wanted to do it as a solo show. I just got this fire in me. yeah And then last year, I workshopped it with Matt Silverman, who's
00:11:15
Speaker
who's a wonderful writer and he's done solo shows. He's kind of a solo show genius. So I workshopped it with him. Then a mutual friend connected me with director Christine Baccour. And we further developed it and further home the script because it was way too long. And then um we applied for the fringe. But as I was working on it and developing it, I thought at first it was this fun, lighthearted piece, but as I got deeper into it, and Lolo became kind of her own character, her own person, separate from me. like Her experiences are definitely inspired by my life and people that I know, but she became really her own person.
00:12:07
Speaker
um
00:12:10
Speaker
I really found this deeper thing that she struggled with and that I struggled with, which was this self-hate and self-blame that manifested in self-harm and her habit of always putting her self-worth outside of herself. Yeah, yeah. So this relationship journey is is also her journey back to herself, back to her true self and how she finds her true self through having these ah sometimes funny, sometimes hilarious, sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking experiences with these guys. In talking about the yeah the dark stuff in the comedy, I was thinking like,
00:12:58
Speaker
I was thinking when you mentioned Buddhism, and which you know we shared with each other, practiced and studied. One of the coolest parts about Buddhism was that it was so so in your face. Like death is present, like you are a suffering being. there's But that there was a path, like the fact that we're Contingent beings isn't a tragedy. It's like what makes life what it is. So there's this twist, you know? um But there's no pretense in Buddhism for me of encountering death and encountering suffering. As a matter of fact, there's the great discomfort for those who aren't familiar with the tradition where they're like, oo
00:13:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's dark. Like I thought it was like, like, chill out, which it is. So, um, so, and on the, ah on the flip side of that, I also find like sometimes within Buddhism, like that, this, this joy, this laughter, this giggling at the universe, because it's incomprehensible. This is like, why are you smiling? Cause I'm like, I know that's a joke. I i felt it. It's a, It's all, you know, like it's that there's um some sort of deeper idiosyncratic connection. um Was the intensity of what you're experiencing that which drew you towards Buddhism or towards that practice of the intensity and how it felt for you and that type of honesty that I see if you're pretty within the religion? That's a beautiful question. I love that.
00:14:37
Speaker
I actually i started practicing many years ago when I first moved to Queens by myself. know I was living in a tiny little room. Where'd you move from? Where'd you move from? Where'd you move from? I actually, I went to school in Syracuse. I grew up on Long Island originally, so it wasn't too far. And I actually- Long Island, Strong Island. Family, Strong Island in Astoria, but I lived in Syracuse for a while and then came back to Queens. And I wanted to be an actress and I was auditioned. So I was working temp jobs. yeah It's like, I went to be an actress, but it's so,
00:15:18
Speaker
hard to even get an audition, you know, when you're first starting out. My goodness. So I was working at temp jobs and I had this dream and I met this beautiful woman at this job who had such a lovely kind of aura and energy. And I just really wanted to talk to her. And we talked about yoga. We both did yoga and we talked about being vegetarians. And then I said I was interested in Buddhism. And she said when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
00:15:50
Speaker
and There's a Buddhist center, an SGI Buddhist center near Union Square. And we went there and we just chanted three times. And I was attracted to it, but also a little puzzled because the energy wasn't my idea of what Buddhism should be. You know what I mean? It was actually the chanting was very vibrant and it was kind of like exciting and people told me they were chanting towards their desires. She she actually encouraged me to try this experiment
00:16:26
Speaker
chanting nao meo or nge kyo a few minutes in the morning, a few minutes at night towards a goal or dream. And I wanted an acting job. And two weeks later, I got a national tour. Yeah. I mean, it sounds that on this, there's a scroll that I chant to. um yeah Yeah. And it's written in Chinese characters down the middle, nao meo or nge kyo. And around it are different characters that represent different aspects of life. And I really love it because every aspect of life, from hell to Buddhahood, is represented on this scroll. It's not like only the good parts of the line life, it's not like only flowers and ponies, it's everything is there. But everything in life can serve a positive function when we make our Buddhahood, or whatever you want to call it, our higher self, the center of our lives. So one of the things it says on the Gopong Sun is earthly desires equal enlightenment.
00:17:21
Speaker
the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana. And I was really attracted to that because it was kind of the opposite of what I thought at the time and what some, I appreciate a lot of new age philosophies, but some of them talk about kind of getting rid of the mud. You know what I mean? That we can be... Right. Cleansed. Cleansed. Yeah. We can live in a state where... Maybe not digging into like the the stuff right there. Yeah. I'm a very passionate person and I like life. I have a lot of desires, a lot of dreams, a lot of things that I want to do in this world. And I love life. So I was really attracted to that. Wow, earthly desires equal.
00:18:11
Speaker
enlightenment. And it's not just, oh, because I want something I'm enlightened, but we're going that to that process of chanting and transforming internally, we can bring forth our Buddha nature, Christ consciousness, whatever different people call it. So I was really attracted to it, if I'm being honest, a lot because of that earthly desires equal enlightenment aspect. Well, whatever it gets, and what I found within... Exactly. Whatever gets you there, right? I found that within the tradition, right? It's like if a joke got you there or getting hit on the head, you know, with a piece of fruit, you know, did it doesn't matter what it was. And I'm glad for your, um for your encounter. All right. ah Lolo's boyfriend's show a little more specifically.
00:18:59
Speaker
So I'm looking on the Instagrams, right? and and in And you're doing your promotions and stuff. And I see it tied up on a cheer. And I'm like, um, well, I knew, I mean, you had alluded to, um, you know, uh, some adventure with, with, within the show. But part of that is, um, for me and in complete openness, and like I'm titillated by that. And I'm also like. The idea of the vulnerability of being on the stage is something that really draws me, like stand up comedians. You've sang in bands before, I think you had said, like being in the front, being in that, and that there's this ah there's this power and draw an incredible vulnerability yeah that I pointed out earlier, not just to say, hey, Lauren, that's great, but to say, yeah, Lauren, that's great. So like, how do you?
00:19:58
Speaker
How do you do that stuff on the stage? like What are you exploring? What's the audience doing? There's pizzazz and all that. That's why you're doing it. Yeah, oh, thank you so much. You just gave me a lot to chew on. I mean, first, the vulnerability. It's so true that being on a stage, and David Sedaris talked about the kind of writing he wants to do, and he's so interesting, but he talks about, he wants the writing he does to basically feel like he's ripping off his skin.
00:20:32
Speaker
I think that's, I mean, that's vulnerability. And I, my wish, actually, my wish is to share my soul with everyone in the room, particularly with Lolo's Boyfriend Show, the way we designed it, the way we have the projections. Our wish is for everyone in the audience to feel like they're stepping inside Lolo's mind and inside her soul. yeah I actually, the whole show as the audience is coming in, I'm already on stage, so and the music, everything involved, and it is this vulnerable tightrope because
00:21:13
Speaker
And there's so many things I want to talk about. ah On the one hand, it's also like we rehearsed a lot for this and really sculpted the show really meticulously and go to a lot of really dark emotional places. That said, it's like walking a tightrope. And we don't know, you know, we know the basic structure and what's going to happen, but so much depends on what I had for breakfast, what the moon's doing, how some people in the audience feel. And and how safe we feel what that rapport is like. At the last show that I did at and the Depot Theater in Garrison, someone screamed out at the end of the show. She didn't want me to go with the the guy that I was contemplating going. She started to be like, don't, don't do it. And- If he's yelling at you, no, no. No, no.
00:22:07
Speaker
and um And then i you know I did my best to weave that into the show and keep going. And I wasn't sure exactly where that comment came from, but a friend of mine was sitting near her and said that during the show she was really going crazy watching Lolo make bad decisions. My friend said that this woman was curled up and kind of like crawling out of her skin. um And then the part with the S and&M, in the show, it is very vulnerable. And I think the part of the story that it's in, it serves the story in terms of what Lolo is willing to do or where she's willing to go to find acceptance and love and, you know,
00:23:06
Speaker
Lolo doesn't exactly approach that from the healthiest place. I know that there are people who are healthy, consensual adults who participate. Lolo, psychologically, I don't think is really ready for that, nor is the person that she's doing it with um necessarily safe for her. That's all I'll say. Right. right um
00:23:32
Speaker
I wanted to share that vulnerability with the audience, that part of Lolo's journey, um which then leads her to have a kind of awakening. But in this show, I really didn't want to pull any punches at all in terms of you know where Lolo's willing to go, how she attaches her self-esteem and how she feels about herself and her life to everything that's external. And I think that moment is part of her that fundamental flaw in her. I hope I answered that. Did that make sense?
00:24:16
Speaker
It did. It did. um and well and And talking about the in in the the solo component of there, I had a related question because, well, you're the person doing it. So I'm like, I'm going to go to the source here. But um like I've seen culturally like um like TV shows like Fleabag and like these kind of plays that Uh kind of like capture like the imagination and then maybe you're expanded out into maybe uh, you know, well definitely more popular forms of media and like tv tv adaptation and um Is this is this a is this a change or is this a dynamic that's that's going on? Um, I don't know uh, solo shows that well i've just gotten more in contact with broadway and shows and doing a solo show and um
00:25:09
Speaker
Is there something changing about it? Or if you do a solo show, are you thinking about keeping expanding it band in and and out as an extension of yourself? Those are great questions. i love And I think that there has been a shift in how solo shows are viewed. There's probably a few reasons for that.
00:25:36
Speaker
I personally, all right, I feel like we could go with such great questions. I feel like it's like a tree. We could branch off into so many different collections. I love solo shows personally. I love working on them and I love seeing them because I'm so fascinated by individual human beings. And I love going that deep into one person's psyche or into one character. a lot A lot of people base them on their own lives, and some people, it's a completely fictionalized character. But in any case, I love being that absorbed in one person's energy for an hour, or hour and a half, however long, and just seeing how deep that one person can take us.
00:26:18
Speaker
think the success, and I do think actually they really allow the creator to be really vulnerable and really hit a deep truth. Of course we get that when we're collaborating in a solo show. doesn't stay a solo show. Like, I started working at on it by myself. I wrote the book version, and I wrote a draft of the solo show. Then I workshopped it, and Matt Hoberman and then Christine before became partners in creation, Leanne Arnold with Projection. So then it becomes this collaboration. But I feel like there really is something to starting it in this almost deep meditation, because I spent a couple of years
00:27:06
Speaker
living life in a very solitary way. I did have another job that I was doing that I was mostly working from home at the time. And then I was working on this piece while I was getting my health back and healing from this grief. And I was almost living like a monk or a nun in that I was basically working and then working on this piece. I have one really, incredible friend that I live close to, Rachel Sage, and who's also, she's a singer-songwriter, incredible singer-songwriter. But we would take these long walks together. And it was an almost monastic kind of way of living that I was going really deep. I was reading a lot, listening to a lot of audiobooks and going just like,
00:27:52
Speaker
ah really, really deep into myself, into my soul, to create this piece, and then started working and collaborating and bringing it. So I feel like a lot of solo show artists do that, um which allows them to maybe capture people's imaginations in a deeper way. Did you get to see Baby Reindeer yet? Richard Gadd's piece? I have not seen that i i really highly recommend it running go do it i guess some time off um
00:28:22
Speaker
yeah it's hard Yeah, it does get dark, a little bit of a trigger warning. because yeah i I mean, i yeah i yeah whiteere I go deep into cults, documentaries, true crime. Sometimes I know the turn off because it's way too much, but I jump into there and I do inhabit that area for sure. you're raised yes brave to go But Richard Gad, that came out of, he did two solo shows at Edinburgh, and he combined them to create, i'm not I think it was called Baby Reindeer, I'm not sure what a solo show was called, but the Netflix show is Baby Reindeer, and it's absolutely incredible. and And that, I think it says at the beginning of the show, this is a true story. um So it really comes from his life, mine is fictionalized wizard.
00:29:19
Speaker
extent And so is Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Bridge's piece is fictionalized. That's not her life. um So I think that there's a ah way in which a social allows an artist to go really deep and that can potentially really capture people's imaginations and hearts. And then also just kind of um practically speaking, you know, and since the pandemic, it's been harder for theater financially that a lot of times people don't want to commit to buying tickets too far in it advance. yeah And they're out of the practice of leaving their house and going to see live theater and live music. So just
00:30:07
Speaker
a solo show in the theater is less of a risk for producers and investors, just strictly, practically speaking. yeah And we can give the audience such a multifaceted deep experience. Like in my show, I think I might have talked about, I have about 12 costume changes that I do on stage. So that's another thing about a solo show is that I have so many interests and things that I love, and I get to bring them all into the show. Like i I also play guitar, I sing some, I do poetry. So I bring all of that, I get to do songs. Ray Bacore actually, incredible musician, made some tracks and musical arrangements to elevate the songs even more. And I actually took some
00:31:00
Speaker
Styling classes and fit cuz I love clothes so much and I've styled photo shoots for other artists but I get to use that in the show and styled all the different characters and I get to just do these quick changes on stage which and then It's so interesting with clothes why I love them so much just adding a jacket or taking off a layer or a hat. It can change the energy like my own energy and the whole feeling I think in the room so much so I get to explore that. I find that absolutely fascinating because
00:31:36
Speaker
And thinking about fashion and such, like I've been in like on a like somewhat of a like ah journey and understanding of like fashion, which is a very big concept. I'm really interested in costume design and fashion. And I realized maybe about 10, 12 years ago as like a heteronormative type of thing that I didn't. like talk like at least how i'd grown up and stuff like that and you know talk about fashion stuff yeah like it was a heteronormative type thing showing greater comfort and being like what's that baggage i have from when i was younger and i would um subscribe to fashion magazines because like
00:32:13
Speaker
advertising in the color in like like every I was like this is our in Glitz in money and something else and it's all in there and and I was like man this I was fascinated by it by by all that and there's a lot of dark corners of fashion, yeah you know, but there's other aspects of why good people work when it's within it who artistic would want to do it because There's some there's some glory and there's a pizzazz in it. So when you were talking about like costume design and and things like that, I found myself as a ah viewer, somebody who's looking at art or a movie or a play, noticing those discrete elements that people are like have such talent in that are just you point them out and be like, hey, I did that as well. And I'm like, wow, that's really amazing, because that's a discrete thing. So you find some great joy in being able to
00:33:10
Speaker
ah create that type of universe and costume and fashion in your shows as well then. Yeah, it adds so much. I think it's really cool that you were exploring fashion and getting those magazines and everything. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, um, it was like, uh, getting to like getting, as I, as I get older at different times, I've had like these strong energies, like of not giving a fuck. Like I haven't been able to live, um, in a way with all elements of my life. I mean, I got kids at responsibilities and a job. It's not like I walk out the door and do whatever I want. It's not like that. However,
00:33:47
Speaker
When it comes down to it for me, for personal ways of expression, political beliefs, I've realized a long time ago, I'm not going to have a lot of beliefs that gel well with everybody. They just don't. And I'm like, what am I going to do? Hide those away if they don't exist or be like people are going to act a certain way towards me anyways. Who gives a shit? like, um yeah I'm gonna make or do what I want. And it's a journey. It's a journey, you know, um but I felt As difficult as things can be, I felt healthier with that dynamic opinion. Yeah. It's so interesting. Everything you say, I feel like I get 10 ideas of different directions the conversation could go in. We have to well become co-hosts of like but a podcast, like of ah of a series sometimes. we just like We can just bounce it around. I know. I'm like that. There's a combination of our brains here that means something in particular for... Yeah.
00:34:46
Speaker
or for recording here, but ah yeah, go ahead. Did you see the Alexander McQueen documentary? I haven't seen the documentary. I'm familiar you know with the work of Alexander McQueen, but tell tell us about the documentary. I mean, it's beautiful and heartbreaking. breaking um He had just such an incredible life and a magnificent artist, um always pushing boundaries, pushing himself, doing sometimes, if I remember correctly, he would sometimes do a dozen or 20 fashion shows in a year of really high end fashion, high art fashion. And he worked also, it's interesting because for years I worked at a day job and basically used that money to fund my art.
00:35:35
Speaker
yes And he, I mean, he did it at a different level, but as soon as I learned about him, I was like, oh, just like alex Alexander McQueen funding my my art, that he worked at a very high-end French label as the, I think he was the artistic director, very high level yeah to fund his own label, that he used that work to fund his McQueen label. um And you know he did have his own demons and inner darkness. And he's such an example of turning the mud into a lotus flower. He took all of those demons, all that darkness and turned it into art. i I think you'd really love the documentary.
00:36:16
Speaker
that sounds That sounds really exciting to look at. I found that it was interesting for me to encounter fashion. um when i When I would commiserate or talk to or be around painters, they bumped into fashion a lot. Like not any type of painter, but I don't know something about the way painters look at things that I end up having conversations. I remember I had a guest who is just this incredible Australian painter who needs prudence flint. And I remember talking to her, it was a while ago, but just she had worked at Vogue and it was in Australia. So it might've been like, said you know, like big city Australia. And um it was interesting to talk about, to her mind about um fashion and just about how she presents ah shapes, bodies, women in her paintings. And I just gleaned some sort of crossover from from her and other places about
00:37:12
Speaker
maybe the painter's eye or the fashion, you know, the the fashion designer's eye. And it's just a loose theory, just something I was thinking about. yeah Yeah, it's very interesting. And I mean, there's fashion in terms of like knowing the designers and the labels and what's in vogue. And then there's also personal style and combining those because yet you could find something at a thrift shop and make it your style, or combine it with a high-end piece, like maybe high-end shoes, and you combine it with a cape that you made yourself out of some material, and then like a pair of jeans that you found at a thrift shop, and like make your own personal style. but i mean And what I'm really fascinated by is how those clothes, like the fashion, the style, of the color, affect how
00:38:05
Speaker
I feel and help other people do it. Like if I put on a certain hat or a certain color or clothes that are form-fitting or loose, like how that affects me. And then also how other people treat me. And I feel like that's so, it's really it's character, I think, because so much characters and how other people see the character, how other people interact with the character. So as I'm developing different pieces and characters, like their clothes are so important to me.
00:38:41
Speaker
I think I was picking up on on on that piece you were saying. I i know at times I have an aspect, an empath, being able to feel what's from another. And um you can pick up on that. I think there's something within fashion, how you dress, obviously, for a woman. And it could be different dynamics that goes on with which wearing, where it's at, what time of the year. rage, all this type of thing. But one of the things I find really fascinating is that if you have that, if you're sensitive to how people are favorably responding to you, whether it's action or whatever, um, you can notice sometimes like how you present in yourself, what you're wearing and be like, Oh, I'm like, they're more
00:39:22
Speaker
people looking at me, or I'm coming off with an energy that's more attractive. You like you can feel it. like yeah And so then I think there's this piece where, what am I wearing? Who am I going to be like that I think people are comfortable talking about? But like tonight, I'm going to try to go like that route. Is it me? Yes, it exaggerated. Yeah, that's the route I'm going. Yeah. Yeah, I love that, to explore different aspects of ourselves. Hey, we got to do some ah we gotta to do some ah housekeeping here. I want to make sure everybody knows about the play and the specific. ah So we're at is it at the Playhouse 46 St. Luke's. Now we're, ah so everybody knows, Lauren and I are here chatting cross country.
00:40:10
Speaker
ah Right before the 4th of July and there's a chance I don't know you'll find out when you hear this that we try to get this episode out soon The days if we're so fortunate to have it out and in the live field um July 5th. Oh my gosh a couple days away Lauren July 6th July 12th and in July 14th, Lolo's Boyfriend Show. Tell us, fill in a little bit of gaps, things I missed there, what time it might be there in the great city of New York City. So it's at 7.30. And every one of those days, except the Saturday performance on the 6th, will start at 8 p.m. But if you get there at 7.30, you can relax beforehand.
00:40:57
Speaker
um And you can get tickets at the Playhouse 46 website. if you If you Google Playhouse 46, Lobo's Boyfriend Show, you can buy tickets. I'm building a website right now that should be up any second, Lobo'sBoyfriendShow.com. So hopefully by the time you hear this, that will be up and ready for you to view and find tickets there too. I think that's really exciting. I get to tell you, I ah ah grew up in Rhode Island.
00:41:33
Speaker
um you know when I was younger and I made it out to New York City, Manhattan area and visit in the region a couple times this this actual calendar year. I was got to see my brother, St. Patrick's Day um in New York City and then I was there around New Year's and I love New York City though it had been many years since I had been able to visit and ah I get so excited ah when I'm there and part of the thrill of doing this show is to come in some sort of contact.
00:42:12
Speaker
with these worlds that I walk i was walking around. I'm like, this Broadway. I know a little bit more about this. And I'm like, Lolo's a boyfriend show and knowing some other shows that have been around. And what's Fringe Festival? It was kind of cool to walk around in that ear and be like, hey, I'm kind of i'm kind of in the know. and and And so I really dig ah on ah ah New York City. And I don't. I don't make fantasies about it like everything we've been talking about. There's an underside. There's all this crazy competition. As a matter of fact, in the theater industry, I was listening to the podcast Freakonomics that was talking about the economics of you know Broadway success, what's happening with the market. The audience has changed. The pandemic changed things. And um I was listening to that and I felt like
00:43:05
Speaker
So ah connected to the story of kind of interacting with creators in that field about ah theater and being around theater. Wong's set up, Wong's set up. I'm wondering ah with with your show um in and what where you want to go with it ah in the future here, 2024. I don't know if ah to say if it develops you're the creator, but Where's Lolo go? Where's Lolo go? I love that. All around the world. ah Yes, yes. here we go All around the world. I'm so, like we talked about, I put my heart and soul into this. Spent so many years developing the show and it's really striking and nerve with people. Like we talked about the audience responses have been wonderful.
00:44:02
Speaker
Did I tell you we we sold out the depot theater this past year and it was so exciting and ah people's responses after the show with how they're relating to it and how they say themselves or their friends and their loved ones in Lolo and it really means a lot to me. So i my wish is to share the show with as many people as possible and Joyfully, there is a lot of producer interest in the show. Now that we've won we won the fringe, we had a couple of producers come to see it at the fringe, and more are coming to see us at Playhouse 46. Go see it. Go see it. Go see it. Go see it. Go see it. Yeah, so the producers are coming, and we already started talking about
00:44:54
Speaker
a possible off-Broadway or Broadway run and then international, national and international tour. So I don't know if I'm allowed to even be saying that. I can say it as my wish and my intention. This is where we're looking to go. This is where we're looking. looking to go This is on the table. And and I really see this You know, this is a new age thing. Sometimes people talk about visualizing your future and stepping into it. sure To me, I really see this for Lolo's boyfriend show. it's not like a I see like, oh, this is what's going to happen and I'm going to step into it. I'd also love to see her have her own television show um because I feel like a lot
00:45:36
Speaker
I feel like it would work perfectly on television because she did say that. I see it, Lauren. I'm not just saying that. And the listeners say, hey, listeners, you can think whatever you want. I see it. like I totally see that. Yeah, it's us listeners. Yeah, there's two places there's two places in my head. And we can view this in the Buddhist way, a kind of random phenomena. But two places stuck in my head when I was thinking about um where I would expect to see or want to see. One is London and one is Boulder, Colorado. I, for some reason, I don't know why. That's awesome. Both of those two places. I said, in my head, if I see it advertised in those two, that makes inherent sense, but everywhere, everywhere. um This is, this is, it's so, it's so cool to, um um I've seen, ah ah you know, the development where the life of a show, I don't know what language to, you know, use you know with with your world. but um ah And Brooke McCarthy, who she had done a solo fringe play, um How to Be an Ethical Slut. And then that
00:46:49
Speaker
was moved on you know like like yours did and I was like it was really cool it's like um you know any artwork right like if you see an artwork and you know an artist and then like everybody in the world's talking about them you'd be like holy the crap like i used with them like I used to see that type of stuff and there's like this pizzazz and excitement around it and I think I think with plays, plays are different. I just read last week, um David Mamet, American Buffalo. I picked it up at the bookstore and I was like, yeah, you just read a play. Even when you just read it right there, there's such a different type of play energy where you hear the voices.
00:47:34
Speaker
in your head or at least yeah ah you hear the voices in your head and used and all that. um I love plays and in part of doing the show, the podcast put me in contact with some just a different way of of of seeing things or or performance ah So hoping the website, what what might we see on the website when it's done? and it's done What type of things are going to be on the website? There's going to be some video clips, some little tiny little peeks of the show, performance dates.
00:48:07
Speaker
um maybe links to podcasts like this, yeah where where we can hear more of of me and the director, Christine Bufcore, getting to know us better. Lots of pictures. We love pictures. um Places to buy tickets. And the bios of the whole team, which I think are really important because so much talent was put into really life, into Volvo. ah Well, all right, let's talk about that, Lauren. Let's drop tell folks, it's not just you. You have a lot of people helping on the show. Tell tell folks the names and some of the things that they do with with this show to make it you know to make this happen.
00:48:55
Speaker
Well, first there was Matt Hoverman, who's a really magnificent and writer and teacher. And he was running a workshop specifically specifically for artists who want to create solo shows. So we would each there were four of us, we each bring material every week and then give each other feedback. And um Matt Hoverman creates this really beautiful space. Actually, if you go to hit on um
00:49:24
Speaker
Wednesday, next Wednesday, July 10th, I'm going to actually be on a panel, but a free panel that's going to take place over Zoom with Matt Silverman. And it's called, I've Written a Solo Show, Now What? And there's some really wonderful solo artists that are going to be talking about their shows, and then also um experts in marketing and promotion, like um Michael Shine is going to be there who has a marketing business called Microfame Media, and he's going to be talking about how to really, you know, a lot of artists shy away from promotion and marketing. It's a different way of thinking and for a lot of folks. And that's open
00:50:13
Speaker
anyone If you go to Matt Hoferman's Facebook page or I think GoSolo dot.com, um you can sign up for that. so he's So you'd be able to get to know him and all of us better on that. And if you have, I think a lot of what we're talking about will relate not just to solo shows, but to other artistic projects, you could check that out. And then Christine Baccour is directing the show and also developing it with me. And I've been just so happy working with her because as as we talked about, I spent a couple of years being so solitary. Yes. but Great going so deep that at a certain point you really want
00:50:56
Speaker
yeah And the workshop was great, but you know and the people there were wonderful, but they weren't really deeply invested as I was. yeah And Christine and I had matching prayers. Someone I recently heard, I don't remember who it was, but said, we're all like puzzle pieces and we perfectly fit together in this world. Sometimes we don't know it, but there's always the matching puzzle piece. And I had a prayer. I was like, I want this. show to be and have a a really badass open-ended off-Broadway run. elot And that was one of the prayers I asked for the show. And Christine said, simultaneously, she was praying. She was like, all right, I want to direct an off-Broadway show.
00:51:38
Speaker
And Christine's done a lot. She was on Broadway. She was in Chicago for years. She played Velma. She's directed. No way. Yeah, ah and she's been in the um Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company. She's directed a lot at the Depot Theater in Garrison and toured all over the country in different plays and musicals. She's a Broadway veteran. She's a badass, real, magnificent monster talent. with she really understands theater and she's also an acupuncturist and she's really good at letting me cook when it's time to cook because because i'm I'm bringing a lot to it and then knowing what needs to be adjusted and how that's going to affect the whole piece and really like honing in on
00:52:29
Speaker
what needs to be adjusted in just the most brilliant way. She also, because she's, up I guess she's, co-designed different technical elements. She's also really brilliant at how the piece can be held together with the different elements, the lighting and sound design. And we worked together along with, I mean, Leanne Arnold did the actual projection design and Christine and I talked a lot about what we wanted and then spoke with Leanne about it. Leanne saw the show and really breathed life and created these gorgeous projections.
00:53:06
Speaker
um which really enhanced the show and enhanced Lola's mind. I've seen some shows with projections where they're a bit distracting and we talked a lot with Lynn about wanting them to to frame and enhance and people told us that sometimes they'd be watching the show and then all of a sudden realized that the projection environment had changed completely and they hadn't noticed it until whenever they looked up 10 minutes later. ay Kim Dasher designed the sound, which, I mean, sound design can just affect the life of a person in a deep way. Oh, absolutely. I've learned a lot about that in conversation. Absolutely. yeah and And then Colston Brynoff actually just joined the team as our magnificent stage manager. And he's also a conductor.
00:53:56
Speaker
And he brings such artfulness to stage managing and calling the show and making sure all the beautiful cues, the projections and the lights and the sound all happen when they're supposed to happen and that everyone's in the right place and that the furniture is where it's supposed to be and the props are. And he is so lovely and approaches his job as a stage manager like it's the most beautiful art and like a conductor. So I'm so happy to be working with him too. what's what it what What a team. i think it's all I think it's important to talk. I mean, a lot of times, you know, i I work in generally in a collective, collective type movement. And a lot of times it's really important to talk about the folks, you know, these, like you say, I use the terms a lot myself talking about friends or super talented people I know and genius to have this incredible mind for this. and
00:54:49
Speaker
you know You gotta to call that stuff out, right? It's not all supposed to disappear. like It's supposed to disappear, right? It's supposed to just feel the magic, but it's not supposed to... you know You're gonna be like, that's part of the magician team back there that's pulling stuff off. i yeah I think that's great, you know, the sound and the projection. And it was interesting to hear about your projection. I know visually and seeing some of the images from the show, but whether it's been on Instagram and other places, a very striking, beautiful photography ah color. yeah ah you You very much like stand out. It looks Hollywood. It looks New York. It looks like, yeah, I mean, it has, you know, it's like pay attention to this, like,
00:55:30
Speaker
like look at it and um so that's that vibrancy is always fun in my head of seeing that and all the costumes and Wow, geez, what a show, right? I mean, seriously. Now, you got to do this in a couple of days. to Take me in just in a private way. In a couple of days, you got to do this. I'm this guy over here in Oregon. what In your life and doing these type of things, like how do you how do you move on from now in a couple of days and then be on the stage? Do you have to get into a certain place or what goes on?
00:56:09
Speaker
I spent a lot of time preparing, um maybe too much, I don't know, but because it is a solo show um and I want, but another wish I have for the show, I really want the audience to feel like they received something. I want to give them a beautiful gift because I know, you know, we but Right now, I think the prices are really affordable. We have $30 tickets and there's a promo code for $20 tickets if anyone needs that. it's up right On the DL, it's lights on if you want $20 tickets. sos
00:56:50
Speaker
so like on is affordable especially compared to so many other shows often on Broadway. But even that, I know a lot of people are struggling financially, or they're working multiple jobs, or they have busy demanding lives. So just for people to get there and experience the show, I really appreciate that effort. And I want them, I want everyone to feel delighted that they're there and that and special that they're there and fortunate that they're there. and That was a good decision. I really want to give people that gift because honestly i've I've had experiences like that where I feel like I've received so much from the artist and I feel so so blessed and fortunate to have experienced their art and i I feel so refreshed and I've had the opposite experience where I feel like
00:57:45
Speaker
It's just about the artist's ego and about feeding their ego. And they weren't really there to give something. So that's what I want to be. So in order to do that, I spend a lot of time cultivating the internal energy to be able to do that and to bring the show that I want to bring to the stage. It's actually we, the show should probably live at about an hour and 40 minutes. We cut it for the fringe because it needs to be 90 minutes.
00:58:18
Speaker
So it right now it's a 90 minute experience, maybe a little longer, where you know I play 18 different characters and go through a really intense emotional journey. So so so um I spend a lot of time getting ready. I chant i do yoga. Usually I'll get up and I'll...
00:58:40
Speaker
try not to have other plans on show days. I'll get up early and I'll do yoga and I'll be quiet and I'll do my chanting and really visualize how I want the show to go. And then depending on what the time or what happened the day before, I'll check in with with each of the characters and check in with how they are, where they live in my body, let them speak through me. Sometimes I'll check in on the subtext at certain parts of the show. There's been certain days, sometimes I'll go through the whole show quietly and just let it move through me. And I'll check in with the intentions, why I'm doing it, what I wanna give. So i I really do go deep.
00:59:24
Speaker
as deep as possible on show days. I watched a documentary about John Leguizamo, like the king of solo shows. I love John Leguizamo. I love him so i so much. st John Leguizamo should be ah president or king of somewhere. he He's really my inspiration for doing these. And in his soul in hit this documentary, I don't know if he kept doing this throughout his career. He said he would get to the theater at 8 a.m. at 10 a.m. for an 8 p.m. show.
00:59:56
Speaker
And he would spend the whole day preparing physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, his characters, because he wanted to have that life force to give the audience a gift. And I would feel that from his shows I'd be so moved. So i I do prepare a lot. and in and You know, a friend of mine saw the show at the Fringe and she asked me, she said, what did you do? How did you do this? She said, did you go into a cave for a year? And I said, basically, yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah, I go really deep.
01:00:34
Speaker
to I um i ah and mention and and and thank you for mentioning Leguizamo because in my head I'd watch that a Long range, shootw the brilliance, the the ah beauty, the everything that Leguizamo can do. But one really cool thing I had, and and I was connected to London too, I went to the comic books store out there when I was in London one time, Forbidden Planet. And I got a signed copy of John Leguizamo's graphic novel that he had written like his life and everything. And I was like, that was such a treasure. You know, when you get something like that, the treasure that you found somewhere, you're like
01:01:16
Speaker
I don't know if I'll ever see one of these again and it's mine. I don't get too starstruck, honestly. he' one He's one star that I would be really yeah overjoyed and overwhelmed to me. That's a little wish that I have. I really wish that one day he'll see my show somehow. well Well, we could try to help bring it about and then maybe we can co-host an episode together and John, i bring Mr. Leguizamalan.
01:01:51
Speaker
that would be in dream This wasn't all intended to be a Legua Samo a party at the end, but why not? um yeah make i'm I'm so excited, ah you know, for your play and also to be able to, you know, to have chatted with you again and um just like the great questions and like energies and just trying to like connect about like, you know, like zany aspects of life and like getting through it and um really just to stop and notice and have a conversation with you about
01:02:23
Speaker
you know, what you're achieving and what and what you're doing and you know, just notice it. And so, um best best of luck. Let's go to, oh, the other city I was thinking of for Lolo's Boyfriend Show to be good. The other one I was thinking of was Dublin. Ooh, yes. I think I actually, in order to modify my earlier answer, I would actually put Dublin in front of everything. So I would say three of Dublin. London and ah bold a boulder, boulder sneaks in there from, you know, the Rocky Mountain Legion in the U.S. But I'm thinking. From your lips to the goddess's ears. i did Like, did you know Lolo's mother is Irish? You might not have even known that. I didn't know that. That's so That just said Dublin first. Lolo's mother is totally frustrated by her. She's trying to get her to grow up and face reality, but Lolo won't.
01:03:21
Speaker
It all led here, the voice of the show, Rachel Lally is from Dublin, a performer and model. this this It's all connected somehow. Lauren and I talked about this early on, whether it was Buddhism, the universality of everything. We've tried during this episode on something rather than nothing to cover. a good chunk of terrain. Yeah, we did. and you it's like yeah It's such, it's such a blast to talk to you, Lauren, Lauren O'Brien, and everybody just, some you know, ah think about ah trying to support live theater if you're in the area where there's Lauren O'Brien.
01:04:04
Speaker
or any of the, you know, independent um theater, it can be more affordable and accessible and appreciate, you're an appreciated audience member deeply in ah in a smaller show. So just encourage the listeners to, you know, support the arts in this way and support Lola's Boyfriend Show. So maybe it'll get to all those places we're throwing our darts out there. Yes. Lauren, thank you so much for coming back on to something rather than nothing. It's my honor and pleasure. Thank you so much, Ken. It's been wonderful.
01:04:47
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.
01:04:57
Speaker
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01:05:46
Speaker
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