Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Geoffrey Wickson & Nikki Mullaly of Avon Players' 'Come From Away'

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Exclusive Interview: Geoffrey Wickson & Nikki Mullaly of Avon Players' 'Come From Away' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  What happens when thousands of strangers are suddenly stranded in a tiny town
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  and that town opens its arms to them?
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  You get Come From Away, the remarkable true story of kindness,
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  community, and humanity in the wake of September eleventh.
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  Today we're talking to two of the cast members of Avon Players production
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  of this inspiring musical, Geoff Wickson and Nikki Mullaly.
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  Thank you so much for being here.
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  Yeah, thank you.
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  the cast and crew currently at Avon Players is working hard at bringing
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  the story to life.
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  Geoff, how are you currently feeling as opening night is quickly approaching?
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  Yeah, I'm feeling great overall.
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  like I said, like we're talking about before was just that the ~ you know,
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  getting all the chair movement.
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  We don't have the turntables, so like that definitely plays a part into
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  it of just making sure that the chairs all have to be in the same
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  way and remembering the lines,
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  remembering where you gotta put your stuff because we rarely go off stage.
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  Yeah. And then remembering when you're singing harmony and when you're singing unit
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  it's it's a lot to remember. So ~ it's a very technical show,
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  but overall, no, I I I think it's really coming together.
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  Nikki, this is such a special like show to bring to the stage,
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  specifically ~ because we're at the anniversary of September eleventh coming up.
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  How are you feeling as you're quickly approaching?
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  Yeah, I feel great. I this is a show that's been on my short list for a long time.
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  It's just such a lovely story and it's been such an ensemble experience where
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  everyone is really required to pull their weight together and it's been
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  so fun to see everybody kind of wake up and realize,
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  we open in two weeks, we need to get our get our stuff done.
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  So it's been a really fun process.
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  It's been hectic and crazy, but I feel like
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  That kind of goes along with the theme of the show.
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  I mean, they were feeling hectic and crazy the whole time too,
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  so we're not alone.
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  What a great way to kind of bring that together.
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  You're like, hey, we can all feel this way.
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  It all feels overwhelming just a little bit as we're bringing in the last two weeks,
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  ~ and tying it to the the theme of what the show kind of stands for.
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  Now, for those who maybe don't know what the show is about,
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  which I'm sure that many people in the theater world do,
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  Geoff, how would you kind of describe the show of Come From Away and what makes
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  it different from maybe like a traditional musical?
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  Yeah, I mean like Nikki said, it's very ensemble driven.
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  You know, there's not really like an a lead.
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  There it's twelve leads. ~ who play multiple characters and you switch characters
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  w like in front of people. Like your care like my character Kevin T
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  and I play Garth, who is a Newfoundlander,
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  and I have to carry my coat sometimes on stage with me to put it on in
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  the middle of like a monologue and that wear multiple coats.
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  And like yeah so I I think that that's like the
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  the
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  the challenging part is like you also gotta change your ~ just your whole demeanor
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  to make sure that the the audience can see like now I'm this person,
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  now I'm this person within a blink of an eye.
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  and yeah like Nikki said, I just think that the fact that it's an all
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  in all an ensemble that everyone's gotta pull their weight,
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  got ~ timing is everything. ~ and everyone's on stage for so long.
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  ~
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  Yeah, I mean for me this show has been it's been really fun and I I feel like
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  in other shows that I've done it's always been very ~ I I really
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  get connected with like the cast behind the scenes and it's a lot of fun.
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  This show, I've honestly gotten more and more in love with the story
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  as we've been doing it because you kind of you start coming into your character
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  and realizing like just the stuff that they went through and I don't know,
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  it's just it's been a really awesome experience.
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  Nikki, you mentioned that this is a show that's kind of been on like your bucket
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  list to do. What was it about it that kind of stood out that you're like,
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  I have to be a part of Come From Away?
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  Yeah.
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  I think one of the really fascinating things about this story is that it it's
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  a true story. And it's a story that,
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  you know, happened within our lifetimes.
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  Like it's not based on some distant historical event where you can't picture what
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  these people would have been doing day to day.
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  Like I mean, Hamilton is an example that comes to mind that is based off of,
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  you know, like a loosely based on historical events and and real people.
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  But with this show it's like
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  They were saying
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  Who was it? Oz, I think, answers emails to to like people who are a cast
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  in the show who are playing his character and Garth will respond.
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  And the Kevins are real life people who,
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  you know, are still currently alive.
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  Most of the cast who the or most of the real life people who the cast
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  are based on are still around and kicking and and going to productions
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  of Come From Away. And it's just a really cool experience.
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  to think about
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  Bringing a story to life that is an actual event.
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  And these are like not dramatized stories.
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  Like it this these incredible things actually happened to real people.
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  ~ and it's just such an honor to be able to bring that to a whole new audience.
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  I think, especially with everything going on in the world right now,
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  the messages that this show portrays are just so important for us to remember.
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  Like deep down.
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  People are just people. Whether they look like you or speak the same language
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  as you, like it's really important that we are opening our homes
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  and offering help to people when they need help,
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  because you never know when you're going to be the one who needs help.
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  So it's just it's just such a beautiful,
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  uplifting story. And I really think that's important for people
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  to be witnessing right now.
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  I think it's one of those I mean,
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  at least I I've lived through this,
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  you know. I'm sure so many of us have lived through this experience.
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  If you're old enough, I know some people maybe that are out there
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  and performing and acting aren't old enough,
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  but it's it's not like like you said,
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  it's not far removed. This was something that being a fourth grader,
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  I remember very distinctly. And so it does feel a little more real.
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  It hits a little bit harder to home when when it's something that you've you've
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  lived through. ~ but Geoff, you kind of mentioned you kind of touched
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  on this that you're playing multiple different characters and you mentioned your
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  Your primary one being Kevin T.
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  ~ and Nikki, you're playing Janice.
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  That's kind of your main one as well.
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  So Geoff, kind of starting with you,
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  like tell us a little bit about who Kevin T is and where maybe he's starting this
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  journey of come from away at.
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  Yeah, ~ I mean Kevin T is, you know,
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  a businessman, ~ owns his own company out in California.
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  And ~ at the beginning of the show,
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  I mean you can really tell that he is someone who is just like,
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  I'm gonna problem solve and I'm gonna make sure like things get fixed
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  and like jumping into like that problem solving mode right away and like
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  but as the show goes on can kind of see like there is no problem solving this.
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  Like this there's nothing you can do.
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  And Kevin's not gonna reopen the American airspace.
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  Right. Like he kinda like so he's
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  Right.
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  trying to keep like tempers down,
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  he's trying to keep everyone calm and collected.
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  And some of the lions are even like,
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  Hey, I'm sure they got it under control.
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  ~ and as the show goes on, you start seeing him kinda like becoming
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  a Newfoundlander, like a like he's like,
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  Hey, I'm gonna kinda open up and like let this these people take care of me.
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  Like I'm gonna let these people
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  And like let allowing them to do that,
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  like it's I don't know, it's a very like humbling experience too
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  for that because someone that is that business minded,
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  you know, successful in life and he's like got it all together and then
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  he comes here and is like, you know,
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  ~ this is really bad. Like there's a lot of stuff going on and I have
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  no control of it. ~
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  Yeah, it that that's just kind of what the the story that I've taken from
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  it and connected myself with is like,
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  yeah, sometimes even if you think you have it all together,
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  it could be something that happened completely out your control.
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  And you also know sometimes you'd be taken care of as well.
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  ~ and that's kind of what he allows like the people of Gander to do for him.
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  I mean that is incredible and it's incredible to see him kind of grow with that
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  and like you said really embrace being what a newfound found what
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  a newfoundlander is.
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  Yeah.
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  that's really hard to say fast if you think about it.
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  I don't know how you guys are doing that in a show.
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  it's very yeah. It's hard to say slow too.
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  It's hard to say during the show in general,
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  yeah. Try saying it in the accent.
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  The accent is nuts. Yeah.
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  And so Nikki, obviously, ~ who is Janice for to you?
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  Like who what what is what is kind of her journey when you meet when
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  you meet her very early on?
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  Yeah. Well, a little backstory.
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  What's really interesting about Janice so a lot of the characters like
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  I mentioned are
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  based on real people who were,
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  you know, living during this time.
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  But Janice is a little bit different.
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  So Janice Mosher did not exist ~ in the actual real life events
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  of the 38 planes landing in Gander.
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  She's actually a conglomeration of a couple different real life people.
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  So there was a newscaster, ~ like a television new newscaster and also
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  a radio host that they kind of put together.
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  To to form this new Janice character,
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  ~ which has been really great for me because now I don't feel the pressure
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  of having to emulate a real person who might angrily email me something
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  Sure.
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  about my portrayal of her as a person.
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  But
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  The character herself, I mean,
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  she's just so lovely. So in the show,
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  her very first day at the station happens to be nine eleven.
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  So she is thrown into all this.
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  She's like introducing herself to her new neighbors as news of this catastrophe
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  is broken
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  Sure.
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  in the Tim Hortons ~ in Gander.
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  And so she is struggling, you know,
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  to to find her place in town and these
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  Newfoundlanders all have this really interesting community kind of already in place.
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  So she's not, you know, on the inside yet with her new community,
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  but she's also not so much of an outsider as the plane people are who,
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  you know, are from all
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  Sure.
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  over the place. So it's been really interesting to kind of find.
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  her voice and find her placement in the greater ecosystem of of the characters.
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  Because I can't be too, you know,
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  chummy with with Garth, because they just met and I,
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  you know, wouldn't know Kevin ~ because she wasn't on one of the planes.
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  So it's really interesting. I feel like
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  There's almost this like Venn diagram happening,
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  but Janice is on the outside, kind of looking at everything that's going on,
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  and it gives her a really interesting perspective on being an outsider.
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  Sure, 'cause it's like a different kind of outsider.
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  It's like being in but
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  Yeah.
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  also not.
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  Yeah. Yeah. So s I she really has a grasp on things from both kind
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  of sides of the story and it's just it's been very eye-opening to to witness
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  and to play through.
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  Do
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  you like in a story such as this that like the fact that she is kind
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  of like a conglomerate of multiple people because it's like less pressure
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  to have to like achieve one person that's that is in like that is existing?
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  Yeah.
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  I think absolutely. I mean it'd be it would be really tempting to just
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  go online and type in Janice Mosher interviews and like looking
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  at her real life voice and her mannerisms and saying,
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  I'm going to robotically copy every single thing that she does so that I can be her.
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  ~ and I know that's I mean, a l a lot of people in our cast and other casts that
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  are doing this show, that is something that they like to do and that's
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  a totally no valid resource for them to go and find,
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  but I know I would get very obsessive over it,
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  I think, if I had that resource available to me.
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  But I'm also someone who like when I do a show,
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  I don't like to watch other productions of it.
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  I've kind of avoided watching the Come From Away Pro shot that is
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  out there just because I
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  really like to take what I'm doing directly from the material itself.
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  So I'm someone who will just sit down
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  read through the play a couple times,
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  notice what I say about people,
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  what people say about me, and kind of try to put my own spin on
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  it rather than looking to other examples.
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  I feel like that makes me get a little bit in my head.
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  And I know a lot of people will take an opposite approach,
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  but that's just how I feel. So I for those reasons I'm very glad that Janice
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  was not a real person.
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  And you know, when it comes to your kind of approach with the show,
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  Geoff, like you I'll say this,
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  the show is very it's one of the most real but also very funny to talk about
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  a topic that we're dealing with here of like 9-11 and tragedy.
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  ~ I feel like a lot of the humor of the times that I've seen this comes from both
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  Kevin or like the interaction between the two Kevins.
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  So how important do you feel is the humor in helping the audience
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  to connect to these two incredibly hilarious characters?
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  Yeah, ~ that's honestly been one of I don't know,
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  it's been really fun to kind of find that out and like Nikki was saying,
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  like I I have seen the pro shot a couple of times and but I also am like looking
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  at it and I'm looking at from the perspective of like I want to put
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  my own like self, like how would I as Jeffrey connect with Ket like if I
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  was in this situation and I was in Kevin's shoes,
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  how would I respond and how would I act?
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  And yeah, I mean honestly it's very similar because I would be making like those
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  same jokes. I would be having a great time.
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  ~ so and honestly
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  Ha ha.
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  it's pretty easy for me to fill into that role of just like having a good time
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  and making jokes and ~ you know laughing and all that.
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  But no to to your question though,
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  I think that
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  You know, n I mean, nine eleven obviously is a huge tragedy.
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  So, like you said, it's kind of an interesting take that we're talking about this
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  really this story that's like coming together and it's a beautiful uplifting story
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  about a really awful time in our country.
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  and so some of that humor kind of just brings it up brings it up a notch,
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  I guess, because it's not so heavy.
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  ~ 'cause even something that's uplifting and like really inspiring
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  can still feel heavy at times.
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  Like it the and so
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  That humor kind of balances it out a little bit to just I don't know,
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  it it makes it makes it like we're still having a good time ~ as we're telling
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  the story. I feel like humor is so natural.
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  Like it's such a natural response for people when they're going through trauma
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  to try to bring humor. So it even like it absolutely does make it lighter,
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  but it makes it more real too.
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  I don't think people wouldn't have been cracking jokes,
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  you know, to just try to survive day to day.
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  Yeah. Yeah, completely agree.
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  Okay.
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  'Cause absolutely. If you don't have a little bit of humor,
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  it's I mean, they would have been crushed.
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  I mean, this was a time when like get you couldn't get a hold of anybody 'cause
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  of what was happening. You know what I mean?
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  Like you were stuck and frozen on this island.
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  ~ you were you needed to do something.
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  And it's better than just crying and falling into despair,
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  but to find the happiness and the humor and the heart of what is happening
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  in Gander is is is exactly
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  Yeah.
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  what people would do.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  And you also had mentioned that this is there's like no traditional star.
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  Like roles is kind of a very big ensemble piece.
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  Everyone's kind of the star.
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  how do you feel that this has affected maybe the way that the cast
• 15:21
  is working together and how it's building towards the end goal of Come From Away?
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  Yeah, that's a good question. ~ I think that because there is no lead
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  I mean and being in other shows in the ensemble,
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  I feel like that's always the most fun.
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  Like I feel like the ensemble parts are always like the fun parts.
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  Like, I mean, when you're in performing it's always fun,
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  like being a lead and like that that's cool.
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  But like when you're actually in practices and rehearsals and all that,
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  like you you get more acquaint like you get acquainted when you're in the ensemble.
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  You get to have a little bit more fun and just ~ I don't know,
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  you get more connected. And so really with this show
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  All of us have to be connected.
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  So you have twelve people that there is no lead,
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  all different personalities, all different ways of doing things,
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  and we all have to work together.
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  We have to bring each other's clothes on at times for the show.
• 16:05
  We have to bring each other's props on at times.
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  We have to move each other's chairs.
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  Like we have to work together.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, gotta take each other's off.
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  ~ so I think that like, yeah, that's just a a huge part of it is like,
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  you know, we all have to do this together.
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  ~ so it's yeah, it's a really neat experience.
• 16:22
  Yeah.
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  And it's so tight. A lot of the humor in the show really comes down to the timing.
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  I mean humor in general is is very timing based,
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  but there's so many quick back to back lines and everyone really has to be
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  on top of their stuff. So I feel like at least for me,
• 16:41
  like I have never made so many note cards for a show.
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  I have like every little thing I've been studying and,
• 16:49
  you know, making cheat sheets.
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  and trying to make sure that I'm just really on top of all of my lines
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  so that I don't let anybody else down.
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  Cause I know
• 16:59
  Sure.
• 16:59
  you know everybody else is feeling that as well.
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  I think it's definitely brought us together a bit as a cast because
• 17:07
  we are leaning fully on each other all the time.
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  Yeah.
• 17:11
  For sure. I mean, and that's the part that you know,
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  that's the community aspect of theater here that we love is that like
• 17:16
  not just bringing communities together for audiences and stuff like that,
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  but you're making a community of people that are relying on each other
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  to bring about what is beautiful of the story.
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  ~ but we do, you know, ~ Geoff,
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  you did bring it up, so I'm gonna have to talk about it.
• 17:29
  You mentioned the chairs. ~ the staging
• 17:31
  Yeah, yeah.
• 17:32
  of Come From Away is incredibly precise.
• 17:35
  ~ chairs
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  Yeah.
• 17:37
  are everything. What
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  Yeah.
• 17:39
  Which part of the choreography you're staging do you feel like is the hardest
• 17:42
  to get into the muscle memory here?
• 17:44
  man, there's Yeah,
• 17:44
  All of it.
• 17:46
  I think that I mean trying to even think of like one thing of it.
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  Like I can't even think of one specific moment because it is yeah,
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  I mean I mean it really is all of it.
• 17:56
  There's there's maybe like one spot in Act Two that the chairs like when
• 18:00
  we were practicing it were like there's no
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  like reference to where we're putting the chairs.
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  You just have to like look at it and look everywhere around the stage
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  to make sure that you're putting out the same spot.
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  Like there's no s like we can't spike it 'cause we can't spike everything.
• 18:13
  Like there's too much there would changes.
• 18:15
  Stage would be entirely neon of just different spike tape marks.
• 18:19
  Sure.
• 18:19
  It'd be ridiculous. So like you have to memorize that.
• 18:22
  ~
• 18:23
  But you're usually doing that while you're also thinking of like your next line
• 18:27
  or like, I need to leave my coat on this chair and come get it later
• 18:30
  and like the all of those things.
• 18:32
  It's just such a technical show.
• 18:35
  Yeah, it's it it's it's a fun it's a fun challenge.
• 18:38
  There's just chairs everywhere.
• 18:40
  It's twelve people in four
• 18:41
  Yeah.
• 18:41
  chairs. My shins are so bruised because I keep slamming into these chairs.
• 18:47
  Yeah. Like I've I I've stopped sitting at home.
• 18:50
  I just can't look at a chair anywhere.
• 18:52
  I just can't do it.
• 18:53
  You know, you say that
• 18:54
  there's twelve cast members, but there's truly twenty four cast members here 'cause
• 18:58
  those chairs are just as important.
• 19:00
  Right, yeah, exactly. Yes. If if anything the chairs should get top billing.
• 19:04
  Yeah, yeah.
• 19:06
  Nikki, at its heart, the show is about people choosing kindness during
• 19:09
  an incredibly frightening moment,
• 19:10
  having worked on come from away.
• 19:12
  Do you feel like you've changed your thoughts about hospitality
• 19:15
  or helping strangers?
• 19:16
  ~ that's a great question. I think it's definitely
• 19:20
  brought it more to the forefront of my just everyday thinking.
• 19:24
  ~ and we've really been trying as a cast to,
• 19:29
  you know, explore what it means to give back,
• 19:32
  ~ what it means to accept help and to give help.
• 19:35
  ~ like we a couple weeks ago went out to a shelter in Pontiac
• 19:41
  and served dinner to the individuals who are staying at the shelter as like
• 19:46
  a cast bonding experience, just an opportunity
• 19:50
  For us to give back. And it was really a really special experience to be able
• 19:55
  to do that. ~ and I just love that this show lends itself to those kinds
• 20:01
  of opportunities where I this is a definitely the first show I've been
• 20:05
  in where we actually went out and did,
• 20:07
  you know, like ~ community service while while we were in it,
• 20:12
  and it just felt so
• 20:12
  Sure.
• 20:13
  fitting. Like we're I was standing in the kitchen going,
• 20:16
  this
• 20:17
  It feels like I'm at Gander Academy,
• 20:19
  you know, it feels like we're actually in that kind of situation.
• 20:23
  It's been really eye-opening. ~ it's just it's always,
• 20:29
  you know, nice to be reminded that there are people who are helping.
• 20:34
  You know, look for the helpers.
• 20:35
  ~ who said that? That was who the quote,
• 20:40
  look for the helpers. Is that Mr.
• 20:41
  Rogers?
• 20:43
  I don't know. That's we're gonna have to look it up and put it in
• 20:46
  the article part of it.
• 20:46
  ~ yeah, but
• 20:48
  it's just so nice to be reminded that even though there is so much tension
• 20:52
  in the world right now and so much,
• 20:54
  you know, political craziness going on,
• 20:56
  that there are still people who will go out of their way to help other people.
• 21:00
  And it's really inspired me to want to do more of that in my own life.
• 21:06
  And you know, truthfully, the these individuals didn't think what they
• 21:09
  did was heroic necessarily. They simply believe it was what they're supposed to do.
• 21:10
  No. Yeah.
• 21:12
  Geoff, why do
• 21:13
  you feel like that idea resonates so strongly with audiences today?
• 21:15
  I think that like even even accepting help sometimes is hard for people.
• 21:21
  And I think that ~ so seeing this where this is just what they did,
• 21:27
  like they they wouldn't even asking questions.
• 21:29
  I mean immediately. that we had a chance to ~ talk with
• 21:36
  Sharon Wheatley from Broadway,
• 21:38
  like we did a interview with her during during the run of the show.
• 21:41
  And she was talking to us about how the mayor,
• 21:45
  Claude, was he actually used to work in as a paramedic and so he
• 21:49
  was used to triaging. So was immediately like when he saw this tragedy,
• 21:54
  it was like, ~ I'm jumping into triage mode.
• 21:57
  We need this, we need this, we need this,
• 21:58
  and so it was just kinda like what they did.
• 21:59
  ~
• 22:01
  And to Nikki's point, I think that kinda goes along with what you're asking
• 22:04
  of like why does that resonate with people is because we it's seemingly harder
• 22:11
  and harder to get people to spend time helping,
• 22:14
  or it's like it it's it feels like there's like we've lost some
• 22:17
  of that community aspect as time has gone on and as
• 22:21
  you know, pop political things have happened and we're so focused
• 22:25
  on like tearing each other apart and focus it's not even competitiveness
• 22:28
  all the time. And sometimes it's competitive,
• 22:30
  but sometimes it's just like, why are you being that like a jerk for no reason?
• 22:34
  Like you're not even getting anything out of it.
• 22:36
  You're just choosing to do that.
• 22:37
  And so when we see people doing this other thing,
• 22:39
  it's really attractive because it's like,
• 22:41
  hey, like you don't have to do that.
• 22:43
  Like you don't have to put your time into helping someone else.
• 22:46
  You're choosing to do that with your free time.
• 22:49
  And
• 22:50
  And then when you don't ask for anything in return,
• 22:52
  like to me, like that's true sacrifice.
• 22:54
  And like that's like it I don't know,
• 22:55
  it just I I think as human beings,
• 22:58
  we're naturally social creatures and that's what we crave.
• 23:00
  Like human beings crave that social interaction and that social connection
• 23:05
  and that is what that means. And so when we see the opposite and people being mean
• 23:09
  to each other, doing terrible things to each other tears us apart,
• 23:13
  we don't feel good about it 'cause that's w you know,
• 23:16
  that's what we're craving the opposite.
• 23:17
  So I think that that's why it w it resonates,
• 23:19
  is just because
• 23:19
  That's at our very heart and soul,
• 23:21
  that's what we crave. I think it comes back to kind of
• 23:24
  the big philosophical question of are people inherently good or inherently bad?
• 23:30
  And when the people of Gander were f faced with a situation where
• 23:35
  it was either ignore it and go about your life,
• 23:38
  they're not your problem, or give up your time,
• 23:41
  give up the space in your home,
• 23:43
  give up your your food for these people.
• 23:45
  They just did it because they are inherently good.
• 23:48
  And I think
• 23:49
  that it's really important to be reminded of that when times get hard,
• 23:54
  that no, there are some people out there who are bad apples,
• 24:00
  but the majority of people are good at heart.
• 24:05
  There's no better way to wrap up the interview than to leave with that message.
• 24:08
  Cause that is true, a hundred percent.
• 24:09
  ~ so thank you both for being here and chatting with me about Avon Players Come from
• 24:13
  Away. It's been such a pleasure.
• 24:15
  ~ thank you so much for having us.
• 24:17
  So the show opens at Avon Players at on September eleventh and runs through
• 24:20
  the twenty sixth. So get your tickets now.
• 24:22
  We'll see you at the show.