Transcript
Speaker: And so that's when really just cool him, like opening my eyes to the bigger picture of where as a director, I think it's so much fun because I get to kind of delegate and put people in those little departments of like, okay, you're an amazing artist.
Speaker: You can paint the details of our sets.
Speaker: You know, you can set that up and then tell the other people that are helping you what to do.
Speaker: And I can just see them shine in their area.
Speaker: Because I am not an artist.
Speaker: Like, I can't even draw a good... My handwriting is terrible, okay?
Speaker: So, like, that's just not my area of gifting.
Speaker: But other people, it's like, yeah, like, use that.
Speaker: Like, I see that in them, and then I'm like, ooh, you could help with this.
Speaker: Hello, everybody.
Speaker: Welcome back to Artists of the Way.
Speaker: I'm John, the host.
Speaker: We're back after our Christmas break.
Speaker: We had a nice, lovely time, ate too much food, and now we're back to talk about art.
Speaker: Today, I have Christine Hall with me.
Speaker: Christine and I met a couple months ago because Christine is starting kind of a theater group in Lansing, a Christian theater group, and they are performing a show, These Shining Lives, which I know just a little bit about, so I'm excited to
Speaker: talk to her a little bit more about that.
Speaker: But that's a super exciting endeavor.
Speaker: I've gotten to have one or two conversations with her already because she's been partnering with Master Arts Theater to help put that on.
Speaker: So I'm super excited to talk about that and get to hear some of her heart behind that because I'm really excited about that endeavor.
Speaker: I think there's a lot of cool stuff there.
Speaker: So yeah, how are you doing today, Christine?
Speaker: I am doing well, thank you.
Speaker: Good.
Speaker: How is the rehearsal process going and kind of where are things at in putting the show together?
Speaker: Yeah, it's going well.
Speaker: We're really, really close to show week at this point.
Speaker: We actually have a very unique rehearsal schedule where we only rehearse Mondays.
Speaker: And we've been in like full rehearsal since October.
Speaker: So it hasn't been like that many rehearsals.
Speaker: And so it's really been...
Speaker: It just feels like it's come up really quick where we're like, oh, we're about to hit show week.
Speaker: So we have one coming up this Monday where we're having the whole crew there, going over, adding the crew, being involved with the set movement.
Speaker: And we just did our costume parade this last Monday.
Speaker: So it's coming along.
Speaker: It's cool to see those things start to kind of take shape as you see it.
Speaker: And it's like, oh, now we're not just...
Speaker: John wearing khakis, but now it's like this character wearing this costume and the world's starting to come alive.
Speaker: Yeah, it makes such a difference.
Speaker: And it gets so exciting when you start to do like the set dressing and you're like putting together the pieces with the sets and bringing the props on stage and you're like, oh, it's coming together.
Speaker: Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker: What's it been like?
Speaker: I've only rehearsed for a show that long once or twice.
Speaker: What's it's been like sitting with those characters
Speaker: for what, like three or four months at this point?
Speaker: Because normally you've got like one to two months of rehearsal for a play.
Speaker: And this has been kind of a longer period.
Speaker: Has that been, has that been interesting or a different process sitting with the character a little bit longer?
Speaker: I would say for sure.
Speaker: In my experience as an actor, like it's usually, yeah, like you said, with community theater, especially professional theaters, you'll go, you'll rehearse for like a month, month and a half, maybe.
Speaker: And then you'll perform for a month or more and you do like 25 shows or whatever.
Speaker: It just depends on the theater and the, I've been part of like semi-professional theaters and then I've done a lot of community theaters.
Speaker: Community theaters is usually like one or two weekends.
Speaker: And then you'll rehearse, you know, anywhere from three to four to like two months or four months, like right on there.
Speaker: It depends.
Speaker: Our model with the Alive Theater that I started is going to be more flexible.
Speaker: So we will have longer time commitment in the sense of like more months you're committed to the show.
Speaker: But it's way easier for everyone's schedule to fit in a once or twice a week rehearsal versus, you know, four or five times a week.
Speaker: in the evening that really takes up everybody's life for like that period of time.
Speaker: And what I found is there's a lot of people that it leaves out when you have those rigid schedules that are just really packed.
Speaker: So that's actually one of the, I know we haven't really got into that part of this podcast, but it's one of my big visions for the theater is to just make it more accessible to everyone's schedule.
Speaker: like mothers who are like, yeah, I can't commit four or five nights a week away from my kids.
Speaker: You know, mothers or people that work night shifts or work evenings.
Speaker: Like a lot of people are servers and they have to work the evening shifts because that's when they make their money.
Speaker: And rehearsals are always in the evenings because most people work also day shifts.
Speaker: So it's just a really challenging thing where I found that people can always get off at least one week, like one day a week off, you know?
Speaker: And it opens the door for many people to be involved in theater.
Speaker: Yeah, that's really awesome.
Speaker: I like that a lot because I've, you know, we've all had at one point jobs where it's like, I might not have as much time for the hobby that I love and, you know, theater specifically.
Speaker: So that's like, I'm even thinking about myself.
Speaker: I'm looking at doing a master's degree at a seminary soon.
Speaker: And I'm like, I'm going to have no time for theater.
Speaker: But I think it's cool that there's a space where it's like, even if you have a really busy life, you know, because there's definitely a need for that.
Speaker: And you can still strive for that bar of excellence, I think, without...
Speaker: without necessarily demanding all the time, you need to put in the work.
Speaker: And I feel like that would be one of the flip sides of that is like, OK, if you're doing one time a week, you really have to be doing the work yourself at home to make sure when you're coming in, you're on your A game.
Speaker: That is the challenge I found.
Speaker: Um, and I'm going to have to stress when I, you know, when we first start a show with the cast, it's like you do the work on your own.
Speaker: Like a lot of it is obviously coming to rehearsal, but then there's so much time where since we don't rehearse, you know, those consistent, like four or five days a week, like you have to still be at home going through your lines and practicing and, um,
Speaker: it's really that level of commitment.
Speaker: But I think if you just set the expectations in the beginning and then trust your cast to follow through.
Speaker: But I know that that's hard for people because it's like out of sight, out of mind during the week.
Speaker: And we have had that trouble, like where I found that, okay, guys, we were doing really well and then we all had to go off book and now everybody's like, I don't know my lines.
Speaker: And I'm like, did we work on that?
Speaker: But it's been really challenging for me even because in this particular show, I'm in it and I'm directing it.
Speaker: So most of the time I'm in director mode and then I have to shift into character mode.
Speaker: The nice thing is, is we have the cast has had the script for a while.
Speaker: So that like your original question, like going back to that, it is very interesting when you're sitting with a character for a long time.
Speaker: You do become, I think, more attached, of course, because it's a longer period of time thinking about the character.
Speaker: For me, I get really invested with this particular character where I'm playing right now, Catherine Donahue.
Speaker: She is a real person that lived, and so there's a lot of history there.
Speaker: And so I've done so much research of her life, and I've even created a Pinterest board of just the vibe and the feel of the character and things that are mentioned in the script and putting that in the board.
Speaker: and like her family and what happens in her life.
Speaker: And I've even put like a playlist together of like 1920s and 30s music and then songs that reflect like what happens in the story.
Speaker: So I've gotten like extra involved, partly because I haven't known this character for so long.
Speaker: But it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker: I think there is a lot of positives to that than just like two or three months.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: I totally agree.
Speaker: I did...
Speaker: the listeners are going to be sick of hearing about Hamlet, but I did Hamlet recently with Tim and my wife and a bunch of other people at Master Arts.
Speaker: And that had been like a passion project that myself and a couple friends had wanted to stage with some of us in particular roles for a couple years.
Speaker: So like every year I would reread the script with the character.
Speaker: And so by the time we were actually doing it, like the level of attachment to that character was
Speaker: was crazy.
Speaker: And then of course, so I played Hamlet and he dies at the end.
Speaker: So then him dying at the end, the very last night, after like two years of sitting with this character and I built playlists too and had a mood board and that whole vibe.
Speaker: And it was like such a dear friend.
Speaker: And then the dear friend was gone.
Speaker: So I, yeah, it is strange that time sitting with the character, how much they become a part of you or become like
Speaker: closer or like some intimate part of your life.
Speaker: It's, it's crazy.
Speaker: They just seep in.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I feel like a lot of my characters I've played over the years, more often, almost than not have been pretty, I guess it's about half and half, but like been, I've been with them for like a longer period of time than a traditional amount.
Speaker: Like I, when I played Ariel in Little Mermaid, I think it was a good
Speaker: Five months?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It felt like a long time, I guess, where ever since then, I'm known as Ariel.
Speaker: People give me Ariel things still and associate me as Ariel.
Speaker: Now I do princess performing and character stuff, so I play a lot of different characters through two companies I'm signed with.
Speaker: But Ariel, there's something special about her because she, I got to perform on stage, and I did all that character development.
Speaker: And so it's always easiest for me to perform her for events because I feel like I know her so well.
Speaker: Yeah, and you can slip right back into that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Well, we probably could go back and forth about acting a lot, and we'll probably wind back there, but I should probably ask my usual questions.
Speaker: We've kind of covered one of them, which is what you're working on right now, which is the Shining Lives, and so we've chatted a little bit about that.
Speaker: But the second question I always like to ask is, what are some ways that God's using art in your life right now?
Speaker: Oh, yes.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: I mean, God is the ultimate artist, so I see him all the time in the arts.
Speaker: And I see how he's using my passion for performing arts and how, especially recently with me taking on directing in more recent years, I just see him, I see his people, like I see his creations
Speaker: And the people that have these wonderful gifts that he has given them, they're so artistic and creative.
Speaker: And I see him like in them and I see how it can all be used for his glory.
Speaker: And so that's when really just cool him, like opening my eyes to the bigger picture of where as a director, I think it's so much fun because I get to kind of delegate and put people in those little departments of like, okay, you're an amazing artist.
Speaker: You can paint the details of our sets.
Speaker: You know, you can set that up and then
Speaker: tell the other people that are helping you what to do.
Speaker: And I can just see them shine in their area.
Speaker: Cause I am not an artist.
Speaker: Like I can't draw a good, my handwriting is terrible.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So like, that's just not my area of gifting, but other people it's like, yeah, like use that.
Speaker: Like I see that in them.
Speaker: And then I'm like, Ooh, you could help with this.
Speaker: And then like people that are so
Speaker: good at light design and the technical side of things, or just really creative.
Speaker: Like I am also not one to like make props usually because to me, I'm just like not crafty.
Speaker: I'm good at decorating, I would say.
Speaker: So that's a little different.
Speaker: I did all my own decorations for my wedding and I was pretty proud of that.
Speaker: But overall, I wouldn't say I'm the most crafty person.
Speaker: And it's amazing, like some of these people that make these props
Speaker: for our shows that are just like, I'm like, how did you even think of that?
Speaker: You know?
Speaker: So I just see that as like God in them and just how cool it is that, um, he's made everybody with such a variety of artistic gifts.
Speaker: Yeah, that is cool.
Speaker: That's been something I've really, really enjoyed as a director and as, you know, being, uh, at master arts on the board and, and I, you know, kind of headed up the sets for a while.
Speaker: It's a really beautiful thing.
Speaker: to be able to see those gifts in other people and then give them those opportunities and watch them rise to the occasion.
Speaker: And I think that can go beyond art, but I think there's just...
Speaker: It's almost an extra level of satisfaction as opposed to you making the thing.
Speaker: But then when you see like somebody else make a thing that you got to help them get to the point where they were like, oh, I can make this thing and have the opportunity to do that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's such a beautiful, just like discipleship co-working thing.
Speaker: It's beautiful.
Speaker: Yeah, it really is.
Speaker: It's, it's really one of the, I think it's just one of the coolest parts about directing is,
Speaker: I like that delegating part of it.
Speaker: You do have to kind of obviously like stay in control of the vision so it doesn't veer off too much.
Speaker: But you can't do it all as a director.
Speaker: There's no way.
Speaker: There's literally so much that goes into putting on a show.
Speaker: I don't think audience members even realize it's so much work.
Speaker: And so as a director, you have to have a team.
Speaker: You have to have a team that's committed and that you don't have to do everything.
Speaker: Because you kind of have to do a little bit of everything, but it's not like the full thing.
Speaker: You know what I mean?
Speaker: Pris McDonald, who founded Master Arts, I don't remember if this was in a class or where she said this,
Speaker: But she would always say the director is the funnel that everything goes through.
Speaker: So the director is not doing everything.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But in order to keep that vision, everything goes through the director, but everybody else is pouring in their strengths and talents.
Speaker: And then the director funnels that into the final product and into shaping the vision through everybody's gifts and talents.
Speaker: like filtering things, like sometimes suggestions.
Speaker: You're like, yeah, no, we're not going to do that.
Speaker: Or you're like, oh my goodness, that's perfect.
Speaker: Let's do that.
Speaker: It's that filtering process.
Speaker: And there's things you would totally not expect.
Speaker: I just had a set meeting for Godspell, and my assistant director just went crazy about the idea of sticking gum to random places in the set because it's in the subway.
Speaker: And I was like, I would never have thought of that.
Speaker: But she was like really pro-gum.
Speaker: She was like, let's put gum on the bottom of this seat and we can do it in colors and it'll be funny.
Speaker: I never would have thought of gum at all, but that might work.
Speaker: Or it might be too much.
Speaker: But it's like getting those completely random ideas as people like make it their own as well and get excited about it is just, I love it.
Speaker: It's great.
Speaker: Yeah, seeing people like step up and get excited about the art they're creating, it just brings so much joy to my heart.
Speaker: Like,
Speaker: I think when we did the costume parade just recently, I saw, I could see how excited like our head of costumes is.
Speaker: It's my first time actually working with her.
Speaker: God's just really provided.
Speaker: Her name's Deb and she's, she just like saw the post.
Speaker: My husband posted that I launched a theater company and she's like, well, if you need help with costumes, let me know.
Speaker: And I'm like, yes, I always need help.
Speaker: So, and in fact, we didn't have a costume person.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: I was going to have to do it myself and I don't even know how to sew.
Speaker: So it was going to be a little rough where I was like, ah, we're going to thrift shop a lot.
Speaker: And I'm still like the vision of the costumes and I'm still funneling and saying yes and no to things.
Speaker: But overall, I needed a head of costumes.
Speaker: Somebody to really get excited with me.
Speaker: And so it was fun to see her at the costume parade, make all her costume notes and then give notes to the cast and be like, oh yeah, I'm going to fix this and do that.
Speaker: And I'm like, it's exciting.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: You can tell when people are just like, this is a really good show we're going to put on.
Speaker: Yeah, that's always exciting.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: So I want to chat a little bit about you as an artist.
Speaker: And just get to know a little bit about like what, why, why you do the art thing.
Speaker: So what was it that first got you involved with theater?
Speaker: Well, I have been interested in performing really for as long as I can remember.
Speaker: I mean, I remember as a kid, I would, you know, obviously perform in church, but then be like downstairs in like my basement.
Speaker: It was a finished basement and we had a big sound system and I would play like the soundtrack of Prince of Egypt and just like, I don't know, I was just always like acting in like the basement and pretending like I was in the show.
Speaker: And I just have, I remember like seeing like the vision of like,
Speaker: the production and is like performing and it wasn't even that I like went to theater growing up like ever we didn't really do I'm trying to remember we did I guess we did a few and my brother did teach he did teach at a Christian school and he had some like theater stuff but really it was I was the first one to really get involved in theater and I was the age of 13 so I hit 13 and I kind of felt like
Speaker: I don't even know what I want to do with my life.
Speaker: I need to figure that out.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Like your little like teenage crisis, like at least for me, that was like, I'm getting old.
Speaker: I need to figure out what I want to do.
Speaker: And so I kind of pursued different hobbies that year.
Speaker: And, um, I remember talking to my mom, like, I really want to do acting.
Speaker: Like, I think,
Speaker: this is what I would be good at.
Speaker: And they all were like, well, yep, you're always performing, you know, in your own way.
Speaker: And so I auditioned for the play Heidi.
Speaker: I don't know if you know that story of Heidi.
Speaker: I always think of like the Shirley Temple movie, Heidi.
Speaker: Yeah, I know the name.
Speaker: I don't know if I've seen it.
Speaker: The name is familiar.
Speaker: So I auditioned for, it's actually Riverwalk Theater.
Speaker: It's been around for, I think, 30 years now here in Lansing.
Speaker: I auditioned there and didn't get in.
Speaker: But I could tell, like, my mom was always my biggest fan too.
Speaker: She's like, you were just so poised walking up there and auditioning.
Speaker: And she's like, and I could tell I loved it.
Speaker: Like I could tell just auditioning how exciting it was.
Speaker: And they actually kept me after the cast left.
Speaker: I know they liked me, like my acting, I don't know what it was.
Speaker: They liked me for that part, that Clara part, but they couldn't get me to project because at that time that theater didn't have any mics and they had this loud air conditioner that came on and they were like, it's very important that you project the whole room.
Speaker: I'm like this kind of timid, I don't know, at the time I just didn't know how to use my voice to project, I had never done theater before.
Speaker: And so I guess I didn't project enough.
Speaker: I didn't get the call.
Speaker: And of course I cried and I was like, oh, like I want to do this so bad.
Speaker: So then I'm like, mom, we're doing this.
Speaker: So I was like, I need to learn how to project.
Speaker: I went into like line, Googled it, found the theater camp and the theater camp covered all the things theater, like dancing, you know, talk about acting and mentioned projection.
Speaker: I'm like, I gotta go.
Speaker: I gotta learn this.
Speaker: And oh my goodness, that theater camp was so much fun.
Speaker: The same year I did a basketball camp.
Speaker: And let me tell you, did not like that.
Speaker: Loved theater camp and was like, I'm not doing basketball.
Speaker: Because I had always practiced in my house, like, oh, I'm going to play basketball.
Speaker: So I was like, maybe that'll be a fun hobby.
Speaker: No, I wasn't good at it.
Speaker: I didn't like it.
Speaker: But yeah, so that's how I got started.
Speaker: And ever since then, it was like, I remember the opening night of that show.
Speaker: It was Carousel by Roger's Hammerstein.
Speaker: So it's a big musical.
Speaker: It was like, I think like a huge cast and I was in the ensemble and it was my first show after theater camp.
Speaker: I auditioned for their first show that season.
Speaker: And I just, I just remember crying of tears of joy on opening night.
Speaker: Cause it was just such a magical experience of that theater bug that bit me.
Speaker: And I just continued, like I couldn't stop after that.
Speaker: Like it was never like,
Speaker: oh, I don't wanna do this again.
Speaker: That was just a season of my life.
Speaker: It's just never really felt like that.
Speaker: In fact, I loved it so much and it felt like the thing I was good at during high school as I just continued on and so my different productions with different theaters that I was like, I'm gonna be an actress.
Speaker: I'm gonna pursue this as a career.
Speaker: I really wanted to do film.
Speaker: So I pursued it after high school for two years.
Speaker: I got an agent in Chicago.
Speaker: I auditioned for different commercials.
Speaker: I had like modeling track, like they get you into like modeling to start out.
Speaker: It's kind of weird.
Speaker: The industry is nuts, but I got into all that because I was so like, I want to do this.
Speaker: And when you get into it, I quickly realized,
Speaker: very, very, very small fish in a huge pond.
Speaker: And it just wasn't even fun.
Speaker: It wasn't even like enjoyable process.
Speaker: It was cutthroat.
Speaker: It was, you literally, I drove to Chicago.
Speaker: I had two jobs because I was working, you know, like straight out of high school.
Speaker: I didn't do college because I wanted to be an actor.
Speaker: So I just pursued it.
Speaker: And so I was working two jobs and I would like drive all the way to Chicago, get in the room.
Speaker: There was like girls that look just like me all over.
Speaker: And then I would go into like,
Speaker: the audition room for maybe five minutes, maybe do my little thing about flipping the sausage for the commercial or whatever.
Speaker: And then they're like, thank you.
Speaker: And then you leave.
Speaker: And then you're like, there's like 30 people in there.
Speaker: And you're like, how am I going to get this?
Speaker: Like, I look like that.
Speaker: And then I would go all the way back home from Chicago.
Speaker: So it was just a little crazy.
Speaker: Like I did try it, but it did lead me to a lot of different like short films and different
Speaker: movies I was in, nothing like huge roles or anything, but it was a really fun experience to see the film side.
Speaker: But that kind of led me out of, okay, I'm not going to do this as a career.
Speaker: But you know what?
Speaker: I love schedules.
Speaker: I like knowing when I'm going to go to rehearsal versus getting a call from my agent.
Speaker: You have to be here tomorrow in Chicago.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: So I realized my personality just wasn't, I don't know if I could handle that.
Speaker: So I went back to just doing like theater as like a hobby and that gave me that joy and I could have a rehearsal schedule and I knew what was expected of me.
Speaker: And so that's like my background.
Speaker: And then from there, I've just continued to,
Speaker: with a lot of performing type things.
Speaker: Now I get paid to perform through like character performances.
Speaker: So that's been really fun to feel like, oh, I'm actually like a professional actors because I'm getting paid now.
Speaker: I love my art of acting, you know?
Speaker: That's cool.
Speaker: Yeah, I've heard, I have another friend that lives in Chicago, and she tried to make it in the theater side.
Speaker: And she ended up getting a job at a children's theater for a little while and really enjoyed that.
Speaker: But she was like the auditioning process and all of that.
Speaker: She was like, yeah, it's basically like almost ruined theater for her.
Speaker: And she's like, now she's at the point where she's, I think she's trying to step back into that.
Speaker: But like, other than children's theater, where she was working with
Speaker: children who have joy and magic that is just inherent to them.
Speaker: She was just like, yeah, it like was awful.
Speaker: And it's like, I'm curious from your perspective, do you feel like that's just because of the grind of like doing it and trying to do it?
Speaker: And there's so many people that want to do it, or do you feel like there's a spiritual aspect to it or
Speaker: Or is it just the type of lifestyle doesn't like maybe there's not something inherently wrong with it, but it just doesn't jive with certain people like where do you feel like that might come from?
Speaker: I think there's a lot of factors.
Speaker: There probably definitely is some spiritual side to it as well.
Speaker: And I know people that have made it, you know, I know multiple people that like have made it and landed gigs and are touring professional theaters, you know, and all over.
Speaker: And it's and I'm so happy for them.
Speaker: I think what it is, it is a drive like you have to have that drive and you have to have almost like no backup plan.
Speaker: I think for me, my personality, I realized I was a little too practical for it in the sense of just like, oh, like this is exhausting.
Speaker: Like I like I just felt like you literally like a starving artist because you're just
Speaker: Yeah, it's just hard.
Speaker: It's hard because you have to get the momentum to get something and then keep getting it.
Speaker: And if you can't even get the first big thing, then you just have like no, nothing on your resume of like real experience.
Speaker: So that I think the start is probably the hardest part of just really getting in and getting that built up.
Speaker: But I think it's also just, yeah, like really oversaturated, like oversaturated, like so many people want to do it.
Speaker: And you get out there and you think you're so talented in your own town.
Speaker: And then you get out there and you're like, oh,
Speaker: I'm not.
Speaker: I'm not that tempted.
Speaker: At least that's how it feels sometimes.
Speaker: You're just like, oh, what do I have?
Speaker: And it just can be really discouraging.
Speaker: Like I had people tell me there's nothing special, like literally agents and stuff.
Speaker: There's nothing special about you.
Speaker: You just look like everyone else.
Speaker: Like you don't stand out.
Speaker: And I was just like, oh, okay, thanks.
Speaker: That's hard.
Speaker: Yeah, it was a rough... I mean, like I said, only a couple years I did it, but I got a taste of it, but it built a lot of appreciation for theater and just the hobby of that and just...
Speaker: And like I said, I was, I was pursuing specifically film.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: The reason I love film is I love the real realness of it.
Speaker: And I think that's just my type of acting.
Speaker: Like I'm a very realistic actor.
Speaker: Like I don't like, obviously in theater, you do have to be overdramatic sometimes it depends on the role.
Speaker: Um, but like, I, I just love like the up close shots that you can capture and the emotion of film.
Speaker: So like, to me, I always, Oh yeah.
Speaker: Films where I need to go.
Speaker: But yeah, I realized quickly, I had no idea how to audition for a commercial versus auditioning for a musical.
Speaker: Yeah, they're very different.
Speaker: I used to want to go into film too.
Speaker: I was set and then my senior year of high school, God was like, actually, I want you to go to school for ministry.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, I think I like theater better.
Speaker: But I love that.
Speaker: Just the raw
Speaker: realism of it and the minutiae.
Speaker: And that's why I've loved mostly doing black box theater, because you can kind of meld the two.
Speaker: Because when you're in theater, if the emotion and the scene takes you to be big, you can be big.
Speaker: In film, there's a limit to how big you can be, because you have this box that you have to stay in.
Speaker: And if you get bigger than the box, or your energy is too much for the camera, that can feel...
Speaker: like untruthful, even if it's not for you as an actor.
Speaker: But I look like a bad actor.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But then in Black Box, like if the emotion takes me to do a huge movement, I can.
Speaker: But at the same time, I can do just like the tiny little subtle movements with my face or with my eye or the slight shift in my posture.
Speaker: And because it's so close, the audience will catch it, which I just I love because you can run the gambit in Black Box.
Speaker: It's great.
Speaker: Yes, I agree.
Speaker: The show I'm doing right now, These Shining Lives, is really created, I think, for Black Box.
Speaker: I first saw it in a Black Box theater, actually at Riverwalk, where I had my first audition years ago.
Speaker: I've been very involved in that theater over the years.
Speaker: And I saw this show, and it was in 2018, and I was just taken with it.
Speaker: I loved the script.
Speaker: I loved how serious and real the show was.
Speaker: And so, yes, it's definitely good for Black Box.
Speaker: We aren't in a Black Box for our first one, definitely for
Speaker: later um it will be a different story but um but yeah for this it's it's a it's a still a small space though from it's not like a huge stage or anything it's um I think that I think the room holds comfortably like 120 people okay um so it's still not huge um but definitely bigger than like a black box but I'm still hoping people can really capture all the different expressions and the nuances yeah
Speaker: Hey friends, I just wanted to take a second and give you an update on Godspell.
Speaker: So last year we ended up raising $4,600, which is incredible.
Speaker: That is 100 more than a third of our funding, which was our goal for last year.
Speaker: So that is incredible.
Speaker: We've still got a ways to go though, two thirds.
Speaker: We've got about 9,000 left to raise.
Speaker: So
Speaker: If you are interested in helping us out, we're selling some ads in our program.
Speaker: So if you know any businesses that would be interested in buying an ad, feel free to send them over to us.
Speaker: You can find an email to contact us on our website or some more information about that there.
Speaker: Or if you still want to give and donate, you wanted to last year but just weren't able to,
Speaker: Uh, again, you can find all that information on our website, artists of the way.com.
Speaker: Uh, we have a whole Godspell tab.
Speaker: We have audition information posted.
Speaker: We have all the information about our fundraising there.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So feel free to check that out.
Speaker: If you know a business that wants to buy an ad, I'd love to get connected with them.
Speaker: And any help that you want to give is appreciated.
Speaker: And all the help that you have given so far is appreciated.
Speaker: This has exceeded my expectations.
Speaker: It's been tremendous.
Speaker: It's been really wonderful to see God bless it.
Speaker: And I truly believe he's going to get this to stage.
Speaker: I can't wait to see how he's going to do it.
Speaker: And I'm so blessed with the help that we've already received.
Speaker: So thank you.
Speaker: Thank you all so much and enjoy the rest of the podcast.
Speaker: So for people who aren't familiar with it, what what's like the premise behind The Shining Lives and what's what's the show about?
Speaker: Yes, so I will try to explain it without going into too many spoilers.
Speaker: So The Shining Lives is a historical drama.
Speaker: It's based on a true story.
Speaker: It takes place in the early 1920s through the about mid
Speaker: So it actually goes through quite a bit of time in our show.
Speaker: So you follow the stories of mostly these four young women, primarily Catherine Donahue and her life.
Speaker: And what happens is these women get hired at this factory called
Speaker: The Radium Dial Company, and this is where they make watches, or the company sells watches, but the women help make them by painting the numbers on the watches.
Speaker: And so they have different size watches that they make, but the key thing
Speaker: feature about these watches back then is that they glowed in the dark.
Speaker: So you could see time, you know, even in the dark at night, you could tell time and it was a big selling point too.
Speaker: They gave these watches to the military.
Speaker: So during the war, a lot of the soldiers had these type of watches where they could tell time.
Speaker: And so it was a very profitable type of business that was doing well.
Speaker: And they would hire pretty young.
Speaker: Now, I've done a lot of research, too.
Speaker: So some of this stuff you don't find out really in the play necessarily, but I just know the story so well of what happened.
Speaker: But you'll find that they hire very young girls, so sometimes even teenagers, young adults.
Speaker: to work in these factories.
Speaker: Well, the way that it goes in the dark, obviously, is radium.
Speaker: And radium is very toxic.
Speaker: And they are encouraged to obviously make as many watches as they can per day, and they get paid per watch.
Speaker: And so these women are encouraged to
Speaker: um, use the paintbrush and like make a point with their, with their teeth and their lips and like they're dipping into this radium compound.
Speaker: And so they get like this powder everywhere.
Speaker: They, um, like they're, um,
Speaker: like glowy, it's like they start like their mouths and everything kind of start to glow.
Speaker: And when I did the research back then, it wasn't known.
Speaker: It wasn't like a known fact to people that like radium was so toxic.
Speaker: It was a pretty new discovery at that time where they started using it more and more.
Speaker: And so they would tell these women, like the managers were like, oh, it's actually really good for you.
Speaker: It makes your cheeks rosy.
Speaker: And like, just really not telling these workers anything about how it's going to affect their health.
Speaker: And
Speaker: The company did know because they started to actually cover up what was happening because obviously these women start to get sick.
Speaker: You can only go so many years without feeling like something's off in your body when you're consuming radium.
Speaker: And so they...
Speaker: They find out like these, this company starts to basically gaslight the girls.
Speaker: You're fine.
Speaker: They had their own company doctor that they provide.
Speaker: It's like, oh, we have benefits.
Speaker: Like we're providing our own company doctor.
Speaker: And they even somehow had like a company hospital where they would cover up like the autopsy reports and like they would
Speaker: cover up the reason for death.
Speaker: Like I read that through history.
Speaker: That's not really in the script, but I read that through a bunch of different articles and interviews with some of the family members back then.
Speaker: But yeah, so it's quite a...
Speaker: scandal in a sense or a tragedy of a story.
Speaker: But the script does an amazing job at showing the realism of like life through that kind of thing, like the friendships that the girls had when they worked together, the at home life, the marriage.
Speaker: There are so many, like the reason I love the script and the reason I chose this, because I've always wanted, ever since I saw it, I was like, I want to do this show.
Speaker: Like either I want to be in it or I want to direct it.
Speaker: And it's a very powerful message, I think, about fighting for what's right, for speaking the truth, even though it's hard.
Speaker: Because you had to think about that time period, like suing people was not really like a...
Speaker: a normal thing, especially from women, especially the women that just started to work because working women, women in the workplace, that was a brand new in the early 1920s.
Speaker: It really came in after the war or during the war, women had to work.
Speaker: And then it kind of continued after that.
Speaker: And like, oh, they found that they enjoyed working and contributing.
Speaker: So, you know, it was just such a.
Speaker: a radical thing to like actually go out, go after a huge company like this, especially in the great depression when jobs are hard to find and that company is bringing, you know, at least something into the community.
Speaker: So there is like the economy building factor of it.
Speaker: So I love the courage of the women.
Speaker: I think they are inspiring.
Speaker: And I think the show is so worth coming to because just because of the lessons you can learn from this historical piece.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker: Long pause.
Speaker: That's okay.
Speaker: We'll just, we've done our ad already.
Speaker: So we'll leave it in.
Speaker: I guess, what was it?
Speaker: How did The Shining Lives and Starting Alive go together?
Speaker: Did it start as like, I want to start something in the Lansing area for Christian artists?
Speaker: Or was it more, I kind of want to do this show, and then God kind of moved you into, now you're kind of starting a live and a bit of a broader thing.
Speaker: Yeah, so that's a good question.
Speaker: And there's a lot of ways to answer it.
Speaker: There's just a lot of factors and things
Speaker: that evolved to come into where we are today of having, launching the new theater company.
Speaker: So I did, so I saw, I knew I loved the show.
Speaker: So I saw it recently again at Midland Center of the Arts.
Speaker: And so that was in March of last year.
Speaker: And right after that, I was like, really wanna do this show.
Speaker: And I really think this show would be
Speaker: good to do early on if I was going to, because I had processing thinking about maybe launching my own theater company because I just felt like there needed to be a space
Speaker: for people to perform that wanted to like, that felt like, oh, I want to do theater again.
Speaker: Cause so many people were telling me like, oh, I wish I could still do theater.
Speaker: I just don't have the time for it.
Speaker: So I had that desire to create a space for them, even though, cause there's some really amazing people out there and talented people that should be in theater that like can't be in it because you know, kids or whatever they have like life going on.
Speaker: And it's, and it's good that life's going on.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: But that shouldn't keep them from something they love and they're so passionate about.
Speaker: So I just really was like, there needs to be more opportunities for us, Christian artists especially, because there's a lot of theaters in Lansing, and there's really great theaters.
Speaker: I've been a part of a lot of them.
Speaker: But their shows that they do lately have just felt very...
Speaker: not something that I personally really want to be involved in.
Speaker: And I found that to be true for a lot of my community and friends too, that they just weren't, they're just not that interested in like auditioning for these shows and they, they don't really have anything inspiring or life giving in the messages.
Speaker: They're just kind of like, why would I invest my time into this?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: It's not,
Speaker: something I'm interested in.
Speaker: So I have a lot of purpose behind the shows I choose and want to do.
Speaker: So there was that aspect of like already working through feeling like there was a calling on my life to maybe move into that way of like creating my own theater.
Speaker: And the reason why I picked These Shining Lies as the first one
Speaker: Some of it was practicalness of it's a easy show to put on for the most part because it's not, musicals are very expensive.
Speaker: The rights are very expensive.
Speaker: And usually you wanna have like a big set and lots of people involved when lots of costumes have to be made and there's just a lot more cost.
Speaker: And so when I thought about being cost effective for our first show and we literally have no money and we're starting from scratch, I thought these shine lives, for one, I'm super passionate about this show and two,
Speaker: it was affordable enough to start off with.
Speaker: that I was like, I think we could do this and it would be a good first show for that to like kind of launch us into like, hopefully, hopefully we can sell enough tickets that we can do another show.
Speaker: But that's kind of where we're at right now is just selling tickets and trying to see if we can make up the money we did put into the show.
Speaker: And then hopefully some extra can go towards the next one because I would love to do musicals and things like that.
Speaker: But you kind of have to start small when you're just starting.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Are there some ways as you've been starting a live or in things that have kind of led up to a live that you feel like you've seen God blessing it or working in it?
Speaker: Like, I guess, like the fruit of it, like you've had this heart for like, let's create an accessible theater space where
Speaker: people who haven't been able to do it can do it again, and a place for some redemptive stories with some good, rich themes.
Speaker: Are there some ways where you feel like you've started to see the fruit of that and God working in people's lives through that?
Speaker: I would say so, yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I know in my own personal life, God has been working through just the idea of trusting him, like really trusting.
Speaker: Because there's moments when you're like, I don't know how this is all going to come together.
Speaker: And not even just the show, but the theater as a whole.
Speaker: Like, how is this all going to come together?
Speaker: How is this going to work?
Speaker: Especially in the very beginning, before I partnered with Master Arts, it was like,
Speaker: it was a huge undertaking of we're gonna put in our own money to like start a theater company and hopefully pin my friends back that were willing to invest in this big dream.
Speaker: And it was just kind of like, but I just knew, like I just felt so strongly called to do it.
Speaker: I had so many multiple like confirmations of people, even random people that had no idea what I was even thinking about, were like, you should start your own theater.
Speaker: You'd be really great at this.
Speaker: Or you should do this, you should do this.
Speaker: And it just felt like confirmation after confirmation, because I wasn't ever really planning on doing that myself.
Speaker: I was hoping someone else maybe would do it kind of and like we could all like be part of it.
Speaker: But then I just like no I'm the one that's gonna have to like make it happen and then hopefully people come and they join.
Speaker: And so
Speaker: I'm like kind of veering off your question, but yes, I see, I see God working in it because of that trust.
Speaker: So I started thinking about, I just needed to get advice.
Speaker: And that's how I led, that's how I got connected with master arts is that I wanted to get advice about how to even do this, how to start a nonprofit and to run it.
Speaker: And so I started talking to, um, you know, Tim, um,
Speaker: master arts the executive director and he and me just connected um the vision we had the same heart and vision i think and then he just he also had just recently read the script of these shining lives and was hoping to do it um at master arts one day and so he was already like oh i love this script and i think that was another god sign of like the fact that we picked a script that they had just read and like
Speaker: talked about and i'm like huh the timing was just perfect and then just the partnership of that has been a huge blessing to make this a reality um because they have all the administrative and 40 years of experience of structure and then i have all like the passion and the people and like let's do this and so it's just a really great um partnership that kind of like makes it all happen um so like god being faithful to provide there and showing me that this is the direction he wants me to go in um
Speaker: And then just like as soon as I launched the theater, two weeks I think it was after I launched it and it was like public and everything was official and the show was posted, I found out that my venue that I was planning on having all my shows at because it was like a great home space fell through.
Speaker: Like wasn't actually going to work out after all, even though I had the confirmation or the
Speaker: the confidence that like I was told it would be fine, it was gonna work out and it was gonna be available and everything, it wasn't.
Speaker: So that was a huge moment of just like, God, what are you doing?
Speaker: But also kind of like, okay, he has the better plan.
Speaker: He has a bigger plan.
Speaker: He wants me to like trust him in this.
Speaker: And so that just, things like that happen when you start stuff.
Speaker: And it just, it's just cool to see how like I've had to trust him every step of the way.
Speaker: And so I really do think he's using, using it in that way.
Speaker: And then as for the show, I feel like these characters are inspiring me to be more bold in my own life and stand up for the truth and, and, and, you know, stand up for justice when I see injustice being displayed other places or with friends or whatever it might be like, just really stand up for what you know is right and what the truth is.
Speaker: And, um,
Speaker: And in that even there's a line that they love at the end of the show.
Speaker: And it's very subtle.
Speaker: Like, I don't think a lot of people would even catch it, but I see it as like, Catherine talking about how she's had faith through it all.
Speaker: And how you, like she has a line about even after all of this,
Speaker: I still believe in it all.
Speaker: Like she still believes in God.
Speaker: She still believes in his faithfulness.
Speaker: And even though life, her life ended up being quite a bit of a tragedy, you know, she saw the good in her life.
Speaker: She saw the blessings still.
Speaker: And I think that is such an important lesson for so many of us because we all have our different trials and we all have
Speaker: different traumatic things that happen to us in our lives.
Speaker: And it can be hard.
Speaker: I think we've, a lot of us in our walk with God have hit those points of like wanting to give up on the faith, wanting to not believe this isn't this, this isn't for me.
Speaker: I can't, I can't believe in God when I, when you feel angry at him, maybe for something that happened in your life.
Speaker: And so to choose that, to choose to have the faith, no matter what, I think is just really powerful.
Speaker: And so that's been inspiring.
Speaker: And I feel like I've learned a lot, even just from the script.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Not a Christian show, but there's definitely elements where I'm like, okay, okay, I see that.
Speaker: It's just really firing.
Speaker: I think that's some of the richest shows is when you're like, oh, no, God snuck something in there that you didn't realize he was putting in there, but he got it in there.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: That's cool, though.
Speaker: One of the reasons I love...
Speaker: I guess not, I don't want to use the word secular, but non-Christian shows.
Speaker: And then approaching them from a Christian perspective is I feel like they tackle sometimes those harder things that in the church we kind of whitewash over and don't look at.
Speaker: And that idea of like choosing to believe or choosing faith is,
Speaker: when you're not feeling it or when it, when, when your life hasn't reinforced it or when you're not even sure if you like do, but you're like, no, I do like that.
Speaker: That's powerful and rich.
Speaker: I love that.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: That makes me more excited to see it.
Speaker: So that's cool.
Speaker: I hope.
Speaker: There we go.
Speaker: That should make you more excited to see it to audience.
Speaker: Buy tickets.
Speaker: I'll regret it.
Speaker: I hope.
Speaker: I,
Speaker: I did forget.
Speaker: So we're at about 45 minutes.
Speaker: So I'll kind of wind it down.
Speaker: I did forget to send you in advance my very last question that I also normally ask.
Speaker: So I'm going to ask it and we'll see if you have an answer.
Speaker: And if not, that's okay.
Speaker: One of the things I'm passionate about with the podcast is giving people places to go because I wanted to do acting as a kid and
Speaker: film and I was like, I don't know where to go.
Speaker: And eventually I found it.
Speaker: But I, especially in the West Michigan area, because we're like almost professional, but not quite, but we have like a lot of people who take the art very seriously.
Speaker: So I want to support them.
Speaker: So are there resources that, or recommendations you would have for people who are wanting to explore the
Speaker: art or their faith more, and I guess especially looking at acting and theater, are there any resources or things you would recommend for somebody who's like, how do I deepen my artistic walk or my artistic walk as a Christian?
Speaker: Yeah, so I mean...
Speaker: of course I think about like joining a community theater locally or like getting involved in, you know, if you are a Christian, it's, I think it's so great to work with Christians in the arts, especially because you're just obviously more on the same page, which is your core values and worldview.
Speaker: And so, um,
Speaker: you know, getting involved with obviously like master arts, if you're out in Grand Rapids, if you're, um, in Lansing, you know, alive, that's what alive.
Speaker: I want it to be a place of lots of opportunity.
Speaker: Um, we are just starting out, so I don't have a ton of opportunity yet, but like the goal is even just like getting on and like volunteering for crew and like, so just like being part of the community, there's a place literally for everybody of all sorts of creative talents.
Speaker: Um, and so that would be a good place.
Speaker: There is, um,
Speaker: just trying to think like, you know, like I said, I started in theater camps.
Speaker: So that could be a great place to learn like the overall different things.
Speaker: If you feel like, oh, I don't have any experience in any of these areas, you know, just go into a theater camp because you don't have to like, it's not like an audition where you might not get in.
Speaker: But even auditioning is very, very helpful.
Speaker: Just keep auditioning.
Speaker: And then you build up more of that experience at each audition you go to.
Speaker: And then once you...
Speaker: also getting like a mentor maybe like a kind of acting I mean actors love talking about acting and they love just they just love like helping people I don't know I love I love act like I do act um acting coaching and stuff and um it literally just I love it so much probably why I love to be a director um so that's always an idea is to get like a mentor um
Speaker: I know your audience is more probably in the West side and I'm more central, but I, I drive all over the place for things.
Speaker: So people can come to me if they want to like talk more about it.
Speaker: But yeah, I would say go follow RD theater on Facebook.
Speaker: Alive.
Speaker: It's a live theater.
Speaker: It should pop right up.
Speaker: I haven't seen, there's not like a lot of other, there's like no other theaters called a live theater.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: All the other theaters are dead, but this one's alive.
Speaker: This one's alive.
Speaker: We're alive.
Speaker: We're here.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: Well, thanks for coming on, Christine.
Speaker: This has been lovely.
Speaker: People, go check out these Shining Lives.
Speaker: I'm super excited about everything I've heard from it.
Speaker: Again, every time I've talked to you and heard your heart behind it, Christine, I'm just so excited for
Speaker: what God has in store for Alive in the Lansing area and for this show.
Speaker: And just seeing it, even I saw a brief snippet of it at the Master Arts Banquet, and I just think it's going to be a really rich, powerful, real show.
Speaker: So anybody who likes those...
Speaker: those buzzwords, which I think is a lot of my audience, go check it out.
Speaker: It's so the, I think it'll be next week from when the podcast opens, but it's, it's the last weekend of January and the first weekend of February, right?
Speaker: That's correct.
Speaker: Yeah, you can, it's January 26th and 27th.
Speaker: We have a two o'clock matinee and then evening on Friday and Saturday.
Speaker: So those are at 730 and it's the same each weekend.
Speaker: So it's matches the same times.
Speaker: on the following weekend.
Speaker: That's the first weekend in February.
Speaker: Awesome.
Speaker: And I'll have a link in the show notes below.
Speaker: So if you guys want to check that out, just go click on the link and you guys can purchase tickets.
Speaker: So awesome.
Speaker: Thanks again, Christine.
Speaker: This has been awesome.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker: A lot of fun.
