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[0:32] Lauren Van Hemert: Welcome to Beltline to Broadway!

[0:39] Lauren Van Hemert: This is the Beltline to Broadway podcast. I'm Lauren Van Hemert, your host, and on this episode, I'm chatting with Dana Costello.

[0:49] Dana Costello: Dana is fresh off of the Broadway production of Suffs. She is currently in North Carolina working on the Theatre Raleigh production of The Trip to Bountiful. Dana tells me that her love of theater, like mine, started around nine or ten years old when her mother took her to see her first Broadway show. And that is where our conversation begins.

[1:37] Dana Costello: I mean, I was always in love with all the Disney shows, movies and stuff anyway. Um, and then to see it and hear the extra songs, and I just fell in love with Terrence Mann, listening to that cast album over and over and over and over again. Um, and when I, after I graduated from my conservatory, they also had a resident theater in, it's called PCPA Theater Fest, and they have theater in Santa Maria and in Solvain, California, and I played Belle there, and I think I was more emotional having my yellow Belle dress fitting than when I bought my wedding dress. I was so excited to play that part, and um, I love that show. I think that's kind of a perfect show.

[2:25] Lauren Van Hemert: I do too, and I love, I also saw that cast with Terrence Mann, Susan Egan. I mean, it was brilliant.

[2:31] Dana Costello: It was brilliant. You've been in some incredible Broadway musicals, the last being Suffs, so brilliant, so necessary in the moment. Um, the cast and the creative team, so incredible, but I would be remiss if we didn't talk a minute about Paul Taswell, Oscar-winning designer who also designed the costumes for Suffs. So can you talk about witnessing him work on that show, seeing this trajectory for him and seeing him make history as the first Black artist, Black man to win an Oscar in that category?

[3:21] Dana Costello: I mean, it couldn't happen to a better guy, you know. He and he's so thoughtful in his work. He's so, you know, on the first day of rehearsal, every department, lighting, sound, everyone gives sort of, this is my research, this is what we're gonna do here, this is what, and um, and I was in the ensemble, was my main role. I understudied three of the principal characters, but I was always in the show in an ensemble track, playing the doctor and different, you know, townspeople, things like that, and the level of care that even the smallest, briefest little character got in, you know, how he would fit and how the clothing would lay and what material he used, and he was so specific in his research to the time period and to, you know, including us in how we felt about things on our bodies, which was really wonderful, you know.

[4:18] Dana Costello: It's a little bit of a shame that, well, maybe I was gonna say it's a little bit of a shame that everyone is so far away, you know, that it can't be an HD sort of because the smallest little details on these costumes, little lace bits and little, um, like frogs on the clothing and brooches and stuff. I mean, it was just every stitch had such care. We're all very happy for him. He deserves it. So, how does working on something like that, a true ensemble piece, inform how you approach working in an ensemble like The Trip to Bountiful here at Theatre Raleigh?

[4:57] Dana Costello: Uh, well, I don't think it is an overstatement to say that Suffs changed my life in a lot of ways. Um, it was such an important time to do it. We had a show on election day, and we had a matinee the day after the election. I mean, and it, and just from the very first, even my audition, I mean, to be in the room with Shayna and Lee Silverman showing them what I think this character is, and I, you know, because I hadn't seen it before when they did it at the public, I wasn't a part of it. I was in Atlanta. So I didn't really have a lot of information. And I had my three parts that I understudied. I had their material, and so I was just trying to like bring what I thought it was, and they were so encouraging. And, uh, Lee's notes were so smart, and she really understood how to talk to an actor to guide us into what she was looking for.

[5:57] Dana Costello: And that whole process, especially because I am often an ensemblist and an understudy, is sort of in my gig on Broadway. And, uh, it's often that role that sort of doesn't get the most attention or maybe is meant to feel not super valuable, which of course, you know, I'll scream from the rooftops. The understudy and the swings, they have the hardest jobs. Everybody, I think everyone is in agreement that those are very difficult jobs. But I just felt so valuable to them, and I felt so appreciated, and we were given so much room to make choices and bring all kinds of, uh, story. Uh, Lee Silverman says she is a slut for story, and so am I, and you know, just down to the littlest cross she would be like, you know, what are you doing?

What are you thinking about? Where are you going? She, and it really, that kind of care for every little thing that's happening on stage, you can, when I see her shows, I can just see her touch on everything in everyone, because it's all so specific.

[7:03] Dana Costello: I will make a big choice, and I will trust my directors to reel me in or put me in another direction. But I think it's important to offer. And I also sort of can't help it. Um, and I'm doing a lot of that in The Trip to Bountiful. Uh, Jessie May is a lot of fun to play, uh, and also challenging because she is sort of a pain in the ass. I don't know, something about my bone structure. I'm always playing some kind of bitch. But I, you know, it's important to remember that every person is the hero of their own story. So to go out and play the bitch or just be a pa, you know, that's not really very active. And I think Suffs gave me confidence in that what I bring to the table is enough and that it's good, and that, um, I have a lot to offer.

[7:55] Dana Costello: And so coming and getting to play a principal role and fill it with all my own ideas and choices, you know, with the collaboration of my scene partners and our director Eric, who's really great. Um, yeah, to come into a show now with the confidence in myself that I gained at Suffs is really valuable. I'm gonna take that with me forever, I hope.

[8:18] Lauren Van Hemert: You performed alongside some incredible talent, Kelsey Grammer, Jen Coella, Shayna Tobb, you mentioned. And now the incredible Kim Zimmer. I mean, I did watch Guiding Light, admittedly, I was a fan for many, many years, but she really is so, um, much of a theater veteran as well. What is Kim bringing to the table in leading this production?

[8:47] Dana Costello: What isn't she bringing? She is very, I mean, her, it just feels a little bit masterclass-y watching her. She's so already came and like grounded in the material. And she's really, when you're in a scene with her, she's very present. She has sort of that gravitas that you get from just doing this for a long time and being the star of the show, that it's, uh, she's very relaxed about it. She's very easygoing and fun and makes a lot of jokes, and, uh, you know, we are playing. Of course, we all take it seriously, but it's not life or death. We're gonna screw up, we're gonna, you know, and she has a really great sense of humor about just like, well, that didn't work, you know, sort of a thing, which I love.

[9:39] Dana Costello: Great storyteller. It sounds like you very much enjoy and embrace the rehearsal process.

[9:47] Dana Costello: I feel like that creative process, that journey is so exciting. Suffs was like this, and The Trip to Bountiful is like this, where you know, make choices, make mistakes, give yourself and your cast the grace to try wrong things so that you can arrive at the right thing.

[10:09] Dana Costello: Sometimes, you know, people I always feel like in classes and in rehearsal, that is the time to screw up. Try everything or anything that comes to mind so that because you never know where it's gonna lead you, and even if it's just like, well, you know, that didn't work, geez. Um that that all informs what it's gonna be. If you come in and you never try anything, I just feel like you're gonna get sort of a one note middle of the road. Sure, they're fine. Performance. This is we're playing. It's a play, it's called a play. Like, bring, bring all your gifts, all the things that make you uniquely you and throw it against the wall and see what sticks, you know.

[10:49] Lauren Van Hemert: You started out in community theater as a kid, you've worked at some incredible regional theaters. Can you speak to the important role regional theaters have in this country? Because I think so often we just have our sights set on Broadway, and that's that is the gold standard, the end all be all. But I think particularly because the arts are so under attack right now from this current administration. What role do regional theaters play in this art form in this canon?

[11:23] Dana Costello: You know, theater has been dying for 2,000 years. Okay, we're not going anywhere. It's uh if we learn anything from the pandemic, it's that people need art and art makers. I mean, God, I ran out of TV almost during during the pandemic. Reality is rough, and we as human beings, you know, we're here to I think enjoy life and enjoy the passing of time. And part of that is listening and watching stories and being moved by things or not moved by things, and getting to have an opinion about it that you can rant about. Who loves that? And I just think, I mean, as someone who came up doing musical theater, because I went to a middle school that didn't have a choir or anything like that, uh, artsy. It was so great that my parents recognized, oh, she loves to sing, she's always singing, so let's see, you know, I don't know, community theater, okay.

And I would just act in things in our little South Jersey area, and um I just for a person who did it, it was such an outlet for me because I didn't have that anywhere else. Um, and I had all these creative juices and I had a love of singing and of music, and it just it, you know, otherwise I was a pretty shy kid and kind of a dork and not um I people always say, love to say, that um, you know, oh, enjoy being young, it's the best time of your life. F that. That was not my experience, you know, teasing, bullying, and now it's only worse now with social media and everything. But I did not have a great time as a kid, and I find that the older I've gotten, the more you can choose who you're around and choose what you want to do.

And so I'm a big believer in the it gets better theory, as opposed to oh, enjoy your youth and your college and you know, whatever. Um, but you know, musical theater really gave me an outlet to make friends and build a community and find people that enjoyed the same things I enjoyed. And I also just think, you know, Broadway is kind of exclusive. It is extremely expensive, it's so expensive to, you know, travel to if you don't live in the area, it's expensive to park, it's expensive to eat, it's expensive to stay, that the tickets are so expensive, it's just not really um a reality for a lot of people. And so these regional theaters that in my experience are always doing incredible work, and you know, have Broadway actors in like I'm at Theater Raleigh, I've been in Broadway shows.

Like if you want to taste a Broadway, come on out to your local theater. And it's just, you know, you never know who you're gonna inspire, who's gonna be the little kid in that audience that realizes, you know, oh, this is something I like, or I didn't realize this could be a career, or a show might move someone and inspire a change in their life or a change in their thinking, which is so important in regional theaters because um, and it's I'm not making this up. I know it's been said by someone much more brilliant than me, uh, that travel is the cure for like racism and closed-mindedness and all those things. And when you can open your mind and receive stories from somewhere else, even if you can't go somewhere, it can't help but just introduce a new experience to you and introduce and open your mind just a little bit to you know uh other human experiences that aren't your own.

[15:15] Dana Costello: I feel like Broadway is having a little bit of a moment with older characters. I loved seeing Hell's Kitchen and that Tony Award-winning performance. I just feel like older actresses are having a moment, and it just makes me so happy right now. I I'm on my way, I'm sort of in this funny spot where you know, in storytelling, you sort of have the ingenue or her mom, and it's kind of like there's missing pieces. So I like that about Trip to Bountiful too is Jesse May has this, you know, this is a great delicious role to feast on for someone who's in that in-between, and I just and the play is so good, and it just, I feel like that there's just it's gonna strike a chord in a lot of people's hearts. And I feel like the performances of my castmates, and they're just doing beautiful work, and we're all I think everyone will find a little bit of their own humanity in each character.

[16:13] Lauren Van Hemert: And I I do too. And I I think the other thing so interesting about this play is it really started out as a teleplay and then went on to this tremendous stage success that it's had and it's become classic. I I have to ask you this because Ken Davenport just announced that Joy is going to be opening off Broadway this summer. You were in the out-of-town tryout.

[16:41] Dana Costello: I have been with Joy for I think something like six or seven years. I have done so many readings, so many workshops. I did the out-of-town. We just had another workshop in January. Um, I have had different joys. I have had different directors. Um, but I have been a part of it for a very long time. And Marie Malazzo, who uh wrote the music and lyrics. Uh, I worked with her for the first time on Dave at Arena Stage, and uh she is such a unique person, and the way she thinks of music and makes music and hears and designs um how our voices sound on her music. Uh I just really dig her and her style, and I think she's brilliant and super kooky, and we just kind of speak the same language. Um, I love being a part, I've done a lot, a lot of these sort of um developmental workshops and readings.

Um, and unfortunately, so many things don't make it uh past that, because for a million reasons, and but I love being a part of that process because I really love that when it does go on, I can see my stamp on it in what I've done.

[18:04] Dana Costello: Well, and I love um I I love original musicals. I think maybe happy ending is one of the most brilliant things I've seen in a long time, and and it just has that originality. So I'm excited to see a new original musical, which I'm sure will be Broadway bound. Knowing what you know now, what would you say to nine-year-old Dana seeing Beauty and the Beast for the first time? What advice would you give to her?

[18:32] Dana Costello: Uh don't try to be perfect. I think I've struggled uh a lot with that in my career, and trying, you know, there's a difference between always wanting to better yourself and always keep growing, which is uh, you know, a part of this business. Art is never done, it's never finished. There, you know, at some point you have to walk, put your paintbrush down and say, this is it, you know, this is what I'm gonna put out there. Um, but to try to be perfect or to try to be just like someone else, it is only hurts you. Just communicate, don't worry so much about the perfect sound or the one and only perfect choice, or it it doesn't exist, and that's all subjective, and you know, just to bring your ideas to what you think it is, and that is enough, and that is good, and someone's gonna resonate with that.

[19:30] Lauren Van Hemert: The Theater Raleigh production of the Trip to Bountiful opens March 26th in Raleigh. For ticket information visit theater Raleigh dot com. If you like what you've heard on this episode please consider subscribing to this podcast. Follow us on social media on Blue Sky, Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram at Beltline to Broadway, or visit us online at www dot beltline to broadway dot org. Until next time, I'll see you at the theater.