Isaac Bont and Jason Richards recently sat down to try their hands at recording a podcast about St. Croix Festival Theatre. They briefly chatted about what Jason's job (Executive Artistic Director) entails and also about choosing The Marvelous Wonderettes and the musical it beat out to be the summer 2019 musical!
Here's the transcript of the recording if you'd rather just read it!
Isaac
Hi Jason!
Jason
Hi!
Isaac
This is nice! The past couple times we've recorded, we're worried about appearances and about making sure that I'm not talking over you. But now I can talk over you all I want!
Jason
My hair can look silly and I don't mind!
Isaac
I'm Isaac Bont! I'm the marketing director for Festival Theatre.
Jason
And I'm Jason Richards I'm the executive artistic director for St. Croix Festival Theatre.
Isaac
Oh St. Croix, very good. We're toying around with a podcast just because it's a different medium of sharing what we do here in Festival Theater. I was just on a trip to Chicago and on the way back we listened to three different podcasts and it made time go by so quickly.
Jason
I love podcasts.
Isaac
Yeah, I understand better this year why podcasts are a completely different medium of sharing or storytelling.
Jason
I love that. They're very interesting.
Isaac
So tell me about executive artistic director. What exactly does that mean.
Jason
What does that mean? Well it's a dual title: executive director and artistic director. Those are two separate things. An executive artistic director takes on the role of both of those jobs, basically. So an executive director deals more with board meetings and checking in on and keeping up with all the other departments: marketing like you're doing or arts ed or finances or box office just to make sure that all those things are running smoothly and what can I do to help those kinds of things that an executive director would do more so than the artistic director would do? An artistic director generally directs things that are artistic which is sortof funny to say. That person will hire actors, hire directors, find designers for the shows, choose the shows. Part of my personal contract is I have to perform or direct three shows per year. That's just my personal contract. That's not saying any artistic director has to do that. They could do more or less according to whatever their personal contract is. Mine says I have to do three things, you have to be in at least one or two plays and direct one or two plays that kind of thing. So you put all that stuff together and it's a larger job and you have your finger in more things that are going on in the company. You have your hand on the pulse of what this company is. You feel like "I want to give the people that 'work for me' enough space to do what they need to do." But also you have that one person, that executive artistic director, that keeps all these people moving in the same direction. Whatever vision you have for this theater. The artistic vision that we have for this theater or what our mission statement is; something that is guiding us something or that I use as a guide that I can pull everybody along and say we're all going in this direction.
Isaac
Interesting. This is kind of a weird question, but can you say what is a current direction? Can you give an example of "We're all moving in this direction right now"? Maybe something like "We're moving towards the summer season and just getting that all underfoot."
Jason
Yeah well we are. Yes. That's a good point. I guess we have moved into our summer season since our our summer company is here. Part of the job that artistic director has is "What's next. What's on the horizon. What's coming up?" Everything has to be in place before the first day of rehearsal. That process really starts a year before that rehearsal starts. Picking the show and thinking "well if we do this show, do we have the resources to do this? Do we have the actors that can do it or can we hire actors to do this? Do we have the money to build the set? Or will this set fit our stage?" We were just talking about this show that we're discussing for 2020 and "why do you like that show better than the other show we read and what's funny about it?" Do you as an actor, are you excited about being in this show or is it like "Yeah OK we'll do it great." Or are you challenged by it? Are you excited by it? You get to think about those things as an artistic director to say "if we do this show, will the actors like it, first of all, and would they feel challenged and have fun doing this show?" Then what about the the crew? If you're going to design costumes for this, do you like that? Are you compelled to work on that? Are you saying, "this is going to really challenge me and I like that"! Or "we can't do it. We don't have the money and the resources the time to create all these costumes" or whatever it happens to be. And then you look at the size of the cast and you think there's no way we can hire twenty people because we can't pay twenty people for one show. We can't put them backstage. We can't even put them onstage! "It's just too many for what the space that we have.| That can be a bummer too because there are great plays that call for 20 to 25 people. So there's a lot of that goes into the first steps of a production and it starts way earlier than you realize.
Isaac
Right. When did you read or start considering the Marvelous Wonderettes for this season?
Jason
It probably would have been this time last year, maybe a little earlier something like June. Yeah June or May. It probably would have been April/May of 2018 when we started thinking about 2019 and what we may do. For Marvelous Wonderettes, I had chosen a separate musical and that was pretty solidly decided on. Then time passed and more thought was put into it and then that got changed.
Isaac
Out of curiosity, can you say what that musical was?.
Jason
Yeah, it was She Loves Me, which is still something that's in the fold to do at some point.
Isaac
Is that a Beatles musical?
Jason
No it's not a Beatles musical. So it's what the movie, You've Got Mail, is based on. It's an older version of that. Not sending e mail though sending, actual letters. It's really great! It just required more people. It required more and more detailed sets than what Marvelous Wonderettes does. Marvelous only has four ladies. There's two sets basically, but they look very similar. I don't know if it was cheaper to do but it had less actors, which was good. We needed that at the time. Also, I think Marvelous Wonderettes will make more money than She Loves Me.
Isaac
Interesting.
Jason
I think that, you know, I don't know that, but I think that it will.
Isaac
Just to know sort of your process, "Why do you think that?" is my question. What do you think it is about Marvelous Wonderettes versus this other show?
Jason
Because when I said She Loves Me to you, you were like, "Oh is that the Beatles? I don't know what that means?" I had to explain it, but then when I said it's the musical that they based You've Got Mail on, you said, "Oh OK." So I know that's a reference and you say, "oh now I'm interested in that because that was the original story and I remember liking that movie."
Isaac
Yeah I can't really market, "It's like the musical version of You've Got Mail but they're sending letters"
Jason
But I mean you can market it that way! You can say something to the nature of, "If you enjoyed You've Got Mail, you'll like this" or "You've Got Mail was based on this."
Isaac
"It's a charming romantic comedy."
Jason
It's a charming romantic comedy. And with Marvelous Wonderettes, the first act is set in the late 50's and there's this girl band. And they're performing for their high school senior prom and they're singing all these great songs of the 50's. Well, already people are interested in that. And then act two is their ten year high school reunion and these ladies come back and they sing all the great hits from the 60's. And so it's a wide swath of songs that people really like. It's a great era for music: the 50's and 60's and so I think people are gonna love it. You're going to know the songs, and then the ladies; the characters in the play are very charming and you learn about their hopes and dreams and wishes and what they what they want out of life in act one and then in act two you find out whether those things came true or not and whether they're better off because they did or didn't. It's a great story to go along with these wonderful songs.
Isaac
Yeah yeah. The first thing that stuck out to me was looking at the songs, the music, I'm like "of course, I know these songs. These are great, charming songs and this will already be great because of the music." It reminded me of Forever Plaid which is more 20's and 30's style music.
Jason
I think maybe it is maybe 30's and 40's. I can't remember. But they had the same kind of premise: there's these four guys that have a guy band and they play these songs.
Isaac
I remember Forever Plaid being charming but I don't remember it really being funny except in the performance of the songs. But when I read the script for Marvelous Wonderettes, I was like "oh, this is funny! This is a fun show."
Jason
I think in Marvelous Wonderettes, the ladies have more of relationships than the guys do in Forever Plaid. These ladies have more of a backstory because they've been going to high school together all this time.
Isaac
Yeah and they've got changing relationships even in the actual show, which is fun to watch.
Jason
Yeah there are discoveries that happen.
Isaac
The competition of "who's going to be the prom queen?" is a silly, fun conceit.
Jason
And I like that they hand out ballots to the audience and the audience gets to vote for prom queen. It's fun!
Here's the transcript of the recording if you'd rather just read it!
Isaac
Hi Jason!
Jason
Hi!
Isaac
This is nice! The past couple times we've recorded, we're worried about appearances and about making sure that I'm not talking over you. But now I can talk over you all I want!
Jason
My hair can look silly and I don't mind!
Isaac
I'm Isaac Bont! I'm the marketing director for Festival Theatre.
Jason
And I'm Jason Richards I'm the executive artistic director for St. Croix Festival Theatre.
Isaac
Oh St. Croix, very good. We're toying around with a podcast just because it's a different medium of sharing what we do here in Festival Theater. I was just on a trip to Chicago and on the way back we listened to three different podcasts and it made time go by so quickly.
Jason
I love podcasts.
Isaac
Yeah, I understand better this year why podcasts are a completely different medium of sharing or storytelling.
Jason
I love that. They're very interesting.
Isaac
So tell me about executive artistic director. What exactly does that mean.
Jason
What does that mean? Well it's a dual title: executive director and artistic director. Those are two separate things. An executive artistic director takes on the role of both of those jobs, basically. So an executive director deals more with board meetings and checking in on and keeping up with all the other departments: marketing like you're doing or arts ed or finances or box office just to make sure that all those things are running smoothly and what can I do to help those kinds of things that an executive director would do more so than the artistic director would do? An artistic director generally directs things that are artistic which is sortof funny to say. That person will hire actors, hire directors, find designers for the shows, choose the shows. Part of my personal contract is I have to perform or direct three shows per year. That's just my personal contract. That's not saying any artistic director has to do that. They could do more or less according to whatever their personal contract is. Mine says I have to do three things, you have to be in at least one or two plays and direct one or two plays that kind of thing. So you put all that stuff together and it's a larger job and you have your finger in more things that are going on in the company. You have your hand on the pulse of what this company is. You feel like "I want to give the people that 'work for me' enough space to do what they need to do." But also you have that one person, that executive artistic director, that keeps all these people moving in the same direction. Whatever vision you have for this theater. The artistic vision that we have for this theater or what our mission statement is; something that is guiding us something or that I use as a guide that I can pull everybody along and say we're all going in this direction.
Isaac
Interesting. This is kind of a weird question, but can you say what is a current direction? Can you give an example of "We're all moving in this direction right now"? Maybe something like "We're moving towards the summer season and just getting that all underfoot."
Jason
Yeah well we are. Yes. That's a good point. I guess we have moved into our summer season since our our summer company is here. Part of the job that artistic director has is "What's next. What's on the horizon. What's coming up?" Everything has to be in place before the first day of rehearsal. That process really starts a year before that rehearsal starts. Picking the show and thinking "well if we do this show, do we have the resources to do this? Do we have the actors that can do it or can we hire actors to do this? Do we have the money to build the set? Or will this set fit our stage?" We were just talking about this show that we're discussing for 2020 and "why do you like that show better than the other show we read and what's funny about it?" Do you as an actor, are you excited about being in this show or is it like "Yeah OK we'll do it great." Or are you challenged by it? Are you excited by it? You get to think about those things as an artistic director to say "if we do this show, will the actors like it, first of all, and would they feel challenged and have fun doing this show?" Then what about the the crew? If you're going to design costumes for this, do you like that? Are you compelled to work on that? Are you saying, "this is going to really challenge me and I like that"! Or "we can't do it. We don't have the money and the resources the time to create all these costumes" or whatever it happens to be. And then you look at the size of the cast and you think there's no way we can hire twenty people because we can't pay twenty people for one show. We can't put them backstage. We can't even put them onstage! "It's just too many for what the space that we have.| That can be a bummer too because there are great plays that call for 20 to 25 people. So there's a lot of that goes into the first steps of a production and it starts way earlier than you realize.
Isaac
Right. When did you read or start considering the Marvelous Wonderettes for this season?
Jason
It probably would have been this time last year, maybe a little earlier something like June. Yeah June or May. It probably would have been April/May of 2018 when we started thinking about 2019 and what we may do. For Marvelous Wonderettes, I had chosen a separate musical and that was pretty solidly decided on. Then time passed and more thought was put into it and then that got changed.
Isaac
Out of curiosity, can you say what that musical was?.
Jason
Yeah, it was She Loves Me, which is still something that's in the fold to do at some point.
Isaac
Is that a Beatles musical?
Jason
No it's not a Beatles musical. So it's what the movie, You've Got Mail, is based on. It's an older version of that. Not sending e mail though sending, actual letters. It's really great! It just required more people. It required more and more detailed sets than what Marvelous Wonderettes does. Marvelous only has four ladies. There's two sets basically, but they look very similar. I don't know if it was cheaper to do but it had less actors, which was good. We needed that at the time. Also, I think Marvelous Wonderettes will make more money than She Loves Me.
Isaac
Interesting.
Jason
I think that, you know, I don't know that, but I think that it will.
Isaac
Just to know sort of your process, "Why do you think that?" is my question. What do you think it is about Marvelous Wonderettes versus this other show?
Jason
Because when I said She Loves Me to you, you were like, "Oh is that the Beatles? I don't know what that means?" I had to explain it, but then when I said it's the musical that they based You've Got Mail on, you said, "Oh OK." So I know that's a reference and you say, "oh now I'm interested in that because that was the original story and I remember liking that movie."
Isaac
Yeah I can't really market, "It's like the musical version of You've Got Mail but they're sending letters"
Jason
But I mean you can market it that way! You can say something to the nature of, "If you enjoyed You've Got Mail, you'll like this" or "You've Got Mail was based on this."
Isaac
"It's a charming romantic comedy."
Jason
It's a charming romantic comedy. And with Marvelous Wonderettes, the first act is set in the late 50's and there's this girl band. And they're performing for their high school senior prom and they're singing all these great songs of the 50's. Well, already people are interested in that. And then act two is their ten year high school reunion and these ladies come back and they sing all the great hits from the 60's. And so it's a wide swath of songs that people really like. It's a great era for music: the 50's and 60's and so I think people are gonna love it. You're going to know the songs, and then the ladies; the characters in the play are very charming and you learn about their hopes and dreams and wishes and what they what they want out of life in act one and then in act two you find out whether those things came true or not and whether they're better off because they did or didn't. It's a great story to go along with these wonderful songs.
Isaac
Yeah yeah. The first thing that stuck out to me was looking at the songs, the music, I'm like "of course, I know these songs. These are great, charming songs and this will already be great because of the music." It reminded me of Forever Plaid which is more 20's and 30's style music.
Jason
I think maybe it is maybe 30's and 40's. I can't remember. But they had the same kind of premise: there's these four guys that have a guy band and they play these songs.
Isaac
I remember Forever Plaid being charming but I don't remember it really being funny except in the performance of the songs. But when I read the script for Marvelous Wonderettes, I was like "oh, this is funny! This is a fun show."
Jason
I think in Marvelous Wonderettes, the ladies have more of relationships than the guys do in Forever Plaid. These ladies have more of a backstory because they've been going to high school together all this time.
Isaac
Yeah and they've got changing relationships even in the actual show, which is fun to watch.
Jason
Yeah there are discoveries that happen.
Isaac
The competition of "who's going to be the prom queen?" is a silly, fun conceit.
Jason
And I like that they hand out ballots to the audience and the audience gets to vote for prom queen. It's fun!
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