#93 Quarantine Happy Hour #1

In times of need and uncertainty, we turn to our friends for comfort, so it only made sense that we gathered a slew of friends of the pod to come together for a Quarantine episode of the podcast. Joining Cory for a Friday night drink is Buist Bickley, Darron West, Caite Hevner, Beowulf Boritt, Jason Lyons, Jen Caprio, Jen Schriever, Jason Lyons and Bradley King. Everyone shared how they are coping with the new normal caused by Covid-19 and how it’s taking its toll on everyone’s personal and professional lives. They chat about the work lost, the uncertainty of work in the future, and what it means for the theatre community at large. We hear from the parents of the group as to how they are working through this time with their young children, Beowulf tells us about making masks on his grandmother’s old sewing machine, Jason tells us how he’s working to continue the important education of his students and Bradley offers useful info on behalf of United Scenic Artists. And everyone shares what they are reading and watching to pass the time. There’s a lot of laughs and a lot of love in this group and it’s just a small slice of what all designers are feeling these days. Enjoy listening in on the chat while staying HOME and staying safe!

#92 Olivia Sebesky

This week we are sitting down with Projection Designer and bespectacled wonder-woman Olivia Sebesky! She is currently a Knight of Illumination nominee for her work on the lastest Aerosmith concert and she’s here to tell us the journey of that design including a 35-minute preshow retrospective of the band and the massive undertaking of clearing all the rights for every frame of footage. She’s also sharing stories about her other recent concert designs including Hootie and the Blowfish and James Taylor. Cory and Olivia discuss her theatrical work on shows like ‘Jerry Springer’ and ‘Me…Jane’ and discuss a whole host of topics facing projection designers including content budgets, software costs, to program or not, how she divides up the work among her team, and how to find the balance of how much video to incorporate into a show. She tells us how (friend of the show!) Justin Townsend may be responsible for her career and why by the time you listen to this, she will have spent some quality time with a Beluga whale!

#91 Arnulfo Maldonado

Today we are sitting down with Scenic (and occasional Costume) Designer Arnulfo Maldonado! Arnulfo takes us through the creation of some of his recent designs including ‘A Strange Loop’, the first regional production of ‘Indecent’ at the Guthrie, his Lortel winning design for MTC’s ‘Sugar in Our Wounds’ and his cornfield surround for ‘Bobbie Clearly.’ He tells us why he is attracted to the “magic of a void” and how his designs often become the distillation of many ideas into one strong visual. He also has great stories about working on Ursula’s tentacles as an assistant of George Tsypin’s on ‘The Little Mermaid’ and how Peter Sellers became obsessed with his model figures. And he takes us through an entire design process from reading the script to the final design and the various tools he uses. He’s one of the hottest set designers in New York with shows on nearly every major Off-Broadway stage and today he is talking to us!

#90 Around the World with Lindsay Jones – Part 4

He’s back for round number 4! It’s our annual check-in with Lindsay Jones! He’s telling us all about his new Fitbit and gym membership and how that has led to a healthier lifestyle while working on the road. (And a skinnier Lindsay!) Then Cory shares his recent experience of flying Business and (finally!) getting lounge access and how things fared on his trips with Latam, Southwest, Singapore Air and Alitalia. Lindsay teaches us why everyone needs to know about Rule 240, his thoughts on neck pillows, how to sleep better on an airplane, and how the AA mechanic strike has affected his travel and his elite status. Cory shares how he nearly got a $1k voucher from Delta then it’s another deep dive into rental car insurance as they try to determine whether Cory has been breaking the law for years. It’s 2 hours of travel woes, tips, highs, and lows. And we have our first cat on the podcast!

#89 Jason Sherwood

This week we are sitting down with Emmy Nominated Scenic Designer Jason Sherwood! Jason is nominated for the production design of ‘RENT Live’ and he gives us the full deep dive into his set for this groundbreaking production. From it’s development along side Michael Greif, to figuring out audience locations and camera blocking, to how to transition the story from place to place, Jason is giving us the inside scoop on all of it. He and Cory also touch on a whole host of topics including social media use, the keys to staying positive, Jason’s live music work with Sam Smith, Sara Bareilles and the Spice Girls, how he’s achieved so much before his 30th birthday, and much much more. Prepare for an eye opening, candid chat with a designer who clearly sleeps very little and works very hard. AND, true stories from a 6′-6″ guy trying to squeeze into a Broadway theatre seat. Jason is easily one of the most in demand theatrical designers working today and he’s spending over two hours giving us a window into his world. Enjoy!

#88 Isabella Byrd

The podcast is back from a long hiatus for (hopefully!) an all new batch of episodes. This week, we are sitting down with Lighting Designer and recent Obie Award winner Isabella Byrd. Isabella discuses with us the genesis of her design for ‘The Light Shining in Buckinghamshire’ and how that show helped catapult her into greater visibility. She also shares insights into her work on ‘The Thanksgiving Play’, ‘Seascape’ and ‘The Tale of Despereaux’  and if she feels a paradigm shifting in regards to gender parity on creative teams. Isabella and Cory also discuss her time at Chance Magazine and the Prague Quadrennial, how to make theatre marketing photos reflect the shows better, how she learned restraint working with designers like Jane Cox and Tyler Micoleau, and the challenge for young designers to separate the drafting process from the design process. And, MONTHS later (sorry!), Corry announces the winner of the giveaway contest for Clifton Taylor’s book.

#87 Clifton Taylor

This week we are sitting down with Lighting Designer Clifton Taylor to discuss he new book, Color & Light: Navigating Color Mixing in the Midst of an LED Revolution. He tells us where the idea for the book came from, the process of writing about a technology that is rapidly evolving and what he hopes readers will get out of it. Clifton and Cory dive into various color topics including using saturation to convey darkness, why certain colors can appear onstage just because of how our eyes work, and using an audience’s preconceived relationship with colors to a designer’s advantage. They also spend a great deal of time talking about the transition from gel based color to LED sources and how that affects the documenting and recreating of shows, how designers communicate with their programmers, and managing a wealth of fixture types and possible colors while time in the theatre remains as limited as always. It’s the wild wild west of color right now with an ever shifting landscape of available options and Clifton is here to make sense of it all. And BONUS…listen for your chance to win an autographed copy of the book!

#86 Kai Harada

If you’ve seen ‘The Band’s Visit’ you know how exquisite that show sounds, but while we couldn’t get the entire band to visit us at in1, we have the man who makes that music shimmer, it’s Tony Award winning Sound Designer Kai Harada! Kai drops by to discuss his design for that show and the challenges he faced with roving musicians, additional musicians under the stage, an incredibly nuanced score and often very subtle performances from it’s stars. Speaking of subtle, he also let’s us in on secrets from his intimate design in the round for ‘Fun Home’ and discusses how he made the Hudson theatre rock for ‘Head Over Heels.’ Cory and Kai also chat about his musical background, where he thinks the worst seats are in a theatre for sound, why sound designers end up designing mainly plays or musical but rarely both, and how young sound designers can market themselves for what is essentially an invisible art. Put on your best pair of headphones and spend the next 2 hours listening to the wisdom of one of the best!

#85 Alejo Vietti w/ special guest Jessie Mueller

It’s a Christmas miracle and a brand new episode this week as we sit down with Costume Designer Alejo Vietti AND a very special guest, Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller! Jessie is probably most known for having originated the role of Carole King in the Broadway production of “Beautiful”, and all her fabulous clothes came from the mind of this week’s guest. Listen in as Alejo and Jessie reminisce about their first meeting, what was going through their heads during fittings, how they worked together to develop the look of Carole, how the costumes evolved over the show’s journey to Broadway and tons of other stories, anecdotes, and backstage insight. Prepare for a one-of-a-kind chat that exemplifies how clothes inform a character, how an actor can inform the clothes, and how designer and performer can come together to create a winning collaboration. AND Alejo regales us with stories of designing costumes for the Rockets, how his Argentinian background played into his clothes for Evita, how he went from law school to costume designer and he and Cory geek out over their love of film scores. Cozy up to the fire and enjoy this holiday treat! Happy New Year!

#84 Jessica Paz

This week’s brand new episode is with Sound Designer Jessica Paz! Jessica shares with us wild tales from her summers at the Delecorte Theatre with stories and insights from her recent designs for ‘Othello’ and ‘Twelfth Night’ as well how the sound department battles wind, rain, helicopters and yes raccoons. That Othello featured an all female design team, (recently featured in the NY Times) and she shares her thoughts on something that is both a great achievement but also shouldn’t have to be. Cory and Jessica chat about advancements in speaker technology being used on the ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ tour, how she works with a mixer to find the perfect sound for a show, and the continued push to get all designers, especially Sound Designers, proper credit and respect.