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Backstage with Mallory Walls of 4th Walls Productions · Backstage at The EPC's Podcast

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Backstage at the EPC.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Today we have Mallory Walls with Fourth Walls Productions, which will be presenting Enchanted Effingham on Saturday, August 15th.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Mallory.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Glad to be here.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: This um this podcast is called Backstage at the EPC, but we're actually on stage.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: How does it feel to be back here on stage?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm really excited again to see the venue.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you almost forget when you're not in here and you're like, oh gosh, this is gonna be so much fun.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So a little bit of a background.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: We um we had a show called EPC Idol for a few years, and Mallory was one of our contestants.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's always so fun to kind of see our contestants back and then seeing kind of where they've progressed to and where they're at.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um EPC Idol, I've not done anything like that.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've sung obviously, but like being on the stage here was just like, oh, this is really, really cool.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm glad to be doing it again, and now I'll have like all these friends and I'll be in a pretty dress and the whole thing.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: So so we're going to um be having you guys come for Enchanted Effingham, which is a Disney's classic music.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it we're calling it like it's a musical review.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: So um we're gonna be doing Disney songs, obviously.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's not like any plot or anything to it.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's us, and there's uh it'll be myself and a few other local people, but we're bringing up Disney World performers, which I'm so excited about because they are incredible vocalists and just talent, you know, they've got all the magic of Disney.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we'll be singing medleys and solos, a few duets of like over 70 Disney songs.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: So thank goodness.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a song that you like, you're probably going to hear it.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So you have some Disney background.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Did you work there?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: I never worked there, um, but I have really good friends who've worked there, and I've loved it my whole life.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean I'm 40, so I grew up when, you know, Little Mermaid came out, and then Beauty and the Beast, and so all the big ones.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: So when it was really taking off again, like with their uh um, what do you call them?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Their animated movies, um, it started again there in the 80s.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I've really been involved in all those.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, of course, you know, all these friends that I have done there.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I go a lot.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a Disney travel agent and all these just Disney connections that I love to do.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: So all of these um friends that will be coming, they've all played Disney characters in Walt Disney World, um, or some of them have been in Hong Kong.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, we have she uh Kara actually was maleficent in Hong Kong.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really hard to find video of her, but I found it and it is amazing.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: She's like up on this big tower and she's speaking in Mandarin and all this stuff.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's so my god.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we've had people who've played Ariel, Belle, Nemo.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have uh Billy, who is our headliner, is playing Mr.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Ray right now.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: He actually opened Epcot.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: So he's been there for over 40 years, and he's performed in most things you've seen.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: We have someone who is friends with Kristoff right now in the Frozen Show.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh fine.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so yeah, they've just played so many of the characters, and and it's all the face characters, and they're actually singing.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not some of them have done, you know, like Kara was also Cinderella, and she wrote the book for Rapunzel, and so they actually based Rapunzel on what she wanted Rapunzel to look like and be like.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, these are people who've been there for a long time and have had a lot of impact in the actual parks.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you may not know their names, but if you've been to Disney within the last 30 years, you've seen at least one of them.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so awesome.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And we will also have some local talents joining us.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Maddie Johnson from Johnson Fuer Funeral Home, which she sings at a lot of weddings and funerals and things like that.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I know a lot of people still know her voice, which is great.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Antonio Munoz is joining us, and then my brother Tyler, which a lot of people know him too.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: He's in Kansas City now, and he's actually doing some other theater work outside of Kansas City, but uh he's coming in for it as well.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's so awesome! This is gonna be such a great opportunity for one, the community to to come and see a show like this.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not something that we've typically been able to have here at the EPC.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then for all the little kids.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I know.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you guys are gonna do a costume parade.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like every little kid's dream to come and dress up and yeah.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: And when I was in high school, we actually went to I've been to the Fox Theater in St.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Louis a lot of times, and we went and saw a um movie of Wizard of Oz, and I went dressed as Dorothy Gale because I was playing Dorothy at the high school here, and they did a costume parade, and it was so cool to just walk across that stage and be in that area and to give kids in town that opportunity to.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's an experience, yes.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's so cool, especially in uh in an amazing venue like this and a and a packed house.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's just so yeah, I'm really excited about that part.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna actually be run by Jesse from Toy Story.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking Olaf is going to make an appearance, but I haven't heard if he's made it in from Arendelle yet.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, that'll be so exciting.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And this will be a fundraiser for Fourth Walls Productions, which is a new business venture that you and is it is it just you, your mom's kind of helping out?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's mostly me.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: But uh you have to have three people experience you have to have three people on your board of directors.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there you go.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: But honestly, the other people are my mom and and Gina, who's gonna be in the show.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: So that's awesome.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's mostly I wanted to start uh a local theater company, I guess you'd call it, where we'll do musical theater because I know we have other options for plays, and I'm a singer, and I really wanted to be able to do that.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually moved back here from Kentucky, and in Kentucky they had this small little community theater and they put on eight shows a year or something like that.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just always kind of neat to have that opportunity here because with musical theater, it's not like with say football.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Once you're done in high school, if you don't play in college or you don't play professionally, it's really difficult to play football ever again.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas with musical theater, this is something that you can do pretty much up until the day you don't want to anymore, because so many places have venues like this one and opportunities that you can do that.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: So when I knew that was something that was lacking here beyond high school for adults, I was like, I'd really like to go ahead and do that.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is a perfect opportunity.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And Effingham, Effingham and the surrounding area, like we have so many talented people.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's crazy.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, I go back to the EBC idol when we had that.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like the talent was crazy.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we uh young talent, you go to the to the county fair and they have the talent show.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know that that just happened.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um actually, there's the winners of the senior and the senior are both in enchanted effingham.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the kids saw them at the Effingham County Fair.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be they'll be here that night.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: See, it's it's amazing to to see them coming back to the stage, and um it that's such a great opportunity that you're providing for Effingham.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we wanted to have some kids in the show, but um, I'm already connected to obviously the junior high school and the high school here, um, just Effingham Junior High School and high school.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, we've reached out to kids from St.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Anthony.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: We've got some kids even coming in from Shelbyville.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: We have a kid from Altamont or two kids from Altamont.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's even some that are homeschooled.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like the thing is, is we're really trying to reach everybody in the community, not just one section.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm excited to be able to work with kids I don't know.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the the three girls we have coming from Shelbyville, I'm like, oh my gosh, you guys are so wonderful.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: I would have never known you because you're way up there.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: And now we can all come together in an area, and being able to do it here just makes it even better.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um so talk about you briefly touched on um Gina being a partner and then and then your mom.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: What's kind of Gina's background?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Gina is has been a professional performer since she was about 20, I want to say.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: She uh is actually born in Chicago, so she's an Illinois native, and she was in the um the high school theater festival show when she was a senior.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: So she actually played Maria in Westside Story when she was like 17 or 18 or something like that.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: So she's just this incredible talent, and she got cast by Disney when she was 20 to play Ariel, and then she played it for like the next 17 years or something like that.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: So um we say, other than Jody Benson, who is the original voice of Ariel, that uh Gina is has is the longest running Ariel in Walt Disney World history.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Cause uh, and she makes the joke because she would sing probably eight to ten shows every single day, if not more than that.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, I have sung gadgets and gizmos more than anyone on the planet.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: Just those words.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but she also, you know, she's classically trained, so she's our music director as well.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: So she's not only performing in the show with me and part of the board of directors as far as helping with outreach and some of the more creative aspects, she's also doing all the music directions.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: So she's the one who's been contacting all these people around the world, you know, around the United States about okay, what can I help you with?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: How can we, you know, and we're they're they're actually rehearsing tonight in her home, like the people in Orlando.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so yeah, she's just a wealth of knowledge.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And not only that, but she she's like the cheerleader too.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like she pushes.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had a Zoom call with with you and her um a few weeks ago to talk about some marketing stuff.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: And she was, she was so bubbly and just yeah, very knowledgeable.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And what's wonderful about Gina is that she supports like what like she's my best friend, and she's not only does she just support with like, hey, you can do this, she's like, hey, you can do this.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: How can I help you do this?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: And if I say to her, I just need you to make me do it, she'll be like, Okay, I will make you do it.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like, but she calls me every day, like, hey, what can I do for you today?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a whole I can have a whole podcast just about because she's she's really um across the board as far as a friend, a performer, a professional.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, she's she's topics.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: She's got it all.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So she's hosting, so well, you know, so she's hosting practices and rehearsals um in her home.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then you uh have been working with the local kids or local performers.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I keep saying kids, but it's I think of wide range.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so they've been practicing.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: How are practices going?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: How are we doing well?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: I've had um two rehearsals with the kids, and we're having another one today, and then two next week, and they actually perform with Gina on the 13th, so whatever day that is, Wednesday.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: So she's coming in a little early.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Gina and Kara and Katie and a few others are coming in a little early, but um Gina's coming in early to help like finish with the the final things.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so yeah, the kids are doing so great, and honestly, I've worked with kids before, and it's amazing to see a group of kids who really want to be there and are already really, really good.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, because the kids that I have, they've all performed already, they all know the drill, and they're singing bigger.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: If I had to venture, they've probably done our theater camp.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sure they have yeah, in the summer.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it is that's that's neat.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: They when I say that Effingham and the the surrounding area, like they really do love theater.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like these kids love it.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's so awesome.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't believe by the time this um podcast drops, we'll be what, like a week away from the show.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: So um we will be having Enchanted Effingham Saturday, August 15th.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is there anything else that you were also going to chat about?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Since it is a fundraiser, we're also gonna have some silent auction items that will be in the lobby.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: So just as an extra um fundraising effort as much as we can, because in order, I don't know if anyone will have seen my mom's shows at the junior high school, but we don't do anything low budget.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like so um uh the I want when we do something, which I will be announcing the show that we're going to do in store for the future.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'm gonna announce that at the end of the show on set Saturday.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that's exciting.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm ready to to tell people what we're planning on doing next, but we want to do it well, so we're gonna try and raise as much money the night of as we possibly can uh so that we can then focus on the other things and not have to be like, oh gosh, we need to raise some more money in another way.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: So um uh I don't know if there's anything else.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like we covered all of it.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: If so, if some local people want to get more involved, how how can they get a hold of you or or how do you want them to go about that?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Will there be more information?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Would probably be the easiest right now.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: I do have a website, um, but it it doesn't have like tons of connection points to it just because it's a very preliminary website.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: It looks really good, but it's still just like so.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Check out Fourth Walls Productions.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they'll have more information about the show too.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um you can find more information on our website as well, which is theepc.org, and um, you can purchase tickets through there.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's yeah, lots of fun, exciting stuff going on.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I um look forward to kind of seeing what you guys do, and hopefully we'll have you back on the podcast.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I would expect so.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever we do next, we'll need to talk about it too.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate you being here with us today.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so Mallory Walls with Fourth Walls Productions.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um before we go, on deck at the EPC is Enchanted Effingham on Saturday, August 15th.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, then we have Shenandoah on Sunday, August 23rd, and the Happy Together Tour on Wednesday, August 26th.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: As always, you can purchase tickets through our box office Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: to 2 p.m.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: or on show days from 10 a.m.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: to show time.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can also purchase tickets online through ticketmaster.com slash EPC.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: For a full list of upcoming shows, visit our website at theepc.org.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.