Twins Cynthia Hennon Marino and Stacy Hennon Stone host a weekly podcast talking to the people behind the curtains. Take a trip back stage to learn what it takes to put on a production: design process, music study and execution, paperwork, meetings, management, unions, and all the excitement backstage that the audience doesn’t get to see. Enjoy the show!
Episodes
Friday Oct 26, 2018
Friday Oct 26, 2018
Shara Abvabi may focus on lighting, but she is no stranger to stage management. She talks about how being a stage manager helped her learn how to communicate with other stage managers and designers on the production team to make the show as smooth as possible. Because of these skills, and being in the right place at the right time, Shara has become the resident lighting designer and production manager at the beautiful Malibu Playhouse. When not there, you can see her work all over the Los Angeles area ranging from dance to straight plays to musicals! All holding their own challenges and all needing lights and projections to play a different part.
You can see Shara's web page at http://www.sharaabvabi.com
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Read the rest of this entry »Friday Oct 19, 2018
Friday Oct 19, 2018
Today we interview Jakob Lehmann. Jakob was born and raised in Berlin, Germany, where he still resides, on occasion. He comes from a long line of musicians and picked up the violin at the age of 7. He has a fascination with romantic and classic music, not just the music, but how it was played, how the members were arranged, and what period instruments were used. He wants to bring back the source as much as possible. He sees it as "Building a bridge between our time and a time long gone".
You can learn more about Jakob and his impressive life at https://www.jakob-lehmann.com
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Friday Oct 12, 2018
Friday Oct 12, 2018
This week we interview Technical Director Johnathan Bearclaw Hart. Cindy worked with Bearclaw on "Faust" at Portland Opera. Portland Opera is the first opera he has worked at, in any capacity and he tells us some of the differences and challenges he faces switching from Musical Theatre to Opera. A big one being that operas rent a lot more sets, that then need to fit into a space they were not originally designed for. But he loves puzzles! So it worked out great for him.
Enjoy the show!
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Read the rest of this entry »Friday Oct 05, 2018
Friday Oct 05, 2018
This week we interview Joel B. New. He decided to try acting at the age of 10, and was immediately cast as Oliver in Oliver! Not bad for a first role. By age 12 he started piano lessons. He received a BM in Musical Theatre performance with a minor in piano from Oklahoma City University. Followed up by a Masters in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU. This is where he found his home and has stayed in NYC since then. Joel has written musicals, song cycles, did a theatre podcast for 5 years and produced concerts of his music. It was amazing to hear about his process of creating music and how he shares it with the performers. Loving to hear how a new performer interprets his music. He has a new concert this Saturday, October 6th at the new Green Room 42 in NYC. GO GET TICKETS!
You can learn more about Joel and all his facinating projects at www.joelbnew.com.
The team of Joel's Saturday show "Joel B. New is Trying Too Hard":
Musical Direction by Gillian Berkowitz (Avenue Q)
Directed by Twitter-verified Robbie Rozelle.
Madge Dietrich (Kinky Boots)
CK Edwards (Shuffle Along)
Nikka Graff Lanzarone (Women On The Verge…)
Victoria Huston-Elem (Finding Neverland)
Travis Kent (Disaster!)
Richard Riaz Yoder (Hello, Dolly!)
Ben Roseberry (Gentleman’s Guide…)
Hansel Tan (The Four Immigrants)
Michael Winther (Fun Home)
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Read the rest of this entry »Friday Sep 28, 2018
Friday Sep 28, 2018
This week we have Timothy Cheung an accomplished collaborative pianist from Toronto, Canada, through he does not spend too much time there. Tim received his Undergrad and Masters degrees from University of Western Ontario. From there he studied at the Canadian Opera Company, Merola Opera in San Francisco and Music Academy of the West. Though trained as a pianist, he is willing to get his hands dirty with the all aspects. At Teatro Nuovo he scheduled the coachings for 60 people, filled in for Cindy when she had to run to another venue, and helped keep everyone sane!
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Read the rest of this entry »Friday Sep 21, 2018
Friday Sep 21, 2018
Today we had the pleasure of talking to David Adam Moore. Cindy worked with David at Portland Opera where David was the Video Designer for "Faust". Though the first time she met him, he was doing a slightly different role. He was rehearsing the part of The Count for the "Marriage of Figaro" at Palm Beach Opera. David grew up in South East Texas and is a 6th generation musician. His father was a back up singer and bass player for County singer Tracy Byrd and David still considers his father a superior musician. David has come a long way from performing in his church easter service. You can see him perform on the Metropolitan Opera stage or catch his amazing production and video design through his company, GLMMR with is partner Vita Tzykun.
www.glmmr.org
www.davidadammoore.com
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Friday Sep 14, 2018
Friday Sep 14, 2018
Benny Perez had the privilege to come meet Sir Doggington and the Twins had a few minutes to talk to Benny between dog petties! Benny attended Citrus College Theatre Arts which has an impressive performing arts program that really helped him decide this was his dream. He spent 16 years traveling and performing on Princess Cruises. Not even a week after his final show on the cruise ship, he found himself cast as "Kevin" in the 2011 national tour of "In The Heights". One hour was just not enough time to scrape the surface with Benny! We hope to have a follow up podcast real soon.
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Read the rest of this entry »Friday Sep 07, 2018
Friday Sep 07, 2018
This week we had the pleasure of talking to Sheiva Khalily just minutes after she checked into an air bnb in Canada. Like so many people before her, she attributes her success to those around her and being in the right place at the right time--or maybe it was the wrong place at the right time? Sometimes it is hard to tell in the moment. She started as a kid when her mom put her into theatre to build her self confidence. Soon she learned that her place was back stage when she found her community in the High School Theatre Department. From there she went to UCLA @uclatft and meet a great mentor and friend names Kaitlyn Pietras. After graduation she found herself working for Disney Creative Entertainment where she got to spend 4 months in Shanghai Disneyland Resort. Recently, Stacy saw her work as projection designer for @EWPlayers production of "As We Babble On". Hope you all enjoy the podcast as much as we did making it!
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Friday Aug 31, 2018
Friday Aug 31, 2018
Today we have a Twins episode! Todays topic is on Production Management, the many different positions in managing a productions, and all of the responsibilities that come along with it. Thank you for bearing with us, we have had a busy schedule but have plans for bringing more interviews in the near future.
Stay tuned and enjoy the show!
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Friday Aug 03, 2018
Friday Aug 03, 2018
Today we interview Stage Manager Pam Campi Spee and Performer Mike Spee. Cindy and Pam met at the University of the Pacific where they both got their undergraduate degrees. Learn about both of their paths to the arts, how they met, and the challenges of raising a family while working in theatre. There may even be some funny stories about Cindy mixed in!