Latest / Theatre Life with Ben Kercheval / Kelsey Layton: From Opening for Loretta Lynn to Landing Her Dream Role

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Kelsey Layton: From Opening for Loretta Lynn to Landing Her Dream Role · Theatre Life with Ben Kercheval

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: We talk way too often about blood, sweat, and tears in theater.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: The blood aspect of it is not nearly given enough respect.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Tears, look, they always be flowing in theater.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: We know that.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Sweat, same thing.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: The blood aspect of it, it's underrated because when you bust your body up for this art, and look, this is still community theater.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: You are operating in the red.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, welcome back to Theater Life, a podcast for theater people, by theater people.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Ben Kirchville, and today's guest is an award-winning actor and director at the Bass Drop Opera House.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Her growing list of directing credits includes Puffs, Sister Act, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Steel Magnolias, as well as the upcoming musical, The Best Little Whore House in Texas, slated to open next spring as part of the theater's 2026-2027 season.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: A graduate of NYU's prestigious Tish School of the Arts in the Lee Strasbourg Theater and Film Institute, she recently portrayed the lead role of Bella in Lost and Yonkers and can be found next at the Opera House in her dream role as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Please welcome to the Theater Live podcast, the hardest working person at the Bass Trap Opera House, Kelsey Leighton.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you for having me.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I actually want to go way, way back.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to cover a lot of ground today on acting and directing, methods, all that good stuff.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: But I want to go back because in your research, I thought this was really fascinating.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: You were involved in a family show band called the Heltons at just three years old.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Can you start diving into and explain for us what that looks like from a multi-generational family band?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I was in a family band, much like the Partridge family.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: My sister and I, we were the singers, lead singers.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: My mom was also a singer and played the drums.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: My grandpa was lead guitar.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: My Aunt Janet, she would kind of sing with us off and on.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And she would also play the drums sometimes.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: But before we came along, it was my mom and her siblings and my grandpa.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: So they had they were the Heltons.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been multiple generations, this band.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I was playing gigs in bars and nightclubs when I was a kid, when I was a little kid.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you said you sang lead vocals.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Was that like right away?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Just even as a child, you were putting front and center.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Even as a child, when I was three, the first sir, the first song I learned was Your Cheatin' Heart by Hank Williams Sr.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Which now looking that it's pretty funny that a three-year-old was singing about being cheated on, right?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I was I was adorable.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: My mom always had us dressed to the nines in our matching, usually bedazzled outfits.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So for being three years old and already being able to sing on stage, a lot of people, I think, when they think back to being three years old, there just aren't even a lot of memories to begin with.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm curious how did music and performing on stage color those earliest details and memories, considering that music was so embedded in your family and your upbringing?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's all that I've ever known.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was normal to me.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people, when they meet my family, they're like, oh my God, you all can sing, you all perform, you all, and it's just, it's, I don't know what it is.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: There was something in the water in South Alabama, but it's just it's what we all did together.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I I miss those times.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: My grandpa is no longer with us.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I wish that he could be able to see me perform in in the shows that I'm doing today.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think he would get a kick out of it and he'd be so proud.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: He and my grandmother.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, some of the most fond memories.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: We would play wherever we were asked, from nursing homes to festivals, to bars, to VFWs.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I've actually it's hard, it's it's weird to think I've been performing on stage for 35 years.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So not just not necessarily acting, right?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I have been performing for 35 years.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: So which iteration of the Heltons were opening for music legends like Lori Morgan and Billy Joe Royal and Loretta Lynn?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Did that predate you?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: No, that that included me.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: We did, we so that was at the Hank Williams Festival in Georgiana, Alabama.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, we played that year and we opened for, we did.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: We were opened for Loretta Lynn, Lori Morgan.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: That was I I still can't believe it.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who arranged that gig.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm assuming it was my mother.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: She was also the band manager.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: But that was that was a really cool experience.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess on the heels of that, would you say it was that festival or was there a particular tour artist or maybe even a venue that you look back on and you just you can't believe that it was a part of your life, even if at the ripe age of three years old, you had no idea what you were experiencing?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that one was pretty surreal.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't three then.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: At that point, I was 12.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So still young.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I yeah, 12 or 13 at that time.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: That was that was a really cool experience.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: We almost got our own reality TV show.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you knew that.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: No, go on.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: We were in the running.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember I can't remember what the show was called, but it was one of those reality shows on like TLC, and we had to send in a tape, and we were like in the final few families that were being considered.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: We ended up we didn't get picked.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um really sad about that.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: When was this?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was in high school.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I was in high school, and I just ended up getting picked that season?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't even know what it was for.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I also auditioned for another reality TV show by myself.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was like the Redneck Riviera.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was the name of the show.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: No way.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Was this still in Alabama?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I had moved to Texas at that point.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was in my early 20s.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I was still in Alabama in high school when we were when we auditioned for the to be on the reality show as a family.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: What so what was it about?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember that I don't know.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is another thing.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like through my mom.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: She was always hustling, man.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like trying to what like whatever the opportunity was, especially like if it involved us being able to be together and stick together as a family, she was gonna go for it.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: We were gonna go for it.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: I would have loved to see the Heltons on TLC.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Lost episodes.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: That would have been pretty great.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I know that music has been such a big part of not just your life, obviously, but your families.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: So then moving past the Heltons into your adult life and and living in Bass Drop, I'm wondering if there's a go-to song that you and your sister Candace had for the Farm Street Opera here in Bass Drop.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was Porter Wagner and Dolly Parton.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: The song is called Just Someone I Used to Know.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a duet that multiple people have covered, but I particularly like the Dolly Parton and Porter Wagner cover of it.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And she would sing harmony to me.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So my sister and I, we would always take turns in our family band, and still today we take turns singing lead and singing harmony to the other one.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, for all of your musical influences, and we've already mentioned some big powerhouse names with Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Is there someone in that old country Americana genre that you still really draw a lot of influence today that maybe doesn't get the same level of do as those big hitter names?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: I will tell you, I am obsessed with Tammy Wynette.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: I do feel like she is recognized.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you've heard of the show Tales from the Tour Bus, written, conceived by Mike Judge.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever heard of Tales from the Tour Bush?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: So he did a couple seasons, and one of the seasons focused on like that classic country, outlaw country.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And Tammy Wynette and George Jones got a couple episodes actually.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I just did not realize, you know, how tumultuous and toxic and chaotic their relationship was.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was crazy back in the day, Ben, but they didn't have social media.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And but I feel like people, especially country music singers back in the day, were able to get away with some questionable behavior.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Certainly part of the zeitgeist of that that era of sort of outlaw country.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: But Tammy Wynette, she was she got married really young, she was very poor.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: She had, I think, three kids, and then one day decided I'm gonna move to Nashville and I'm gonna be a star.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And she took her three child small children, packed up what she had in her car, and went to Nashville, and she she did it.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I admire that so much.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: The people that just have no fear.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I wish I had that quality, and I wish I had that quality more so when I was younger.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was definitely afraid.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was definitely, I had a lot of self-doubt.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't, I'm not good enough.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not, but there are people that are just that live in this kind of delusion of like, why not me?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, me.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And they do it and they make it happen.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I think she has such a unique voice that no one could ever, I don't think anyone has been able to replicate her sound.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's also just a common influential theme, it seems like, with someone like her or Loretta Lynn, who just she was the coal miner's daughter, right?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: She grew up extremely poor.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Ollie Carton?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how much did you draw on those types of artists and their background just in your own attitude today?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because when you talk about having self-doubt or thinking that you're not good enough, I was thinking to myself, like, that's not the Kelsey Leighton I know.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: There's very few people more self-assured than you.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, how did those musical influences and their stories really make their way into your own attitude today?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, especially like Dolly Parton's another example.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: She grew up very, very poor.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And she just decided this doesn't have to be my story or the rest of my story, right?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up very poor, Ben.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I will never forget.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom, you know, she'll get mad, she'll watch, be like, we were not poor, but like we were compared to the people that I went to school with at NYU, yes, they would consider me poor.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and there were times at NYU where I felt very out of place because I I was with a lot of very privileged kids.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: All their parents were doctors and like lawyers or famous actors themselves.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: I went to school with Haley Joel Osman and Jack Quaid and I can't remember her name, Keeper Sutherland's daughter.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: When I was winning the award my senior year for my acting studio, Keeper Sutherland's daughter, Keeper Sutherland was there in the audience watching his daughter win the award for her studio.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I felt there were a lot of times when I felt like, oh my god, like I just feel so out of place.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I still knew I belonged there.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I belonged there.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I was good enough.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I had talent, and I knew that I was going to outwork everybody in the room.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think people would be really curious to know if you had any interactions with Haley Joel Osmond or Jack Quaid.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: I felt oh, I also went to school with Mar Wilson, who played Matilda in Matilda, she was really cool.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I had several classes with Haley Joel Osmond.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I felt really bad for him, I remember, because whilst social media still wasn't as intense as it is today, there were still people taking pictures of him at parties and and posting those.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Very much an invasion of his privacy.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I always felt kind of bad about that at school.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: But no, we weren't like super close or buddies or anything, but we did have classes together.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I would sit behind him and he was just he was normal, just just like the rest of us, wanting to have a good time in college and have that experience.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me about the journey to Tish.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's obviously one of the most renowned acting schools in the United States, and and you're coming from this small town in one of the most southern points in the country along the Gulf Coast.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: How did you end up auditioning and what was the preparation and process like for you?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So much like Tammy Wynette, I was like, I'm gonna go to New York City.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: And looking back on it, I really didn't know.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know, I didn't know what I was doing.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really have a plan.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think I had some book somewhere that had like a list of schools in it, and I was like, hmm.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I was like, well, this sounds good and this sounds good, but I didn't have the kind of knowledge that other people do, especially Texas.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: The theater scene in Texas, specifically the high school theater scene in Texas, is very intense.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: It is very intense.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: As someone who went through it, I can confirm that's true.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know this, right?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like we didn't have the UIL and, or maybe we did, I was not a part of it.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, where was it incredibly competitive and all these different opportunities for you to compete against these other schools and win awards and even be considered seen in front of people and considered for scholarships?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I we didn't have any of that.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have a performing arts center or even a black box theater.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Very, very humble beginnings for me.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, especially didn't have a theater program in middle school, but it, I mean, it worked out, I guess.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: But and I told my mom, I was like, I want to audition for these schools, and she was like, okay.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: So she figured it out.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: We figured it out how to save up for that plane ticket and hotel stay.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: I I and I feel like people, like especially like kids today, right?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or kids in in Texas, like Matt, they'd be preparing, they'd have someone working with them, a coach, and like all of this prep on what kind of what monologue should like.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: I picked it, I picked my monologues myself.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I remember being in the room outside, and like all these kids are like doing their preparations, and I'm just sitting there, like, mm-mm.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like just waiting for my turn.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Also, audition for Juilliard, by the way.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: That was a little bit of a I was a little bit more.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, here we'll get to finish this and then I want to get to Juilliard when you're done.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I went in for my NYU audition and did my monologue.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: And what was your monologue?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even, I can't, Ben, you would be mortified to know that I think I picked it from like a monologue book.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like I I broke all the rules.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't do any of the prep that you're supposed to do.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't even know, but I did cry.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was able to cry very easily.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've I've always kind of had that ability.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: You can cry on command, that's part of the skill set repertoire.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: I can dig down deep and I could dig down deep for a 17-year-old.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And what's funny is so I do the monologue.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: I did a great job.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I was like, well, okay, watch this.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I sat down with a guy and he was like, So, what studio are you interested in?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Ben, I didn't even know that there were different studios at NY.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is how unprepared I was.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know that there was Stella Abler, Lee Strasberg, the experimental theater wing, playwrights horizons, like all these different options, the Shakespeare studio.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, well, I was like, well, what do you think?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what do you what do you think?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you think I would fit in?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, I think Strasbourg.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, that's yeah, I I would you bet, fella.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then once I got into Strasbourg, I was like, oh, that's why, that's why he put me here.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Strasbourg studio is known as the Criers.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Criers go to Strasbourg.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you can cry and you can really get there emotionally.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that that actually I want to just bridge a gap real quick.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: So you do this audition, you don't do any prep work for it.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: You go in pretty green.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Somehow you end up in the Lee Strasbourg Institute, which maybe of all of the studios at NYU might be the most well known.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: What what is there a letter?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Are they calling you back the next day?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh yeah, you totally nailed it.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about how you actually learned that you got it.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, through an acceptance letter that that came in the mail, and I was like, oh my god! Like, I was just I was so happy.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I also got into Emerson, by the way, and I got a full ride to Emerson in Boston, but I didn't pick it.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And looking back, that was pretty stupid of me.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: You thought you should have gone to Emerson?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, financially, I mean that would have been the smarter choice.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I'm just like, no, New York City, that's where I need to be, NYC.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I ended up seeing people in NYC that I I I remember seeing them at my Emerson audition.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So they eventually made it to NYC too.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, no, I got a letter in the mail.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was so happy.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I also got into Amda.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't choose Amda.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Did not get into Juilliard.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I want to circle back on that.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: Tell what happened to Juilliard.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: We've already had one episode under our belt at the Theater Life podcast, and Arielle Leged, our first guest, had a great rejection story at Disney World down in Orlando.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Kelsey Layton, what's your rejection story at Juilliard?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: That that delusion will take you pretty far.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Can take you pretty far.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: That delusional state of like, yeah, I mean, why not?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Can take you off a cliff, too.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: That won't take you Juilliard, they're onto you.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, no.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was such an intimidating.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: I can't, I will never forget.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is such a it's burned into my brain just when I walked through those doors, the lighting, it was like this this giant room, but it and it felt so cavernous.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And this man, I don't even remember who I don't know who that man was.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I should have known who that man was.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like looking back, I should have known.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: I should have known everything about everything inside and out.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't even think he was like sitting at the table.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was like pacing around the room when I walked in.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was just this intense energy.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you here to waste my time too?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's very much what it felt like.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: I dare you to I dare you to tear your monologue for me.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: I could tell.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: I could tell he was just like through his vibe, was just like, I why did you no thank you?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Why did you come here?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Come back when you're ready, which I don't know when that would be.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: But like now, I'm like, you know what?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready now.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I want another shot just to do it.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was a 17-year-old kid that didn't know anything, like, didn't I didn't have the the training and the coaching and the all the prep work that should go into that.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then I just had this well, you arrive at NYU and you do it on a prayer and you end up getting an acceptance letter.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: But now when I look at you, I don't know that there is a performer at the opera house who prepares with more intention than you.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's why I say in the introduction, half is a joke, but half serious, that you're the hardest working person at the opera house.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: So when you go from being 17 years old and going to these conservatories or or these prestigious universities and auditioning kind of on a prayer and without much of a plan, where's the inflection point for you where suddenly that changes where you realize oh no, I have to come in so ready that there's Not even a second thought in my mind about what I'm doing.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, through through my education, through what I learned at the Strasbourg Institute and Stone Street Studios, I studied there for a year for film and television acting and NYU about like that.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, this is what it takes.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost like they could see that potential in me.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Juilliard's like, like they're they're not even gonna, they're like, basically, you need to already be Meryl Streep, you know, like at that level before if you want to even be considered to come here.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I think I'm so grateful that NYU saw that potential in me, and they're like, you just we can shine.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: You just need a little molding.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: You just need a little molding.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: You need some molding.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's in there.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And yes.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: But now I'm like, definitely don't pick a monologue from a monologue book.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Pick one from an actual script and read the script.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, you like know your relationship to other characters and where you came from, where you're going, and what your background is and all that good stuff, all the character study that you're supposed to do.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: So at Strasbourg, they're known for teaching method acting, and and one of the core principles there is that you're using your life experiences as a way to kind of create that character and that imagination.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm curious to know what your biggest takeaways were from that institute and how you still apply them today.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the method gets a bad rap for people that really don't know and haven't really studied it, or they think they've studied it through someone that says that they teach the method and it's kind of watered down and they've made their own adjustments or modifications, but having studied it at the source, I think of it as a toolkit, right?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you use it when you need it, and there are multiple different tools in that toolkit that you can call on when you need them, but you don't always need them.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, like I don't think it is, I would not say that Strasbourg was teaching like anti-imagination, right?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because Stella Adler is very much, it's all imagination.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: You use your imagination, that's what you do, just use your imagination.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think that at Strasbourg they teach you there are times that well's gonna be a little dry, and maybe you might have trouble imagining what it's like to be a person like this in a situation like this.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: But there are things that you can do to give you a similar emotional response, right?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: The the kind of emotional response that you're looking for.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've never killed someone, hopefully you haven't, maybe you've never lost a child, maybe you haven't been through a divorce, but there are things you have been through in your life that you can recall, and they will to the person observing, they'll see a similar type of emotional response.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things I I like about whenever I talk to you is I you and I are such students of the game that I feel like we could talk shop for hours on just processes and everything because I come from no school of theater.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: My background really is just it's action and verb-based.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like you come up with a main action and that will infiltrate sort of everything that you're doing by scene, by beat, with the idea being that you can't always reliably tack that emotional well, and that if you're able to just commit so fully to something that you'll be able to, I don't want to say fake it till you make it, but you you'll be able to create the illusion of something, even if you're not personally feeling it on the inside.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm wondering for you, when when you have those moments where it's either harder to draw on something or the parallel just isn't quite there, how you're able to shorten that gap and still be effective.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: I do, I will use emotional recall.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I will think of memories from my life.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like the so I will give you an example for Lost in Yonkers to prep for the scene, the big scene when we're at the dinner or we're gonna go to the big monologue, yeah.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: The big monologue, and then I have to lose it, right?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: I I I would want to prime the pump, if if you will, right?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just to get it, just kind of like get it to well up so that it's and I right, but I couldn't let because I couldn't start the scene that way, right?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because you don't want to give it away.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: That would that was something valuable that I learned too, is don't give away the how it ends in the beginning, like to your audience, right?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Let them discover that.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I would prime the pump and get it welled up, but then I'd have to push it back down because I can't I have to go into the scene with all this hope that everything is gonna work out and all of you are going to support me and right.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I would just take a moment, because you don't have long, you know, sometimes between scenes or after quick costume changes, and I would a memory that, and some people, you know, might find this controversial or be like, oh, that's uh that's that's terrible that you do that to yourself.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: But a memory that I would use is the last time I saw my grandpa, the the time we said goodbye to each other.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And all I have to do is just is think of that moment and then remember what it was, all the details of that moment and what it felt like to hug him for the last time and and smell his cologne for the last time, and the way the sun felt and the way the the breeze was blowing.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we were outside, and you know, the last words he said to me were I mean, he knew he was dying.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: He knew it was gonna be the last time we saw each other, but he wouldn't say it.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: He wouldn't say that to me, and then I knew too.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: We both knew.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: But he said, I love you, baby.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: You come and see me sometime.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's the last thing he said.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I'm getting emotional right now, thinking of it.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I just have to think of that moment, and I'm there emotionally.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's controversial with some people, like right pulling up these memories that are sad or traumatic or right, and it's because that, but that was also a very beautiful moment for me.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: I it's the last time I saw my my grandpa.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, but that's that's just one element, right, that you can use.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Substitution is also something that we studied where if you're having trouble connecting with your scene partner in the moment, you picture someone else's face over their face, right?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like if there's like a lack of chemistry, or you're supposed to have a certain emote of feeling when you're talking to them, put someone else's face that you would have that that feeling toward or that that chemistry with.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: On stage chemistry, sometimes you either have it or you don't.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: And when you don't have it, the lengths that you have to go to manufacture it, right?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and and I don't just mean chemistry in terms of like on stage romantic chemistry, just the the chemistry that you have, right?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: The chemistry that you have with another scene partner.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: I I think about anything goes right now, and the chemistry between Lauren and Taryn is spit and dippy, and it's instantaneous for them.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why it works so well, is there's not really a lot that they have to manufacture.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: When we're not on stage and we're in the wings or we're waiting to go on, the two of them are messing around together.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's just so built into their collective DNA that it ends up showing up on stage.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or they're not giving you what you need, or they're not giving you right.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're like, I have to have a certain feeling or reaction here, and they're your scene partners looking at you like this.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: They're just blank walls, nothing.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like, well, I need to picture someone else's face that will that will give me what I what I'm needing.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, and those are interesting pieces to have in your toolkit because we talk so much in theater about and when you're on stage, getting to the point where you can forget it and let it go.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you just mentioned that a minute ago.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: When you can find something to build up that heat to the point where you can let it go, then you can kind of toss it all aside and let that just sort of flow organically through you.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're not thinking about your lines, you're not thinking about, am I playing the exact right thing?
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned actions and verbs earlier.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's just your blueprint, it's just your guide to get there.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Once you're there and you're not acting, you're being, then it just all happening organically.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: And audiences have such a great bullshit detector.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: They can they can tell when you're performing versus when you're when you're just being.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I've always thought about acting methods like batting stances.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody kind of has their own and they're not always the same, just as long as you get to that point.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, despite all of the tropes about method acting, if it works, man, who's to tell you not to do it?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but the thing is, is you don't always need those things.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's also something like with age comes that lived experience.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like the younger you are, the more you need those tools because you haven't lived life.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: You haven't maybe experienced loss or true heartbreak, losing a partner or lover, or you know, had children or not had children.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like with age comes that lived experience where you can more easily relate to some of the characters that you're playing because you have you have experienced life.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're 17 or 18, 19, 20, you're in college, you don't know what I mean.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: You have really not lived life.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I will say I think that took me far that I had, I think I live life more than my classmates in college, just things that I had gone through and my background, like having never met my father, right?
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was already like a most of most of them did not come from broken homes and had both their parents and very cushy lives, and I did not.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: So well, and there's a a prevailing theory that the things that are closest to your heart or the experiences that are closest to your heart is is what makes the best art because you can't fake it.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: Those are things that that you have lived, and I I think it also comes out in different ways, too.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: It can come out in the type of projects that you take on for you and the directing choices that you've made over the years.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think about Steel Magnolias, I think about Sister Act, I think about Best Little Whore House in Texas coming up.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: There's just such a through line of, if not strong female leading characters, certainly robust and complicated ones.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: How much of your upbringing and thinking about the influential women in your life, particularly your mom, Kathy, how much of that has guided your path on the types of projects that you want to take on and bring to life?
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's interesting.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you found that through line because I honestly, when I'm thinking about things I want to direct, a lot of it comes from what would make me happy or what's connected to my childhood particularly.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I grew up, like I said, poor out in the country.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of my time was spent watching movies with my sister.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's really all we had.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that was, you know, a big deal for us getting to go to the local video store and pick out VHS tapes to rent.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it was movies like Sister Act and Still Magnolias that we would watch together over and over and over again and could quote from memory.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: They just they just brought us so much joy and comfort when we were kids.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's really like that's where still still magnolias and and sister act for sure was those are very much connected to happy, happy memories from my childhood.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: So for Still Magnolias and Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, obviously the plays themselves stand on their own merit, but there is a through line with Dolly Parton.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just in the movie, so just for you, is that a happy coincidence, or do you think subconsciously, like, man, I want to do another thing that Dolly Parton was a part of?
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, everything Dolly touches turns to gold.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think she's amazing.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I love her so much.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: She is so unapologetically herself, and she is so smart.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and and people have said that, and she said that.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember the what she said.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's funny that people call her a dumb blonde, but she's neither dumb nor blonde.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: She she wears wigs and dyes her hair blonde.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think her natural color is is brown, but she's so smart, and there's a reason why she's an icon.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: She's a wonderful songwriter and singer and performer, but she's also an amazing actress.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: What makes for a compelling female leading character?
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because I I think sometimes we get stuck in this idea that to be like a female-led story, well, they have to be strong, they have to be independent.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's and there are oftentimes those qualities, but what else creates that more robust version of that human being that makes them interesting to follow?
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: I would say I am very much attracted to, because I guess I kind of felt this way too.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm attracted to people who are underestimated and who are kind of dismissed before they even walk in the door and are given a chance.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like that that come from like not the best backgrounds or right sex worker, nightclub lounge singer, you know, dating a mob guy.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: But they have so much to give and so much to offer, and they are they are stars, truly, but they are definitely looked down on by other people and underestimated and very much dismissed.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: Was Steel Magnolias, I know it was your directorial debut at the opera house.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: Was it your first play that you ever directed, at least on that scale?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was the first play.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, I that's the first play I ever directed.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't direct anything in high school or college.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was just very much, again, that I think I can do that.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think I can do this.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I say that, but I actually was not the one who initially approached Lisa to Lisa Holcomb, the executive director at the Bass Drop Opera House.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I had told Jacob it was something that I was thinking, I think I might want to try this.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, You need to talk to Lisa.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he, this was during one of the Valentine's Cabaret shows.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: We were sitting there, and Lisa was also in the show with us, and she was sitting across from us, and Jacob turned to her and was like, Lisa, what does it take for someone to be on a director's show?
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: It was like very much like that.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Lisa, what does it take to for someone to be able to do?
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Lisa was like, Oh, are you interested in in directing Jacob?
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Well, Kelsey is.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, Went ahead and went to bat for you.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: We did.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: He really is my biggest fan.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: And she was like, Oh, yeah, Kelsey, are you interested?
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, yeah, and talked more about it.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: And she gave me my shot, my first shot at directing.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I am eternally grateful to her for that because I love directing.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know if I would, but I love it just as much as acting and performing.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what about that shift was so appealing to you looking back on it?
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: I was talking to Jonathan Young, who is our director for anything goes, and he has a rich background in acting.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Lived in New York, did the thing for a long time, and he mentioned that it's when he became a father that he it started to shift for him.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: That it's like, hey, I actually think I want to help someone else get to this and create this vision and this world for someone else.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'm not asking whether you had that same sort of epiphany, but I am curious, looking back on your experience on Steel Magnolias, what your biggest takeaway was in terms of why that was so rewarding for you.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: I loved the audition process.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of my favorite things about directing and being able to see those sparks in people, right?
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: The same potential that was seen in me, right?
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm when I was kind of green.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now I was definitely working with not like my whole gas for still my noise was definitely not green.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: I was yeah, Terry Bennett.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: She was a pro.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: She's a longtime pro.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: Judith Laird, my sister, was also in the cast, but the woman who played Shelby, I think that was her first play.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: And but I just I will never forget her audition.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, that's that's Shelby.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're Shelby, right?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: And she was kind of nervous, and it's like, I've never done this before.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I love that.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I remember for sister act auditions, Gabby, Gabby Palma.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: She auditioned, and before that, I think the only other place she had been in, at least at the opera house, was Shakespeare in Love.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: And she had a non-speaking role.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: She was the dog handler.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I remember her audition for Sister Mary Lazarus, and she was so funny, like just so naturally funny.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: And but even at that time, I remember like when we were discussing as a team, like who, like, you know, they always try to get my feel that day, like, so who are you thinking for this role?
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Who are you thinking for this role?
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: And like for Mary Lazarus, I I said Gabby, and they were like, Who?
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: You could tell, like, some people couldn't even didn't remember or how, but like, I was like, Yeah, Gabby, Gabby, at 100%, all the way.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Okay.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: And she killed it.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: And since then, she's gone on to have other roles, right?
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: Other featured roles.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I just I think that's a gift I also have is recognizing that potential in other people when even other people might not see it or might not have seen it yet.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: There are positives for both ends of that spectrum, like a Terry or a Judith or whatever.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: The benefit is that you know that they know what they're doing.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's a certain level of professionalism and ability and talent there that's a little bit more of a sure thing.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: But the other end of that is when you get just a little newbie, just a little baby, it's the world is their oyster.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: There's no inhibitions, there's nothing there that is keeping them back in any kind of way.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: The the great thing about novelty and imagination is that it's just it's boundless.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: And and when you have someone that you feel is right for a role and you can just give them that little push and and let them go for it, it's a very rewarding process for you, but it's also a very liberating process for for them as well.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, working with Judith and Terry, I was like, I bow down to you.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: I I would love to say that I directed them, but I really like you know what I'm saying?
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: They knew exactly what they needed to do.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: They had been in still magnolias, both of them, multiple times.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: They knew these characters inside and out.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was just, I just needed to get out of their way.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: And they knew exactly what to do.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned something about auditions and that little little spark, that little fire.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: But just as a general rule, when you're sitting behind that table watching people, what's the number one thing that you want to see from actors when they audition?
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see you have fun and just go.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Go for it.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Just go for it.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know people get really nervous, but something that I learned in school that one of my professors said that still that I take with me for my own auditions when I audition is the people on the other side of the table are rooting for you.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: They want you to be good.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: They want you to make their jobs easier.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: They want you to be the solution to their problem.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you leave, like that's her, that's him.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: We've got him.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's it, right?
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because I feel like we all go in, or I used to, or a lot of people go into auditions so nervous, like, oh my God, like they're already like, they're not gonna like me, or they're like annoyed, or they're right, like you just have a feeling that it's more adversarial, I guess, or maybe like that they're gonna be more judgmental or they're not right.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: But if you go in thinking they're rooting for me, they want me to do, they want me to do well.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like it just kind of shifts your mindset, right?
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: To not be so critical or nervous or worried, oh, they're not, they don't like me.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: When it comes though, to fit, the best way to insert yourself into that puzzle is by making bold choices, is by showing what you're capable of doing.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that is hard for someone who's predominantly on the other side of that table who's putting themselves out there.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's always the scariest part, is that you're gonna make a choice, but it's still not gonna be what they're looking for.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's the part where it's a little bit terrifying because then you have put yourself out there.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: But to your point, rewiring yourself mentally to believe that one, that you can do it, but then also that you can give them a reason to want to cast you.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: Then once you're in there doing it, it's a lot more freeing.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because then once you once you're making choices and doing it, I'm I'm really not so concerned about whether it's the right choice.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because if it's not, they'll tell you.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's or just or they'll just say, Hey, can you try it this way?
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: And in its own way, that's great feedback because they're seeing if you can then make that switch.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's their earliest little ways of seeing if you're directable.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's heavily endorsed on my end is make choices, don't ever be afraid to make choices.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and also go in thinking, why not me?
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, why not me?
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why not me?
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: I will tell you for anything goes, I was prepared for those auditions.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted it so badly.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when we were doing Lost in Yonkers, you were you were getting your tap dance routine, getting ready to go.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: And by the way, I'm gonna I'm gonna do a quick sort of side quest on this and then we'll we'll get back on track.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: You're on a run right now that has to be kind of legendary for the opera house because you you go from and this I think people will forget this, but I include it in the run.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: You you did the Christmas show in in December of 2025, which there's a little bit of a gap between that and Lost in Yonkers, which was had a March run, but you're you're auditioning in January and and you're obviously rehearsing, and that was a tight rehearsal schedule.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: We had a month between when we started, and I would even say tech week.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was it was very, very limited.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: So you're doing that, you are preparing for puffs, which you directed in April, May was the run of that, somewhere in that window.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, so you're do you're doing that, you're getting puffs off the ground, you're working on tat dancing just for an audition for anything goes, and you busted your chin, you got a big old gash on it.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious, is that the worst theater-related injury you've ever had?
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I have a scar on my chin now that it's gonna be there forever.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: I will never forget.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I during the my tap, the tap portion of my audition for anything goes, I slipped and busted my face open, had to go to the emergency room, got how many stitches did you need?
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_00: Five or five or six stitches.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was just like that.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_00: Other people might have been like, maybe I should not, maybe I should give up.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's that's the universe telling me it's not for me or something like that, right?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was like, no, I want this so badly.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: And at that point, I hadn't had my in-person audition yet.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: This was done prior to, I think I was freshly out of stitches for the in trying to cover it up with makeup for my in-person audition.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: But knowing that the whole, I mean, you talk about going in and being like, oh god, like knowing that the whole team behind the table knew the story of I I busted my face during the the tap portion of the audience.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: She's willing to go all the way, people.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh, she's still here, she's still standing.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_01: We talk way too often about blood, sweat, and tears in theater.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_01: The blood aspect of it is not nearly given enough respect.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: Tears, look, they always be flowing in theater.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: We know that.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sweat, same thing.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_01: The blood aspect of it, it's it's underrated because when you bust your body up for this art, and look, this is still community theater.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_01: Unless you are like, I think Georgetown Palace maybe does stipends or or I Magnolia out in B Caves, I I think pays you for their summer stock show.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_01: You're you are operating in the red on this.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is for love of the game.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're bleeding over it and coming back to it, like I'm not gonna let this stop me.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_01: And there is a certain part of that that translates to Reno Sweeney as a character.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean, she's kind of larger than life and a schemer, and all of the things that just that you were embodying in that.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I guess that transitions really well into this.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: What made Reno Sweeney that dream role for you?
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, my mom played Reno Sweeney.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: When I was when I was 13, and I played one of her angels.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: I played Chastity, and my sister played Hope Harcourt.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: And this was our community theater back in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I fell in love with the show then.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: And Reno was she would be considered a spinster, her age, having not married, she didn't have children.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: What a crazy story! Used to be an evangelist.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now she's a nightclub singer.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about the scheming.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like she's very smart, and she's figured out how to move through life and make a way for herself that does not include having to depend on a man at that time, which, like I said, was was rare.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I love Reno.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: You just talk about a role where I just I'm like, I'm just gonna slip right in here.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like it just feels like breathing to me.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious if there's anything about your mom's version of Reno that resonated with you when you were preparing for this role.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: Not necessarily trying to replicate or or emulate in any kind of way, but just something that really was memorable about the way that she did it.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_00: I remember my mom having a lot of strength and just because at that time she was a single mom with two daughters, and she very much embodied that I don't need a man to take care of me.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: I can take care of myself.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was definitely something I remembered that she carried through in the role, and she's also hilarious.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_00: My mom's funny, she's got great comedic timing.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I remember her comedic timing as well.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think comedic timing is God given, or do you think you you can work at it?
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: If you want my honest answer.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I want your honest opinion.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_01: I have a I have an opinion, but I want to know yours.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: You think it's god?
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's god-given.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_01: Me too.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think you can work at certain things to try and get better, but just timing in general.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_00: Just not even like comedic timing, dramatic timing, you just have to have that innate sense of to push forward when to hold, how long to hold for.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_00: We were talking about this the other night.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: Pacing is so important to me.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: And when pacing is off or timing is off, or something is feels like it's dragging, it's like nails on a chalkboard for me.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_00: I could just I can feel it when it's when it's off, and it's just it makes me so like uncomfortable.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's the number one thing that makes it flat.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_01: And flat shows, and look, we've all seen them.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_01: Flat shows are tough to get through because it's the number one thing that disengages you right from the start.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: When you go and you see a show, we all agree in that space to believe in something to together, right?
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_01: But pacing and timing and energy, I mean, those are the things that make that universe come to life.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: So for pacing, I know it's ultra important to you.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: Is it at the top of your power rankings of elements that have to be there in order for a show to be effective?
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_00: Pacing, like when transitions take too long, or like when there's a moment when a scene, I'm like, well, let all the air out of the room.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's it's gone.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like there are times, like especially this is live theater, and there also have to be a certain amount of moments where you give that electric shock to the audience.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_00: They need that, right?
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: And energy is so important.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_00: They need to feel that's why they came to see live theater, to have that experience of being in the room with actual people, and you have to give that to them.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's there were so many times of puffs.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, raise your energy, raise your energy.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's dropping, it's dropping, it's dropping, and then it causes things to start to drag and get slower.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: Energy's huge, huge.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it and it's and how do you how do you teach someone, right?
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to, you just gotta go for it, man.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to like tell you how to physically make it happen in your body, but you need to pick your energy up.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_00: Go run a few laps, do some jumping jacks, like get psych yourself up, listen to a song, but pick it up.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: It it's probably ridiculous when I do it.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_01: You've seen it.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_01: I come into rehearsal and I start broing out.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: I start just like hooting and hollering and just talking about how psyched I am.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's true, I am psyched, but there's also a bodily and chemistry aspect to that.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you think about this shining, and you see Jack Nicholson behind the scenes just amping himself up, getting ready to do the axe through the door scene.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's sometimes it really is just as simple as just getting the blood flow.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and another underappreciated aspect of that formula are cue pickups.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_01: Pick up your cues.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: There are way too many people, and I'm guilty of this.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: I might be even one of the worst offenders.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: That there will be moments where I'm like, I'm gonna take my time here.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna the people must know that I am having a moment, and you're gonna experience this with me.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_01: And Bethany Watkin, who is another great director here in the Austin area, I was doing Prelude to a Kiss with her, and she we got like 10 days out from opening.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: And she was like, What are you doing?
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: Just pick up your cue, pick up your cues.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_01: You don't, you're not as important as you think right now.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like just go.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it was very humbling at the time, but maybe the best direction I've ever received.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I've I've told people something similar to that.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_00: Every moment can't be precious.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: Every single moment can't be precious, and every line can't be fully, oh my god, I really gotta chew this line and really it no.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because the the moments that are actually precious won't be as effective because you're making everything have the same amount of weight and meaning.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: We'll end on that.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_01: What a punctuation mark.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_01: Incredible stuff from Kelsey Layton.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_01: I want to thank her.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_01: She was a great guest.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: You can find her on Instagram out of all the handles in the world.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hell's Bell's Loretta for the great Loretta Lynn, the coal miner's daughter herself.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_01: Did you know, by the way, she has my favorite country song of all time?
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_01: You want to know what it is?
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_01: Fist City.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know Fist City?
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I'm I don't know that I'm I'm sure if I heard it, but like that's not one that she's like that usually comes to mind.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's a deeper cut.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_00: She was very much more like, I ain't taking your crap.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there she was a little rough around the edges, but she had a great line in that song about if you're trash, she's gonna put you in a garbage can.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, hell yeah, girl.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_01: Preach.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_01: You can follow Kelsey Leighton on Instagram at Hell's Bells Loretta and at the Bass Drop Opera House in Anything Goes running now through August 2nd.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to follow all of our social media accounts on Instagram, on Facebook, on X and Blue Sky, and on TikTok at TheaterLife Pod.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow Theater Life on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube so that the next conversation finds you and find everything at theaterlifepodcast.com.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_01: New episodes drop every two weeks.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, I'm Ben Kirchival.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_01: See you next time.