Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Bridget Hillyer of Birmingham Village Players' 'Steel Magnolias'

Transcript

Exclusive Interview: Bridget Hillyer of Birmingham Village Players' 'Steel Magnolias' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:01
  Thank you so much for joining me today, Bridget.
• 0:03
  How are you doing?
• 0:04
  I'm doing great.
• 0:06
  I'm glad to be on the other side of daylight savings time because having the sun go down at 5 o'clock was not it.
• 0:13
  The sun is still almost up and it is 730.
• 0:16
  So we're in the better part of the year now.
• 0:19
  Absolutely, and your internet's working.
• 0:22
  And my internet's working.
• 0:23
  I've got all the things that a modern American woman could want.
• 0:26
  Internet and the sun.
• 0:29
  You don't need anything else.
• 0:30
  There's nothing else that's needed.
• 0:32
  So you're kind of knee deep in the rehearsal process of Steel Magnolias.
• 0:36
  How's that been so far?
• 0:38
  it's been a lot of fun.
• 0:40
  This is my first show with the village, the Birmingham Village Players, and they are, they're great.
• 0:46
  They're really very professional.
• 0:47
  They take it really seriously.
• 0:50
  You can tell there's a lot of veterans people who are there and have done it and they know every inch of everything.
• 0:55
  And then there's enough new people like myself to the group that it still feels very welcoming and open.
• 1:03
  So that's been a lot of fun.
• 1:05
  It is a bit of a drive for me.
• 1:08
  I feel was so excited to be part of Steel Magnolias and to participate and work at this theater, because I've seen some of their shows and the works are just always phenomenal.
• 1:17
  That it's about 40 minutes to get there.
• 1:21
  And so, yeah, after work, there are points, especially when it's like snowing or raining, where I'd be in the car and I'd be like, I've made a terrible mistake.
• 1:29
  you know, getting home at like 1130 sometimes, but it's a lot of.
• 1:34
  fun.
• 1:35
  It's really great.
• 1:35
  It's a great cast.
• 1:37
  Way to persevere.
• 1:38
  mean, that is probably some of the hardest parts of a rehearsal process.
• 1:42
  It's just, yeah, pushing through when you're tired, when it's snowy, trying to make it to the show to give it your all, all the time.
• 1:51
  So how familiar were you with Steel Magnolias before being cast in it?
• 1:56
  Well, I think I knew all the key parts.
• 2:01
  And by that, I mean all of the lines that everyone would quote, like, drink your juice, Shelby.
• 2:10
  So I'd seen the movie with Julia Roberts, and I knew the basic through line, but I didn't know actually it was a play first, and that the author of it had based it off of his
• 2:25
  his sister and his experience of seeing his sister with his mother and their friends at the beauty parlor.
• 2:31
  And then the play was translated into the movie really quickly, which I feel like is such an anomaly nowadays where something becomes big on a straight show becomes big on
• 2:42
  Broadway.
• 2:42
  And then they're like, we got to make this into a movie.
• 2:45
  I mean, I can't feel like any movie that they've made of a play is usually a lot older, like Fences or things like that.
• 2:52
  Absolutely.
• 2:53
  It takes time.
• 2:53
  know, usually people kind of sit there and they play with the ideas first.
• 2:58
  And so this one had like a quick turnover into a movie.
• 3:01
  was, I think it was 1987 that the play came out and then 1989 was when they released the film.
• 3:07
  So it was like fast.
• 3:10
  And that's really, I kind of outed myself to Leah when I said I didn't know this film.
• 3:15
  I knew of the film, but I hadn't seen the film before in my entire life.
• 3:18
  So I'm gonna be seeing it for the first time when I come next week to see you guys perform it.
• 3:25
  But it's really kind of cool that this is like that slice of life from a real life story and real life people.
• 3:29
  Because that is such a cool concept and something that's kind of universal to a lot of people.
• 3:36
  In a certain way, there are parts about it that you can really tell.
• 3:40
  There's this sort of almost, because he's a young gay man looking back on these women in his life.
• 3:46
  And you can see there's almost a sheen about this time period that really reflects a level of love and nostalgia that really makes it all, the play almost glow in a sense.
• 3:58
  And you can really tell why they'd want to make it into a film because it's got this.
• 4:03
  He's very up close and he really understands these people, but he's just enough on the outside because he's a boy, he's younger kid, he's not one of the older women chatting.
• 4:14
  He loves it and cares for the scenarios, but he also can see it from the outside perspective.
• 4:19
  So everyone can kind of feel like they're part of the circle, which is really nice.
• 4:25
  absolutely.
• 4:26
  So what is the story of Steel Magnolias and then how does your character factor into the narrative?
• 4:31
  Yeah, so the story of Steel Magnolias is a couple things that we do not have here, so I had to look them up.
• 4:39
  They take place in an in-home beauty salon in a converted carport.
• 4:45
  What is a carport, you're wondering?
• 4:46
  I didn't know what it was.
• 4:48
  It is basically just like a structure for your car because in areas where the weather isn't garbage 50 % of the year, you don't really need much besides to stop it from raining
• 4:59
  on your car or maybe really a lot of wind.
• 5:01
  So it's been turned into an indoor structure.
• 5:05
  So it's off the house and it's run by Truvy and she has a recurring clientele on the weekends that are basically women from the neighborhood.
• 5:17
  And this is set in 1980s Northern Louisiana.
• 5:22
  And so this is a time period, a group of women where you're gonna go get your hair done pretty much every week.
• 5:27
  You're gonna go get a set put in.
• 5:30
  know.
• 5:30
  And some of them very much the expectations, they're ladies, you're not gonna go out back then in the 80s in the South with your hair not done.
• 5:40
  So this is one of the few times when you're with a group of people where your hair is down and you're just ready to have a gossip and get it put back up.
• 5:48
  And the character that I play actually is an interpretation of the author's sister.
• 5:55
  So I play Shelby, which is played by Julia Roberts in the film.
• 6:00
  No big shoes to fill there or anything.
• 6:04
  No pressure.
• 6:06
  But she is on one hand, she's just the typical like sort of high school beauty queen where she's her life is sort of charmed in certain senses.
• 6:15
  You know, she's going to marry this wealthy lawyer.
• 6:19
  She's a nurse.
• 6:20
  You know, she's really well loved in the community and she's got this really positive outlook on life.
• 6:25
  And then on the other hand, she does suffer from type.
• 6:29
  childhood type 1 diabetes and she has a very aggressive form of it.
• 6:34
  So that means that she will go into attacks of low blood sugar at a moment's notice and that limits a lot of her ability to do things.
• 6:48
  a lot of the tension in the narrative comes from basically how the mother, her mother and Shelby deal with
• 6:57
  deal with issues and things in life.
• 6:59
  Because they both are very strong women.
• 7:03
  You could tell that the author saw all these women as very, very strong and they're very feisty and they have lot of biting remarks and witty banter.
• 7:12
  But Shelby and the mom deal with it in two very different ways.
• 7:14
  The mom is very much like, okay, you're not super healthy.
• 7:20
  So we want to be as serious and take your health as seriously as possible.
• 7:25
  We want to be as careful as possible.
• 7:26
  because you're not gonna most likely live a full life.
• 7:30
  So the mom wants to be cautious about everything and take everything the doctor says is gospel and Shelby sees it the other way where she's like, well, if I know I'm only gonna
• 7:41
  live, I'm not gonna be able to live a full life and I am gonna suffer from medical issues my whole life.
• 7:46
  I wanna be able to live as much as possible.
• 7:50
  there's a lot of tension that comes between them because of those two different takes.
• 7:55
  Is that kind of the central conflict of the story?
• 7:59
  That is, I would say, one of the main drivers.
• 8:02
  The beautiful thing about this show is that it's not really, it's not like a musical, you know, where you have kind of tiers of plot points, where it's like you have the main
• 8:11
  story, and then you'll probably have like the B plot, which is somebody's sidekick falling in love with somebody else.
• 8:19
  And then you have all the ensembles.
• 8:20
  And if you're in the ensemble, you've developed a narrative.
• 8:23
  where you and your best friend from high school are like, okay, well, we really are doing this because you weren't good enough to get a lead.
• 8:30
  Maybe speaking from experience, can't sing.
• 8:36
  When you're like an ensemble in high school and you don't have a point, you're like, why am I out on the stage?
• 8:40
  And it's not just because I'm a townsperson in Beauty and the Beast, it's because I have a whole rich backstory that I have to, that I'm playing out, that everyone will know about
• 8:49
  in the audience.
• 8:51
  No, the difference with this is that everybody has a very rich kind of narrative that they're kind of building around and we learn about all of them equally.
• 9:02
  So one of the central tensions is about Shelby and her desire to get married and move out of the house and become her own person and live her own life.
• 9:13
  And her mother trying to reconcile with the idea that Shelby may make decisions that aren't
• 9:20
  the best for her physically, even though they are the decision she wants to make as an adult.
• 9:25
  And she feels they're best for her and her life.
• 9:28
  But there's a whole other group of people that are having their own trials and tribulations because Truvy is trying to keep it all together and keep this group of women
• 9:36
  happy because this is her salon.
• 9:38
  And you have an Anelle who is having a whole host of lifetime original issues with her husband or her.
• 9:48
  her maybe husband, maybe not husband, we don't know.
• 9:52
  And she's trying to step out of her shell and figure out who she is.
• 9:55
  there's, there's Clairee, I want to call her Miss Clairee because Shelby only ever, she's a proper young lady.
• 10:01
  So anyone older than her has always missed something.
• 10:04
  But Clairee is trying to figure out what to do with herself now that her husband has passed away.
• 10:10
  And not in a sad sort of downtrodden way, but it's like, you know, I've got a lot of life left to live.
• 10:14
  Like, what am I going to do?
• 10:16
  And then
• 10:17
  Ouiser who most people I think will remember, and she just sort of like is cantankerous.
• 10:22
  just, Susan's grumpy about everything in a very lovable way.
• 10:27
  So we're kind of watching all of them figure out how they're gonna, what they're gonna do and how they're gonna approach the next stages of their lives.
• 10:36
  There's a lot of narratives through this show.
• 10:38
  Yes.
• 10:40
  So you had mentioned that you're driving 40 minutes for the show, so there had to be something that drew you to this project.
• 10:45
  What was that?
• 10:47
  Well, I would say really it's that there's a strong cast of women.
• 10:52
  You don't get a lot of that in theater.
• 10:56
  when you do, they're usually special shows.
• 11:03
  You'll get six, but again, that's not even a full length musical.
• 11:07
  They don't have any dialogue.
• 11:08
  It's sung all the way through.
• 11:10
  A lot of them, I mean, you have Frozen, I think that's got a strong female bond focus, but.
• 11:16
  Even then, you know, there's a lot of male characters, it's two main female to two main male.
• 11:23
  So that was a big factor.
• 11:26
  It also, I think, was just the quality of work that comes out of the theater.
• 11:30
  When you're more local theater, it's always a bit of a gamble of what you're gonna get, of how serious everyone takes it and what level they aspire to, you know?
• 11:44
  because sometimes you'll get a place and you're like, it's local theater, calm down.
• 11:48
  And I wasn't looking for that.
• 11:50
  I didn't want to participate with a group of people who are like, it'll be fine.
• 11:54
  And the Birmingham Village players are very, very professional.
• 11:58
  They take everything very seriously.
• 12:00
  They want to put out a Broadway level performance every night, every time.
• 12:05
  And that was kind of the energy I was looking for.
• 12:08
  Absolutely, and you're right, there is such a need for female-led stories because they're not very common.
• 12:15
  As somebody who reviews a lot of shows, it's not always there, especially at community level.
• 12:20
  Well, it's also, think, partially, I mean, it's a problem across the board.
• 12:26
  You're going to see the same thing when you look at the Oscars.
• 12:28
  It's not a lot of women's stories.
• 12:30
  And one thing too, and it's something is often even women led stories, they're either usually like, this is a woman's play, or it's a play where it's like you've got one to two
• 12:45
  women actors.
• 12:47
  There's not really been any sort of sweet spots that I've seen where you get robust female characters and you also have male characters in the show at the same time.
• 12:57
  Usually it's one or the other.
• 12:59
  Because I was recently in Rabbit Hole and that had about six characters, but it was pretty close.
• 13:07
  It had three women and two, no, five characters.
• 13:12
  I can do math.
• 13:13
  I'm not in theater because I know how to do math.
• 13:17
  three female characters and two male, but it was pretty heavily driven female.
• 13:23
  Okay.
• 13:24
  Okay.
• 13:26
  So how has this role challenged you then as an actor?
• 13:30
  well, I would say it's interesting because I like, I like roles that challenge me.
• 13:35
  I like being able to learn something new.
• 13:37
  One of the roles that I did recently was the play that goes wrong and I got to learn stage combat and how to stand perfectly still so that when the set collapses, you don't die,
• 13:50
  which I have to say is a great skill to have.
• 13:55
  A plus work.
• 13:56
  Thank you.
• 13:57
  They were just like, stand in this box.
• 13:58
  And I was like, okay.
• 13:59
  And they're like, don't leave the box.
• 14:00
  And I was like, what happens if I leave the box?
• 14:01
  And they're like, don't leave the box.
• 14:07
  it won't be good.
• 14:08
  It'll be dangerous.
• 14:10
  The play will literally go wrong.
• 14:13
  So for this one, there's three different things that I really had to learn how to do.
• 14:18
  One was the Southern accent.
• 14:21
  The show takes place in Northern Louisiana and I would say as mid-westerners, we have a very set idea of what it sounds like in the South.
• 14:29
  And until you actually hear the variations, you're like, no, I know what it sounds like.
• 14:34
  But usually what you think it sounds like is House of Cards, that kind of like Georgia drawl.
• 14:40
  This one is much twangier, a little closer to Dolly Parton, I would say.
• 14:46
  Not 100 % because she's from Tennessee.
• 14:49
  You can really hear the Rs.
• 14:50
  That's kind how you could tell the difference.
• 14:52
  So that involves a lot of tapes of people saying words and saying like sentences and then you repeating it back like a crazy person.
• 15:01
  Which I normally do it while I'm driving.
• 15:04
  So the 40 minute drive really comes in handy.
• 15:07
  Sometimes I would run lines while I'm on, cause I have an app that you use.
• 15:12
  You can like say them and I would normally do them while I'm walking and people just assume you're on.
• 15:17
  the phone having a very interesting conversation.
• 15:20
  But you can't do that with the accent because you just are like, bowl.
• 15:25
  You're like, poor, poor.
• 15:27
  And people are just like, you look like an insane woman.
• 15:32
  The other part is special effect makeup.
• 15:35
  There's some, not to spoil it too much, there are some diabetic complication symptoms that Shelby has that I have to do in the intermission.
• 15:47
  and they have to be under a sleeve.
• 15:49
  And I had to learn how to work with alcohol-based makeup, which is a whole thing.
• 15:55
  It dries in an instant.
• 15:56
  So if you're not used to it and then you're like back there, like furiously like, doesn't look right.
• 16:01
  And then someone's like, you need to get on stage.
• 16:04
  So I learned that.
• 16:06
  I would say in terms of the role itself on stage, what was the most interesting for me and the biggest challenge is that the-
• 16:15
  The role of Shelby very much mirrors someone who helped raise me as a child.
• 16:21
  She grew up with type one diabetes.
• 16:25
  She really had a lot of complications and there's things that come along with that where you could be doing everything you're supposed to do, but you're getting older.
• 16:34
  And by older, mean like approaching 30 or 35 where she had to have one of her corneas removed because it
• 16:44
  She, not entirely, I was very young, but it just, you she needed to have the lens replaced.
• 16:50
  She also really loved children and wasn't able to have kids.
• 16:54
  And I'd seen her many times actually go into a low blood sugar attack.
• 16:59
  And it's a very frightening thing, especially when you're a child.
• 17:04
  So I think one of things for me was how do I recreate that in a way that's realistic on the stage and people can see it from a distance?
• 17:14
  and doesn't feel false or insulting because there is a lot of subtlety to it in real life.
• 17:21
  There's a lot of things you can't do on stage.
• 17:22
  Like there's a lot of sweating.
• 17:24
  There's a lot of sort of, you know, their eyes are kind of glazed over things that you wouldn't notice from a distance.
• 17:30
  So stuff had to be, has to kind of be added in a bit so people get what's happening.
• 17:36
  And that was a bit of a challenge because part of me would be like, that's not what it's like.
• 17:40
  And you're like, yeah, but someone in row like Z.
• 17:42
  needs to know that something's going down and you say you got to make it work.
• 17:48
  Sure, absolutely.
• 17:49
  It sounds like this show is gonna make me cry.
• 17:52
  Is that what I'm hearing?
• 17:55
  a little, a little bit.
• 17:57
  It's not, I think it's more of a dramedy as opposed to like a tragic comedy where there are some things in here that are a little sad, but the tone is so upbeat and so like fast
• 18:15
  paced that you really don't, there's not any dwelling, you know?
• 18:20
  So I,
• 18:22
  nice balance between the tones.
• 18:23
  does a nice balance.
• 18:24
  You're not going to leave it.
• 18:25
  It's not like watching anything by Lars Van Trier or going to see Parade where you're like, I got to go sit in a corner and think about things for a little while now.
• 18:36
  I just saw Parade in Broadway in Detroit and I sobbed pretty much for an hour and a half.
• 18:42
  That's not the experience sometimes.
• 18:44
  You've got to be emotionally ready for that.
• 18:46
  I hope you knew you were getting that because going in blind to anything like that, you're like, okay.
• 18:52
  And then especially if someone wants to do something afterwards, you're like, no, I want to go home.
• 18:56
  I want to watch Community.
• 18:57
  Both me and my podcast host went into it pretty much blind.
• 19:01
  we had, knew so I knew more than he did, but we still, yeah, so it was a lot, but.
• 19:07
  That's tough.
• 19:08
  That's tough.
• 19:09
  It happens.
• 19:11
  So for your character, for Shelby, do you have to do anything specific to get into her mindset?
• 19:16
  Like as you're like playing her or you're getting ready to go on the stage, is there anything specific you do?
• 19:22
  Well, I definitely have those like cue lines.
• 19:26
  This is something I learned from interviews from actors, like professional actors.
• 19:31
  But you'll have like sentences and lines that you'll say to get into the accent because it is definitely happening in a rehearsal where you are like all ready to go and you're just
• 19:40
  joking around with someone backstage and it's your time to go on and then you're like and then you just can't get it.
• 19:46
  So it helps to start right before you get on and start saying things yourself.
• 19:51
  before.
• 19:54
  I think a lot of research about, because I know about diabetes from seeing it, but I didn't know a lot about it from the medical side standpoint of someone who's lived with
• 20:06
  it.
• 20:07
  So I did a lot of research for that.
• 20:11
  There's also just like a carefree sort of positivity, positive attitude to Shelby that I don't really share.
• 20:21
  So I tend to kind of, you know, really kind of look at some memes and really think about things in my life that bring me joy and kind of this idea of steeping life by the horns
• 20:36
  and really going for it because that's the attitude that she has where she's like, you know what, every day can be a great day if you make it a great day.
• 20:43
  And I really admire that, but it's something I have to work for.
• 20:46
  So I have to really kind of put myself in that place.
• 20:50
  You know, that's a really beautiful message, especially for somebody who has, you know, kind of a chronic health condition of just being like the, doesn't get to dictate my
• 20:58
  experience in my life.
• 20:59
  And you know, that that's beautiful.
• 21:01
  I love that.
• 21:02
  Yeah, she's the, you can really tell that she is the sister that this play is sort of revolving around because in some senses, is too wonderful to be real because her just
• 21:12
  like, she cares about everybody, she's so positive and I'm like, wow, this is definitely someone's memory of someone because she's such a great character.
• 21:22
  So when it comes to the interpretation of your character, know, you have what's on the script, but how do you go about making it a process of kind of making your own but also
• 21:30
  being what's true to the story?
• 21:33
  Yeah, I really find that going through the script and figuring out what the goal and the motivation of the through line is for the character really helps you to figure out all
• 21:44
  those moments to help you kind of figure out why does the character do things?
• 21:51
  Why would they say that?
• 21:54
  And then you, so you have your overarching goal for the whole script.
• 21:58
  for me, I really think that Shelby's goal is she wants to live life to the fullest.
• 22:01
  She wants to.
• 22:02
  who wants to be as happy as possible and experience as much as possible.
• 22:06
  And then you go into each scene and you say, okay, how is she going about achieving that overarching goal in this scene?
• 22:13
  And then each interaction becomes that question.
• 22:16
  And it really kind of helps to show like why, cause she's kind of a little argumentative with the mom and they sort of bicker and fight in a way.
• 22:27
  But then as you hear the dialogue and you think about it,
• 22:30
  this is sort of their family's love language where it's always something.
• 22:34
  Like they're one of those families where they're like, why are you always doing this?
• 22:38
  And they're like, you know, cause I'm crazy.
• 22:40
  And then everybody laughs.
• 22:43
  And it's so, I was trying to reconcile the idea of like, there's a lot of kind of nagging relationship with the mom, but I think she sees that as a form of love language.
• 22:53
  you know, that's how her mom is going to be.
• 22:56
  She's going to be a little controlling.
• 22:57
  She's going to want her to do things her way.
• 22:59
  And so Shelby is just gonna be like, nope, I'm gonna do it my way and I love you and we're gonna, if I have to get a little sassy with you to get you on board with me, then I'm
• 23:08
  gonna do it.
• 23:11
  As I was kind of talking with Leah, had mentioned it reminded me so much of like Gilmore Girls and Lorelei and her mom and kind of that dynamic of like, you know, the southern
• 23:20
  version of that of just being like the rebellious daughter and the mom who's trying to do her best and that struggle that exists between the two of them.
• 23:27
  older one, the older mom and the, Lorelai and her mother, what's her name?
• 23:33
  What's Emily?
• 23:35
  Yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 23:37
  I would say in some of the banter and like the wittiness and the way they speak to one another, definitely.
• 23:46
  I think the difference is in the show, the Gilmore Girls show, there's always clearly someone who's in the wrong.
• 23:54
  Like whether it's Lorelei or Emily where it's like Lorelei doesn't want Rory to see her parents and we all get that she's being a little ridiculous at this point.
• 24:04
  Or Emily is holding unreasonable standards that don't apply to the real world anymore.
• 24:08
  You kind of are like, okay, I get it.
• 24:11
  I would say that in Steel Magnolias, the mother daughter tension is hard to pin down in that way because you-
• 24:19
  really see it from both sides.
• 24:20
  If this were your child, you would want them to be as careful as possible.
• 24:24
  You would want them to have as full a life as they possibly can and get every minute of life that they can.
• 24:31
  at the same time, you understand you can't just live in a little glass box and not do anything.
• 24:37
  So you also get it from Shelby's standpoint, where you understand that sometimes you just got to take the risk because you want to live your life.
• 24:46
  So you can't pick a side.
• 24:49
  So it makes their dynamic more interesting.
• 24:51
  There's more nuance to that.
• 24:56
  So what themes of Steel Magnolias resonate the most with you?
• 25:01
  I would say the first one is definitely the power of female friendship and that does sound a little like 1990s afternoon special.
• 25:12
  you realize how important it is, and maybe it's not just female friendship, just friendship in general, how important it is to just have somebody that you can share with
• 25:22
  and laugh with because the world is like a crazy place.
• 25:29
  percent.
• 25:30
  right now especially where it's like every day you're learning a thing or you're hearing a thing and you're like, great.
• 25:35
  The horrors are unending and ongoing.
• 25:39
  And this play really kind of highlights this idea that we don't live our lives as an island.
• 25:45
  We're surrounded by people.
• 25:48
  And when you surround yourself with the right kind of people, even little moments are going to be a joy and they're going to be a lot of fun.
• 25:54
  And I think that's really beautiful.
• 25:58
  So that idea of community is a big part of the show.
• 26:03
  Also, again, like I said, just finding joy.
• 26:08
  Sometimes you have to choose it, even when, and I say this because I know right now finding joy feels.
• 26:18
  really, really, really, really hard.
• 26:19
  And sometimes when people say to you, like, you gotta find the joy, you're like, well, that feels condescending and irritating because I'm facing a real struggle right now and
• 26:30
  that's not helpful.
• 26:31
  But I think because the scenarios in these feel very real, there is no winning in the situation that my character faces where she wants to have a baby, but it could put her
• 26:43
  life at real risk.
• 26:45
  There is no winning there.
• 26:46
  You have to choose.
• 26:47
  What do you do?
• 26:49
  And so this choice to focus on the positive carries a lot of weight to it.
• 26:57
  It doesn't feel frivolous or like something you read on a poster with a cat being like, hang in there.
• 27:04
  And you're like, I hate you cat that says hang in there.
• 27:06
  It's clearly a person did that to you.
• 27:09
  It feels real.
• 27:11
  And you know, I think that as a psychologist, I can say that like there is a point, there is a line a lot of the times where it's like choosing happiness is it is a choice
• 27:21
  sometimes, you know, there are things that are controllable.
• 27:25
  If we focus on things we can control, we do have some semblance of control over our happiness.
• 27:30
  And every day that is the thing I've been having to tell myself.
• 27:33
  I read the news and I'm like, you gotta focus on what you can control, Virgie.
• 27:36
  You gotta do what you can do.
• 27:38
  It's hard.
• 27:38
  It's absolutely the most difficult thing anybody can do right now.
• 27:44
  So one final question for you is just what do you hope audiences walk away with the show from?
• 27:49
  I really just hope they have a good time.
• 27:52
  there's something about, I don't know if it was post pandemic or what, where we all just don't want to go out.
• 28:01
  don't want to, the energy and the desire to go out and do things, it just doesn't feel like it's there anymore.
• 28:06
  And I think, I just want people to go and have a good time.
• 28:10
  And I think that's the energy everybody has.
• 28:12
  We're not here to make you...
• 28:15
  ponder real hard and you have to think about it like this isn't waiting for Godot where you're like I don't what am I supposed to take away from this and you know this is
• 28:23
  something where you can enjoy it and have a nice time and and feel maybe a little bit refreshed because you saw something that you enjoyed and you enjoyed the energy on the
• 28:31
  stage and you felt like you were part of this group of friends and that you know maybe for just a moment what whoever you are that you are also a woman in the 1980s in northern
• 28:41
  Louisiana getting your hair done.
• 28:43
  Because I think that would be a nice break.
• 28:46
  And so I hope people feel it, leave feeling like they had fun and they feel refreshed to go back to regular life.
• 28:54
  I mean, I'm always down for being a woman in a hair salon in Louisiana.
• 28:58
  Like that just, that sounds like therapy to me.
• 29:00
  even the most masculine of men like you would never be invited there even if it was the 80s like don't you want to know don't you want to like know what goes on in there now you
• 29:08
  get to know what are the secrets it's a lot of hairspray and teasing I will tell you that is a big factor a lot of toxic chemicals both look at that I love it wordplay
• 29:27
  Thank you so much for your time today, Bridget.
• 29:29
  I really appreciate it.
• 29:31
  Of course.
• 29:33
  Steel Magnolias arrives at the Village Players of Birmingham on March 14th runs through March 30th, so get your tickets now and we will see you there.