Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Milika Cheree and Stephanie Wahl of Meadow Brook Theatre's 'Always a Bridesmaid'

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Exclusive Interview: Milika Cheree and Stephanie Wahl of Meadow Brook Theatre's 'Always a Bridesmaid' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Meadowbrook Theatre is closing their season with a bit of laughter with their production of Always a Bridesmaid.
• 0:04
  and today we're chatting with two of the cast members, Milika Cheree and Stephanie Wahl.
• 0:07
  Thank you much for being here.
• 0:08
  Thank you for having us.
• 0:10
  Thank you.
• 0:11
  So you're both in your final week, your tech week before it finally arrives, Always a Bridesmaid.
• 0:16
  Malika, how are you feeling about this last week?
• 0:18
  Oh, I feel good.
• 0:20
  We've
• 0:20
  Been running the show a few times, like that we're at a point where we're just running, which is really good.
• 0:25
  We get on the stage tomorrow.
• 0:27
  Um, so we'll do some restaging.
• 0:30
  And it's really exciting.
• 0:31
  It's been such a good process, you know, and we've had people come in, some of our crew have come in to see what they need for their part of the show.
• 0:40
  And it's been nice to get reception and what's funny, what's not.
• 0:44
  And it's a comedy, so it's good to see how how people are taking all the jokes and all the comedic moments.
• 0:50
  Stephanie, let's hope she didn't just jinx it by saying everything's running smoothly and now all of a sudden, you know, you're on stage tomorrow.
• 0:55
  No.
• 0:58
  How are you feeling about it, Stephanie, though?
• 1:00
  I'm feeling great.
• 1:01
  I mean, I love Meadowbrook.
• 1:02
  I've been very fortunate to be here for um for several uh productions throughout the years.
• 1:08
  And so it's a lovely place to feel comfortable, to make mistakes, to to be yourself.
• 1:16
  they're such a great team.
• 1:18
  Both behind the scenes at like the production team and uh the just fantastic.
• 1:23
  So so we're prepared and I'm on stage with the funniest women I have been able to work with.
• 1:30
  And so I'm really, really fortunate and um just looking forward to as Malika was saying, getting the audience in there because you know, an actor's job isn't really complete.
• 1:41
  until they're in front of an audience because that's what especially with comedy, that's when you know this is landing, this isn't, I need to fix this here.
• 1:48
  They're not understanding this.
• 1:49
  And so we really can't finish our jobs until we get that first audience.
• 1:53
  But I'm feeling good.
• 1:54
  I'm feeling good.
• 1:56
  I feel like too when you have some you have a show that's like written by one of the people from the Golden Girls.
• 2:00
  Like you already like a good basis for like such a fun show.
• 2:03
  Like you can only go up from there, you know?
• 2:05
  Exactly.
• 2:06
  It's a great reference.
• 2:08
  Yeah.
• 2:08
  Yeah.
• 2:09
  Just because it's on
• 2:11
  All the time, anywhere in the world, any time of day, you could probably find it because it is such good comedy and it's just so well written.
• 2:19
  That's why it still plays.
• 2:21
  And so hopefully the audiences here will will really enjoy this.
• 2:25
  So for those who are maybe unfamiliar with the story, Malika, what is what is going on in Always a Bridesmaid?
• 2:31
  Yes.
• 2:32
  So
• 2:33
  It starts out it's four best friends who from when they were young ladies, they made a promise to each other that they would always be in the bridal party of each other's
• 2:43
  weddings.
• 2:44
  So now when the days actually come for each of them, we see we get an inside scoop on how the day their wedding days each go.
• 2:53
  So we have four weddings, because it's four young ladies, um, and they are in a house that is run by
• 3:00
  Stephanie's lovely character, Sedalia, who runs the house where all the weddings take place.
• 3:05
  And we pretty much see all the craziness that may happen in a wedding day.
• 3:09
  For those who have never known how weddings go or all the preparation that goes into it, we see how all these ladies kind of support each other and they may bicker at each other
• 3:19
  or have all these moments and how they get each other down the all down the altar or to the aisle each day.
• 3:24
  So it's very, very interesting and a big day for sure.
• 3:28
  Yeah.
• 3:28
  uh
• 3:30
  Stephanie, what was it about this project or this story that really spoke to you?
• 3:33
  You're like, I have to be a part of this one.
• 3:36
  Well, the fact that it's here at Meadowbrook and it's directed by Travis Walter and and I love working with Travis.
• 3:43
  Um it just it's like I said, it's just a comfort zone and um we speak each other's language.
• 3:49
  And so and there's there's this feeling of I can fail.
• 3:54
  And especially with comedy, especially with acting, you need to put yourself out there.
• 3:57
  You need to make big decisions and then have somebody who knows exactly what it should be to go, come back, or no, that's great, keep going, you know.
• 4:07
  Um, and also how can you go wrong, like you said with the writers of The Golden Girls and something where you make people laugh.
• 4:14
  And one of my favorite things to do in the fact that I get to do this job.
• 4:19
  Is the fact that we all come together for at least two hours in a room and we all forget our problems because you're watching what I'm doing.
• 4:27
  I have to be someone else.
• 4:29
  So I can I forget what I'm doing and I become that person.
• 4:32
  And I love that shared experience of let's all just forget for a little while and enjoy ourselves and just have a good old laugh.
• 4:39
  Yeah.
• 4:39
  Which hopefully we will.
• 4:42
  Which you really again, I my day job as a psychologist, and you really cannot, you know, I I tell people all the time, laughter is truly the best medicine.
• 4:49
  Like in a moment of difficult times and a moment of just like we need community and we need laughter.
• 4:54
  And so getting to come together to see a show, especially like you said, at Meadowbrook.
• 4:58
  I mean, it's it's an experience.
• 5:00
  It is.
• 5:01
  And, you know, that was one of the hardest things I think during the pandemic for everybody is the fact that there wasn't that outlet to besides together that shared.
• 5:10
  catharsis in a way of either laughing or crying or but we needed that.
• 5:15
  We and we still do.
• 5:16
  You still need those moments because life is hard and you need somebody to go, this is funny.
• 5:20
  Forget about that for a little bit.
• 5:22
  Let's let's enjoy it.
• 5:23
  Like a meme.
• 5:23
  You know what I mean?
• 5:24
  Like like you send somebody a funny or a cat video.
• 5:27
  But this is a great way and you know, it's a great way and a great way to share my life with these great ladies.
• 5:34
  Yes.
• 5:34
  With
• 5:36
  So, Malika, when you're kind of in a show like this and you talk about the comedy and how important it is for that escapism, as an actor, do you also get to kind of experience a
• 5:44
  little bit of that as you're also trying to balance putting on a show for the audience?
• 5:48
  Absolutely.
• 5:50
  And it's it's such an interesting like connection between escapism but also relating to the material.
• 5:57
  So I recently got married, um, like a few months ago.
• 6:01
  So it's been interesting.
• 6:02
  Congratulations.
• 6:02
  Thank you.
• 6:03
  Thank you so much.
• 6:04
  But it's been so
• 6:06
  Interesting to do this play that takes place around weddings and be like, yeah, that might have happened when I was prepping for my day, or when I was a bridesmaid for this friend's
• 6:16
  wedding.
• 6:17
  So it's interesting.
• 6:18
  I think there's a level of escapism, but there's also the relatability.
• 6:22
  And I think that's what we enjoy as well when we go to the theater because we're able to say, Oh, I did that with my friends, or yeah, me me and my girlfriends, we had this
• 6:31
  moment.
• 6:32
  Or do you remember that day?
• 6:33
  And
• 6:34
  I love that as an actor because it also informs me um how to how I view my friendships and how I'm able to bring what I know with my own personal life to the work.
• 6:46
  And if my friend was going through this, how would I react?
• 6:50
  And would I be this type of friend to this person?
• 6:52
  So I I love the moments where it's like it becomes reality in a way or becomes so relatable that you're almost not acting because you know, you're able to really put
• 7:02
  yourself into
• 7:04
  the the environment and the peace that's happening.
• 7:07
  I mean, that is so cool then too, when you get to step into a role and you're just like it is kind of real life.
• 7:12
  You know what I mean?
• 7:12
  Like these are real people and these are real experiences.
• 7:15
  Especially like I said, congratulations on your wedding but you kind of went through that.
• 7:18
  You kind of know what it's like to step into that that role and have it be a part of your, you know, the day to day as you're getting ready and preparing for that.
• 7:26
  For sure.
• 7:27
  For sure.
• 7:28
  So Stephanie, who are you playing in the in Always a Bridesmaid?
• 7:32
  I am playing Sedalia Ellicott.
• 7:34
  She is the uh she runs the celebration venue.
• 7:39
  She runs the wedding venue in a place in Virginia.
• 7:43
  So luckily I'm from Baltimore originally.
• 7:45
  So do in Virginia.
• 7:47
  And we do put on a little more accent for Virginia, but it's not too far.
• 7:51
  My ear is not too far away from it.
• 7:53
  Uh so and she she runs a tight ship.
• 7:56
  This has been in her family and she
• 8:01
  for a long time and she wants to make sure that all of these weddings, all of these, whatever the celebration is that comes to this venue.
• 8:07
  Uh and so she helps bring some of the fun to the situations and a little bit more of like the outsider perspective to the other women who are going through the weddings themselves,
• 8:19
  you know.
• 8:19
  Right.
• 8:20
  So and she has a great It's a lot of responsibility.
• 8:23
  Right, right.
• 8:25
  Yes.
• 8:26
  Repeat clients, obviously.
• 8:29
  I mean as
• 8:31
  That's the part of making people happy.
• 8:32
  You want them to come back if you ever need it, right?
• 8:34
  That's right.
• 8:35
  That's absolutely right.
• 8:37
  You know, she does some selling in the show too.
• 8:39
  She does sell the place a little bit.
• 8:41
  So she gives a little incentive to people.
• 8:43
  So um, but it's just so much fun.
• 8:45
  It's one of those pop in, say something funny, pop out again, pop in, say something.
• 8:50
  So it's really a lovely, a lovely role to get to do that.
• 8:54
  So it's great.
• 8:57
  So what do you feel is like maybe unique about this character comparatively to some of the other roles that we played?
• 9:04
  well I just did come from away here.
• 9:06
  So this is polar opposite.
• 9:08
  I mean both Southern people, because I'm very much so I and so I got to play a Texan, um, and somebody who is alive.
• 9:15
  So that is also uh, you know, it's a responsibility of like if you know someone, you get to see that person and they are still existing in the world.
• 9:24
  Um
• 9:25
  You know, that's a great question.
• 9:28
  I embody different characters in different ways.
• 9:32
  And so this is just she's just one of those fun, you know you've met a million.
• 9:38
  I've I've met them, I've worked down in North Carolina a lot, and I know I've just met these women that get it done.
• 9:44
  You know, they are they're gonna get here and we're gonna, all right, this is what's happening, and we're gonna do it, and you get it done.
• 9:51
  And Sedalia's like that.
• 9:52
  And I think that's different than any of the other people I've played.
• 9:55
  She's really a go get her get it done.
• 9:59
  That's that's the best way I can put it is get it done.
• 10:01
  Um and so that's that's probably different about her than anything else.
• 10:06
  And she gets to say all of those you know, there's a southern tradition of saying, like, you know, bless her heart.
• 10:13
  bless her heart.
• 10:15
  And it's not always a good thing.
• 10:17
  say bless her heart, but it's like a nice way of like shining it up that that's a problem.
• 10:22
  And Sedalia is definitely a oh bless her heart kind of person.
• 10:26
  She gets to say those things that you would never normally say to people, you know.
• 10:30
  So um so it's kind of fun.
• 10:32
  Yeah.
• 10:33
  You know, kind of like a Sophia in Golden Girls.
• 10:36
  You know what I mean?
• 10:36
  She gets to say those little things.
• 10:38
  Yeah.
• 10:39
  And do I do want to say as well that Come From Away was such an incredible performance, you guys did such a great job.
• 10:44
  Like what a what a great show.
• 10:45
  But you're right, totally polar opposite of the kind of the show you're doing here.
• 10:49
  Yes, and what a lovely thing as an actress.
• 10:51
  That's one of my favorite things.
• 10:53
  I also here at Meadowbrook, not to got to do thirty nine steps a while ago.
• 10:57
  And that's one of my favorite things is to play multiple people in a show.
• 11:01
  Or to do a show and leave by the stage door and people not know that you were in the show.
• 11:06
  Like then my job is done.
• 11:07
  I've embodied that character.
• 11:08
  But
• 11:09
  Playing multiple people is one of my absolute favorite things to do.
• 11:13
  But this this is fun too, though.
• 11:15
  I'll I'll take this.
• 11:16
  And you know, Malika, kind of speaking of polar opposites, too.
• 11:17
  I got to see you in All Shook Up.
• 11:21
  your character is a little bit different than it sounds like the comedy of this one.
• 11:24
  Um so who are you playing in this show and how would you kind of just like who is she to you?
• 11:30
  Yeah, so I'm playing Monette Gentry.
• 11:33
  She is one of the
• 11:34
  four best friends of this group.
• 11:37
  Um, and I think she's so different when I than when I played Sylvia and All Shook Up.
• 11:43
  Um, because at first she's very f Monette is very flashy.
• 11:48
  She's very like, I'm the star of the show.
• 11:51
  I'm gonna wear my high heels.
• 11:53
  I have my glitz and glam in my wardrobe.
• 11:56
  Where, you know, Sylvia, she was a working woman.
• 11:58
  She had a daughter, she was taking care of her bar, she was taking care of her customers and
• 12:03
  pretty much like one of the main people of the town.
• 12:06
  Um, so she never really had moments for herself and like always took care of others before herself.
• 12:11
  Whereas Monette, she is like, Okay, what do I need?
• 12:15
  And I'm making sure everybody tends to me.
• 12:17
  But she also has her moments where she is a beautiful like ear and shoulder for her friends.
• 12:23
  And when she sees they need support in certain moments, she does offer that.
• 12:27
  Um
• 12:28
  What I love most about playing this character and specifically even just doing the show is I love that it's a comedy and it's a play.
• 12:35
  And I've been used to doing musicals.
• 12:37
  So it's so nice to really like listen and be present in the scenes with everybody and interact and seeing, oh, where's that moment here?
• 12:48
  Or um, how can I bring more to this side?
• 12:52
  It's such a good group, um
• 12:55
  Exercise, I think, when we're acting all on stage together, because it is, you know, the six of us in the cast.
• 13:01
  So we're really listening to each other, interacting with each other.
• 13:05
  That I and I love that so much because it in I feel like it's making me a better actor.
• 13:09
  So I'm really enjoying it.
• 13:10
  A friend of mine used to call it playing without the ball.
• 13:13
  So that you know you don't have the ball at this moment in time, but you help that person with their line and with their comedy just by doing something, a take, a, you know.
• 13:25
  focusing on them.
• 13:26
  Um, and I love that idea of I'm still we're still all playing, but I'm playing without the ball at the moment because I'm part of it, but I'm helping you and I'm helping your line.
• 13:34
  And it's that's so much fun.
• 13:36
  I love that.
• 13:37
  Yeah.
• 13:37
  And that's what it feels like on that's what it feels like in the rehearsal room for sure.
• 13:41
  That's so awesome.
• 13:42
  when you you're going into shows such as this
• 13:44
  you know, comparatively to a musical, does it is the process of adopt developing a character like in a straight show different than how you develop them in a musical?
• 13:52
  I guess sans the music, you know?
• 13:54
  I mean, not really, for me.
• 13:58
  I always get a sense of, you know, when everybody, whenever I've taken any classes with people, you know, they just say, read it through first.
• 14:05
  What's your first impression?
• 14:06
  The first time you read it through.
• 14:08
  That's usually gonna be the right thing.
• 14:10
  It's usually going to be.
• 14:11
  And I uh I don't prep it any differently really.
• 14:17
  Um, I still think about who they are, where they've been, what is it about.
• 14:21
  Like I said, come from away was a little different because I did do a little more research because she's a real person.
• 14:27
  You know, like if there's an accent or if it is a person, um, then I am doing research.
• 14:32
  And I did make sure that I did my research for the Virginia accent, even though I am from nearby that area.
• 14:37
  Um so yeah, even though there's no music with this, I'm still doing the same kind of research.
• 14:42
  What about?
• 14:42
  Yeah.
• 14:43
  I would say I do the same prep that Stephanie's talking about.
• 14:46
  What
• 14:46
  I do find different is like again when we're actually in the room and we're doing the scenes.
• 14:51
  I the musicals, at least that I've done, so many things are set.
• 14:55
  Like it's like, okay, the this is the song and you know, or this is the choreography.
• 14:59
  And usually the blocking is a little bit more strict because, you know, we're making sure that everybody is seen in a way.
• 15:06
  And I just love literally within the word, the playfulness of doing a play.
• 15:11
  So it's it's like your character could say a line differently.
• 15:14
  And it's like, oh, so that's
• 15:16
  kind of the energy shift.
• 15:18
  And I just love that there's I feel a little more freedom when it comes to those scenes.
• 15:23
  And it's like, okay, from start to finish, how are we sort of arcing this scene?
• 15:27
  And it can start one way and then completely end another way.
• 15:30
  And with the runs we've been doing, I found moments in each time that I'm like, yeah, we did this one different today.
• 15:35
  And it still worked.
• 15:37
  So there's so many different ways that the scene can go that um I would say personally I don't
• 15:44
  find a lot with musicals because it's like, okay, the number is the number, the music is the music.
• 15:49
  But I find with the play, it's like, oh, this scene can start one way and end another way, which is which is pretty cool.
• 15:55
  And it again allows me to be more present, which I love.
• 15:59
  Yeah.
• 15:59
  Yeah.
• 16:00
  Yeah.
• 16:00
  I would definitely say from like the audience perspective, I feel like musicals are very much like they're so well oiled machines for the most part.
• 16:06
  You know, you like you have you have a track that basically you have to get through, but like plays you do get to kind of play in that sandbox a little bit more and like
• 16:13
  As long as you're getting to point A to point B, you can have some fun with that.
• 16:16
  Yes, absolutely.
• 16:18
  Absolutely.
• 16:18
  I agree.
• 16:21
  so Stephanie, what themes from the show do you feel really resonate with you with where you're kind of at in your life right now?
• 16:25
  Oh, beautiful.
• 16:26
  That's a beautiful question.
• 16:30
  it is sometimes I gotta put that therapist cap on, you know?
• 16:35
  What resonates with me in my life right now?
• 16:39
  oh
• 16:40
  You know, probably it's not my character, actually.
• 16:45
  It's probably Libby Ruth, um, that is played by the wonderful Cheryl Turski i she's just this optimist.
• 16:54
  She's just everything is gonna be like lovely and and so I'm really in my life trying to make sure that I don't get caught up in the minutiae and the doldrums and that if there's
• 17:05
  something happening that I try to
• 17:08
  Turn the frown upside down, so to speak, and to r always see the positive side of it.
• 17:12
  You know, make sure that your emotions aren't clouding how you see it.
• 17:16
  We were just, I was just talking with my husband about that recently, and I saw a psychologist talk about the fact that, you know, your brain can, when you get down and and
• 17:25
  sad, always searches for the bad.
• 17:28
  It's searching and it's gonna it's gonna find the bad because you're telling your brain to find all the bad things.
• 17:33
  But if you're
• 17:34
  calm and you're focused, it's going to be manageable and you can do that.
• 17:38
  So I'm in a place where I'm trying to be manageable and look at it in a positive way instead of trying to look at the negative.
• 17:44
  So I Libby Ruth is very much that character says everything's gonna be fine.
• 17:49
  Everything's gonna be good and everything's she always she always has a positive spin on it.
• 17:54
  Yeah.
• 17:54
  So I love that.
• 17:55
  So that's what I would say.
• 17:57
  I mean, that's a great answer.
• 17:58
  And you're absolutely right.
• 17:59
  Your brain does tend if you focus on the negative, if your brain is trained to find the negative, you're always gonna find the negative.
• 18:03
  So to find to try to find that like grain of positive in that is it's that's a great life lesson.
• 18:08
  Milika, for you, what really kind of resonates with you with where you're at in your life?
• 18:12
  You know what?
• 18:13
  It really is the friendship element for me.
• 18:16
  Um, and it has made me, you know, value but also evaluate my own friendships and like my friend groups.
• 18:27
  And I love that, you know, this is a group of four friends.
• 18:31
  So when you have a friend group, sometimes there's like, okay, these two might get along more, or the, you know, this comp has a
• 18:37
  different relationship or this is the person that we know will always do this.
• 18:41
  Some people have tasks.
• 18:42
  It's like there's the organizer.
• 18:43
  There's the person who always like knows what everybody's gonna wear.
• 18:46
  There's the person who doesn't really care.
• 18:48
  I'll just show up when I'll show up.
• 18:50
  So it's it's been so nice to really even look at my own personal friendships or my group of girlfriends and be like, yeah, who is this friend that is that for me?
• 19:01
  Or how can I be, you know, more present or a better friend with this person and
• 19:07
  So I love that I love that element of it because it it makes me think of, I like sometimes after rehearsal.
• 19:12
  I'm like, I need to text my girlfriend and be like, How's she doing?
• 19:15
  Or I haven't checked up on this person in a in a while.
• 19:18
  So let me check in and see how they're doing.
• 19:20
  Cause it, you know, these women, they've they've been friends and they've been by each other's sides for so many years.
• 19:26
  And it it
• 19:27
  really is such a great thing to see and it makes you be like, oh, I want to be that type of friend.
• 19:32
  And I want to be able to always be by someone, a loved one or somebody's side, you know, through big moments in their lives.
• 19:40
  I mean, that's super important too.
• 19:41
  Like community, like we talked about earlier, is so important.
• 19:44
  And to be have your own your own community, but also like your family.
• 19:48
  They're they become your family and to be able to check in and make sure that you're present even if you are miles away, you know?
• 19:54
  Yes.
• 19:54
  Yeah, you know you have those friends that you haven't spoken in years and it's just like yesterday.
• 19:59
  I had a friend out in Vegas and uh and he just texted me for my birthday the other day and I was like, yeah, hey Sean, how's it going?
• 20:06
  But I haven't seen him in years and it's just every once in a while it'll pop up, he'll say something, but it's like no time has passed.
• 20:14
  And it's like your chosen family, you know, your friends are your chosen family.
• 20:17
  So about that.
• 20:19
  Absolutely.
• 20:20
  Well, thank you both for being here.
• 20:21
  It was been such a pleasure talking with you.
• 20:22
  And again, we are so excited for this to arrive at Meadowbrook.
• 20:24
  So thank you for your time after such a busy day of rehearsals to just chat with us.
• 20:28
  Thank you.
• 20:29
  thank you for having us.
• 20:30
  Get that word out there.
• 20:32
  Come see us.
• 20:33
  Yes.
• 20:33
  Come laugh with us.
• 20:36
  Absolutely.
• 20:37
  So always a bridesmaid opens on May 27th and runs through June 21st.
• 20:40
  So get your tickets now from Meadowbrook Theater and we'll see you at the show.