Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Sarah Rusk and Kaelyn Johnson of Detroit Mercy Theatre Company's 'Twelfth Night'

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Exclusive Interview: Sarah Rusk and Kaelyn Johnson of Detroit Mercy Theatre Company's 'Twelfth Night' · The BSB Podcast

0:00
Thank you so much, Sarah and Kaelyn for joining us today to talk about Detroit Mercy Theatre Company's production of The Twelfth Night.
0:05
How are you two doing?
0:07
Great, thank you so much for having us.
0:09
I'm doing well, so happy to be here.
0:12
So you're currently in the rehearsal process for Twelfth Night.
0:16
Okay, then how is that process kind of going right now?
0:19
Oh, it's been such a joy.
0:22
For me, m I am an alum of Detroit Mercy.
0:25
So I'm really, really happy to get back to my roots and get back to just loving and enjoying acting again.
0:33
But I'm so excited to be in this new space and our new Black Box Theater.
0:38
um And the rehearsal space is full of energy and light and love and excitement.
0:45
You know, I am kind of wondering, you said you were an alumni.
0:49
What brought you back?
0:50
Was it something about the story specifically you were like, have to be a part of?
0:54
So I actually just recently moved back from New York.
0:58
So I graduated from Detroit Mercy in 2022.
1:02
And as soon as I graduated, I moved to New York.
1:05
I had an apprenticeship for about nine months.
1:08
And I was in New York for about two and a half years and just recently moved back.
1:15
And Sarah reached out to me in the summer and asked me if I wanted to be a part of the production.
1:20
And I didn't even hesitate.
1:22
Of course.
1:24
Acting has always been my first love, but I haven't performed in three years since I graduated.
1:31
So I'm really excited.
1:34
Wow, what is that like to step back in after three years?
1:36
know even if it's a passion, sometimes it's a little scary to be like, well, what's going on here?
1:40
Yeah, I definitely had to like look at some notes from college and kind of like refresh my memory a little bit.
1:47
But because I've been so in tune with the performance space, even though I haven't actually been on stage, I've done some directing, which I've learned from the best, my
1:58
mentor here.
2:01
I've done some directing and things, but it has been very different to actually been to be on stage.
2:07
So.
2:08
Yeah, just I felt a little rusty at first, but I don't know, Sarah, what do you think?
2:12
Do I still got it?
2:13
you're doing fabulously.
2:14
It's so delightful to watch you on stage and especially in this new space.
2:18
So some of the thought behind this was, so we obviously have student actors because we are Detroit Mercy Theater Company.
2:27
We're at University of Detroit Mercy.
2:29
But some of our mission is to also um have our students work with working professionals and alumni to get that mentorship, to get that real world experience, to get those
2:37
connections.
2:39
awesome.
2:39
one of our success stories.
2:40
Kaelyn was in New York at New York City Center doing it.
2:44
uh Kaelyn been working uh in theater education since she's been back.
2:50
But in celebration of this brand new Detroit Mercy Black Box Theater, which we're opening um with this show, we wanted to kind of, I was thinking I wanted to kind of celebrate the
3:02
legacy of the theater company.
3:05
by integrating specifically alumni with our alumni professionals with our theater students as well as our department chair, Andrew Papa steps on stage as well.
3:15
it's kind of a celebration of, um you know, uh all of the company and everything that's kind of been before and everything that's coming and um just a really wonderful testament
3:29
to how this space and this place can connect us all.
3:34
I think it's exciting because it kind of shows like where you've been and how you've grown.
3:38
But like, this is the starting point, the next chapter for what's going to happen with this theater.
3:43
my gosh, it's incredible.
3:45
So um we got an anonymous $2 million gift to build this space.
3:51
um Yeah, I know it's pretty, it's amazing.
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um And uh so they moved forward with the project and have turned, essentially it's the lower level of our student union building into this great black box space.
4:04
Detroit Mercy Theater Company in its...
4:07
Well, theater on campus, or theater at Detroit Mercy has been around since basically the inception of the university in the late 1800s.
4:15
There's been theater on campus.
4:16
The company itself has been around for 55 seasons.
4:19
um And we've been a number of different places.
4:24
I was creating uh a thing for the program about all the different spaces that we've been over the last number of years.
4:32
And we've been in, there's an architecture building, we were in Sheppell Hall, which is one of our residence halls.
4:36
We've been off campus and down at the Boll that's the one that you've been to.
4:40
The Bull Theater, yeah.
4:41
We went to Mary Grove.
4:42
We've been a number of different places.
4:45
And so to have this permanent essentially home now for the company just opens up so many doors.
4:54
for the community, for our students, for what we're able to do.
4:58
The students are learning and growing in this.
5:00
I was over there an hour ago and somebody is painting a uh set and someone's backstage pulling props and there's someone in the costume shop, one of our students in the costume
5:09
shop building part of the set pieces or the costume pieces.
5:13
it's just, we weren't able to do that at this level when we had to kind of pack everything up and move downtown.
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And that space is phenomenal.
5:22
I love that space.
5:24
it was not our space and this gets to be our space.
5:27
And so to kind christen it with this joyful adaptation of Twelfth Night is just really exciting and just kind of, you're right, the start of a new era for us.
5:37
Before we jump into the story and stuff, do have to ask you, Sarah, because you're kind of wearing lots of hats.
5:43
You're managing director.
5:45
You're taking care of all of the press and stuff like that, but you're also being a director in this show as well.
5:51
What is it like to kind of step and be the director in this first show in the new theater?
5:55
So honored to be the director of the first show in the New Theater.
5:59
Yes, we are a small department and so many of us wear like many hats.
6:03
So like I said, our department chair is also acting on stage for this show.
6:06
So being a small department, you get the joy of doing it all.
6:10
I think it's also kind of, I think the reality for a lot of people who work in regional theater is you don't just kind of have one job.
6:20
You kind of get to learn a lot about a lot of different jobs.
6:24
But as the director, I'm so honored.
6:26
um And it's really, it's been great because I've been able to learn with the students what this space is.
6:37
You know, uh it has a new car smell.
6:40
Kaelyn, wouldn't you agree?
6:42
It kind of has a new car smell.
6:43
it does.
6:44
Yes.
6:44
It's like a brand new toy.
6:47
You should have seen, Brian, how excited we were on that first day of rehearsal.
6:52
And Sarah, if I can add, there was a moment when Sarah saw us warming up for the first time, and she said that she got a little emotional, and that's how we all felt.
7:03
It was so exciting.
7:05
It really was, it was an emotional moment for me, because it's like not, you know, this, I call us our little ragtag nomadic theater, you know, that we were doing before, and we
7:16
were doing incredible stuff.
7:18
We were, you know, winning awards for the work we did.
7:20
Kaelyn was in our production of Antigone in 2021 that won a national award at the Kennedy Center, know, American College Theater Festival.
7:29
Yeah, so like we were doing great stuff, but it was to like be in the space and be like,
7:34
my gosh, this is like, this is for us.
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This is for us and our students and this is home.
7:41
It was a very emotional moment to think about how far we've come and the big dreams that people dreamed to get here and all the work that went into it.
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Cause you know, it was a process.
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So it was a huge, huge moment.
7:57
So yeah, I did, I got little emotional.
8:01
I don't get emotional that often, but in that moment I got a little teary.
8:04
Well, I think that it makes sense because, know, Kaelyn, like you kind of are, you you left, you've kind of seen some of the world that came back and like, so we're expecting
8:11
change, but Sarah, you've spent through every step of this as they've got the award building the theater.
8:16
There's like a, there is a real emotional component of finally seeing that, like, oh, these kids, these adults, these people who have been here are really enjoying this new
8:25
space and we get to enjoy it together.
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And especially like at a time when, you know, the arts are not prioritized.
8:31
The arts are, I would say, under attack in kind of a lot of ways.
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um Where we are now, people are not investing in artistic spaces and artistic places and artistic programs.
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um And so for our university to say, you know what, no, we're gonna put our money where our mouth is and we're gonna build you guys a theater, um it's just, that's a huge thing
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too.
8:56
and to have that investment, to have that support of a lot of people.
9:01
It's our university administration, it's our students and staff and faculty, it's our alumni, it's the community.
9:07
I mean, it's you, Brian, it's you.
9:10
I mean, to have your support is just, huge.
9:14
To say that these students are worthy and their art is worthy, just that means the world.
9:20
Absolutely.
9:21
So turning to the show a little bit, Kaelyn, your first show back at Detroit Mercy and stuff, and it's a William Shakespeare play.
9:29
What is that like for you to step back into the world or step into the world of William Shakespeare?
9:34
my gosh, again, it's like blowing off the dust of like some old boots or something.
9:40
I'm like, I haven't done Shakespeare a play since I was in high school, which was almost like 10 years ago.
9:48
uh So having people like uh my former professor, Andrew Papa, who was with us, kind of giving us an intro again to Shakespeare and giving us those tools of.
10:01
the language and making it our own.
10:04
Those tools have been very, very beneficial.
10:06
um And it's a comedy.
10:09
It's fun and it's ours.
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And Sarah has done such a great job of putting her own spin on it with incorporating music and it's fun.
10:20
There's some dancing and all the things.
10:25
Bringing even more life to William Shakespeare.
10:28
Yes.
10:28
So Sarah, what is the story of the Twelfth Night?
10:31
Because as I was kind of telling you before this, I wasn't familiar with this show before kind of researching it.
10:36
Yeah, so it's interesting too, because I'm kind of in the same boat, right?
10:40
I'd seen the show, I'm gonna say when I was in high school, and I remember one very distinct moment from it and nothing else.
10:49
And there's a funny kind of sword fight, and I remember that, and that's all I remember.
10:54
um And so when we were looking at shows, we wanted something fun, something upbeat, something celebratory for this grand opening.
11:02
um And we wanted Shakespeare because not only do we feel that there's universal themes there that can be applied, especially 12th Night, which is a very joyful celebratory
11:12
script, um but also uh academically it fit within our kind of cycle that we do in order for our students to get a comprehensive training, right?
11:21
So we were kind of like, we were like, know, last year we did, I can't remember what we did last year.
11:27
It was a very blurry year for me.
11:28
But you know, a couple of years ago we did.
11:30
Well, we did which?
11:31
Thank you, yes, exactly.
11:32
I was very pregnant at the time, so everything was very, actually gave birth in between show weekends.
11:37
So, uh but.
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But like years ago, did our, you we do a theater for young audiences.
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um So in our cycle, we kind of, came up and we're like, well, we want to do a Shakespeare too, because that's a great learning tool for our students.
11:50
um So, so kind of looking at it, we thought, well, Twelfth Night, thinking about Twelfth Night, the holiday is kind of the end of the 12 days of Christmas.
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So it's very, very fun.
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It's about role reversal.
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uh That holiday is about role reversal where, you know, kind of, uh
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the servants of the house would be king and queen for the day, essentially.
12:12
So the actual story of Twelfth Night um follows these twins, Viola and Sebastian, which is close to my heart because I have a twin, a boy and a girl.
12:19
um So they are shipwrecked and then separated.
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And so in order to kind of uh survive what that means, Viola dresses like a young man and then um decides to serve uh Duke Orsino.
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who is actually in love with um the Countess Olivia, but she is not in love with him.
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So Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino.
12:46
So you have Viola in love with Orsino, Orsino in love with Olivia, but Olivia through kind of her interactions with um Viola, who is disguised as a young boy, Cesario, falls in love
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with him.
12:56
So we have that kind of wonderful love triangle, you know, of like people loving, but no, not loving back.
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And then on top of that, we have Kaelyn as Moriah.
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um kind of when this, uh know, Shakespeare loves like a side plot of like people going crazy and doing mischief.
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And so, Kaelyn's kind of the leader of this trio of uh men that, uh and they basically are playing a prank on Malvolio who is the head servant because he is too pompous and so they
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feel like he needs to get taken down a notch.
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And so, um they kind of set him up for failure in a lot of ways there.
13:36
So they're very hilarious.
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There's a lot of drunken revelry on their side.
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So it's just a really good time at all.
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And of course, there's a Shakespearean comedy.
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So in the end, everything gets right and people fall in love.
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There's music, there's dancing, there's lots of laughs.
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There's, you know, there's, of course, because it's Shakespeare, there's, body humor.
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So, you know, it's just, it's a good time.
14:02
I'm having a good time with it.
14:03
And with the adaptation we chose.
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um is an adaptation by a man named Mark Palmieri and it's a solid 90 minutes.
14:10
I was 90 seconds, that would be a very quick Shakespeare.
14:16
To be or not to be and then you leave.
14:17
um But no, so it's 90 minutes.
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he kind of cut a lot of the excess out and so we're really just going to focus on the story and the characters.
14:28
I was literally in the middle of this.
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was like, hmm, this sounds like she's the man.
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Then I realized that I do know an adaptation of 12th Night.
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And I was just like, wow, you missed the connection at the most important time.
14:38
There was a very specific time in the 90s and early 2000s where every Shakespeare was adapted into like a rom-com for teens.
14:47
And she's the man who's absolutely 12 Night So yes.
14:51
Yeah, in fact, Sarah, you even told some of us to look at rom-coms.
14:55
I think it was Duke Orsino and Sebastian for research purposes.
15:00
Yeah, yeah, I think we lose a lot of times we get bogged down in Shakespeare, like language and feelings and all this and like, you know, I, Shakespeare at the end of the
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day, especially his comedies are really, I mean, they were made to entertain and laugh, right?
15:14
People, they were made to um allow people a chance to escape kind of from their lives.
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They were a good time.
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So we really kind of focused on that.
15:27
Like I kind of approached it as a romantic comedy because
15:30
it's kind of sad, in other words, you know, like there's a lot of people, know, you're separated from your twin and, you know, you're, yeah.
15:40
So I think if we look at it from the lens of a rom-com where like the world is, doesn't actually have any pain in it, you know, like yeah, people are put in situations where
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it's, it's not, they're not happy, but we know at the end of the day it's going to turn out okay, then we can all relax and have a good time.
16:00
sure.
16:02
Kaelyn I want to talk about your character and specifically kind of like maybe their narrative and their motivation uh throughout Twelfth Night.
16:11
Yes, so Mariah is uh Olivia's chambermaid um and she is, like Sarah said, she is mischievous.
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She is the cause of the problem.
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She is stirring the pot the entire time.
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And I guess she is just really, really fun.
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But also she can be loyal at times.
16:34
But for the most part, we don't really see that loyal side of her.
16:38
We see her
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planting the letter.
16:40
We see her kind of just really gunning for Malvolio.
16:46
And yeah.
16:48
When it comes to your character such as that, what is your process for developing that?
16:52
how do you make that character kind of your own?
16:55
Because Shakespeare's been around forever, you know?
16:58
Yes, so something that helped me during our process was the character files.
17:05
So we basically had an assignment, really an assignment supposed to be fun, but also helpful for our work as actors is putting together a PowerPoint of pictures and songs that
17:19
relate to our character.
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So things like what...
17:24
Song is like the theme for our development throughout the entire show.
17:29
uh What colors would we identify as?
17:34
And I felt like a fiery red, because she's a firecracker.
17:38
She comes in hot.
17:40
Just wait and see.
17:41
When you come and see the show, you're going to see.
17:43
She always has these bold entrances and exits.
17:47
And she's always keeping everyone in line.
17:50
Um, and also looking at people, kind of went back to my childhood from the Nickelodeon and Disney channel days of, what character would Mariah be?
18:01
And it kind of, it kind of made me think of, you know, like Drake, Drake and Josh, that, that sister Megan, who's always like, Hmm, what's next?
18:11
What do I do?
18:11
Hmm.
18:12
I know always.
18:14
Yes.
18:15
Always planning something.
18:17
You never know what.
18:18
what she's up to.
18:19
So that really helped with this process.
18:22
What I love about that too though, much like Megan, sounds like Mariah's kind of always a step ahead of everybody, know?
18:29
Always like that person that is like critically thinking about everything and finding out like, this is what needs to happen next for my plan to go through.
18:36
Right, of course.
18:37
But then again, like Sarah said, it's all in fun.
18:40
You never, you don't want to seriously hurt anyone.
18:44
We're not really trying to hurt Malvolio.
18:47
I mean, obviously we feel bad in the end, it's like, ah, it's okay.
18:51
Let's dance.
18:53
Shakespeare has that wonderful words, yeah, at the end where they're just like, let's all laugh at Melville, you go, ha ha ha ha ha, great, everything's fine now.
19:00
And you're like, don't get that, so you get that great resolution of, oh no, how do we reckon with what we just did?
19:10
But we're finding it and we're making it work, but there are times, I mean, there several instances in Shakespeare where you kind of have that run up against that.
19:17
those moments where you're like, well, this doesn't really resolve in a satisfying way for a modern audience.
19:24
But we're going to buy it.
19:26
We're going to buy what we're doing and we'll move on past it.
19:30
So Sarah, for you, what is kind of your developmental process for bringing the show from page to stage?
19:34
Like, how do you approach a project like this?
19:37
Yeah, that's a great question.
19:40
Everything's a little different, you know.
19:43
For me, where I kind of locked in with this show, because obviously you get the script and you read the script, but especially with Shakespeare, Shakespeare is so meant to be spoken
19:56
as opposed to read, and you can absolutely read it and analyze it that way, and that's a great way to do it, but for me to really understand it, it's like you have to hear, I have
20:04
to hear it.
20:06
And I have to hear the rhythms and I have to hear the kind of ebb and flow of the conversation.
20:11
Because he did write, you know, I mean, he didn't sit down and write one man, he skipped script.
20:15
He sat down and he wrote like lines for each actor and like their cue line.
20:19
So you would basically get like, you know, a piece of paper that had your cue line and then your lines.
20:23
So you didn't actually know as an actor, like what was happening all the time to other people around you.
20:29
And so um to my process, you know, we really locked in is when I kind of was mulling over what um
20:35
The role of music in this is a big deal.
20:38
We have a character who is the musician.
20:40
um And I was like, what is that gonna look like?
20:44
Is it someone playing a ukulele?
20:45
Is it someone playing an instrument?
20:48
um And I was kind of going back and forth.
20:50
And then after some conversation with our costume designer about time period and kind of where we're thinking of setting it, she was really saying, gender norms really, we're
21:00
starting to...
21:01
um
21:02
the lines were starting to blur more in kind of the early part of the 20th century.
21:08
So I was like, okay, well like 30s and 40s is a time like aesthetically that I really like.
21:13
What was happening politically was rough, but like aesthetically, like the lines were pretty, right?
21:18
The clothes were pretty.
21:20
And I was like, what if the musician is just literally an old fashioned like radio that gets carried around?
21:27
And so that's where I locked in and I'm like.
21:30
there it is, like that's where it lands.
21:31
So we started kind of with that and the music that go along with the language m and kind of finding that, you know, um the kind of jazzy sound, the kind of um lots of like horns,
21:50
there's some swing in there and really finding that.
21:54
oh
21:56
we are.
21:57
Plus I was watching so much Gilded Age at the time and I was like, I love these mansions, can we set it in a Gilded Age mansion, but in like the 40s?
22:05
And they're like, yeah, sure, we'll do that.
22:08
So that's kind of where the impetus for this came from.
22:13
And then of course, like, you know, the romcom element, right?
22:15
So was like, how can we lift out?
22:19
Kaelyn knows, I love a bit, right?
22:21
Like I love a shtick.
22:22
uh
22:23
And so, yeah, I mean, you have several of them, right?
22:25
Yes.
22:27
She's always like, can you do this thing where, huh, yep, just like that.
22:32
uh And so finding that humor and finding the comedy and finding the love and finding the fun in it, just that's kind of where it started and where it's gone from.
22:45
we have faced some challenges with getting into the space and kind of figuring everything out and like, do we have toilet paper in the bathroom?
22:56
of thing, like these, Kaelyn has thoughts on that.
23:01
Yes, and the water bottles are where we refill our water having to go outside.
23:07
yeah, right.
23:08
Like, so just kind of navigating this new space as like kind of but everyone's kept to the joy through it and everyone's kept to like the upbeat energy.
23:15
And I think that that's been really helpful in this rehearsal process of like, feeling the air and like feeling the energy.
23:23
um And yeah, and so it's just as we go into tech tonight, because we're going into tech tonight.
23:27
uh I thank you.
23:30
uh I'll see you know, we'll sleep again one day.
23:33
We'll see when we're dead.
23:34
uh, but yeah, it, it, it, it's just, it's felt, it's felt, the rehearsal process itself has never felt taxing for sure.
23:45
Has there been challenges though, Kaelyn to this role or this show?
23:50
Like that's either pushed you to in your craft or challenged you as an actor?
23:55
That's a good question.
23:56
I think kind of going back to the beginning of just getting back in acting again, just for me personally.
24:05
um Nothing crazy or anything in particular, but um I guess I will say that some of the other roles that I've done have been younger.
24:16
I typically tend to play younger because I'm 4'11".
24:21
And I refer to myself as a 26 year old teenager.
24:25
So this is actually one of my more mature roles aside from Antigone.
24:30
Antigone was actually my biggest role and that was a different approach, definitely more serious, you know, with it being a tragedy.
24:39
But in this, I would have to say um just being older and being more mature.
24:46
And I'm actually, I'm a lady.
24:50
This is the first role that I've done actually as like a real adult.
24:55
It's interesting because you are like a mentor to the students too.
24:58
So it is, I think that would be an interesting kind of way to come back and be older on the stage where you were the student.
25:08
Yes, yes, definitely.
25:09
I definitely find myself remembering what it's like to be in their shoes and, you know, having long days in different classes, four or three classes a day, and then having to
25:22
have like a side job as well.
25:24
And then, you know, balancing rehearsals, you know, so it's like, okay, I'm remembering it.
25:30
So yeah, you're right, Sarah, being that mentor, because when I was here the last time, I...
25:36
I was 22 and figuring it out.
25:40
It's like that moment where all of sudden you're like, they're looking for the adults in the room and you are the adult now and you're like, what do I?
25:46
Oh.
25:49
worse, it only gets worse.
25:50
I think as the oldest person on this podcast, it only gets worse from here, because yeah, then yeah.
25:54
You're just like, no, I'm supposed to know things.
25:57
What is that like though, Kaelyn help?
26:00
I'm gonna use this word, I don't know if this is right, but like inspire these younger minds.
26:03
Like you're kind of, as the mentor, that's, I would imagine that's both has some pressure to it, but also is probably very rewarding.
26:11
Obviously, yes.
26:12
um I just find myself being very transparent with them.
26:15
um It was so funny last night, there was someone who asked me about the process of possibly m adding on a minor or maybe changing majors, and I know what that's like.
26:28
When I first came to Detroit Mercy, I was actually a transfer student and I was a communications major.
26:35
I tell this story all the time, but Sarah's actually a big reason why I decided to major in theater and actually pursue acting again.
26:44
So I know firsthand what that's like.
26:47
And even though I have graduated and I am an alum and I have a big girl job, every single day I'm still figuring it out just like them.
26:57
So just finding those moments to be relatable, but also giving them advice and...
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tips and tricks on what I did when I was in their shoes and uh things that maybe I would change.
27:11
Yeah, uh things that I feel like I could do better if I could do it all over again.
27:17
That's so cool to kind of impart that wisdom on them and be able to maybe make their experience even easier than you had it.
27:23
Yes, of course.
27:25
Sarah, going back to the challenges, how do you feel like this show has challenged you as a director?
27:30
Yeah, I mean, definitely opening a new space is, you know, kind of going in blind to what is we, it took a little bit longer for us to get into the physical space than we, than we
27:45
had anticipated.
27:46
So we had, we had hoped to be in the physical space during the summer and kind of get used to it there, but because of, you know, just because of construction and the way, the way,
27:55
um
27:56
kind of everything works, we were not in until the beginning of the school year.
28:00
um And so kind of being like, in theory, this is what'll happen.
28:06
Not having those definites challenges me because I find a lot of security when I have my boundaries to play within.
28:15
And so it was like, well, maybe this will happen.
28:17
And it was like, okay, ugh.
28:20
uh So.
28:21
So that's definitely been a challenge and a wonderful career-defying moment for me of trying to, of having the privilege to open an artistic space.
28:35
So, kind of like all the wonderful things that go with it, but also all the challenges of just realizing that you need a sponge here.
28:45
Things are brand new.
28:46
So kind of trying to do that alongside
28:49
this show.
28:51
The other thing is I had never directed a full-length Shakespeare before.
28:54
I had done scenes, I had done, you know, other things.
28:58
Obviously I've done a number of full-length productions, but I've never done a full-length Shakespeare before.
29:03
So approaching that was a personal challenge.
29:06
Making sure that my concept was clear enough to understand is something that I struggled with because Shakespeare has, in a lot of ways, these
29:19
these gorgeously defined and yet broad characters and storylines that you can do a lot with.
29:27
They're very universal themes and because they're so universal, you can go a lot of different ways with them.
29:32
And so to be like, okay, what do I actually want to focus on and have to make those decisions that, you know, that's a lot of power.
29:40
It was, so I hope it translates.
29:44
don't know, Kaelyn I think we're having a good time.
29:45
I do think it's translating quite well, at least on my end.
29:50
just need that, I need the affirmation.
29:52
That's, guess, what's happening right now.
29:53
So Sarah had mentioned a lot about themes from Twelfth Night.
29:57
I was wondering, Kaylyn, what themes resonate the most with you?
30:01
I would have to say identity for sure.
30:04
I think that um while being in this production, it's kind of like an ode to my younger self because when I started off doing theater, things were so different, especially in the
30:16
theater community with just the idea of sticking in one box and, you know, as it pertains to preferences and gender identity.
30:25
And obviously with Shakespeare, there is a lot of that with
30:29
um gender fluidity.
30:30
And so that's something that I definitely resonate with, especially in this time where we're in.
30:37
It's so fun and it's definitely like hugging my younger self and I'm sure others in the cast feel the same way.
30:46
That's perfect, that's perfect.
30:48
Sarah, how about for you?
30:49
What themes resonate with you?
30:52
Yeah, I mean to kind go with what Kaelyn said too, I there is definitely the theme of identity and we were trying with the set to kind of indicate that by nodding to the fact
31:03
that you cannot, your true nature will always be revealed and so we kind of have this really lovely side that's very manicured and then we have this intrusion of this kind of
31:15
wildness coming in which I think, you know, um Viola...
31:21
will always, you know, has to be revealed as Viola, not Cesario at some point.
31:27
you know, Malvolio has to be revealed.
31:30
you know, there's always a true uh nature element to it that comes in.
31:35
I also really, I'm really uh family and uh weirdly, there's an element of grief um that kind of stuck out to me at the very beginning of this process.
31:48
uh Olivia's in uh mourning for her father and brother who have passed, which is why she won't marry anyone.
31:55
And then of course, the siblings losing each other and thinking the other one is dead.
31:59
The twins and being a new parent and new mother of twins myself, there is that.
32:05
that understanding of what would that look like if my twins were not together, you know, and um kind of how that beats through the play as, you know, almost a lot of the things
32:18
that are done are kind of as a coping mechanism, right?
32:20
um So, and then of course love, you can't go wrong with love as a theme, you know, especially at this time when I think a lot of us could just use a chance to laugh.
32:32
and have fun and believe and hope again.
32:35
um I really feel strongly that this uh show is going to be that for a lot of people.
32:43
Just a chance to kind of enjoy themselves for 90 minutes um and share in this great story that has a happy ending.
32:55
So that's kind of where I've landed.
32:57
It's many themes.
32:59
It's just so many themes.
33:03
And that makes it layered and has so much depth for anybody who attends.
33:07
So ah thank you both for being here with me.
33:10
It was such a pleasure talking with both of you.
33:12
It is so always, always, always great to talk to you.
33:15
Thank you so much for having us.
33:17
Thank you, Brian it was lovely meeting you.
33:20
So Detroit Mercy Theatre Company's production of Twelfth Night runs from November 7th through the 16th, so get your tickets now and we'll see you there.