Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / Why Shae Robins Let Go of Broadway and How God Opened Every Door

Transcript

Why Shae Robins Let Go of Broadway and How God Opened Every Door · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

0:02
Speaker 1: Life Audio.
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Speaker 2: Hey Terai, thanks for joining me.
0:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, happy to be here.
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Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, Michael, I appreciate it.
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Speaker 2: Jay Robbins, who stars in some of my favorite great
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Speaker 2: American family movies and also is involved in a partnership
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Speaker 2: and glorify the popular Christian devotional app Shay your Face
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Speaker 2: started popping up in rom comms at least in my
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Speaker 2: world around twenty nineteen, twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, and you've
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Speaker 2: done at least one or two every year since. How
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Speaker 2: did you land in this, John, And what is it
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Speaker 2: about these rom comms that you like so much?
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Speaker 1: That is a great question.
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Speaker 3: I think you're right on the date. So twenty nineteen
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Speaker 3: was the year that I kind of transitioned from pursuing
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Speaker 3: theater professionally and signing with an agent in starting my
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Speaker 3: film commercial TV career. So truly the backstory, and I'll
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Speaker 3: keep this brief, and I've shared the story before, but
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Speaker 3: God had a big hand in how I got started
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Speaker 3: in real I was working professionally at a theater, trying
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Speaker 3: to accrue enough points to join the Actor Zecuity Association. Eventually,
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Speaker 3: the dream was to move to New York and I
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Speaker 3: wanted to be on Broadway. I got my degree in
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Speaker 3: music against theater. My friends were all out there performing
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Speaker 3: on Broadway touring. I finally, you know, worked enough hours
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Speaker 3: at the time you want to put in like fifty
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Speaker 3: weeks to join the union. I was part of the
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Speaker 3: Union and was kind of ready to like make that decision.
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Speaker 3: But I got married at a young age at twenty one,
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Speaker 3: and my husband had a great stable career here in
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Speaker 3: Utah where we're based Adobe, and I just it just
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Speaker 3: felt like either he would have to give up his
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Speaker 3: dreams and our stability, or I would be giving up mine.
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Speaker 3: And so it was a wrestle internally with God, you know,
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Speaker 3: discussion it was constantly having with my husband.
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Speaker 4: I remember driving to work one day.
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Speaker 3: The theater that I was working at was set against
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Speaker 3: his beautiful red rock as an outdoor amphitheater, just gorgeous,
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Speaker 3: think Grand Canyon brace Kenyons, and I was just talking
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Speaker 3: to God about just life. It wasn't about my career
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Speaker 3: or anything specifically. And out of nowhere, I felt this
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Speaker 3: overwhelming confirmation and peace that New York wasn't right for
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Speaker 3: me right now, and I was kind of taken back, like, wait, wait,
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Speaker 3: that's not what we were talking about why am I
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Speaker 3: feeling this and why am I feeling so much peace
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Speaker 3: about this? Like this was my identity, mind you, this
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Speaker 3: was my dream that I had since I was a
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Speaker 3: very little girl. It's all I wanted to do in
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Speaker 3: my entire life. It defined me. And yet in that moment,
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Speaker 3: I felt God giving me the peace and comfort that
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Speaker 3: I needed to be able to let go of that identity.
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Speaker 3: And I so clumb too and tell that little girl
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Speaker 3: inside me that it's okay, it's okay to move on
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Speaker 3: for now, you know, and that's not right for me.
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Speaker 3: And so I was like, okay, God, you're in charge,
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Speaker 3: and I did just that, and then from there on,
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Speaker 3: like everything just kind of seemed to fall in place.
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Speaker 1: I signed with an agent right away.
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Speaker 3: I got cast in my first feature film, which is
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Speaker 3: actually destined at Christmas, and that, as you know, it
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Speaker 3: was Great American Families.
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Speaker 1: It was second year of Christmas.
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Speaker 3: It was the first in their lineup, and it did
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Speaker 3: so well we made a sequel for that, and then
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Speaker 3: the rest is history. The network has just reached out
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Speaker 3: and we continued to make films from there. So that
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Speaker 3: is how I got started in these rom Gods.
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Speaker 2: Well, why do you think audiences are embracing them so
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Speaker 2: much right now? This not rom coms specifically, but just
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Speaker 2: family and faith content because so much of your content
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Speaker 2: can be watched by the whle family. Well, why do
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Speaker 2: you think audiences are embracing them so much right now?
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Speaker 1: Absolutely?
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Speaker 3: And that's honestly one of the biggest reasons why I
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Speaker 3: continue to make these films.
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Speaker 1: Why I do what I do.
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Speaker 4: You know, I'm a mom now.
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Speaker 3: I have two little girls, a five year old and
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Speaker 3: a two year old, and they're going to grow up
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Speaker 3: watching me their example. I am setting that example for them,
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Speaker 3: and I want to make content that they can be
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Speaker 3: proud of, that I to be proud of that I
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Speaker 3: don't need to worry about. You know, there's so much negative, terrible,
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Speaker 3: honestly crap content out there that I don't want to
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Speaker 3: subject to my kids too. And there's enough negativity and
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Speaker 3: things going.
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Speaker 4: On in the world.
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Speaker 3: I think people right now are desperately seeking peace, goodness, faith,
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Speaker 3: and to have content and faith boward content like what
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Speaker 3: Great American Family is producing, what Glorify is doing, Pure
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Speaker 3: Flix is what people need more of right now, and
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Speaker 3: so I think people are becoming more drawn to it
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Speaker 3: because I think spiritually, our spirits are yearning for more
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Speaker 3: of that. The world needs more of that, and so
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Speaker 3: I'm just grateful for a platform that I can be
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Speaker 3: part of to help spread the light of Christ.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. You know, we live in such a dark culture.
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Speaker 2: It's it's like a drinking a hot a cup of
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Speaker 2: hot cocoa, almost sitting on a couch watching watching some
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Speaker 2: of these rom coms, it's just soothing for the soul. Promotes,
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Speaker 2: the promotes the ideal. You know, I can watch them
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Speaker 2: with my kids. I don't have to worry about anything.
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Speaker 2: It's promotes positive, healthy relationships. I was going to ask you.
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Speaker 2: You said you had a background in stage productions and
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Speaker 2: musicals and you portrayed Belle and Beauty and the Beast.
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Speaker 2: I don't know how long ago that was, but I've
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Speaker 2: never spoken with anybody who's portrayed bell and Beauty and
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Speaker 2: the Beast, and so I'm curious what was that like
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Speaker 2: and was that a dream come true for you?
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Speaker 4: Yeah?
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Speaker 3: So, you know, I've been fortunate enough to play a
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Speaker 3: number of roles in my life. A lot of them
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Speaker 3: have been Disney princesses. I'm drawn to Disney princesses. And
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Speaker 3: one just like the messages behind them. You know, I
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Speaker 3: was Cinderella once and she is all about kindness.
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Speaker 4: That's her story, you know.
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Speaker 3: And despite the negativity and the constant bullying and whatever
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Speaker 3: the way that she's putting down by her stepmother and stepsisters,
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Speaker 3: she shows them great and kindness in the end still,
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Speaker 3: And isn't that what God wants and expects from all
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Speaker 3: of us. Isn't that what He does for us if
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Speaker 3: we turn to him? You know?
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Speaker 4: Same with Belle.
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Speaker 3: She didn't judge a book by its cover.
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Speaker 4: The beast.
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Speaker 3: You know, here's this person who was so who's hurting
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Speaker 3: so much internally, and yet she was able to see
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Speaker 3: past that and see the good, find the good in him,
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Speaker 3: and so be able to able.
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Speaker 4: To tell stories like that. It's just so.
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Speaker 3: Enriching and fulfilling and just being a princess and wearing
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Speaker 3: a pretty dress like my dress alone was, which is incredible.
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Speaker 3: The set, and this one's about a year ago or
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Speaker 3: I guess Christmas of twenty twenty four.
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Speaker 4: And yeah, it was a beautiful production here in Utah.
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Speaker 4: One of the most amazing sets arguably best.
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Speaker 1: Productions of Beauty to Beasts.
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Speaker 4: I'd say that's ever been put on.
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Speaker 3: It was so beautiful, and not just because of the talent,
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Speaker 3: the production, everything let behind it, but just the message
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Speaker 3: and everybody pouring the hearts he sold into it. And
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Speaker 3: then something special for me was my daughter was old
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Speaker 3: enough to be able to come see me play Bell
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Speaker 3: to be Disney Princess. I remember the night that she came.
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Speaker 3: There was the top of the show. It was right
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Speaker 3: before Belle starts.
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Speaker 1: Singing Little Tom and there's a quiet village.
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Speaker 3: And Bell's kind of unveiled out of this massive rose,
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Speaker 3: and that moment happens. There's silence, and you hear the
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Speaker 3: ding at the top of the next song, and in
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Speaker 3: that silence, you hear my daughter, above everybody else in
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Speaker 3: the round in this crowd, say Hi Mommy, not once,
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Speaker 3: but twice. And it took everything in me not to
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Speaker 3: start crying in that moment, because for me, having your
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Speaker 3: daughter come and watching something that means so much to
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Speaker 3: you just was like the highlight of my life and
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Speaker 3: my existence to be honest, and so yeah, that show
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Speaker 3: and that.
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Speaker 4: Role truly was special for me.
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Speaker 3: Probably will be the role that I will cherish and
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Speaker 3: hold on to the most in my life.
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Speaker 2: It's every positive emotion probably wrapped up in one moment.
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Speaker 2: I love that so much. Just briefly tell me how
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Speaker 2: stage how are Stage production is different from movies on set.
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Speaker 2: For one, I guess you have a When you're on stage,
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Speaker 2: there's no net. You're doing it at miss, there's no
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Speaker 2: let's let's try that again.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, live performance, man like, things go wrong and that,
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Speaker 3: and that happened. There were nights where, you know, we
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Speaker 3: had this massive stage.
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Speaker 1: The stage system was designed.
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Speaker 3: By the same people who designed a lot of Cirt
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Speaker 3: Disolay shows, and so the stage would rotate, we had
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Speaker 3: things flying out of the sky and you know, and
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Speaker 3: the system would malfunction and that'd be stuck on stage,
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Speaker 3: you know. Mid song you'd be like, I'll be right back,
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Speaker 3: you know, And so it's just live performance. If your
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Speaker 3: voice cracks you every day you wake up, you're checking, Okay,
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Speaker 3: how am I feeling? How am I feeling?
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Speaker 1: How am I feeling?
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Speaker 3: Because your performance depends so heavily on how you're feeling
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Speaker 3: vocally and how your body and how well well rested
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Speaker 3: you are that day. And you're also projecting to a
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Speaker 3: big crowd, so.
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Speaker 4: You're you're acting.
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Speaker 3: A performance is a little bit bigger, more animated versus
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Speaker 3: on film.
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Speaker 4: You know, it's more intimate and you know the.
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Speaker 3: Camera is just right and there not as big, and
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Speaker 3: so there's kind of a learning curve. When I started
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Speaker 3: doing more film commercial, it's like, oh, I don't have
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Speaker 3: to be as expressive, I don't have to addmate, Like
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Speaker 3: I can still tell a story by just getting close
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Speaker 3: and communicating and really feeling for within.
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Speaker 4: Versus showing on the exterior.
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Speaker 3: Also with stage in theater, there's lots of a couple
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Speaker 3: months of rehearsals or more weeks of rehearsal, when with
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Speaker 3: film it's like, hey, let's rehearsal scene, let's shoot it,
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Speaker 3: and you shoot it over and over and over it,
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Speaker 3: which is wonderful because then you get multiple takes. If
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Speaker 3: you didn't like something, you can fix it and change it,
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Speaker 3: so you know elements of each that I love.
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Speaker 1: And so it's been fun to kind.
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Speaker 4: Of like navigate both worlds, and I still do both.
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Speaker 3: I still do stage, you know, and it's just a
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Speaker 3: lot of fun.
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Speaker 2: You recently started in a movie that aired on Great
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Speaker 2: American Family Blessings in Disguise, where you portrayed a character
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Speaker 2: named Katie. This is the one that's actually tied to
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Speaker 2: your partnership with Glorify. I believe briefly tell the story
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Speaker 2: of Katie and what drew you to this film.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. So, when I first got the script for Blessings
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Speaker 3: in Disguise, honestly pun or pun not intended, it.
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Speaker 1: Felt like a Blessing in disguise for me.
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Speaker 3: There's a lot of themes in the film that I
10:17
Speaker 3: resonated with on a personal level, and I think that
10:20
Speaker 3: a lot of us resonate with, resonate with and I
10:23
Speaker 3: talk a lot about those themes in the.
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Speaker 4: Partnership with the Glorify app.
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Speaker 3: And we'll get to that in a moment. But yeah,
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Speaker 3: So Katie is this fashion designer in New York City.
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Speaker 3: She does the showcase and the next day she gets
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Speaker 3: some not so positive reviews and her world is kind
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Speaker 3: of rocked by that.
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Speaker 4: Her boss says, go home, take some time reflect.
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Speaker 3: She goes home, come come to find out her mom
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Speaker 3: never sold her.
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Speaker 4: Grandmother's boutique, which that was always a plan.
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Speaker 3: So she goes to boutique and she finds a lot
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Speaker 3: of her grandmother's old designs, her dresses, and she notices
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Speaker 3: that in the scenes of these dresses are stitched. Bible
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Speaker 3: versus sparks this idea in Katie and she's like, wow,
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Speaker 3: I kind of want to continue my grandmother's legacy. And
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Speaker 3: so that kind of reignites that spark and that dream that.
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Speaker 1: She had when she first moved to the city.
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Speaker 3: And so she starts kind of with the help of
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Speaker 3: the community, her mother, and then Luke, who is her
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Speaker 3: former ex boyfriend who helps her. He kind of is
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Speaker 3: the craftsman, helps re bring the boutique back to life,
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Speaker 3: and any rates, she prepares this beautiful line and showcase
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Speaker 3: continuing on her grandmother's legacy of these scriptures and hands,
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Speaker 3: hands sold stitched versus.
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Speaker 1: Into the scenes of these stresses. And you have to
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Speaker 1: watch a movie to see how it ends.
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Speaker 3: But there's a beautiful moment in the end where Kittious
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Speaker 3: faced with this decision, and I think she handles it beautifully.
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Speaker 2: Well, let's switch to the Glorified Partnership because it deals
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Speaker 2: with some of the issues we're talking about, some of
11:50
Speaker 2: the themes we're talking about right now. It's a devotional
11:52
Speaker 2: style audio experience called The Fabric of Faith. I believe
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Speaker 2: how different was it to communicate, you know, your emotion
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Speaker 2: in your faith through audio rather than what you're normally
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Speaker 2: used to, which is a camera. And yeah, you know
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Speaker 2: what was that like? And just tell us more about
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Speaker 2: the series and what people can expect.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely so, when I first got the script one, I
12:14
Speaker 3: thought it was so beautifully done and I felt like
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Speaker 3: it really highlighted the themes of the film very well.
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Speaker 3: You know, each individual devotional communicating and telling a story
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Speaker 3: through audio versus film is different but similar. What I
12:30
Speaker 3: love about just like being behind a mic, capping my
12:33
Speaker 3: headphones on reading this dialogue in the script.
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Speaker 4: And almost just bearing testimony.
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Speaker 3: It was an opportunity to let go not be so
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Speaker 3: worried about what I look like, you know, how I'm
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Speaker 3: performing just the minute details you're being memorized.
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Speaker 4: I'm able to sit there with this script and read
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Speaker 4: it and experience it and feel it.
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Speaker 3: And I felt like that allows me and allowed me
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Speaker 3: to just be present and honest in gen and which
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Speaker 3: I felt like for something like these devotionals, that's what
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Speaker 3: you need.
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Speaker 1: You need to be able to just kind of let.
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Speaker 3: Go open yourself up for God to come in and
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Speaker 3: do the work and help. And I'm truly it's just
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Speaker 3: kind of like a vessel for him as I was
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Speaker 3: recording these and so they're just so beautiful and they
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Speaker 3: touch on so many themes identity, self worth, community, strength
13:22
Speaker 3: and stillness and like the quiet moments and just learning
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Speaker 3: to grow where you're planted.
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Speaker 2: So, yeah, it's a seven day audio series. I'm reading
13:34
Speaker 2: here from just a Summer. It's a seven day audio
13:36
Speaker 2: series in which Katie talks about faith as lived out
13:38
Speaker 2: through family, community and everyday grace. What is your hope
13:42
Speaker 2: for this series? For those who listen to it. It's
13:45
Speaker 2: a little bit different, I guess, than what you're normally
13:47
Speaker 2: used to because this is actually a devotional tiede series.
13:51
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of the things that you do,
13:53
Speaker 2: they're entertaining and you hope they inspire. This is a
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Speaker 2: devotional This is kind of different. So how do you
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Speaker 2: how do you hope this kind lands with the listener? Yeah,
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Speaker 2: it is.
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Speaker 1: Different, and I'm so grateful to have been a part
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Speaker 1: of it.
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Speaker 3: You know what's fun is you can go watch Blessing
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Speaker 3: in Disguise and see those themes portrayed on screen, and
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Speaker 3: then afterward you can go and listen to this seven
14:14
Speaker 3: day audio series through the Glorified app and be able
14:18
Speaker 3: to be like, oh yeah, I remember this moment from
14:20
Speaker 3: the film you know where Katie. I think in the
14:22
Speaker 3: first episode of the devotional series, you know, we're talking
14:25
Speaker 3: about identity and self worth, and Katie based a.
14:28
Speaker 4: Lot of her self worth into what she did.
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Speaker 1: But it's not about that.
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Speaker 3: You know. There's an episode, another episode in the series
14:35
Speaker 3: that talks about Katie's grandmother, and you know, for her,
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Speaker 3: it wasn't about you know, her designs and stuff.
14:42
Speaker 1: It was about what she was doing with those designs.
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Speaker 4: For other people and how she used those scripture verses.
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Speaker 3: You know. It also talks about how Katie's mom, you know,
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Speaker 3: she was so kind of overwhelmed in her grief and
14:55
Speaker 3: distracted by that that she just was constantly just doing, doing,
14:58
Speaker 3: doing and.
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Speaker 1: Giving to the community, which is so wonderful.
15:02
Speaker 3: But the series also talks about the importance of being
15:06
Speaker 3: still finding God in the quiet moments, taking time to
15:11
Speaker 3: reflect and be present and honestly, like you know, taking
15:16
Speaker 3: the rais off of your life and when you realize that,
15:18
Speaker 3: like you're not in charge. Somebody else is in charge,
15:21
Speaker 3: and he's got you, but you got you gotta step back,
15:25
Speaker 3: You've got to let him in and allow him to
15:28
Speaker 3: do his job, and as soon as you do that,
15:31
Speaker 3: the miracles that will happen in your life are amazing.
15:33
Speaker 3: And so you'll see all very specific moments from the
15:37
Speaker 3: film tied into each of these seven episodes in this
15:41
Speaker 3: series to the glorified Act. So it's really fun to
15:43
Speaker 3: be able to watch it on screen and then go
15:45
Speaker 3: back and just quietly listen and reflect about everything that
15:48
Speaker 3: you've listened to and.
15:50
Speaker 4: Watched from the film.
15:51
Speaker 2: Our time is about over, but in our finn seconds
15:53
Speaker 2: here Shade, do you have any previews or maybe a
15:56
Speaker 2: project you're working on for we'll see this fall or winter,
16:01
Speaker 2: or you want to tease anything.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, actually so we I will be flying back to
16:07
Speaker 3: Canada to film a Christmas prayer to a sequel to
16:12
Speaker 3: the first film that I shot back over Christmas time
16:15
Speaker 3: that actually won the Epiphany Prize that the Movie Guide
16:17
Speaker 3: towards this February.
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Speaker 4: So so thrilled about that.
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Speaker 1: I just got the script the other day.
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Speaker 3: But yeah, I'm a busy mom of two and I've
16:23
Speaker 3: got some other jobs outside of that, so I haven't
16:26
Speaker 3: read for it folly, but what I have read so far,
16:29
Speaker 3: I think the audience is gonna love it. I spoke
16:33
Speaker 3: with the writer of it and she kind of said,
16:35
Speaker 3: she's like, ah, this is just my personal preference, but
16:37
Speaker 3: I think it could be even.
16:38
Speaker 1: Better than the first.
16:39
Speaker 3: And the first was, you know, very popular with fans
16:43
Speaker 3: this last Christmas, and so that's saying something if it's
16:46
Speaker 3: coming from her. So I'm excited to shoot that for
16:49
Speaker 3: fans to see it. And yeah, so that's probably my
16:52
Speaker 3: most recent update.
16:54
Speaker 2: Awesome, Shay, thanks so much.
16:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, thank you for having me and again turn
16:59
Speaker 3: into to Glorify to be able to watch it series
17:02
Speaker 3: and please watch Blessings on Disguise.
17:03
Speaker 1: You can watch it on Green.
17:04
Speaker 3: American, Pureflig, Pure Flakes, Green American Family and download the
17:08
Speaker 3: Glorify app to the app store.
17:10
Speaker 2: If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave a
17:14
Speaker 2: five star review.
17:15
Speaker 5: That's how we help more people just like you find
17:18
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17:21
Speaker 5: Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. If
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Speaker 5: you go to lifeaudio dot com, you will find dozens
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Speaker 5: next time.