A conversation with the cast of Theatre Conspiracy’s production of the laugh-out-loud comedy “What Springs Forth”

This is Golf Coast Life Arts Edition from WGCU. I'm John Davis, thanks for joining us. Theater Conspiracy in Fort Myers is closing out the summer season and the company's 34th season with a production of the hilarious new play what springs forth by award winning playwright and screenwriter Cory Crim. It's the story of three middle aged women Emma, Robin and Sally B, who have been friends since college. They're reuniting for what was supposed to be a relaxing, relaxing, luxurious high end wellness spa retreat complete with massages, facials and many petits. But Emma, along with her mysterious new business partner, have surreptitiously flipped that itinerary on its head. It's now a wilderness survival camp. The last lines come fast. As things quickly spun out of control. Tempers flare and long held assumptions get put to the test. While the premise sounds like a broad outdoor comedy, The Wilderness adventure is really a mechanism for stripping away the character's normal defenses and exposing what's going on in their lives and friendships. This is familiar territory for the playwright, whose other works also tend to use humor to explore complicated situations and revelations, but what springs forth really stands out for its comedy. Carrie Crim herself has called it a laugh out loud comedy that is borderline farce. And this is a new play. The premiere production was in the summer of 2024 at purple Rose Theater Company in Chelsea, Michigan, where Crum is a playwright in residence. Theater conspiracies production runs through August 30th, and that's going to be in the Off-Broadway Palm Theater in Fort Myers. And this is some of the most accessible live theater in town with tickets being sold Bogo. Joining me now for a closer look at the play is three of the actors in this production. I'm speaking with Tiffany Campbell, who has been with Theater Conspiracy for something like 26 years now. She's currently the production manager of the company, and many of her past three of her credits are behind the scenes as stage manager, lighting and sound and lighting design, among others. In this production, she plays the role of Robin. Tiffany Campbell welcome to Gulf Coast Life Arts edition. Thanks for having me. And we're all yes. We're also joined by actor, singer and voiceover artist Lucy Sundby. She's co-creator and artistic director of the musical improv group whoops. We're a troupe. She also serves as business manager at the Fort Studios. Some past acting credits include roles in the world premiere production of Dexter, the Improv Musical, Also nonsense, Mame, Steel Magnolias, The Altruist, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and cabaret, among others. In this show, she plays the role of Emma Lucy. Welcome back. Thanks for having me. And we're also joined by actor and writer Anne Reed, who plays the role of Malu. Am I pronouncing that right? May. Lou. May Lou. Okay. Past acting credits include production of Men in Boats, Laundry and Bourbon and The Complete History of America abridged. She also created a Roaring 20s heist on Whales Drive, which is an elaborate 1920s murder mystery dinner party. She's also written for a number of publications, including the News Press, Naples Daily News, Gulf Shore Life, Southwest Florida, Parent and Child, and Grander Magazine, among others. And read welcome. Thanks for taking the time. Thank you for having me. So right off the bat, I want to clear up what could be a misnomer about this play. Some people might hear, you know, comedy about four middle aged women and think, not for me, but I read this review from another production by the Detroit Free Press and it said, quote, the biggest mistake a reader could make here is to assume that this is a woman show with nothing to offer male viewers to make. That assumption would mean a lot of men missing out on possibly the funniest production in Metro Detroit this season. Does that resonate with you? Do you find this story to be universally relatable? Yes, absolutely. Sure, yeah. If you have if if you are a parent of sons, there are some parts that I think you'll find very entertaining. If you have a friend or a spouse or loved one who has gone through the very long journey of perimenopause and menopause, you will find a lot of things to to laugh at. And there's so much physical comedy like we're battered and bruised. Gosh, you know, I'm a lady of a certain age. There's heating pads, there's red light therapy, there's soaking in the tub, there's ice like we are doing it. It's a very physical show with a lot of physical comedy. So there's a little bit of something for everybody. My husband came and he loved it. And he's a man. Oh, yes, he. Is my husband too. Yes. Also a man. So I can see. I mean, the hilarity comes with you off the stage as well. But at the same time, this whole wilderness survival setup has kind of allowed the playwright to explore some kind of heavy stuff. Mainly, I guess, kind of unfulfilled ambitions and sort of that juxtaposition I think we can all relate to when it comes to, you know, maybe the people we imagined we were going to become when we were younger versus the reality of who we've become. And then just we all know how complicated long term friendships can be because people grow and change over the decades, and they don't always grow and change together. Did that feel like a particular challenge to you as actors? And by that I mean tackling some of these serious themes. But through the lens of this, this intense comedy, too? I think so, because, like, I think a lot of it was relatable, which was it kind of made it a little easier, I want to say for us, or at least for me, it did, you know what I mean? It's that Robin's going through what she wanted out of life and what she didn't get out of life, but she's happy with the life that she does have. But she's still, like, ends up reflecting on what it is she did want to do with her life. That didn't happen. Yeah. I was given the task of making sure that there was an arc in my performance, and I feel like all of the characters have an arc. You know, we all start as one person and end the show as a completely different person, in my opinion. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. You know, in conversations I've had with actors in the past, something that's always impressed on me is this notion that you have to like your character. So with that in mind, I'd love for each of you to just tell me a little bit about your character and maybe what you have come to connect with concerning them. And I'm going to start with you, Lucy, because from what I can understand and I haven't seen it yet, this is kind of all Emma's fault. Yes, Emma, it is Emma's fault, and she takes full responsibility for it. But she still wanted it to happen. And I think that when Bill was explaining to me, I want you more this way, more this way, more this way. And I kept pushing myself into that character that he, you know, directed me into the moment that I hear all of the people laughing at it, I'm like, that's why. That's why he said that. But I feel like there's a lot of things that a lot of people, a lot of women can connect with and each one of the characters. So yeah, I do feel like Emma has a huge growth within the show. And, you know, we can all connect with that for sure. And Tiffany, you were telling us a little bit about Robin before. She's kind of like super mom, but also kind of burning the candle at both ends. Yeah, she is that, you know, that stay at home mom, and she's taking care of all four of her boys. But then, like, it also gets said that, you know, she takes care of her friends, she takes care of her family. She takes care of her husband's family. You know what I mean? And show me a woman that can't relate to that. Yeah. You know, and you know, so she's doing all these things. But that's not what she wanted out of her life. She's happy with her life. But she did have a bigger picture. And I'm not going to tell you because that kind of gives away one of my moments. But, you know, she she does have other things that she wants. So like Lucy said, everybody could come to it and everybody's going to get a little something different from it, but everybody is going to also, I think, relate to all four characters. All right. And, and you must have had a lot of fun with this character. She's not one of the college friends. She speaks with an Icelandic accent. She's obsessed with doing things the Vikings way. She's done some prison time. I mean. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I mean, we wouldn't want to, like, we we don't really know a lot about this character. That's part of it. I don't want to give anything away about the character. What I connected to with that particular character is I feel like my character is the worst kind of liar, and that my character truly believes everything they're saying in that moment. So I there are parts of my character that I love. I love the physical comedy of it, but I they're not a nice purse. She's a bad girl. I'm a bad girl. Bad girl. I will say, when I read the part for the first time, I was like, wait. I connect more to Tiffany's character as like, I have a thousand. I have three children, but I say 1000. Anything over two is a thousand. So I'm like the overworked mom who's always had some jobs on the side. I connected to parts of of Emma Lucy's character because I, you know, she's she's very spiritual. And I certainly have said a lot of the, the sort of spiritual things that she said. And maybe I connect with Sally. Ben's the least. But Sally Ben is the one who's really going through the amount of pause. So if you ever had a hot flash, you definitely connect to what Sally Ben's going through in the show. So I agree with them that I, I take something away from each of the characters in the show. And again, I don't want to give away any spoilers, even though I might have already. What what character do you think is most resistant to change in this play, and which is maybe most desperate for it? Most resistant. Probably Emma, because she doesn't know how to. Figure out what it is that she's doing. I mean, she's constantly trying to find herself and in that she doesn't really change because she doesn't grow up. And she's finding herself through other people. Yeah, right. Like that's that's tough. Like when you're always looking for that guide., Somebody else to change you instead of change yourself. Tiffany, I'm curious about, you know, with your extensive experience doing all this behind the scenes work for the theater, is it is it maybe difficult for you to kind of relinquish some of that control and just be an actor? You know, I mean, I don't mean to be. As our stage manager will tell you. Yes. Okay. Okay. It it is, but it's it's also I don't get to play often. So when I do, it's one of my things is it has to be people that I want to be on stage with and a director that I really want to work with. So I'm going to say I was kind of bamboozled a little bit, okay. Into this. I thought I was just going as a stage manager to the reading and then was like, hey, why don't you read for Robin? Because I don't know who that's going to be yet. I tricked you totally. But you. But this nailed it. What were we supposed to do? I'm loving every voice. It was all right. It together. It's. Yeah. They were like. So you're Robin, right? And I was like, no, no, I'm just reading. And Bill's like, well, you know, once everybody is on stage, there's nothing happening backstage. And I was like, oh, I see what. This is. I see, and she has some. Of the funniest lines in the whole show and does them with a perfect deadpan. Just you got to see it. Not gonna give it away. There's, there's a, there's one of my lines that's my absolute favorite. And I'm so glad that it's David's favorite. To so. But it's a little it's a little hard to to to be on the other end of it. You know, my son is doing lights and sound. And so then it's like, you know, reminding him, hey, by the way, you have to do this, remember? But you would. Have like, I've got this to you. And I'm like, okay, I'm so sorry. You would have no idea that it's hard for her, though. Yeah. Because she just, like, jumps right in. And, you know, sometimes when you're watching theater, you think, you know, I feel like that person could have could have gone a little farther with it. She goes all the way to a hundred and then over the line just it's. But this play needs that. It has. Yeah. You have to you have. To you know, we were talking about line delivery, you know, with comedy and in particular like a borderline false timing is everything. I've seen some clips of past productions enough to know the laugh lines come strong and fast. There are moments when you're all kind of talking over each other at the same time. I imagine getting that timing down was a crucial part of your rehearsal process. Pace. Pace pace. Yeah. Pace, pace pace. That's all. Bill Cup telling us pace, pace pace. We've got it. We're almost there. Pace pace pace. And I want to say Thursday is when we truly, like hit our stride. Because then. That's when we had a. Full house. We had a full audience, you know what I mean? So they bring. That and. Yeah. They didn't stop laughing. That is one of the things. And then hearing what people because we were laughing at each other. We're hilarious. We are. I mean from. Day one we were. Talking ourselves up from day one, but we didn't know what other people were going to laugh. And I'm not saying that the whole audience is laughing for 90 minutes, but there's rarely a time where somebody isn't struck by something. And my dear, sweet husband happened to see the show like two nights in a row. And he did laugh at different things each night. He's like, okay, so night two I was able to pick up on some other things that I missed at night one because I was still laughing at something. Is that a just the pacing? Like once you get into the performances and like, you know, this is going to land every time and you're going to have to give it an extra second. Well, not necessarily, because some things don't land every time. Some things that landed the night before doesn't get as big of a laugh the next time, you know. So it's, it's it's different every night on what they catch and what they're laughing. At which. Changes the pace. Right. Really does. Every time. Yeah. There are. Parts of the show that we want to see, so we don't know what. I don't know what it looks like. There are some things that I do that get this really big laugh and I don't know what it looks like. Right. So I. I'm. Like desperate to see what it, what is. It that everybody is seeing because I don't I don't know what I look like. I know my face does funny things and I just. Is someone taking or going to take a video of this so you can see it someday? I don't I don't know how to answer that. So no, we don't have plans to videotape it. Yeah. All right. Yeah. And as a writer yourself, what do you think is harder, like making people laugh when you've written the joke or making them laugh when you're delivering someone else's? Oh, man. I am guilty of being the one all through rehearsals that could not keep it together. And we would all have to stop because I could not stop laughing at something that one of them were doing. And we we. This is the first time Lucy and I have gotten to be together in a production. Like I got to be with Shelley and Tiffany and Men on Boats, which was my favorite production I've done in Southwest Florida. Like, hands down, this one is it might eclipse it, but. It's just, oh yeah. I think it's harder to write the joke and say the joke and get the laugh. I think it's easier as a writer to read something and be like, okay, that's not funny, but I can make it funny, right? Like, I'm a big, tall, goofy looking girl. Like my face does funny things. I can make my body get the laugh if the words don't get the laugh. But I think it's hard to write the laugh and get the laugh. Yeah. I have to say, I was a little surprised to hear you talk about the physical comedy, you know, involved in this, because at first when I heard, like, borderline false farce, I'm like, yeah, there's usually physical comedy there, but surely the playwright's not going to make people playing. Middle aged women do all of this. But we're. Not going to blame the playwright. We're going to blame Bill Taylor. Yes. The director. Yes, yes. And I kept. Everything my character does a secret from my family. This is the only time I've done this. Like they went in to see this blind. They didn't know anything about it. I didn't rehearse in front of them. Nothing. Because I knew that from the second I appeared on stage, my husband would be going. And. Katherine. It really is like that. As soon as she comes in, the entire play not only changes, but everyone in the audience. Just uproarious laughter. Because what is going on? That's that's the only thing I could think that they must be thinking. Yes. I read a ton of reviews of various productions of this, and a common theme I hear in all of them is like, anytime you think you're getting to a point where you can predict what's going to happen next. That's not what happens now. Was it like that for you reading through the script for the first time? Yes, absolutely. Oh, yes. 100%. I think we all had to kind of sit and just think for a second afterwards. What did we just read? Yeah. I did. I remember when we read it at your house because then we all met up and did like a reading before we started rehearsals. There were things that we didn't get the first time. Yes, that when we read through that we were like, oh my. God. That my son in the next room definitely made sure he told me what he heard. Yeah, there's there's. Something. Now he's he's ten. Okay. For reference. I think that's important. I've explained it to him. Don't worry. Yeah. There's some, there's some. Like some light pearl clutching moments. I think there's some moments where you're like, oh, oh my. Oh. Did she. Just say. What. Did she just say out loud. So, but there's, there's also some moments that are tender and sweet and you know, there's something so special about women's friendships. And as you get older, it gets harder and harder and harder to make those those friends, those those bonds that you have when you're young are extra special. And the fact that these three women in this show have these, these three characters have this bond and have protected this bond and still make it out of this forest, friends, is it's amazing. And it's. Written so beautifully that you can really see the friendship. And what's really nice is that the four of us all are really good friends already. So it was easy to just be like, oh, okay, we're all besties, no problem. No, that's nice when there's no, like, period of adjustment, of just getting used to each other before you. Yeah. We didn't get into playing. You know. You know. Yeah. No. And I think that level of trust that you have amongst each other is helpful to when you're doing a show that is so physical. Right? Because you, you trust each other like we all we're all very careful with each other and our, our miracle bodies. Right. Tell me a bit about the set, because the Off-Broadway Palm Theater stage is it's a smaller, intimate venue. How do you transform that into making us feel like, you know, we're in the wilderness. That's what. It's all around you. It's. It's all it is. You are. In the. Forest when you when you walk in the doors there, there are things hanging to make it look like you were walking. Set up to the forest. We're set up as theater in the round. Nice. So when you come in, you are in the forest. There's rocks and logs and. There's branches over you. Branches. All right. Do you guys, how do you feel about performing in a venue? Like, do you like the proximity to the audience, or do you prefer something more proscenium where there is that physical distance? You want me to be honest? Yeah. So I'm a gassy girl. And we just went to tacos and tequila. So. So I get out there and I got to stay in character, and I just there's times when I was very physical and I'm around people and I'm like, I'm praying, praying. Just please don't let this be. These people are way too close. If you're up on stage and you have a gassy moment, nobody knows. But when you're like in the audience. Yeah, you're just crop dusting. I knew it. Listen, I'm praying for my life every night and telling me, you see it, you'll know why. I'm praying for my life every night. I do a lot of interactive theater, even like sitting at tables and talking with people and characters. So the idea of them being right next to me is whatever. I love both ways of doing it. Yeah. I do enjoy it. I like the that I can look at people's faces and kind of see how they're interacting. And my character is a little scary. I do look at them, but I can't see right. I don't have my glasses. Oh that's right okay. That's what they're sitting there going. Her character is staring at me. She's coming for me. Yeah. We move around a lot and I yeah, it's it is kind of fun to go, like stomping up the stage and see people. And when I have to walk, when I walk behind them, they're always like. Like. What's she doing back there? Keeps everybody on their toes. Final question for y'all is this ultimately a play about friendship or about women asking themselves whether they're satisfied with their lives they've created or something else? Friendship. Friendship 100%. When it comes down to it, it's about it's about their friendship. Yes. And that no matter what, that they've got each other's backs. Like that's that that I think is summed up at the end of it that no matter, no matter what, at the end of it, they, they have each other's back. All right. Unanimous. Wonderful. Well, that is all the time we have for today's show. But I want to thank my guests. I've been speaking with actors Tiffany Campbell and Reed and Lucy Sundby, who, along with Shelley Sanders, make up the cast of theater conspiracies currently running production of the comedy What Springs Forth. The show runs through August 30th on the Off-Broadway Palm Theater stage in Fort Myers, and tickets are Bogo. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening performances are at 730. Sunday matinees are at two. For more information or to secure your tickets, visit Theater Conspiracy or call the box office (239) 208-1003. Tiffany and Lucy, thanks so much for the conversation. I can't wait to come see the show. Thank you. I can't wait for you to see it. Thank you. And if you missed any of today's show, you can always hear episodes in their entirety on our website wgcu.org/gcl Or subscribe to our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts. Our show today was produced by yours truly, with audio production by Matthew Krause and video production by David Oquendo. For now, thanks for listening. I'm John Davis, this is WGCU-FM Fort Myers 90.1 WMKO Marco Island 91.7 FM, NPR for Southwest Florida.