Pretend Worlds Real People

What is a play, film, video game, or commercial without the right talent? This week’s guest has carved an incredible career for herself as a Casting Director. Sylvia Gregory joins us as we delve into the origins of her prolific career, her experiences inside the casting room, and what it takes to become part of the C.S.A. (Casting Society of America)!

Crashing through windows, 30-foot freefalls, and being on fire are typical job duties for our guest this week. Talia Dillingham is a professonal stuntwoman, who has some incredible stories to share. She explains the ins and outs of stunt preparation and graciously shares her story of being severely injured while performing a stunt. Her resiliance and recovery is awesome in and of itself, but heari...

The title of "Producer" technically places you as part of the administrative team at a regional theater. One might think that an arts worker in that type of position would focus less on the "art" and more on the "work," but this week's guest proves that idea entirely incorrect. Mark Lunsford is a man dedicated to the art of theater and works hard, with his team, to produce incredible shows every s...

Being a professional dancer is the dream job of many young girls, but for today's guest her dream became a reality. Melissa Zaremba is a professional dancer turned choreographer/director with tons of stories to share about her career path. Join us on a wonderful trip down Melissa's memory lane and hear about what it's like to dance on cruises, tours, and with the Rockettes!

Many words can be used to describe our final guest of 2020: talented, humble, sincere, invested, curious, genuine. Michael Luwoye is all these things and so much more. We chat about his experience as the third rendition of the titular role in the Broadway hit, Hamiliton, the differences between theater and film acting, and his nerd love of The Legend of Zelda. Michael is just the person who's stor...

What do you get when you combine an Actor, a DJ, and a Puppeteer?  Rob Wight!  This week's guest has made a career in entertaining the masses with his wit and physicality. For over ten years he has worked with Imagineers and Star Wars royalty as Push The Talking Trash Can, Tigger, The Grinch; and BOBA FETT. Even gnabbing a role on The Walking Dead! Rob takes us on a journey through is prolific car...

"The more eyes you have on your material, the better it gets,"  and this week's guest believes in that wholeheartedly. Kris Simms lights up this episode from the Screenwriter's perspective. A Colorado native and massive fan of genre-bending storytelling, he chats with us about his Southwest roots, becoming a screenwriter; and what it's like to produce a film independently. Not to mention he publis...

Broadway is where stars are born, and this week's guest is a one of the brightest, though it's likely you've never heard her name. Julia Jones has been a Broadway stage manager for 20 years and has made a name for herself in her own right. Her insights into commercial theater, the responsibilities of stage managers, and how the larger theater community can improve going forward are encouraging and...

This week we've stepped slightly outside of the theater and film worlds and into the videogame world! Our guest, Webb Pickersgill, is a performance director with Deck Nine Games, a videogame company that specializes in adventure gaming. Webb tells us all about his job, how a videogame gets created from start to finish, and his winding journey through multiple careers that's landed him where he is...

Our guest this week is a great example of "how to be a boss." Pam Renall has worked in many facets of the film industry and was successful in all of them. Her "go-for-it" attitude and self-confidence was inspiring to witness during this interview. She shares some great insights about the industry, voices her dream of being a "Disney mom," and tells some amazing stories involving some pretty famous...

"Career-hopper" is one way to describe our next guest, but a more accurate phrase would be "curiosity-follower." Josh Gough has always had a massive list of "things he wants to be when he grows up," and has successfully checked some of those things off of it. Currently a freelance tv producer, Josh tells us about his winding journey to his current gig, other careers he's still considering, and eve...

This Junket is filled with creative catch ups, national indecision, and a rather horrible idea to make more money using your old audition tapes.

This episode marks a first for the podcast with an in-person guest interview! Carmen Vreeman-Shedd is a Colorado Springs/Denver actor and one of Steph's newest and dearest friends. After being roped into this interview, Carmen shares with us about her journey into theater, what it's like to work solely in the Denver region, why waitressing is not for the thin-skinned, and gushes about her "hot hus...

This week we chat with the intriguing Leah Watson a.k.a. Grace Skinner. Leah is a Denver film actor, but Greyce is well know in the pole and aerial worlds. We discuss her creative passion with pole and trapeze, the importance body positivity and having personal boundries, and our love of crock pot cooking! Shoutouts & Promotions 1. Leah's instagram 2. Greyce's website 3. Steph's favorite winter cr...

Welcome to Junket! This is our midweek minisode where we chat about current events (in the arts), upcoming projects, and what we're up to in these crazy times! Also, junket is a weird name for a dessert... Shoutouts & Promotions 1. Quote Stitch Studio 2. Devil Red Films 3. Calvin T. Shepherd 4. Batman Fan Series 5. Brave Little Theater 6. Gregor's Very, Very Peaceful Garden

This week we are joined by a fantastic human, Ben Whitmore. He tells us about his job as a technical director and how he ended up in that career. It was so fun to hear about the interesting details that go into building a set. Ben also shares with us what it's like to work with the same company for years (a somewhat rare position in the industry) and even has some fun stories about multiple Mandy...

The word "visionary" doesn't even begin to describe this week's guest. Ray Holdridge chats with us about discovering his roots as a story teller, his artistic inspirations as an actor, and developing his production company: Smoking Polar Bear Productions. Needless to say, he's the coolest!   Shoutouts & Promotions 1. Ray's website

The term "Master of All Trades" is defined by this week's guest, Kaitee Tredway. From dancer to actor to costume designer to puppeteer, this lady can do it all! We had so much fun chatting with her and we hope you enjoy listening.   Shoutouts and Promotions 1. Puppet Showplace in Brookline, MA 2. Kaitee's Etsy shop -  Quote Stitch Studio 3. Kaitee's website

It's our first episode with a guest! Denver local actor and playwright, Iliana Lucero Barron, was a delight to chat with. Her devotion to the LatinX community and to the youth of the Denver community is inspiring. Tune in to hear about how she was inspired to write her first play and learn about that time she fell off a truck during a performance! *Apologies in advance for any sound issues. Virtua...

This week Tyler turns the mic turns toward co-host Stephanie. She explains what a stage manager does and how she fell in love with the gig. She even shares a "worst experience ever" story about an Oscar-winning actress!   Shoutouts & Promotions 1.  Syracuse University Drama Department 2. Harford Stage Company 3. Lake Dillon Theatre Company 4. Aurora Fox Arts Center

Stephanie sits down with co-host, Tyler, to talk about his career as an actor. We discuss auditioning, his time on set of the movie Wind River, motion capture work, and how creepy Craigslist's ads can actually kickstart your passion!   Shoutouts & Promotions 1. Victoria Atkin's Workout Class for motion and performance capture. You can find more information about these classes at  https://victoriaa...

A short intro episode telling listeners about the podcast and why we wanted to start it!