Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Daniel Valentine, Valencia Morgan, and Kodie Allen of Birmingham Village Players' 'Once On This Island'

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Exclusive Interview: Daniel Valentine, Valencia Morgan, and Kodie Allen of Birmingham Village Players' 'Once On This Island' · The BSB Podcast

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What happens when love, fate, and the gods collide on a tiny island where every
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story has the power to become legend?
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You get once on this island, a musical filled with breathtaking music,
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unforgettable characters, and vibrant storytelling,
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and a whole lot of heart. Today we're talking with director
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of Birmingham Village Players production of this musical,
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Daniel Valentine, and two of the cast members of Valencia Morgan and Cody Allen.
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thank you so much for being here.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much for having us.
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Thank you for
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having us. Yeah, we're so excited.
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So Daniel, you're just a few weeks out,
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what about three weeks out from showtime.
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~ how are you feeling right now?
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How's how's the how's it kinda going?
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Wow, so I I really feel the pressure.
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~ because we are about twenty days out and this is my first show with
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Birmingham Village Players as a director.
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~ and so I'm gonna get it all right.
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We have so many elements. ~ tomorrow we have our Sitzprobe which is
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our first time really putting the show together with the live orchestra.
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So I feel the pressure, but it's a good pressure,
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right? Because it's coming down to the wire.
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So I'm I'm I'm getting really excited.
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How's it feel, Valencia, to kind of be approaching the sitzprobe?
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That's a big that's a big moment in like a production.
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Yeah, it's it's it's really exciting.
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I'm maybe a little bit nervous to hear everything with the band,
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but last night we actually had our guitarist with our pianist while
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we were doing our music rehearsal and it was kind of like a little bit of
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a taste of what the show's gonna look like when we have like a full company
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or like orchestra and it was just kind of breathtaking already.
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So super psyched. It's gonna sound really good.
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Could just feel like it's all kinda starting to come together,
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starting to feel a little bit more real.
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Piece by piece.
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yes, that's
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listen, once the Sitzprobe happens,
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it's like it's it's you know, it's launch time and so I'm really excited
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to kinda get there. I just love live music,
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so I'm really excited to kinda see how the orchestra and the cast,
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how we work together and make that magic.
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It does change it when you start to add that like music,
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the the
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yeah.
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the whole the whole orchestra on there.
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It just it all comes to live and s to life in such
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Mm-hmm.
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a different way. ~
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Absolutely. Especially when
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you're used to rehearsing to like the ~ the rehearsal track when it's kinda robotic
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if you will, but when you get all those instruments together,
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~ it creates a feeling that really brings the story to life.
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It's just like kind of you sweep get swapped up in it at that point,
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you know what mean? ~ so
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Absolutely.
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so I as I shared off camera and stuff,
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this is a show that I didn't know very much about.
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So, Daniel, you know, being kind of the the person that's leading
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the charge here with this this musical,
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I was hoping you can kind of describe to the story or like how are
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the audience kind of entering into Wants on the Silent.
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Wow. So we are going to when you come to see Once on This Island,
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we are going to place you in 1950s,
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Haiti. ~ so Once on This Island ~ is a story about resilience,
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community, and family. and it follows a little Ti Moune,
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young girl who is an orphan, ~ and who goes on this journey from being an orphan,
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growing up on this island, but wanting more,
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wanting to see what life has to offer.
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and so she asks the gods, right?
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She asks the gods and says, Hey,
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what what is there what's more to this life?
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And I'm waiting for my life to begin.
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And so the gods go, foolish child,
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you don't know what you're you don't know what you're asking for.
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And so the two so we have four gods in this show.
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Yeah, no.
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You have
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her Zuli, the goddess of love,
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Agu, the the god of water, Asaka,
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the mother of the earth, and Papa Gay,
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in the story we call the sly demon of death.
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And in that conversation with the guys,
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they decide to send Ti Moune on a journey.
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a journey to test the strength of love against the power of death.
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And so with that in the Caribbean backdrop,
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music, dance, love, it is it is just a wonderful experience.
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And so our audience are going to be able to just go on this emotional roller coaster
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with us ~ to see what ends up happening to our Ti Moune
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I was gonna say it sounds like such an epic tale.
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It has a little bit of everything for everybody.
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Absolutely, yes, yes.
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So Valencia, you're you're stepping into the shoes of Ti Moune.
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What is what was it about this character that really like stood out
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to you that you're like, I wanna be a part of this production?
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~ one of the things that really stood out to me is I guess kind of the culture.
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So this is my first time being in a cast of All African American people,
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which is kind of really wonderful.
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~ there's not a whole lot of shows like that.
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There's like maybe the color purple,
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which I had auditioned for in the past and was not casted in.
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So like this is my kind of second go at it,
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and it's honestly been such an amazing experience.
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~ Ti Moune is this very like whimsical,
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like very bright-eyed girl who like just doesn't think that
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anything can stop her and I think that's kind of how all women should view
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themselves as like a force to be reckoned with and like,
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you know, like she has these intentions and she intends to keep them.
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~ and I think that's really cool and it that that stands for a lot of
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the type of characters that I typically go for.
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Winifred was very similar in that way that she had a goal and she meant to keep it.
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I gonna say this is very in in that way of just like kind of being very strong
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in ~ in independent in a way, kinda like Winifred that we saw you in last year.
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Well earlier this year, I should say,
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Mm-hmm. Yeah, last season, last season.
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last season.
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But technically this year it feels like ages ago.
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Like it really doesn't feel like I just did that eight months ago.
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It truly time flies by when we're having fun here.
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but it truly sounds like this is another character that a lot of people
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can look to for like inspiration and like strength and like how
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Mm-hmm.
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to be like again, just setting forth your kind of your own path in the world.
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Yeah, definitely. I absolutely agree.
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Very strong character, very good role model for little girls.
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Like, you know, like it's okay to love,
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it's okay to hope. It's okay to like try something and have it not work out.
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And Cody you're taking on one of our god roles here,
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which is kinda cool. That's that's
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If you have
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kind of like no pressure, that's such a big and cool role to play.
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Okay.
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So what
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Exactly.
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shoes are you stepping into and what's that character like for you?
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For me, I think that with this character specifically,
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there is a lot of there's a lot of characteristics that I kind of portray already
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in real life. But being a god,
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it's like, you know, it's kinda like everything about you,
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like your demeanor, has to be tall and poised.
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And I think that I can be that sometimes,
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but you know, it can be a challenge,
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especially when you're just trying to kind of hone into that character.
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So for me, I'm
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I'm really glad that I get to learn a lot more about just how to study a character,
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how to portray it on stage, how to use choices.
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~ because this is not my first time doing Agwe,
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but this is my first time really kind of,
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you know, diving deep into who he is and how he acts and you know
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the things that kinda make Agwe different from all the gods and what
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his part really is in this story.
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Because all the gods play a specific part,
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but it's really, you know
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It's really about ~ just what you know I'm able to bring to the stage
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and you know how the gods work together to kind of make the magic of Timo's story
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in her life.
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So having played this role before,
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how do you kind of approach it differently to bring something new or like
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how do you how do you see him differently?
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For me, I think Agwe is Agwe's a lot different for me because I'm able
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to kinda understand a a real backstory.
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I'm kinda diving deeper into ~ the beginning of this whole this whole musical.
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And so it kinda just helps me understand like the history of Haiti as
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a whole and this town, what it is for the people who live in Haiti,
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you know, like just the songs and what it represents.
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It's a
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It's a it's a story about love and community.
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It's a story about fate and tragedy.
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But in that there's so much, you know,
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that brings people together that allows them to kind of hold tight
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to each other because the gods are a little crazy.
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But in that they've learned to be,
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you know, just be, you know. So I just love I love this story because
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it kind of I've I've
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Just doing it twice has kind of showed me so many things that I didn't even
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see the first time. And that was really my main reason for wanting to do this again,
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mainly because it was so much that I wanted to grow and and and learn
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and redo and kind of just like see if I can actually grow in that aspect
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or in that character. So I'm just really excited that I'm able to actually learn
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how to grow from this.
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It's incredible. And you know,
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with a show like this, Daniel,
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you you know, it's it's a show that kind of moves between like reality,
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mythology, there's memory, imagination.
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There's a lot different layers to this.
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So like as a director, how do you begin to navigate the different layers
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of a show such as this? Or like how do you kind of set forth to bring in
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the show to life?
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Wow. ~ so ~ that's a great question.
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So I think the music is where I started.
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~ I I you know, just like most people,
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I was not familiar with Once on This Island when
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I first ~ when I first heard of it.
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was not familiar literally.
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Thank you.
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~ I Googled black musicals on Broadway ~ and Once on This Island popped
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up and this was
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a while ago, almost maybe a little under ten years ago.
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And so once I heard the soundtrack,
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but specifically the revival soundtrack,
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the one where Michael Arden directed and you had ~ Haley Kilgore,
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Okay.
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I thought like that that's a revival soundtrack.
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It just the the story just I I could see it so clearly.
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I don't think I ever had experienced the musical from the soundtrack where
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I can see the imagery so clearly.
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~
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And so then I just I just dived into like the the the research of it all
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and I was really curious about Haiti ~ because like one of the first lines
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in the show they talk about that this island is the jewel of the Antilles
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and so I'm like okay what is that where is that and I could tell it's Caribbean
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and so I Googled what's the jewel of the Antilles and Haiti popped
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up right because the saying in Haiti is that Haiti is the pearl of
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the Antilles and so and and so then I just
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dived into it to learning about the ~ the the the Haitian revolution
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and the colonization of this ~ of of Haiti and the and the revolution,
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all the things that are so rich in Haiti,
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but then also that this culture has been able to survive so much,
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right? Survive colonization, survive,
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you know, it w had an economic boom in in the early 1900s.
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But then then a lot of with a lot of hurricanes and different things,
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there is a
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the economic downfall, but this the people of Haiti were resilient.
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They always rebuilt after every storm,
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after every government change,
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they always rebuilt and they always stood tall.
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So I I just started there and then I just I let the music and the script take
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me from there. ~ but it has been a joy to build this community,
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especially because when you consider like Haitian or Caribbean communities,
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you really just think of poverty a lot of time.
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It's like poverty or vacation.
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Right. ~ and so you don't really get to experience the beauty of the Caribbean
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a lot of times. And so that was that's been the goal to really lean in
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on what it means to be the jewel of the Antilles Antilles.
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So there's gonna be a lot of colors that we were very intentional about
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not showing ~ ruins within the our set and how we live in this island because
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there were people who lived there before Haiti was what we know it as today.
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~
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for what that is. And so we really wanted to pay homage to that as
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we built that story. But then also I really wanted to create the tension as well,
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~ with the actors that with this story because there is a lot of tension
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of this young girl who's kind of being defiant in the sense of the norms
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of her culture she wants the opposite of.
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Right. And so what that would feel like from a community,
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~ who's very close knit, ~
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And then also the tension between what happens when she gets what she wants.
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And so ~ it's a beautiful, ~ I I like to call it beautiful chaos because there's
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gonna be a lot going on with the music,
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with the dance, with the acting.
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~ and so so I'm just yeah, it it's been a r it's been a great time putting
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it all together.
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I was gonna say that's so much homework to do,
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but it really does bring the authenticity to this show.
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Yes,
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absolutely. Yeah, we we were so lucky to have a ~ bat ~ Maggie who
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is our cultural coordinator and she just kinda helped us understand
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the history behind Haiti, helped us establish our accents because we wanna
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see we want to be authentic, right?
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~ and we do not want to make a mockery of this this place because
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we are representing a real community,
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~ a real community ~ who who actually lives and thrives.
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~ as a community as well. So we wanted to make sure we re were representing
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it properly. So
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And know, in that kind of ~ that space,
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Valencia, do you feel like there's like as anything about the world that's being
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built in this musical, seeing that it's based off of like a real community,
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a real group of people, that surprised you or that like you learned more about
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as you were diving into the show?
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Yeah, definitely. So, ~ Haiti or Haiti,
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~ is one of the like was the the first,
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like only like place to have like a successful slave rebellion against the French.
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So like they were like one of the only like slave nation or like enslaved nations
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to like declare their own independence after overthrowing the French.
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And I didn't know that that even existed.
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I didn't know that that was a thing.
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~ and that's something that's talked about,
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~
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in like one of the songs, The Tale of the Bozoums,
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where they kind of talk about like the French Revolution.
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So the show takes place ~ four generations after this revolution.
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~ and we're basically like seeing like both the repercussions and like
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how that shaped the culture of the island and how my character came to be,
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~ and like where she lives and things like that.
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Like it's all of this background is very important to that revolution.
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And when you're looking at it,
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Cody, when being a mythological,
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you know, being in this story,
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when you're looking at like the real world and like kind of
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the repercussions that are happening in the world and things that
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are that are happening with this community of people,
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how much do you feel like that dictates your performance as somebody who
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is on like the more like God like side of the story?
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I think for me, it resonates with me in real life,
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but as a God, it kind of is just like it's in the heart.
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But, you know, and and I think as a God too,
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and even in the real story, we we are the ones who kind of put a lot
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of these people in the position that they're in.
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But not all of us as gods, we're not really we may,
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you know, be guys. We're not always on the same page.
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And so while we may do crazy things in the story,
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a lot of times we
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You know, we honestly do feel compassion,
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whether we, you know, show it or not.
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The gods aren't fully crazy. And so I think for me
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Mm-hmm.
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it's all about kind of like hiding that softness because I'm a god.
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But I think in real life, when,
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you know, we kind of see the indifferences that happen in the real world
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and in this story, it resonates a lot with what ~ what people have been seeing
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for years. ~ and while this may have started in Haiti in real life,
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like, you know, the well, like the French Revolution and things,
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there are
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similar stories happening in America now because of what we're going through.
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And I think that ~ it will resonate a lot with people who have been keeping
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up with the news or what that what was happening with the government.
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They'll really kinda see the the the contrast in the story.
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Absolutely. And you know, it's another aspect of the story that I think that like
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as you're building all these layers and Daniel,
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I feel like there's there's so many layers here that you're building,
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there's a lot of work on your shoulders.
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But you also have some roles that are double cast.
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And you know, as a director, how do you approach when you have,
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you know, maybe individuals who are playing the same role,
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but like their maybe their takes are a little bit different,
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or like maybe the way that the show kind of plays out with someone else
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in the role just changes it very slightly.
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Yeah, and and that is a great question.
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So ~ one of the reasons why we double casted is because when we were going through
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the audition process and we saw Valentia and we saw the other ~ Ti Moune
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who her name is Shania, we saw two different Ti Moune's and we fell
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in love with both of them, right?
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Because Ti Moune's is a little girl
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~ but she is coming out of her adolescence into her love and into
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the knowledge of the real world,
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if you will. And so, and I think even when we consider both actresses,
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their life experiences can also bring bring that to life because there
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are there are two different ages,
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~ but also the ~ I think the the force that Valencia
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brings in and the confidence and
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that she brings is a different than a subtle softness that Shania brings.
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And we just cannot do this story without them.
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~ we when we saw them, we just had we we knew we just had to have but which
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was the hardest decision because they were both so talented.
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So we were like, well, we just got ~ we get two for one,
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I guess. ~ and so
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I don't know.
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that that definitely was ~ a challenge but we are so excited that
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we made that decision. ~ with that being said
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when it comes to the rehearsal process,
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we try our best to just be balanced,
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right? We try our best to allow both to get a like a an even amount of like takes
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or runs at something, but then also allowing them to be free to make choices,
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right? So, yes, we know the story,
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but your Ti Moune does not have to be a copycat of each other,
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right? Be free. You are two different artists,
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you're two different creatives,
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so you have full control over who you want.
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this Ti Moune to be and we'll guide you,
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we'll stick to the text, we'll you know,
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but they sing it differently, right?
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Which means certain things when they say certain lines.
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And so ~ it's it's a very beautiful thing to experience.
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And Valencia how do you kind of like as a performer,
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how do you approach that? Because like do you find yourself,
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you know, given the freedom to kind of do your own thing in this?
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Do you are you bouncing things off of the other actors?
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Are you trying to find ways to like intertwine them or do you feel like you're just
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trying to bring the most authenticity of yourself to this role?
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So what's very interesting?
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is ~ I had never been double casted in a role before.
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But like as soon as I met Shania,
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I kind of understood why we were both casted.
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And while we're very different performers,
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we are very similar as people.
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So like we've kind of bonded in this way where like when we are like rehearsing
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in the same space, like there's never any type of conflict or anything like that.
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So we very often like either if we're not thinking the same thing,
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we're bouncing ideas off of each other.
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like I was just thinking about it the other day of like like if
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I miss something then she teaches me or if she misses something then I teach
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her and it's never like a well it's never I don't ever have a to ask
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her what we learned because she's immediately coming to tell me and
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the same thing with her. Like it's it's we've we found this kind
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of like balance where like we like fit together very well
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Like like it's it's it's very interesting.
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Like if you I I encourage you,
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if you do see the show, to see both like I it's not even just to sell tickets,
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it's just to see both shows because we are such like like grandeur people,
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but like it's it works. Like and it is good and it is amazing and it
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is like it's it's magical. Like I don't think I would have wanted to
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do the show without her, like now that I've met her,
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if that makes sense.
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And it truly does kind of make for like that's the magic of like theater
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is that like every person in in a role such as this could have such
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a different take and being able to see that and how it kind
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of impacts everybody else also on stage.
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~ like Cody, like I like you're bouncing off of two different people in this role,
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as well as that there's another god that's also double cast
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I guess do you feel like your performance also changes with depending on which
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actresses on stage with you or who like what night we're having and who's
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on stage and who's interacting with each other.
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Feel like in a sense, yes, but really for me it's kinda just I think with
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the gods it it is a little more different because Papa Ge is the
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one who's double cast and we're kinda like,
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you know, twins, you know. So I think for me
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Gotcha.
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in that sense it changes a little bit,
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but with Ti Moune not as much because like Valencia said,
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they're very similar ~ in in like,
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you know, their real lives. And I think as characters,
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they've kind of adapt into,
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you know, hone into the difference.
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But it's really more papa gay for me,
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you know, having two different papa ge and kinda feeding into their characters
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because those, you know, our two papa ge they have very distinctive different
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choices, which I love because it kinda helps me to just bring more Agwe out.
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So I love being able to kind of try new things with the two different Papa ge.
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sure and also with this show as well Cody you're also not having
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an intermission ~ how do you feel like you that change is also a show when you're
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just you're on stage for a set amount of time there's no break in
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the middle you have to make it to the end how do you approach it as an actor
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I actually love that there's no intermission,
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but I think for me it's because I actually love the show a lot.
21:25
So I think it's just I'm kind of used to this show not having an intermission.
21:30
But I think that without an intermission,
21:32
like a real one, because this show never had one,
21:34
I think that it will help the the viewers,
21:36
those who've never heard about this musical have never seen it,
21:38
actually grasp the full story without forgetting things,
21:42
without being confused, because you know you're able to pay attention
21:46
for the short little 90 minutes.
21:48
Cause while
21:49
Ninety minutes may seem like a lot of time.
21:51
In this story, it becomes so short when you're just so drawn into the story
21:56
and the meaning behind everything.
21:58
It's really, really ~ it's a it's a great story.
22:01
And I'm actually really glad that there's no intermission so people
22:03
can actually hone in to every single aspect and every detail of the story.
22:08
So Valencia s kind of feels like it's more immersive because of that.
22:11
Like you you can kind of just you're start to finish,
22:13
you're in one story for one chuck of time.
22:15
Yes, it's it's definitely more immersive.
22:17
The only time I had done a show without an intermission that was ninety minutes
22:22
was when I did American Idiot last year.
22:24
And that show was like running a marathon,
22:27
~ because it's a jukebox musical and it's all Green Day music,
22:30
and it's so like all this headbanging and running and jumping and jumping
22:34
off of scaffolding, and it didn't really feel like any of the story really meshed
22:37
together. It never ever made sense to me.
22:39
However, this is true storytelling.
22:42
Like each song has intention, each song was made.
22:45
to tell this very specific story and I think in a lot of ways
22:49
not having an intermission kind of helps that because everything flows together.
22:53
It's like a melody, it's like water,
22:54
like it's it's like it's it's meant to stick.
22:57
And Danny, when you're kind of taking a story like this,
22:59
and you know, intermissions tend to be like,
23:01
you know, you have a moment to like for you guys to reset,
23:03
you're like resetting the stage,
23:04
sometimes you're moving stage and stuff like that.
23:06
But this is just like from start to finish,
23:07
you're you're telling the story.
23:09
From like the director's perspective,
23:11
how do you approach to make sure that like everything flows the
23:14
way it's supposed to, in because you only have those ninety minutes
23:17
to make it happen?
23:18
Yeah, so I I think we're gonna we have a great stage manager.
23:23
~ we're gonna do as best as we can ~ with with
23:25
Ha ha ha.
23:27
with keeping our breath and all the things.
23:30
But truly, ~ the the reason why we decided not to
23:34
do ~ an intermission is because this story
23:39
~ the show weaves in and out of music and dance and dialogue,
23:44
the music the dance and dialogue.
23:46
~ so we I
23:47
I thought stopping in the middle of that world that we're creating interrupts
23:52
the emotional journey. Right. so we're taking our audience on a journey
23:57
and it's gonna, it's a 90-minute journey nonstop,
23:59
right? So when we actually when we ask you to come in and settle in on this island,
24:04
you're gonna be in this island with us.
24:06
~ so like people are going, you're gonna see people in the audience.
24:10
You're gonna see dancing in the audience,
24:12
you're gonna see all of that and feel all of that.
24:14
So I feel like stopping it really breaks.
24:17
It really breaks it, right? ~ because you know,
24:20
some most stories it has an act one and act two,
24:23
but once on this island is written like that too,
24:26
right? It's written to be a 90 minute musical.
24:29
And so we wanted to stay true to that.
24:31
And ~ and when it comes to the preparation for it and all the elements,
24:35
we're just gonna work really hard.
24:37
~ and and that is the that is the beauty of theater,
24:40
right? We're gonna make magic with humans,
24:42
right? ~ so our so our
24:46
Every element that you will see in the show outside of the music is done
24:51
by the performers. So when the set pieces are moving and when when things
24:56
are happening, the the the artists are all doing it.
25:00
And so that's what just makes a little more fun.
25:02
It makes it a little harder for the artists.
25:05
~ and they are stretched because of it,
25:07
but I think it makes a it makes a beautiful show.
25:09
and it makes them stronger as performers,
25:12
to be ready because as this is happening.
25:15
It does not stop. Right. The singing does not stop.
25:18
The music does not stop. So ~ it it it's just it it's gonna be
25:22
a really cool experience for people to see.
25:24
And you know, speaking of that journey,
25:26
just I for you the for the final question to wrap it all up is what
25:29
are you hoping Dani like Daniel,
25:30
what are you hoping the audience take away from this production?
25:33
Hmm, what am I hoping that the audience takes away?
25:36
~
25:37
There's a line in this in the show,
25:40
~ in the like the through line through the whole show for me is
25:45
is love stronger than death? Right?
25:48
And so no matter what you go through,
25:51
no matter what life challenge what life challenges bring to you,
25:55
~ I believe that if you commit to love,
25:59
that it will always work out for you.
26:01
Even if you don't get to see it,
26:03
right? Even if you don't get to experience it.
26:06
Choosing love will always work in your favor.
26:08
~ and we deeply desire for our audience to come and experience ~
26:13
how Timoon chooses love and how Timoon chooses family and community
26:17
~ through her resilience. And I I I wanna I I don't want to tell what happens
26:23
because most people don't know the story,
26:25
so I cannot tell what happens,
26:26
but I want people to come see what happens when you choose love.
26:31
And how relatable it is for all of us.
26:33
So yes, Tim Woman chased, you know,
26:35
a a guy who she was in love with,
26:37
but it could be the a dream, right?
26:39
It could be the career that you ultimately want.
26:42
It could be that passion you so,
26:44
you know, you so deeply care about.
26:46
~ and and if you choose the love for it,
26:48
there's something good on the other side of it.
26:51
And so that is that is what audiences will get to experience and walk away from.
26:57
~ the beauty of choosing love.
26:59
That's a beautiful answer. Cody,
27:01
I'm gonna ask you to follow up on that beautiful answer from Daniel.
27:03
But just similar questions, just what are you hoping either audiences take away from
27:06
this production, but also maybe the your character's journey through this show?
27:11
Think for me, I want I want people who watch this show to kind of feel
27:16
how I felt when I first saw this show.
27:17
Just the the the intensity, the love in the show.
27:21
~ and the yeah,
27:24
like really just the intensity.
27:26
This show can be very intense,
27:27
but when you really believe that love can conquer death and you actually
27:32
are honed into this story, and you know,
27:34
you watch Ti Moune and you get emotional,
27:36
because this show can be very emotional,
27:37
but
27:38
When you kinda are just grasped into the show and you really let it sink into your
27:42
heart and you're focused, it's so much that you could take away from
27:45
the show in your real life and in your real journey and like Daniel said,
27:49
and the real things that you want to do,
27:50
like, you know, whether it be a career or a passion or anything else.
27:54
So I think I want people to kind of just feel how I felt,
27:56
which is really just a new light,
27:59
~ a new a new vision. And to kind of just,
28:02
you know, ~ like a a a a fire under their butt,
28:06
you know, just kinda like have
28:08
new ~ arisen ~ passions and faith to just keep pushing and to and
28:14
to really know that love like in the show I may say you know you know death
28:19
may be stronger than love but in real life love really does and will always conquer
28:22
death but that's just
28:24
Yes.
28:24
because you know I'm a child of God and in the Bible it says love is
28:28
is the greater of you know faith,
28:30
hope. So I just want people to realize that love is very strong in this story
28:35
and in real life.
28:36
And that, you know, we should really tap into loving each other in this community,
28:40
especially in the world that we live in now.
28:41
We need to, you know, spread more love than hate and anything else.
28:44
Literally just love one another.
28:47
And Valencia, you get to close us out.
28:48
What do you hope the audiences what do you hope speaks to them about Once
28:51
on this Island or about T Moon's journey through through the show?
28:55
~
28:56
I hope that people take away that there
29:00
is importance in knowing your history.
29:04
There is importance in, you know,
29:06
sharing stories and and celebrating hair heritage and celebrating community because
29:13
there's there's a lot of things there's a a lot of com
29:17
components ~ that go into once on this island but my my favorite thing
29:23
is the storytelling in it. Like they're like the it's people brought together.
29:28
It's it's people bringing a folk tale to life and I I think that's really important.
29:33
Like, you know, to like look out for one one another and to like have community.
29:38
I guess that's I don't think that's something that we really have anymore.
29:42
~ and I think that that's something I want people to take away from it.
29:46
All beautiful answers. Thank you all three for being here and chatting with me.
29:49
It's been such a pleasure to talk about the show and learn more about it.
29:51
and we can't wait for it to arrive.
29:53
So thank you for being here.
29:54
Thank you.
29:55
Thank
29:55
you.
29:56
So once on this island arrives at Birmingham Village players
29:58
on September eighteenth and runs through October fourth.
30:01
So get your tickets now and we'll see you at the show.