Film Center Interviews Cast of Corporate Dilemmas
This week on Film Center we interview the cast of the new play Corporate Dilemmas and their new type of play: The augmented play. This could be the future of theater. We sat down with Yeta Gonzalez and Shi Johnson to here more. Sit with us and check it out!
Transcript
This is Film Center, your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff, all facts.
Speaker:Now, here are your anchors, Derrick Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Welcome to Film Center, your normal place for studio news.
Speaker:My name's Derrick Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And today we are joined by Jetsa Gonzalez.
Speaker:Yes she's an actress and he's an actor.
Speaker:It's great to have you guys on.
Speaker:How you doing today?
Speaker:Thank you, we're doing pretty good.
Speaker:Pretty good, yeah.
Speaker:Awesome, awesome.
Speaker:As you guys know, here in Film Center, we do take the show on the road, so we are
Speaker:currently here in downtown Los Angeles.
Speaker:Are either one of you two from California?
Speaker:Not at all.
Speaker:Not at all.
Speaker:Why don't you tell us where you guys are from?
Speaker:You want to start?
Speaker:Yeah, sure.
Speaker:I am from Puerto Rico, born and raised.
Speaker:I moved to South Carolina after graduating college.
Speaker:I lived there for about...
Speaker:Seven years.
Speaker:Then I moved to Seattle, Washington where I lived about a year and a half, and
Speaker:been in LA for about for about a year.
Speaker:Was there a reason for the moves?
Speaker:So many moves or just that's just life.
Speaker:I work remotely, so I have the flexibility to go wherever and
Speaker:certain life circumstances.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Took me to try out different cities to just to experiment what living
Speaker:in different places was like.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then you came to Los Angeles oh, this is the place.
Speaker:This is where I want to stay.
Speaker:Where did you go to college?
Speaker:In Puerto Rico.
Speaker:In Puerto Rico?
Speaker:What did you study?
Speaker:Chemical engineering?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:You smart?
Speaker:Kinda smart, yes.
Speaker:A little smart?
Speaker:A little smart.
Speaker:But I'm actually a software engineer now.
Speaker:She's so smart!
Speaker:You're a chemical engineer and a software engineer.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So I worked as a chemical engineer for about four years.
Speaker:But that...
Speaker:How does that qualify as if you did it for four years?
Speaker:You did it.
Speaker:You did it.
Speaker:I did it.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:But then I decided that was not really where I wanted to be in
Speaker:terms of that aspect of my life.
Speaker:So I taught myself how to code and in your spare time of being a chemical engineer.
Speaker:On the side, yes.
Speaker:What is happening right now, bro?
Speaker:I feel like I'm being flexed up.
Speaker:I'm I gotta figure out my lines.
Speaker:I'm intimidated right now, I gotta tell you.
Speaker:And I also act and do voiceovers, yes.
Speaker:I gotta And just And so We're messing up, man.
Speaker:We're messing up.
Speaker:How did you go from being a chemical engineer, to then a software engineer,
Speaker:to then an actress and voiceover?
Speaker:Can you please make us This is not It's not even zig zag, it's like zig zoog.
Speaker:But Hoover, and then she went to Zag.
Speaker:Let me throw another one in there for you.
Speaker:When I started college, my major was actually mechanical engineering,
Speaker:but I switched to chemical.
Speaker:But that's besides the point.
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:And my dad's only just a civil engineer, only?
Speaker:Only just.
Speaker:No I worked at She's got all three of them.
Speaker:She's like the Thanos of engineering.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:All you'd have to do is civil and you'd just snap your fingers.
Speaker:I will start on that when I get home tonight.
Speaker:nO, it's just that the, I don't know where I was working at the time.
Speaker:I was working at a chemical plant and I felt like it did not
Speaker:suit my personality very well.
Speaker:How I am more on the introverted side and...
Speaker:That job required me to be, up in people's business all the time, and
Speaker:just talking to people, and it was very draining, it was very exhausting at
Speaker:the end of the day, so it was like...
Speaker:Like a safety man type of thing, or?
Speaker:Yes, definitely.
Speaker:I had to inspect valves that were about as big as I am, so
Speaker:yeah, safety was a huge thing.
Speaker:Also, there's the issue that I am...
Speaker:Very short.
Speaker:I was very young when I was doing that job.
Speaker:I'm hispanic.
Speaker:I'm a woman and the probably didn't take you too Seriously, not at all.
Speaker:No, not at all So that was a major hurdle that I had to overcome and I
Speaker:probably could have if I wanted to but the point is that I fell in love
Speaker:With process control that is a part of the chemical engineering job.
Speaker:That's where I was working With the chemical process in a computer
Speaker:and then that kind of led back to me loving my programming
Speaker:courses in school And that's it.
Speaker:Let me take some coding courses at night and see how this goes So you were
Speaker:overseeing the process operators, right?
Speaker:Yes, I was so that's how you arrived LA You also said that you're a Trinis plant.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:How did you get to LA?
Speaker:Did you also conquer all of the science world?
Speaker:So all the STEM majors?
Speaker:You conquered all four disciplines of biology.
Speaker:So you have gone first?
Speaker:Is this?
Speaker:Yeah, she's engineering, I'm biology.
Speaker:Oh my god, he's also smart!
Speaker:Wait, are you really biology?
Speaker:I'm a bachelor's in biology, bachelor's in Dude, I called it!
Speaker:Did I not call it?
Speaker:I just did that just randomly.
Speaker:Oh my god.
Speaker:But you really do biology.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm a bachelor's in nursing as well, so God, Nicholas, we're so stupid.
Speaker:I'm a surgeon.
Speaker:And we do a radio show.
Speaker:Are we qualified to be at this level?
Speaker:I, you know what, I don't I, my IQ points are going down as we speak.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:That's not the intent.
Speaker:Please don't do that.
Speaker:How did you if you start off in biology then what happened after that?
Speaker:I jumped to nursing and got my bachelors in nursing.
Speaker:Any of those were nursing.
Speaker:Then I jumped straight to the surgery, the surgical OR.
Speaker:Oh my god.
Speaker:Dude.
Speaker:I'm an O.
Speaker:R.
Speaker:nurse.
Speaker:Dude.
Speaker:Wait.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:You know what's crazy?
Speaker:If you got shot right now, he would be able to heal you and she would be able to
Speaker:decipher what the gun was from the bullet.
Speaker:That's crazy.
Speaker:That sounds about right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You were doing an O.
Speaker:R.
Speaker:What happened?
Speaker:So still doing OR.
Speaker:I'm a travel nurse now But on during nursing school, I well even during
Speaker:college I was always doing dance on the side and I was starting off with hip
Speaker:hop and then Classes such as ballroom was offered and then salsa bachata.
Speaker:And the next thing, I'm My side hustle becomes a professional dancer and while
Speaker:you're a nurse exactly, it's crazy You say that because another person at this
Speaker:table also used to be a professional dancer we're not talking about that guy
Speaker:We're not talking about This guy yeah, I used to be a professional breakdancer And
Speaker:Knoxville, Tennessee when I was younger.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And we were the type of breakdancing where we still had territory.
Speaker:If we were called Volatomics, I was a breakdancer.
Speaker:I brokedanced in Heelys.
Speaker:I even got to do it at the House of Blues for Disney.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:And also if you wanted to breakdance.
Speaker:Anywhere in Knoxville.
Speaker:You would have to go through us first, like the club owners.
Speaker:That, that was your turn.
Speaker:Yeah, and I let you do it.
Speaker:That was a different time.
Speaker:And we're not talking about me.
Speaker:This is breaking all over again.
Speaker:But anyway, let's talk about you mastering the art of medicine.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So yeah four years college.
Speaker:And then another 16 months accelerated program for nursing.
Speaker:Then another year of residency for OR.
Speaker:And then, from there just...
Speaker:pretty much surgeries, incisions and then after that jumping on the dance floor.
Speaker:That's great and then so So then from dance is where you made your
Speaker:step into acting is that yes?
Speaker:How did you go from OR incisions to acting?
Speaker:Acting happened as I was invited to do like the nutcracker to like dance in it
Speaker:for like a ballroom perspective came like the acting aspect and then from there
Speaker:I was asked to do other productions in the I'm from Charleston, South Carolina,
Speaker:and I was asked to do things at South of Broadway, which was one of the bigger
Speaker:medium sized theater companies, and pretty much from there I got the bug.
Speaker:The bug.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:At least you didn't see someone get shot and be like, he's so
Speaker:dramatic, I didn't expect that.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And so I jumped into travel nursing where I ended up going to places like Seattle
Speaker:where I went to Harborview Medical Center and joined a few dance teams up there.
Speaker:And actually those I was at is where they shot Grey's Anatomy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, wow.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:That's cool.
Speaker:And from there I was like, Hey we got to go to LA.
Speaker:That's where it's at.
Speaker:That's the spot.
Speaker:That's the spot.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So now I'm here where I'm still dancing.
Speaker:I'm on a few dance teams here and a few, I have two projects, my personal projects.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:We didn't go through.
Speaker:You guys are making us feel really inadequate right now.
Speaker:We're gonna go through some current events real fast.
Speaker:Okay, so you...
Speaker:You are currently an actor, you're also on multiple dance teams, and you
Speaker:also are a registered working nurse.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And you also do surgery in the O.
Speaker:R.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Okay, and you are a formal everything engineer and you're currently an actress.
Speaker:Also currently a software engineer.
Speaker:Also, oh sorry, this is a, this is why we have to do a current event, she's
Speaker:also currently a software engineer.
Speaker:And a voiceover artist.
Speaker:Alright you both got bitten by this acting bug.
Speaker:Do you, either of you think that was planted young so young a little bit?
Speaker:Looking back, do you think there was a point where you were like,
Speaker:Oh, I think that this is where that, that might have come from?
Speaker:For me, yes.
Speaker:I think it started with my grandmother always hosting family
Speaker:during Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Speaker:It's always the family dance contest.
Speaker:And Who could put on the best show?
Speaker:Irony was, I had the least amount of rhythm.
Speaker:And I would just do the wildest stuff.
Speaker:jUst to shock people.
Speaker:Just WWE wrestling moves.
Speaker:There has no point in being in the show.
Speaker:Everyone else is like, doing the Dougie.
Speaker:RKO!
Speaker:Why can't she be?
Speaker:And then it just turned into I actually like doing this.
Speaker:It's always been secretly a passion of mine, but I was always
Speaker:pushed to go medical, pushed to go, something super academic.
Speaker:And so Something stable.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And so I ended up like walking this fence of both like the arts and academics where
Speaker:I found a nice, there's a lot more work, most people say go this way or that way,
Speaker:but I found that nice rhythm to just.
Speaker:Did you find yourself being burnt out a lot?
Speaker:Cause it sounds like...
Speaker:It, there were nights because, there were times when I was,
Speaker:had to learn lines for a show.
Speaker:I also had to play the instrument.
Speaker:Like I played trumpet, French horn, and mellophone.
Speaker:And there were certain performances where I was playing...
Speaker:I only played the nothing.
Speaker:Playing half the band.
Speaker:On top of everything else.
Speaker:Dancing when you and your family, was there anything in your life
Speaker:where you see that came in young?
Speaker:For me, it was video games.
Speaker:For me, it all started with voice acting.
Speaker:There was this one particular.
Speaker:Video game.
Speaker:It was beautiful, but the voice acting was just terrible.
Speaker:Wait, what game was it?
Speaker:It was Arc Rise Fantasia.
Speaker:It was, I think it was GameCube.
Speaker:I think it was GameCube.
Speaker:I don't remember that game.
Speaker:Fantasia.
Speaker:It was one of those like turn based RPGs.
Speaker:Like Final Fantasy?
Speaker:Something like, yes.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Similar to Final Fantasy.
Speaker:It was a beautiful game.
Speaker:Paper Mario.
Speaker:Now the one that you played, was it in, you said from
Speaker:Puerto Rico, was it in English?
Speaker:It was English, yes.
Speaker:Is that how you learned English?
Speaker:I...
Speaker:I learned English through Disney movies.
Speaker:I've been speaking English for as long as I can remember.
Speaker:It's Disney and closed captioning and I can't even explain that
Speaker:one English just happened for me.
Speaker:So back with the video games, that's where it started.
Speaker:So I was like, Oh, this sounds terrible.
Speaker:I could probably do this a lot better.
Speaker:So that just got me into imitating a lot of voices and just responding
Speaker:in a certain way and just being big and obnoxious when it came to voices.
Speaker:I never really pursued anything, but it was always in the back of my mind.
Speaker:Always on the back burner.
Speaker:Oh, always there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So then, Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So when you came out here to LA, that made it to oh, I'm going to
Speaker:take this acting thing seriously.
Speaker:And I guess it a similar thing happened with you.
Speaker:The same.
Speaker:For voice acting, it's little V, big A.
Speaker:Still have to put myself in front of people and express
Speaker:emotions and all that stuff.
Speaker:Have either of you two really found your past experiences to
Speaker:be helpful in your acting career?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Can you guys give us an example?
Speaker:Do you want to go first?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So for now, for the play that we're currently in, Corporate Dilemmas,
Speaker:takes place in a corporate setting.
Speaker:Being an engineer, I can pull from that a lot to talk about tech and
Speaker:just, The relationships and the interactions that come along with that.
Speaker:And bring it to the surface.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Oh okay.
Speaker:How about you?
Speaker:For me, being a showman it's second nature being that I used
Speaker:to work at a zoo in high school.
Speaker:And I used to wait, you didn't tell us that you keep pulling
Speaker:these cards out your hand, man.
Speaker:What else you got?
Speaker:You a painter too?
Speaker:Not a painter.
Speaker:Not a painter.
Speaker:Not a painter.
Speaker:You got me on that one.
Speaker:Alligator trainer.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It was a reptile zoo and I was paid to either give tours or ticket
Speaker:sales or mascot or gift shop.
Speaker:Especially like being a mascot, like they put the big suit on, I
Speaker:think it was a big alligator suit or a big turtle suit at the time.
Speaker:Or a hat.
Speaker:Yeah, or just a big hat.
Speaker:And pretty much they would parade us around and it was
Speaker:like, yo, go lead the crowd.
Speaker:Go, bring up the energy.
Speaker:And essentially I became like the show person.
Speaker:Like people would gather around.
Speaker:It was like dancing.
Speaker:It was just putting on like just entertainment for people, which.
Speaker:Allow me to bring that to my characters like here with personas entertainment with
Speaker:our production is my role just being like Welcoming people in and making sure I can
Speaker:blend between, hey, this is the audience and this is my co actor and I'm channeling
Speaker:both of those energies towards me.
Speaker:So our listeners have, we've talked to a lot of professionals.
Speaker:Something that's quite common with a lot of actors and actresses is that
Speaker:they have all these diverse backgrounds.
Speaker:And now you tour in this play.
Speaker:Can you tell us a bit more?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So this is Personas Entertainment and we're currently doing a
Speaker:production called Corporate Dilemmas.
Speaker:So Personas Entertainment is a company where we truly focus on immersive Yeah,
Speaker:this isn't like something else, right?
Speaker:This isn't a regular play that you would see like at a theater.
Speaker:There's something else going on here.
Speaker:Can you talk can you ask a little bit more about that?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So the focus is that the stories are driven by the audience and
Speaker:their participation in that story.
Speaker:So can you get, how, how do they do that?
Speaker:Because I'm sure our audience is, can you explain that a little bit more?
Speaker:To be fair with you guys, I, I have heard that this is some new stuff.
Speaker:This is this to fair audience.
Speaker:Some new hot from Senator.
Speaker:We like to bring in the interesting things and all the new hottest studio type news.
Speaker:So this might be a new type of play.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Might even more popular later on.
Speaker:We're leaving the old and busted behind.
Speaker:We're leaving that traditional theater new.
Speaker:It's not even it's it's not even it's like a, it's not like a four D movie and it's
Speaker:not it's like a haunted house or nothing like, it's nothing that's interactive.
Speaker:That's like this improv, but dramatic.
Speaker:It's a blend of all of that.
Speaker:So it's method acting and improv and we, it has elements upon it
Speaker:house, but it's way more than that.
Speaker:So the way this one particular production works is that someone from the audience
Speaker:gets elected to be part of the cast and help us move the story along.
Speaker:So that's where the improv comes in a lot, because we don't know where these
Speaker:people are going to take the story.
Speaker:Now, when you both first looked at this project how, was it intimidating?
Speaker:It's something that apparently has not really been done before like this.
Speaker:Did you find it to be a good challenge, possibly?
Speaker:Or was it like, oh, I'm just there, cause I don't even, I just love acting.
Speaker:What was the line here?
Speaker:I think originally for Jetsa, it was, hey, it's the big A.
Speaker:This is an acting opportunity.
Speaker:Knows that, she wants to get into voice acting, so this is great to
Speaker:work with that corporate voice.
Speaker:For me, it was, this is L.
Speaker:A., this is a gig that I haven't heard before, and this is something
Speaker:that is brand new to me, and I wonder how my, being myself, contributes to
Speaker:this, and it's been paying off yeah.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:So I'm sorry to answer your question.
Speaker:It wasn't truly intimidating, but it was intimidating in the sense that at
Speaker:first we did not know where the story was going to go because we did not know
Speaker:where our users were going to take us.
Speaker:Our, yeah, our users, we call them MPCs, your audience, that one audience member.
Speaker:But as we got to rehearse and go through the different scenarios that could be
Speaker:thrown at us, that confidence grew.
Speaker:And it's exactly.
Speaker:I'm really interested in this concept not that you haven't done a good job
Speaker:explaining it, but would you guys have like a sample of something?
Speaker:It's much easier if you would just...
Speaker:That you possibly can explain to us.
Speaker:Yes, we are here to reshape the reality, and that's what we do
Speaker:for our NPCs with our audience, so we can dive right into it.
Speaker:Yeah, please, go ahead.
Speaker:We'd be more than happy to hear.
Speaker:Yeah, totally.
Speaker:Okay, I think it's time, I think it's time, okay, boss is on the way, boss
Speaker:is on the way, okay, he likes things perfect, he likes things in order,
Speaker:he likes things neat okay, wait a second, oh gosh, I'm effing up who
Speaker:put the Q tips in the cookie jar?
Speaker:That is not fun!
Speaker:Oh, okay, I'm gonna fire front desk, okay okay, you got your pen,
Speaker:you got your paper, alright, okay, calm down whoosah, you got this,
Speaker:boss walks in, what do you do?
Speaker:Alright, go sulky.
Speaker:Boss!
Speaker:Boss!
Speaker:Too dramatic.
Speaker:Bring it back.
Speaker:Okay, one more time.
Speaker:Okay, boss walks in.
Speaker:Be more, more stoic.
Speaker:Boss!
Speaker:You've made it.
Speaker:That's weird and I think slightly unprofessional.
Speaker:Just go more, more casual.
Speaker:More, more loose.
Speaker:Boss!
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:No, that's not it.
Speaker:That's not it.
Speaker:I'm not ready.
Speaker:I'm not ready.
Speaker:I'm not ready.
Speaker:Okay, boss.
Speaker:Just come in.
Speaker:Just come in, boss.
Speaker:I know you're out there.
Speaker:Come on in.
Speaker:Boss.
Speaker:Welcome back.
Speaker:So good to see you.
Speaker:We have so been looking forward to you coming back.
Speaker:We are actually just in time for our meeting.
Speaker:Johan, is the boardroom ready?
Speaker:Boardroom is ready.
Speaker:Right now.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:Then boss, please follow me.
Speaker:So how was your trip?
Speaker:Did you have a good time?
Speaker:You look quite tan.
Speaker:You look very nice.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Always looks nice.
Speaker:Always look nice.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And then at that point, the NPC would chime in with some stuff
Speaker:and we just get the story going.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Oh, start moving there.
Speaker:So like this is what you were talking about earlier when someone's
Speaker:being picked from the crowd.
Speaker:And this, whatever that they're doing is actually then part of the story itself.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So when he said boss come in, he's actually bringing in.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So the audience member is the boss.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So I'm setting up the environment.
Speaker:That the, I guess the external audience is seeing and then I am
Speaker:physically going out and fetching that.
Speaker:And it's not another cast member.
Speaker:This is like a random person.
Speaker:This is not a plan.
Speaker:This is not a plan.
Speaker:And then they're brought into our reality.
Speaker:So the production is pretty much a day in the life of a CEO.
Speaker:And this person from the audience is brought in to make executive, like
Speaker:very important executive decisions.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:After they've been away on a business trip for six months or something like that.
Speaker:This is pretty interesting.
Speaker:Can you guys tell us a little bit about the the production?
Speaker:You know who oh, sorry, obviously you do.
Speaker:Who who wrote it and who directed it?
Speaker:Who what is the team behind this?
Speaker:Alright, we have Nico as our director.
Speaker:And we have Peace as our writer of the production.
Speaker:And, honestly, this is their baby.
Speaker:And pretty much, I think, Peace was just sitting in a WeWorks.
Speaker:And he just came up with this epiphany where it's like, what if people could
Speaker:just take control of their lives?
Speaker:But not the one they're living in but just to control someone else's life control
Speaker:another person's fate pretty much You know be that boss that you feel like you're not
Speaker:sometimes the metaverse but in real life.
Speaker:It's like the real life metaverse.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:It's like Grand Theft Auto about real life, but don't shoot me Have you guys
Speaker:ever been completely thrown off by an audience member That is my job not to be
Speaker:and we are our rehearsals are extensive now we've heard some wild comments what
Speaker:how do you practice for something that essentially has no solid script because
Speaker:it's For the most part, it's based on what this audience member does, right?
Speaker:So as an actor, how do you prepare yourself to, cause it's not, it is
Speaker:improv, but there's also a story to it.
Speaker:So like a story, there's also a structure to it.
Speaker:It's not a solid script.
Speaker:Yes, but there is a structure like a.
Speaker:of where the story needs to go.
Speaker:So whenever the improv or the NPC is starting to go off a little bit, we always
Speaker:have strategies in place to bring it back.
Speaker:This is the path we're supposed to be in.
Speaker:So we've had a lot of beta testers, just people that come in for rehearsals
Speaker:without no knowledge of what we're doing.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:They just throw stuff at us and that really helps us like get a lot of tools
Speaker:in our tool belt to do you find to be more engaging than possibly other scripts?
Speaker:Because it's always different every time.
Speaker:Yes, it is 100%.
Speaker:Yes, the audience is getting something new every day.
Speaker:Every weekend, every Friday through Sunday.
Speaker:No two shows are the same.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:It's pretty much what we call like bare bones script.
Speaker:It's here's your few lines and then rest is just character development
Speaker:on your part and go from there.
Speaker:I have to know how my...
Speaker:My co star is working Jetsa.
Speaker:I have to know her as her character and how I respond as my character.
Speaker:So it's that kind of relationship.
Speaker:How do you find the chemistry between you guys on stage?
Speaker:I think it works out given that we're pulling from our backgrounds
Speaker:that, she's already been on the engineering corporate side and I
Speaker:have been on the, kind of showman.
Speaker:I play the secretary in the production for Corporate Dilemma and That kind of
Speaker:ties into guiding people being on top of things, watching for time, and then
Speaker:really corralling what would be the, customers at a zoo is now the audience.
Speaker:I'm corralling everyone along with my, my, my co stars.
Speaker:Yeah, we really have no choice, but to, work on our chemistry because
Speaker:we really have to read each other, not just him and I, but everyone in
Speaker:that room, we have to read each other very well to be able to help us.
Speaker:Get back on track if things start going off a little bit.
Speaker:Do you find it harder because there's not a set in stone script?
Speaker:Maybe in the beginning when we didn't have as many tools in the tool belt,
Speaker:but as we got more rehearsals in and we got more confident, it it's actually
Speaker:very easy to bring it back now.
Speaker:It really is.
Speaker:It's is it easier now because there isn't a set in stone script
Speaker:because you guys have gotten so comfortable with each other?
Speaker:It's because of the, that roadmap that guiding story that we have.
Speaker:We know it by heart at this point that we...
Speaker:Just bring it in second nature.
Speaker:So since you two are obviously like, you have to be pretty good at
Speaker:improv to to land a role like this.
Speaker:And there are a lot of people who listen to our show who are not only
Speaker:in the industry, but also might want to get into the industry.
Speaker:Do you guys have any tips for them on like how they might be able
Speaker:to improve their improv to become at this insane level where each
Speaker:show is like literally different?
Speaker:I guess one exercise you could do is just...
Speaker:Just pay attention to the people around you there, like
Speaker:literally watch how they move.
Speaker:Watch what they do, pick up on their notions and just
Speaker:throw it into a character.
Speaker:Or if someone says bat, what's the first thing don't think just
Speaker:say man, just something like that.
Speaker:It's just a lot of people watching, being a creep and like quick association, just.
Speaker:Improv is a muscle you work on, but it's a reactionary muscle versus a
Speaker:training, conscious thinking muscle.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Agreed.
Speaker:One question I would want to ask you guys is, I'm sure you guys know
Speaker:this, but the rule in theater is nobody knows something's going wrong
Speaker:unless you bring attention to it.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:How did you guys overcome that with it being a live, completely
Speaker:different show every single night?
Speaker:I think it might have been easier for us because since we didn't have these set
Speaker:lines that we had to stick to or deliver.
Speaker:Even if someone missed a cue or something, it wasn't necessarily
Speaker:that something went wrong.
Speaker:It's just that we need to be aware to, to help them get back on track.
Speaker:So you feel like because there wasn't a script there, it was to your benefit to
Speaker:make sure the audience didn't Exactly.
Speaker:We weren't boxed in, and if something did go wrong, like she said, the
Speaker:audience wouldn't know, because we're already trained to go with that route.
Speaker:And guide it back to the storyline.
Speaker:Like, how long is this play going to be running?
Speaker:Give us some more information or possibly where our audience can find it.
Speaker:Yeah, so this is an episodic play.
Speaker:Episode 1 debuted October 28th and ran for 5 weeks.
Speaker:We are restarting in January with episode 2.
Speaker:Episode 1 will still be available for showings for those interested.
Speaker:Just check out personasentertainment.
Speaker:com Personas Geek, you spell it.
Speaker:Personas, P E R S O N A S, Entertainment, one word.
Speaker:Entertainment.
Speaker:com, and they can go there and get tickets, or and check it out.
Speaker:They can learn more about the cast, and the crew, and all that good stuff.
Speaker:But yeah first weeks for the first episode, and starting production on
Speaker:the second one and there's already starting on the second production.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I guess the second episode.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So I guess the first one was pretty popular.
Speaker:Yes, so we incorporated one NPC or one individual from the audience.
Speaker:And now we're working on incorporating two.
Speaker:So with each episode more NPCs are going to be involved in the story.
Speaker:Until it's only NPCs.
Speaker:The whole audience is in it.
Speaker:Fully improbable.
Speaker:Now we're just watching the audience now, it's switched.
Speaker:You guys are just going to be masters by the end of this.
Speaker:Where does so this is here in LA, correct?
Speaker:Yes, in Beverly Hills.
Speaker:Is the set, I assume, is not some regular theater?
Speaker:Oh, no, it's not.
Speaker:It's not on a stage.
Speaker:It is actually pretty much a corporate office.
Speaker:It's an office building.
Speaker:It's you walk in.
Speaker:Oh, it's a real office?
Speaker:You go through the doors.
Speaker:Where's the audience sit?
Speaker:The audience is standing around designated audience area.
Speaker:But they're standing around it's like Dark Knight the Joker
Speaker:standing around they're all...
Speaker:It's like Truman Show, you're just watching someone's life.
Speaker:Oh, this is incredible.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It must be very limited capacity, right?
Speaker:Yes, based on the fire marshal, yes.
Speaker:Yeah a lot of times that, I guess that's part of the reason that it helps you
Speaker:not helps, but I guess tickets go fast.
Speaker:I suppose tickets do go fast, especially like when we're working with our marketing
Speaker:to push more of a social media presence.
Speaker:And right now it's been a lot of help from friends and family and plus that they're
Speaker:telling their friends and family members.
Speaker:So it's been.
Speaker:You guys are already on the episode 2.
Speaker:Was coming out with a second episode, was that part of the reaction
Speaker:from the first one that made you say, oh, we gotta do this again?
Speaker:Yeah, people loved it.
Speaker:It was something very different.
Speaker:Everyone always has something very positive to say.
Speaker:We do exit interviews once they're done and they say they go in with
Speaker:a plan and then once they're in that seat and they feel like, yes,
Speaker:I'm the center of the action and everything just goes out the window
Speaker:and they just have a really fun time.
Speaker:How many tickets do you sell per show?
Speaker:What's the capacity?
Speaker:Yeah, how many tickets are, do you know how many tickets are available per show?
Speaker:About 25.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:So it's it's more intimate.
Speaker:Yeah, it's very intimate.
Speaker:It's more intimate compared to the giant crown.
Speaker:Even if the space was bigger, I think that if we had a huge audience, a
Speaker:lot of the effect would take away.
Speaker:It would be lost.
Speaker:I feel a little cold.
Speaker:The whole point is for the audience to be immersed.
Speaker:It's hard to immerse 100 people.
Speaker:From way back in boonies.
Speaker:And you don't want to have a megaphone, be like, alright!
Speaker:This is what we're doing.
Speaker:So the action, it takes place in, in a boardroom and the audience is
Speaker:filling in as internal affairs for the company or something like that.
Speaker:So if we have a huge audience, then that kind of, loses the effect.
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:This sounds really cool.
Speaker:Guys, if you want to go check it out, you'll have to go online
Speaker:and get yourself some tickets.
Speaker:Please do.
Speaker:You two, thank you so much for being on the show.
Speaker:We appreciate it.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you so much for inviting us.
Speaker:Yeah, where can where can they follow you?
Speaker:You guys have any social media plugs you want to put on?
Speaker:Sure, yeah I'm forever shy number four, E V E R underscore S H I.
Speaker:Is that on, Instagram?
Speaker:That's on my Instagram.
Speaker:Okay, how about you?
Speaker:I am at...
Speaker:Yetza, Y E T Z A dot G L E Z, that is Gonzalez, abbreviated.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's a dot.
Speaker:And that's also Instagram.
Speaker:That's Instagram.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Or look at the two smartest people in the entire universe.
Speaker:They've dominated science and medical.
Speaker:These two are two dangerous to have.
Speaker:And once they both win Oscars and Emmys, it's about a wrap.
Speaker:Everybody else is going to be out of a job.
Speaker:Thank you guys.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Guys, thanks for listening.
Speaker:This is Film Center, your number one place for studio news.
Speaker:My name is Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And we're here with?
Speaker:Jessa Gonzalez.
Speaker:Shai Johnson.
Speaker:And we'll tune in to you next time.
Speaker:See y'all.
Speaker:See ya.
Speaker:See ya.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at FilmCenterNews.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:Sign up for our newsletter and get the Hollywood trade straight to you.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next week for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been Film Center.
