Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Jennifer Ward and Julia Cody of Stagecrafters' 'Tuck Everlasting'

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Exclusive Interview: Jennifer Ward and Julia Cody of Stagecrafters' 'Tuck Everlasting' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Thank you so much, Jennifer and Julia for being here today with me.
• 0:02
  How are you two doing?
• 0:04
  Great.
• 0:05
  Great.
• 0:06
  excited to be here.
• 0:07
  Um, so you are currently in about a week from opening night of Tuck Everlasting.
• 0:11
  How has the rehearsal process been so far, Jennifer?
• 0:13
  uh I think it's been amazing.
• 0:15
  I'm a little exhausted as a director, the set designer.
• 0:21
  chief cook and bottle washer kind of person.
• 0:24
  don't know how Julia's, Julia might be the better one to ask that question.
• 0:30
  Julia, how's that rehearsal process going?
• 0:32
  Well, Jennifer has been wearing many hats, so yes, she's been as busy, busier than I can imagine, but um it's very exciting.
• 0:42
  think we're all just overjoyed to see it coming together and all of the pieces are finally um coming into place.
• 0:50
  And we're just excited to get audiences in the seats now.
• 0:54
  I mean, absolutely.
• 0:55
  I'm so excited for the story.
• 0:56
  I grew up at a very young age reading this book and this is one of my favorites.
• 0:59
  So to see it, I've never seen the musical before.
• 1:02
  So to see it on stage is gonna be super, super exciting.
• 1:06
  And for what I understand, Jennifer, you're kind of like the tuck everlasting experts um is what Sarah was kind of telling me.
• 1:13
  I have spent a lot of time with this show.
• 1:16
  um Two years, maybe, since I discovered it.
• 1:21
  I did not read the book when I was a kid m because it was written a long time ago.
• 1:30
  I was born a long time ago, anyway.
• 1:34
  But when I found the musical, then I went to the book and I love the book.
• 1:39
  and I love how the book informs the musical and the musical helps the book be even better.
• 1:49
  um I don't know, I'm not being very eloquent right now, but I think Julia might agree with me that it's just the things that in the book enrich what you see in the musical.
• 2:01
  So if you've read the book, you're gonna get way more out of the musical.
• 2:06
  then you might otherwise.
• 2:07
  You're still gonna enjoy it, even if you didn't read the book.
• 2:10
  It's okay.
• 2:11
  yeah, so ask us anything.
• 2:13
  Julia, were you familiar with the novel or even the movie prior to being in the show?
• 2:18
  Or the musical for that matter?
• 2:20
  ah Yeah, a little bit of each.
• 2:22
  So I had read the book once before um and then I reread it right as we started rehearsals just because I was really excited about it and I wanted to kind of refresh my memory.
• 2:32
  um And I had only seen the movie once, but I remembered it being like so different.
• 2:37
  So I was like, OK, don't go down that road again because it's just a different version of the story.
• 2:42
  em
• 2:44
  And I only knew a few of the songs.
• 2:46
  ah So it was really nice kind of like rediscovering and putting all of them in the context of the story because I knew just like a few like one of Winnie's big songs, of Miles has a
• 2:59
  big beautiful song that I love, like just a couple here and there throughout the show.
• 3:04
  But to have them all in the context was ah lovely.
• 3:08
  Yeah.
• 3:11
  So what drew you to auditioning for this show?
• 3:15
  It's actually a funny story.
• 3:16
  uh The our lovely choreography team, so Ashley and Keith, who are our choreographer and assistant choreographer, choreographer I have worked with before, and they drew me into
• 3:29
  the fold here.
• 3:31
  uh And I am so happy they did because I had this and another show on my radar at the same time, which uh had conflicting schedules.
• 3:41
  And once they were like.
• 3:44
  be here, I was like, okay, I'll be here.
• 3:48
  And I have not looked back since.
• 3:50
  I'm so pleased because everyone involved in this show has been so lovely.
• 3:55
  That's fantastic to hear.
• 3:55
  I stage crafters is always super friendly and stuff.
• 3:58
  So to hear that the behind the scenes is kind of that same energy is just fantastic.
• 4:03
  Now, Jennifer, you said you kind of been with this show for two years.
• 4:06
  What's been your journey with Tuck Everlasting?
• 4:08
  And then what drew you to decide, like, I'm gonna direct this show.
• 4:12
  Well, I do high school theater.
• 4:14
  um I do the musical and the plays at Clarkston High School, the after school program.
• 4:21
  And I was looking at Tuck because it had so many boys in it, boy roles, and I had a lot of boys that were amazing.
• 4:30
  And my tech director and I were looking at it and I'm like...
• 4:34
  We can't pull this off.
• 4:35
  can't, technically neither one of us had ever seen it.
• 4:39
  um She didn't know what the set, we do it totally student built and so we put it aside.
• 4:48
  She said, when I can see it.
• 4:50
  Maybe we'll do it.
• 4:52
  So I'm like, well, I'll go find a theater that can do the tech.
• 4:57
  And so I pitched it to Stagecrafters and here we are.
• 5:01
  So that was just short of a year ago that I pitched it to Stagecrafters and they agreed to let me give it a go.
• 5:10
  I've directed at Stagecrafters before on the second stage, a much smaller show, but this is my first main stage there.
• 5:20
  That's incredibly exciting.
• 5:22
  yeah, it's great.
• 5:23
  And I love directing high school kids and I was super excited to work with adults.
• 5:28
  And Julia, don't take this the wrong way because you're lovely.
• 5:33
  But sometimes the high school kids are a little easier to, and I do have some high school, youngers in our show.
• 5:40
  um So it's been interesting.
• 5:42
  It's been fun.
• 5:42
  It's been a little bit of a challenge, but they're really all just.
• 5:47
  enjoying bringing this story to life and their mission if they chose to accept it and I think that they did is that there won't be a dry eye in the house when we when we are done
• 6:00
  so be forewarned.
• 6:02
  Granted, I can cry over a commercial now, but like I'm totally prepared to be sobbing at the end of the show.
• 6:08
  I've been preparing for weeks.
• 6:10
  I told my sister who got me into this book, was like, I'm gonna be leaving the show and I'm gonna be just like tears streaming down my face.
• 6:19
  Absolutely.
• 6:20
  ah Speaking of Tuck Everlasting, it seems it sounds like we're all kind of familiar for it, but there's probably some people who aren't.
• 6:28
  ah
• 6:30
  What's the story of Tuck Everlasting?
• 6:32
  And Jennifer, I'll start with you and then Julia will jump to you, okay?
• 6:37
  Jennifer, what's the story of Tuck Everlasting, specifically even in the stage show?
• 6:40
  Because I'm sure there's some parts that are changed.
• 6:43
  um In the stage show, the gist of it is the same.
• 6:50
  I have to confess, I've not seen the movie, I've heard about the movie, I don't want to watch the movie, maybe one day I will, but um it sounds like it's very different and
• 6:58
  Julia's seen it so she can speak to that.
• 7:00
  um
• 7:02
  It's a story about a young girl who in the day in 1893, her father has passed away, different from the book, and she's tired of being cooped up.
• 7:14
  She wants adventures, she wants a friend, and...
• 7:20
  She gets mad at her mother because the fair is coming to town and her mom says, no, you can't go to the fair.
• 7:25
  We still have basically protocol in the time.
• 7:29
  You can't.
• 7:31
  And so she runs away and she runs into the woods and She meets the youngest uh tuck, Jesse Tuck in the woods and...
• 7:41
  um
• 7:42
  discovers the secret as part of the story and she is given the choice to um join this family that has received this gift of everlasting life that she's looking at as a gift.
• 8:00
  and she is led to be told that it's actually a curse.
• 8:06
  No, you don't want to live forever.
• 8:08
  And the youngest, Jesse, who also doesn't have a friend because he's 17 and will be 17 forever and ever, and the Tucks in their responsibility.
• 8:19
  don't share with anybody.
• 8:21
  don't, like they live life, but they move on before people catch wind that they're living forever.
• 8:28
  And uh Jesse tells Winnie, take this water and wait for me for six years and I'll come back and I'll get you and we'll live together forever at the same age.
• 8:40
  We can be married, we can be, we can enjoy life.
• 8:43
  We'll have a friend in each other.
• 8:46
  And her decision,
• 8:48
  as you know from reading the book, I won't give it away for people who might be watching, she's torn between having everlasting life with this one friend that she's met or
• 9:00
  continuing a normal journey, the circle of life, the wheel, mother, daughter, grandmother.
• 9:07
  uh
• 9:10
  the cycle continues.
• 9:11
  So time, there's a song called Time and time is a big theme in our set.
• 9:20
  It's in the show, uh the wheel, anything round.
• 9:28
  Because that's, we're talking about time.
• 9:30
  What would you do if you could live forever?
• 9:33
  What would you do with your time?
• 9:36
  So.
• 9:36
  You know, Julia, what I love about this story is that it's very similar to lot, like a lot of like vampire stories.
• 9:42
  I feel like with immortality and like being tempted with like, is it like to live forever?
• 9:47
  But the heaviness of this is told in a very beautiful way because it's presented to almost a child, you know, and what does a child do when they're tempted with living forever?
• 9:57
  How does that kind of speak to you as you're going into the show?
• 10:02
  Yeah, that's a great point.
• 10:05
  I think, I mean, I agree with you.
• 10:08
  It's told in such a beautiful way.
• 10:10
  And I love that we see this.
• 10:15
  this uh idea told from the point of view of all the tucks who have their own ideas about what it's like to live forever.
• 10:23
  And they kind of have their own feelings about it.
• 10:25
  And they present that to Winnie.
• 10:27
  And they're like, you know, this is what it means to this.
• 10:31
  This could be the positive side of it.
• 10:33
  This could be the negative side of it.
• 10:34
  m And uh some of them are more adamant about why.
• 10:42
  life is more meaningful for it to be a brief chapter, for it to have a beginning and an end.
• 10:50
  um you know, others think that, you know, maybe it could be a big old adventure just to live on and on and on.
• 10:58
  um And that's something that Winnie really has to sit with and ponder.
• 11:04
  And truthfully too, I like that they like, depending on what age you are when you're approaching this project, even if you've read the book, if you read the book again, and
• 11:13
  there's always, you almost can relate to a different character every time, know?
• 11:16
  Seeing it as an adult and reading it as an adult, I almost understand Ma Tuck a lot more than, you know, Jesse seemed to have the answers when you're like a teenager and you're a
• 11:27
  kid, you know, of like, yeah, who wouldn't want to have a we'll have a big adventure and see the world and.
• 11:33
  The fact that Winnie has the wisdom, she's very wise and we'll leave it at that um for her age.
• 11:38
  um But I think a lot of people could be tempted to kind of give in to what Jesse's offering there.
• 11:45
  Definitely.
• 11:46
  I think from what Julia's to expand on what she was saying about the four tucks.
• 11:51
  The four tucks are very distinct in the way they are dealing with a situation.
• 11:58
  um Father Tuck Angus is ah depressed, doesn't want to do anything.
• 12:07
  Ma is just can't wait to see her boys every 10 years.
• 12:10
  um
• 12:12
  Jesse seeing the world, living it up, trying all the things, going over the Niagara Falls in a barrel.
• 12:19
  And then Miles, is the most, he's the most angsty of the Tucks because he had, for a moment, he had.
• 12:36
  family and his family is gone and he knows that he can never do that again and his family his son has died his wife has died long who knows because he's so old but the fact that
• 12:50
  Winnie has come into their lives and she has changed them all a little bit in her childlike way in her wisdom she in her innocent wisdom
• 13:04
  She's made them all question the way they are choosing to live the life that they're going to live forever.
• 13:11
  Now, when you are taking this story, Jennifer, like, and you know, as the director, the set designer, you have a lot of kind of say in this.
• 13:19
  What is it that, like, how do you go about choosing what to highlight in the story, in the narrative, in the themes of the show as you're bringing it to life at Stagecrafters?
• 13:29
  I think that we've spent a lot of time on making sure that all of the characters really understand their motivations.
• 13:39
  ah That's always very important to me when I direct a show that uh people understand the words that they're saying.
• 13:47
  Why are they saying?
• 13:48
  And if you can't figure it out, we work together to get some true meaning so you feel like it's true, even though it's fiction, of course it's fiction.
• 13:55
  But...
• 13:57
  the words have to have some feeling behind it.
• 14:00
  uh Julia is our ensemble and this is the busiest ensemble ever.
• 14:06
  They are spirits, which aren't really meant, I think in the book she discusses, uh
• 14:17
  The music, Nana discusses the music as being an elf.
• 14:21
  They think that they're elves.
• 14:23
  And so these aren't really elves, but they're spirits and they come and go.
• 14:27
  They move all of the sets.
• 14:30
  They even move the toad that comes in and out.
• 14:34
  They're just, there's a lot of dancing.
• 14:37
  There's a lot of beautiful, beautiful harmonies.
• 14:39
  They sound amazing.
• 14:41
  Dennis Penny is just doing a wonderful job with the vocals.
• 14:44
  And so it's all,
• 14:47
  all a family they're all you know that spirit is in all of them and off the stage.
• 14:56
  that was kind of a random ramble.
• 14:59
  It's okay.
• 15:01
  So Julia it sounds like the ensemble has a huge, um like they have the weight of the show on their shoulders, literally moving the pieces, coming in and out, being the spiritual
• 15:10
  center of Tuck Everlasting.
• 15:12
  What does that experience like for you and how do you feel like you factor into that narrative?
• 15:18
  Yeah, it's very busy, but it is so exciting and fun.
• 15:22
  um I initially thought this was not a busy ensemble show and I was very much mistaken.
• 15:29
  I was like, we sing in a couple songs.
• 15:32
  No, we are on and off that stage constantly.
• 15:36
  um Also some quick changes that are going to be brisk.
• 15:42
  um
• 15:43
  But it's really, it's very exciting because I really enjoy the unspoken moments that we get.
• 15:50
  There are so many great scenes that we get to be in.
• 15:54
  Like I love um there's a song, The Wheel, that Angus and Winnie sing together where they're talking about, again, that same motif, like the circle of life, the wheel, how it
• 16:05
  moves on.
• 16:06
  And we're, you know, there in the background kind of watching, singing along.
• 16:10
  And it's just a brief moment of the song.
• 16:11
  They share most of it together.
• 16:13
  just kind of come in and I just love that we get to kind of share a little glimpse of it, kind of imbue like, okay Winnie, think about what he's saying and then just disappear and
• 16:26
  have that little section to kind of impart our little spirit wisdom.
• 16:34
  uh
• 16:36
  I was gonna say you're doing a lot by not saying a lot.
• 16:40
  You're floating in and just you're there as a reminder of the weight of giving up your life for immortality and stuff like
• 16:49
  Mm-hmm.
• 16:51
  Yeah, and then there's a lot of other fun stuff we get to do too.
• 16:54
  Of course, you know, we mentioned there's the fair.
• 16:57
  So, you know, there's there's carnies and hounds people and lots of fun stuff going on there.
• 17:02
  You'll see juggling, lots of exciting things.
• 17:05
  This is a huge show coming to Stagecrafters
• 17:08
  Jennifer, how do you feel like this has challenged you as a director?
• 17:11
  Cause it sounds like this show is gigantic in both the spirit and the size of it.
• 17:18
  Well, stage crafters is, I have an actress say, but this is stage crafters, I have to do good.
• 17:25
  And she, it wasn't Julia, and it was somebody who was doing just fine.
• 17:30
  um It is a challenge, because it's volunteer.
• 17:35
  um I like to get paid to direct, if anybody's interested, but.
• 17:42
  Being a volunteer, I don't work in the summer.
• 17:46
  I only do the after school program.
• 17:47
  So thank goodness I'm not getting up at five o'clock in the morning and going to school.
• 17:50
  All of these people are working regular jobs.
• 17:54
  Kids are back in school.
• 17:56
  And so it's been, this week has been a little rough because we're all getting used to the new schedule.
• 18:02
  So I've had time this summer to do the work on the set and make.
• 18:09
  you know, make plans and do this kind of thing.
• 18:11
  I was at a bookstore a couple of days ago, which was super fun.
• 18:17
  But the challenge is making sure that everybody feels like they're really part of it and really making their own decisions that work with everything else.
• 18:31
  And really, one of my...
• 18:36
  comments after we work a number or after we run an act or whatever is, how's that feel to you?
• 18:43
  Because that's more important sometimes than how I feel about it.
• 18:48
  It's like, oh, we hated it ah or we had a problem over here and I can fix it that way.
• 18:55
  Instead of me seeing the problem, they know they or or something goes really good.
• 18:59
  That was really, really beautiful thing.
• 19:02
  It made me cry backstage, whatever.
• 19:05
  but how they feel is important.
• 19:08
  And working with, you know, they say there's a saying that you should never work with children or dogs.
• 19:16
  We have a toad that is not really a toad, obviously.
• 19:21
  And we have teenagers who are amazing.
• 19:25
  The weight of my show is on a 12-year-old girl who's...
• 19:29
  awesome.
• 19:31
  She's, Josephine is doing an amazing job, and a 10 year old boy.
• 19:35
  So we have 10, we have a toad, a 10 year old, a 12 year old, some teenagers, and then we have adults up to not quite as old as me.
• 19:44
  So the the mix of all of this has been really interesting and it's fun to see how they help each other out and
• 19:53
  So far, unless they're keeping it a secret from me, they've all gotten along great.
• 19:59
  There hasn't been any drama off the stage, and that's important because that shows up on stage if that starts happening.
• 20:08
  So far, not been good.
• 20:09
  We've been good, that department.
• 20:11
  You're so close to the end goal here, let's hope it stays that way.
• 20:14
  Yeah.
• 20:17
  Julia, how has this show pushed you in your craft?
• 20:20
  Oh, yeah, that's a great question.
• 20:22
  I've been really enjoying all the different dancing.
• 20:27
  mean, this is, again, a really dance heavy show.
• 20:30
  So even though we're doing a lot of singing, we are the choreography is not simple.
• 20:37
  We are really doing a lot of heavy dancing through the singing.
• 20:41
  So that's been a fun challenge to, you know, really work on, you know, my cardio and.
• 20:49
  You
• 20:50
  Yeah, pushing myself em in that way.
• 20:53
  And also we have some really, really strong dancers too.
• 20:58
  Shout out to Stella, who's an incredible dancer in the ensemble and has a beautiful featured role that everyone will see.
• 21:06
  em And so watching her dance and the way she performs as she dances, that's just a fun...
• 21:13
  ah
• 21:16
  you know, something to watch and push myself to be like, okay, get up to her energy, you know, because I love watching her perform.
• 21:23
  uh I love that, like the, I love that just talking about the energy of this entire cast.
• 21:27
  It sounds like everybody is super excited to bring this show to life.
• 21:30
  uh With there's so many themes, a lot of heavy themes, um Julia, what theme do you feel like resonates the most with you?
• 21:40
  man.
• 21:41
  Not big question.
• 21:44
  you
• 21:47
  I know, no, it's a really good one.
• 21:49
  um I mean, obviously we keep talking about it, but that like constant motif of just time that is continual in the musical and in the book.
• 22:03
  uh
• 22:05
  And also kind of pairing along with that too, I think it's kind of that what if, because a lot of us have that in life.
• 22:17
  Like, I'll look back and I'm like.
• 22:19
  Oh, if this thing hadn't happened in my life, I wonder what I would be doing right now.
• 22:24
  Or like if I hadn't moved, I wonder what my life would have been like going to that school.
• 22:30
  If I hadn't made that choice, I wonder what I would be doing right now.
• 22:34
  um And of course, none of those things are quite as big as the choice that Winnie makes.
• 22:41
  having that that what if is such a relatable thing to everyone, because we all have things that we wonder about and choices that we make.
• 22:49
  good life uh and I think that will resonate with a lot of people when they watch the show.
• 22:55
  It probably speaks to why the show is so timeless.
• 22:58
  I mean, we're going on 50 years of this novel.
• 23:00
  um I think I did my math right there, 50 years.
• 23:03
  um
• 23:04
  this month.
• 23:05
  Yeah, it's exactly it was released in 1985.
• 23:09
  Right?
• 23:09
  Yeah, in September 85.
• 23:12
  um So it stood that long and there's something obviously that people keep coming back to and it has to be this, you know, what if the time, possibilities.
• 23:23
  um But Jennifer, how about for you?
• 23:25
  Which themes do you feel like really resonate with you as you're kind of working the show out?
• 23:31
  I there's a line in the wheel um that Angus says, um you don't have to live forever, you just have to live.
• 23:47
  I get verklemmed when I even think about it.
• 23:51
  Tears have happened so many times in all a good way.
• 23:55
  But...
• 23:55
  m
• 23:57
  doing the things, don't put off doing the things that mean something to you, that will be meaningful to others.
• 24:10
  I could have not done this.
• 24:11
  could have just, it's been my entire summer since we auditioned in June and we're going up.
• 24:20
  So.
• 24:23
  But I love doing theater.
• 24:25
  I love working with these people and I encourage anybody, know, whatever your limitations are, whatever your, there's a way to do things that are truly living, that are truly, um
• 24:38
  instead of being locked in your phone or um worried about the news of the day, um it,
• 24:48
  that's not living, you know, it's like, let's go touch some grass and let's go, go to theater, please come to our shows.
• 24:56
  These people have worked so hard on it and it's so beautiful.
• 24:59
  But that's the thing is, is live your life and enjoy every minute of it because yeah, you might live to 100 or more if you're a tuck and you've discovered the spring, but you might
• 25:14
  not and that's okay.
• 25:16
  you use the time that you have to the best you can.
• 25:20
  I can't think of a more beautiful way to end this interview.
• 25:22
  That was like the perfect answer.
• 25:25
  And it perfectly encapsulates not only the energy that everybody's putting into this production, but the show itself.
• 25:31
  mean, this is gonna be a beautiful, beautiful production and absolutely everybody should go see it because you all are putting your blood, sweat and tears into bringing this story
• 25:40
  alive.
• 25:41
  So thank you both, Jennifer and Julia, for being here.
• 25:43
  I'm so appreciative to talk to you, and I'm so excited to see this show when it arrives to Stagecrafters next week.
• 25:50
  Thank you, Brian.
• 25:50
  Thanks for having us.
• 25:51
  oh
• 25:53
  So Talk Overlasting arrives at Stagecrafters on September 12th and runs through the 28th, so get your tickets now and we'll see you at the show.