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STEPHEN FALA: I’m Stephen Fala, and you’re listening to Pipe and Drape, the only podcast that spotlights the creative minds behind the Theatre For Young Audiences industry. Every two weeks I sit down with a theatre professional to hear their pipe and drape stories. These are the stories that take place behind the pipe and drape scenery in the theatre for young audiences world. Theatre for young audiences (or TYA) inspires young minds by entertaining audiences with topics big and little in any and every setting. My guests have mounted shows small enough to fit in a minivan to productions so big they travel by caravan, and on this podcast we discuss the ways theatre for young audiences helps all artists and theatregoers make this world a better place. Thank you for listening with me today.
STEPHEN: Hi everyone! I’m catching up with actor Rebecca Russell. We met this past summer at a work session for Sesame Street and spent the fall performing in the original cast of Sesame Street: The Musical Off-Broadway. Prior to starting backstage traditions at Sesame Street like Eye Mask Saturday and encouraging everyone to frequent the Juice Generation on 9th Avenue, Rebecca performed along side Tony Nominee Caitlin Kinnunen in Rescue Rue Off-Broadway, at Theatre Under the Stars under the direction of Tony Nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge, at Arrow Rock Liceum, and Crane River Theater. It’s not enough to say Rebecca is bicoastal because she also spends time in Texas. Is this Multi-Timzonal? Also Rebecca is a Black Belt in Tae-Kwon-Do. Rebecca is sharing her Rescue Rue Off-Broadway debut pipe and drape story today. Rebecca, welcome.
REBECCA RUSSELL: [Laughter.] Thank you for that. That warm welcome. That caught me off guard. I'm not gonna lie. That was a wonderful, wonderful welcome.
STEPHEN: In revisiting your resume. I'm like, ‘Wait, I have a lot of questions for you.’
REBECCA: I do too. I do too. Let's be honest. [Laughter.] Sometimes I like to say tri-coastal, but I know that's not a thing because Texas is not a coast. It's a Gulf. Yeah.
STEPHEN: There’s water.
REBECCA: [Laughter.] There’s water. It's not clear. It's not pretty. But there's water filled with oil from the Gulf.
STEPHEN: [Laughter.] A shiny rainbow ocean.
REBECCA: Oh yeah. Oil all inclusive. [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: You are joining me today from…you’re back in this city for a moment on your tri-coastal journey after finishing a couple Off-Broadway shows in 2022. And I'm so curious…You grew up in Texas, ended up being New York in LA. What was your like theatrical experience like as a child in Texas? ‘Cause there's so much art coming in and out of that state.
REBECCA: Honestly, that's a great question. I feel like not everyone realizes how much art is in Texas because it's known as the football state. You know, like sports always in, in high school in junior high. But honestly high school and junior high and public schools have a lot of access to the arts, which was really cool and exciting. I definitely did some community productions growing up as a kid. First production ever was Honk. I got to name my, my little duckling. I was Fluffy and I did a cute little dance with my feet out of the eggs. I remember it like it was yesterday. We spray painted our Converse orange. So those little things that just stick with you for forever. So I did some community theatre growing up, but then whenever I got into junior high and high school, that's where I realized that I really loved it a lot. I have an older sister who's about two and a half years older than me and I always liked to try the things that she liked. And so I felt like I was always kind of following in her footsteps. And whenever she tried theatre, I tried theatre and she didn't like it that much and I ended up loving it. So it was the first time that I was like, oh, I like something that's just me. That's kind of cool. And so I did, you know, theater throughout junior high and high school had some wonderful experiences. I don't know if you're familiar with UIL in Texas, but there is actually competitive theater in high school [Laughter.] where you take one act plays and travel and compete with other high schools in the district. And you can go to Area, District, you can progress and get cut or move on and win awards based on shows that you're doing. One act shows with like crazy rules. So all of that to be said, like there's a competitive nature in theatre in Texas. [Laughter.] But I really enjoyed it. I had a lot of opportunity to be able to figure out that it was something that I loved, which I'm really appreciative of. And then I went to school in a completely different state, so grateful for my experiences in Texas and definitely went back there after college. And had some good experiences too.
STEPHEN: Yeah, doing some Ragtime.
REBECCA: Yeah, doing Ragtime. That was maybe my favorite experience ever. [Laughter.] That sounds dramatic. That sounds dramatic. I really, really enjoyed being in that show, especially right before a pandemic hit. It fulfilled me for quite some time. I got to hold onto that one. [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: Good. I mean it's such an epic and powerful piece and I'm glad that like theatres are starting to do it again. 'Cause It was weirdly not done for a while. And I'm like, yes, I think it's time that we do this. And all the concerts that have happened, we had the one concert a few years ago on Ellis Island where they did a Ragtime. And then like the most recent one where they had the original cast back. And for you to like have the opportunity to work with the original director to stage it down there, that's incredible.
REBECCA: Marcia Milgrom Dodge is an icon. [Laughter.] Incredible. Sincerely, that is probably why I enjoyed it so much. But I also love that theatre. Her brain and her heart for that show is clear, it's obvious, it's straightforward. She knows how to talk about it. She knows how to get the, the story across that needs to be told in a respectful forward way. She's just a genius. I couldn't, I could not praise her, her knowledge and her heart more truly.
STEPHEN: I'm curious about, ‘cause you mentioned competing in theatre with one acts in Texas ,and I went to a high school that was not competitive. We didn't do any regional theatre or award competitions, we didn't do competitive marching band. We only competed against each other. Not really, but like… [Laughter.] You know, we were very much focused on what we were doing within the school. And then you're doing this competition, which you’re…I assume you get to watch the other performers and what their one acts. What was that experience like traveling and seeing work from around the state?
REBECCA: I mean, honestly, I think it maybe increased my love for theatre, even though I know it probably did the opposite for some people because it did add a competitive nature to it. I loved it because I got to see so many other different schools and shows. But was a strange, strange environment. You have to have your show within forty minutes, and so most people either choose a one act play or you choose a full play. Like I saw a forty-minute production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I performed in a forty-minute production of Medea. And the way you do that is you cut stuff down. And so we're just constantly cutting things out of the script. And so if your show ends up being forty minutes and one second, they close that curtain. They say, ‘You're done,’ or else you're disqualified. So I remember one year I was in a production of All My Sons and you know, sometimes you cut out lines, sometimes you cut out characters. I was Lydia the next door neighbor and truly she could have been cut completely, but by the end of the process we had to cut so many lines to make it within the right amount of time. This is my performance. Are you ready? I walk on stage with two pieces of bread, “Frank, the toaster's off again. Ah, I'll never hear the end of this one.” All I did the entire show, never walked back on stage. [Laughter.] I remember that so vividly. I thought it was so funny. But that's just how UIL works, you know, you have to cut the unimportant stuff. And in that moment I was not the important stuff. So it's, it's a strange phenomenon being in that environment where you have serious Greek mythology shows up against lighthearted and funny slapstick commedia dell’arte versus, you know, like wide varieties. How do you judge one against the other? And so I think that that environment also gave me a little bit of a thicker skin but also gave me the perspective of art can't really be judged. [Laughter.] And it's kind of silly to think that you can have a bunch of random different, different shows put up against each other and say, 'This one's better, this one's worse.’ Because they're so different. The stories are different, the people that you're trying to reach with each show is different, you know. So I enjoyed it. I really loved being able to see different schools with different backgrounds telling different stories that meant something to them that maybe wouldn't have meant something to my school. So I mean, I learned a lot and I really enjoyed it. But I know that it's a very strange environment for art because it is very competitive of you have one show go up and there's also rules about setting up your set. [Laughter.] You have seven minutes to set up your set, and you have a block unit set that all the schools get to use, and it's pylons like pillars, four by four platforms, four by eight platforms, a doorframe, a ramp, and two stairs or something silly like that. And everyone just like has the same set that they've rearranged in different ways. But then you can also add set dressing to it. So you can say, ‘Oh, here's my two pylons, but we're gonna put a piece of fabric here and that's gonna show an entryway.’ Like people…it’s crazy how in depth [Laughter.] all of this looks once you go, 'cause I'm making it sound like, oh, it's a little skit. No, you go and you look at the stage, you see a full set.[Laughter.] Like that is what you see whenever you go to these. But you have like seven minutes to get it all done. And then seven minutes to take it all up. It taught me discipline, it taught me how to compartmentalize. Like, nope, we're getting everything here. Now I'm going to breathe [Laughter.] and then do this show and then I'm gonna compartmentalize again. We're gonna get it all out and then I'm gonna go watch someone do the same thing. It gave me a respect, I guess also for people that do just act, people that do just do tech, people that do both like it. It was, it was a great learning experience as a whole. Truly.
STEPHEN: I'm very excited about this.
REBECCA: It's strange.
STEPHEN: So did you, in rehearsing your piece at school, also have to rehearse the setup and tear down of like, did you have mock versions of what the set would be?
REBECCA: Yes.
STEPHEN: Okay.
REBECCA: And we had a…oh, the whole spiking process was hilarious and every school does it differently, but my directors were wonderful. I love them so much: Kathy Gallas-Byer, Steve Brown, rest in peace. We had a massive piece of plastic that fit the entire stage and we had spike marks, you know, the pieces of tape that were on the stage that were underneath that plastic take x-acto knives cut out the holes over the spike marks. And then they had to… (I don't know which one of them thought of this or who had this brilliant plan, they worked together for years and so they had this system down. They like transferred schools together and everything. There were the dynamic duo.) You would fold up the plastic once everything was cut out and roll it up. You get to the new school, you set it down, you roll it out, and then you go and put spike marks through all of the plastic holes on the new stage [Laughter.] And so that was not a part of your seven minutes. Everyone had I think an hour to rehearse on that stage before the show, like on a different day. So we would all come in, set our spike marks practice loading on, loading off, basically just do a cue-to-cue within that hour. Because it's not just setting up the set, doing the show, taking it down. No, we have lights and sound and everything, you know, like everyone's there. So then everyone who's in tech gets one hour [Laughter.] to do a cue-to-cue in a new space they've never worked in before. We hopefully get it all done, we pack it up, we leave, and then we come back the next day and do it. [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: I love that spike mark idea because it takes usually so long because stage managers, when they're spiking out a rehearsal room, do the whole grid where they're like measuring stuff out. I love this plastic idea of cutting holes.
REBECCA:[Laughter.] And I mean like, it's so simple, but it's genius. Yeah. Yes. It's gonna be little like minuscule things, but great. You set it up and then if it's not perfect, you fix the spikes in that moment and then you're good to go for the next day. It expedited the process. But it was hilarious. It was quite comical. I don't know if you've ever tried to roll up an air mattress, you know what I mean? And then you have to get all the air out. That's exactly what it is. It was a flop, flunk, flop. [Laughter.] And then you go the other ways. And then whenever you put it back, you have people just like sitting on it and standing on it and laying on it to make sure that it's flat. And then you just get it off the stage as fast as possible.
STEPHEN: This sounds like…I did a like a TheaterWorks show where we had like multiple drops and we were doing that ‘cause they were like really tall and like wide and we would have to stomp on them to get them…we would like fold them up. If anyone from there is listening I'm sorry, I stepped on your set. [Laughter.] That's such a thing, getting stuff in and out and organized and you don't have enough time. And I feel like a lot of TYA tours experience that kind of mayhem of It Just Has To Work. And I wish everyone got that kind of training that you did in high school where it's like, ‘Here's how you make do and and do this and get it done in this amount of time, we're doing this piece, but in this amount of time, how do we effectively tell this story?’ And then also the competitive nature that we were talking about. You're seeing other work, but it's like, ‘Okay, well that's different. So like, maybe they win, but it's a different story, it’s different direction, it's different actors. As a professional artist, or in any profession, you have to remember, it's like there's no two circumstances are the same and that's stuff that I'm sure you took with you as you entered like the audition scene as an adult. When did you make the move to New York?
REBECCA: That's a great question. [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: I forgot…
REBECCA: It's a long one. I went to college for musical theatre in Missouri at Webster Conservatory. And I graduated there in 2018. Once I was done there, my plan was to move to New York, do the thing. Moving to a new city requires money [Laughter.] which we all know, and I could have made it work, you know but I know that I would've struggled to make my way there financially safe and stable and smart. And so I was auditioning for all the summer stock things, all of the all the different places that were regional that I could go other than New York. And to give you a little bit of backstory: I, every summer leading up to my senior year, did not do summer stock. I had never done the summer stock until after I graduated college, because every year before that, every summer I went back to Texas and I did VBS at my church. And when I say I did VBS, my church was a massive church [Laughter.] and we had touring children's shows, so I did not have to set up the set for those. But it was, oh my goodness, how many kids? There were two different casts and there were six different locations, and each location had about two-thousand kids at it, I'd like to say. And it was a week long show where every single day was a different show. And then the final show was the conclusion of all of the week and all the parents were invited to that show. It was so much fun. I loved it. And every time I was there, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I love this so much. Should I be doing this instead of going to New York? That's crazy. I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna go back to school.’ And then I'd go to school for a year, and then I'd go back during the summer, [Laughter.] and then I'd go to school for a year, and then I'd go back during the summer. And I realized that I had found that every time I was at the church, I felt like I was supposed to be at the church. And every time I was at my school, I felt like I should be doing like, just like straight theatre, not connected to a church, something that is more just a straightforward theatre. And I realized, ‘Dang, I'm enjoying wherever I am. It's not that I feel like one is better or worse than the other. I just can't differentiate what I'm supposed to be doing.’ And there was a time where I was at a callback and I realized while I was there, I got a phone call from someone at the church offering me a job. And it was the first time that I was in a straight theatre scenario where I felt like I was supposed to be back in Texas at a church. So I said, you know what? I'm gonna do it. And so I ended up working as a children's worship leader at a church in Texas for two and a half years, or maybe it was closer to two. And I loved that job. I got to be around kids every day. Every Sunday we had songs, skits, dances, lessons, and it was a lot of the things that I really, really loved. And I really enjoyed it. And then every summer I got to do that VBS show. And we also had [Laughter.] a series every week where I got to help with puppets. And that introduced me into the world of puppetry a little bit more. I definitely had used puppets earlier on in life, but not to this extent. They have massive puppet shows every Christmas. So I got to really explore that world and see that I loved that. And I got to do voiceover work for series intros. So it also really introduced me into the world of children's media, which was really, really wonderful. And I loved that. But around the time of the beginning of the pandemic, I realized, ‘Okay, this has been wonderful. I really appreciate this time in my life. But I think it's time for me to move towards doing theatre full-time again,’ because I actually did Ragtime while I was working at that church. [Laughter.] They were gracious enough to allow me to audition for a show, perform in that show, while still having my full-time job. It was a blessing, truly. So I wonderful things down in Texas. [Laughter.] But when I decided I wanted to possibly move towards doing theatre full-time rather than having a job full-time and then auditioning for theatre when I could, that is when 2020 happened. [Laughter.] So once the pandemic hit, I was living in a house in Texas, and let me tell you, I was shocked to hear of something called COVID. I did not hear about COVID until the day before we went into lockdown.
STEPHEN: Oh my God, okay.
REBECCA: Mm-Hmm. [Laughter.] So that cultural shock was very fascinating to me of just the different things that you learn and hear based on where you are in the country was fascinating to me. But we, I found out the day before we went into lockdown that COVID was happening, didn't know what that was. Then we, we went into lockdown and I sat in my house for what, like five months, six months? I don't know of just lockdown, but I had a job that was so kind and paying me, we were doing services online. So we were creating children's media online, which was a lot of fun and really cool and exciting. And then I decided, no, I just, I really want to go do the thing, I've been wanting to do the thing. New York isn't open right now. There’s nothing's happening. So I feel like if I moved to New York right now, it's not going to be as beneficial to me as it would've in the past. I like sunshine. I don't wanna be sad. I'm a little sad right now. I'm gonna move to LA! [Laughter.] So I moved to LA, because why not? You know what, I wanted to pursue acting, but I also just wanted a change. I wanted a 360. Not a 360, a 180. 360 would put me back where I was. So I moved to LA and I started auditioning for things virtually because that was allowed [Laughter.] during this time, which was wonderful. Made some great friends there. Loved the sunshine. I paid rent to live there for twelve months, and I only lived there for six. So while I was paying rent there, I was wonderfully blessed with some great gigs. I did some shows in Missouri. I did some shows in New York. This is whenever Rescue Rue came in. I was actually living in LA during Rescue Rue during my Off-Broadway debut. I was living in LA which is hilarious. But I got to LA with my dog, [Laughter.] you know. And then I got a call from Arrow Rock asking me if I would be interested in being Flounder in a Little Mermaid. And at first my brain goes, ‘I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do this. This is usually like, a child actor playing Flounder. Why am I being offered this?’ Well, during COVID, there are some restrictions where you cannot require children of a certain age to be vaccinated. It's all very tricky. And so they said, ‘You know what? Let's be safe. We wanna be respectable of everyone. We wanna make sure that everyone's safe. We're not worried about anything like that, who can do something weird with a puppet? Rebecca Russell.' And so I was like, ‘I would love to audition for this. I would love to be a part of it.’ It was very high [Laughter.], but it was really fun. Oh gosh. And I'm like, now that was maybe one of my favorite experiences. They're all favorite experiences. That's just how it works. So while I was in Missouri as Flounder, I met some wonderful people and my friend Andrea Dotto, she was Scuttle, [Laughter.] which was really fun because we had two female-presenting people playing those two fun roles which doesn't always happen. So that was already a really fun experience. Her husband came and saw her in the show, and he also is very into puppetry. And he is the person who actually connected me with the writer and producer, and now my great friend Stacy Weingarten, who is a Rescue Rue. [Laughter.] So that helped me make that connection, and then I auditioned for Rescue Rue from LA. [Laughter.] So when I did hear that I got that, which…I was so excited, I was actually in Texas for Thanksgiving with my family and flew to New York, was supposed to start rehearsal the next day, got food poisoning, missed the first day of rehearsal, and then made it there for the second day of rehearsal. And then I lived there for four months after that sublease to sublease. [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: That's wild. So all of your auditions for Rescue Rue were like word of mouth and the like, ‘Oh, she's great,’ and video then?
REBECCA: Yeah, the role that I was auditioning for was for the ASM and swing. The puppet community is so small, it's sometimes hard to find puppeteers that want to be on stage with the puppets versus puppeteers that don't want to be on stage with the puppets. It's all very niche. And so connections are everything. So I think Stacy reached out to her whole cast and crew and said, ‘Does anyone know anyone that would be interested in auditioning for this?’ And so then I was reached out to via email to send in an audition. So I sent in a general audition of myself of just me, musical theatre, puppetry. And then after that I was asked to do a callback and send in stuff from the show. So as a swing, I covered four different roles. So I had to send in four different scenes, three with puppets, one without. And then I also…I think I also sent in a song with a puppet. Yeah, I think it was four scenes, and then one song, three with a puppet, one without, and it was all within a week. [Laughter.] And so I sent in all of those. And then I heard back that I got it. I had never been an ASM before, so I was making my ASM debut as an Off-Broadway debut, which is hilarious. But I had some wonderful, wonderful people teaching me along the way. Ellie Hendel is, oh my goodness, she's a genius. And she teaches actors and other people in the field know what it's like to be a stage manager, know what people are doing behind the scenes so that you can not only respect it, but know whenever you're going into a tech process what are the people actually doing with lights and why do you need to stand where you're standing so that you understand what's going on. If someone just says, ‘Hey, stand there and we're gonna hold for a second,’ and you hold for ten minutes, you might be, you know, frustrated or annoyed. No, there's a reason [Laughter.] like, we're not just hanging out and chilling, no stuff is happening. We are are programming, we’re doing important things. So she helps educate performers at NYU. And so having her as my stage manager, she taught me how to be an ASM like she is, she is an incredible, kind, compassionate patient, [Laughter.] human. She taught me a lot.
STEPHEN: Did you find that some of your UIL experiences fed into your ASM duties for Rescue Rue?
REBECCA: Oh yes! Yes. I truly, when I first came in as an ASM I was intimidated as heck. I was so intimidated because I had never done this. I wasn't sure if I was going to slow things down, not be as helpful as I needed to be. But truly, I am such a Type A straightforward human that having that experience in UIL helped me realize sometimes I gotta put myself aside, get the thing done, and move on. And so no, it really did help me in that aspect, but also I think it helped me be a faster learner and not take things personally, which is helpful in a lot of regards, but especially whenever you're trying to help lead a room, you know, like understand the questions to ask and understand the things that you keep to yourself because you're gonna move forward and we're gonna get this done and then ask those questions after the day's over. So it also gave me a lot of discernment, I think.
STEPHEN: What was the process like teching the show? You're at the Daryl Roth and you were, it's like, 'Hello, it's my Off-Broadway debut,’ you're doing your ASM duties, but also you're swinging the show, so you have to learn everything that like these four other actors are doing ‘cause things shift from rehearsal into the show. And so it's like, ‘Okay, now this, this scene is different for this person, this person also, this is my duty that I have to do every day.’ How did you keep all that information straight and in your head as you were doing tech?
REBECCA: Communication. [Laughter.] Because it doesn't all fit into your brain at once in a kind, concise way as much as I want it to. Sometimes it takes time and it takes writing it all down, understanding it's not gonna fit in my head right now and I'm gonna look over it when I get home. But communication is what saved me. I think where there were some times where I would be backstage because that's where I was told to be, was backstage as ASM, but I knew I didn't have anything to do for a certain amount of time, and I knew that there were some characters on stage that I really wanted to watch what they were doing. And I would walk out and say, 'Hey, I know I'm supposed to be back here, but I would really love to watch this and take some notes on it. Is it okay if I take this hat off for a second and put on a different one?’ And sometimes the answer was yes, and sometimes the answer was no. [Laughter.] And neither’s wrong. And I think that helped me a lot. And I just took that script and I color coded the crap out of it. It was five different colors, one for each character and then one for my stage manager duties. So each one I said, ‘Okay, we're gonna just highlight and write and then highlight everything I'm writing in that color.’ And then later on I put all of those onto, what's it called, index cards. And then I had my index cards for all five tracks. So four characters and then ASM, which ASM I did the least, which is also so funny. So truly my ASM duties were most useful and helpful within the rehearsal room and during tech. Because I was doing a lot of puppet wrangling as well, so I learned how to puppet wrangle. So that was exciting. [Laughter.] So a lot of like switching hats off. And I think that truly, yeah, I'm gonna circle back to the thing that made it work was communication of when I was changing my hat, and if I was asked to change my hat and I could see forward that it was going to affect everyone negatively, like, okay, you want me to sit here and take notes on this right now? I'm happy to do that. Just know that I will not be over here as the ASM to throw Mishka the cat puppet on stage because I will be on this side taking notes. And it's the, ‘Oh, you're right. Thanks for that. We'll get someone else to do it.’ You know? So just thinking ahead and then communicating that and then understanding that I was gonna make mistakes [Laughter.] and it was okay. Yeah, it was a lot of juggling. It was a lot of: one of the first people there, one of the last people there, but oh my gosh, learning so much from the actors, from the technicians, from Stacy, truly from everyone. If anyone has a million hats to wear, it's Stacy [Laughter.] you know, like she does it all. Truly she could have gotten up there and been any of those characters. Is that her heart and her passion? No, but she could, she freaking does everything. It's was a good, inspiring time. But that tech process—truly communication is what saved me communication when I didn't understand things as well [Laughter.] of, ‘Hey, can you update this run sheet?’ ‘Yeah. With what? [Laughter.] Yeah, I've seen one. Yeah, I've read one. Should I be writing every single time someone enters and everyone and someone exits?’ That's so obvious and such a clear thing that all ASMs should know. I've never been an ASM. It was a huge learning curve and it was humbling. But whenever you are doing, you know, an Off-Broadway TYA show, Equity might not let you have a swing and an ASM, so what do you do? Do you find an ASM and teach them how to puppeteer, or do you find a puppeteer and teach them how to ASM or do you just keep on searching? I'm sure there's that person out there now. I'm that person. I wasn't before, you know, so it's a strange, strange world, but I learned a lot. It was humbling. Yeah, I'm really thankful for that process actually.
STEPHEN: It's so much to learn. I'm thinking about it, of course from a puppeteer perspective, too, that learning a new puppet or many puppets it's like, ‘What is the vocabulary of this?’ How does this work on top of learning how to ASM and also like moving and living out of a suitcase. A million things happening at one time. How much time did you have from your first rehearsal post-food poisoning [Laughter.] to going into previews for the show?
REBECCA: Two weeks?
STEPHEN: [Some kind of soprano gasp.]
REBECCA: [Laughter.] I came in…Okay, so post-food poisoning, came into the first day, that I was in rehearsal, and our lovely Rue had just had a sweet little baby. So there were times where she needed to be with her child. There were things where I was specifically needed to make sure that she could do the things that she needed to do as a mom. And so if there were times during rehearsals where I came in and helped stand in as Rue for a while, and then she came back in. That was a really top priority, to make sure that she felt like she had that balance. So the first day that I was in rehearsal, I was singing songs as Rue [Laughter.], which was so intimidating and scary at the moment, but now is so funny because I care so much for everyone in that room. And I know that none of them were judging me in that moment, but like, that was a lot. It was a little scary, but so fun. Oh my gosh, I learned so much. Yeah. And I didn't even touch puppets for a while. So we have what, Artemis and Apollo, those are tabletop puppets. So you have your right hand within the head of the dog and then the body you can hold with your hand. But that dog has four different legs. So that dog walks on tables. So you have Artemis and Apollo, then you have Pumpkin who is also a tabletop. You have Mishka who is played by the same person that plays Pumpkin except for Mishka is a kitty cat. You have Rue which is a tabletop, and you have Squish, which is a tabletop. So that's six tabletop puppets. And then you have Fairy Dog Mother who is a massive, oh my goodness, this is the one that took the most learning curve for me, even though it was the type that I had practiced with the most before I got there. And I truly think it was just the sheer weight of the puppet. It's a heavier puppet. So with Fairy Dog Mother, we had one hand within the head, and then it was a live hand puppet. So we'd have two people on Fairy Dog Mother at the same time. And so that was something that I had never done, was having someone else share a live hand with me. So learning how to breathe with that person, learning how to walk around, and not only doing that while you're not seen, being seen while you're sharing a hand with someone and understanding how to make that feel like you were one unit and not one person leading and the other person just following. Yeah. So it was, I mean, it was a learning curve to learn all of those different types of puppets, but I really enjoyed it. I really liked tabletop puppets and I had never worked with tabletop puppets before. So learning how to manipulate their hand, build their paws, [Laughter.] and also just feel like we're just sitting and breathing was a really interesting thing to, to learn. And also being visible on stage, knowing that like my eye focus, moving with the puppet's eye focus because we are one. And then if there's a moment where the puppet is internally thinking and thinking about something important, possibly looking at the puppet, because that's me looking inward. All those small little nuances that I hadn't thought before because I usually hadn't been seen with the puppet except for a few times. I guess it actually was kinda like half and half. But most of the puppets that I had used before had kind of been connected to me in a way to where I didn't have them separate from my body as much. So it was, I mean, it was, it was a learning curve, but it was, it was a lot of fun. And just spending time with each puppet separately in the dressing room and just looking at them in the mirror with myself and being like, ‘Okay, it looks like he's got a double chin right now because my hand is a little bit far back, didn't realize that.’ Or, ‘Oh, it looks like he's frowning because I don't have his mouth slightly open.’ Little things a lot of time alone looking at puppets in the mirror. [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: Was that part of…if you knew you had to go on that day in a swing track…was that part of your pre-show in addition to like your ASM duties, like warming up with the puppets you're in that day?
REBECCA: Yeah, if I had to swing-on, which I swung on for over twenty of the thirty shows, I covered all four tracks that I like…I went on for all four tracks that I had covered. Everyone on the cast, oh my goodness, was so kind. And while I was warming up with my puppet would help me which was so, so sweet because it was in the height of Omicron. We,,,it was a strange time. Yeah. So yeah, there was a lot of swinging-on. I would go in, I would set the stage and with this show, most people in the show, I think there was an exception of like one or two would walk downstairs ‘cause they had a second, but most everyone in the show never left the stage. You would stand behind a wall for a few seconds or stand behind a book for a few seconds, but then you'd come back on and there was only two set pieces that changed during the show. So most everything was props [Laughter.] So my pre-show as an ASM was to set all the props in the correct place and to set, you know, make sure the set was preset exactly where it needed to be. And that would take me about twenty minutes for this small stage in the Darryl Roth. So once I got that done, I would say, ‘Ellie, I'm taking off the a ASM cap, you good?’ [Laughter.] And she'd say, ‘I'm good!’ And she would always tell me, her advice every time I had to swing on, she said, ‘Be selfish. Take the time you need right now. Be selfish.’ It's like, ‘Great. Here's my ASM cap. That's me being selfish. I'm gonna go downstairs.’ [Laughter.] I would go downstairs. I would get changed as fast as I could so that was outta the way. And then the next thing I would do is I would go through all of my cards for that character. There was one song that if I was playing Squish or Rue, it's a duet. And for some reason every time I was Rue I wanted to sing Squish's part. And every time I was Squish, I wanted to sing Rue's part. So if I was ever either of those characters, these ladies were so kind and would be like, ‘Do you wanna sing it through with me?’ ‘Yes, please.’ [Laughter.] Just the one part. And so I would do all of like the technical things. And then once that was done, then I'd say, okay, puppet time [Laughter.] I would take the puppet and I would usually to be super honest, leave the dressing room that everyone was in. And I would go to my ASM corner and like look at my puppet and just be with my puppet by myself to make sure I was all good and just like breathe with the puppet. There weren't any tricks or things that I needed to practice some of the characters within the show. Like if I were covering Artemis or Apollo, they have a tap number, you know, I'd be out there practicing my tap number and during the tap number they throw their puppets in the air and they switch for, no, they don't switch. They throw 'em and they spin 'em up in the air and then catch them like it's a full on dance number. But I didn't have any specific things that I needed practice like that. So it was truly just, okay, all the logistical parts of my brain are done. I'm gonna take my puppet and be with my puppet for a second, and then we're gonna go and the show's gonna happen and it's gonna be great and kids are gonna smile and that's what matters.
STEPHEN: While all of this was happening, we were also in like a, another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was kind of, it was like a weird time for theatre ‘cause things were open and then they weren't, and then things were closing and some things were like, surprise coming back 'cause we're gonna film Waitress for some reason. Can you share with us some of the kind of interesting, unique things that happened with your company and that show during that period?
REBECCA: Something very interesting about our run is that because it was during the height of Omicron, we had a short little break. We had a, what we call like hiatus for I think it was a week and a half where we just didn't have theatre. And it was during Christmas time. And so we started our show unmasked doing our, our TYA puppet show where we had puppets next to us and our faces were on stage. We took a week and a half long hiatus and we came back masked. And so learning how to be on stage with a puppet, you talking, the puppets talking, you know, and finding a way to communicate to all of those kids through the puppet. That's what it should be. [Laughter.] You know, like that's what it should be from the beginning is it should be the puppet communicating. But I think that having those masks, we were such an exception of, I think that that worked during this time because we did have puppets and that's what we want the kids to be, you know, focusing on. So I'm grateful for the structure of our show during that. It was a struggle and it was a learning curve, but we all kind of like worked through it and figured it out. We had some really fun different colored masks based on different characters. There are two actors that go from being old men, southern dogs, to being like backup dancers with sparkly vests and dog bones that they like put in their mouth, which we no longer can put in their mouths. You know, [Laughter.] we have masks. [Laughter.] But we went from just a solid, I think it was either orange, maybe an orange mask. ‘Cause it matched the puppet to a sparkly one on top. You know, silly things to be like, ‘Okay, you know what, we can't do this right now, but we're gonna make the best of it.’ So that was a very interesting experience but also helped push the fact that it shouldn't necessarily just be about our face. It should be about the puppet. We want the focus to go to the puppet. We don't want the audience to see us. We want them to see this puppet come to life and have those emotions. So I think that we definitely had an interesting experience when it came to how masks fit into the theatre in that time. It was a strange, strange time with Omicron.
STEPHEN: Oh, that's funny.
REBECCA: Okay. Funny story. [Laughter.] During that time that we had that mini hiatus for Omicron, I was, I thought, I can go home for Christmas. I'm gonna spend time with my family for Christmas. This is wonderful. And then my family all got COVID for the first time ever. So I spent my very first Christmas alone in Astoria, and my dad sent me a little paper Christmas tree that folded up, and that was my Christmas. That's not the funny story. That's just a, that's a side side little thing. But whenever we had this mini hiatus, we came back and the Daryl Roth Theatre, I don't know if you've been to it in person, it's split into two different theatres. So we have the DR1 and the DR2, and the DR1 was doing a show, and the DR2 was doing another show. And it was really funny because everyone had to walk in the doors of the DR1 to get to the DR2. So everyone coming to our puppet show walked through Sex and the City [Laughter.] And so we had all of these children walking through Sex and the City to get to our puppet show, which was just like, funny in a silly little way. But when we got back from the hiatus, unfortunately a lot of theatre did close and couldn't continue. But the way that it was written on the door made me laugh. I feel bad for laughing because it stinks when every theatre closes, but everyone who walked in to come to our show, our children's show, read a sign on the door that said, “Is there Sex in the City? No.” [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: Did you have a favorite place you would go between shows?
REBECCA: Yes. Oh my gosh. Union Square. I am a Sweetgreen fiend and I would get…I would get Sweetgreen if I had time, or if I didn't, I would always, you know, I had a really bad habit of always thinking that I could walk into the Whole Foods over there and walk out. It’s…it never happened. I walked in, looked at the line and walked out every single time. But truly that the Darrow Roth Theatre is right across the street from a Starbucks and there was a Panera. That Starbucks was my life. Egg bites and double shots of espresso on ice were my go-to every day, actually, multiple times a day. I think that was…that was when my caffeine addiction got real, real bad. [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: How many shows would you do a day?
REBECCA: Oh gosh. I mean, I'm trying to remember if there were two or three. It was less of the amount of shows and more of like how early the day started and how late the day ended. And I think that was truly just the fact that I was ASM and Swing. I think that if I were one or the other, I wouldn't have needed so much coffee. Oh, there were definitely shows with…where they were three shows. I'm remembering a memory that just popped up on my Instagram and it was a picture of me with a mask on my forehead, chugging espresso on the dressing room. And it said, ‘How Becca feels on three show days.’ So for sure we had days with three shows, but we also had some days with just one show. So it, I truly don't even know if it was the fact that we had three shows and it was more of just the mental capacity that I had, I was constantly using my brain, I was constantly doing it. But I loved it, so I didn't regret it. I just needed that extra energy to get through it. [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: You had such a, a unique debut experience given what your track was. Also, you're in Union Square, puppets, you're working with Caitlin who's fresh off of The Prom…
REBECCA: She's so good [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: …moving cities to do this. What was that like, getting up and being like, ‘I'm gonna go to work Off-Broadway?’
REBECCA: I could cry [Laughter.] It's what I had been dreaming of. You know, like I felt silly that I was paying to live in LA and I wasn't there [Laughter.] you know what I mean? Like, that felt like, oh, a punch in the gut. But I was like, ‘You know what, no, I am pursuing what I love and this is an incredible opportunity.’ And I could wake up every morning and cry. I was just so thankful and so grateful. I was grateful that I was making my Off-Broadway debut. I was grateful that I was meeting so many wonderful humans and learning from them but also just like making genuine connections and friends was really, really encouraging. Because I didn't have at that time a large, you know, community in New York of friends. It was like, ‘Oh, I did this show with this person and this show with this person.’ And this is the first time that I had come to New York and felt like, ‘Oh. No, I can stand on my own here.’ Like, I can, this sounds so silly. I can make friends here. Like, I can work here. I can do the thing. It was honestly really surreal, to be super honest. It was also exhausting, but I don't think the exhausting part hit me until after I was gone. So after the show was over is whenever I realized, ‘Whew, that was…that was tiring.’ [Laughter.] But actually, I mean, I know you've said it, I have lived out of a suitcase for the past year, and that doesn't even include Rescue Rue. [Laughter.] That was the year before. I have been traveling and my stuff has been in a storage unit in LA since March of 2022, so almost a year now.
STEPHEN: Wow.
REBECCA: And I truly have…I know we said like, ‘Living outta a suitcase because you're an actor!’ I'm like, no, legitimately [Laughter.] my couch is in a storage unit. Like I do not have a home right now, which is a strange, strange place to be, but it's helped teach me how to be okay with not knowing and finding beauty in that. And I found that very easily when I was Off-Broadway and I was doing something that I loved, but it's not as easy to find in between gigs. I'm sure you know this, [Laughter.] it's hard to find that beauty and that optimism and that hope whenever you're not currently doing the thing. So I'm really grateful for that time because maybe I was tired, but at the same time I was like, ‘I don't care. I'm doing the thing.’ And it was surreal. I'm grateful for it. I was grateful for it then. I am happy that when I was in that experience, I was open and willing to let people see me try. That's something that I think that I have not always been as good at and that I've been working on over the past few years. And I think it's done a lot for me, is not being ashamed or embarrassed or thinking any down way about letting people see me put forth effort, [Laughter.] you know, like try to learn something new. Not being the best at something, learning something that I'm not experienced in yet. Because guess what? That has to happen at some point. I can't do it all behind closed doors. That's not gonna benefit me. And so, yeah, I think that that right there is what helped me enjoy that experience even more. When I was in Rescue Rue, I lived, oh, goodness gracious, in Astoria and then in Harlem and then in Hamilton Heights.
STEPHEN: Did you have a favorite bodega in each area?
REBECCA: Yeah. Oh yeah. [Laughter.] That's why I feel like I know all the places in New York, [Laughter.]
STEPHEN: You're an actual New Yorker.
REBECCA: Ooh. Yeah. I mean, I had my favorite places when I was in Astoria. Found a place with gluten-free bagels and breakfast sandwiches. Ugh, my heart. That's where I…I stayed there for all of the rehearsal process. So not moving during the rehearsal process was wonderful and for part of the shows, but then the next two places that I stayed were quicker. And so that actually was harder on me. I think I stayed like two months in Astoria, but then one month and the next place and one month in the next place or something like that. And I did find that the shorter stays were harder because right, whenever I finally got the groove of things I left. But I am grateful to have those experiences in different places to be able to say, ‘Hey, whenever the time comes to where I am no longer living out of a suitcase, I feel like I'm educated enough, not only of the areas, but how I feel in each area and what feels right to me.’ People can tell you, you know, what's here, what's not, what's safe, what's not, what's fun, what's not, but like, what you consider fun might not be what I consider fun, [Laughter.] you know, and that's okay. And so I feel grateful that I've had experiences in all those places. And this…like most recently I had stayed in Hell's Kitchen and I was like, ‘Ooh, this is convenient. [Laughter.] Okay, that's nice.’ Not gonna happen all the time. And that's okay, [Laughter.] you know, you take your wins, you take your losses. I was really, I was really grateful. It felt surreal. It hit me right before and right after, while I was here, it was very, ‘I wanna make the best of this. I'm gonna be an open book, I'm gonna be a sponge, teach me all the things.’ And then afterwards I went, ‘Oh my gosh, what? [Laughter.] What?!’ You know what I mean? Like it was, it was really great.
STEPHEN: I love those moments. I've had those like on stage too, especially like with you even, you know, I'm looking at a puppet, I'm looking…I’m like, ‘What is happening?’ And then I'm back in it. And then like the after where it's like you're looking through pictures on your phone of like things you did with your cast or like experiences you had on the subway or whatever, and you're like, ‘Oh my God, what?’
REBECCA: I have a friend, Grace Bobber [Laughter.] who likes to say it was Grace and Lauren Eshaw, they were in a show with me this past summer, and there were times where all of us would say, ‘I'm zooming out.’ Like you zoom out and see what's actually going on. And there were moments where, we did Jersey Boys together, and there were…so there were only three girls in that cast. And so we had a dressing room to ourself, and there was a moment where I was working my day job on my computer. Grace was, I think, warming up their voice. And then Lauren was steaming her voice, I think. And all of a sudden Grace just starts laughing, just cackling. We're like, what's wrong? And they were like, ‘I'm zooming out! [Laughter.] What are, what are we doing right now? We are getting paid to be in the middle of the country. You are working on your computer, but we're in a dressing room. I have a wig cap on and I don't have a wig on, but I got blue eyeshadow on.’ You know what I mean? Like, it's just, it's just so silly and funny and beautiful that we get to do this. You know, it's fun to zoom out and be like, ‘What's going on?’ Baby Rebecca? Oh my gosh. She would think I'm so cool. [Laughter.] I gotta remind myself of that sometimes, like when I'm living outta my suitcase and I'm going from gig to gig and I don't have that optimism or that hope of, you know, that next thing that's okay because baby Rebecca would think that I am a rockstar. So that's what gets me through. That's what encourages me.
STEPHEN: Rebecca, thank you for speaking with me today. How can our listeners see what you're up to online?
REBECCA: Yeah. you can check me out on Instagram and TikTok and also on my website. My website is RebeccaLynnRussell.com. My Instagram is @rebecca.lynn.russell, and then my TikTok is @have.a.heckin.good.day with dots in between all the words because you should have a heck and good day. [Laughter.] My TikTok is definitely a lot of mental health and positivity and optimism. I share a little bit of my, my theatrical side on there, but that's mostly like how I deal with what exactly we talked about living outta my suitcase, it's so important. So that's what my TikTok is mostly about. And then most of my updates, acting wise, website, Instagram.
STEPHEN: Links to Rebecca’s Instagram, TikTok, and website and information about UIL and Rebecca’s work are are included in the notes for this episode! You will find photos and videos of Rebecca Russell in Rescue Rue Off-Broadway and the recent Hollywood Fringe production of Runaway Rue on TikTok and Instagram. You will also find the ticket link to the Off-Broadway return of Sesame Street: The Musical! That’s right, Rebecca is back working with the muppets on 42nd Street at Theatre 555!
This week’s Tuesday Afternoon Dance Party music is "Spearnana Mintberry Winternapple" from the cast album of the Off Broadway Alliance Award-winner for Best Family Show Stinkykids, The Musical written Sammy Buck and Daniel S. Acquisto, Based on the book series StinkyKids® by Britt Menzies. This song isn’t not Beyoncé’s "Single Ladies."
[Pipe and Drape theme plays.]
Are you interested in sharing your pipe and drape story? You can join the conversation by emailing PipeAndDrapeStories@gmail.com or messaging @PipeAndDrapeStories Instagram. And everyone, please be sure to rate and review Pipe and Drape wherever you listen to podcasts! Each star given or review submitted helps future listeners find the show. Be sure to tune in every other Tuesday to hear theatre for young audiences creatives share their pipe and drape stories. Pipe and Drape is created and hosted by Stephen Fala and distributed by Anchor. The Pipe and Drape logo was created by Stephen Gordon and music was composed by Stephen Fala. Thank you for listening with me today.
WEBSITE: https://www.rebeccalynnrussell.com/
INSTAGRAM: @rebeccal.lynn.russell
TIKTOK: @have.a.heckin.good.day
See Rebecca’s puppetry work in Sesame Street: The Musical at Theatre 555 in NYC: https://www.sesamestreetmusical.com/tickets.php
This weeks Tuesday Afternoon Dance Party music: “Spearnana Mintberry Winternapple” from the cast album of StinkyKids, The Musical
Listen to the Tuesday Afternoon Dance Party playlist here!
INSTAGRAM: @PipeAndDrapeStories
EMAIL: PipeAndDrapeStories@gmail.com
Host: Stephen Fala
Artwork: Stephen Gordon
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