Latest / Besties Do Verticals / Episode 28 - Interview with Evan Gambardella Part 1
Transcript
- Aleta: Hello and welcome to Besties Do Verticals with your besties, Alita and Lucy. And today we have a special guest. Hi, I'm Alita. Lucy: And I'm Lucy. Evanooshka: And I'm John. Lucy: Yeah. Evanooshka: John Lennon. Lucy: Started off right. Evanooshka: Hello. Lucy: Welcome, John! Evanooshka: Thank you so much for having me. Aleta: Ha ha. Evanooshka: Thank you, thank you. Lucy: Beautiful Just move along, Alita, like we're just we're going for it. Go it's you next Just Aleta: Okay. Evanooshka: Yeah, this is just another day of the life. Lucy: another episode. Aleta: As you know, the aim of our podcast is to promote and support queer verticals, actors, and all the other creatives that go into producing the projects we love. We are so thrilled to have our eleventh interview guest with us today. Lucy: Besties, I'm gonna try to do this without Aleta: Lucy. Yeah. Lucy: laughing my ass off. Here we go. So we can see something. Evanooshka: Is that who you're interviewing today? it's me! wow! What am Lucy: Yeah, yeah, it's yo. Aleta: Ha ha ha Evanooshka: I Aleta: Mm-hmm. Lucy: We will get through this introduction, I promise. Besties. Evanooshka: Sorry. Lucy: Don't be s just be you. Don't stop. Evanooshka: What if I wanna be Z? Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: Okay, I'll be you, you be Z. Evanooshka: Or a different letter. Lucy: I want you. Anyway, besties, we have the ultimate episode for you all today. Evan fucking Gambardella is with us. I wanted that's right. Evanooshka: That is my legal given name, Evan Fucking Gamberdella. Lucy: And this just goes to show you how comfortable Evan has made us feel for me to even drop that. But thank you, Evan or John Lennon. A true triple threat. Actor, if you cannot tell. He is also a hypnotist, a magician, and a balloon artist. Evan has performed both on stage and in traditional film and TV. Can't look at him. But most of us know him as our beloved Miles Bennett and Aleta: Ha ha ha Lucy: Chris Fanning. Some more of his notable roles, personal favorites of mine, are Declan from his nerd, Lucas. From You Messed With the Wrong Nerd. Yes, special favorite. And Jones, new favorite from Waterboy 2. I bet I know what he's going to get. please. Aleta: The shirt. You should have you should have worn yours. Yep. Lucy: I have mine too. He has the green one. Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: Now I want to go get mine. You look fabulous, Jones. Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: Rocking it. Evanooshka: Come here often? Lucy: Do you own the blue one too? Or was that just the costume set? Evanooshka: That was just war joke. Yeah. Yeah. Lucy: Well, guess very cool to know. did you own this before that Evanooshka: No. Lucy: shoot? Evanooshka: This this fun fact was not one of my articles of clothing that I owned before we shot Waterboy 2. This was something that was provided and I just fell in love with it. But ev most of the other articles of clothing were my own. Very loud, colorful articles of clothing. Lucy: We could tell and we Aleta: Yeah. Lucy: very much appreciated it. We knew instantly it was your wardrobe. It's a compliment. It is I swear to you it is a compliment. It is the best. I swear. Evanooshka: This or a compliment? I'm tend take it as a compliment. I'm choosing to take it as a compliment. Okay, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You swear? On what? Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: Family There we go. There we go. Aleta: Whoa. Evanooshka: Alright, I'll take it. Yeah, cool. I'll take that. I'll take that. Ay. Lucy: my goodness. Okay. We're so grateful that Evan joined us today just in time. Evanooshka: We're still doing it. Lucy: I know we're s it's a long intro for you. You're special. Okay, just in time to celebrate the one year anniversary of Straight Until He Kiss Me and his first live with Greg Duffy. You turn Alita. Evanooshka: We're old. Back in my day when we film straight and did he kiss me. Lucy: Might be three hour podcast, it's fine. Aleta: It may be. No one will mind. Lucy: No one will mind. Evanooshka: Nah, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna be we're gonna be so fast. It's gonna be great. Aleta: God. Welcome, Evan. We are so honored that you agreed to come on the podcast. I am sure that all of our listeners are very familiar with your work, but would you like to introduce yourself? Evanooshka: Well, besides being John Lennon, I'm also Evan. And Aleta: Ha ha ha Evanooshka: I'm just really grateful to be here and really happy to that you were so patient while I was gallivanting around the world and doing all sorts of things all over the place. So thank you. I'm just really happy to be here. Aleta: Worrying about you as you go off into the Lucy: We are so Aleta: wilderness. And I'm Evanooshka: No, don't worry about me. Aleta: I'm like, I have watched too much criminal minds. I can't be seeing you wandering into the forest by yourself. Lucy: For me, it was the sliding down the mountain on your ass with no one around you that stressed Aleta: Banff, yeah. Evanooshka: Yeah. Lucy: me out. It's like, is there proof of life? Evanooshka: yeah, it stressed me out too, but I was also to be honest, that was the safest way for me to get down because if I had gone down by foot, I almost slipped multiple times going up. Aleta: Mm. Evanooshka: Going down would have been way Lucy: Guys. Evanooshka: more treacherous. I mean it was like I I was cutting up my hand, putting my hand in the ice just to hold on because it was so Lucy: my gosh. Evanooshka: slick and the the the the pathway to walk on was just on ice a lot of the time. So I slipped quite a bit. And so I was like, well if I'm gonna slip, I might as well do it on my own terms. Aleta: Hmm. Fair. Lucy: What was at the bottom of the mountain, Evan? Evanooshka: More snow? Lucy: I was wondering, like, what was the reason we're going to the bottom of the mountain? Evanooshka: because I had to get down. I I hiked all the way up. I was like, I'm at this beautiful viewpoint at 360. I'm like, huh. Lucy: Makes. Evanooshka: The last bus leaves this place at 630. Otherwise, I'm bare food. So I gotta get out of here by 630, and I had an hour and a half to get back down. And it took me three hours to get up. So I was like, I gotta I gotta cut my time down. I know I can once once I'm out of the snow, I could run. I was like and I was running down, it was totally fine. But I was like, I need to get down this very slick mountain fast because that was the longest it took it from the base of that mountain to the top, that took me the longest time. So I had to get down the fast I had to shorten my time there. So I was like, let me just lie down on my ass. That's why they call me ass happy gamberdella. Lucy: This is why this is why we're doing the interview, folks. We are an explicit Evanooshka: Yeah. Lucy: podcast. This works out. Evanooshka: They also call me explicit evidence. Aleta: Ha ha. Lucy: So these are the hard questions we had to ask best besties because I thought it was the opposite. Evanooshka: Hard questions. Lucy: Hard hard questi hard questions. I just thought you were Evanooshka: Okay. Well, okay, we're going there. Lucy: being we're going there. I just thought you just wanted to do it for shits and giggles, but now we know the real reason, and that's great. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Lucy: You needed to catch your bus. Evanooshka: It was very much practical. Yeah. Lucy: Beautiful. Beautiful. Well, let's bring some more unhingedness. I don't even know if that's a word, but we're gonna go with it. Aleta: It is. Lucy: Do you wanna play a game? We're gonna do more. I know this is gonna happen. Evanooshka: We need more unhingedness? Are you sure? Okay. Aleta: Huh. Lucy: With these questions with you, it's gonna happen. Aleta: Yeah. Lucy: Are you ready to play? Would you rather? Evanooshka: What am I playing? Lucy: Would you rather? Evanooshka: How d how do I win? Lucy: How do you win? y how about this? The listeners win. W none of us win. Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: But the listeners win. Evanooshka: All right, I'll I'll humble myself. Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: Okay, okay. But we will all play with you. The Aleta: Ha ha. Lucy: game. Okay, anyway Evanooshka: It'sn't like Wheel of Fortune, you're not giving me a vacation somewhere. Aleta: Ha ha. Lucy: No. No. We can go visit Alita in PC. So that's really fun. Evanooshka: Next time. Ooh, that sounds fun. I'd go to Canada again. Aleta: Ha ha ha Lucy: I I need to go to Canada. There's so much beauty out there. I'm I'm gonna try and do a Twilight Evanooshka: It's incredible. Lucy: tour next year. That's my plan. And go visit her. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see how it goes. Yeah. Go see the rain. The Evanooshka: fun. Nice. That'd be great. And you can glisten. Lucy: that's the plan. You know. Okay, we're moving out of the game. Evan. Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: Would you rather have unlimited knowledge or unlimited money? Aleta: Ha ha ha. Evanooshka: Ooh, that's tricky. Well, I think I would say knowledge, but I actually think now I would say money because Einstein said imagination is more important than knowledge. And why would Einstein say that? It's because you could know everything in the world, but if you don't know how to control the faculties of your subconscious and your imagination, you're ultimately allowing your imagination to wrong amok, give yourself anxiety. And what good is a brain with all the knowledge in the world if you're anxious all the time? Lucy: I love that. Evanooshka: So knowledge does not equate to wisdom, nor does it equate to Skill. And controlling your imagination is a skill. So I would choose money because knowledge would not mean that I necessarily would know how to do all these things. If you could say, I have the knowledge to do any skill, to accomplish anything, and just knowing it, I'd be able to do whatever I want to do, then I'd choose knowledge. But if I Aleta: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: just it's if it's all up here, no. I'd choose money. Lucy: Okay. Alita, you get to follow that. Aleta: Well, I would say knowledge too, but I was assuming that you could do whatever you wanted with that knowledge. Money would be useful 'cause you could do a lot of good with unlimited money. However, with unlimited money it devalues too. But anyway Yeah, you could do a lot of good with that. But for myself personally I wanna know everything, so Lucy: I don't know if I want to know everything. Evanooshka: Yeah, I feel like unlimited money is a little bit more selfless. Because with Correct. Yeah, Aleta: As long as you use it that way. Yeah. Evanooshka: I guess that's a fair that's a fair thing. But like I'm you know Aleta: If you buy fifty Ferraris, it's not Evanooshka: Yeah, yeah. But if it's unlimited too, you could buy fifty Ferraris and you could also give clean water to everybody in the world. And you could Aleta: True. Evanooshka: build infrastructure everywhere in the world and you could provide healthcare to everybody in the world. I mean there's a lot of things and you could have your fifty Ferraris. What a concept. Aleta: Yeah. Evanooshka: I don't really want fifty Ferraris personally, but like if somebody wanted that, great, do it. As long as you give everybody clean water, I don't care. Take the fifty Ferraris. Aleta: No, I don't want one, but Lucy: just gonna say unlimited money too. Evanooshka: More of a Lamborghini baby. Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: Yes. Beautiful. Okay, we're gonna go with another mind bending one. Evan, would you rather be able to Evanooshka: Mind ending. Lucy: god no mind bending we're gonna bend which is what you do for work. So yeah Evanooshka: That's even worse. Lucy: Right up your alley. Okay. Would you rather be able to enter any fictional world of your choice or bring fictional characters into the real world? Evanooshka: bringing fictional characters into the real world doesn't sound like I'd have their consent and that would make me a little uncomfortable. So going into a world I think is more fun than interesting to me. And then I would I would also have to put a little asterisk there that I'd be able to leave that world and come back to my own anytime I Aleta: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: choose. But like movies that like you go back in time to like King Arthur land. That's awesome. I'd love to be able to go there. I don't know if I really get o get along as well as I'd imagine as a queer person, perhaps, but you know maybe if I go back to like ancient Greece I'd be okay. Hang out in the in the fic fictional, right, right, right, right. So yeah, I just Aleta: No, fictional world though, you can choose any Yeah, you can choose any book. Evanooshka: Yeah, okay, great. Then yeah, we're we're we're good to go. We're good to go. Lucy: What about you, Alita? Aleta: Well, you know, I'm a lit girl, I would say that too. there's actually a book, with that premise, Jasper Ford, Lost in a Good Book, where the character is able to enter fictional worlds. But, yeah. Lucy: I wanna say that, but it kind of depends on the character. Can we just bring Superman over? Let's just have Superman in our world. Evanooshka: Smallville was my gay awakening. Let me tell ya. Tom Welling, holy shit, what a fucking looker. And he still looks great. He's still he's still Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: I love Tom Welling. Tom Welling falls great. He does. Aleta: Mm. Evanooshka: so attractive. And he seems Lucy: Yes. Evanooshka: so nice. Is does his gay brother exist? Can can we hang out? He's what a what Lucy: Right. Evanooshka: what a what a guy. Lucy: That's right. And we do. We need Superman. I'm just saying. Okay. Evanooshka: Superman is all of us. We're all our own best Supermans men. Lucy: Superman, superwomen, Evanooshka: Super super people. Lucy: super people. Okay, we are going to end this with an a wink and a nod to way back in the day when the fandom first started. So this is especially for you, Evan. Would you rather be bald or have no eyebrows? Aleta: Ha ha ha ha. Lucy: Thinking of all the children. I had to for them. Evanooshka: I'm still confused where the frick this comes from. I'm so confused by it but I also like loved being ranked on like that. I it's like so bizarre. I I think I would choose to be bald rather than to lose my eyebrows. I don't think the tattoo eyebrows look is is ideal for me. That would not that would not be something I could pull off. Lucy: What about you, Melita? Aleta: Yeah, I'd choose no eyebrows. I d I think I think you can learn to draw them on you know, presumably better than I can't repla I mean, I guess you can wear wigs. But yeah. Evanooshka: Yeah. Or I'll I'll just get a hair transplant like all the other Lucy: There you go. Evanooshka: folks. Aleta: Ha ha ha ha. Lucy: I I don't know what I would choose, to be honest. I guess it would depend on what era in my life I'm at I'm in. How much I don't give a fuck. So that's that'll I Aleta: Right now. Evanooshka: Or what fantasy world you're into. Aleta: Right now. Lucy: But fantasy world. I guess I'd wanna keep my hair and I can figure out how to draw an eyebrows, but I love my eyebrows. It's like one of my favorite things about me. So I'm like, damn, I don't want to lose them. But gotta do what you gotta do. Gotta keep my hair. Aleta: My eyebrows are invisible without without help, so Lucy: my goodness. Okay, Evan, do you feel like loose and ready for questions of all kinds of variety? Evanooshka: No, I'm Aleta: Evans. Evanooshka: not ready for anything. Lucy: Okay. We're just gonna start anyway. Here we go. Evanooshka: I can't I I can't talk at all right now. I'm gonna go. See you guys. Have a great time. Talk amongst yourselves. Later. Aleta: no. Ha ha ha. Lucy: We got him for fifteen minutes, guys. Okay, let's I'm gonna jump in while I can. Evan Evanooshka: Gonna shout out my booby cup right here. Aleta: Ha ha. Lucy: Beautiful. We we cannot wait to learn where you got that. Aleta: Ha ha. Lucy: Evan, we know you have answered this before, but can you talk about what inspired you to pursue acting? Evanooshka: Wow. complicated answer. What inspired me is different than how I started. How I started was like I had a passion for telling stories, creating stories. When I was a kid I was drawing lots of different storybooks. I think I have dozens of them that my mom kept for whatever reason. They're still there. And I I I before I could write, I would articulate the story and have her write it down or my grandmother write it down. I would put on shows at home. I'd dress up. I would direct my sister around because she was a trooper about it. I would like Aleta: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: I and she was also the younger sister, so she'd do what I said. Aleta: Ha. Evanooshka: I I I I would put on shows, write stuff. I was I was in love with storytelling and I even went to a performing arts preschool. I mean this was something that my parents were so supportive. They saw that I loved it. and they were like, let's let's fully go into this. And I think a lot of it or a big part of it was I loved the applause, I loved the attention, I loved people sitting and watching me and feeling like I was, you know, I mattered. And that was really a powerful feeling for me, especially when later on in in life when I was in elementary school, I was bullied really badly and then continued to be really badly bullied. So I think a lot of it was like the bow at the end was the most amazing thing for me. That's not what inspired me to be an actor. That's like how I got started. What inspired Aleta: Mm-hmm. Mm. Evanooshka: me to be an actor was when I eventually went to a performing arts high school, which is called Ace's Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven. It was a half day magnet school where they took artists of all disciplines, whether it was visual arts, writing, theater, dance, or music, and you audition to get in. And they take in kids from all over Southern Connecticut and bring them in for class from one to four PM every single day, except for Friday. So it was a very unique program and it was very specialized. It was taught by teachers who were professionals in the industry. They were not full time teachers. They were also part time artists. So it a really cool, unique place to learn the why of storytelling and why acting matters and what acting really is. That it's not just about making people disassociate and to forget their lives. It's actually reminding people how to live, how to choose a better way and path forward under really difficult given imaginary circumstances. inspiring people. It became religious to me. I was like, my gosh, I can I can learn new habits to form a character that ultimately I can choose to use in my own life. It gave me confidence. So I was like, Evan right now hunches his back and is his chest is in because I lack confidence. And when I played a character that had confidence and needed to be out like this, I was like, I can hold my chest like this and ultimately just changing the way that I held myself than changed the way that other people saw me. So I started out wanting acting and liking acting because I wanted attention and applause. That's the honest answer. What inspired me to be an actor was learning just how powerful and spiritual the craft is and that it is the ultimate now I I can say this as a as a formal professional hypnotist It is the ultimate form of hypnosis. It is the ultimate form of teaching people and connecting with people, reminding them who they are and what they're capable of. In a world where everything is being thrown at us to stop us from accomplishing our dreams and going after what we want, there is a way forward for us to be the best versions of ourselves in circumstances that just seem insurmountable. Lucy: Beautiful. Beautiful answer. Aleta: So we were discussing this before we started, but we're fascinated by your hypnosis work. How did you get into that to begin with? Evanooshka: also a long answer, so here we go. Aleta: Ha ha ha ha. Lucy: That's okay. Evanooshka: short version is through magic. Started out as a magician, was doing a lot of work as a magician in high school. and then on my online magic communities a lot of magicians were becoming hypnotists and I saw them making that transition and realizing, they carry less props. It's another thing to add onto my little business card. It's a magician and balloon artist. It like, it'd be cool to be magician, balloon artist, hypnotist. So again, it was an ego thing. It's like, let me just add something to my resume. Let me just make myself look cooler and to you know a lot of this was about validation. I just wanted people to like like me because I was bullied all the time. I was like please like me. Please be please love me. You know, something I can provide to you. So that was the real beginning journey into hypnosis. I didn't really know what I was doing. So I dabbled in it. dabbled it in college, was able to do it, did it to some friends, didn't really know what I was doing. I just I got by. I was I was naturally good at certain parts of it and did not have the training to do other parts of it. Then I forgot about it for a little bit and it was always on my business card and always on my website and I didn't really it was more of a this is gonna make me look interesting to people And and I'm just never gonna get hired to do it and Aleta: Yeah. Evanooshka: hopefully it'll like get be a be a nice a thing for business. and then I had a really bad breakup and I was really sad and I was really bummed. It was my first love, devastated, totally, totally devastated. And I needed to get busy working on myself. And I went to therapy for the first time. And I went to train as a hypnotist and just spent all of my money, all my savings on this hypnosis training to become an apprentice to this master hypnotist in Connecticut. His name's Dan LaRosa. And I was like, I want to learn stage hypnosis. I want to be able to do stage hypnosis shows and make money this way. I just read Steve Martin's book, Born Standing Up, which was his autobiography about how he got his start as a magician, balloon artist, comedian, banjo player, traveling around the country, doing the college circuit, performing at colleges and universities and bars all over the place to get his experience in a fan base. So I was like, okay, cool. I think I could do that. Let me try to do that. And I just need to actually learn what I'm doing and feel confident about this. So Dan LaRosa said, I'll teach you and you can be my apprentice, but only if you learn the therapeutic side of hypnosis. And had no interest in that. Again, this was like an i I I got into this for ego reasons. I was like, I want this to be like an extra thing I can do. It'd be cool to make somebody forget their name. It was kind of selfish. You know, I was like, it's I just want I just want to be cool. and distract myself from my pain, ultimately. I think that was probably the biggest reason, actually. and I agreed begrudgingly, and he totally blew my mind open. And I was learning things that I think are basic principles of the subconscious that everybody should be taught in school. It's a different conversation, but it's not rocket science, pretty straightforward stuff. And because of what I learned with him, I was really able to identify, the breakup that happened was because I was feeling a lot of anxiety from the Me Too movement. The the episodes I was experiencing with my ex and in general, in life, was because of the sexual assault that I had when I was much younger. And it was pushed to the wayside because the justice system forgot about me. and they misfiled my case ultimately is what I learned later. So I was just like, I I feel like I felt responsible for any other young person who was assaulted by this guy who assaulted me. And I'd reach out to people privately to warn them and a lot of them didn't believe me, or they would kind of mock me. A lot of them have apologized, 'cause I hold nothing against them. and Then the hypnosis made me realize, and therapy in tandems because a lot of work on myself, right? It's like I gotta I gotta exorcise this from myself. So I wrote a Me Too statement. It went a lot more viral within the Boston community than I expected. This man who was a big wig in the Boston theater community, a theater reviewer, a pastor, he was a critic who was also on the board of the International Reviewers of New England, which was the biggest awards. Group in the New England theater scene at the time. He resigned the same day that I posted it. And ironically, being the narcissist that he is, he posted in a private group that he did, in fact, assault me and caused me great pain. and of course, this was screenshotted and Then the district attorney of Massachusetts contacted me and said, Hey, we've got a great case here. Can we can we go after him? And I said, The case has been opened for the last six years. You guys just forgot about it. I came to you the day that it happened. I did everything right. But you forgot Lucy: Yeah. Evanooshka: about me. And this is what happens to a lot of victims all over the place. This is not unique to me. This is something that is a problem in our country. It's a different conversation. Lucy: Yeah. Evanooshka: So because then of what happened there, it got the attention of some folks who were noticing, okay, I'm going public with this. Andy's a hypnotist, and he's using hypnosis throughout this process to get through it. And in the courtroom. So there was a my one of my first clients was a woman who was a victim of rape. She wanted to be able to get pregnant with her partner. She could not get pregnant. because any time she would have intimacy with her partner, she'd get triggered. Certain part of her body was touched. she contacted me and said, Hey, hey, I trust you. I don't trust other hypnotists because they haven't dealt with what you dealt with and what I've dealt with. And I would like you to try to help me. And I said, No. Like, absolutely not. I'm an actor. This is just something I'm doing to like make people forget their names. I want to do it to enhance my show. I'm doing it to distract myself from my ex. Absolutely not. I cannot heal your rape trauma. That is and and this is just something that's working for me. Lucy: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: I'm a crazy person and and and my imagination is active and this is this is helpful for me but for nobody else. And she said, Please. I'm like, all right, let's try it out. We'll see how this goes. Six months later, this woman is pregnant. Lucy: Aww Evanooshka: That was the start to my hypnosis career. Was that realizing, this isn't just me. This isn't just a a fluke, that this is helping me get through the justice system and succeed in getting this man in jail for assaulting me for what he did. Which it took nine years for him to get in jail from the day that I went to the police. So that the I hypnosis changed my life and just the the the simple it was from an act of desperation of trying to preserve myself and to save myself from my depression and anxiety that this thing came about. And it was selfish reasons, kinda like with with acting. Like I just wanted to be cool and be validated. Maybe it's not selfish, maybe that's a little bit cruel to d say to myself. It wasn't selfish necessarily. It was like wanting to feel like needed. It gave me a sense of meaning to feel useful and helpful. And then when I started, I I was over the summer I made a website, did one show and I put that out there on my website and I reached out to college agents that I knew were essential to getting work in the college market. And I got one of the best agencies ever. And they've been my reps ever since. I have an agent in every time zone. And and then I started performing hypnosis shows. And it totally changed my life. I was able to work as an artist, performing artist around the country, but in 49 states now. and able to like be solidly middle class, which if you know anything about the arts, usually you're like dirt poor and can't support yourself as an artist and have to work other jobs, or you are super wealthy and a celebrity and and making it big. So there's not really an in between as a performing artist, except in this w in this in this little niche market. And so it's been pretty great. And I'm I'm feeling really grateful and happy. And it feels nice to be able to help people as well. That makes me feel useful. Lucy: Absolutely. You've helped a lot of people. You've helped a lot of people in ways even without hypnosis as far as we know. Unless we've been hypnotized. I don't know. We could have been without knowing. Could be a Aleta: Ha ha ha Evanooshka: That could be a plot twist. Lucy: plot twist. But Evanooshka: Well. Lucy: I think you've helped a lot of people. And we've heard, you know, we've seen a lot of the interviews from the kids you get to work with at the college shows and like what it meant to them. And that's really meaningful to see. So you're doing good work. Really good work. Yeah. Evanooshka: Thank you. Thank you. Aleta: Maybe 'cause we've cover we've covered the next one. Lucy: Wait, not Alita. Evanooshka: What was the next one? Lucy: Okay. you're right, we did. We were hu she was Aleta: W I mean Lucy: gonna talk to you about therapeutic hypnotherapy, but we're good. Evanooshka: there's so much I could say. Yeah, what what was the Yeah, yeah, yeah. Aleta: Okay. Okay. So the question was, you know, in addition to the stage hypnosis, you're doing the therapeutic hypnotherapy as you've said, what does that look like and what sort of things can it help with? Evanooshka: Totally. That's a totally different conversation topic. therapeutic hypnosis is typically done in private, usually one on one with somebody. it can work on all sorts of things. basically if it starts in the mind, it can end in the mind. So anxiety, depression, PTSD, even symptoms of ADHD. an ADD, an O C D, phobias, you could work on addictions, you can work on confidence building, performance anxiety, whether that's sexual performance, whether that is creative performance, whether that's sports performance. All of those things, essentially the root of them, is anxiety. And anxiety is imagination mingled with bad memory. Think about that for a second. If thoughts impact us physically, if I ask you to think of something delicious, you probably get hungry and start to salivate. If you think of somebody attractive, you get hungry and start to salivate, right? So all these thoughts impact us physically all the time. And so that also applies to things that we see in the TV screen in our minds. So when we think of a memory that's bad, and we all have a bad memory, and we mingle that with imagination. That impacts our nervous system. It's how the mind works. You know, and and and and everybody has this happen with or without your consent. Thoughts just pop into our heads. We are not our thoughts, but we have thoughts, and our thoughts impact us physically. But if we can't control our thoughts, like can you control your thoughts? Can either of you control your thoughts? Try not to think of a purple Lucy: I mean Evanooshka: penguin right now. Lucy: I thought of a blue penguin. I went blue. Blue penguin. Immediately. Evanooshka: But try try not to think of a purple penguin in this moment. And the reason why it might be difficult for you to not think of or to think to not think of a purple penguin is because I keep saying the words purple penguin over and over again. And that's how our minds work, right? We get something from the environment outside of us, it's going to impact us physically. So all all we can't control our environment, we can't control the people that are around us. We can't control the content we consume necessarily. We can try to, but those algorithms are going to Pump shit in front of us that we might not want to see, and it may impact us physically in ways that we don't want. So, how do we control that? That's with hypnosis. And hypnosis is the art and practice of sculpting your imagination to ultimately reverse engineer anxiety. And the way you do that is by taking imagination and mingling it with a good thought or a good memory. And that gives you relief. So rather than a bad memory being mingled with your imagination, you mingle a Good memory, like being with a loved one, thinking of yourself in paradise, thinking of yourself succeeding at something you want in life, thinking of yourself undoing a habit that's getting in your way, and that thing that no longer serves you in your life transforming into fuel that gives you the power to do something you want to accomplish. All those things are images that might not be real, but they still impact us as though they are. And that is the practice of therapeutic hypnosis. That's how it works. So I'm essentially sculpting a narrative for somebody to imagine, and they either choose to pay attention to what I'm saying or not. And if they choose to pay attention to what I'm saying, they're gonna think the thoughts and allow a movie to be painted in their minds, and that will impact them physically by design. That's why you can't force somebody to be hypnotized. If somebody doesn't want to listen to me, they're not going to be hypnotized. And if somebody listens to me and they don't wanna like imagine what I'm saying, that's also not gonna work either. If they don't trust me, that's another big thing too. If you don't trust the hypnotist, you're not gonna get hypnotized because you're gonna wanna keep yourself safe, which makes sense. That's why therapeutic hypnosis typically takes a little bit longer because there's gotta be a rapport built between the the the client Lucy: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: and the hypnotist to be like, hey, how is this gonna be something that's gonna make you feel safe. Do we have to do it on Zoom? We don't want to be in person. you know, do you want to record the whole thing so you know exactly what I'm saying to you and you can go back and listen to it. I actually recommend everybody does that with a hypnotist. all that stuff matters to make the client's experience positive and relaxed. Because if you can't be relaxed, you can't be hypnotized and you can't have an effective treatment. so that's how it works. And the in a in a nutshell, right? I'm being r speed it's like speed dating version of hypnosis. Aleta: Hm, of course. Evanooshka: but I also Lucy: I don't know. Evanooshka: apply all the therapeutic principles of hypnosis in my show. My entire show is from a therapeutic lens with a therapeutic perspective and with therapeutic goals in mind. Everybody that comes on stage leaves the show better than when they came into the room. That is not only my goal, that is my guarantee. I make sure that happens. There is nobody that leaves that room feeling worse than when they arrived. So the and the way that that happens is by everything that I ask people to do in the show, and it's an ask. It's a suggestion, it's not a command. You can't command anybody to do anything. And the suggestions always are linked with being more confident, being more creative, and being more relaxed. So it's hard not to feel better if all the things you're doing are connected to bolstering those feelings. Lucy: Makes sense. Wow, there's so much that goes into that. My mind is Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: Well, speaking of those hypnotist shows, we have seen videos of people being mean to you at the end of them. Is there a psychology behind that? Evanooshka: There is a There's an anecdote. There's a a moral to the story, maybe. There is a armature like I'm trying to try to create other synonyms here. There the the the point of that is the entire show is about transforming something that doesn't serve you into something that gives you power. Transforming pain into power, transforming a block into fuel. and I like to end the show with that sketch because it's showing that I'm not only guiding all these other folks on stage through a process of discovering that anything that's blocking them can essentially be used as power, but I also have to demonstrate that as well. And After that sketch is over, I talk about my experiences being bullied. And I talk about going to the state capitol of Connecticut and talking alongside Miss America and passing the first ever anti-bullying legislation in the state from sharing what happened to me and from sharing what happened to all these other kids too. And because we did that, we actually transformed something awful that happened to us all into something that actually changed. People's lives. It didn't stop bullying, but it made a difference. And that's kind of the point. So I can't get up on stage and tell people that this works for them without the most powerful, I can do that, I guess, but the most powerful way to demonstrate this works is by showing it with myself and getting up there and doing it. I could talk about using self-hypnosis in the courtroom, but they're not seeing that. in real time. They're watching me laugh at myself and take these nasty comments in real time and in front of an audience that doesn't know me and laughing at me and enjoying it and finding power in it and transforming something that when I was a kid I could have never gotten up on stage and done that. I I would have been so hurt and scared. But Now I I don't I I wouldn't say I enjoy it, but it is a practice for me of not taking myself too seriously. And that's so important. Lucy: Okay. We'll be hurt for you. Aleta: Ha Evanooshka: No, don't be hurt for me. Because that's the that's the Lucy: Bye. Evanooshka: thing. It's kind of it's kind of Aleta: Ha ha. Evanooshka: a nice way to get back at the hypnotist for making you do silly things too. It's a nice little in in Lucy: I guess so. Evanooshka: stage combat class, I'll give this as a as an anecdote too. In stage combat class in acting school, a good stage combat teacher will likely tell you if you're somebody that's always on the offensive during the class, like, okay, now the person who's been taking the punches, now you get to throw the punches. So that there's an equality felt. For everybody. Because it you c even if it's a fake punch or a fake choke or a fake slap. Subconsciously, especially when you're acting, the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality and illusion. It's why when you're watching TV, you laugh when it's funny, you cry when it's sad, you scream when it's scary, but you know what you're watching isn't actually real, but you're reacting as though it is. And that same rule applies to when you're hitting somebody or whacking somebody or insulting somebody. So, or making somebody do something silly. So it's it's like, okay, let's reverse this. So now the power dynamic gets leveled. So there's a quality felt, the p the power is reclaimed, and that everybody who comes on stage feels like they That I get a taste of my own medicine, I guess. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Lucy: well you're very sweet just say that you're right. Evanooshka: That's because of all the dessert. You are what you eat, so surprised I'm not a chocolate fountain at this point. Lucy: my goodness. Alita, I'm gonna jump one, okay? Yeah, yeah. Aleta: Yeah, yeah, jump that one. Lucy: Okay. So you spoke about this a little bit earlier, and honestly, this is the one I'm most excited about, so maybe we should have asked this first. But We also know that you're an accomplished Evanooshka: Don't shit on yourself. Aleta: Ha ha ha ha. Lucy: But we we know that you're an accomplished magician. I love magic. I love magicians. I instantly turn back into a five year old kid and I'm frickin' fascinated and I will never s I I'll be eighty and just delighted. So how how did you get into that? We heard you got into that in high school, but why? And what does it entail to keep up a skill like that? Because you're doing so many other things. So how do you keep fresh and can you do new tricks and all the stuff? Evanooshka: Great question. so I started making money at it when going into high school, but I was doing magic long before then. So when I when I was a kid, the first things that I did were like writing stories or like actually drawing them and then having the story in my head and somebody else writing it because I couldn't write yet or read. And then the other thing was balloon twisting. Those were the two things that started out. And then magic came about when I was like probably in kindergarten or so. That seems to be like a s a thing like a lot of kids, especially young boys, get a magic set from Walmart or from, you know, wherever, and it's like a cheap little magic set and it it was I loved it. I loved it and I that's not a unique way to get introduced to magic. It's pretty common. The difference is that I just kept it up. And so I just kept doing it. And it again was a way that I was able to flirt with people that I liked or thought I liked when I was Aleta: Ha ha ha. Evanooshka: when I thought I was going to marry my best friends who were all girls and and be prince and princesses together. Aleta: Ha ha ha ha. Evanooshka: yes, there was never anything sexual but that it was just like Aleta: Ha Evanooshka: we're gonna get married. We're gonna be able to play together forever. It's gonna be great. Aleta: Ha ha ha ha. Evanooshka: and they I remember this this vividly. It was this girl named Amanda. I had the biggest crush on her. And she invited me to her birthday party. I was gonna perform magic there. And I brought this little bag of magic and a little plastic, like like garbage bag. I mean, it was like scary around it was like and I I brought the derpiest little tricks. It was like a little container where you like flip it one way and the card's gone, you flip it the other way and the card's back. Lucy: Mm. Evanooshka: And I get there and she's h her dad has hired a professional magician. And this guy's doing tricks that are just, you know, they're so great. And I'm like, I'll never be able to compete. So I quit magic. Aleta: Awww Lucy: No Evanooshka: I was like I'm never doing this again until I go to my cousin's bar mitzvah and I'm in the room with him and he's got a a magician there and I'm a I'm in eighth grade at the time. And this magician's doing tricks that I know how they work, but I can't do them. I was well versed enough in magic as a kid that I knew the sleight of hand things that he was doing. I just couldn't figure out like how to actually execute it myself. So I was like, hey, can you teach me? He's like, yeah, for $125 an hour. And I said, Absolutely not. I don't have that kind of money. I've only got $100 Aleta: Ha ha ha. Lucy: Ha ha ha Evanooshka: saved up from all the birthdays that I've had in my in Aleta: Ha ha ha. Evanooshka: my life. So I then went online. And I Googled how like what these tricks were and I just described them and eventually found the names of the tricks online. And then saw that you could buy the secrets on certain magic websites. And I was like, Well, I got a little debit card because I I I have I have money here, so I bought tricks and I spent Probably like half the money I'd saved up on magic. It's like fifty bucks. My mom was livid. She said, you must make this money back. So you're making an investment right now. And granted, my mom is an was an elementary school special ed teacher. Okay? She's not like in finance, but she was like, you need to make back your money. And the way you're gonna do this is you're gonna do a free show at the library, and you're gonna advertise it, and people are gonna come, and then hopefully you're gonna get a gig from that and you're gonna be able to make back your money that way. And it was the best advice she ever gave. Gave me. I did that free show. I got one booking from it for $25. It was a kid's birthday party, and they wanted balloon twisting. And I knew how to make basic balloons as well. I was like, okay, let me just add it on to, you know, make a little bit of extra money. And kids Being kids would ask me to make things that I wouldn't know how to make and there had no training in, but I was like, yeah, let me just try this. Fake it till you make it. Let me just see if I can do it. There's only four different kinds of twists you can do with balloons. If you know how to do those four twists, you can do anything you want. It just takes your imagination to think up how to do it. so I learned how to make things based on what kids were challenging me to make. And that one gig led to another gig. And it was all word of mouth, just around where I grew up. And people would hire me. And then eventually I got to the point where I wasn't charging a lot of money, but people were really impressed by what I was doing. And they tit me like two or three times the amount that I was charging, or even more. So I was like, I think I should charge more. Then eventually I just made a business. I was just I was just going around and making money performing kids' birthday parties, right up until I went to college. And then during college I would do it for professors' kids as well. And and just continued throughout my my undergrad. And then after college continued that as well, and that's how I got my start in hypnosis. It was that world that essentially enabled me to think outside the box with how I can make money and then I could turn things that I loved as hobbies into ways I can make money. Without falling out of love with it. And in to your in regards to your question, how do I keep up with new tricks? It's difficult because I think there's only so much time in the day, and some of that time has to be spent kind of letting my brain rot a little bit. You know? Like I'm not I'm Lucy: Ha ha. Evanooshka: not a a superhuman where I can just do and be optimizing everything all the time. Like I'm not I'm not a Silicon Valley Lucy: Always on device. Evanooshka: mindset of like, always optimize brain maxing. Aleta: Ha ha. Evanooshka: You know, like let me whack my brain hard enough that it looks beautiful or whatever the fuck other people are doing. Like I I I I I I there is only so much time in the day and magic has taken a backburner because acting is become a bigger part of my life and now writing has become a bigger part of my life. I'm going back to my roots with writing again and writing scripts. So magic I still do, just not as much. But I'm still learning new tricks. I still spend some time on it. It's just not as much time as I used to. Used to be like a full time thing. Now it Lucy: Wow. Evanooshka: is not. Now it's very much a part time thing. Lucy: That is amazing though. Gosh, you just do so much. There's so much you can do. Okay, Alita. Aleta: Right, so yeah, so going back to the acting a little bit, we know that you're a classically trained actor and we were wondering whether there was anything that you learned in your university theater program that has been helpful in your career. Evanooshka: So much. Everything. Training was amazing. I where do I even begin? I have a lot of qualms with the program, don't get me wrong. they tried to throw me out when I came out against the man who assaulted me. So Aleta: Mm. Evanooshka: like there was it was Lucy: No Evanooshka: yeah, yeah, yeah. So there there's there's plenty of things I can complain about, but the things that are great the list is endless. I mean the education was was phenomenal. I got There's so many things I could say. I think one of the biggest things I learned was taking my time. I'm somebody who talks very fast. I have a lot of energy. And so if I go slower, my intentions become clear. thinking the thoughts are enough for me. If I think the thoughts of the character, rather than thinking about what I'm doing with my hands or how I look. Aleta: Mm. Evanooshka: Or, you know, how am I am I am I pretty from this angle or this angle or you know, that none of that matters. It's thinking the thought of the character. You think the thought of the character, it will be conveyed in your behavior, in your intentions, and subconsciously people will pick that up. I'm tutoring my rival boy, there was no tear sticks. Jorge did not have tier six. He's like, if you tier six, you gotta bring yourself. So all of the all the emotions felt for that were real. Everything. and I had to do it fast in many cases because we were short on time. I had to film it, you know. The the take with where we did coming up to my mom at the end of of Aleta: Mm. Evanooshka: that series, that was one take. I mean it was just here we go, done. I wish I had another take to do it right because I was like, god, I I I'm You know, it's the first time I'm doing it. We didn't rehearse it or anything. It was just, let's go. so the training has allowed me to do stuff like that quickly and drop in. and has really been, I think, aided by my work as a hypnotist as well. Understanding the psychology of how the brain works with the training as an actor, like, whoa, these things really go together nicely. like training myself to have I reverse engineer triggers. So essentially rather than having something that makes me get upset that's against my will, I train myself to when I bring a certain finger together, I feel a certain emotion or I get into a certain part of this character's psyche. And that can instantly trigger me in a good way. You know, so that's something else that I I did that myself, but I was been assisted by the training that I I got from hypnosis and from acting school. And then I think the biggest thing for me was was Alexander Technique. It's one of the most incredible parts of the program, and I think Alexander Technique is a godsend for anybody doing anything. It's all all the training is is is learning about the primary control of the body, which is your head, neck and spine and back. and using the imagination To impact your anatomy physically with micro adjustments. And by micro adjusting yourself without doing anything, you're just imagining it happening, that little tiny image impacts your body just enough to allow this to go a little bit higher, to allow this to separate out here, to allow your breath to expand, which then allows you to be able to do everything in life with a little bit less tension. And a little bit less tension goes a long way. When you're tense as an actor, it shows. Effort is not not only is it not attractive, it's not clear. It it muddies the waters for storytelling. When you're efforting something like Lisa, you're breaking my heart. It's a room reference, right? The room that's you can't, you can't, you can't sell it. If you're trying too hard. And don't get me wrong, I am not an actor who is effortless all the time. I'm trying to do that as much as possible. And ironically, I think the best acting that I do is when I think it's the worst, because I'm like, God, I wasn't trying at all. Like I wasn't, you know, I wasn't feeling the emotions. I was just kinda like throwing it out there and seeing what happens. And those scenes are always the ones that the fans like the most. Every single Aleta: Ha ha ha. Evanooshka: time. But the ones that I am really working hard at and like trying like yeah, I'm feeling my emotions and I'm so in it. And like, yeah, I'm just, it's oozing. Like, you know, I'm I'm I'm I'm really feeling this like Daniel Day Lewis vibe right now, guys. Aleta: Ha ha ha. Evanooshka: Never r it doesn't resonate with people that are like, that was great, but I love the other scene better. That was improvised and Lucy: Ha ha ha ha. Evanooshka: and wild and and you know, the the scene with Sky and I that were were in the bathroom that we did one take. We improvised a lot of the lines, we just had the intentions down. Couldn't fit in frames. Sky picks me up, puts me on the couch. All all of that was So fast. And we were like, that's gonna look so shitty. That consistently comes back as one of the favorite scenes from fans that they see. Like, wow, it really was a heart to heart that you guys had. I was like, Yeah, well, we did that in one take, and it was just like us talking to each other. And that's the point. It's effortlessness. So effortlessness is what an actor must achieve if they are going to optimize their. Ability to connect with an audience and to storytell to the best of their abilities. And the and it's a catch twenty two because if you're coming in and trying to do something, trying is effort. But not trying, for a lot of actors can just mean you're And so there's a this how so can I do less does not mean I'm not gonna do anything. Can I do less to accomplish more? Can I relax my body in order to allow more emotions to show themselves through my eyes, through my face, through my body? And then can I pull back? Because a human reaction when you're feeling emotion is to hold it in, not to let it out. Nobody is like sobbing their eyes out because they want to normally. They're trying to hold it together because they're trying to be strong. Lucy: Yeah. Evanooshka: And the one of the hardest things in the verter vertiverse is when a director's like, we need to have tears streaming down your face. And it's like, that's gonna ruin the connection with the audience because what an audience wants to see is somebody struggling not to cry, not the tears Lucy: Yeah. Evanooshka: themselves. Every you look at a lot of verticals and people are crying, it's like, that's impressive. They're they're emotional. But that's not what makes you feel something. It's and that's I think wh another reason why the bathroom scene worked. I was I was trying to not be emotional. And Sky was trying not to be emotional too. And that gave it this tension Lucy: Yep. Evanooshka: and this rawness that that worked in the moment. And that's really hard to prepare. That's something you have to do in life as a habit of just doing less all the time and realizing that I am enough just as I am. I don't need to perform for people. I don't need to show off. I mean, talk about all the places that I was and how I got started in acting and hypnosis and magic and it was all to impress a girl. It was to impress my family and friends. It was to get people to like me, to want to be my friend. A lot of magicians have that story of like, I wanted people to stop picking on me and to be cool. And like, look, I could levitate this card and make cool things happen and I have I have magical powers, you're gonna be my friend because be you're not my friend, then I'm gonna make you into a toad. You know, like that that serves its purpose and that's fine. But if Aleta: Hm hmm hmm. Evanooshka: I can do less and magnetize people just with being authentic and being myself. That breeds the other person to be authentic, which then breeds this energy of I don't know what else to call it, it's just light. It's the truth. And truth is what an actor must strive for. It is living truthfully in the given imaginary circumstances. And you can't live truthfully in the given imaginary circumstances if you're not relaxed. Because if you're not relaxed, you can't access your subconscious mind. Lucy: You just explains like everything. Like I pointed at Aleta: Mm-hmm. Lucy: you because I was like, everything these little decisions that you've made and the things that you've learned have inspired a lot of people to do things that they would never do normally. And that's why I pointed, because that's that's why we say the podcast wouldn't exist without you and Greg. We did not have the balls to do this. without like inspiration from you guys and like listening to you both talk about your experiences and taking leaps and doing the hard thing that was really scary to do and being vulnerable. Like you have been so vulnerable just on this podcast alone, but for the last year you've been vulnerable with thousands of people and it hasn't just been Alita and I who have been affected in a positive way. So I just I wanted to touch on that. Like I know this question Evanooshka: Really nice of you to say. Thank you. Lucy: Yeah, we we really mean it. And it's talked about a lot. Like how your vulnerability and and and you just being yourself, it's impacted so many of us and we're grateful. Just I have to throw that out there. Yeah. Evanooshka: For you both too. Thank you. Lucy: Yeah. Yeah. Alita, I'm gonna jump just a little, okay? Okay. Aleta: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Lucy: All right, Evan, we know from lots of other lives and such that you've done stage performances. I love theater. Would you ever return to the stage if the opportunity arose, John Lennon? Evanooshka: Yes. Aleta: Ha ha ha. Evanooshka: Just talking to my mom about this a hundred percent. The problem is paying my bills. Lucy: Yes. Evanooshka: Theater does not pay well. And the problem with theater is and why I love it so much too, this is the reason why I can and can't do it, or want to do it but can't is rehearsal. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Lucy: Yeah. Evanooshka: theater requires usually two or three weeks of rehearsal, preview performances and then performances, which means I'm basically giving up Probably at least six weeks or longer of my schedule to dedicate exclusively to a show. I could find a day job during the day, potentially, but that would mean I give up hypnosis shows and magic shows, balloon twisting gigs, and acting gigs that are for film and TV. All of those things could potentially make me more in a day of work or more in than I'd let's see. I think I could probably get I'll give you an example. I was Puck in a Midsummer Night's Dream in the Park, directed by Tina Packer, the co founder of Shakespeare and Company. Rest in peace, Tina. She's a beautiful, beautiful lady. That show where I was I you know arguably the lead, Puck is one of the leads, if not the lead of the show, I was paid like Less than two hundred dollars after taxes a week for that. Lucy: Wow. Evanooshka: A week. That's a non union contract, Lucy: Yeah. Evanooshka: it's still got equity points towards it. If I was equity, I would have been paid about $500 a week before taxes. Lucy: Hm. Evanooshka: And that is the point. Even if you're a union working actor doing summer stock theater like that with a really well known director, it still pays pretty shitty. Lucy: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: And five hundred dollars a week in this economy? When gas is over four dollars a gallon? You can't do that. Lucy: Mm. Evanooshka: Personally, there's some folks that can. That's great. I wish I was one of them. I am not. So I'm going to take work that is gonna pay me way more than that in a d in a day. Or maybe even like Aleta: Mm-hmm. Lucy: Yeah. Evanooshka: double that in a day. You know? That's that's the problem, is that the theater just does not pay as well. Unless it's Broadway. Broadway pays pretty a lot better. oops. but even Broadway. Broadway contracts sometimes are about like two thousand dollars a week. Lucy: Wow. That's pretty nice. If money wasn't Evanooshka: That is pretty nice. Lucy: it is nice. And if money wasn't a problem, is there like a dream show you'd want to do? Like you'd like, Yes, I'm head first in. Evanooshka: of course. Yeah, but the dream show that I would be in hasn't been made yet. I Lucy: okay. Evanooshka: wanna I wanna I wanna originate a character. I wanna I wanna be in a new show that that that that makes a difference, that makes people feel alive, that makes people inspired. I don't I don't need to do something that's already been done before. I there's plenty of shows I could I could name that I would love to do and characters that I'd love to do like that. But one of the joys I've had of being in the vertical world is creating and originating new characters. And and I want to continue to do that in whatever work that I do, whether it's theater, film, TV, verticals. it's there's something really special about creating character. I will always love doing Shakespeare. That's a different thing for me. Cause there's just infinite ways to do characters in Shakespeare. Lucy: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: You know? and I guess that argument can be said about anything. and I'd love to do there's so many shows I'd love to do. There's so many Aleta: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: limit does not exist. Aleta: Yeah. Evanooshka: But I do not if if I had to choose between doing a role that already exists and a role that doesn't, I'd choose the one that hasn't been created yet. Lucy: Beautiful. Aleta: That's exactly what Andrew said. He did li he did Lucy: Ha ha ha ha ha. Evanooshka: really? Aleta: list a whole bunch of shows, but he said yeah, what he really wanted to do was originate a role. Yeah. Evanooshka: Yeah. Yeah, I Lucy: Theater kids. Aleta: Yeah. Lucy: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: Yeah. Aleta: This is not on the list but favorite Shakespeare play. Evanooshka: The one I've been in the most is a Midsummer Night's Dream. I Aleta: Hm. Evanooshka: was in that in high school. I saw my cousin in it. I was in it again as a you know one of my first professional Shakespeare shows. I did scenes from it in college and in high school, and different roles. So like Aleta: Mm. Evanooshka: I I love that show. It's pretty basic, I guess, as a choice. Aleta: Hm. Evanooshka: You know, I think a lot of really proficient Shakespeare lovers Aleta: Mm. Evanooshka: would say, that's you know Whatever. That's that for for Aleta: No. Evanooshka: me, that's my that's my it's my choice. I also love the Scottish play. And I Aleta: Mm. Evanooshka: also for the magic reasons. I think that just the Aleta: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect of it's really just outstanding to me. and the the witchiness of it and the spookiness and it's Aleta: Ha ha ha. Evanooshka: like scary and it's yeah, super cool. I also love I love measure for measure. I saw Denai Gurira in that role in the park. She is an actress who was probably one of my favorite actresses. Seen her perform at Yale Repertory Theater and her show called In the Continuum. It's one of my first real stage shows that I saw. It was about AIDS and both people suffering with AIDS in both Africa and the US. outstanding. life changing show. and I just ran into her getting a city bike actually a couple Aleta: Ha ha. Evanooshka: weeks ago here in the city. And I was like, you know, you look like just like one of my favorite actresses. And she must get that all the time because she's a big wig in the Marvel universe. She plays the the she's the new Black Panther, I think. Aleta: wow. Evanooshka: she's the the the woman with the spear that's like fighting everybody and then Aleta: okay. Lucy: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: yeah. and like the lieutenant. Think I I forgot I forgot her name in in The Black Panther. but she was wearing sunglasses and I was like, You look just like one of my favorite actors. She's like, well, I I am an actor. well, you know, my favorite actress is also a writer, too. She's like, I'm a writer too. I was like, Are you denying gurira? Aleta: Ha ha ha Evanooshka: She's like, Yes, I am. I was like, I love you. I've loved you for years. You're like an inspiration. Aleta: Haw. Evanooshka: It was so cool. Why did I bring her up? That was of what I wanna do. Aleta: A favourite play? Evanooshka: Yeah, so so Denai is somebody who is writing her own shows, doing theater for social change, also a Marvel Universe character, also like but just making new shit all the time and for totally different audiences. Like from the like elitiest elite theater goers And the Shakespeare lovers to the Marvel universe to my gosh, what's the the zombie show that she did that was my god. Lucy: Walking Dead? Evanooshka: Walking Dead, thank you. So, I mean, like Lucy: my gosh. Evanooshka: her her work just expands so much, so many, so many different audience demographics, consuming content in totally different parts of society, right? And she's able to do all of it. And if we are like I I wanna be an actor who is a hypnotist, because that's what I am, I wanna be an actor who makes Who who who who affects society in the most positive way that I can with the stories that I'm telling. And the best way to do that is through telling stories through characters that speak to what's going on with people right now. Shakespeare is timeless. There's a lot Aleta: Mm-hmm. Evanooshka: of shows that are also timeless, but not all of them are. But Lucy: Yeah. Evanooshka: new shit that's good. Always has the potential for that. Lucy: I love that. You gotta ask him Evanooshka: I love you. Aleta: Yeah. Lucy: We love you