One city.

At the beginning of the tour,

fire alarms went off in the building

and I just turned on the lights in the theater.

During the show we had 4 minutes left of Act One.

They evacuated about a half the audience

before they realized that it wasn't actually a fire alarm.

Welcome to CADL Cast with Capitol Area

District Library's Executive Director Scott Duimstra.

Welcome to an exciting episode of CADL

Cast based on the iconic film of the same name.

Beetlejuice, the musical is coming to the Wharton Center.

Joining us today is the production stage manager for the show, Alan D.

Knight. Alan, thanks so much for joining us for Shadow Cast.

Oh, you're welcome. Thanks for having me.

So as a production stage manager, one could say that you're the method

behind the madness.

Can you tell us a bit about your role on the set?

Yeah.

So the production stage manager kind of has has a hand in everything

that happens to make the show run every night successfully.

So when it comes, I like to refer to it as like the air traffic controller of the

show. It

just kind of overseeing

everything and every department making sure everything runs smoothly

throughout and troubleshooting any problems that may come up every night.

Sure. It must be nerve wracking a little bit, though, right?

Absolutely. Can be depending on the night.

Some days are really smooth.

And then and the turn of the hat, like it can go crazy.

You just never know what will happen.

But yeah, it can be nerve wracking, but it's it's a lot of fun

because it's a lot of problem solving.

A lot of people management.

But we keep the show running smoothly.

Sure.

For those who have not seen Beetlejuice, which there's probably not many.

Can you give us an overview about what it's about?

Yeah.

So it's about a young teenager, Lydia,

whose father buys a house in Connecticut and they move out there.

The house ends up being haunted by a recently deceased

couple and Beetlejuice.

And Lydia doesn't want to live there anymore and can't take it anymore.

So she calls upon Beetlejuice to help her out.

And then you have to see the show to find out what happens next.

Very good for not giving so much away.

You get you gave enough to

let the listener be enticed.

What's the most difficult scene to set up for

and related to that, your most favorite one as well?

Yeah.

So I would say like overall where the two are.

The show itself is hard to set up.

We travel in seven semi-trucks and we usually load in in

about like 15 hours.

So when we walk into Wharton Center, we'll walk into an empty theater and in 15

hours, we'll have seven semi-trucks emptied and ready to go for the show.

So I would say overall, it's just the show itself

to get set up with projections, video, the set

we travel, all the lights, all the sound, all the special effects.

So so that's the overall thing during the actual show.

I think one of the coolest transitions

is the house and the different houses that we reveal,

because there's three different versions of the house in the show.

And the changes of that

is that the audience doesn't expect, I think is really cool to show.

That is awesome and I'm familiar with the stage at work and thinking of

of seven trucks full for that and I imagine with seven trucks full there

probably are some close calls or oh moments that happened.

Do you have any that you'd care to share with us about this tour?

We work with so much technology, as everyone does nowadays.

So everything is digital, so there can be issues with anything.

So a lot of it is just troubleshooting.

I mean, we have three projectors that work in the show

that enhance the set of video wall, all our digital lighting sounds.

So yeah, there's not been a well, I guess like one city.

At the beginning of the tour we had the fire alarms went off in the building

and they just turn on the lights in the theater.

Like during the show.

During the show we had 4 minutes left to back to one,

and out of nowhere all the lights just went on in the theater.

And so it kind of was crazy because no one knew exactly what was going on.

There wasn't a fire,

but it was some water alarm that triggered in the basement, the theater.

So that was a little a little chaotic, but because.

Everyone had to evacuate, then.

They evacuated about half the audience before they realized that it wasn't

actually a fire alarm and it was just a water sensor that went bad.

So we brought everyone in.

We did the 4 minutes left to back one, and then we took intermission and came back.

Director.

Well, now that you talked about it,

what happened at Warner Center when you come here as well.

Knock on wood.

You have quite the broad

range of plays under your belt, some with a more serious atmosphere like L.A.

Miz and Jesus Christ Superstar, and some of the more whimsical

like Charlie and Chocolate Factory and now Beetlejuice.

Do you have a preference?

I kind of go for the more musical comedy with big production numbers,

and that's sort of my my genre I enjoy.

I mean, I enjoyed working on LAMB is such a classic

and such a beautiful show that it's like you can't not enjoy working on that.

But after doing that for a year, like 300

and some shows, it's time to time to have a little comedy in your life.

I always laugh because

I did like this for a year long, and then I moved on to Charlie

and the Chocolate Factory and then rehearsals with the envelope puppets.

I just kind of stop laughing because it was like, here

I went from a show where everyone's dying on a barricade to it, deal

with people, dresses in balloon parties in a rehearsal room.

Like, what is my life?

Yeah, it's great.

We know that actors and actresses

tend to have little rituals before they start a show.

Do you have any pre-show or kind of post-show rituals that you go through?

Not not specific rituals, but I do like because every night

I do something different as like sometimes I call the show, sometimes I'm

watching from the show from the front of house, sometimes I'm

working in the office, but usually right around the place call for the actors.

I just take a walk around the stage and just kind of check in

with everyone and say hello to the cast, say hello to the crew.

Just kind of make my rounds and just say hi to everyone

and kind of get the temperature of the room

and see if anyone has anything exciting to share or just say hi.

So it's not quite a ritual, but I just like to go around

and just just see everyone before the show starts.

Sure. That's very understandable.

An interview with Justin Collette and Isabella Eisler.

They mention that their favorite thing

about touring is exploring the food scene of the places that they visit.

What's your favorite thing about touring and is there anywhere in Lansing

that you're looking forward to exploring?

Yeah, so I, I mean, I've been on the road for over ten years,

so most, most cities I go to, I've seen all this.

I see I went to the restaurants I want to go to.

So now it's to the point where I just go back to the ones I like.

But it is fun discovering especially post-pandemic.

So much has changed in every city with the restaurant scenes,

and I enjoy going and finding coffee shops and different things like that.

Finding the good shopping mall.

And then as far as Lansing goes, I mean, I grew up in Saint John's, so yeah, yeah.

I lived there for 20 years of my life.

So there's not really anything to surprises.

Yeah, yeah.

No surprises.

I mean, the biggest part is I get to see all my family and friends

throughout the week.

Oh, so it's more of a homecoming for you. Than it is.

This will be my third time playing Wharton Center.

But I haven't I haven't played there since, I think 2016.

Awesome.

Well, we always like to end with a library type question,

so it doesn't have to be related to your work.

It could be anything that you're reading personally or professionally.

So a title that you'd recommend to our listeners

that you're reading, watching, or listening to.

Well, my

schedule is quite busy, so I don't have a whole lot of time,

especially this tour just started in December.

So we have been in rehearsals basically every day besides moving.

I will say I'm super excited for the upcoming season of Ted Lasso.

Oh, I'm right there with you.

Yeah, we have.

There's so many people on my tour that just cannot wait for, like,

I think it's in two weeks for the new episode to come out.

Because on my last tour we did have watching parties

after the show and just watch every episode.

So I will say I'm very excited for Ted Lasso.

Oh, I am right there with you.

That's a good one.

Well, Alan, thank you so much for joining us today.

And Captain Cast.

I thank you so much for having me.

Check out Beetlejuice at the Warren Center March 14th through the 19th.

A link for tickets is provided in our show notes.

As always, thanks for joining us and keep focused.

Don't miss another great interview.

Subscribe to the Cattle Cast podcast and share it

with a friend.

Hey there.

It's Tyler Reeder, but you can call me Ty, the library guy.

Did you hear the news?

Capital Area District Libraries is celebrating its 25th anniversary

this year.

They'll be hosting exciting programs and fun projects to commemorate

this significant milestone.

And you're invited to celebrate with them.

Cheers to you, Carol.

And here's to the next 25 years and beyond.

To learn more about Castle's 25th anniversary and celebratory events,

visit Seattle Dawgs 25.

Until next time. I'm Ty, the library guy.