Well, the audition process for this show was like no other process I have ever been a part of. The initial audition and call backs all consisted of a mixture of things. We were all given three parables from the bible and asked to pick one and to create a performance art piece showcasing, humor, story telling ideas, special skills etc. I decided to take the parable THE GOOD SAMARITAN and rewrite it as a spoken word piece set to music on my Djembe. They like it enough to call me back! (Thankfully) So, every audition after that was similar....except we did the work in groups. You would be put into a group of 5 or 6 people, they would give you a parable, a basket of random props, and you were given 20 minutes to create! It was incredibly challenging and exciting, and luckily it worked out for me!

There were a bunch of structural things that had already been decided (all design aspects, some songs/parable that required a lot of theater magic etc) that weren't really up for debate, but everything else....ESPECIALLY the way the parables were to be presented was in our hands! Our director Danny Goldstein gave us some ideas, but ultimately we were given the license to play and see what came of it! We started day 1 diving into working and playing together and figuring out how to best tells these parables from our personal perspective! It was a blast!

That's a great question! Everybody is different. I actually spend time before the show bringing my energy down in a way. Because the show takes so much energy and focus,  I think it is important to center that energy before you step out on stage.  So, I usually say a little prayer with some fellow cast mates (one of my favorite moments every night backstage by the way)  and while I'm waiting at my entrance door (after joking w/ George Salazar) I take deep, long, full breaths to prep for this huge, fast running train that I'm right about to hop on to!

There actually is not a ton of improv. The show has a very spontaneous feel as we do ABSOLUTELY do feed off of the energy one another and the audience every single night, but any major jokes, line changes etc are things that have been discussed before the show with our director and/or stage manager etc. As far as it's evolution is concerned it HAS changed a lot since our first performance. The beautiful thing about preview performances is that we get to come in with all of our ideas and essentially try them on audiences and usually you find out VERY quickly what works and what doesn't work. I work with such an amazing group of actors and we are lead by an incredible creative team so I believe that all parties involved were interested in constantly striving to make this show the best possible experience for the audience and I think we accomplished that!

My absolute FAVORITE part of the show is "Save the People". We start the show in these muted colors, spread all over the house spouting our different philosophies. Once it gets to the point that all we are doing is yelling at one another JOHN THE BAPTIST comes in and sings "PREPARE YE" and gives us the instructions to leave and come back prepared for something amazing. We well re- enter again, our only objective...is...JOY. It feels so good to run through the audience, down the stairs, to catch peoples eyes and to see the biggest smiles on peoples faces as they watch us discover one another and feel so happy because of it. It's just such a beautiful thing to run down to the stage and to spend the whole song spreading joy. Best. Moment. Ever.