Episode 10 - Rob Bradvica
Maddi
This podcast is brought to you by MAD Company, a nonprofit theater company based out of New York City.
James
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of One Hale of a Conversation. My name is James Hale. I am your host for this podcast. With me today, I have the immense pleasure of being seated next to Robert Bradvica, actor, stage manager, director extraordinaire.
Rob
All kinds of stuff. And kind of dip my toes and everything, hello. That name is a hysterical though. One Hale of a Conversation. It's…
James
I giggle every time.
Rob
It's great.
James
Ummm, so first things first. You and I met…would have been a little over a year ago. We both were doing the same show. You were stage managing and I was one of the actors in a show at the Gene Frankel Theater, uh, in Manhattan. Most recently, you just closed. You closed yesterday right?
Rob
Yeah, we closed Saturday. Yeah, Saturday. Load out was Sunday and all that. Yeah.
James
Excellent. Umm, so you just closed the show again at The Gene Frankel. You've worked there a lot this time as an actor. I really want to get into that. But first I just want to hear a little bit about your background.
Rob
Yep.
James
Where did you grow up? What training do you have? Umm, sort of, what's your…give us, give us your bio.
Rob
So, um, first thing I ever did stage wise was in fifth grade. I grew up, first of all, I grew up in San Diego, so California, Southern California native. I've been out in New York for about eight years now. First thing I ever did, fifth grade there was the San Diego Youth Opera was kind of touring around different elementary schools. They'd put on a production for a couple of months, a lot of fun.
James
Okay.
Rob
And they did Rip Van Winkle at my elementary school, and the first thing I ever did was I was Henry Hudson in that, which was a musical, which is funny because I have not followed through on the musical side of things.
James
Sure, sure.
Rob
Much more straight play or production side of things. Umm, but I was in that and that is kind of where I got the theater bug. I did a lot of, well, not a lot of. I went to a lot of auditions in middle school.
James
Sure.
Rob
My father would drive me up to L.A. Being only a couple of hours away, it was kind of easy, somewhat. He'd take off work. He loved doing that stuff. A couple of times in my life, I've heard him say that if he if he could, he would have quit whatever job he had and just been my manager.
James
Aww.
Rob
If that could have been financially viable for him, umm, because he just really enjoyed being a part of that stuff. So he would drive me up to L.A. a lot and didn't do a whole lot in that period. I was in a kind of an indie movie, one or two of those and a commercial, but then things really kicked off when I got into high school. The high school I went to had a really really robust theater program with two phenomenal drama teachers shout out Greg Osborne and Paul Reams.
James
Woot woot.
Rob
Hopefully they'll listen to this. There's something about having a good theater teacher when a grown up that really keeps a passion for this kind of thing alive and a lot of the world just doesn't encourage you to pursue this stuff. Even when it does, it's always couched with, you know, okay, think about the other thing you're going to do as well. What's the backup plan? What's the plan B? What are you going to do and doesn't work out?
James
Right
Rob
So even people that want you to do the stuff, they're not fully encouraging in the way that they are with, say, like, I want to be a scientist. Oh, fantastic. They throw everything they can.
James
Right yeah.
Rob
Once they hear you want to do a theater thing, they're like, Oh God. And they, they get I think it comes from a place of fear because it's so well known how hard it is to really make something happen in in, this, in this industry.
James
Yeah.
Rob
And I think a lot of people don't understand how many avenues you have to pursue once you explore this. Like there's teaching, there's all kinds of production side of things, stage managing…
James
Yeah
Rob
Crew stuff. So there's a lot more when you people, when you say like, I want to be a theater artist, they always think, Oh, you're going for the lead role in every big play possible. That's tough.
James
Right, right. I shall only be the protagonist ever.
Rob
Exactly. And so, umm, people are not as encouraging as they could be and so, to have two teachers that really just pushed us to continue to explore the theater arts and expand our craft and talk about it in a way where that was their life. Yes, they were teaching high school and they had other classes to teach and whatnot, but they were very clearly theater professionals and theater artists first, and that was what they instilled in us.
James
Right.
Rob
And I feel very lucky to have been have worked with those two. And so throughout my high school career, I did about 11 shows. They were able to do three shows a year at my high school, which is…
James
This this was called something like Highland Players?
Rob
Oh, yeah. So I, so I went to Helix, Helix Charter High School out in San Diego. Shout at them as well. The….The Highland Players was the name of our our umm theater troupe, partly because way back in like the fifties Helix High School split off from another high school that was in the area and they were called the Grossmont Foothillers. And so literally just to be kind of petty, they were like, well, we're the Highlanders…
James
Ohhhh, the Highlands and the Foothills.
Rob
Literally, just to say they had the high ground on that. Right. So that so that was the name of the little troop. We had a, had something literally called the Little Theater for a while. And also my high school got this like really nice expansion on the Performing Arts Center when I was a senior. So we got like a blackbox theater and a big mainstage, which I think would have been considered an off-Broadway seat wise…
James
Yeah, while I was looking this up before you came over and it's initially from the Googling, it was hard to tell that this was a high school troop. Like, it seemed like this semiprofessional professional troupe in Southern California.
Rob
Honestly, it is almost closer to that than not. Especially recently. I didn't and like I knew that they were consummate professionals. My teachers in the San Diego area, but I didn't quite know what kind of connections they had. A couple of years ago they did shoot. Was it Rent or. I think it was. Was it Rent? No. West Side Story. So, they did West Side Story and they were able to get the touring Broadway set or the national touring set to the high school. Yeah. So they were using the actual set they used on the national tour at this high school.
James
Shit, okay!
Rob
So I didn't realize they had those kinds of connections. So when you talk about them being somewhat professional, that is in terms of the production side and the…
James
Value.
Rob
The quality, yeah, the quality that they put shows on for? I would say it's a young, young semiprofessional program.
James
That’s incredible.
Rob
And the fact they do three shows a year consistently and they obviously make enough money to keep doing three shows a year…
James
Right, sustainably.
Rob
In this big enough space. It's it's, it's a phenomenal program and I only got to touch my toes in that big space. The last kind of half of my senior year. I did two shows in that space. And the funniest thing about that is I got in their freshman year and he was my drama teacher, was telling the seniors like, okay, you know, we're going to get this next year, or like, I know you guys just missed it, but we're going to get this. And then it just never quite happened.
James
Oh, no!
Rob
No, that's like local school bureaucracy, though.
James
Yeah, of course.
Rob
That's that's just how it happens. So I did that and then I spent a year at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, where the program actually end up closing down or losing money. But halfway through my first year. Umm, and so that school has now since shuttered. And then I moved over to the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, where I've been for two years, or I went for two years for a total of three years of school. So…and since then I've been living in the city doing my thing.
James
What program were you at, at the conservatory?
Rob
The kind of a I think the, the AA that I got was like a communications with a focus in film and television.
James
Okay.
Rob
But it was a film and television, television focused school. They had an optional theater for theater that I did not do.
James
Interesting.
Rob
But even since I've been out, my focus has largely been theater working as opposed to film and television. I've done a couple of student film things, and I have a friend of mine that has a production company down in Alabama that we want to work on some stuff, but for the most part, my focus has ended up being theater. I just kind of I've fallen into that more often.
James
Yeah.
Rob
That's where my focus has been. I've always loved theater. I kind of get that sense of accomplishment more out of theater than I do film sometimes.
James
Yeah, I would agree with that. It's also, I mean, I'm more recent to the city than you are of whatever, three years ago. Four years ago. You know…
Rob
Right.
James
But it just seems like the way into theater is a little bit more open than the way into film and television.
Rob
Sure.
James
You kind of have to break in in a fairly significant way to really be able to work in film and television in New York versus, I mean, everyone I know who's in any way interested in theater can get involved in a decent level of theatrical production in the city.
Rob
Yeah, I think the city does a good job of having they have like the New York Winter Fest Summer Fest, they got all these festivals…
James
Yeah.
Rob
That have a lot of brand new playwrights doing their stuff, so there's a lot of opportunity there. It's the, the, the amount of non-eq stuff is really nice. So if you're a nonunion, it's easy and you got like small little theaters like the Jean Frankel that have a lot of history that give you a chance to get in front of some fairly prolific people in a fairly simple way, which is really, really nice.
James
Absolutely.
Rob
And even with the small size like that, it still feels good to be doing it.
James
Right. Yeah, it's it's it's working out those creative muscles.
Rob
Absolutely.
James
But so speaking of Gene Frankel, excellent Segway.
Rob
Right!?.
James
You have worked there at least twice that I know of…
Rob
Four times now.
James
Four times. Okay.
Rob
Well, three and a half. But well…how can I specify or how do you work out. So the first halftime was that the it was over the summer of 2022, I think. No. Yeah would’ve been 2022. They were doing a production of the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
James
Right.
Rob
And a friend of mine was stage managing at the time and she had ended up getting COVID partway through…
James
Ohhh, okay.
Rob
And so they had hit me up when I was on vacation. They're like, Yeah, like if you know anyone that can stage manage that needs a fill in that be great, we need the help. I was like, Well, I'll ask around. I think I asked a couple of people they couldn't do it. And then right before I was going to be home for vacation, they were like, Hey, do you want to do it?
James
Can you do it?
Rob
I was like, I mean, I'll be home for it. Sure. So I jumped in for the last like a week, week and a half or so…
James
Okay.
Rob
…of production. I think I did a week where I was stage managing partway through the run and then me and the stage manager swapped back and forth, partly because they, they already better they were tested negative. But then I kind of wanted to keep doing it. So I was like, we can just swap out days or you know?
James
Right.
Rob
So I did that. That's like the half time I said.
James
Okay, sure, well, I'll count that as half. Right? So with all these different hats that you wear, the different, the different wells that you dip toes into, umm, how do you balance the different desires of particularly a theater artist? Like do you say, for this period of time I want to focus on directing something? I'm only looking to stage manage for a while? This time is purely for acting?
Rob
That's that's the funny thing is I don't balance it.
James
Okay okay
Rob
It is just whatever whims really it's whatever opportunities present themselves.
James
Sure.
Rob
So the only reason I was able to dip my toes into directing and producing was because I, shortly out of school, I was in a production of a play, an original piece, part of one of the New York Winter Fests.
James
Okay.
Rob
And the writer of that kind of asked me to help him start his fledgling theater company. And so for a couple of years I worked with that, and so I got a chance to produce a couple of one act festivals, and we produced a version of Macbeth that premiered up until March 14th of 2020, which was kind of the last major.
James
And then what happened?!
Rob
Some fun out of we got out of it. We all wanted to stay home for a while. We all collectively decided it's time to breathe.
James
Yeah, and then nothing happened. We’re the…yeah.
Rob
So that we had had some good momentum and then obviously that was a bit truncated, I guess.
James
Force Majeure.
Rob
But yeah, so I was able, but I was, I got a chance to direct and produce from, from that side of things, doing that. And that is kind of where I feel like I've developed a decent theatrical instinct for directing and I'm currently actually, umm, going to be a part of a directing program at the Barrow Group and going into next year.
James
Oh wow, okay.
Rob
It’s like a year long thing, January through November. And so the reason I want to do that is because while I feel like I can say like I got decent theatrical directing instincts, whatever, I would like to apply some kind of like vocabulary or theory or foundation behind that…
James
Structure.
Rob
Yeah. So that I can really start pursuing that as something serious because I've got it, there’s a couple…My brother's a playwright as well, and the couple of shows he's written, I've, I want to direct and I got good ideas for that. As we I've mentioned before, I've got a version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead that I want to direct and I can wave those ideas around and say, Look, I promise I know what I'm talking about, but just having a little bit of balance there, like credibility, I guess.
James
Yeah, of course.
Rob
On a resume saying I've studied this, I, I do have a foundation. I think that'll help me in saying I can do this. I promise until I, until I get more experience in that, I can say, no, I can't do this because I've been hired to do it before.
James
Right, right, until you're recognized as such.
Rob
Exactly.
James
What is this program of the Barrow Group?
Rob
It's a year-long directing program. They’ve, it's broken up into three different sections. I think the first one you work on scenes, the next one you work on a short or a scenes from a larger play in this program.
James
Oh, okay.
Rob
And then the last one was like putting on a short play for yourself. It's an eight person program, I believe, and I’m convinced they do that a little bit to get you to to jump in as fast as you can. And they keep it, they're like, It's only 8 spots, right?
James
Yeah!
Rob
No, but I you know, I'm assuming it's it's fairly selective. They, they said it's like an intermediary professional program.
James
Yeah.
Rob
So people that are not quite working consistently but do have designs for maybe have some experience.
James
Absolutely. That sounds really cool.
Rob
Yeah, I'm really excited and I love the small size of the class actually. It'll be great to get to know the other directors there and…
James
Yeah.
Rob
…have time to explore each of our or whatever we're doing there.
James
Absolutely.
Rob
So I'm very excited. I'm also taking acting class there as well in tandem, which they also they recommend and everything because it's like they, they, the directing is being you're being taught how to direct the Barrow Group style.
James
Oh, you know, the Barrow Method.
Rob
Whatever. Yeah. Whatever that happens to be, which I'm sure is a conglomeration of a bunch of different methods.
James
As they all are.
Rob
Right. Yeah, they all have touches of something in there, so I'm very excited about that. Good Lord. What was the question that got me into this?
James
I have…I don't remember. I don’t remember. It was…
Rob
Oh, my. Balancing all my different…
James
Yes.
Rob
It's mainly based on opportunity. I, I had a chance to stage manage twice in a row, so I took it the next thing and I know I made sure to tell them like I want to be offered the chance to perform first. And if I can't, I will gladly stage manage again. Because as long as I'm a part of theater in some way I'm happy.
James
Right.
Rob
But I wanted the chance to audition first and the last two things I've done. I've luckily been able to be a part of. In the spring, I was a part of Teach Me How to Die. I was able to be part of that. And then this production, In This Winter and I know that Thomas is Thomas Gordon, the operating manager and artistic director of the Gene Frankel, and Onomatopoeia Theater Company. He is working on something coming this summer.
James
Sure, yeah.
Rob
So I want to keep keep in his orbit. He, I like that he hires me. That feels good.
James
Yes, that’s…that’s great.
Rob
I'm very appreciative of it.
James
And that's the best thing.
Rob
I'm finding those, be, that's, that's what I've discovered networking is. Just meeting people that I'll hire you.
James
That's right. Absolutely. That's that's part of it. You are good at this because that's another fabulous segway.
Rob
God, I'm, if I had a podcast…
James
Just like, take my job. Don't take my job!
Rob
Yeah, I know it’s fine. So, one, one brevica (??) of a conversation does not roll off the tongue to same I will say.
James
Workshop that.
Rob
Right.
James
Um, so the play you were just a part of that I want to get into called You are Not Alone: A Modern Romantic Adventure. You mention it was written by Thomas Gordon.
Rob
Yes.
James
Umm, who does quite a lot of work,umm, especially at the Gene Frankel is sort of home turf. You were the lead in the show. You played a character named Dr. Charles Vash.
Rob
Vash, yes.
James
Who is…here's what I got from him, right? Yes. He is a a medical doctor, a scientist who gets into sort of alchemical mystical science.
Rob
Yep.
James
It feels a little bit like Doctor Strange.
Rob
A bit, Yeah, definitely.
James
Just kind of really smart guy gets into…
Rob
In the initial draft of the script they had there's a couple of times I do magic spells and initially they had wanted me to do the…
James
See, I do like…you did that on stage once.
Rob
I did. I actually Yeah.
James
Yeah. So maybe maybe not -
Rob
There's another character that I know for a fact does that because so initially in the script I had to play the I love you symbol for sign language. For those that don't know pinkie up, forefinger up and thumb out. I was supposed to do that. So that was very doctor strange in like the hand motion.
James
Yeah.
Rob
And then on top of that, they had me hold this massive book of illustrated Shakes…The Complete Works of Shakespeare Illustrated. And yeah…
James
That's what it was.
Rob
And so I had to hold that. And partway through tech, I realized I'm never going to get a chance to actually do the hand motion because that book is about 10 pounds.
James
Yeah.
Rob
And I had to keep that in my hands at all times. So I was told to do the I Love You thing and I never got a chance to. But another character in the show who also does a spell got to incorporate that instead. So it still made its way in.
James
Very cool.
Rob
But he is very Doctor Strange in the way that works.
James
So part of the Marvel multiverse. So this was this was an original piece written and directed by Thomas and your character Kate, who is your wife, girl…?
Rob
Girlfriend.
James
Girlfriend disappears or we think dies one day, about five years before the events of the play. And then you take this sort of mystical journey through, uh, different dimensionality, through, you know, time, space didn't find her. And that's the story. Eventually you do kind of reconnect, spoiler alert. You do kind of reconnect. And I'm curious all sorts of things in this play that I'm sure were very fun, very challenging to work on, what I really like to ask people who work on original pieces, and especially when the writer is so intimately involved in the day to day the direction, like how is that as a performer or finding your own voice in a character that's never existed before and incorporating notes from the person who basically created this character that you now have to inhabit?
Rob
It's it's interesting. I've now done this twice. The show that was in the spring was also an original piece…
James
Of course.
Rob
And the playwright was in that show as well. So the playwright was there and very much involved. But I would say this is a much different process, actually. Thomas, the way he directs is very loose. I've had I've gotten the chance to work with some other directors and there are some that will come in ready to go with kind of where you're supposed to be. You need to move here. Your job as an actor is to figure out why you're moving there. This one is much looser in that there was there was no skeleton, there was no bones yet. We, a lot of what the rehearsal process was was not figuring out why we moved somewhere, but where are we going to move? And so there's kind of an extra layer of while there's some freedom in getting the chance to, to shape it yourself, you do, I think, miss out a little bit on really focusing in on on the why you're doing stuff when you're also building the skeleton on top of that. So it's it's an extra challenging because you're having to put the shape to it yourself. And Thomas, as the director, now has to worry about shaping it on top of hearing the words for the first time on stage and all that.
James
Yeah.
Rob
So one of the nice things about having the director there as the playwright is that we can change stuff. We can get to a line and go, “Hey, this doesn't quite read great.”
James
Right.
Rob
And one of the phenomenal things about Thomas is that he is not one to go, “Well, I wrote that this way I need you to be…”
James
He’s not precious about it.
Rob
Not know. And he's precious in the sense that he obviously cares about the script he's written and the themes and keeping the characters the right way.
James
Yes.
Rob
But he was very, very willing to let us experiment with the actual lines and the actual order of words and whatnot. And even up until a couple of shows into the run, we were adjusting things…
James
Oh, wow.
Rob
…on what the response from the audience was and what worked and what we felt like didn't work and a blessing in disguise. Thomas wasn't at a lot of the productions, and so we were able to kind of have some freedom in changing things up and seeing how things worked.
James
Sure.
Rob
And I…it was a much bigger ensemble feeling piece than a lot of them that I had been a part of.
James
Yeah.
Rob
Because like I said, even into the run, we as a cast were trying to find what worked and what didn't.
James
Of course.
Rob
And so we were really, really having to listen to each other and and work together all the way through the show to make this thing work. So it was nice having that freedom to just change things kind of as we see fit.
James
Sure.
Rob
While still maintaining the thrust of the plot and the themes that are present. But we got to adjust what works and…
James
Right, you get to, you get to do what you want with it.
Rob
Yeah, it was great.
James
I also found it feels to me as as I saw it, umm, last week before, I can't remember, but it felt like it fell into this kind of interesting, slightly strange place, umm, presentationly of this is a incredibly well, well envisioned workshop maybe? Because it's the first production ever…
Rob
Yup, bottom of the script says at one point V. 1.00
James
Does it?
Rob
Yeah.
James
So it's this really interesting because there are so many of these elements that clearly are being worked on throughout the rehearsal process, even as you say, show to show.
Rob
Yep.
James
But it's also very much, you know, the the extra theatrical pieces were there. There's this full set, all this. There's a huge cast of what it was nine of you, or eight…
Rob
Yeah, eight or nine of us. Yeah.
James
Umm, that’s a large workshop cast, so it falls sort of in between this like we're working on this for later and this is, um, our final product, which I wonder if were there any discussions around like not the purpose of showing this, but any discussions during rehearsal around this is what Thomas wanted to get out of it? Is he hoping to to show it again?
Rob
I, I know for a fact he's mentioned that he would he would like to expand it. And of course back in everything, he had also mentioned that he had gone through several, I guess, point something drafts before this. So he he had done his own rewriting and everything of course, I do what I feel like there's there's the nugget of the story and the nugget of the theme. I think all of that is really, really nice, that the general theme is basically working today to make tomorrow better. Um, making sure that you know what you can't, what you shouldn't put off, what's the phrase, what you could do today? I don't like putting off putting off…
James
Don’t put shit off until tomorrow.
Rob
Yeah that basically that! If you can do it today, don't put it after to tomorrow work on today.
James
Right.
Rob
If you do good work today, tomorrow is going to be better etc. etc. So the theme is great. I think the general thrust of this kind of like out of time alchemist doctor in kind of real time, but also like mid 2010’s a bit because there's a little bit of time travel.
James
Yeah.
Rob
I think all of that's really, really nice. And I think as the cast, I think we really found some nice things about the characters and nice depth and the relationships and everything. There's some really nice romantic aspects. I love that it's a happy ending. Spoilers again. Sorry. Oh, it's a happy ending based on some old Chinese myths, umm, I think he mentioned something about like the monkey God or something where where there's a Chinese myth that this monkey God gets tricked by the other elder gods or whatever into making his monkey people imprisoned by them or something. And he goes to these gods and tricks them into signing this contract where, you know, they're like, Oh, if you give us your soul, we'll release your monkey friends. And he's like, Okay, I'll do that. But then he tricks them and crosses their names off and makes all monkeys immortal or something. It's loosely based on some Chinese mythology.
James
Interesting, okay.
Rob
And that's something similar happens at the end.
James
Yeah.
Rob
Where we like trick the devil that gets put to sleep, and I cross out names on a contract and we sign that anyways. And so it's it's really, I hesitate to say simple, but it's a very it is relatively simple and childlike, but in a very positive way.
James
Yeah.
Rob
It's very innocent. It's a lot of love strong today and that's how you're going to make tomorrow better. Love, hope, reconnection reconciliation, understanding, communication, all that kind of stuff, which I think gets overlooked in a lot of modern storytelling for how depressing things are.
James
Right. Yeah. I mean, there's there's definitely the, the desire to sometimes move things into a more a darker, more tragedy driven place because that can feel closer to reality.
Rob
Right. It's almost like, like even if it's if it's a generally happy story, it's finding hope within this really dark thing. And the nice thing about this production, kind of a little disappointingly, that we didn't find out really as a cast until partway through the run where it's the whole thing's happy even though because there is a the subject of suicide gets brought up a little bit. The, presumably through the course of the play, it's presumed that my love interest killed herself and that is why I'm searching for her and bringing her back. But it turns out she was tricked by this vision from this, from this demon character. And so I was she didn't actually kill herself and she was actually just like in limbo or purgatory or something.
James
Right.
Rob
And it but it's it's all still happy. Everything that's happening is joyous for the most part. And that's kind of what's missing, I think, from a lot of a lot of storytelling nowadays. Everyday everything, there's this trend to be, like you said, in an effort to be realistic, things just get really dark and depressing and there's not a lot of just straight happy endings.
James
Right
Rob
The characters win, get married and love each other, right?
James
Yeah.
Rob
There's a kid. Congratulations, The devil’s defeated and it's it's nice and refreshing. And from what Thomas had told us, closing night is a lot of the feedback he got was that people walked away feeling really good about that part of it. Is that it just it ended well and there was nothing to grapple with that was… it ended well, but or did he do the right like, you know, it was really kind of cut and dry?
James
Yeah, there's not a lot of ambiguity, at least surrounding the morality of the story. And I think it was it was actually very effective because the tone is pretty pure. And your character, interestingly, part of this, I'm just sort of discovering as we chat about this, but thinking back about it, you have this character who they're pretty clear, they're pretty clearly two different timelines.
Rob
Yep.
James
There's the now into the future and then there's that character. Looking back and thinking of this, you play the character now who's pretty jaded, who's unhappy, who's yelling at his father, who's cutting himself off from the world, umm, feels very clearly like sort of the darker side of the character. And then looking back at the beginning of his love story with Kate, his his girlfriend, who eventually disappears and that character feels so full of hope. So so not simple but pure. And I wonder, are playing that having to jump back and forth, scene to scene between the now and the darkness and the clear desire to go off in time and space and find your girlfriend and then cut scene, character six years ago who's falling in love with this woman and has no guile whatsoever like it was that a hard dichotomy?
Rob
That was honestly, my favorite part of doing it, I think, was that initial flop back and forth and the change really that I feel like all in all, I feel like I did was kind of dropped my voice like, like, oh, like a half an octave between the two.
James
I didn't notice that, that’s so interesting.
Rob
So that's what I feel like is all I did. I I'm sure and I hope that, you know, there was something deeper in terms of like an acting craft that I like added to the character, whatever. Like I said…
James
It's effective, right?
Rob
Right. If I'm fooling the audience, I think that's the important part. But that was honestly one of the more fun parts about it. The first scene opens, like you said, I'm my dad's there and I'm frustrated at him. He's bothering me. I'm actively working in that moment to make a spell to find my girlfriend again. And so I'm just I'm very jaded. I'm only excited about the ingredients I'm finding, and then I'm brushing off everyone else is coming to talk to me. And then right after that, I jump to this portal where I kind of walk over this cauldron area and I do this annoying quick change where I have to like, throw up, throw my pants on and I'll get a jack and all that kind of stuff. It's so, God quick changes man. It was really funny because a lot of the time the cast were like, Hey, you know, if I can help you, let me know, let me know. And I felt bad, but like, the only way they're going to help me was getting completely out of my way, just letting me take my bag.
James
Right, right, you can’t put my pants on for me.
Rob
Don't know, like, if I know where my stuff is that I'm happy no one touch me, that I love the cast. They were very, very helpful. They had to do a whole lot of transitions.
James
Yeah.
Rob
So they were they were, oh, they were like in that mind. But that that transition was a lot of fun because I go from really throwing some nastiness out at these people to dropping back into this kind of excited Professor Alchemist role. And so one of the exercises we did in rehearsal, Thomas had us it was a couple of us. There wasn't the whole cast, but he had us shape the other actors as their character into like a statue that represented aspects of them as the character.
James
Okay. Little psychological gestures type something…
Rob
Yeah. Yeah. And it all like at one point we did like we would run as an animal that we thought matched our character. All that shit's like, So can I swear?
James
Sure.
Rob
Ah hah!
James
Not a lot of rules!
Rob
Fucking A…no…okay. Um, they, a lot of those kind of a lot of those games feel very silly, purposefully so I think. A, the silliness loosens you up because once you get into it and you realize how silly it is, you tend to shed a lot and do more than you than you would if you were thinking about it more actively. So we do these kind of silly games, but that statue exercise actually stuck with me the entirety of the run. So I have to give Thomas credit for that. I was really smart. The way they shaped the other actors shaped me because also the nice thing is that you're not picking a statue shape in this exercise. It's the other actors going, okay, what do we what do we know about your character? And they shape you.
James
Ah.
Rob
And so it was it wasn't even like my statue idea where I was like, Oh, this is how I feel. They did it to me. And I was like, Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense.
James
And then you’re receiving something from it.
Rob
Yeah. And so the way they shaped me was they had me, I, they, I had to wear my glasses for the show, which that was the only thing I was upset about because I didn't I wore my glasses last time. My glasses are too big for my face and they slip off and I was like, I wasn't wearing it the first couple rehearsals, Thomas was like, Hey, can you keep the glasses on? I was like, Okay, fine.
James
No!
Rob
But I was like, Whatever. So I have my glasses on. They had me with my right hand kind of grab the the frame.
James
Hmm mm.
Rob
And with the other one I was it with my left hand was out kind of off in the distance and I was bent down at the knees, lean forward, kind of like the Scooby Doo Scooby Doo intro where they're like running and they're kind of leaned forward and like, you know, like cartoon characters got to lean forward with their, like, showing forward momentum or whatever?
James
Right.
Rob
I hope I'm explaining this well, but like, it was essentially like Doctor Who. Honestly, David Tennant's Doctor Who.
James
Okay.
Rob
Imagine him running…
James
Sure…
Rob
…down a hallway with a big coat that was essentially the statue they put me in. And that kind of that energy of about to start running towards something, grabbing my glasses, my hand out, whatever coat I have, kind of kind of drifting really shaped a lot of the energy I carried into the run.
James
Yeah.
Rob
Anytime I was, there were several times when I was backstage in this theater and I would have to run, like literally run on stage and I would essentially just like drop down into that shape backstage. And then whatever my cue was, I'd run from that position and all that energy, all that kind of kinetic energy the statue position kind of had…
James
Yeah.
Rob
Pushed into the scene and really, really helped with that, especially the past doctor stuff.
James
Yeah.
Rob
Really helped, um, heighten that energy and that sense of adventure with the heisting. And because he's also he'd also steal shit. He's like a thief. It was a huge part of his character.
James
A lot of lies.
Rob
Yeah, alchemical, alchemical stuff, doctor thief, whatever. And so it's all that kind of adventurous, um, youthful, naive energy and that statue position was a lot of where that came from surprisingly.
James
Yeah. That's super cool. I mean, the the making of the psychological gesture and then carrying that on the stage is pretty classic.
Rob
Yeah.
James
Michael Chekhov Psychological Gesture umm I nev...
Rob
Well, that's even connected to like some old American theater where they I remember learning they had like this textbook for how to do stage acting. This is all prior to Russian.
James
Wow, okay.
Rob
The Russian stuff coming over. And they would literally have like if you were conveying sadness, your feet were like this, your hands were like -
James
Oh, sure.
Rob
Like it was all based in gesture. So like, sadness is gesture to be, happiness is gesture for like, and so even I think as that develops into this kind of psychological stuff where instead of you have to pick a position on stage to tell the audience what you're feeling…
James
Right.
Rob
You can still use those positions, but then to naturally find that emotion.
James
Right. You know, that's what I've never heard of, having the actor adopt a pose that someone else puts on them, though…
Rob
Right, right.
James
I wonder though, I mean I don't know how often you do this exercise, but while doing it, did you find that you both obviously got this very effective gesture from it? Were there times where you were put into a gesture and you thought, I don't really know if that works or you receive something that like you weren't expecting and didn't want to carry into the character with you?
Rob
Actually, so what was, what was nice about that. We did it the one time.
James
Okay.
Rob
We had like two or three gestures, I think, for each person and one of them I actually forget. So it clearly wasn't as important to me. But the two that I do remember though, the one that I just described being the most impactful. But then there was a second one where somebody else had me like kind of bear hugging a giant cauldron and stirring. And I would say, bate bate chocolate, they would just stir, stir chocolate in I think in Spanish.
James
Okay.
Rob
And so that to me, that position didn't carry much over but that kind of the silliness behind.
James
Very fun!
Rob
Yeah!. And that actually is what stuck with me about that cause I remembered that pose the entire run as well.
James
Of course.
Rob
Mainly for the silliness. But again, about halfway through the run as a ensemble, we all collectively came to the realization that we were kind of missing some of the comedy.
James
Hmm.
Rob
We weren't playing it very serious, but we were playing all the characters very real in how they would act in this situation. And I think for the first couple of shows we missed some of the fun and then just remembering that like, you know, a stupid little gesture game and the fact that I was even using one of them so seriously throughout the run, I think that that silliness is what stuck with me. Yeah, so not necessarily the actual pose, but what that pose represented in the mood of that rehearsal.
James
Absolutely.
Rob
And that's what ended up fueling the kind of collective cast realization and that we need to be…
James
Right.
Rob
…being sillier. And that didn't lose any of the, um, more meaningful moments. It just heightened the funnier ones.
James
No, totally. And that actually I think probably my favorite part of the show is there were a handful of really very moving moments on stage, tended to be, um, actor to actor, like the two end scenes. You and your father had some really nice moments, you and Kate, and several nice moments. Kate and her mom.
Rob
Yes.
James
So I was very impressed with the quality of the ensemble acting, especially in a show like this that moves really quickly through so many different places and you're dropped into a fairly unexpected, unexpected scene, both temporally in the in the in the plot of the show, but also all of a sudden you run on and have this scene with someone you have been on stage with before.
Rob
Right.
James
So you and your castmates are very much to be commended for that. As you got to know this cast better working on original material, was there anything that so collectively you decided to bring some levity into the show? Was there anything that you discovered right away that you thought this is like something we need to hold on to? Or was it pretty much you discover as you as you went through?
Rob
And that's the nice thing about having this show ran for 16 shows and we will get 15. We had one canceled, but we ran for six shows, equity showcase rules and everything. So you get a chance to, naturally things end up developing anyways. With 16 shows, you're doing live theater. Audiences change every night, so you're getting different reactions and you're always something's always adapting or living and breathing and changing and evolving.
James
Different every night.
Rob
Yeah, I think one of the things we realized early on is there's at the very end there's a bit where there's this demon character and initially they're presented as my lab assistant…
James
Hmm mm.
Rob
…for all intensive purposes, and you have this lab assistant that reveals themselves to be a demon. And so the next time you see them is at the very end when we're in hell and they're they change their makeup, they got a different outfit on. They're much more energetic, like yelling and screaming like, that's this is the deal. We're going to take your soul da da da…kind of at a time back to one time. But I haven't talked about that yet. But a lot of my training through school was through Meisner training, which is very much about putting everything on your partner and listening and receiving. And after doing the table work and knowing the script and knowing the lines and knowing your wants and objectives and all that, you shed that away. You give all that to your partner and you just respond to what they're giving you. And one of the things that we discovered wasn't even a discovery for me. It was my love interest, Kate and the demon. There's this little bit where the demon comes on and says, like, what is the actual one? You know, they, they have a line, line, line, line. They go, that is the deal. And they the demon character started getting like, louder and louder every night when they were doing this. And one night they mean they really like that is the deal like just screamed it and so my love interest has a line after that saying well now we're making a new deal. And for the first couple of shows it was defiant but very much serious, if you know what I mean. Like now we're making a new deal. This is what da da da. Well, a couple nights in she kind of throws the seriousness not away but she she starts matching more the energy getting we're getting from a demon character. And so that is the deal. She was like, now we're making a new deal. She has this ridiculous pose points that turn everything and that got the biggest laugh of the run so far.
James
It was very funny.
Rob
And so once she realized once she did that, that was one of the impetuses for all of us to go, okay, we need to play up the silly no one's going to not believe…a, everything happening is ridiculous anyways, so it doesn't mean we don't need to. Not everyone needs to be the straight man.
James
Right.
Rob
Obviously we're in hell. I just did a carnival game with my old partner whose whose whose, whose life sentence in hell is being a carnival barker. So, like, nothing makes sense. Like, if this devil's, like, screaming at us, we can scream back.
James
You can scream back.
Rob
That's fine. And so that was one of the things we discovered early on, and that helped us. There's another little bit where they these two, two of the other supporting actors who had played other characters in the show put on these demon masks and they run across the stage and they bark and yell it at my love interest. And initially they had started out. Yeah, they it started out as just like city goers who were drunk and it was much more like just annoying.
James
Right.
Rob
And then we got these fucking demon masks and they started just barking and making animal noises instead. And that was so much funnier than them trying to be like these, like this, this underground version of New York. And these are just party people.
James
Yeah.
Rob
And they were just ridiculous demon animals.
James
Yeah, they were like, weird, like twisted satyrs.
Rob
You know actually, that's the best word. Yeah, yeah, so they just made noises instead of trying to be drunk. And that was so much funnier.
James
That was very…
Rob
And it was after we did, Kate did the whole like actors - Her name is Charmian Bird, by the way, if you want to follow her, she also streams on Twitch. I think. So go give her some follows. But she after she did that, I kind of like now we're making a new deal, made that kind of silly. Then they started doing these barking animal noises and we're like, this is absolutely ridiculous. And leaning into that is what unlocked a lot for us because then we like added a bit where I chased the demons on at the end and I barked back at them to get them to go away. And that was like made up, I think a week into the run and all, all of that stuff just worked so much better than trying to play every moment the straight way and it it was those discoveries of silliness that really kept the run going.
James
I kind of, yeah, It was a very strange, strange as an unexpected and fairly delightful twist that like because so you're on earth, you go limbo…
Rob
Back in time a little bit…
James
Yeah back in time. And all of a sudden the hell is like, where the most fun is.
Rob
Yeah.
James
And there's something there. There's something pretty twisted and subversive about that, that, that really played very well.
Rob
Yeah, it's really, it's really funny because the first introduction to the Hell place is a carnival barker scene where there's all of a sudden this shooting gallery and the costume that the guy that's playing my old partner is wearing is this like pinstriped candy cane barbershop quartet outfit.
James
Yeah, Dick Van Dyke.
Rob
It is absolutely ridiculous. And you're like, What is going on? It was so that whole last act became much more fun as the run went on.
James
I'm sure. Yeah, well, it was. Congratulations on the show.
Rob
Thank you. Thank you.
James
Because it was it was very, very entertaining to watch. Your role was very impressive. You did a great job.
Rob
Thanks.
James
I'm curious, what's next?
Rob
Ooh, yeah. So I'm focusing on the Barrow Group stuff next. I know not to throw you under the bus. I know that you're planning on doing something soon with your theater company.
James
Yes.
Rob
And so, you know, I'm no pressure, but I am thinking about that. I have adored doing the last two things. Being original pieces. I absolutely love creating a character and discovering all of the initial stuff myself. I, good Lord, do I want to do a show that I know has been written already. And that's no condemnation on any script that I've worked on. Umm…
James
No, of course.
Rob
It's a it's a different process. To be creating something from the ground up is is unbelievably satisfying and being able to say because whenever the show gets done, hopefully I'm a part of you are not alone Part two Electric Boogaloo whatever whenever this this version two happens or this version 1.5, whatever Thomas wants to do with it. And I hope he continues because I do think, like I said, the story has some really nice themes and I think it's lovely how simple and happy the ending is.
James
Yeah.
Rob
And I think I think it's I actually think it's an important story to keep working on. But that being said, even if he works, he discovers the better version of Dr. Charles Vash in, you know, Timothée Chalamet, show me whatever it is, how it's bound to happen. So…
James
He takes all our roles!
Rob
Right? And so even if it's somebody else, being able to be the first one to say that I was the first one to put anything to this character is really something special.
James
Absolutely.
Rob
But I think the process of taking something that's been done so many times and doing your thing to that is something is satisfying in a very different way that I'm looking to now do. The last few things I've been a part of have all been original, and so I really want to sink my teeth into something that people recognize and they can see, Oh, that's my stamp on that now.
James
Right.
Rob
I think that's a different audience’s view that I think differently as well. So I've got there's that. I know that Thomas is working on something else over the summer, but I'm really excited to get into this directing program.
James
Yeah.
Rob
I want to come out of 2024 feeling confident in my directing ability, having met people through that program that are going to be doing work that I can work with them on and really shaping myself as an independent theater artist and finding out what my voice is going to be going forward.
James
Very cool.
Rob
I think any any type of theater I'm able to be a part of is what I want to be doing there. I don't get the same kind of rush that I do with theater from anything else. And so whatever direction I'm going, it's theater. And I think putting my feelers out to do the directing stuff and now having the chance to do a couple of fairly prominent productions in New York was very good. I'm very excited.
James
Absolutely. When does the directing program start?
Rob
In January. It gets going the way.
James
Yeah. Wow, wow. So you're you're going soon.
Rob
I'm jumping in. But it's funny because I don't like school, but I love acting school.
James
Wow. Because for those listening, acting school is hardly school…
Rob
And it's much more fun!
James
Yes. Having done a master's program…
Rob
Right. Yeah.
James
Robert Bradvica,. do you have handles or anything we can follow?
Rob
Yeah. If you want to follow me on Instagram, it's @RobertLBradvica. “B.R.A.D.V.I.C.A”. Yeah, I think my pictures like me in a suit which I got to change soon I got to get new headshots, but that that's my that's my profile picture right now @RobertLBradvica. I unfortunately don't have a website yet. I'm working on that. I also don't have representation. If anyone is listening that will represents people, I would love to be represented by somebody.
James
Yeah. There you go.
Rob
You know, it's I love being…
James
CAA come calling.
Rob
Yeah, right. It's great being a hustler, but I absolutely hate it.
James
I would like to be given roles now. Um, well thank you so much for joining us. Any parting advice for for our listeners?
Rob
Oooo, advice? Oh, man.
James
Thoughts, theories?
Rob
Oh. Oh yeah. On my way over here. You know, those phone charging stands that they have around the city?
James
Yes.
Rob
They're called New York Transit waivers. I saw a picture that was like in New York history, right? The picture was from 2001.
James
New York History in 2001?
Rob
Yeah. It was just like it was black and white, too, which bothered me for some reason. It was like New York history…
James
Back before they had color photographs!
Rob
Yeah, 2001. I'm like, I've used to seeing these, say like 1960, 1950. I'm like, Why, why, why?
James
Interesting.
Rob
So that that's my thought is I'm old now.
James
Right. 20 years ago is considered history and I remember those days.
Rob
Good God.
James
it's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you. Thank you.
Rob
Fantastic. Thank you so much.
James
Thank you for making the trip out here.
Rob
Of course.
James
Thank you all for listening in. This has been One Hale of a Conversation. I am James Hale, and we hope to speak to you again very soon. Bye bye.
Rob
Adios.
Maddi
Thanks for listening. To learn more about any of the creatives who spoke in this episode, check out their social media links in the episode description.
