Today, we delve into the captivating realm of "Crime and Punishment," a psychological drama set to premiere at Lansing Community College. The production, inspired by Dostoevsky's esteemed novel, invites a nuanced exploration of morality, guilt, and redemption through the eyes of its complex characters. I'm joined by Director, Andy Callis and three remarkably talented actors, each of whom brings their unique perspective and experience to this compelling narrative as we uncover the emotional depths and thematic richness of this adaptation, we invite our listeners to engage with the profound questions about how a classic novel applies to our contemporary world.

Crime and Punishment at the LCC Black Box Theatre - Feb. 21-23, Feb. 28, March 1

Website: LCC Performing Arts

Website: Upcoming Performances

Welcome to Front Row Backstage, the show that takes you behind the velvet ropes of the media world.

I'm LCC student Greg Trimmer, and each week we'll explore the stars you see on screen, stage and radio, and the tech and talent making the magic happen behind it. From unsung heroes to spotlight sensations, we've got the stories you won't hear anywhere else. So grab your popcorn and let's dive in. Welcome, guys.

Today we have a very special episode of Front Row Backstage, where we're gonna dive into the world of crime and punishment, a gripping psychological drama being brought to life right here at Lansing Community College in our Black Box theater, opening on February 21st. Joining me are three incredibly talented actors from the cast and their director.

We've got Camilla, who plays the sharp and relentless investigator Porphyry Simon, tackling the intense and conflicted role of Raskolnikov. And Will, a powerhouse performer who brings depth to multiple female roles.

We're going to talk about their experiences in theater, what drew them to acting, and, of course, this thrilling production. Welcome, guys.

Welcome. Thank you for having us. I'm so used to saying welcome. Goodness gracious.

To get started, just a little quick icebreaker questions. I want you guys to each go around. How did you first get into acting?

Well, my parents kind of got me into it because I was. I don't even know the exact age, but I've been doing it for around 15ish years now that. Around that time. So I was very young when I started.

Technically, my first role was Baby Jesus. So I guess I've been kind of doing it my whole life.

But I think it was around middle school when I realized it was like the thing I really wanted to be doing right now.

I started theater, I think, in the eighth grade. I took a Fundamentals of Public speaking class, and I guess I was better at it than most other students.

And the teacher for that class at that time was directing the Snow White variety show, which is kind of like those, like Andy Cohen talking to all the Housewives after the season, but with the Dwarves and the Princess and. And so we did that show. And then I went to high school, and I didn't plan on doing any more theater.

A friend wanted me to come to an audition with them, and I was cast. And then I never really stopped doing it. When I got to college, I certainly did not plan on majoring in it.

I took a class because my GPA was awful and I thought, hey, Intro to Theater would be a great way to rise it. And I never Stopped taking classes for me.

I've watched theater all my life. We've always gone to the Wharton. We loved going to see any local performances. That was a big thing for us.

I never really got into it until my junior year of high school because my choir teacher was mad that I didn't continue through high school. So he was like, please, at least do the musical for us. And I was like, fine, whatever. I'll do it. And I was like, oh, my gosh, this is so much fun.

And then Covid hit and I was like, in person classes, and I was like, I need some class where I, like, interact with people. And so I took an acting class with Andy, and that was amazing. And that really drew me in. And I've just been on that, like, theater kick since.

It's like, oh, my gosh, I gotta see this show. I want to be in this one. It's just that big kick.

So you mentioned Snow White and, like, a weird thing. Explain that a little bit better.

So this Andy Cohen esque character, this interviewer, who is there only to get the drama out of the dwarves and the princess and every other fairy tale, Grimm's brother characters. So I played that interviewer.

That's fun.

Who kind of just got to stoke the tea and try to get people to be mad at each other and yell at each other. And it's seventh and eighth graders doing theater. And it's a hilarious script. It's very chaotic.

And so it was a lot of fun getting to play this kind of goofy guy, getting to kind of pull the strings in drama.

It's funny.

It was great.

Yeah. So obviously not counting Crime and Punishment.

But before this show, leading up to it, what is your guys's favorite show that you have ever been in and why?

Mine is, hands down, the Rocky Horror show at Riverwalk. The best theater experience of my life. I mean, I was so nervous going into it. I showed up, I found out that 80 people auditioned, and then I didn't.

Wow.

Then I didn't get a call back. And so I was like, oh, God, I missed out because the Rocky Horror Picture show is my favorite movie of all time. So I really wanted that show.

And then I got into the ensemble and I originally auditioned for Riff Raff. But being one of the Phantoms was the absolute most amazing experience of my life. I don't know, it was just so freeing. I mean, it's such a.

Such a bizarre, weird show, but I've never felt more oddly comfortable on stage. It was just very like, oh, this is Just a good time and getting to be completely kind of filthy sometimes is kind of fun. But it was just amazing.

And I'm pretty sure it'll probably be my favorite show for the rest of my life.

It's a show that we did here at lcc. It was directed by Andy Callis, written by Lucas Knath. It was Isaac's Eye Shout Out.

Also the director of this show.

Yeah, Isaac's Eye was a really fantastic show to be a part of the script is just so, I thought, very engrossing. All the characters are so fleshed out and clear, and it introduced me to some of my best friends in the world.

It was such a fun thing to work on, and it was my first show at the collegiate level. It was just a wonderful experience.

Even though I was also in Isaac's Eye.

I am not saying that even though I feel, like, very pressured with the director of that same show here, but I would have to say, for me, was probably being in Legally Blonde in high school my senior year, I wasn't, like, a super big character. I played Enid Hoopes, the lesbian lawyer. We love her. But it really helped me to really discover my passion of theater and how much I truly loved it.

And looking back at it and all those memories and making friends along the way, which I don't talk to most of them anymore, but it was still like, that was a big thing right before COVID hit, and that was the thing that I, like, held onto afterwards, and that's. I've been chasing that high of being in a performance ever since, and I get it every time I perform.

That's amazing. So diving into Crime and Punishment specifically. So this adaptation of Crime and Punishment is a unique take on the Dostoevsky novel.

First of all, have any of you ever read the original Dostoevsky novel? You can be honest. It's okay if you haven't. I'm just.

So we actually. Cam and I picked up a copy of it in Chicago, and we started reading it, and every time we found something, we're like, oh, my gosh, Andy.

We saw this thing, and we're like, let's involve this. How can we involve this?

Like, we found the original Marmaladov monologue in there that's, like, eight pages long in the book, but really it's only, like, a page and a half. We're like, oh, my gosh. There's so much leading into this.

And it helped a lot of us, I feel, like, build our characters from, like, looking at that book.

Yeah, I feel very lucky That I have castmates who actually read the book.

Because I'm so lucky to have a partner who reads it for me and then just gives me a synopsis afterwards.

Yeah, no, it's been great. It's been very informative in my performance and I probably should have read it myself, but I did not.

It's 900 pages. We can, I would like to be.

Very clear, not read the book, read bits and pieces and then sparknotes the rest.

Okay, so you guys are familiar with it then?

Yes.

So how do you think that this story, this unique adaptation, differs from the original source material?

The playwrights who adapted it found the emotional core that they were trying to reach and they cut the rest. There are so many important characters in that novel.

There are so many themes that Dostoevsky explores, and if you tried to fit all of those into 90 minutes, it would just be a mess.

These playwrights found what they were going for, and they beautifully sculpted this wonderful show from the source material and left everything else behind.

What was your guys first impression of the script of the actual play then when you read it?

I loved it. As I read it, I.

I just fell in love with it because it's so well written and the scenes that repeat themselves lead to the ending, which I think is one of the best endings ever. It's just beautiful and it's. Well, it's so amazing. I don't know. It's just one of my favorite plays I've ever just read, let alone been in.

Yeah, yeah.

Will and I purchased a copy online maybe a week before auditions, and we just sat on the couch reading it, you know, going back and forth, playing different characters and trying in different ways. You know, we're kind of performing it to ourselves as we uncover the story as an audience member.

That's so cool.

And it's just like there are so many wonderful, wonderful scenes in this show. Really tender, but also very provocative moments. And then, you know, you have this aspect of just this suspense.

You don't know what's going to happen. And the way that everything unfurls is so well done.

That's cool. Yeah.

That's something else is. Even before rehearsal, me and Cam would sit there, like, analyzing everything that was coming out of this.

And even in rehearsal, we're sitting there like, oh, my gosh, we just made a discovery about this. I see what they mean now. And we're like.

We were sitting there, we're like, okay, we gotta get back to rehearsal because we can't keep analyzing this entire thing as we're going like, oh, my gosh, we found another meaning. Another meaning.

And I feel like they did such a good job conveying the message that they wanted out of it, even though they're, like Cam said, there are so many different themes throughout the entire novel. And what they chose, I feel like, does an amazing job of conveying the story that they're going for.

But, yeah, no, that's so important, though.

The analyzation of it is so important as actors, because I'm in puffs right now, and we're just starting rehearsals, but we had our first read through Thursday, and one thing Blake said to us was this quote from Tom Hanks. Your job as an actor is to know your script and have ideas.

So analyzation of the script, like, the fact that you guys were going on all those rabbit trails, like, isn't the worst thing, because it's. It's helping you do those two jobs that Tom Hanks is talking about.

Like, I feel like every.

Every rehearsal, we discover something that's really helpful, that is just, like, kind of, at least for me, changes my perspective on what I'm doing and makes everything fit into place. When I realize, oh, my gosh, that makes so much sense.

It informs my performance and makes everything so much easier and just a lot of fun to really be in rehearsal figuring everything out.

All right, well, we're gonna dive into some character specifics now. First things first. Simon, you are playing Raskolnikov.

Yes.

Which is a very complicated character and pretty much does not leave the stage. So how do you approach playing someone with such inner turmoil and complication as a character?

Lots of anxiety, lots of sleepless nights, worrying if I'm going to memorize my lines. Well, it was tricky because I didn't entirely know how to go about it because I don't have very much experience with this even genre of show.

Like, I don't. I'm used to playing the Wicked Witch of the west, stuff like that.

You know, I mean, I did have to access some parts of myself that I'm not used to accessing when I'm acting to be able to get into the emotional state that I need to be in. Not, like, to the point where it's gonna traumatize me. Although there were some days where it was like, oh, God, is this. This is bad.

But what's been really awesome is in rehearsal, trying so many different things and just trying it so many different ways and then figuring out what sticks, because it is. It is an incredibly difficult role, and I doubt myself frequently Like, I very frequently am. Like, am I doing this right?

But I think it's also the people that I'm with, the help I've been getting from everyone who I've been working with have actually made it easier than I thought it would be, because I feel so supported in discovering this character and playing this role that is very difficult to wrap your head around, you know, and difficult to sometimes access or even want to access the things that you have to for this role. And I feel very supported, and that's probably the biggest thing for me is the support that I've found in this show with the people around me.

Awesome. Awesome. So, Camilla, you're playing the character Porfiry.

Yes.

That character is a bit of a master of manipulation.

Yeah.

What's your take on the way that they handle Raskolnikov in this show in.

The way that Porfiry kind of toys with him? It's a game of cat and mouse.

You know, one of the first things when you're just researching Porfiry online is that Raskull Nikov hears that this guy is smart and he likes to toy with people. He will go to a party and he will talk people into a corner and make their own point sound stupid. And that's what this guy does.

Andy, he said something the other day, and really, he is brilliant and picks this out of a single line of the show in which Porfiry says the phrase the art of investigation. And Andy takes this to mean that Porfiry is an artist, that how he goes about an investigation, how he goes about a case, is artistry to him.

And that unlocks so much about the character. Everything is intricate in the same way that, you know, every dollop of paint on a canvas is something to a painter.

Every question asked is something to Porfiry. And that's how he goes about dealing with Raskull in the coffin and getting that confession out of him.

That's so cool. So will you take on multiple roles in this production? Yes. Kind of going on and off stage all the time, changing who you are.

How have you taken that on? And how have you gone about shifting between different characters seamlessly? And what does that process look like for you?

Yeah, so I play a total of four characters. My main character is Sonya, but most of my characters are kind of only on for maybe one scene or two scenes.

And a lot of times I will go through a character creation process of like, okay, this is a specific character in my head. What do they look like? What do they sound like? What's their backstory. One of them is an old lady. And I do a kind of kooky voice for it. Her.

But that's also. It's this, like. I feel like, almost like, oh, what were they called? The Amomorph books.

Like, to me, I feel like that it's like taking the shape of the body. And I just put my headspace into that character. Another one is Raskolnikov's mother. And she only comes on for one scene.

And it's just this, like, okay, I have to think about everything she's done and bring it all back into me as if I lived her whole life. And that's a lot of it, is bringing yourself to be like, how do I live these people? And switching between characters is definitely hard.

I'm still working through it, but it's that, like, take the body shape quick, and who am I? And I feel like I kind of have a phrase for each person to try to get me into it. For Sonya, she is very religious. So for me is a.

Like a Hail Mary, full of grace kind of thing. Like, any random kind of prayer words that I can think up in my head is like, that first one for Alyona, it's more of like, Mr.

Krabs little, like, money, money, money. She's a pawnbroker. She wants the money. You know, so that's always what it is. Zevietta, she's more or less like.

I don't even know with her anymore, but it's just like this, like, curiosity. And the mother, it's more or less like, where's my baby boy? Every time immediately in the head.

And it's that you gotta, like, separate out these individual people. Cause they are all individual people in your own head.

And it's being able to change the inner monologue.

Exactly. And it's for me, too. It's that picture, it's that voice. It's that quick switch of hearing those in my head. All right, it's time. Go on. For those.

And it's that. Getting used to that. Okay, can I switch really quickly for those? And remind myself that I'm still me?

And I bring myself back to myself sometimes to be like, okay, I'm not all these people, but I'm not taking on all of their problems. But I can do all these things, and it's complicated.

Yeah. We keep mentioning Andy Callis, who's the director of this show. We happen to have him here.

And, Andy, I would love to ask you a couple questions about what your vision has looked like, for this show. So go ahead and introduce yourself, Andy.

Hi, I'm Andy Callis, and I've been teaching theater at LCC for about a quarter of a century.

Long time. What's been your biggest approaches in directing this production, along with any unique creative choices?

One of the things that I'm doing on this that I've never done before, is to use a specific technique, Anne Bogard's viewpoints. Anne Bogard was the director who came up with this technique of physicalizing characters and physicalizing the story. And we're using that on this.

You know, I've never used it before, so I don't know where it's going a lot of times.

So we've used some of that, like the architecture, the tempo, these different criteria, these different elements of physical storytelling and vocal storytelling that she has had. We used a bit of that during this. And last fall, I saw a production of Sunset Boulevard on Broadway, and it just blew my mind.

Yeah.

There's also a performance artist, Laurie Anderson, who pictures of what she's done with her live work with the shadows in the background just seems really evocative. So that's kind of visually what. What we're going for with this.

Yeah. So, I mean, as you can tell, so far as we've been talking about it, there's a lot of intensity and suspense with this play.

And obviously, you know that already, like, you chose this play. What has been some of the techniques and different things that you've done with the actors to help bring out that intensity and suspense?

Well, they're doing a wonderful job diving in and scooping out some that intensity, that emotional intensity, those high stakes. So I'm trying to notice when they do that and encourage them in it so that they aren't kind of flailing out there wondering how they're doing.

And all three of them are just fantastic actors, and it's really been wonderful to work on them. One of the issues with this play, not issues that sounds negative.

One of the things about this play, about the intensity, is the internal intensity of Raskolnikov. I mean, a murder's been committed. We all know he did it. Two people. The investigation is intense, but there's this internal intensity.

Whether or not he's going to confess.

But beyond that, this division within his soul between the divine aspect of his personality or his religious beliefs and his kind of these beliefs that have radicalized him in that everybody needs to think of themselves as Napoleon. And I think in an age of increasing radicalization, of people taking matters into their own hands, this is a really relevant play.

And the issues it deals with are extremely contemporary. It doesn't feel like a period piece to me at all. Doesn't feel musty or old fashioned.

It seems incredibly relevant to a lot of the issues that we're facing now. And also, I might add, it's February. The world is. You kind of wonder whether or not you should read the news every day.

And people might think, oh, I don't know if I want to go see Dostoevsky in February in Michigan. But it's a very entertaining play.

The adaptation that was done just uses so many theatrical devices to make it just a fascinating, gripping, and I think, ultimately optimistic view of humanity. I don't want to give too much away, but I think there's a lot of hope in this play. So I hope people come out and see it. And it's free.

You know, it's free. Can't say that loud enough.

Big seller. Yes. Okay. Well, thank you, Andy, for joining us for those couple questions.

So moving on a little bit, we're gonna do a little bit of a quick rapid fire round with you guys. I just want you guys quick answers to the questions all around. Everybody answer first. One favorite line from the play.

Oh, someone else go first.

And Jesus said unto them, loose him and let him go. Let him go. I just love the dramaticism.

It's a great line.

Do you believe the story of Lazarus?

It's another great line.

Probably the line that I say the most is, God grants peace to the dead.

That's ominous. Kind of. Oh, yeah, Gives me shivers. So dream role that you guys would love to play one day?

Probably Elder Cunningham in the Book of Mormon.

Amazing role.

Lydia in Beetlejuice.

Ooh, that's. That's a good one.

Going back to Rocky Horror. Frank N. Furter. Someday long in the future. Yeah. Or Ursula. I don't know.

You'd be good as Ursula.

I just like playing draggy roles.

So going back to the first episode of this podcast, I talked to you guys know Shane and Liam. I talked to Shane and Liam on this podcast and I don't remember. I think Shane just said anything comedic. But Liam said the MC from Cabaret.

Oh, yeah, that makes sense for him. That's really great, actually.

What's the funniest or weirdest thing that has happened in rehearsal?

My new nickname, Ponytail.

I love that.

Is our stage manager, Anna. Every time she addresses us, us is okay pookies or okay sneakies.

Every time.

I love it.

Andy is really anal sometimes about the blocking. And Simon is trying real hard to make Andy happy. And Andy's like, let me just show you. And he puts his foot on a chair.

That was literally last night.

Oh, that's great.

And Anna yelling, no, don't do it. It's already done.

All right, well, why should people come see Crime and Punishment?

We as a culture are in such a weird place right now, and no matter where you fall in your beliefs or views, it's just. It's kind of scary. There's a lot happening, and this show, no matter how you think, gives you hope.

I think it's also very, like, shockingly current to the times, but it is. It's gonna make people think, I feel, because this character, I mean, he murders someone, and then he has a kind of good point about it.

It's. Yeah, it's a wildly intense show. I'm helping Steve Vanshel with the lighting design. So I was at the designer run, and it is very, very intense.

And you guys should definitely come see the show.

Yes, Come see it. We put a lot of work into it. So please.

February 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and the 31st.

Or no, 29th or 28th.

28Th and then 1st of March, right? Yes, correct.

So Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Friday, Saturday, right here at Lansing Community College in downtown Lansing and our Black Box Theater inside the Gannon Building. Well, thank you guys for joining today. Yeah, thank you for talking about this show. It's been amazing.

And thank you guys for tuning in to hear hear about Crime and Punishment and this wonderfully intense show. Come and check it out. Thanks for tuning in to front row backstage. We hope you enjoyed this week behind the curtains of the media world.

Don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram for more information. And join us next week for more stories from the front lines of entertainment.

Until then, stay tuned, because whether it's on stage but behind the scenes or over the airwaves, the real action is everywhere.