Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Emily Mick and Sean Harbert of Pontiac IV Theatre's 'Dearly Departed'

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Exclusive Interview: Emily Mick and Sean Harbert of Pontiac IV Theatre's 'Dearly Departed' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Thank you so much you two for joining me this evening.
• 0:01
  How are you doing?
• 0:03
  I'm good.
• 0:03
  How are you?
• 0:04
  Doing great.
• 0:06
  Awesome.
• 0:07
  So you're currently preparing for the opening of Dearly Departed at Pontiac IV Theatre.
• 0:12
  How's the rehearsal process been so far?
• 0:15
  It's been pretty smooth.
• 0:16
  We've had a couple bumps in the road.
• 0:18
  After our first read through, we had an actor drop.
• 0:21
  So we had to quickly go through the process of finding someone else to take on the role.
• 0:27
  And that ended up with one of our actors who was previously cast in two smaller roles taking on one of the leads and a minor role and myself stepping also into a character as
• 0:40
  well to make sure we had all the characters filled.
• 0:43
  That had to be quite the process to, mean, like quite the shake up to the process.
• 0:49
  A little bit.
• 0:50
  I think the thing that kind of helped us too is that the actor that we brought in was somebody that the rest of the cast knew.
• 0:57
  And so it made bringing them in pretty seamless and just kind of going right to work on everything.
• 1:03
  So things are able to click pretty fast.
• 1:05
  Yeah.
• 1:07
  I'm sure that happens quite frequently in community theater when you're, you kind of all know each other so you can click pretty quickly.
• 1:13
  Yeah, usually.
• 1:15
  So what is the story of Dearly Departed?
• 1:19
  For those who maybe don't know it.
• 1:21
  I told you that was going to get asked.
• 1:23
  So, Dearly Departed is about the death of the Turpin family's patriarch, Bud Turpin.
• 1:30
  It's him passing away and it's the family coming together to plan the funeral and to say their final goodbyes.
• 1:38
  So it starts from his death and everything that happens from that moment to the funeral itself.
• 1:43
  uh This is a Bible Belt Southern family, pretty redneck.
• 1:49
  ah It's basically anything that can happen will happen.
• 1:54
  Sure, absolutely.
• 1:54
  Were you not expecting that question?
• 1:55
  I feel like that's a standard question here, Sean.
• 1:58
  No.
• 1:58
  him that it was going to get asked and I asked him to answer that one for me because every time I try to answer it, I just keep rambling.
• 2:04
  ah I mean, this is definitely a show that like I haven't seen it before.
• 2:10
  So this is gonna be my first time seeing it.
• 2:11
  I'm seeing it on Friday.
• 2:12
  I'm really excited about that.
• 2:13
  But I feel like this is one that maybe not a lot of people are very familiar with.
• 2:18
  It's definitely not a more common show.
• 2:22
  I was a part of the script selection committee and when it was suggested, not many people knew about it and I had been exposed to it during college.
• 2:34
  So Central Michigan University did it during their summer theater repertory program back in 2016 and I was a part of the production then.
• 2:41
  So was like, let's share this hilarious comedy with more people.
• 2:45
  Absolutely, we all need to laugh and it kind of balances out because I know previously we've done Murder on the Orient Express, we did Putnam, which was another, it's another
• 2:55
  big one, so you gotta, sometimes you gotta bring in the other shows people don't know about to make it their favorites.
• 3:00
  So Emily, what drew you to wanting to direct the show?
• 3:04
  Um, I love working on comedies.
• 3:07
  I love making people laugh.
• 3:09
  Sorry, I have a cat off to the side that's being very needy.
• 3:12
  um
• 3:14
  But and also just my love for the show because it brings me back to college and it brings me back to the fun that I had working on it the first time when I was in charge of all the
• 3:23
  properties that goes into this show.
• 3:25
  And there's a lot of food involved.
• 3:28
  So it was very fun trying to figure out, OK, we need to buy these ice cream bars.
• 3:33
  We need to buy this KFC bucket.
• 3:35
  We need to get all of these different food props and trying to bring it back to life.
• 3:40
  while also putting a different spin on it really intrigued me because like I said, it makes people laugh.
• 3:47
  And especially in the climate that the world is today, I very much feel that we all need to laugh a little bit more.
• 3:57
  The orange cat out of the way.
• 3:59
  Sorry about that.
• 4:02
  We'll probably keep that in because that's funny.
• 4:07
  Sean, you're pulling double duty for this because you're assistant director.
• 4:11
  I mean, you're both pulling double duty.
• 4:12
  It sounds like playing parts.
• 4:13
  So first, you know, Sean, I want to kind of talk about your role in the show.
• 4:18
  You're playing Junior.
• 4:18
  Who is Junior and how do they factor into the story?
• 4:22
  Junior is the youngest son of the Turpins the middle child.
• 4:28
  He is a, I would describe him almost as a class A screw up.
• 4:31
  The moment he comes on stage, his wife's incredibly pissed off at him.
• 4:35
  can tell they've been fighting for who knows how long over probably the stupidest of stuff.
• 4:39
  ah But their person escalates to where you find out that he cheated on her.
• 4:44
  And that's kind of a running theme with him throughout the show.
• 4:46
  ah
• 4:48
  He tried to his own business and failed and his wife cannot stop poking at him for it.
• 4:54
  So for him, it's the journey for him in the show is being this huge screw up, admitting to it, trying to make peace with that, trying to mend the relationship with his wife while
• 5:04
  dealing with the death of his father.
• 5:06
  So it's, I've had a lot of fun with the characters, a lot of growth with it, just because it's moments that he can be really funny.
• 5:12
  But he also has a lot of moments that he's also very serious.
• 5:16
  And that's something that goes throughout this entire show, not just with Junior, but some of other characters too, that as much as it's funny, there's also moments that it really
• 5:26
  does kind of stop you and you can feel the heart of the show.
• 5:29
  It hits those emotions.
• 5:32
  Because it's not just laugh and don't stop.
• 5:34
  It's laugh, you might cry.
• 5:36
  does really make you think and appreciate ah what you have and who you have in your life.
• 5:41
  It's always really good when a show can balance those tones.
• 5:43
  Cause as I say, when you guys were describing the show, I'm like, this sounds a little dark, but you're laughing, like you're laughing as well as exploring what that means.
• 5:52
  are.
• 5:52
  Yeah.
• 5:52
  Because it's not just the Turpin family that's coming together.
• 5:56
  It's different members of the community.
• 5:58
  It's the Reverend of the church that the matriarch went to and hearing about her and Marinelle and Bud's relationship throughout the years and just kind of getting to learn a
• 6:09
  little bit more about like, yeah, there are a lot of ups and downs in life.
• 6:14
  But at the end of the day, it's about choosing to value the good over all the negative that's around you.
• 6:20
  I mean, it's a beautiful message.
• 6:23
  So Emily, who are you playing then?
• 6:27
  I am playing Juanita.
• 6:29
  I my character is married to one of the Turpins cousins.
• 6:33
  um My character's husband, his name is Teddy Wayne.
• 6:38
  You don't get to see him at all in the show, but I sure do talk about him a lot.
• 6:45
  He's a lawyer, so it's implied that he's super busy.
• 6:47
  He works late all the time.
• 6:49
  um One could read into it that he's also.
• 6:54
  been doing the same kind of things that Junior's done um because he's never home.
• 7:00
  So whether you want to take that as he's with another woman or he's actually working late, like he says, it's kind of figuring out where it is.
• 7:08
  But my character interacts mainly with Junior's wife, Suzanne, and we have a pretty much a running rivalry that dates back to their high school years.
• 7:21
  Okay.
• 7:21
  it sounds like, again, a nice comedic role to dig your teeth into.
• 7:26
  is.
• 7:26
  Absolutely.
• 7:27
  I love the dynamic that she has with Curly Hillard, who plays our Suzanne.
• 7:33
  You know, they're really good friends in real life and they just get this really funny, bitchy cattiness between them because Juanita definitely like her husband might be
• 7:43
  cheating, but she pretty much comes out in the midst.
• 7:45
  I don't give a crap because I'd have to actually love him.
• 7:47
  Yep.
• 7:48
  Where Suzanne really has to contemplate, do I love Junior?
• 7:51
  Do I want to kill him?
• 7:53
  Like.
• 7:53
  She's going to the whole gambit.
• 7:54
  And he's like, I've got my son, have money.
• 7:56
  I live in a big house.
• 7:57
  What do I care?
• 7:58
  Right.
• 7:59
  Well, he just got everything she's ever asked for.
• 8:02
  There's such cool dynamic with a lot of our characters in the show.
• 8:07
  Anseli who plays.
• 8:08
  Yeah, yes, there is.
• 8:10
  But it's there's also a lot of coming together.
• 8:13
  have Anseli who plays her now.
• 8:15
  Her real life daughter, Achilles, plays her daughter, delightful in the show.
• 8:20
  Delightful does not.
• 8:21
  talk much.
• 8:22
  She's usually always eating and doing kind of silly stuff like that.
• 8:26
  So it's been a lot of fun to watch Achilles just come up with all these crazy things she's doing with the food she eats and who she's throwing food wrappers at or how she's
• 8:34
  protected over the food towards others.
• 8:38
  There's just this great dynamic with everybody.
• 8:42
  We have Cindy Hines who plays the Aunt Marguerite and Riley McDevitt who plays her son Royce.
• 8:51
  She looks at her son as the devil.
• 8:52
  Royce just kind of looks at his mom like, whatever, you're annoying because she's this preachy, over the top, religious, thinks everything needs to be so-so.
• 9:01
  have Corey Goldbaum who plays Lucille, that is the elder brother Ray Budd's wife, opposite our friend Tim Wheeling who plays Ray Budd, who's my older brother in the show.
• 9:12
  And she's kind of like the epitome, you'd think, of the Southern belle.
• 9:15
  Ray Budd is, watched children very badly, but she's not been able to
• 9:20
  go full term to have a baby.
• 9:23
  Ray Budd, who really doesn't want kids, but he wants her to be happy.
• 9:27
  He loves her.
• 9:30
  He definitely had his issues before the story takes place and has gotten his life together and is annoyed with his brother.
• 9:36
  Junior can't do that.
• 9:38
  There's a point to when we get into a fist fight in Act One.
• 9:42
  And it's kind of funny because the whole scene culminates up to that moment.
• 9:45
  And then the following scene is the brothers having this big heart to heart.
• 9:49
  right after that with, you know, yeah, Junior screwed up.
• 9:52
  This is what Ray Budd's been doing.
• 9:54
  You really get to see with all these characters the things they're dealing with.
• 9:57
  And I think it will speak to a lot of people because it's something a lot of people can relate to.
• 10:02
  um
• 10:06
  like you have a huge cast of characters here.
• 10:10
  I think about 10 people.
• 10:13
  We got our friend Zach Marin who we brought in.
• 10:16
  is Reverend Hooker.
• 10:18
  He also plays Norville and Ray Bud's boss Clyde.
• 10:22
  he does play two different roles, moves through each one of them really well, different personality for each character.
• 10:30
  So it's we've been very, lucky to have such a great cast.
• 10:33
  The collaboration has been amazing.
• 10:35
  yeah.
• 10:36
  with what Emily's vision was and letting the actors kind of put ourselves into the characters to develop and grow with them.
• 10:42
  But of course, still following what she needs because you have to have that marriage between actor and director.
• 10:47
  Yeah.
• 10:48
  And that's been handled really well with the show.
• 10:52
  Speaking of that vision and translating it onto stage, what is your process, Emily, for kind of doing that?
• 10:57
  Like, how do you get it from your mind to the stage?
• 11:02
  um It's a lot of Google searching and finding reference photos of other productions and kind of just doing a lot of research of what different uh outfit choices were because it's
• 11:18
  kind of it's ambiguous about like what time frame it's set in.
• 11:23
  But we have it roughly set in the 90s, early 2000s time frame.
• 11:28
  So it was a lot of what did
• 11:32
  people from the South who have money wear during this period, what did people from the South who didn't have money wear during this period and just finding the photos of
• 11:41
  different pieces of furniture, different pieces of like funeral attire, like Juanita specifically, what did someone who married into money back then dress like and different
• 11:54
  things like that and then sharing it with the cast and saying, this is a rough idea of what I'm seeing.
• 12:01
  Put your spin on it and let's meet in the middle.
• 12:04
  Okay.
• 12:05
  And then Sean, what is kind of like the role of an assistant director other than being like an assistant to the director?
• 12:10
  I'm an outside guy.
• 12:12
  I only came into this from that word perspective.
• 12:15
  So.
• 12:16
  So I mean, for me, I guess the way I looked at my role as assistant director is obviously backing Emily up, making sure she's got the support she needs.
• 12:24
  When she's on stage, I also was stepping in to help direct those scenes because most of them, the scenes she's in, I'm not in or I come in very late with a scene.
• 12:33
  So it's, we do balance each other out, but it's making sure one of us, if not both of us is always there for the cast to hear the concerns, to help.
• 12:42
  address them and keep things on track.
• 12:45
  So it's kind of multifaceted.
• 12:47
  m
• 12:49
  How has your time on Dearly Departed challenged you in your respective roles as actors, as directors?
• 12:55
  um For me personally, I'm still fairly new to community theater.
• 13:03
  My background is, as I previously mentioned, a little bit more collegiate.
• 13:07
  I've done professional equity level shows.
• 13:09
  um So it's reworking my mindset on how a theater production is supposed to go from.
• 13:19
  auditions all the way through closing night because what I'm used to versus what community theater is, is drastically different.
• 13:25
  um So it's constantly trying to remind myself like we're all volunteers.
• 13:32
  We're not getting paid to do this.
• 13:33
  I can't expect an answer right off right away because, you know, everyone has their day jobs, including myself.
• 13:40
  um But it's also a lot of um reminding myself that
• 13:48
  The main goal of this is to have fun, is to make the friendships, to make the connections.
• 13:53
  And at the end of the day, if we're having fun and we're laughing and joking, then I view that as a successful rehearsal.
• 14:01
  So, yeah.
• 14:02
  Definitely.
• 14:03
  I think my growth was just coming in and it's trying to learn the part.
• 14:06
  I'm assistant directing.
• 14:07
  If somebody missed and I was filling in in their role.
• 14:09
  So was trying to balance my duties as an AD plus learning the character, figuring out.
• 14:16
  In my mind, who Junior is, what makes him tick to be able to hopefully present to an audience a character that's believable as a real person.
• 14:25
  And it's sometimes hard to hold onto that when you are going in a lot of directions, but we were able to do that really well.
• 14:33
  Like we said, great cast, great collaboration.
• 14:37
  And we have pretty much every rehearsal at one point or another usually have to pause because we're laughing so hard at different things.
• 14:45
  And you just you don't know where it's going to happen or how because it's even though you sometimes do the same thing over and over or something just a little bit different gets
• 14:53
  added in a way that changes something.
• 14:55
  So it's been a really cool process to see all that and to help kind of everybody grow with it.
• 15:02
  I was going to say, not only, you both mentioned about having fun and, um, this is, I think a lot of people don't appreciate that, having full-time jobs, like all of you are
• 15:13
  working or like most people are working or have some kind of role and then they're coming in their off time.
• 15:17
  You know, you're, racing to rehearsal after work and you know, you're eating on the go.
• 15:22
  Like you're doing all these things to try to balance it, to have a good time and to bring this joy to others.
• 15:26
  And that's a huge, like, that's a huge blessing that you can do that.
• 15:28
  But also it, it adds to that level of difficulty sometimes.
• 15:34
  ah So for your characters, do you have to do anything, like do you have a process for getting into the mindset of these characters?
• 15:41
  Like do you have to listen to a certain kind of song or music or do you just spin around three times?
• 15:50
  I guess for Juanita, uh I try to pull some behaviors and attitudes and reactions from people that I know in my day to day life and just like pick and choose the different
• 16:03
  characteristics that I think would fit her character the best.
• 16:07
  So it's just it's.
• 16:09
  A lot of it is just people watching and paying attention to how different people act in different situations.
• 16:16
  For me, the approach is a little bit different because it's with Junior, he knows he's screwed up.
• 16:21
  He knows everybody's going to be pissed at him because he has no money, but he still wants to have his dad's funeral be special for himself, for the family.
• 16:29
  So he's kind of comes off selfishly doing things like going to the funeral and telling them, I don't worry about the cost.
• 16:35
  Just going first class all the way, knowing it's going to fall onto his brother to pay for it.
• 16:40
  One the I did do music-wise for Junior, it kind of sounds funny, but when he went to cheat on his wife, the woman that he cheats on her with, meets while cleaning a parking lot.
• 16:52
  He's on top of this big machine that he bought.
• 16:55
  And I kind of kept thinking about it it was kind of funny.
• 16:57
  So I started listening to Kenny Chesney's song, She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy.
• 17:03
  It was stupid, but I'm like, it was kind of funny to get into that mindset of like, here's this doofus on this big machine.
• 17:08
  He thinks he's all that and no, he's not.
• 17:10
  Yeah.
• 17:12
  I mean, what better way to get into character though than to pick a song like that that resonates so well with who Junior is.
• 17:18
  Absolutely.
• 17:21
  Speaking of resonating, what themes from Dearly Departed do feel like resonate most with you?
• 17:25
  I know I stomped you, I'm sorry.
• 17:27
  Yeah, sure did.
• 17:29
  I think one of that resonate most, I'd say for both of us, is accepting and dealing with loss.
• 17:38
  We both have, and we're still just in the beginning of this year, have lost some people close to us.
• 17:47
  And it's just something that kind of reminds you really to cherish those memories that you had and to hold on to them, not to let them go.
• 17:54
  That even
• 17:55
  Sometimes in the darkest times, it's those memories you hold on to.
• 17:57
  It's the things that are happening around you that can still pull happiness and joy even from the darkest of times.
• 18:04
  For me, that's what I've kind of found and held on to.
• 18:07
  beautiful answer.
• 18:08
  Then one final question for both of you is what are you hoping audiences take away from this production?
• 18:12
  um I think that my biggest hope is that people will take away that even in times of sadness, you can still find joy.
• 18:24
  And even when you think that.
• 18:28
  um Like a part of your life is over, it's really not because you still have all the memories that you can take with you into your next chapter.
• 18:39
  Another beautiful answer, I appreciate that one.
• 18:42
  Sean, how about for you?
• 18:44
  your family, whether it's your family or born into the family you've chosen as you know grown up.
• 18:50
  It's the family you've chosen.
• 18:51
  They're always going to be there for you.
• 18:53
  It doesn't matter what stupid things you do at the end of the day.
• 18:56
  Your family is still your family.
• 18:58
  They're still going to support you.
• 18:59
  And that's a very strong message I think with this show.
• 19:03
  Perfect.
• 19:04
  We are so excited to see it.
• 19:05
  Thank you so much for both of your time.
• 19:06
  We greatly appreciate it.
• 19:08
  Of course.
• 19:08
  We're excited to have you guys see the show and see what you think.
• 19:12
  Dealy Departed arrives this weekend at Pontiac IV Theatre and runs through the 18th, so get your tickets now and we'll see you there.
• 19:17
  So it's like.