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[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hi everyone. I am Martín Acuña and you are listening to Backstage Talk.

[0:15] Martín Acuña: Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Backstage Talk. Today's guest is Garrett Poladian. He is originally from Florida, but is an artist based in New York City. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Advertising from the University of West Florida. He was a full-time company dancer from 2014 to 2016 with the Ballet Pensacola, the only resident professional ballet company in the area. He is truly a hyphenate. He co-wrote and is the creator of Golem Owned a Tropical Smoothie, a new musical that won Best Musical, Best Lyrics and Best Reaction at Soundbite 6.0 Musical Festival back in 2019. He also co-wrote and was a creator of the miniseries Booked and Blessed. Also, Garrett recently made his off-Broadway debut with Stranger Things parody musical. So Garrett, thank you so much for coming over to Backstage Talk. Welcome to the show.

[1:33] Garrett Poladian: Wow, what an intro. Thank you so much for having me. So happy to be here.

[1:38] Martín Acuña: Thank you so much. It's truly an honor. So tell us a little bit about yourself and what made you choose this thespian path in life?

[1:47] Garrett Poladian: Wow. Okay. Well, yeah, I think that was a great intro. I'm from Panama City Beach, Florida originally. My family was military, so we moved around a little bit. But I think what made me choose this lifestyle has always been, you know, first and foremost, encouragement from my friends and family. I owe it all to them. And then just that initial instinct of wanting to be a performer and an artist. I mean, it's not an original story. But when I was a kid, I put on plays and concerts for my family. And then I think I first started getting into theater and discovered it when I was maybe 10. Yeah, when we were in San Diego, California, which has a huge musical theater community. And then from there, I just, it sort of snowballed.

And I became obsessed with the idea of being on stage and doing this as a career. Like the fact that I knew that you could do this as a career, I just, it kind of lit something inside of me that I could not turn off. And so, like you said, I continued to pursue it in college. And then I got an opportunity to dance outside of school. So I switched gears and sort of created my own program within the University of West Florida. And then that transferred to New York City. So I, you know, after college, I was able to get myself an agent because I had that dance background. And so that was my initiative to move to the city. And I've been here ever since. And I feel like I've continued to switch gears. I'm still an actor and I'm pursuing that. But I mean, my main focus has been writing, producing and creating my own work here in the city. So yeah.

[3:40] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. We've all had to like pivot a lot during 2020. So it's wonderful that you are now concentrating on being a writer and a producer. I want to go a little bit back into you as a performer. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about your journey in musical theater, because reading your resume, I saw that you were in Cabaret, you were in, for the record, The Brad Pack, you were in Rocky Horror and others. So tell me about it.

[4:01] Garrett Poladian: Yeah. Yeah. Just hearing the titles of those shows has brought so many great memories from the shows. And, you know, each of those shows really sort of molded me as a performer and were roles that I really wanted to do. So the fact that I got the experience to do them was incredible. Yeah, the one that really had the most impact on me was, for the record, The Brad Pack, because that was where I met a lot of the people here in the city that I started writing with, and I started creating with. So I owe a lot to that experience. And that show, it probably means the most to me. And then yeah, gosh, Cabaret was such a great experience. I mean, people who know that show know how transformative it can be for a performer.

So the fact that I got to do it was a dream. And then, oh god, I've done Rocky Horror maybe like four times. It's one of my favorite shows, movies, now. I'm trying to think what else. I've done all of the shows that every kid is supposed to do, like, Seussical is my first musical. I did not mean to rhyme that, but I did. So there you go. I'm trying to, Seussical, what else have I done? I did Little Women in college. I did Romeo and Juliet. Yeah. And each of those shows that I did, like I said, shaped me into the person I am today and the type of performer that I've become. So it's, I mean, yeah, it's so much fun to think back on my career and sort of sum it up in a nutshell.

[6:02] Martín Acuña: Yeah. I love it. I love it. So you recently had your Off-Broadway debut, congrats for that, with Stranger Things. This is a parody musical of Stranger Things. So how was it taking that show, mega show, into a stage?

[6:15] Garrett Poladian: Oh my gosh. Well, so that was the first performing gig I got post-COVID. So the fact that it just happened to be my Off-Broadway debut was, I couldn't have asked for a better gig. And then the fact that it was parody and sort of lived in the same world that the show I was writing lived in, just, it was too perfect. And that was an incredible cast, an incredible creative team. It was a really good experience. And then we got to release an album on top of that, which was, I'm still shocked that I got to be a part of something like that. It was a hilarious show and I hope that it has another life outside of the venue that we did it in and the amount of time we got to do it in. Because it was kind of short-lived.

It was only, we only ran for a month. So fingers crossed that we continue to do it. I mean, if you know Stranger Things, this show will give you everything you want. I mean, it pokes fun at the style, the time period, the characters, and like the whole running theme for that show was justice for Barb because that character got no justice in the TV film. So if you are unsatisfied with how that flat point went in the TV show, you will love how it turns out in the musical. Yeah. It was like such a good time. I love it. I love it. I'm crossing fingers because I want to either you need to get a video recording or I need to go see it live.

[8:01] Garrett Poladian: I'm hoping for the second part of that. I mean, I want you to see it live. I want so many people to see it live. And I think that there's a strong possibility that that could and will happen. We just got to get through the winter right now and see where theater's at New York after this, this cold, cold winter we're about to enter into.

[8:21] Martín Acuña: Yeah, cross some fingers. So what was your best memory from this show?

[8:35] Garrett Poladian: All of the moments that made us laugh during the rehearsal process that were unprompted, unscripted, watching people discover things and find out who these characters were, who they were going to be for this version of the show. And all the things that went wrong that turned out to be right. Yeah, just all the stuff that the audience really didn't get to see were probably the best parts because they were so organic and spontaneous. And I mean, that's live theater. And that's what really keeps us coming back for more and makes it so different from film or TV.

[9:18] Martín Acuña: Absolutely. I want to now shift gears a little bit into you as a writer and a creator. What was the bug that bit you to make you sit down and write things?

[9:25] Garrett Poladian: Uh, so, um, I met my writing partner, Ethan Crystal, who I co-wrote Golem Owned a Tropical Smoothie, I met him on the, for the record, the Brat Pack gig. We were working on a cruise ship, we had a lot of time. And we decided to sit down and write this thing that I had an idea for and he came up with our opening jingle. And it all started from there. And it kind of started spiraling into me even thinking that I could be a writer. And I found that within myself. And it's been so therapeutic for me. It's been so, um, it's given me so much control as an artist. And I think that's what keeps me coming back for more because I, it's all on me. It's I can just sit down and I can I can write what's in my head. And yeah, so it all started with meeting Ethan on that boat. Really, it was that.

[10:36] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. So you two met, you started throwing ideas at him, you started writing things, he wrote the music.

[10:45] Garrett Poladian: Um, so we actually just had a reading of the most recent script two nights ago, because we're trying to get back into shape and try to figure out what's the next step of this going to be for us. So, you know, after the winter passes and theater sort of starts to become what it's going to be, because I mean, it's not really safe for new shows to open up right now, in my opinion. So our goal is to do an off-Broadway run. That's what we were going to do pre-pandemic and then everything got shut down. So that is our goal. This will always be a live show, whether it's, you know, spirals into other versions of it. So be it, but this will always be a live show. So, yeah, we're hoping for that. We're just waiting for theater to sort of come back officially.

[11:45] Martín Acuña: And you just received a grant. You've won awards with this show. I know it will have, if not won, several off-Broadway runs. And I am excited for you two and this show to see where it's headed. So tell us a little bit about what this show is about.

[12:05] Garrett Poladian: Okay. So the show is called Galamona Tropical Smoothie. It follows a regular high school kid named Ian and his older sister, Gabby, who have just moved to Panama City Beach, Florida. Ian works at a tropical smoothie shop with his best friend, Kyle, who's a stoner college dropout. And together, the three of them have one week to raise $60,000 to save the shop or they lose it forever because this mega smoothie corporation, Smoothie Kingdom, wants to buy out the shop and have a monopoly over all smoothie shops in the Bay County area. I mean, so it's a super comedy. If you know movies such as Dodgeball, Good Burger, it sort of follows that same plot point in a way. And then if you like Avenue Q, Book of Mormon, it's got that same humor.

It's a lot of puppets. And more than that, the show is about growing up and the relationships you make when you're young and keeping those relationships and also, you know, figuring out what you want in life, who you want it with, and believing in yourself enough and how hard are you going to fight for those things. You know, the show's got a lot of heart. The music is fun, it rocks. It's an original score, original script, it's all original. Oh yeah, and like Galam owns the smoothie shop that they all work in. And it's not Galam from Lord of the Rings, it's Galam from Jewish folklore, which is in the public domain. And yeah, any similarities are pure coincidence, because we would never mess with something that's copyrighted, because that's illegal.

[14:03] Martín Acuña: Yeah, absolutely. When I first read the title of the show, I was like, no, no, this is not Galam from Lord of the Rings. It's written differently. It's spelled differently.

[14:14] Garrett Poladian: Yeah, it's not the same. We make a point, it's not the same. So, the token mistake, please don't come for us. Okay, we mean no harm. But yeah, it's Galam owned a tropical smoothie, meaning past tense, like he loses the shop, what happens? You have to come see the show to find out. It's a good time. It's just, it's super fun. If you like South Park, it's same humor, same raunchy, vulgar humor. So, it's very like adult swing.

[14:45] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I love it. I love it. My type of humor, honestly.

[14:51] Garrett Poladian: Oh, good, good, good, good, good. So, you just said that this show works with puppetry, but I also know that the other show that is on film, it's a mini web series that is called Book and Blast. It also works with puppetry, right?

[15:04] Garrett Poladian: Yes, yes. A lot of the things that I do have puppets that intertwine all the universes and that's sort of like something I'm trying to create. I'm a designer and I have that skill set. So, I wanted to incorporate as much of that into my work as possible because it just sort of sets me apart and it gives something a little different. I love it. So, talk to us a little bit about Booked and Blast, this mini series that you've been uploading to Instagram. So, tell us about the creation process for the series.

[15:39] Garrett Poladian: Yeah, so Booked and Blast, I co-wrote with Leah Nardi and it is about two actors in New York City trying to make it and all of their inner thoughts are portrayed through the eyes of a puppet that only they can see. They're really quick mini episodes, five minutes or less. Yeah, and it's about the struggles of trying to be an actor and not even really an actor sometimes, just trying to make it in this city that is so electric and there's no other place like New York City. But it's also just, I mean, it's difficult. Anybody who's tried to live here will tell you it is not for the faint of heart. It's a lot of work, but it's also, there's a lot of reward in being here, too.

[16:36] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. And it's also very showing how you've lived on New York City through the show.

[16:45] Garrett Poladian: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's about Leah and I's experience living here and, you know, things that have happened to us at auditions, that things that have happened to us in life, just being here, you know, and it's a comedy. I should have said that before, if not obvious, you know, but it's also real and it's what we knew and we, yeah, we knew how to write. We knew how to write it. So that's what we did. And we created it out of, you know, frustrating being an actor and just living, you know, every, there's so many people want to do this in the city. And so we wanted some control in what we were doing and we didn't want to wait around for anybody to tell us we could perform our art or create our art. So we're like, yeah, let's do this. Let's do the thing.

[17:41] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. So Garrett, what would be that piece of advice you would give a young version of yourself?

[17:49] Garrett Poladian: Oh, it would be to trust your instincts and continue to surround yourself with people who love and you trust and build those people up as much as you can, just as much as they're going to build you up because you can't go wrong in that.

[18:13] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. And do you have any other show you're writing, any other project going on?

[18:19] Garrett Poladian: Oh, I wrote a play that I'm continuing to make edits on. It's called My Best Friend in the Universe. And it follows two friends in their twenties who are spending their summer apart for the first time. And it's about relationships and growing up again. It's about life. It's really a theme that I am trying to figure out. And, you know, I'm interested the most in just like why are we here? What are we doing? And, you know, everybody can relate to that. So, yeah, it's something I'm working on and will hopefully put out soon and do some readings of and try to, you know, continue to shoot my shot, man. I'm trying to make it in New York City. You've got to grind and you've got to just don't stop believing yourself when nobody else does.

[19:10] Martín Acuña: I love it. I love it. I wish you the best with every single project you have running right now. One last question for you before we go. Top five favorite musical theater shows.

[19:24] Garrett Poladian: Oh, my God. This is so hard. I feel like I get asked this so many times. Okay. In no particular order, just like my top five. So I grew up listening to Wicked. It'll always be something that's, you know, brings me so much joy and so many memories. So definitely Wicked. It's I think the show of the millennia for us. I love the last five years. Oh, gosh, I love Hadestown. That's that's a new musical that really I just can't stop listening to. I love Into the Woods. Okay, one more. Oh, Aida.

[20:12] Martín Acuña: I love them. I love them. Thank you so much. So, Garrett, if someone wants to contact you, to talk to you, to know more about your projects, where can people find you?

[20:24] Garrett Poladian: The easiest way would be to go to GarrettPaladin.com. You can also reach out to me on Instagram. And then any of the accounts or projects that I'm currently running as well. Oh, GollumOdeTropicalSmoothie.com, BookedAndBlessed on Instagram, any of those venues, you can reach out to me and I will respond. No, no, no problem.

[20:48] Martín Acuña: I love it. Well, Garrett, thank you so much for coming over. I've loved your process, your journey as a thespian, as a multi-hyphenate. And I cannot wait to see the success that lies ahead for you.

[21:03] Garrett Poladian: Thank you so much. This has been wonderful.

[21:08] Martín Acuña: Thanks, everyone, for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at BackstageTalkPodcast.