TGT 032522 === [00:00:00] Welcome to the get together [00:00:04] Joe White: all over the world. There are people thinking about and creating a future of live digital events and performances. They're [00:00:09] Jess Ryan: disparate innovators who are artists, tech, founders on profits and investors, and they need a place to gather and share ideas. That's what the guest gather is all about. [00:00:19] Jess Ryan: I'm just a theater creator who loves bringing people together around technology art and the inner, [00:00:25] Joe White: and I'm Joe, a tech and media startup bet with over 10 years of experience growing and [00:00:29] Jess Ryan: operating business. Thanks for getting together with us. Let's dig in So we [00:00:43] Jess Ryan: had an amazing conversation with, uh, Kate Baldwin for this week's episode. How do we, his treasure Milwaukee's treasure Milwaukee's treasure Broadway's treasure Milwaukee's treasure, our treasure Maestro. [00:00:54] Joe White: She's just a, she's a treasure [00:00:56] Jess Ryan: chest, I guess. I know what I'm getting her for her amplify [00:01:00] gift, opening night, gift opening and closing night, get a treasure chest. [00:01:04] Jess Ryan: Um, so we were talking to Kate and I wanted to bring this up to see what you thought we got talking about all the different kinds of performances you can see live. Um, which was really fun. I feel like we haven't actually had that exact conversation before. Uh, but um, we got talking a little bit about what it's like to see comedy live and particularly when a comedian is working out their, their new set that they're trying to do. [00:01:28] Jess Ryan: And I have you, you didn't say in the conversation, have you gotten to see a comedian do that before? [00:01:33] Joe White: I have never, I'm actually going to the comedy cellar funny enough this Saturday and I have never been, and I've only been to maybe one or two live comedy things. One of them was like a taping for a John Oliver thing. [00:01:44] Joe White: So that was pretty polished at that point. Yeah. Very fun. Very cool. Not the same as what you're [00:01:49] Jess Ryan: describing. Yeah, no, totally. Um, well I was saying, I can't wait to hear about your comedy store adventure because, uh, the reason I had asked Kate about it, uh, in terms of what it's like to be [00:02:00] an audience member at a different kind of performance than maybe we're used to in the theater is I saw Chris rock in LA. [00:02:08] Jess Ryan: So I've never been to comedy here in New York, but, um, you know, by coastal sometimes. And, uh, I actually go to comedy pretty frequently in LA and I was at, also at the comedy store or something. I don't know. Um, in the Largo, I wasn't at the Largo. No, no, not at Largo. Oh, the Largo is amazing. Um, we just went on a random evening and we were in the main room, whatever it's called and Chris rock dropped in unannounced and he was working out what became his, a Netflix special that I'll have to go find the name of, and I'll put it in the show notes and I'd never seen it before. [00:02:42] Jess Ryan: I'd never seen this working material out and he just. Bombed like everywhere. And he just kept going and just kept trying things like he, it was like deliver the bit. No one laughs goes [00:03:00] back to his little notebook and then goes for the next one. And like my stomach fucking hurt because I come from the theater, like the theater. [00:03:07] Jess Ryan: And we talk a little bit about this with Kate in this episode where like, you don't get on stage until you are the best that John Oliver taping. Right. You are ready. You're so ready. You're ready to let it go and go with the unexpected and to see someone embrace an intentionality behind bombing. I I'd never seen it before. [00:03:31] Jess Ryan: I went through a lot of feelings, but I ultimately like enjoyed it so much. Getting to watch a performance in that guy. [00:03:39] Joe White: Yeah. It almost sounds like, like the way in the reason, like I, and I think a lot of people enjoy horror movies where it's like, oh yeah. Like the feeling of being scared. It's like, it's just the heightened emotion kind of whichever direction it's coming from. [00:03:50] Joe White: Whether it's sort of like vicarious embarrassment, I guess, is a little bit of what you're describing with this Chris rock thing. Um, or like, yeah, like fear of being unprepared like that, just like wealth of [00:04:00] emotion, all of a sudden rushing towards you and then like finding comfort inside of it, realizing that you're actually okay. [00:04:05] Joe White: And then you're like, okay, I can actually enjoy this a little bit. I like this like rush of feeling. And like Chris rockets is like sharing a little bit of that with you. Um, I'm assuming he's feeling some version of that totally up on stage, but he's just like cool as a cucumber, cause he's done it a million [00:04:21] Jess Ryan: times. [00:04:21] Jess Ryan: The with live digital and we talk about like a digital audiences experience, what I think is relevant and just was so interesting. And I cannot wait to hear what you all think after you listen to this conversation is what happened in that moment for Chris rock and seeing this new kind of performance was that I had to recalibrate. [00:04:39] Jess Ryan: The measures of what was enjoyable for me as an audience member and what was good and what was bad. Like the things that I have come to understand as an audience member of stage work in a theater or a concert hall or whatever different measurement system than watching Chris rock try and bomb. And I feel like that's really [00:05:00] relevant to digital audiences. [00:05:02] Joe White: Yeah. Do you have any theories on, like, what is the, what is the new currency of that sort of interaction? Like what am I as a digital audience member, sort of either looking for learning to value or taking away from that experience. [00:05:16] Jess Ryan: I wonder if it's going to end up centering around connection and this, by the way is not one of those moments where we like wrote a note to each other to write and talk about this. [00:05:24] Jess Ryan: We have never talked about this, that, that, because that's the thing you can do that you can't do in the same way in person that like that, the currency, I wonder if connection will be the currency. Rather than just the feeling or emotion you get from watching the thing on the screen. What do you think? [00:05:41] Joe White: That's my brain also went to connection, like, like that exact word, which is funny. Cause we were early today. Deriving the word connection is getting not much of anything. Cool. Um, but yeah, because you're not like you're not feeling the same type of energy as if you're sitting in that room with other people, listening to them [00:06:00] also not laugh. [00:06:01] Joe White: Right. You're a little by yourself, uh, in that moment. Um, so like what gets communicated between audience members, uh, and what gets communicated between audience and performer in that moment. And there has to be some way of connecting through the screen and then between people who are both audience and performers, I don't know what it is. [00:06:21] Joe White: But it's what I want when I'm sitting there. [00:06:23] Jess Ryan: Hmm. Something to munch on. Everyone's something to munch on. Sounds like the fodder for a future episode as well. Uh, so, all right, well, we're going to stop talking and let you get to the good stuff, which of course is Kate Baldwin. You know, her, you love her. [00:06:38] Jess Ryan: She's a two time Tony and four time drama desk award nominee, the [00:06:43] Joe White: star of bridges of Madison county at Axlerod performing arts center [00:06:47] Jess Ryan: and the director of amplified 20, 22. And we have her on our podcast. She's in demand and she just spent an hour with us. Well, I know, uh, so get into it and we hope you enjoy getting [00:07:00] together with Kate Baldwin. [00:07:14] Joe White: Yeah. Um, Jess and I find ourselves always talking about the idea that. All the most fun, interesting, creative, crazy things can only happen. Live like the synchronicity of bringing people together, live creates like this different energy than something pre recorded this different energy than, um, you know, something that's not live. [00:07:36] Joe White: And I was curious what your favorite live moment is, or I guess was like the best coolest, most interesting, or the thing that stuck with you that could have only happened because it was live. [00:07:47] Kate Baldwin: Well, I immediately think about like mishaps, right? I think about mistakes or things that didn't go perfectly. [00:07:52] Kate Baldwin: And the person didn't like how, how it went. And there was a formative moment for me and, uh, uh, [00:08:00] college, I think I was at Northwestern in Chicago and first I don't remember what the event was, but I went to go see Patti LuPone and Patti LuPone concert or something. She was performing in Chicago and she, so this was mid nineties and, uh, she. [00:08:15] Kate Baldwin: Saying, being alive from company as her act one closer. And when she did the final bit, she didn't quite nail the note and that, but she finished the song and the curtain came down and we all went off to intermission and she had given an incredible first act to her. He was so excited and she came, we came here for the second act. [00:08:36] Kate Baldwin: She was like, I didn't like how I sang that song. I'm going to do it again. Oh my God. I remember the second time she just nailed it. We're all like. You know, so [00:08:47] Kate Baldwin: there's that kind of like, um, I guess the thing that happens live is a person who's in the moment of solving a problem of, of having a human experience right in front of you. Um, and [00:09:00] that lets you into who they are and what they're made of. [00:09:03] Kate Baldwin: And you got, you get to see a glimmer of, uh, of a person who's who you say, you feel like, oh, I care about them and I, I want it, you know, I want to love them more, you know, if that's possible, I don't think I could love to pay the phone anymore. But in that moment I did, I love that the [00:09:20] Joe White: humanity, like the reality of the moment, you're like, oh, she's a human too. [00:09:24] Joe White: She's amazing. And she's a human. This is incredible. Yeah. Well, [00:09:26] Kate Baldwin: I also remember another mishap that happened on stage. I saw a production of, um, Noel coward play, uh, Um, present laughter it's present. Laughter. And um, she came through the door. No, he came through the door. Allison Janney was standing on stage. [00:09:40] Kate Baldwin: He comes through the door and his smoking jacket and he slammed the door and right behind him, he didn't see it, but the right behind him, the doorframe started to creep and falls and like, and come apart and she's looking at him and she can see behind him what's happening. But he's just looking at her expression, like what the, what, what what's wrong, you know? [00:09:57] Kate Baldwin: And so he finally gets [00:10:00] wise to what her expression is, even though he's in the middle of saying what he's saying. And he, then he turned around and he ripped, whatever was falling off of the doorframe. He just tore it off. And he opened the door from which he just came and he threw the block of wood through and then he screamed and next time pay the mortgage and the whole place went crazy. [00:10:20] Kate Baldwin: And uh, everybody just, just loved that kind of thing. So, you know, it's somebody again, it's like the, quick-witted the thinking on your feet kind of. Moment that happens, uh, that happens live right. [00:10:32] Jess Ryan: I love that lens of mishaps or that cause like one of the reasons we decided to start asking people this, other than we talk about it constantly is like in the beginning, particularly of the pandemic convincing folks to do their digital shows live was really hard. [00:10:48] Jess Ryan: Like it was just really, really hard and it was hard for us to explain. Why they should, because it was something we knew intuitively, but not necessarily how to explain to [00:11:00] someone who had no history with like incorporating a digital audience into their work, you know, like no touchpoint and mishaps. I mean, it's also, it feels so specific, which is probably also why I like it so much. [00:11:11] Jess Ryan: But the idea of mishaps in a live moment is such a good, clear, um, answer to that question. Why live because your digital audience deserves to have the same communion or opportunity for communion that your in-person audience has. And when those mishaps happen, I, I, I was thinking also of a college moment where I was doing girl barefoot in the park and I was playing the mom at like 20 years old. [00:11:37] Jess Ryan: Cause that's how we roll. And we were like doing the scene with the, the husband who, you know, she's the mother-in-law who says. Sat down on the couch. There's like a choreographed, you know, funny can sit down on the couch. And my hand just went straight into Rusty's crotch, just like 100 and stayed there, just like on his crotch. [00:11:54] Jess Ryan: And it was just like, uh, it was just a mishap and it happened. And then we were stuck and then, you know, [00:12:00] like the laughing starts and the audience, and then we're trying not to laugh. And that moment, because we only had that opportunity because it was live right. If it was prerecorded, if we were doing this on a screen, you, you don't have that moment. [00:12:12] Jess Ryan: And it was so special and it was this communion between everybody not to mention, you know, the fact that it was just one of those, like you're explaining with Franklin cello at one of those great moments in theater where you're like, how are they going to go on? Okay. We figure it out. It makes me think about [00:12:26] Kate Baldwin: like, um, blooper reels. [00:12:27] Kate Baldwin: How many times do you love seeing like, ah, Slick action, movie, whatever it is, the Avengers, you know, we're, we're all about Marvel movies here in my house with my two boys. But like, so, but if you get the outtakes afterwards and it's, you know, Chris Pratt being an idiot or, you know, somebody cracking up or like we live for that, you, we want to find what's surprising. [00:12:48] Kate Baldwin: I mean, that's, that's what, um, what the best theater at least, I mean, I'm, I'll talk about theater and I'll talk about musical theater because that's what I have done for 25 years. But, um, we want it, [00:13:00] we love it when musical surprise us. Right. We're surprised. And that, and that happens live, you know, and you have to like give space and give room for, for the spark of surprise to, to enter, uh, the, you know, the proceedings and in whichever way, whether it's destruction or joy or both. [00:13:23] Joe White: It's so it's so human. I remember someone telling me about like the best way to teach kids, how to learn something is to kind of surprise them to almost like trick them a bit, to be like, wait, that's real. Or like that's a, that that works or that's true. And like, it like Sears into their memories of like, oh, I learned that thing because it was so surprising, so shocking, so awesome. [00:13:42] Joe White: And I feel like it's the same bit of humanity that comes into play across both of those, those circumstances, like live theater and our enjoyment of it in our, our craving for that humanity inside of those live moments and like the memories that stick with us because of them [00:13:55] Jess Ryan: with all of that, what probably made the pandemic and all of us [00:14:00] arts people going on to screens really hard, maybe less so for theater people than all the other arts, but was that, um, The hallway narrowed for what, the opportunity of what could happen live because we weren't in the same room. [00:14:16] Jess Ryan: I was just, as I was listening to recount all that I was thinking about, like, when you take away actually being able to interact, you know, any other way, but through your voice and your conversation, like it, it had to affect. Scary, especially for people who had like, not theater people who had never had to be a host or co-host with another person. [00:14:36] Jess Ryan: And maybe didn't feel like there was enough opportunity, I guess, to, uh, for the unexpected to really take what they felt like. Was it that big of a risk at amplify? You know, the concert that you're directing, that's coming up, you're going to have, you're going to be on stage and there's gonna be other people on stage. [00:14:52] Jess Ryan: And there's going to be audio there's ton, like exponential opportunity for the unexpected. Um, but I don't think fully digital [00:15:00] theater, uh, and entertainment is going away like fully remote. Um, and I'll be interested to see how people start to solve for that to widen the opportunity of unexpected. You know, now that we, it's not just panic, panic, go, God, let's just put something on the screen. [00:15:17] Kate Baldwin: Yeah. As we sort of get more sophisticated, um, about the, when you, when you widen, um, how you can think of. Uh, communicating with people and getting the message across. And it's not just in person in a room together and it's not just over screen, but it's both, you know, it can be the best of both worlds, I suppose. [00:15:40] Kate Baldwin: It could also be the worst of both worlds. [00:15:42] Joe White: Oh no, I didn't think of that into the spectrum this whole time. How did you [00:15:46] Kate Baldwin: do, I sure don't want it to be boring. I sure want to err, on the side of, you know, too much and, and excitement and, um, uh, you know, and the possibility possibility for, you know, lots of surprises, but, uh, [00:16:00] but yeah, I'm curious to see how, how it will work too. [00:16:03] Kate Baldwin: I I'm just as much of a, of an amateur in the true sense of the world word in that I love. To try it, um, and, and, uh, and learn about, um, how to all work we'll work together. Um, you know, if it's, uh, you know, worst, worst case scenario, it's like an awards show, um, kind of set up with, you know, going back and forth between what's happening, live in versus what's happening in the digital platform. [00:16:29] Kate Baldwin: And I'm, maybe I'm a weirdo, but I like award shows. I think watching the golden Globes is really fun. And so that's how I've sort of been describing amplify to people. So it'll have that kind of feeling that kind of hopefully, um, an inclusive and, um, warm and friendly feeling to it where you feel like you're being, um, Uh, catered to presented, to included whether you're at a table in the front row or in the back row or at your home, or in another time zone, you know? [00:17:00] Oh, [00:17:00] Joe White: another time zone. Wait. So are there other inspirations that, that have been sort of coming into play for you as you, as you think about amplifying, do you think about these, these two worlds coming together? [00:17:09] Kate Baldwin: I mean, that's really just a model that, um, I I'm playing with, you know, or that I, when I think about it in my conversations with you guys, um, it's been about, you know, uh, the best, the best awards show vibe I could think of. [00:17:22] Kate Baldwin: Maybe it's also because, um, I attended the Kennedy center honors this past December and getting a glimpse of like how a show that was put on for the people in the, in the space and then seeing how it was all cut together later and how they rearranged everything and cut it in half lengthwise. We were in those seats from 7:00 PM until 11:00 PM. [00:17:46] Joe White: Okay, what did they cut out upon? Like second viewing? What did you notice? Anything gone? Half [00:17:51] Kate Baldwin: of everybody's songs? No. Yeah, half of it has got a lot of it too. Uh, was a bit of waiting around [00:18:00] for, um, uh, cameras to get set up, uh, for, you know, I think smokey Robinson started his speech over a couple of times. [00:18:06] Kate Baldwin: I think Goldie Hawn also messed up. The biggest lesson of the night was Stevie wonder started. And this was, it was, he was a huge surprise. So the curtain goes up there, Stevie wonder, we all go crazy. And then Steven goes, Stevie, I'm going to call him Stevie. Mr. Wonder, Mr. Wonder says, you know what? I didn't like how that started. [00:18:25] Kate Baldwin: Let's start over. And it brought the curtain down and he started over because he didn't like how it sounded. And we were all like, we'll wait for you, Mr. Wonder. Please come back and continue. But we had to wait, you know, five minutes, which seems like a long time to, uh, to have everybody, um, recalibrate their instruments and, and him to hear what he needed to hear. [00:18:44] Kate Baldwin: And, uh, and that's just the way it goes. And those types of things as a theater person who, you know, when you have the downbeat of the show and you know that the curtain is going to come down at, you know, 10 35, when that kind of like interruption happens, [00:19:00] my, you know, my heart starts racing. I'm like, oh, something's wrong, something's wrong, but it's not, it's not, it's just, he's taking the time to do it the way he wants it to be done. [00:19:09] Kate Baldwin: And he can, because it's, it'll all be edited together later and make it look all beautiful and seamless. But you don't realize when you're in the moment, just how much is, uh, crafted after the fact. And that was a real education for me. Just being there then. [00:19:25] Jess Ryan: It makes me think about how different and Excel and how much I love, how different the experience of being an audience member is across so many different mediums and formats and genres, as well as being a performer, I think. [00:19:38] Jess Ryan: Right? Cause I, when you tell the story about the Kennedy center, I think I've been watching, I've been going to artist and tapings on PBS for a really long time. And that has happened several times. And I was just recalling as I was listening to you, the difference, even being an audience member, watching Rufus Wainwright and mark Ronson in the church of Ascension down on 12th street. [00:19:58] Jess Ryan: And they just started their [00:20:00] opening number over cause he asked someone, missed a camera and they wanted to do something. And that was just sort of like interesting and cool all the way to seeing, imagine dragons in LA at the Wilsher Ebal. And they had just put on this giant show with these crazy fucking Japanese drums. [00:20:14] Jess Ryan: And they, there, they were insane. I never had seen them and, and they just wanted to do, uh, whatever that big song was. One more time. And they did the whole thing again, and like, like the best theater people in the world, you know what I mean? I was like, holy shit. And that being an audience member, getting to witness that level of performance and commitment and joy, and, and then, like you said, getting to see those cameras, it's it's, um, it's just a different experience. [00:20:42] Jess Ryan: It's just not equatable, right? Like you said, with the, like, for instance, theatrical experience where, you know, when the curtain comes up and you know, when it's going to be done, and maybe there's a little bit of variable in between. And, and it makes me think of comedy too. I mean, have you seen a comedy show where someone's working out. [00:20:57] Jess Ryan: Stuff ever. I mean, [00:21:00] [00:21:00] Kate Baldwin: yes. You mean live or [00:21:03] Jess Ryan: live testing out there? Yeah, [00:21:05] Kate Baldwin: we went to go see, um, I'm a huge Eddie Izzard love Eddie ESR and he was working on his knee. It's not new anymore. Gosh, when was this? It'll be 10 [00:21:16] Jess Ryan: years ago, [00:21:19] Kate Baldwin: but we were in union square, uh, at, uh, he had a venue at union square really, really tiny. [00:21:25] Kate Baldwin: And he was lit. He literally had notes in his hand. He was like let's. And he was, you know, making a bit out of it. He was like, let's try this joke. Let's see if this works. And it was all, he loves to talk about history. Um, and so it was all within a historical context. So he would tell a story from history and then he would make some observations about it. [00:21:44] Kate Baldwin: And of course it was witty and funny. And, but it wasn't your, it wasn't, um, uh, it was an unusual. Specifically his kind of brand of humor, um, thing. And so it was a smaller club and it was very, um, Uh, [00:22:00] shabby shaggy, I would say shaggy. He just, he allowed himself to not be slick. He just kind of was, was there. [00:22:06] Kate Baldwin: I was like, Hey, do you guys think this is funny? What do you think? You know? And it was like, we were being invited into his living room as like trusted pals or something, but clearly we had paid to be there. Um, [00:22:15] Jess Ryan: and he didn't trust it, pain pals. And I'm like, in my [00:22:18] Kate Baldwin: mind, he's my best friend, just like Steve or [00:22:23] Joe White: wonder I have an image of him. [00:22:25] Joe White: And I had just like flipping like big notepad pages and be like, yeah, this one, let's try this one. How does everyone feel about this one? Totally. It's funny. That also feels like a thing that, um, that I would like pay to watch, like, or be part of via a live stream in some way, like that sort of moment, or it's like, oh, Hey, like the new norm is workshopping your material digitally with an audience. Well, how much do we love a behind [00:22:48] Kate Baldwin: the scenes kind of story? Whenever, whenever we get a. You know, uh, a chance to look at a documentary about how something was made. We, I find myself excited by that [00:23:00] and you know, it even carries over into like how many shows are there about like make-overs and do overs and like, um, improving whatever it's your house or your self or your home, anything. [00:23:12] Kate Baldwin: Yeah, we love the Cinderella story here and then it says America, you know, um, oh, what was I going to say? Like the making of, oh, it even carries over into like shows that are either. You know, procedural dramas or like set in a hospital or set in a law office or smash set in a Broadway show because we feel like we're getting a behind the scenes glimpse of the drama that goes on in something that maybe if we're not a part of that world, I don't know anything about running a hospital. [00:23:41] Kate Baldwin: Like, but we're getting to see, you know, how, how the, you know, how the sausage is made, you know, behind, behind the scenes. We, we want to see behind the scenes and I love, uh, I love a documentary kind of moment or a, uh, working it out in front of everybody, kind of woman, Amy Schumer's special was so good for that particular reason. [00:23:57] Kate Baldwin: She really let people in, or [00:24:00] at least it seemed that she let people into like how she put together her Netflix special and had a baby at the same time, you know, all that kind of stuff. But [00:24:08] Joe White: I haven't seen this. Oh, it's so good. I've heard anything about it. You describing it that way? I was like, wait, this sounds amazing. [00:24:15] Joe White: I haven't heard of this. I feel [00:24:17] Kate Baldwin: like we watched it pre pandemic though. So like maybe it was three or four years ago. How old is her baby now? I can't remember. Um, I don't know. Uh, she, yeah, it's a great, you should check it out. Amy Schumer. [00:24:28] Jess Ryan: Yeah. I feel like MTV also, we referenced them a lot right now because I kind of got to that point that you're making that people love a behind the scenes look really early and I admire them because they incorporated it into the broadcast creative. [00:24:45] Jess Ryan: So like the MTV movie awards, right? Like, I mean, this was much later they'd been doing it for a long time, but like Rachel bloom, I think in her tiny hat as the. Stage host. Right. And they, in the broadcast, that was the first time you were in those MTV movie awards, [00:25:00] you were seeing the front of the stage and the thing that was happening. [00:25:02] Jess Ryan: But then they were integrating that backstage look live into the production of that live event. And it let you see what was going on backstage made you feel like you were invited into, like, you're just saying with Amy Schumer, um, and was part of a creative process. And I feel like we steal from that all the time when we're talking about like live events and, uh, shows particularly shows everything's a [00:25:26] Joe White: remix. [00:25:26] Joe White: Yeah. Well, it also gets you, you [00:25:30] Kate Baldwin: get to see your favorite person or the person that you came to see perform, but you get to see them in a candid moment. You could just see them, you know, maybe with their guard down or interact with somebody, uh, in a different way. Right. So you get to see not just the polished presentation of like, oh, I'm accepting an award or whatever, but you get to see them joke around and get a, get a sense of who they really, really are, what they really do. [00:25:51] Jess Ryan: Yeah, which is what the internet sort of always been, I've been best at, I think really, you know, or done better than any other medium is giving you the [00:26:00] ability to do that. What do you, what, what do you, what does it feeling like right now to be you? I admire you because you're like doing these two huge things. [00:26:09] Jess Ryan: Jumping back into live theater on a stage for the first time, you know, without us being able to do our work for two years, which is. Huge and scary I'm sure. And all the things you're about to tell us, and then jumping into this hybrid, you know, concert benefit concert for Maestra. Um, actually have a third thing to do you, what else are you doing? [00:26:31] Jess Ryan: Oh my God. [00:26:32] Kate Baldwin: Uh, I created, uh, a one hour, um, program, uh, that, uh, was born out of an idea that I had to help my hometown theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Um, I'd been in talks with, uh, that theater called the skylight music theater, um, all year, last year. Um, and saying, how can I help in a time when you're not allowed to produce any theater? [00:26:53] Kate Baldwin: Right. They said, we'll come to a concert and we'll, we'll film it and we'll stream it from our stage. And I said, great. And then as [00:27:00] we got to developing it, I thought, why don't we just, why don't we add to this concert idea? So Georgia state and I went there in September and we did 12 songs on their stage for an invited audience. [00:27:14] Kate Baldwin: And they all said, On the stage and we turned the cameras around and we shot the beautiful Cabot theater as the backdrop behind me. So they're empty seats, but it's, it all looks like it's fashioned after a European, a Viennese opera house. So it looks just gorgeous. And so Georgia played and we hired a guitarist and we did set a 12 songs and I did my sort of a version of my cabaret act. [00:27:35] Kate Baldwin: And then a month after that, I went back and I did a documentary day about, uh, what it was like to grow up. Where I did. And I interviewed my teachers and I stood in front of my elementary school and talked about learning songs for the first time I had taught, must've been in front of my voice teacher's house. [00:27:52] Kate Baldwin: And I talked about her and I, um, went back to my high school and taught a master class and just on performance for the high school students. I invited [00:28:00] those students to come sing with me and my concert. And, um, I do ed with a local actor who lives there and works there and who I had taught in a masterclass serendipitously in New York at one point. [00:28:11] Kate Baldwin: So I started trying to make the connections to my hometown, sort of with the emphasis of like art can happen anywhere. Because I think if this pandemic has taught us anything, it's that people want access. You don't have to necessarily have your butt in a seat in a, in New York to experience, uh, with the art that's being made, the, the, what is, what is being created. [00:28:35] Kate Baldwin: And so when I, when we talk about access, you know, I started thinking to myself, well, let's make this special. Uh, I call it a special, I must make this program, uh, for, for everyone and for, and anyone can, can stream it from, um, from this, the skylights website. And I'm hoping that we'll have it released within a month. [00:28:55] Kate Baldwin: We are so close to having it all done, but I've titled it. Broadway comes home. [00:29:00] And, um, my idea then is to have it, uh, shown and it's a fundraiser for the theater. So all proceeds, all ticket sales will go to helping skylight and, uh, it's been a real labor of love, uh, for me to, to be a producer on it and to write it and create it. [00:29:18] Kate Baldwin: And then I'm hopeful that maybe, uh, someone will see it and want to make it into a series and we'll do Broadway comes home for. Gosh, Henry or a Mitty Gonzalez, you name it, like get all the people who, you know, still have ties to their hometown and, um, ask them to go home and do park documentary park concert, and, uh, celebrate where they came from. [00:29:37] Kate Baldwin: So that's the other thing, sorry. And of course it, when it rains, it pours guys, right? All converging. Was any of this percolating, you know, two months ago? No. Now we're all on like this barreling towards the end of, uh, end of March, which is when amplify happens [00:29:58] Jess Ryan: on the 28th, like [00:30:00] everything's just over all of a sudden, April 1st, that's really kind of, we just all go back crying to our apartment, but then [00:30:06] Kate Baldwin: we go on spring break and they go and we go to someplace it's sunny. [00:30:14] Jess Ryan: I love that. You're doing that though. I, I know you, you mentioned, we asked you what question you wish people asked you more often and you said, you know, why you love and believe in regional theater? Um, and I, I think about Milwaukee cause I, so I have Joel's at skylight and I have friends who run a brand agency that is headquartered in Milwaukee and they just, you know, I hear about Washington island and like all of these amazing, incredible places. [00:30:40] Jess Ryan: And, um, [00:30:42] Kate Baldwin: And it's the best kept secret. That was so funny. I went back there and, uh, my dance teacher, I stayed at my old dance, teacher's home with her and she picked me up from the airport and I was like, look at it, look at downtown. Now it's so cool. There's like a new, um, art and design college. There's really, the [00:31:00] third ward is really kind of funky and happening and everything she was. [00:31:03] Kate Baldwin: And she said, and it's very affordable to live here too. I was like, this sounds great. And she goes, right. Don't tell anybody don't ruin it. [00:31:13] Kate Baldwin: Don't let anybody in keep it our little secret. I was like, wow. Yeah. So it's fun to go back home and, and rediscover, you know, the, the place where I grew up, but I haven't lived there in almost 30 years. [00:31:25] Kate Baldwin: Um, and, and recognize how cool it is and how many great artists are living there and doing really good work and really cool stuff. Like it's really, I kind of want it to. And get away from the New York or LA or Chicago centric idea that only, you know, that there's talent everywhere, you know, and it doesn't, you know, there's a possibility exists and really talented people are all over. [00:31:52] Kate Baldwin: And so it doesn't matter where you are, you can make something cool. Yeah. It's not one or [00:31:56] Jess Ryan: the other, right. That idea of like the broad, the Broadway. And I feel like I've [00:32:00] told you this story before, and have you ever run, I'm wondering if you've run into this. Like my very first agent in, in New York said, make me a list of shows you want to do where you want to work. [00:32:09] Jess Ryan: It was pretty great. I thought it was really neat cause they wanted to get to know what my goals were. And I came back, it's like Guthrie Papermill, you know, like Ali. And he was like, oh, so I guess you're the regional theater queen like super derisive. And I was like, what are you talking about? These are like the most important theaters in the country. [00:32:26] Jess Ryan: And most of the time, I think they're doing more interesting things than Broadway, you know? And I wonder now that you've made that point. How the internet and all of us being forced into being connected with each other has, has, or will, you know, start to change to [00:32:44] Joe White: de-center New York and LA. And to I actually, it's funny, one of my like good friends, my mentor, and my, my first ever boss, Sebastian may, uh, from Milwaukee, grew up in Milwaukee, moved to Chicago, then moved to New York. [00:32:57] Joe White: That's where he and I worked together many years and is now [00:33:00] back in Milwaukee, he went home. He actually made the move home after I think it was like 20 years worked for the Milwaukee film festival for a bit is doing other fun things now to know him. He's wonderful. Amazing. And he talks so much. Like there was this, uh, you know, with like the Dawn of sort of more people going to college and leaving their small hometowns and going to other cities and then like ending up in New York or LA or Chicago, everyone's sort of gravitating towards those cities because that's where the jobs were. [00:33:27] Joe White: That's where all the youth were moving. And how, and how, like this moment right now, especially for people of his generation is slightly older than I am, um, are like making that conscious effort to be like, why am I in New York city with this tiny thing and this stupid, that, and like, why is it so loud? [00:33:43] Joe White: Like, why am I not back home with like, you know, my family and my friends were there and like the better lifestyle that you can live and the value that I can can now bring back into this world. And, and I loved that story and, and the acceleration that could come from it now, as we are in this digital age, like, [00:34:00] yeah, there's talent and there's interest in people everywhere. [00:34:03] Joe White: Like they don't need to come to New York to be discovered they don't need to come to New York to make it. That's right. You can make it anywhere. And there's amazing pockets of people and have interesting things and interesting stories that are different and going to be different than what you get out of New York or out of LA or out of Chicago. [00:34:20] Joe White: And then we get to hear all those stories. I [00:34:22] Kate Baldwin: agree. And it's somehow really relatable too. Right? Because then you get people be like, well, I, that's where I grew up and she's doing a thing, but you know, that I could do too. And so it's, it's more connective. It's more, um, inclusive. It's more, I don't know. [00:34:39] Kate Baldwin: It's it's, I, it makes me feel better. It doesn't make it instead of, um, you know, it makes me feel like we all have ha are more alike than we are different. And in this. Our country needs to recognize that we are more alike than different and that we all want the same [00:35:00] things because it's so easy. We're so easily torn apart. [00:35:03] Kate Baldwin: Aren't we we're so easily pitted against one another. And I just, it makes me scared and it makes me sad and I want to do something to connect us back together. And this is the way sort of that I came up with using what humble skills I have, you know, cause I, I'm not a politician and I'm not a scientist and I'm not a doctor. [00:35:24] Kate Baldwin: And I, you know, I sing songs and that's, you know, what I've been trained to do. And I, what I love to do and I don't want, I don't want to. Talk ill of it, but I recognize where it is on like the, you know, the survival scale. You know what I mean? If there is, yeah, yeah. [00:35:40] Joe White: You're not saving lives, but you're making it worth living. That's nice. [00:35:44] Kate Baldwin: And, but if the apocalypse comes, I think I do remember enough from the girl Scouts, what would make a fire, but I'm not gonna be able to fix your car or [00:35:53] Joe White: they'll be no gas anyway. [00:35:57] Kate Baldwin: I'm pretty sure I could carry some heavy stuff [00:36:00] if you want me to. [00:36:00] Kate Baldwin: Um, but yeah, so yeah, so I, I have like a, an understanding of, of what the, what the drill is here. So I love that. And, and I love what you said about, you know, making it inclusive. And, um, that's one of the things that we were going with, uh, for amplify and trying to do this. [00:36:21] Kate Baldwin: Um, idea trying to, I say, trying to, cause I haven't yet done it, whereas I know you guys have already done this version, so I'm still start wrapping my head around it. And I think the 28th, March 20th is going to be a beautiful day, a wild, crazy, wonderful day. [00:36:40] Jess Ryan: Yeah. Question for you to opinion. This is just, what's your opinion about this? [00:36:44] Jess Ryan: So I think with audiences, for things like this, like a hybrid benefit concert, so we're trying to raise money with amplify, right. Um, and if you don't know that by now and you listen to the podcast, we just never stopped talking about this. So, um, amplifies a benefit concert and [00:37:00] I think sometimes back to give back concert and I didn't, I think I didn't really realize that we were just like, we inviting a new audience into a new kind of experience. [00:37:11] Jess Ryan: Inside the benefit world or the gala world. And so they came and they worked. And I think that in some ways, my straight amplify is going to be a bit the same because you all haven't ever had a gala yet. You know, like you have also this fresh start to invite a new audience and set the rules and expectations for them. [00:37:29] Jess Ryan: So what I'm curious about, because I just don't know, what I think is, do we think that traditional gala audiences will be able to, will want to move to a more inclusive experience? You know, that is, is somewhat like what we're doing with amplify, you know, or, or do you think it's going to be too hard and too different of an experience for those audiences [00:38:00] [00:38:00] Kate Baldwin: with. [00:38:01] Kate Baldwin: Uh, change is hard. Nobody likes to change. People like to do things the same way, because that makes them feel comfortable. But I think change is also exciting. And especially if you're talking about drawing in a new audience, one that may not have been, have had access to a gala ticket before. I think that's exciting and I'm all in favor of including people in different time zones, in different socioeconomic strata and in different places. [00:38:32] Kate Baldwin: So I think, uh, I don't know about the G you know, an audience isn't a monolith. There are so many different individuals within, within that audience. And so it's really hard to predict how a group of people are gonna react. Um, my hope is that people will welcome the, uh, choice of whether or not to show up in person or to just participate online. [00:38:56] Kate Baldwin: I know, um, I loved being able to share amplify [00:39:00] 20, 21 with my parents who were in Florida and my brother's family who were in Chicago and, you know, and people all over the country. Um, and no one was excluded because they weren't physically in New York city. So that was. Fabulous. And I, my hope is that that that will be enticing enough, you know, and know most people say like, oh, if it's just joining a zoom, you know, or just tuning in, I can do that from my home. [00:39:25] Kate Baldwin: I think we've all gotten comfortable with that as a result of the pandemic. Right. Um, but then there are people who are like, I really want to be in the room and I really want to see Bonnie Milligan's, you know, uvula when she opens up things. And I want her to spit on me too. Yeah, there are those people. I might be one of them. [00:39:42] Joe White: I love this as someone who didn't come up through and from the, the, the theatrical world, the emphasis on being spit on, it just seems to come up so often as like a true I miss. I miss the [00:39:55] Jess Ryan: spittle. I, I was down at ring of keys, the queering, the [00:40:00] Canon sometime show at Joe's pub. And that's exactly what I said to him the next day. [00:40:02] Jess Ryan: He said, how was it? And I was like, I could have cried. I got spit on by singers. You know, like, oh, and I really was, I just literally could have cried and was, didn't have to be scared for my life, which is the nice byproduct of it. [00:40:17] Kate Baldwin: Well, there's something incredible about seeing that person do that right in front of you. [00:40:21] Kate Baldwin: It's like the greatest magic trick ever. You know, when you, when you're, when you're listening to Jessica WASK say, you know, you're like, how is she doing body? You almost, you can't [00:40:33] Kate Baldwin: believe it because the sound is coming out of her. And you're like, how does that work? And it, same thing goes for like, you know, Meg to a playing guitar and Elena Bonomo on drums. [00:40:43] Kate Baldwin: Like, you're like, how do you, how do you, why do you, and just joy, like you just love, love seeing it right in front of you. [00:40:51] Jess Ryan: That's Meg is like the perfect example of what's so great about. Lowering the barrier with digital, for those who can't, haven't been, and don't know, [00:41:00] watching Meg perform amplify on video last year. [00:41:03] Jess Ryan: I didn't know Meg before. And I will like, cause I think I was editing a trailer or something and just like kept going back and rewatching it because she's so compelling. It's so fun to watch. Right? Yeah. And now I would go see Meg live in-person anywhere. Totally. [00:41:18] Kate Baldwin: Cause she was, you know, she's in the pit and you wouldn't necessarily, but you put a camera on her and give her a minute and she will like mug and rock out in front of you. [00:41:28] Kate Baldwin: It's great. It's so great. [00:41:29] Jess Ryan: Yeah. I feel like it's something you said a second ago is a great piece of advice, Joe, even for so many people we work with that I've never heard anyone say, which is an audience is not a monolith. That's so empowering. I think for people who are really scared. You know, for the health of their organizations. [00:41:48] Jess Ryan: And, you know, I was gonna say [00:41:49] Kate Baldwin: scared of what, like what are they scared about? Offending an audience, challenging an audience. Okay. Being spit on, making [00:41:56] Jess Ryan: decisions on what's next to keep that audience like that an audience [00:42:00] is into monolith. So there's a lot of right choices. [00:42:02] Joe White: Yeah. Yeah. They have a lot of positive. [00:42:03] Joe White: Opt-ins like, I want to be in the room because I want to be spit out where it's going to keep going with this. Or like, I can't be in the room, but I really want to, but I can join this other way or, oh, I'm so happy. I get to join from Florida. Like it's all like positive lenses on how you get to participate. [00:42:17] Joe White: No, one's losing out. Everyone's just able to participate. [00:42:21] Kate Baldwin: Well, and I would hope too, that there would be enough of a trust that is created between organizations and their audiences. That if say you're, you know, it's just like the old subscription model for regional theaters, right? Like they have the program of season of five or six shows and, and a subscriber. [00:42:39] Kate Baldwin: Buy a subscription and hope that they like a majority of the shows. And then there might be one or two a season that they don't necessarily care for, but they hopefully will say, well, I see why this theater chose that. And I see what they're trying to do. It wasn't for me, but I'm glad I went. And maybe I think about things on a little bit of a different way, but it's like, it's that thing of [00:43:00] like, um, you know, when you're flipping through the actual physical newspaper or a magazine and you're like, oh, I never would have discovered this article. [00:43:08] Kate Baldwin: Had I not picked up this newspaper and looked for it, look for the thing I was looking for, but stumbled across this other thing. Um, when we, I think we get to. Uh, narrow when we just, we can curate what is, what we see and that our devices curate them for [00:43:24] Joe White: us. Just what tick-tock thinks I'm interested [00:43:26] Kate Baldwin: in. [00:43:26] Kate Baldwin: Exactly. And then I'm enough of a contrarian that I go, no tick tock. I don't like that now. I don't want to see any more puppies. Oh my gosh. You're talking. Joe's [00:43:36] Jess Ryan: love language. [00:43:40] Joe White: Those are the robots. I'm afraid of them. I mean, all of them. And I also like to try and trick. I guess I do like this handsome man, but no, I don't want to see more of it. [00:43:49] Jess Ryan: Exactly. [00:43:50] Kate Baldwin: Exactly. Why are you selling me orthopedic shoes? What did I, [00:43:55] Joe White: what did I do? What makes you think I [00:44:00] need that? I'm only 46. [00:44:05] Kate Baldwin: There was a week where I was getting all kinds of therapeutic ads on my Instagram. It was like a massage chair and it was like, Uh, device where, you know, it was like a little plastic ring that you could hold that your partner would then get you out of your seat. If you couldn't get up by yourself. And I just showed it to my husband, I was like, why does Instagram think I need this? [00:44:25] Jess Ryan: What have I done in the [00:44:26] Joe White: geriatric bucket and targets orthopedic shoes and, and [00:44:32] Kate Baldwin: massage chairs and weird ring device that like, here's how you get grandma up [00:44:38] Joe White: the tub that has a door in it. Okay. Note to self, no more [00:44:44] Kate Baldwin: cat videos. [00:44:48] Jess Ryan: Well, we're, we're round and towards the end of this. So wanted to just. Couple of minutes to talk about, have you talk about Maestra a little bit and you know what it is, why you're involved. Um, and [00:45:00] what, uh, a little more about the concert that's coming up. Yeah, sure. [00:45:04] Kate Baldwin: Um, I first became aware of my stra, uh, through Georgia state. [00:45:08] Kate Baldwin: Who's one of my best friends in the world and she's been my music director for years. We've known each other cover going on 20 or 21 years. Oh my gosh. Is that true? No, uh, 20 years. Yeah. Um, and, uh, she formed the organization back in 2017. It was really, uh, begun as a community, uh, building, um, exercise, exercise, uh, gathering, um, idea, uh, just getting women together to, uh, talk about, um, their experiences, uh, in making the music of musical theater. [00:45:44] Kate Baldwin: And since its first couple of meetings, uh, Maestro has grown. Into a formidable presence. One that, um, has sort of caught the wave of the call for social justice. And I think that's when I [00:46:00] started getting more involved because, uh, there, you know, a call was made, uh, to the United States of America and to other parts of the world in the midst of the pandemic, after the murder of George Floyd, where people said, we're not going to do things the way we always did, or we're, we're going to make, uh, an effort to, uh, hear from people who have been speaking, but we haven't been listening. [00:46:25] Kate Baldwin: Um, and I thought to myself as a, as a person who does musicals and plays for a living, how do I. Become a part of the change I'd like to see in the world. That's what Gandhi says, right? It'd be the change you'd want to see. And, um, Georgia said, why don't you join us? Join. I had this idea. I wanted to try to be a fundraiser. [00:46:44] Kate Baldwin: I wanted to use the con the contacts and the connections that I have, uh, and the privilege that I have. To affect some change and to give opportunities to people and resources, to people who, who deserve them, but who maybe have, uh, [00:47:00] there are barriers in place and that, and I thought, how do I be a part of that? [00:47:03] Kate Baldwin: So majora invited me to join the development committee. I have no experience in development at all, but I've been to 1,000,001 Gallas as a performer. So I knew how fundraising evenings worked. And I had, uh, and throughout the pandemic, I was part of a lot of fundraising evenings for not-for-profit theaters. [00:47:23] Kate Baldwin: Basically every not-for-profit theater I'd ever worked for 10 calling and said, will you sing us a song? Will you show up for a donor donor event? Will you donate some CDs? We do whatever. So I was like, okay, I think I know how to do this. And so when we were planning amplify 2021, you know, uh, I sort of raised my hand and said, I, I I've been a part of a couple of these, so maybe I could direct one or just at least put together what I think it would sound like, look like what we could say. [00:47:48] Kate Baldwin: And it was. Uh, it was a lot of fun. And I tell told Georgia and Laura Ivy, who is the treasurer of, of Maestra and a founding member that it saved me. It saved my [00:48:00] life. It gave me purpose. It gave me a reason to get out of bed in the morning and connect to people and communicate and fight for something, not fight, but advocate for something that I believed in, uh, in, in a moment when, you know, we were being told as theater artists, uh, you're going to have to wait. [00:48:18] Kate Baldwin: You're not, not yet. And, and just hang on. And it's hard for me to sit still. It's hard for me to not do something and keeps the wheels of the bus going. And, um, and so planning, planning my stress and meeting, planning, amplify, and meeting all of you and getting inspired and excited by the capability of Broadway unlocked and your incredible vision and, and. [00:48:44] Kate Baldwin: You know, the wealth of knowledge that you have about this kind of space was truly exciting. And, uh, so, uh, I decided to, you know, continue and, and, and continue with amplify 20, 22 and learn even [00:49:00] more. And it's been a joy, uh, the whole time. And especially since, you know, as a singer and as an actor, I always turn to my music director as, uh, an authority figure. [00:49:09] Kate Baldwin: You know, they're the people who are kind of the glue in a, in a musical, like they're the ones, they're the, they're the person in the creative team who sticks around after opening night, like the director and the photographer and the producers kind of open the show and your hooray it's open and then they all leave. [00:49:25] Kate Baldwin: But the music director is there and the stage manager is there to maintain the performances. And so I've always relied on a music director as a, as a, as a really good source of, um, feedback and, um, Uh, so it makes sense to me that why I'm attracted to working with, uh, music directors. I'm like, tell me what to do now. [00:49:44] Kate Baldwin: Boss, boss, [00:49:46] Kate Baldwin: lady. Okay. And, um, you know, I would do anything for Georgia. She's an incredible everyone who meets her just falls in love with her. Because she is genuine and she is smart and she is, [00:50:00] um, kind and she wants to walk through the door and she wants to extend her hand out to the person behind her and say, you come on through to, and you can't argue with that. [00:50:10] Kate Baldwin: You have to support that and be, and be a cheerleader. So, um, that's, that's why I'm, uh, uh, I, in my [00:50:18] Kate Baldwin: stra adjacent person, as I say, I'm not a Maestro member. I'm mice Drudge, Jason, and I do that. No, I'm testing a job now. I'm Eddie is, are done testing a joke on you. Cause that might appear an amplify. I'm just saying Joe's [00:50:32] Joe White: not laughing. [00:50:33] Joe White: It's it's bad. Good. It's good. Bad. Yeah, for sure. The delivery. Yeah. It all hinges on the delivery. [00:50:40] Kate Baldwin: I feel me I'll work on it. I got, I, I hear your note and I'll work [00:50:43] Jess Ryan: on it. Uh, if folks want to join us for amplify digitally or in person, do you know where, where, where do they go? [00:50:52] Kate Baldwin: Who are you asking me? Yes. I don't know. [00:50:54] Kate Baldwin: Okay. That's your that's you [00:50:56] Jess Ryan: dammit.[00:51:00] [00:51:01] Jess Ryan: well, I think [00:51:01] Kate Baldwin: you're going to Maestro music.org and you buy a ticket. That's [00:51:04] Jess Ryan: true. I think it might even be slash amplify. Oh, great. [00:51:07] Joe White: I heard that too. I don't know where some Verde, some moisture adjacent person told me that. [00:51:13] Jess Ryan: Um, and if someone is in, uh, if there's an artist somewhere in the country, listening to this, that's been inspired by you today and all of the beautiful words and actions that you've shared with us, where can they follow you or see you coming? [00:51:29] Jess Ryan: Yeah, [00:51:30] Kate Baldwin: I I'm, uh, on social media as real Kate Baldwin. Um, and I'm also, I have a website cake-baldwin.com. Um, and if you want to, we have 11 more performances of the bridges of Madison county, just 11 more, um, at the Axelrod performing arts center in New Jersey, and it's a gorgeous, gorgeous production. Um, and we're, we're loving doing it. [00:51:53] Kate Baldwin: It's directed by hunter foster, who is original cast member. It stars my friend, Aaron Lozar as Robert and he's giving a [00:52:00] breathtaking performance and we're having. Such a fun time and it's a musical that I've admired from afar for so long and now to get to work on it up close and to mine it for all of its awkward humor. [00:52:12] Kate Baldwin: Goodness, it's just, and then the soaring sweeping romantic ballads, it's just, it's heaven. It's a, it's a heavenly way to come back to stage work after so long, uh, being, being, um, denied. Um, so I'm trying to bite that big juicy apple and, um, enjoy it. We'll put [00:52:33] Jess Ryan: all of those links into the show notes for y'all get on it. [00:52:36] Jess Ryan: Join us for amplifies. See this gorgeous show. Cause you are, as we have been saying Broadway stars. Oh, that you're so sweet. Thank you so much. Thanks for coming and talking [00:52:46] Jess Ryan: to us. [00:52:47] Kate Baldwin: My pleasure. I love you guys really, truly. Thanks, [00:52:50] Joe White: Kate.[00:53:00] [00:53:00] Jess Ryan: Not surprisingly. That conversation exceeded every expectation I had. It was, and they love having time. This is like very particular to, I suppose, Kate and I's, uh, jobs on amplify, but you know, so much of our time and the time we do spend with each other each year around amplify is just crammed because we're trying to work out all this crazy new shit for amplify. [00:53:25] Jess Ryan: And we're talking about runs of show and order for formers and all these crazy things. So to just get to sit and, and talk to her, um, as a friend and as an another curious, smart person was really [00:53:37] Joe White: cool. Yeah. To get out of the weeds and into the sort of Hetty 30,000 foot conversation. And I was taken aback by how, just how thoughtful and empathetic Kate is. [00:53:48] Joe White: Um, as she thinks about the possibilities that come with. Digital live entertainment, live performance, the internet, um, and her ability to like embody other people's [00:54:00] experiences and think about what they might want and how she can help bring it to them, help she can help create for them. I thought it was a really, really beautiful lens that she brought to the conversation. [00:54:08] Jess Ryan: She's a performer for the digital age. What can we say? And the best part is she's working on so much. You literally can't miss her right now. [00:54:18] Joe White: Trip into a Cape all in performance. [00:54:21] Jess Ryan: Yeah, exactly. So if you're in Jersey, you can see her in the bridges of Madison county at the axle rod performing arts center. [00:54:27] Jess Ryan: That's March 11 through 27th ticket link in the show notes. Uh, if you're a citizen of the internet, you can see Kate live on March 28th in amplified 2020. Tickets linked in the show notes. And if you're in Milwaukee, she's got a documentary and concert coming at you soon, a supporting skylight rep, which is a really cool theater that I've had a ton of friends work out over the years because everywhere [00:54:52] Joe White: I'm going to go to all of them. [00:54:54] Joe White: I don't know if I can promise that I'm going to try. Thank you all for listening and being part of the [00:54:59] Jess Ryan: get [00:55:00] together. The goal of this podcast is to bring people together and have these important conversations about how we're all connected and the ways in which we can work with each other instead of against each other. [00:55:11] Jess Ryan: So share this with someone who is interested and cares about just [00:55:16] Joe White: I'm Joe and I'm Jess, and we'll see you back here next week.[00:56:00] [00:57:00] [00:58:00] [00:59:00] [01:00:00] [01:01:00] [01:02:00] [01:03:00] [01:04:00] [01:05:00] .