Transcript
Speaker: You are listening to Something Rather Than Nothing. Creator and host, Ken Valente. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
Speaker: Hey everyone, this is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast and I am very excited ah to have ah the ah creative talent behind Spine Woman which is a play that's going to be at the West End Theater in New York City, incredible New York City, August 22nd, 23rd of 2026. And to chat today about this work, we have Julia Ordway going to welcome you to Something Rather Than Nothing.
Speaker: i wanted to welcome each one of you onto the show welcome to something rather than nothing Thank you for having us. Yeah. Yeah. So it's great to have a group. I'm going into recordings. I'm used to chat with one person and then I love the I love like a group and talking about a group, particularly when you're in the midst of like making something. And and I appreciate your time as you're pulling this together. And let's talk about it with the energy of, OK,
Speaker: Swine womb. What's going on with this ah this this this this play? um I know there's a zine. We'll talk about that later, but the play's coming up. I mentioned the date. What is swine womb? I saw gothic. You had me. I was sold right there.
Speaker: Tell us what's going on with this production. Yes. ah Swine Womb is a a Southern Gothic horror story. It's a ah full length play.
Speaker: And we did it previously, ah December 2025, at the Red Pavilion, which is like a cabaret kind of club in Brooklyn. And yeah, now we're taking it to Manhattan at the West End Theater ah next week, which is very exciting and terrifying at the same time.
Speaker: ah it's nice It's nice to to to catch you um you know as you as you're pulling this together in the big production. And um of course, the voice you heard was Reese Valera. And just wanted to bounce over to Julia and say hello. And if if you could just like mention um like your work in relation to the ah Swine Room production.
Speaker: Yeah, I play Shiloh. She is, she's going through a lot. um Carter plays my brother. Then there's some other characters who come in and out. um She's a heavy role, big lift of acting, but it's fun.
Speaker: that think we all agree that needs to be told. And we're telling it in a really intense way and it's fun. um But audiences need to be ready for what we're about to do on stage.
Speaker: Yeah, I like I love that. um leading. There's something drop I've been lucky enough to drop into Broadway and off-Broadway productions just through the show and relationships that I have. And it's been really nice to be able to connect with like ah like the the energy of like ah of of what's going on um ah right now.
Speaker: ah Could you pull us into the context of, um and I'm to bounce back to Reese, I'll pull you in, Carter, in a minute, but about um, where this idea comes from in just how do you get it to the stage? You're in New York city. That's impressive, right? Like you got on stage, like, well, idea to how this thing is going to happen, August 22nd, 23rd. Can you take us through that a little bit?
Speaker: Yeah. Uh, swine wound began as a one act play that I wrote my senior year at NYU and then produced, uh, the summer after I graduated. so around like July, 2025. Uh, and then I had been working on the full length version, ah for a while, after writing the original one act, I just felt really passionately about the story and it really, ah it really resonated with me. Like i felt very strongly that there was a world to be explored here and to elaborate on and to bring in other characters and just get really into the lore. You know, I like to do some, I like to do some lore building, some world building. oh yeah. Hell yeah. So yeah, i I wrote it last summer. We did it in December and yeah, we just wanted to do it on a bigger scale for ah more than one night only, which is what our last run was. yeah,
Speaker: Yeah, really just ream out the production as best we could and and bring in more people. Yeah, excited for you. ah Carter, you play Shiloh's, a great name, love the name Shiloh, Shiloh's brother. um you Tell us a little bit about you know how you come to be in this role, a little bit of your your background in in particular about the role, like what it was like inhabiting that space.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure. um Yeah, I play Ellis, which is Shiloh's brother. um and he's ah he's a lot. you know he's He's doing a lot of things that are questionable behavior, you could say. um a lot of things he's doing to others, which is... um You know, not something that I like to do in the world, but, you know, it's it's a character and, you know, you you got to do that sometimes to get the story forward. But the way I got into it through Reese, me and Reese, we worked together NYU first on one of her other shows called Dinner with the Headmistress.
Speaker: And then we um continued to collaborate through there. And then she wrote the one act version of the show, which was called Pudding Grass. And there's a cat right here. And so cat friendly. Hold up. So cat friendly. This show is completely cat friendly. I got I got I got three of them running around. i always interrupt the show. Oh, my God.
Speaker: You win us over. You win us over. Yeah, it's all good. It's all good. But going back to your character. Yes. um And so then when we did it the first time, I don't think there was names for the characters, but the essence of the the characters were still very much there. And was very um exciting to like jump into people that are really not like they they are from the South, they have different accents than us, and they're just very different than the way Julia and I are in real life, I would say, which is exciting to always play that. And then also, yeah, Reese always writes exciting work that I love to join in. So it's a good collaboration.
Speaker: No, I love that. um One of the things I want to, know, I started to mention NYU my you and um sometimes I like just ask a question about like what the experience was like there. Like when I'm talking to folks from a city or a music scene or like you from that kind of academic, very like prestigious academic ah background, what was it like your experience? And anybody can speak to this as far as, um,
Speaker: coming right out of that, you know the learning, what you were able to inhabit art space within NYU, because it's got to be so formative, at least in my head for you.
Speaker: I think that... um um spending four years, you've got the school and the city kind of behind you. and so that the second that you leave, you kind of already know you've been on the streets, you've explored.
Speaker: And so it is scary to not have the back, to be able to fall back on school. But I mean, we've all collaborated and met through NYU. And so to take that out of that school setting and then be able to do the same work, but on just like a much different scale,
Speaker: is the most exciting thing to be able to do. And in the city that we've kind of grown up in, in our college years, to just be able to keep doing that ah is a blessing.
Speaker: Yeah. them them it that Well, that makes a lot of that makes a lot of sense to me. um i always i had the this i i ah um I come to art in a very different way. I didn't go to art school or anything. like I developed things on my own. I studied like the theory of art. And I started painting later in life and started like deliberately creating things. So I have a fascination with like doing like art, not say art school or creating through that time. So I always ask. And one of my favorite um mangas is Blue Period, which is just a detailed experience of going through Japanese art school. And there's like 15 volumes. So it's like, that's kind of why I asked the question too, because I'm always fascinated, like at different points of how we
Speaker: develop things like I started painting at 45 what if whatever I wanted to do as early it's just something you think about as a philosopher maybe that's why I have I have the show um the zine the zine related to swine womb I love zines so a personal curiosity uh Reese tell us about the zine and uh where to get it honestly Yes.
Speaker: The zine was perhaps ah overly ambitious and foolish fundraising endeavor, but, ah however, i'm very happy with the result. ah It was a ah logistically stressful experience. Like I said earlier, it's a rite of passage to be a creative in New York and to make a zine. um But yeah, so it was an idea that I had for the fundraiser. I wanted to bring together a lot of creatives um because I am a very like substack-pilled person. Like i I love my substack. I love the poet. Like I love poetry. I love short stories. um And yeah,
Speaker: I wanted to connect people and bring people together ah to, ah yeah, like write about the theme of like Americana and religion and the devil and things like that. ah And just contribute to this little publication and yeah, see their work in print, which a lot of people don't get to do too much. So it was really exciting and There was a lot of great work and it's available as an add on for tickets. um So anyone who wants to pick up a copy at the show can add it to their ticket. And it is also available ah through an order form in the bio on the Swine Womb Instagram.
Speaker: Yeah, I am. I like some of the zines that I have. Maybe I've gone through them recently and it's a few years ago and it's a distinct event that like, or distinct performance or something, you know, and there's something about tactile being able to like, you know, put your fingers on that. And I think that's such a,
Speaker: you know with the experience of the play and its uniqueness in each performance or how it's done, like there's a tactile piece that really makes sense to me. And Carter, you seem to be stoked about this scene. Tell us about like, like i but I'm excited. Like I get excited. So I recognize when somebody said it's like, tell us about your connection to the scene, man. going to love this, right?
Speaker: I mean, I bought one, you know, supporting these one purchase at a time, that you know? but yeah, no, I just think it's great. um like like Like, as you said, like it's like almost like, what are those capsules, you know, like time capsules yeah yeah of like what this show is, what we're trying to tell. And um yeah, it's just a lot of the people's work in it, I also know. So... ah Yeah, I just really appreciated it. And I was like, nice. And I just, I like, I like the word zine too. It's fun to say. I know.
Speaker: It is. The um the podcast, well, we um when the podcast, we're not good on the production schedule for zine. There is one issue of a zine and I'll i'll email it to you. and it's it's it's it's it's I have several that I could name. It's like, and it's, um the the zine we made is nice, but it's one in the seven plus years of the podcast history. And so issue two should be coming out soon. But um love, love the zine idea. know there was a lot of effort and process in process and going through it.
Speaker: And hopefully as you continue to make scenes each time, it's a little bit easier. Okay, I'm going to jump over because like the show is conceptual and we have to show some of our chops like conceptually and thinking about art and such. Like at least I'd love to. I'd love to have those cut conversations. So I'm just going to like launch in. going to ask you Carter, right? Like you're interested in art, you're an artist, like you you know you create.
Speaker: What is art? Like what's what's the big deal here?
Speaker: So for me, i guess art would be like my interpretation of of the thing we're trying to explore, you know?
Speaker: And for me, that usually is like the acting side of it. Because I am an actor. That's kind of how I approach it at first is even when I'm reading stuff, I kind of start thinking of like, okay, how is this?
Speaker: gonna look on stage. That's also kind of a director's mind, but like, how is this gonna look? How would this character sound? Walk, talk, all those things. um And then I also just like to really like play, have fun, find the joy in it. um So for me, like art, I always try to make it really happy and joyful and fun when you can, even when you're dealing with heavy stuff, like just try to,
Speaker: you know take it with what it is and take it seriously, but also you know keep it fun because you know the world is tough enough. You've got to keep everything light. I don't know if that's what's philosophical. No, I mean, like a couple episodes ago, I was talking to ah an author, Rachel Renne, and she put out a book, Prioritize Play. And it was all like all just like driven in on some of the things you were saying. It's like, yeah, there's all this other stuff around this, but Like, go play with the Legos, go get the crayons out, like in that experimental piece of it. So like, I love the the the spirit of it. Okay, I'm bouncing over to you, Julia.
Speaker: ah What the heck is art? I've got to agree with Carter and what he says. i think art is all subjective. And so I hate when people use the term good or bad, because what, how do you, how do you classify that when everyone is looking at something completely different? I think that I got into art, like playing in the mud at like four years old. And to me, that's still the same art that I create with recent Carter in the room.
Speaker: um i think people find their niche and they find their specifics of what, and for me as well, what Carter said, like it is acting. um But I think with acting, it also comes with seeing how directors are in the room and seeing how writing changes. And I think that's all inspiring and contributes to who I am as an actor. So I don't think you can just be an actor. I think there's Everything and any creative thing you've ever done in your life is going to infiltrate on your training or your artistry. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. That's the yeah lovely. I love talking with you all. I really do. Reese. um ah What's art? Amazing.
Speaker: um Definitely, like what Julia said, this show, in the case of this show, it's very akin to playing in the mud. um But, I mean, art is... Art is everything. Like, art is... It's storytelling, and it is, like... ah connection and and humanity and a and a business. Like, it's everything. um I don't know. Maybe it's like the producer mindset that's like, it's a business. But yeah, ah yeah I think storytelling through different mediums. Like, you know, you can you can paint a canvas like entirely red with like one black splatter and it's modern art. And like, that could be like a metaphor for like,
Speaker: climate change? I don't know. It depends on the person. It could be anything. No, I love the chat. I think... um no i um ah love the chat and um i think um I think there's so many yeah questions try to explore of when we've we refer to ourselves as an artist or like that we're making art, that we like reflect on like you know what that actually means.
Speaker: i wanted to um I wanted to ask ah to to ask you um some very specific details, if we're going too further and not dropping in and at the end, about um New York City is its own geography and place. But could you give like the listeners, particularly a good amount of the folks who listen in the New York City area, the very specific details about the performances of Swine Wound coming up?
Speaker: Yeah, ah we open on the 22nd. We have a 7.30 p.m. show at the West End Theater, ah which is also called The Wet ah in Upper West Side.
Speaker: And we also have a matinee Sunday the 23rd at 2.30 p.m. and then another evening show at 7.30 Wonderful. Wonderful. um Reese, I'm going there.
Speaker: ah let's Let's pretend. i'm um'm I'm walking in the first performance. I'm seeing certain things. I'm seeing the the stage.
Speaker: What am I feeling? Like yeah I hear Southern Gothic, but like what's, you know, without the telling everything, like what's, what, what am I feeling all of a sudden and when I'm stepping into, into your space? I have been describing the experience of Swine Womb to be your feelings during the show. Like you will maybe be a little disgusted, a little thrilled, ah um you know, maybe a little disturbed, but also having the time of your life. um Like it will...
Speaker: shock you and gross you out, but it will also be the most fun you have a theater this summer. Well, that's the type of ticket I buy. I'm ah recording here over on the, on the, the, the West coast in Salem, Oregon, ah originally from Rhode Island.
Speaker: And so um ah I do love ah the city. I am a Red Sox fans. When it gets into the baseball stuff, the Yankees and stuff, I just like, Hey, I love New York city.
Speaker: It's not talk baseball. Yeah. at all but it's great to hear about this um uh this upcoming this upcoming performance i wanted to ask uh i'll start with you reese and i asked uh both you too as far as a point that came up um i'm thinking literature and i'm thinking influence the things that influence like your thinking and and you had mentioned uh poetry reese and i was just wondering some of the like the creators not necessarily behind what leads to swine room but like creators that have that like impact on you that you're excited like talk about, poets, playwrights, writers.
Speaker: Absolutely, yeah. ah I am...
Speaker: I really resonate and and I'm a fan of the new French extremity movement in film. It's one of the biggest influences on work. Tell about Tell us about it. Definitely one of the biggest influences on my work ah for stage and screen. ah i really i find body horror and sensory visceral a horror to be...
Speaker: really effective and something that I'm passionate about and that I think is is important. I really admire Julia DeCorno, the filmmaker who made Titan and ah Raw and most recently Alpha. I i really admire Gaspar Noé. I would like to be the girl version of Gaspar Noé if I can if i can get it get to that level. But yeah, I think a lot of um like extreme horror and things of that nature are really where I find the most like truth and and resonance. So that is ah what i look up to and what I'm passionate about.
Speaker: Yeah, there's um ah just on the show, it covers a lot of territory and things that I've done, but like I talk a lot. i gu ah Culturally, like my partner and I go out dancing at a goth club like every other weekend. and There's a lot of goth culture in Portland. But horror, I've had um you know some scream queens on the show. But one author I was really thinking of when you were talking about is... Elle Nash and her and she did a book called the deliver me seen as like a literary it girl that kind of like sexiness and appeal around that piece and she is that but um extreme body horror and a like um the set in like West Virginia like
Speaker: woman who works at a like a slaughterhouse like these like really yeah yeah l nash um deliver me but um yeah thanks like sometimes like as creators like i i'd love to hear like the things that kind of electrify us like uh from from from writing julia what about that for you that light you up like playwrights writers like poets that like that get you going um I think for me, I fell in love with Elizabeth elizabeth Barrett Browning um as a poet. I thought the way that she wrote was just beautiful, but also she has a way that she's writing about really intense things similar to how our show is as well, where there's so much underneath what the words are said and then she comes out and she just says it. And I think that's what we do. um So she was inspiring to me for years. She has been. um And I think female poets to me have the most beautiful minds. I think female writers, too. And so working with Reese's, that's the inspiration. Reese's as well.
Speaker: Yeah. Love the poetry connection. Carter, ah what what gets you going reading wise? I feel like I do a lot of like watching and, and viewing more than reading. For me, like a lot of like, feel like last year, like my top movies were like Hamnet and um one battle after another I loved. And then also like, there was a movie a few years ago, Close, that I always go back to. It was like a Belgium film. I saw it.
Speaker: I was studying abroad in London a few years ago, but yeah, It's about these like two boys. i don't I forget who wrote it and directed it, but it was really good. um But then like, I don't know. I watch a lot of like,
Speaker: pop culture, pop movies. So like, I don't know, like there's no, I don't know any of these fancy names a lot, you know, that Reese is saying all these, you know, but like for me, I just think it's so inspiring seeing like anyone who has success in like what they do. Like, it's just awesome. Like for me, i like,
Speaker: Performance, performance, right? yeah The performance. and it And you're going and like making it happen. Like that's the goal and that's the dream. And like, however, I can help people to do that as well as is kind of my M.O. So that's what I want to be able to do.
Speaker: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. yeah Lovely and incredible. I got to tell you, um ah when I um saw some of the materials and the advanced materials you have for Swine Womb, um just loved it. Like i said, for my own personal life.
Speaker: And the promise of scandal um i is attractive. The promise of, you know, um like the subversive, um because like there's something that gothic is about for me is like just subversive, whether it's creeping and slow or it's just it twists things up. And I i really love that.
Speaker: ah space I'm going to throw out the big question of the show because I always ask the big question of the show, ah which sometimes is thought to be nonsensical. um But I'm going to open up to like each one of you ah in at least one person take a like a stab at why is there something rather than nothing.
Speaker: Carter, I think you have to take this one away. Carter gets it. Why is there something rather than nothing? To me, my my immediate thought is like, ah you know, similar to like, why I'm, you know, you got to try. Because if you don't try, there's nothing.
Speaker: You know, at least there's something. You're putting something forward. um And if you don't do that, it's just nothing. And what's life if there's nothing? i don't know. Nothing. Nothing.
Speaker: There's something like that's the nub of the question that comes up a lot. And that's the nub of it, like in the doing, in the creating that there's something I'm not saying that's the answer, right? Like nobody knows for sure. And maybe it's not. the But no, I like that's, that's why I kick it around. You you all want to, I got to tell you one funny part about that question. um So it's like an annoying question because philosophers like there's an annoying part of philosophers. That's why they killed Socrates. Yeah. And like, so, uh, the, the piece about like asking that question only once have I let a guest. So back when I was younger, there was this show American gladiators.
Speaker: And if you look back at the video footage, just came out in the nineties and I, Fucking loved the show. And it was like, you know, dangerous battle with each other and joust and everything like that. And there was a strong woman and her name was Ice on the show.
Speaker: Well, anyways, I remember this from my younger days and I got Ice on the podcast. And now I'm a little bit intimidated because Ice could pick me up and snap me in half. And so I'm talking her. I said, Ice, here's the thing. You're the only guest I've ever authored this to you.
Speaker: You can answer the question, something wiser, something rather than nothing, or you tell me to fuck off. And she told me to fuck off. So I don't give that option to everybody. But um because it was ice um I let her out. Thanks for kicking that one around. um any ah Anything, throw in something else about Swine Womb. I'm excited for it. um If there's any way in the universe I can make it out to the city that I i love out there, in New York City, I'll try to make it. But anything else on Swine Womb before we close it out?
Speaker: I think that going back to what Reese was talking about with how you'll feel when you walk in, think this show will make you uncomfortable. And my favorite thing is when art does that, it's supposed to make you uncomfortable. And so I think that if anyone comes see it and they walk away and they feel like physically don't feel good, think that we did our job to show them that you need to feel uncomfortable for anything to change.
Speaker: Wow. Yeah. She got it. We're going out. it We're going to go out on that. We're going to go out. We're going to. Um, it has been like really great, uh, to connect it with each one of you. And like I said, in a period where you're busy and, you know, nervous and ready to put like this, this big thing on best of luck to you. I'm really excited. And, and folks, um, as you're listening to this episode, particularly those, uh, in that New York city, uh, area, uh, check out swine room and, and, and support, uh, you know, live feeder, uh, so important.
Speaker: ah nowadays. And um so everybody, a Swine Womb, thanks for the creative cast here. And um like I said, best of luck to Swine Womb. Awesome. Thank you so much for having us for having us. Thank you.
Speaker: Absolutely. My pleasure.
Speaker: This is something rather than nothing.
