Marco Island Center for the Arts presents weirdly funny love story “Chameleüns”

This is Gulf Coast Live Arts edition from WGCU. I'm John Davis, thanks for joining us. If at first you don't succeed in a relationship, become someone else. That's the premise at the heart of the weirdly funny love story Chameleüns, which comes to the Art Center Theater on Marco Island next month for a limited workshop production through the Marco Island Center for the Arts. It's a play for two actors who combined play 15 different characters through a series of vignettes connected through a broader romantic through line. Some of those characters include infomercial hosts, therapists, and performance artists, among others. The play was co-written by actor, comedian, costume designer, stage manager, playwright and script judge Rochelle Burdine and fellow actor, playwright, director and theater educator Frank Blocker who's been dubbed the man of 100 voices. This concept of actors playing many different roles in one show is familiar territory for blocker, who last appeared on this program back in March. When we were talking about his performance of his own one man show, Stabilized, Not Controlled, during which he plays 17 different characters. And he joins us today. Welcome back, Frank. Well, thank you very much. Glad to be back. And I'm also thrilled to have his writing partner in crime for this show in studio with us as well. Rochelle Burdine, welcome. Thanks for taking the time. Hey, thanks so much for having me. And we're also joined by the actors and real life married couple in this production of Chameleüns, joining us in studio as well, Dixie and Patrick Huey. They're both familiar faces to Art Center theater patrons, but this might mark their first show acting together at that venue. Patrick Dixie. Welcome to Gulf Coast Life arts Edition. Thank you. Pleasure. So in my preparation for this conversation, I came across references of past productions of Chameleüns going as far back as 2002. Frank and Michelle. Tell me a bit about how you came to be collaborative writing partners for this project in the first place, and why, all these years later, you're mounting a workshop production of the play. Well, I really wanted to take that part of it. Rochelle can answer the okay, that that was actually a staged reading that Rochelle and I did in New York in 2002. And that's what I tell people about this show, is what's been so entertaining to me is we really finished the the main draft in the late 90s, and we did that reading in 2002, and it's been sitting in a drawer and garnering no interest from anyone for 25 years, and suddenly I get two bookings a week apart. Oh, wow. Okay. So we decided it was time to pull it back out, but I'll let Rochelle handle the rest of that. I just wanted to clarify. It was a workshop production and it was many, many years ago. We were so young. Yes. Frank and I wrote this play back in the 90s, probably the mid 90s. And, it was just for fun. We just decided we were just going to write a play. I think we dedicated two nights a week for about a year, and we were very dedicated. And we met and Frank's attic of his house, and there was no desk and there was no computer up there. So we had the great idea to build a desk and. Wait, wait, I had my 486 laptop that weighed 12 pounds. That's right. And we were going to take the desk up the attic stairs. And then we realized very quickly that that wouldn't work. So being the brilliant folks that we are, we built the desk in the attic. So now whoever owns that home has a desk in their attic. That's where we wrote the we wrote the script. And then honestly, after that, after we wrote it, kind of life just happened, and Frank got called. He he was in a show called beauty Bait and Tackle that he wrote. So he was, pretty soon into the 2000. I was doing a show Off-Broadway called The Limousine Ride right around 2000. So it just kind of just got shelled. But I think it's just delightful that here we are 30 years later, and it's still quite relevant, and it's still quite hilarious. All right. This overarching theme of weather changing who we are helps us find love. Or it makes it harder to discover, to discover who we really are. It's pretty universally relatable, I think, but it's also pretty heavy. Was the play always a comedy, or did the humor kind of come to you as you were exploring the characters? Well, I think we both are pretty clear that that comedy comes from pain. Yeah. And I think we've certainly like, you know, like most people out there have had our fair share of it. But we certainly didn't we we were definitely about the entertainment, but we didn't. We wanted the to have some sort of meat to it. And once we stumbled across that idea of the way people change in relationships, we kind of couldn't let that go. And it became funny and bitter and touching and all at the same time. And so we just kept we just kept going with that, I think. And was the was the two character structure. And then having them play all these different roles. Was that part of the design from the beginning? Because I know that's something you're drawn. Pretty much the, the design from the beginning. We, we, we knew we wanted to try that out and, and this gave us this gave us a really good excuse that they were they were constantly changing throughout as well, that the the characters themselves might be somewhat interrelated to each other. Yeah. Right. I think Frank and I both realize that you, in relationships, you don't really know people as well as you think you know them. And so all of the vignettes and all of the stories in this, in this play, are based on real people and real relationships. And, And as crazy as they are, yes, they are based in somewhat in reality. Okay. Well, I would like to share that one little tidbit that we have a character called whose name is Joe cant see a n t cant. And, I was at home one day and my partner asked me about that and said, did you get that name from Joe down the street? Not kidding you. 25 years later, I live around the corner from somebody named Joe Kent. Oh, really? Okay. So those little moments sort of tell you I think the play is about to come back around. Okay. And for our actors, Patrick and Dixie, how much of the transformation you're making, I guess, comes from costumes or props versus how much comes from you, your voices, your gait, your physicality. This seems like a particularly heavy lift as performers. I think that very little of it needs to come from the costume. If there's anything that I've learned in the last couple of months working with Frank. It's been to, you know, let the personality do the driving. Yeah. And everything else is secondary. It's all important. And we're going to strive to do the best we can with, you know, the details. But at the end of the day, it starts with the person inside that you're, you know, trying to portray on stage. Yes. And I would add also that the personality, of course, informs the way you move. And so that's a big part of the character. Is that maybe a little easier for you given your, your, your dance background? You started with ballet at the age of three. You were accepted into the North Carolina School of the Arts, although I know that's not where you eventually ended up studying and earning a degree. But was acting something that you always wanted to do? Or did you think of yourself primarily as a dancer? Well, I think the best part of my dancing was what they called back in the day. Stage presence. I don't have the build for a dancer. That's one of the reasons it didn't work out. I loved the dancing. So for me, when I'm on stage in more of an acting capacity, any kind of movement is not only my favorite part, but it also helps me remember what the heck I'm supposed to say. Okay. So the movement helps me deliver the lines. And you graduated from Duke with a psychology degree. Does that academic background influence the way you approach acting or creating a character? Well, I think that it it makes me smile because I would be what I call a failed psychologist. That's what I. Thought I wanted to do. And then I took an abnormal psych class and realized that this is not what I want to do, and I don't want to be in a lab. So I had to find a different career path. But it is very funny to me that not long after they wrote this play, right around the same time they're writing the play, I'm at Duke studying psychology, abandoned by grad school plans, and now I'm a psychotherapist. So pretty great. So didn't get a degree in it, but she plays one on stage. Is that the doctor fraud character I've read about. Doctor Lee. Actually. Oh, doctor Lee, a different one. Okay. See, I haven't seen the show yet. I'm so excited. We're not sure if we want to explain the doctor fraud. Okay. No. That's okay. No spoilers, no spoilers. Yeah. I don't think it's the only spoiler. So we have. And Patrick, you had theater experience decades ago with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, then spent spent years in the Navy becoming a decorated flight officer, then entered the financial world. You know, before turning back to the stage, I'm curious about what made you decide to get back into acting. Like, does the acting bug ever really go away? Or maybe it can just lie dormant for a while? I mean, it lay dormant from the time I was in college until I started going back into watching theater when we were living in the Pacific Northwest. And then, you know, honestly, when when we moved here to Southwest Florida and started attending some of the theaters here, just watching people in community theater who I know are either retired mostly or have real jobs. It made me say, well, hey, you know, that's something that I can get back into and can start doing again as, as part of, you know, part of my life. And it was it's been an amazing experience. You know, I watched people like Frank when he did his one man show down on Marco. I never thought I would get the opportunity to work with a guy like Frank Blocker. So when the phone rang and the offer came, you know, there was very little discussion in the house about whether or not we were going to do it. All right. And does it seem like kind of a natural extension of your work outside of acting, too? I mean, because, you know, you're interacting face to face with clients. I know you've done tons of TV work as far as interviews. So what's interesting about that is I actually the decision to get back into acting, to be on stage was I was either going to do Toastmasters or I was going to try out for a play. I think I chose the right path. You can all decide for yourselves. A couple of weeks from now. Okay. Down on Marco. And, is there anything you learned as a naval flight officer about preparation, discipline, staying calm under pressure that helps you on the stage? I think it's a very different pressure. Okay. You know, you learn to be prepared. Obviously overprepared. And that's probably the number one lesson, but it's a very different pressure. I don't I don't get the cold sweats in an airplane. I get the cold sweats sitting backstage, you know, waiting for the lights to go up. And then, you know, then it's game on. But, it's a it's a very different feeling. And Patrick and Dixie, you you found that in run victory independent planning together. It's truly a family firm. How does your relationship dynamic outside the theater work as a benefit when it comes to being seen partners? Or conversely, does it present challenges that you wouldn't face with just, you know, somebody that you're not married to? Well, I have not had to put them in separate rooms. Yeah. Just just yet. Just in their defense, before they answer, I wanted to throw that. In there. We save that for when we were practicing at home. Okay. I think people ask me this sometimes about working with your spouse, and I would tearing up a little bit from laughter, trying not to interrupt you. But, there's a lot of discussion during the week, the workweek, if you will, about tone. Tone of voice. And that's going for me. So I think just learning to in a work setting. Just be cognizant you know that it's a spouse. It's someone who is going to take things differently than say an employee or a colleague. Right. And that actually is the same when you're rehearsing together. We had a tone discussion on the way here, actually. So someone has to bring that up. And then the other person has to say, okay, you're right. Thanks. So just that a little bit of give and take for sure. And I think some of that is really good for this script because there are relationship dynamics at work here. And, you know, you can act that all day long. But we actually live it all. Day long. Right. So hopefully that that will give us a little bit of a leg up on this production. And if you can answer this without spoiling anything for audiences who haven't seen the show. Are there characters in Chameleüns that feel maybe surprisingly close to your real personalities? Oh well. The first one that comes to mind for me is Trudy, because she's a country music aficionado, and I grew up in North Carolina, and I, when I'm playing her, I'm really trying to be around my family. That's from King, North Carolina, which is not a cosmopolitan area. And I just I think of all those people that I grew up with. And, you know, it's a lot of bless my heart, bless your heart and all that stuff. So I feel very close to Trudy. And for me, it's, it's Mr. Kent, who is a fairly gruff, blue collar guy and just reminds me of my father all day long. Love you. Dad. Miss you. All right? I was born in Raleigh, so there's another random connection, you know? Rochelle, I know in 2023, you really underwent a life changing radical spine surgery. Boy howdy. Six level spinal fusion. I, I was almost going to make a joke. Like we should call you Titania because you have titanium. You were told you may never walk again. I was told that I probably would not walk again. And, Yes, my neurosurgeon was very brutal and very honest with me. And he said, your your spine is crumbling. I have degenerative this disease. And he's he said it's the most painful surgery period. And he said, I've never performed the surgery on a man. He said, because men just they can't take the pain. He's like, so I've only performed the surgery on on women. And I said, well, you know, I will walk and we need to get this done. So yeah. So it was C two to T two, which is a in the back of your spine cervical. And I have a I had about 40 I think we lost track of the staples being removed 40 something staples. But I have 212 inch rods and I have 14 screws in the back of my neck. And we were we were laughing about it at the airport this morning going through security. Security? She could have set off a free alarm. But I didn't, but. Yes. I had a ton of physical therapy. I had amazing physical therapist that were just not going to let me fail. And it was awful. And I do not recommend it. And God was so gracious. And I'm walking and it's not pretty, but I'm walking and I'm doing. Frank made her walk over from the student. Union, so she. Oh, gosh. It's a bit of a track. It's a six. Minute walk. You know, you can do it. So, Yeah. So the past three years have been very character building and and, kind of relentless, but I'm here and I'm alive and I'm walking and I'm so grateful. I have amazing friends and an amazing support system, and, Yeah, it's it's good. It's all good. And she's a little miss positivity in rehearsals. So I was reading a shout out at a piece about you from last year, and you had, I thought, very smartly, kind of referred to the Emory Musculoskeletal Institute as a kind of stage, where you, you know, just like your rehabilitation is like, relentlessly rehearsing your part until you're exhausted yet elated. Was incorporated. Yeah. Yeah, I had a physical therapist, and she was gorgeous and she was relentless. And I remember there was one session that she had just worked me so hard, and tears were just streaming down my face. I was in so much pain. And she walked over to a box of tissues, and she pulled out like 3 or 4 tissues, and she handed them to me. And she was. You done? Whoa. Just you don't you done crying? And I went, yes, ma'am. She's like, let's go, you know. And and it took that and it took that kind of that kind of fortitude and that kind of attitude because otherwise, you know, I would have been in the fetal position in my bed at home going, I'm not going to ever going back there. But it, you know, it is a lot about just, you know, forcing yourselves and, and doing something that you don't want to do, but it's for the greater good. In the broader spirit of Chameleüns and this exploration of how we adapt and change, has this experience impacted what you might be writing now, or at least ideas about what you want to write about in the future? Yes, definitely. I mean, right. I mean, Frank and I have talked about this many, many years, and we just always say writers, right? And so I always have notebooks. I'm always writing things. I'm always writing funny stories about things. You know, I, someday I will write a memoir and call it. I know I'm being filmed because the craziest stuff happens to me, and I just constantly am just looking at the funny, the funny parts of life. And that's why I think Frank and I did so well with with Chameleüns playing off of each other because he was a scriptwriter. He had written several successful shows. I came from a different side of it, where I was a stand up comedian and I was doing, you know, more one on one, you know, comedy about my life. So in the two of us merged, it was, it was magic. It was just him taking what he knew theatrically and me taking what I knew about comic timing. But, yeah, I think there's. I think there could be more to come. You know. All right. Yeah. I'm so curious about just how the two of you, as the playwrights, feel about the work, because I'm thinking about if I look back at something I wrote in the 90s today, there's no way I would show it to anybody. But you're saying that this still holds up. It's gone. You know, it's. Well, I can say it now because they've already booked it. But when they booked it, I thought the first thing I did was Rochelle, I got to pull that script out. Somebody wants to look at it and I have no idea what it says now. Okay? I just remember it was funny. I hope it's funny. And it it was we we had to update some things certainly because we being a comedy type of people, pop culture and the goings on around us are going to affect us. But it was remarkable about how many things didn't need to be changed. And I thought it was quite interesting that different words, you know, and I was. Yeah, some words became toxic. Not everything ages well. No. Right. Some things are triggering. Yeah. But there were a lot of words where, you know, and I and Frank and I speak to each other very gingerly, you know, like, how do you feel about changing this line or how do you feel about changing this line? And there was one line that definitely I said, oh, I think we need to change this word to this. And he said, oh, I've already done it. I want to change that word to this, you know, and we and we took pictures of our script where we had written it and, and we both agreed, you know, on the same word. And I thought, okay, we're still sharing a brain, you know, 30 years later, it's and that's great. But it did take some rewriting. And we're different people than we were 30 years ago. Totally. Yeah, yeah. Well, and I understand another production of Chameleüns you've already referenced. This is planned for early next year at the Norris Center auditorium. Enables. Could the insights you gain from this workshop production results in those performances turning out to be maybe a significantly different show? I wouldn't say significantly different, but I am certainly looking forward to getting some time getting this on its feet and then taking a taking, getting back to work on it and making some adjustments because there will be some things that work and some that don't. Yeah. But yeah, sort of see how the audience goes with it. I think the filming concept that goes on with this is what the scariest thing. When we sat down to write this, I, we haven't had this discussion, but I, I almost called Rochelle the other day and said, you know, I remember when we were up in our attic and we said, who cares? So what? We have all of this extra stuff in it of filming and extra recordings, because we have all these people that we're both working, we'll just hire somebody to do it. And now, 30 years later, we're doing it. So we we have to make all of that happen. Well let me just thank you all and let everybody know that Chameleüns is coming to the Art Center Theater stage on Marco Island next month for a limited workshop production. And those performances are going to be Friday, October 7th at 7:30 p.m.. There's matinee performances Saturday, October 3rd and Sunday, October 4th at 3 p.m.. For more information or to secure your tickets, visit Marco Island art.org or call the box office 2397841186. Thank you all so much for coming here. Thank you. Thank you. So much, John. And if you missed any of today's show, you can always hear 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 Krauss and video production by or David Oquendo. This is WGCU-FM Fort Myers. NPR for Southwest Florida.