This episode of our podcast delves into the fascinating realm of wintertime acting, spotlighting an array of talented individuals engaged in the upcoming theatrical productions, particularly focusing on "Charles Darwin's Solstice Carol" and "Flora," both penned by local playwright Matthew Dwight Moore. We are privileged to converse with the cast, including Scott, Lisa, Cheyenne, Evan, and Greg, who share their enriching experiences and insights into their unique roles. The discussion elucidates the innovative narrative approach taken by Moore, wherein historical figures interact within a familiar holiday framework, thereby inviting audiences to witness a delightful amalgamation of humor and poignant themes. As we explore the intricacies of community theater, the guests articulate the profound connections forged among cast members, emphasizing the collaborative spirit inherent in such artistic endeavors. This episode ultimately serves as an invitation to our listeners to engage with local theater, celebrating the vibrancy and creativity that flourishes within our community.

Links referenced in this episode:

• muccc.org

Mentioned in this episode:

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Well, that music means it's time for another episode of Just Can't Not.

It's a blistery, blustery, wintery day here in Rochester.

Things are a foul.

And we're here to talk to some people doing some wintertime acting.

All the guests.

Well, why don't we talk about the guests who introduced us, introduced me to this guest.

Introduce yourself.

I am Scott Fibosh.

I am playing Charles Darwin and Charles.

Darwin's Christmas Carol, the most famous portrayal, of course.

Absolutely.

I'm Lisa Fibush.

I am playing Emma Darwin, Charles Darwin's.

Wife and first cousin.

And first cousin, yes.

As was the style at the time.

Yes.

I'm Cheyenne Wright.

I'll be playing a few characters in Darwin Caveman and Annie Wallace and also Trilby in the subsequent play afterwards.

Flora.

My name's Evan Tucker.

I have Billy Joe Bob in Darwin and I also have Tiny Tim Wallace.

And alongside with that, with Flora, I am Hugh.

In Flora, I'm Gregory Ludek and I'm playing world famous astrophysicist Dr. Stephen Hawking in Charles Darwin's Solstice Carol.

So I was confused and intrigued as soon as I saw the name.

To this, I will say as and we'll talk about this because I'm an aficionado of Christmas Carol portrayals over the many, many, many decades.

Grew up watching them with my dad, many of them.

So what was, how did this version of this come about as.

Is this a long running stage thing or is this a, you know, creation for this.

This is brand new.

This is a local playwright named Matt Moore, Matthew Dwight Moore, to use his official three name.

Author, author name.

But he taught for years doing theater at Roberts Wesleyan.

Several of us have been in several of his projects over the years.

Chris, we talked about Catharsis time at the, at the Fringe Festival this year.

That, that's one that Matt and his wife Sarah do together.

And he wrote both of these extremely distinctly different one acts.

Yeah.

And it's, it's such an interesting idea to, you know, take the whole concept and turn it a little bit a story that I think at this point everybody knows in one form or another.

When you, when you read it for the first time, Lisa, like, how did that, how did it grab you?

Well, I have known Matt for a very long time because we worked together at Genesee Country Village and Museum before we went different paths and he became a professor and he's always been a history buff and he's always had like kind of a warped sense of humor.

And this is very Typical of the kind of thing he writes.

He actually wrote this for one of the 24 hour plays.

Oh, very cool.

At writers and books.

I'm not sure if that was the case with Flora too, but Darwin was a 24 hour play and he gets very into researching history deeply.

And as I said, he has a skewed sense of humor.

So it's the concept of A Christmas Carol, but it's.

And it's convincing.

Dar basically trying to get Darwin also to change his path a little bit.

Except in his case, this case, it's not being generous, it's being less cowardly.

Because Darwin sat on the Origin of Species for a very long time after he did the research.

Yeah.

And depends on if this is timely or not.

Do people believe research at any point in this is a whole other.

Is a whole nother question.

So I don't know what's.

I kind of, you know, for people participating this.

When you read it for the first time, how did it grab you?

I definitely thought that it was a really cool take on the Christmas Carol.

I mean, it's something that people watch every year.

We know what to expect.

So getting to give people a fresh take on this tale while giving it.

Excuse me.

While giving it this really fun historical twist.

I think it's hilarious and also very educational.

We have a variety of actors that are working so hard to fully embody these characters while adding their own quirky twists on these characters.

And so I think the audience is going to love most watching each of these very fun, silly personalities come to life as this play digresses in the madness.

It was a very chaotic, fun time to read it.

Yeah.

As a tiny, tiny man over in the corner.

I know, right?

It's an obvious choice that you would be a Tiny Tim in this.

In this version.

But like, how.

How would you.

How did you feel looking at that character?

And like, how am I going to do this?

So the reason.

One of the reasons why we chose me to be Tiny Tim is because I am six foot three.

So the irony of that, I think, honestly I.

So I'm new to community theater and I. I really thought it was a fun script.

We got to meet Matthew, the playwright, so that was great too.

Getting to kind of know his take on it, what the origins of it are.

But like Cheyenne was saying, just seeing everybody kind of come together and add their own twist on their characters, it's been great.

It's been a great experience.

And I really think people enjoy the play.

And as you know, one of the obviously notable characters in the Darwin oeuvre, Stephen Hawking, when you.

When you saw the.

When you're thinking of all this temporal and storytelling dissonance from the original, how did that.

How did that feel?

It appealed to me immediately, the sense of ridiculousness in Matt's work.

It just.

You have to know the man.

And I think we're in an inbound position to say we know the guy who wrote this.

Yeah, he's a buddy of mine, and I don't pass up an opportunity, when possible, to participate in his Zoom project when we were in shutdown, or he wants to, you know, do a Cyrano de Bergerac set in the Deep south during Annie Bell.

Like, why not?

I kind of feel like if it wasn't me that gave him the idea of using historic figures, people who really lived and made an impact as characters in a play, a ridiculous, nonsense play, I was certainly an advocate for it.

Yeah, I like to kind of feel like he got that idea off of me.

Well, there's something special about dense ridiculousness, especially with writing.

We're.

I was remarking recently while we were prepping for one of our new shows, we were talking about, like, oh, favorite books and things like that.

And I'm thinking of what are the things I love to have read the most?

And it was Confederacy of Dunces, which is over the top ridiculous.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is maximum farcical and obscure and weird.

I have.

I have been describing my Darwin as being sort of an Arthur Dentish kind of Charles Darwin because I am in my bathrobe being dragged through space and time to visit everything from my caveman ancestor Zarf, played by Cheyenne, all the way to interacting with a future Stephen Hawking.

And, yeah, Stephen Hawking, the framework of Darwin.

I mean, the framework of A Christmas Carol fits perfectly here because instead of.

Because all of the scientists in this represent are the spirits.

So Hawking is the spirit of science yet to come.

See, I love the framing of that.

We have a Friedrich Nietzsche who visits.

Me, and he's the spirit of Solstice present.

Of course, Charles Lyle, who was a geologist, is the spirit of Solstice past.

He's the one who introduces Darwin to the cave people.

All of this makes complete sense.

One character I was certain I did not want to play play at audition was prestigious biologist Richard Dawkins.

Yes.

Because for the first, I don't know, two pages or so, it's just him by himself, having a conversation with himself.

I don't want that.

I don't want the pressure.

It's too much.

It did give a really cool Carl Sagan vibe.

I will say Degrassi Tyson.

Like, I really feel like if you put, like, a green screen behind him and there's a bunch of, like, you know, planets and space behind him, or the Big Bang Theory because it releases more behind him, I really feel like I would be watching that kind of show and that kind of transport.

So Dawkins really does a great job embodying that.

That vibe.

Well.

And I think there's, you know, there's a very specific, you know, that first, you know, that narrator, that, you know, Mark Twainian, single person on stage narrator kind of thing, you know, has, you know, it's.

It feels theater.

Right.

You bring that.

You have that.

You know, I'm not grand, but there's somebody who's there setting everything up for you.

Like, I. I love that structure in something that has so much fancy.

Yeah.

We're still following the same format, which I think many of the best, you know, best comedic musicals, especially ones that are taking off on things, still do, is they still follow the format, which I think is important.

If you just broke everything, it doesn't honor the original or.

I think people love to.

Oh, this is what they did with this.

Absolutely.

And our.

Our Dawkins.

I won't give too much away, but let's just say our Dawkins isn't completely by himself either in his opening monologue or later on.

We'll save that surprise for the stage.

But that's awesome.

Oh, and side note, when.

When is the show?

Where is.

And where can people buy tickets?

I should have done that up front.

We open Thursday night, which is the 18th.

Yes, 18th.

And we play Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights, and then we have a matinee on Sunday at Muck on University.

You can go to the Muck website, which I think is muccc.org yes.

If I'm not mistaken.

And it's pay what you want.

That's awesome.

So, you know, we think it's probably 75, 80 bucks worth of experience for the night.

Yeah.

Remember, it's two plays.

I mean, so let's.

Let's talk about the second and kind of.

I'm intrigued about that too.

So why don't you go ahead and introduce it?

Oh, so.

Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah.

So Flora, it's basically an environmental kind of disaster play.

Just a brief overview.

It's.

It's four friends from college.

We're up in a cabin, and we decide to get into some psychedelics.

And from there, it just goes right downhill in a great way.

It really.

It's a unique play.

It's something that I don't think I've ever heard of being done before.

There are, you know, limited cast.

There's only four of us.

However, we've made great connections and it's really a funny.

It's a funny write.

And I think.

I think people will appreciate it.

They'll appreciate where we're coming from.

It's abstract, so.

But it also does tie back into the Christmas.

Dawkins Christmas.

So it's a nice little crossover, per se.

Well, and I like the idea too, especially for a smaller thing where you keep it to, hey, these characters are there, they're doing their thing, interacting, maybe coming and going.

But, you know, the tightness is the point.

Right.

You want that focus on, hey, this is the work we're doing.

Correct.

And I think on stage it really, you know, our connections in real life really get portrayed on the stage because we have built such a great connection before.

Team bonding.

Correct.

And I think, like I said, it's four cap.

It's four friends in a cabin, so.

Oh, and playing D and D. Dungeons and Dragons.

Oh, that's.

That's fantastic.

I mean, there's so many movies and other things that are just like, oh, it's these many hands in a cabin.

Right.

From, you know, Tarantino's Hateful Eight to, you know, Cabin in the woods to, you know, so many different stories.

Hey, Evil Dead.

Right?

Evil Dead 2.

There's so many movies that have that cabin.

It's an off tread trope.

Yeah.

So you can relate to say, like, oh, I see where they're going.

Or do I?

I don't know.

You don't?

I don't.

You don't.

With this playwright, it's not going to.

It may be a typical trope, but it's not going to go in the same direction at all.

Yeah, well, that's.

That's kind of fun too.

So was this different.

Was this a different writer or so?

Nope.

It's.

It's.

They're both by Matthew.

I didn't know if it was both by him.

So they're both by him.

So shout out to.

Shout out to Matthew for making two intro.

Interesting.

Different things.

And length of our experience on those nights were people to expect.

They are both one act.

So Darwin runs, I think, what, about 35 minutes?

Ish.

Awesome.

And then there's a break and then the other one, Flora, runs and maybe 90, 95 minutes total.

Flora is a little bit longer.

But it's still one.

It's still under an hour.

We old folks don't get to be in Florida.

And Flora, it's just the youngsters.

People should expect about an hour and half.

There will be a 10 minute intermission in between.

That's awesome.

But that, that's.

That's a whole evening of entertainment.

And what.

I'm kind of intrigued.

So we got two different, you know, two different vibes that cross over with holiday spirit and I'm sure many different ways.

So what I'm kind of intrigued with is we're talking about community theater.

And I'm intrigued, like, for what has your experience been already in community theater and what has it meant to you?

I got started in community theater because I wanted to be in films.

And I didn't have a track record, so I would do reads and nothing would happen.

And my wife, in her infinite wisdom, says, well, you don't really have credits.

Maybe you should go get some experience on the stage.

The next time somebody like this comes along, they might look at you.

So, yeah, that was kind of the impulse that said, I'll do theater.

Because theater people are like a bowl of granola.

They really are.

It's muesli.

There's like your flakes and your fruits and your nuts, and they all need to be there or it doesn't work.

Yeah.

And especially.

Especially in community, you have to be diverse.

You can't.

You can't just be one thing.

You have to be ready to do whatever is coming up.

Sandbox.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So this is my first community theater production.

And thankfully I already had a relationship with our director, Emmett.

He had brought up that he had a part that he may think I would be good in.

And I kind of always had the edge.

You know, the last time I was in a play was in elementary school.

So my experience.

Were you and were you the star?

I was not the star.

I was a card in Alice in Wonderland, which is exciting.

And then for the other one was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Oh, my gosh.

Yes.

And I was Veronica's dad.

Oh.

So, I mean, after those traumatic experiences, now you get to be.

Now you get to be one of the.

One of the name characters.

Yes.

It's very excited.

I can't lie and say that I'm not nervous, but.

But I'm also very excited.

This experience has just been wonderful.

And, you know, going forward with other productions now, I kind of know what to expect.

Yeah.

But, yeah, the experience is great and I'm very thankful.

And I couldn't Agree more.

The one thing I love most about community theater in a cheesy way is the community about it.

Because we're such a small cast, and both Flora and Darwin, I just feel like I get to pick up so many different kinds of energies, like Greg was saying about the granola.

And so every night that we rehearse, because we're not trying to, you know, be a cookie cutter version of what theater would be like maybe on Broadway, we really do test out different things every night, and you never know what the other actors are going to throw at you, and you get to play with that energy.

What are you saying?

And I could say for Evan specifically, because he sometimes will just say a line with so much sass.

There's so much more character than I thought he was going to give me, and I just have to be able to receive that and volleyball that back.

I can't possibly imagine all people, me, Cheyenne, come on.

Honestly, you're a rising star.

And for the people of, you know, Darwin, we.

We youngins don't get to interact with the cast of Darwin as much, but we do get to kind of add to that world.

And, I mean, I could speak as a caveman ancestor.

We completely get to just mess with cave person.

Thank you.

We completely just get to mess with Darwin and Lyle for a little bit and just pretend like we're two cave people who have discovered new people for the first time.

So I just love that everyone has so much freedom with community theater, and that really just brings back the initial joy of what it means to act and be on the stage.

Have you been doing it beyond this, beyond these things?

Have you already been performing?

Great question.

So I did do a lot of it from elementary school to high school.

Started my college career as a theater major and then went a completely different route.

And I didn't act for 10 years.

And then I met our director, Emmett, through Dashboard Dramas, a fringe festival this year.

I was like, you know what?

It's time for me to get back out there.

I'm missing something in my life, and I really do feel like it's a puzzle piece that's been put back into my.

Ever since then, I'm like, yes, this is where I need to be.

So I'm glad I'm back from that very long hiatus.

Hip, hip hooray.

Yes.

I think having having some sort of outlet is such a valuable thing.

And it doesn't matter what it is, right?

Whether it be painting, photography, podcasting, performing, having something to engage with people and give something back.

To the community and to yourself by saying, hey, I'm gonna try.

And not being the person who says, yeah, I'm worried about trying, but getting out there, and it doesn't matter every time if it's perfect, but you're putting out the effort.

You're doing the bit, and you're really embracing it.

And that's.

That's the whole fun of it, is like going after something.

Yeah.

And I. I definitely had doubts about going through with it.

But, you know, I spoke with some of my colleagues, and they're like, hey, I mean, just going up there in general is a big deal.

So we really got to give ourselves some credit.

And with Cheyenne, I. I did not know that.

I thought it's like riding a bike for her.

She's just so great.

Thank you.

Well, and that's.

That's the other thing is you get to know other people really well, and that's one of the joys of doing all these different versions of performing is one, getting to know yourself, but getting to know everybody else around you.

And sometimes not in the way that they are thinking they're coming across either.

Which is one of the best things about all of these things, is really getting to know people.

Yeah.

I would.

One thing also that's really great about community theater is even though all of us, I think, have some sort of professional credits to our name one way or another.

Okay.

Maybe not Evan, but all the rest of us.

All the rest of us.

But you'll get there.

But all of the rest of us have done theater to some degree.

Not in a.

On smaller levels.

But the nice thing about community theater is you don't have to worry about, is there a scout?

Is there?

How is the play gonna do?

And Raiders?

You're just there to have fun and try to do as good a show as you can.

There's a purity to it.

Yeah.

Which.

Which for me is fun because the last time I did theater was 41 years ago in summer camp, was the last time that I was in a scripted stage performance.

It was Peter Pan at Camp Seneca Lake.

There's some dispute whether I was John or Michael.

Yeah.

I can't remember whether he was Michael or John.

It's been a few years.

I've done, you know, as.

As we've discussed.

You know, I've done standup for the last few years, which is a whole different way of being on stage.

And of course, I did radio forever, which is a whole different way of performing.

But I feel like I'm flexing a whole new we're just, I was talking about this with my therapist today.

I was, I feel like, you know, flexing this whole new muscle that just hasn't been worked in, in forever and trying to teach my aging brain this super long monologue that Matt likes his monologues.

Let's talk about that.

I mean, just for a second.

Not to, not to therapize, you know, you or anything like that.

But I, I think that's a, it's a great point, is that all of these different, all of these different art forms, although, you know, you're getting, you know, getting away from, let's say, stage, you know, stage fright, doing, you know, doing, doing stand up.

But this is different because you can't just grab the audience and go off on huge side tangents.

You still have to do the sides.

You still have to do the page.

Obviously, theater has, you know, not flexibility, but there is a.

You're never going to have exactly the same performance every night, but you still need to get the words on the page out.

Well, and you asked, you asked how long this runs, and we don't know.

There are so many places where expect there's going to be laughter.

We hope there's going to be laughter for sure from the audience that we haven't.

You know, we're waiting to have that experience Thursday night, really, to, to see where those laughs come in and how long they last.

So you got to wait for the laugh to land.

You know, the joke has to land.

And if it doesn't, well, okay, I, I, there's no point in hanging around.

We're going to move on to the next bit because it's just packed full of great, absurd, ridiculous things being said by people from the past.

It's like they're saying things like, whoa.

And.

A very, I know, right?

And my favorite part about that is as a community theater group, we get to watch each other's performances and kind of be the audience for each other.

And so it really fuels me when I see the other cast mates laughing at what we're doing and vice versa.

And it also just allows us to really, like, pick up on, like, each other's strengths.

Like, you know, I'm in the presence of a lot of really great actors.

I mean, the cast of Darwin, I'm like, we get to look up to them and we get to take notes from them.

So in a way, we're using you guys, but.

Well, thank you.

But it's a good way to be used, right?

I'm glad, I'm glad.

So yeah, it's just been really nice to get to watch this performance grow from the beginning when we were just doing our regular table read through with the writer in the room with us, to how much we've, you know, taken or given to each of our characters and just.

Yeah.

So let's hope that we're as good.

We have as good of an audience as we've been for each other.

Well, and I think that's also one of those things that there is that camaraderie in the theater.

I think, you know, sometimes it can be a very heightened experience.

Right.

Especially if you're doing, you know, for larger productions that are longer and you have these intense relationships with the people around you.

But the always hope is you're going to learn something from somebody else.

You're going, maybe, hey, your energy will get, you know, rub off on somebody else and turn it into something more than what it was originally.

Because that's.

No, that's.

That's the fun of it.

Making an impression on somebody.

Yeah.

Without meaning to.

And they'll remember that experience a lot longer.

I.

Than I will.

I think there's just so many moments and especially things on stage when it's like, oh, that didn't go as planned.

Those are the moments that stay with you and everything's smooth sailing is like, no, I'm completely blanking.

I'm sure it was good.

But it's those moments when you're like, I'm glad that you're out there with me because Save me, Evan.

Evan has the easiest time of it in Flora because his character is so zonked out through most of it that Ameth, the director, is saying, it doesn't matter if you forget a line, you can just stop and go, what was I saying?

Yes, exactly.

And, you know, it's another oxymoron because I'm in recovery and here I am tripping on shrooms in a cabin.

So, you know, it's.

It really is one of those things where it's like, it is my first production, and if I don't nail it.

Emmett was right.

Like he had said, tonight I can just kind of go out there.

I don't fall into the background with my stone thoughts.

No.

It's a rush, isn't it?

It really is.

In a way, it is.

I've just never.

I never thought I could put myself out there like this.

And it's very exciting.

Is that, you know, not to.

Not to get too personal.

Is that like a big.

A bit of a stretch for.

Is it Something where you were like anxious and being more outgoing without, without everything else, without substances.

Is this like a bit of a stretch for you?

It definitely is.

I am only a couple years into my recovery, so I'm.

I'm finally getting back to where not getting back, but really forming a new identity for myself and being able to have this experience and you know, put myself out there.

Like you had said earlier, having an outlet.

Yeah, this has really been a great outlet.

You know, I look back at my email, the first email from Emmett was August 1st or 2nd, hey, I got this.

I think you'd be great for this.

And now it's finally coming to fruition and it's, you know, time flies when you're having fun, I guess.

Can we toot Emmett's horn a little bit?

Absolutely.

Everybody needs to, you know, let everyone out there know this is a, a kind of a new director too.

Yeah, I mean, his day job is, is high school theater, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which is a middle school, I think.

But yeah, I think there's also a lot of.

There's a lot of like really well respected theater programs around Rochester in the schools.

I know somebody, one of, one of the people I work with, he does like lighting and audio for those and some of them are like, oh wait, oh my God, you're doing that much work for high school productions.

One of our stand up friends does theater at Pittsford Middle School.

Not even the high school.

I walked into this theater.

He did a whole musical a year and a half ago now when we had the Eclipse.

And he did a whole musical about it with his kids and I got to do a one line cameo.

Okay.

I guess this is written by him, by the way.

You say did a musical.

He directed it, he wrote it, he produced it.

This was an original musical and he.

Had local people doing the music and it was amazing.

And this is one of the things that I have been emphasizing, as I have been trying to promote this is, you know, this is sort of the complete antithesis of this AI universe that we are descending into so rapidly.

Because these are all real human beings in a nice small space.

There's not even any amplification in this place.

You know, you are right up on top of us.

There's what, four rows of seats, slash pews in the theater.

Very intimate, very intimate.

And you're seeing real people doing real stuff.

Written by a real human being, directed by a real human being, you know, having real human fun in front of you that is not manipulated by a machine or an algorithm.

Or anything up close.

Very up close.

Yes.

Well, and that's.

See, that's the thing.

You leave day to day radio now.

You're.

Now you're eschewing all these newfangled, amplified, Amplified membranes and things.

You going right back to the basics, Scott.

And it's nice.

I was at.

I'm not going to.

I'm not going embarrass them, but I was at a more professional production last week and I felt so bad for them because one of the lead performers, Mike's, was going out all through the first.

Yeah.

And it was a room that wasn't quite big enough for him to carry by himself, not knowing when the mic was going to click on and off.

And it's like, oh, I do not want to be this actor up on this stage dealing with this right now.

So it's probably a little easier.

We.

We do have some technology.

There's a smoke machine.

We got a smoke machine.

And there's some music in the show.

I like it.

Yeah.

No, and that's.

That's the thing is like, yes, yes, the amplification is needed, especially in larger rooms.

But when those things happen, it is.

You do feel terrible.

And we've all had it happen.

If we're recording things or we are, or we're doing a live production and something goes wrong and you have to try to adjust.

I mean, that's.

It's part of the gig.

It is, but it's humans doing human stuff and we need so much more of that.

Yeah.

And one of the great things about theater also is seeing how you make it work if something does go again.

Everybody here, not everybody here has done.

Is necessarily done improv, but everybody has a little experience with that.

And being in a show like this, even if you don't necessarily remember you've got other people, you're gonna still come up with something.

You'll hit it close or somebody's gonna say something.

It's.

Nobody's gonna be standing there, just, oh, I forgotten.

Standing there like a deer in the headlights.

That wouldn't happen.

Well, I think we've got the whole cast that's actually so very supportive.

Yeah.

The first improv lesson is no and Stone Face and Make no other.

Make no other motion.

No, No.

It's.

I love all that.

It's.

It's so interesting.

So again, the.

So performances.

Thursday, Thursday the 18th through Saturday, Sunday through Sunday at the Muck.

You can go to mucc.org to get your.

Do you get reservations or you just pay when you show up?

You can get tickets ahead to get.

Tickets, but it is general admission.

You don't have to pick your seat.

Yeah.

So.

And it is.

It is a great venue for this kind of thing.

You know, the seating is so present.

I've seen a couple different performances there.

It is a.

It is exactly the place you want to be doing something like this.

And it has to feel nice doing it in a space that is meant for this kind of theater.

It is a good idea to get there early if you want to pick a seat that suits you.

Yeah.

And like we had said earlier, it's.

It's like a pay what you can kind of ticket.

So you will buy a ticket, but you can put the price in 5, 10, whatever.

So there's really no excuse.

Yeah.

And supporting.

Supporting local theater and supporting local productions and local writers as well is super valuable to the community.

And this isn't.

This isn't like big C community.

This is the kind of community that makes a difference for the per.

The right person at the right time.

And it's something that I think I've talked about a lot recently is this is the thing we can all do.

We can't make big community for everybody, but we can make small community for the people that might need to be there, that might need to see this or the people that love this kind of thing.

We can't be everything for everybody, but we can do something.

We can provide feels.

There are big feels in this.

In the writing of it, there's a lot of feelings.

Yeah.

In the presentation, portrayal of it, there's a lot of feel, there's energy exchanged.

And we feel that when something is really working just among us, it's like, I'm really, you know, buzzed.

When I mentioned tonight, hey, who wants to come on the podcast?

And probably like, oh, everybody wants to come.

And a couple people still couldn't make it, but no, it was so much fun.

And by the way, for Charles Darwin's Christmas.

Well, actually, Solstice Carol, we're gonna be doing it on the solstice.

How cool is that?

Oh, I love that so much.

Yeah, that's so cool.

So it's set on the solstice.

Everything that happens to me is Darwin over the course of it.

There you go.

Oh, my gosh.

I will say that's something I love about Rochester.

It is like, it is the land of opportunity for the arts.

You can have your passion project and make it come to life.

And it really gets under my skin when people say, there's nothing to do in Rochester.

Oh, I promise you, you can go any weekend, anytime.

No matter what kind of show could be improv, theater, dance, anything.

There's always something to do.

And the best part is it's just you can get anything.

It's.

It's weird, it's random, it's beautiful.

It's just raw.

And I just think that it's a whole new side of theater.

And I love that Rochester celebrates it.

You can find anything if you're willing to look for it.

And Muck is the perfect place to go because I love going to shows there.

You will like, I love when I get to go see shows here because the actors will make eye contact with you and you're like, oh, my God, I'm part of the show now.

Like, it's.

It's that kind of feeling.

And I love.

I love it there.

So there's something truly special about trying to embrace where you are, embrace the city that you are in, not the place that you hope it's gonna be.

You make it great.

Exactly.

You make these things happen by showing up in person.

And to have these local people like Matt, I mean, I absolutely knew him through Lisa when they worked together at Genesee Country Village.

And then he approached me.

I had no thought about doing theater.

And during the pandemic, he was doing, as Greg mentioned, these zoom shows, he did William Shakespeare's Sharknado.

It was the actual script of the first Sharknado movie.

Same characters, but it was all written in Shakespearean language.

And the year before that.

Are you saying the original wasn't written in Shakespearean?

So here I am sitting at my kitchen table doing a zoom show for Fringe.

And all the other actors are wherever they are, throwing inflatable sharks across the screen at each other.

It was absolutely.

Greg has a great line at the end as Stephen Hawking.

I can't even.

Where he talks about how life is just gonzo.

Yeah, we better.

We better save it.

But it was.

It was just, you know, and that's.

That's what Matt does.

So it's part of that sense of community.

And that does give you.

Yeah.

If you want to know what the play is like, that's.

This is the guy who wrote Shark, who took Sharknado and put it in Shakespearean language.

And the year before that was when Fringe was semi open, half.

Half online, half in person.

And the year before that one was all in person.

Greg, Scott and I were all in a show called Zoom youm Own Adventure.

And that was something that came about when Matt and I were talking about everybody remembers the choose youe Own Adventure books.

And then there was a sequel to the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt TV show that was a movie, and it was done as a choose your own adventure where at different points, you'd have to select what the scene was.

And just like the books, suddenly everything might explode and everybody's dead or whatever, and you have to start over.

And I said to Matt, wouldn be cool if he could do that on stage.

Yes.

And then right after that, he said, you know, I was thinking now that he started writing Z Adventure, so nice going, Lisa.

He's like, you gave him that idea.

I sure did.

I love it.

So what I kind of want to end off with is, like I said up front, I'm.

As a huge fan of the, you know, different versions of A Christmas Carol.

I kind of want to talk about that for a minute, just because it is my.

One of my things I watch every year.

I have my favorite version.

But do people here have a favorite version of the movie?

Production of A Christmas Carol.

I like the Muppets.

Oh, the Muppets.

I just watched that one.

It's such a great version of it.

And I love how straight Michael Caine plays that part.

He never breaks the whole time.

While Muppet chicanery is going on around him.

He plays it purely traditional the whole time.

It's such a delight when they're beloved actors.

Yeah.

That we know.

Doing Dickens.

I mean, come on.

No, the Muppets.

The Muppets is the gold standard.

The other one that's become a tradition in our household.

I know you're gonna say, and it's an obscure one.

Blackadder's Christmas Carol.

Okay.

Which was a one off from that British series.

Right.

With Rowan Atkinson and I don't know how many of you ever.

We'll have to have everybody over to watch it after.

After we wrap.

But it was.

It was, you know, off in the same kind of goofy direction that we're in.

It feels sort of of the same piece a little bit.

Yeah.

And it's.

The cast is a who's who of British actors.

It's got Jim Broadbent, Miriam Margulies, Miranda Richardson.

Holy cow.

Stephen Fry.

Oh, everybody.

It just goes on.

Yes.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Either of you have a favorite version?

The one I'm most familiar with, although I do want to watch the Muppets one, is the Disney one where Scrooge is like the Uncle Duck.

Oh, I just saw that, too.

Scrooge McDuck.

Yes.

Nicky is Bob Cratchit.

Yes.

Yes.

I loved it.

It did kind of traumatize me, though, at the end, because the ghost, the Christmas, his future, when he, like, puts him in the.

Yeah, okay.

Spoiler.

Will not spoil it.

But traumatized me at the end.

But that's.

That was my nostalgia.

Evan, what about you?

I do not have a favorite.

Okay.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I've even seen it before.

Oh, well, I'm going to go ahead and recommend to me the gold standard.

I mean, I love the Muppet version.

Oh, yes, that's a good one.

It is a black and white version.

Start with that one.

It is, I think, the perfect version of it from the classic sense.

He's such a phenomenal, bitter, mean version of Scrooge at the beginning, and he plays the, you know, the redeemed version with this manic happiness that is so you feel the burden having lifted off him at the end in this almost visceral way.

And I adore that story so much.

I'm not a person who is.

I'm not a religious person, but that, you know, the Christmas Carol story always works for me because it's a story about growth.

It's a story about embracing, you know, embracing, you know, doing good in the world in your part of the world and doing that thing.

And that story hits me harder and harder every year because it's, you know, that feeling of trying, that feeling of not being resigned to being, you know, being negative all the time.

There's so much.

There's so much going on that can make us negative and cynical.

And I have to make an effort to be positive.

And every time I watch it, you have that.

You have that moment of, oh, it does bring more joy.

It brings more happiness to you and.

Everyone else around you, spreading the joy.

I'd like to give a shout out also.

I think the first version I ever watched, which I thought was cool, was called Scrooge.

It was the musical version with Albert Finney as Scrooge.

Oh, he's so talented.

It's pretty cool.

Yeah.

I don't remember if it was a TV movie or a theatrical release.

I saw it in TV when I was something like five or six.

But that's a.

It's very true to the story.

But this also.

They have music.

I think with the very first scene, you have Scrooge singing I Hate People.

He literally sings a song called I Hate People.

So good.

There's so many different versions and I'm really excited for people to go see.

Charles Darwin's Christmas Carol and Flora by.

Matthew Dwight Moore, directed by Emmett Mitchie.

Yes.

And go to mucc.org get your ticket.

Pay what you can afford.

Not the lowest price.

Pay what you can afford because it matters to support the things you love and enjoy.

Anything else before we close out, everybody?

I'm growing out mutton chops for this.

If you're a fan of A Christmas Carol, some of the original dialogue from the Dickens tale is written right into.

This has made its way in.

It has.

But.

And some of the actual lines from the Scientists are in.

There's a lot.

There's.

Matthew is definitely a researcher and a fact checker, so it is funny, but it's also very accurate.

So cool.

Well, thank you everybody for coming over.

Join them at the muck the 18th through the 21st.

Join them on the solstice on a matinee.

How cool is that?

We'll be back next time with more.

Just can't.

Not on the Lunchadore Podcast Network.

This has been a presentation of the Lunchadore Podcast Network.

You radio personality over there, go get me the fattest goose in the store.