Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Emily Harbert of Pontiac Theatre IV's 'The Girl on the Train'

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Exclusive Interview: Emily Harbert of Pontiac Theatre IV's 'The Girl on the Train' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Girl on the Train has arrived at Pontiac Theatre 4, and today we're talking with the director of this production, Emily Harbert.
• 0:05
  Thank you so much for being here.
• 0:06
  Thank you for having me.
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  So you just had your opening weekend of this production.
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  How was it to finally show the world what you've been working on?
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  It honestly was such a huge honor to watch the cast bring this show to life and to watch the ebb and flow from rehearsals to tech rehearsals to opening night.
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  I've been dreaming about opening this show since 2022.
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  So it's been quite a bit of time for me.
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  But this cast and crew have exceeded all of my expectations.
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  So it's been such a joy watching the show open and hearing the audience's reactions to it.
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  What is it about the show that really drew you to it?
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  It sounds like you kind of love this show.
• 0:48
  I do love this show.
• 0:49
  um One of my favorite things about theater are shows that they really push the audience's comfortability levels and Girl on the Train does just that.
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  They handle topics from alcoholism, domestic violence, emotional abuse and everything in between.
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  um So you always have the shows that are feel good, lighthearted.
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  They help you escape from everything around you in the world.
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  But it's also important to do the shows on the topics that
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  No one really wants to talk.
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  I gonna say I remember reading this book.
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  Cause I know this is based on a book and you know, there's also a movie.
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  But I remember just reading it and like almost like you feel like you just want to like get out of your skin a little bit.
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  You know what I mean?
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  Like you just want to kind of jump away as much as possible.
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  So I can imagine that it's like one of those shows that like you almost as, as the people on stage and the people off stage, you have to sit with that a little bit of
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  uncomfortability of it.
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  Yeah, we actually brought in an intimacy director and a fight choreographer to help with this show for that exact reason.
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  um Dealing with the heavy topics and all of the stage combat and all the intimacy that happens as you're familiar with the story, um there's quite a bit uh between the
• 2:02
  characters of Rachel and pretty much everyone else that she engages with throughout the time of the show.
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  Um, so it's been a lot of checking in a lot of making sure everyone's okay with what's going on and altering if we have some choreography that when we first block it, the actors
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  are comfortable with.
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  And then when we re-approach it, the comfortability levels have changed.
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  So we adjust to make sure that everyone is in a safe space.
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  Um, so that's been a bit of a journey to get here, but it's, it's been absolutely worth it.
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  So without giving away too much, because obviously we want people to come see the show, we want them experience it, but what is going on in Girl on the Train without, like I said,
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  too many spoilers.
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  um Girl on the train, you find this out in the very first scene, so it's not a big spoiler, um is about a girl named Rachel Watson.
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  And when you first meet her, she's waking up, she's got a gash on her head, she has no idea what happened the night before, and she finds out that this local girl is missing.
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  And the story evolves finding out different things about this individual and perceived notions of the said person's life versus what actually was happening.
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  Honestly, it's Rachel finding herself.
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  That's the main part of the story that drives everything.
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  Rachel starts off as a down on her luck, pretty recently divorced alcoholic.
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  And throughout the story, she grows and finds herself and becomes stronger with each scene.
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  I mean, it is a heavy story at some times though.
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  uh But there is beauty to that journey, kind of seeing her grow through that.
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  absolutely.
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  So how do you feel like this interpretation the stage adaptation?
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  Differs from like maybe the original novel or the film that people have seen
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  It stays pretty true to the original story, which I really like, because it pulls from both the book and the movie.
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  It incorporates pretty much all aspects of it.
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  um Like everything, once you take it out of the book format, you do lose some of the detail, which that's just a part of adapting for a screen or for the play.
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  can't incorporate everything just due to logistics of everything that kind of that book encompasses.
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  But...
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  It keeps all the nuances, keeps all the tension, it all of the fighting and all of the violence and everything like that.
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  It keeps all of it in there for the audiences.
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  That's incredible, because you don't see that a lot with stage adaptations.
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  I always think of Murder and the Word Express, is close, but it's not a perfect adaptation.
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  They drop characters.
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  They combine a few.
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  So to see that it does remain very...
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  It keeps the original novel there.
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  That's kind of astounding for a stage show.
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  Yeah, that's one of the things that drew me to it was I loved the book and then I read the play and the amount that it stays true to that source material just drives the passion
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  that I have for this show.
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  Because like I said, you don't see that a whole lot.
• 5:07
  Absolutely.
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  So as a director, where do you start developing a mystery such as this
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  Um, I started developing it by just reading and rereading the script.
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  I've probably read it 20 times at this point, um, even before we got to auditions and it was figuring out the different points of the story and figuring out the driving force and
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  really understanding that the seat of the story is dependency and figuring out which character is dependent on
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  either substances or another character or their um basic beliefs of the world.
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  And it's building off of that.
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  Now, are there aspects that you feel like you have to change from when you had that initial vision of what you wanted the show to be like on stage?
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  Yeah, the first time that I was planning on putting on this show, I was actually working with another theater group and it had a very different space than what I'm working in now.
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  So a lot of what I had envisioned for the set and for the tech have completely evolved from where I was originally to where it is now.
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  And quite honestly, I'm a lot happier with where it is now than what I was originally planning.
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  So I'm very happy that it evolved to the better.
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  That's awesome.
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  That's awesome that you got to have a little bit more of what the vision was in your head for the show.
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  Yeah.
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  I'm a type of director that I love black box.
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  So I don't always love the super elaborate sets.
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  I don't always feel that they're super necessary.
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  I am a huge believer in the suspension of disbelief and everything that the audience can set aside.
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  They don't really need to see in order to truly appreciate what they're seeing in front of them.
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  And this set, albeit
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  Not 100 % black box, I still incorporate as much black box as possible by limiting the amount of set pieces on stage, by limiting the amount of color.
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  Really the only color you see is what's in the costumes.
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  I mean, it's awesome that you're able to have that's like a very distinct vision of like how you wanted it to look that maybe like another directors a lot of directors would maybe
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  have thought of like the only color is on the people that's so cool
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  Mm-hmm.
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  So what maybe then was the biggest challenge to bringing it to Pontiac Theater 4?
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  probably finding the cast.
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  Pontiac Theater 4 in previous seasons hasn't had the best of luck in finding a cast outright for their straight plays.
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  Straight plays in Pontiac don't really have a huge draw to begin with.
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  um Typically we find we have higher audition rates for musicals, for the teen musical, the youth musical, and the adult musical.
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  um So I actually had to ask a couple of my friends to step in to
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  filling roles which worked out for everyone's benefit because they're phenomenal actors.
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  But that can be, I couldn't understand why that'd be a challenge because you're trying to fill out this cast.
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  You need the cast.
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  That's such an important part of it.
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  And for that to be maybe something that, that would be a difficult challenge that you'd have to overcome.
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  But you were able to overcome it.
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  That's, think, the most important part here.
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  And pretty quickly too, which was really nice.
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  think by our second rehearsal, we had a full cast, which was a lot different than what it was for Dearly Departed.
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  um So from this show, what do you feel like the themes that resonate the most with you are?
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  um Growth, self-love, and independence are probably the three that stick out the most to me.
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  um You see not only in the main character of Rachel, but you see it in Anna, you see it in Scott, you see it even in those not necessarily minor characters, but the less frequently
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  onstage characters, Gaskill, Kamal.
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  um Without giving too much away, you don't really see a whole lot with Tom, but...
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  That's just who his character is.
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  They don't really give him a chance to grow and develop as much as the other characters do.
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  And how do you feel like that cast really worked to collaborate to shape this final production?
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  It was a lot of back and forth that they had.
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  They're constantly talking.
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  They're constantly checking in with each other and making sure that the different actions they're choosing on stage not only feels safe and comfortable to them, but safe and
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  comfortable to their fellow actors who are sharing the space with them.
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  It's been amazing watching all of them find themselves in these characters and going from actors who have been on stage for 20 to 30 years to my gas kill.
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  Their name is Asher.
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  This is their first ever play.
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  And they're absolutely all of them are killing it doing amazing.
• 9:51
  Yeah.
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  That's incredible.
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  And that's a very diverse amount of acting in a cast, depending on, like, acting level, I should say.
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  That's incredible.
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  What are you hoping audiences take away then from this production of Girl on the Train?
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  um that warning signs aren't always right in front of your face and that it's important to be checking in on everyone in your life and that not all battles are super visible.
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  Absolutely.
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  As a psychologist, I always have to say that it's always the silent battles, you know, and people don't always know that they're there, but they're the tough ones, you know, and
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  that's also a strength and stuff to that.
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  absolutely.
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  I think that's a beautiful thing to kind of take away from that.
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  Thank you so much, Emily, for being here and for you taking time from your schedule.
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  We are so excited for this production.
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  I hope that people are enjoying it as much as you enjoy putting it together because I could just see the passion that you're talking about this production.
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  That's the love for this show is there.
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  And I just hope that that is resonating with the audience as well.
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  Thank you so much.
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  So Girl on the Train runs at Pontiac Theatre 4 through May 3rd, so get your tickets now and we'll see you at the show.