This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:08] Al Malafronte: Hello and welcome to the Break a Bat Podcast where baseball meets Broadway, an attempt to show that my two favorite mediums don't have to live in such separate worlds and maybe even break some stigmas.

[0:19] Al Malafronte: We're happy to have you with us.

[0:21] Al Malafronte: Now let's play ball.

[0:25] Al Malafronte: Hello, and welcome to another installment of Break a Bat, where baseball meets Broadway and sports meets show business.

[0:32] Al Malafronte: This is Al Malafronte coming at you with another installment of our holiday block party.

[0:37] Al Malafronte: Uh, the only holiday Christmas party or the only Christmas party this side of the north, I guess, where you can actually say that baseball meets Broadway and sports meet show business.

[0:47] Al Malafronte: But uh much like some of our other recent party guests, uh, tonight's special hitter uh who's joining us in the batter's box tonight is helping spread the holiday spirit through her work on screen as she seems to do every year.

[0:59] Al Malafronte: For the many hallmarkees in our audience, you've seen her step up to the plate in anything from Chronicle Mysteries to Murder She Baked, and of course, the one and only Tom the Dog's uh holiday favorite uh dream of Christmas.

[1:12] Al Malafronte: I know that uh you and Kristen really loved that one during the pandemic last year, uh Tommy Boy.

[1:18] Al Malafronte: But uh this season she helped kick off the uh holidays once again on screen with uh Time for them to come home for Christmas, which will be re-airing throughout the season on Hallmark, and she can also be seen in a starring role in the upcoming lifetime premiere of Christmas with a crown, which airs this Wednesday, December 8th at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

[1:36] Al Malafronte: In addition to this, I thought in so many ways she would be the perfect hitter for our lineup as she actually has an athletic background of her own, which we'll definitely dive into.

[1:44] Al Malafronte: As I think it's so cool that she's used that and talks about it as a guiding light behind so much of her work.

[1:50] Al Malafronte: So with that being said, I ask you all to please turn your attention to home plate.

[1:54] Al Malafronte: Just beyond the marquee.

[1:55] Al Malafronte: Now batting Lisa Durupt.

[1:57] Al Malafronte: Lisa, welcome to the party.

[2:00] Lisa Durupt: I love all of that that you just said. That's amazing.

[2:05] Lisa Durupt: I was like, God, he's good at this.

[2:07] Lisa Durupt: That was great.

[2:08] Al Malafronte: Oh, well, thank you.

[2:09] Al Malafronte: I uh, you know, I probably could have adjusted it for like please turn your attention to home plate.

[2:13] Lisa Durupt: No, or please turn your attention to like the goal, right?

[2:16] Lisa Durupt: Like the because I'm you know, I'm sure.

[2:18] Al Malafronte: Starting lineup.

[2:19] Lisa Durupt: You got it.

[2:19] Lisa Durupt: You got it.

[2:20] Lisa Durupt: I'm with you though.

[2:20] Lisa Durupt: I liked it.

[2:21] Lisa Durupt: I love it.

[2:21] Lisa Durupt: You're talking my language here.

[2:23] Lisa Durupt: It's great.

[2:24] Al Malafronte: Yeah, absolutely. I know you're a big hockey girl. You were quite a player back in the day.

[2:26] Lisa Durupt: Yeah, yeah. When I was a lot younger, I mean, I still play a little, but it's weird when you start to think about used to think of those guys that would talk about like how they used to make the show almost, right?

[2:37] Lisa Durupt: For hockey. And then you you're like, no, you didn't. You're you're never going to the NHL. Like 0.16% actually get drafted, I think.

[2:44] Lisa Durupt: And of that, like something outrageous, like 0, 0.1% ever actually play.

[2:49] Lisa Durupt: And here's all these guys that are like, yeah, you know, I was so close, but then it got a knee injury.

[2:53] Lisa Durupt: And now I feel like I'm at that age where people are like, so you're really good. And I was like, I get yeah, like, oh wow, like a long time ago.

[3:01] Lisa Durupt: Yeah.

[3:02] Al Malafronte: Crap, I'm older than I thought.

[3:07] Lisa Durupt: Totally.

[3:08] Lisa Durupt: Oh my God. Doctor, you still break out the skates, maybe play some pickup games with the family when you're all together around Christmas.

[3:14] Lisa Durupt: Yeah. No, totally. We do my husband and I do co-ed still every Friday night, like beer league.

[3:20] Lisa Durupt: Pre-beer and nachos or wings skate, which technically we haven't been able to do that part of it, like the after party, so to speak, with everybody else who has kids that got a babysitter that night and uh with the pandemic.

[3:31] Lisa Durupt: But yeah, we play every Friday.

[3:33] Al Malafronte: See, one of my worst nightmares is you said a beer league is you know, being on ice skates after uh a few drinks. I just don't think it would end well for me.

[3:40] Lisa Durupt: Oh, it trust me, we've we've witnessed it. We had a dear friend who him and my husband had a few drinks, like because everybody plays as many games as possible in those type of leagues.

[3:50] Lisa Durupt: Like you've got the babysitter for the night. So you're like, I'm gonna do as much as I can. And sure enough, uh Michael, my husband, and our friend Joe, a little too much.

[3:59] Lisa Durupt: And Joe ended up separating his shoulder. And it was like the slowest injury to witness ever. You're like, is he fall? Oh, oh, that looks like it hurt.

[4:07] Lisa Durupt: Oh, he's still playing because he doesn't know it's hurt. Tomorrow that's gonna suck. And one of the guys on our team is a doctor, and he's Dr. John, and he's like, Oh, Joe, that's not gonna be good tomorrow.

[4:16] Lisa Durupt: Joe's like, I'm fine, sure enough, didn't play for like six weeks.

[4:21] Lisa Durupt: So it happens.

[4:22] Al Malafronte: Yeah, it is injuries happen. Gotta be careful with those.

[4:24] Lisa Durupt: Yeah, very confident team you have there.

[4:27] Al Malafronte: And uh I know.

[4:29] Lisa Durupt: Yeah.

[4:29] Al Malafronte: It's uh it's uh it's not I would I would love to catch one of your games if I'm ever up that way.

[4:33] Lisa Durupt: And uh anytime.

[4:36] Al Malafronte: All right, awesome. I appreciate that.

[4:38] Al Malafronte: I um should say congratulations. In addition to everything you're accomplishing on the ice rink, I uh know that you have a nice new Christmas film that's headed to Lifetime.

[4:47] Lisa Durupt: You star in the film, executive producer. How excited are you for folks to see Christmas with a crown?

[4:54] Lisa Durupt: I'm super jazzed. It was something that came about very organically. I was working with Rachel Lee Cook on a life or lifetime on a Netflix film, nothing wrong with lifetime.

[5:05] Lisa Durupt: Uh, and a camera guy overheard us talking about producing, and he just said to me, you know, you gotta talk to my friends up in Edmonton, which is you guys have states, we have provinces, so it's one province over from where I am, which is currently uh Vancouver BC.

[5:17] Lisa Durupt: It was in Edmonton, Alberta, which is gorgeous scenery. I'd been filming Heartland in uh Alberta, and I knew that not a lot of people were filming there.

[5:26] Lisa Durupt: So when it came about that this team was up in Edmonton, I thought this would be perfect. And Dylan Pierce, who is a great director, he walked me through the whole process.

[5:36] Lisa Durupt: He really helped me put it all together. Well, me, I helped them. Are you kidding me? They started it all. And yeah, it was a great learning experience.

[5:43] Lisa Durupt: And it's just so nice to be able to not only be your first time that you do get to be a lead, because I get asked that a lot from Hallmark fans. And I and the answer is I don't know. It just has never really happened.

[5:55] Lisa Durupt: And kind of that idea that the best way to make something happen is just to do it. So yeah, I'm super excited for people to see it. I think they'll really like it.

[6:02] Lisa Durupt: And we squeaked it out like on the very last possible second, the very last day they were filming in Alberta before the COVID shut the world down.

[6:10] Lisa Durupt: So we just made it. So it's kind of one of those whew moments. And on top of that, you know, to be the lead in it is it's pretty cool.

[6:19] Lisa Durupt: I there's so many things I could say about it. Just it's overall, it's pretty cool.

[6:22] Al Malafronte: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it's cool that you get to like step, it's like uh, you know, to use a baseball term, it's like you're getting to start the game as a pitcher here, which is like actually all the eyes are gonna be on you, you know.

[6:34] Al Malafronte: And obviously you've Totally you've built a pretty big allegiance of fans from like the Hallmark community. I have to know, is there like being so associated with the Hallmark brand, is there like any hesitancy to work with Lifetime or you know, I now I know a lot of uh folks that feel the same about you know GSC family now, too.

[6:40] Lisa Durupt: Is there like any hesitancy to like play for the other team?

[6:56] Lisa Durupt: Well, here's the cool thing people don't really know when they watch these is that those of us who live in Vancouver, we're so spoiled because it is the second biggest filming location in North America.

[7:08] Lisa Durupt: I think it the only bigger one is Atlanta right now. And so there's so much that films up here that unlike, say somebody in LA or New York that has instantly been a lead their whole career.

[7:19] Lisa Durupt: We get to kind of jump on all these different projects and nobody gets too ruffled about it. But um that's that's kind of the pros and cons of when you do step into that position of being a lead on something.

[7:31] Lisa Durupt: I haven't experienced whether or not that'll make a difference yet, because it hasn't aired yet. But I, you know what? I think I'm I'm pretty good at navigating the different temperaments, different, you know, uh producers, what have you, that that come with with whether you work for Hallmark or Lifetime or what have you, that I don't foresee a problem, but I do understand why there would be a concern based on other people's careers and what I've witnessed.

[7:56] Lisa Durupt: But right now I feel like I'm Switzerland. I kind of just fly under the radar, work with different projects of all different nature and and hope that nobody's gonna come after me.

[8:05] Lisa Durupt: So yeah, we'll see. I'll let you know. This could be a two-be-continued situation for next year.

[8:11] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[8:12] Lisa Durupt: I don't know. I don't know. Maybe what did I step into?

[8:15] Al Malafronte: Oh yeah. We call it the batter's box, but a number of different things can happen here.

[8:20] Lisa Durupt: Um you don't know until you know.

[8:22] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[8:23] Lisa Durupt: Yeah, right?

[8:24] Al Malafronte: It's it's so cool though to hear you talk about, you know, how comfortable you are with like that home field advantage though, getting to shoot up in Canada, which must be awesome for you.

[8:34] Al Malafronte: Like, has there ever been that temptation to do the whole Hollywood thing? Are you just uh, you know, a proud Canadian through and through?

[8:41] Lisa Durupt: Well, I definitely am a proud Canadian. I think all Canadians are extremely proud Canadians. We got a pretty good deal up here.

[8:47] Lisa Durupt: But I have gone to LA. I had a manager, I do still, I should say I have a manager, I have all that. But what I learned pretty early on is that I got into this business a little bit later than most people.

[8:58] Lisa Durupt: I really didn't understand it and start working and all of that until I was in my mid-20s. And I think the whole Hollywood LA thing, when you're a lot younger, like late teens, early, early 20s, that's when it's like, you know, it's it's the idea of the Oscar and this and that.

[9:13] Lisa Durupt: And I'm not saying that's not realistic, but I think there's a huge portion, I think it's like 98% is the average number of people who are just really happy working actors.

[9:23] Lisa Durupt: And and being in Canada, you have your privacy, you don't have to fight for jobs. They're in your they're in your hometown.

[9:32] Lisa Durupt: And so it's uh there is an advantage to it. And I think after being in LA for a few years back and forth, just realized that I'm a homebody.

[9:41] Lisa Durupt: And because I got I was down there and I would just audition for things up here and book stuff that came back up here. And so suddenly I was like, well, why don't I just live up there?

[9:48] Lisa Durupt: So it's it's a different world up here, and and privacy is really important to me. So I maybe that's very Canadian of me, but I I like it. I still get to work.

[9:57] Lisa Durupt: So yeah, I I've done it and it just it wasn't for me. Hats off to everybody who is four, but I I like the green space and more space and fresh air of Vancouver.

[10:08] Al Malafronte: So I'll keep Vancouver.

[10:09] Al Malafronte: Yeah. And it's pretty cool to me is uh I thought I read that it was a Canadian production of a chorus line, you know, in the spirit of our Broadway backdrop that made you want to do this for a living, is that right?

[10:19] Lisa Durupt: Oh, totally. I was back home in Winnipeg, which is straight up from Minnesota, and I that's where I grew up. And my mom had suggested because I was supposed to go away to play hockey in Bemidji, Minnesota, and I dislocated my shoulder three times in my grade 12 year.

[10:35] Lisa Durupt: And and and my mom just said, like, you're gonna be on the bench. Well, it's my parents, so you're gonna be on the bench more than you're gonna play because you're gonna keep getting injured.

[10:41] Lisa Durupt: And it's just that kind of injury. And so I took the year off to get it fixed and took an easy couple classes at the university. And and one of them was theater because I thought, oh, I'm not going. This will be easy.

[10:50] Lisa Durupt: And it's not super freaking hard. And I went, my first assignment was to go see Chorus Line and do a review. And I remember Amanda Haynes, the who's now a musical theater or drama teacher in Winnipeg.

[11:02] Lisa Durupt: She was Val, dance 10 looks three, and she's fan kicking and she's belting her guts out. And I thought, oh, that looks really hard. It's so cool. And in that moment, I just made that decision that this is what I was gonna do.

[11:14] Lisa Durupt: And yeah, within two weeks, I was taking, I found a studio that would train older dancers, because by then I was already 18, which is insanely old. Like my teachers were younger than me, and some of the kids in my classes were like five.

[11:27] Lisa Durupt: Um, but I was taking dance lessons. I started taking singing lessons and and really dug into musical theater for the first part of my career. So I didn't know if it was gonna be like, oh, I want to be on Broadway or I want to be in the films.

[11:40] Lisa Durupt: And I think life just kind of took care of that because I really didn't know where it would go.

[11:44] Lisa Durupt: I just thought it was fun. It's very naive. So growing up though, you envision you've envisioned yourself as an athlete first, I'm guessing. Oh, yeah. Your parents, it was more of a sports-centric than art centric household then. Kind of a nice balance, actually, looking back. My dad was very athletic. My mom was when she was younger. She had some knee problems, uh, injuries and stuff. But yeah, sports was primarily the main focus. But because my mom was a school teacher and an elementary school teacher, she was naturally very artistic. And so we did a lot of crafts and art stuff and even, you know, music. My dad was really into the drums and they got us into organ because the piano they bought was apparently sold before we went to pick it up.

So they thought Oregon was a good substitute. That's never a good substitute, by the way, for any kids. Don't do it. But I played organ. Like it just, yeah, it was a kind of a really nice mix, but I didn't recognize I knew I was an athlete. I played every sport humanly possible, from rugby to baseball. I tried soccer, you name it. If someone was like, here's a sport, I'm like, I'm gonna master that. But hockey is what I gravitated to. And looking back now, I think I was very creative early on. Like I would constantly change my furniture around in my bedroom. And um, my mom sewed. And so, you know, learning that stuff, and it was just a really good blend. I just didn't know it at the time. It's really, yeah, I lucked out on that one. But sports what I thought time was my main focus. Little did I know.

[13:18] Al Malafronte: Now, you didn't grow up too far from Minnesota. And if I remember correctly, it was right around when you were growing up that the Twins were actually a winning franchise, you know, back when they were winning in '87, '91. Were you into the Metrodome back then?

[13:33] Lisa Durupt: Yeah. We drove down. It was, I think it was, I'm gonna get this wrong. It felt like nine hours when you were a kid. Maybe it's not quite that long. But definitely we did a couple of father-daughter trips with a couple other family members and parents or uh kids. And because I remember going to uh the mall in Minneapolis and going down like the log ride that was massive, like a such a big deal, and then going to a couple Twins games. We did it, we did it several times. And I just remember thinking in baseball how it was so cool for like the first inning, but then I realized there was eight more. And I'm like, what is happening right now? Like, okay, we're gonna eat hot dogs and you know, sing tape, maybe out to the ball game, however, many more times.

Like it just was, yeah, it was a whole new world because hockey is so fast, and then or football, anything that I was used to going to regularly. Uh, we didn't we had, I guess it would be triple A ball up in Winnipeg. We never had like pro baseball because there's only at the time there's two Canadian teams, and now and then I think it went down to one after that. Um, yeah, so it was we definitely went. It was fun, but I was quite young.

[14:35] Al Malafronte: Wow, it's a throwback. Now, when you were playing hockey, did you have a temper? You ever get into any fights on the ice?

[14:40] Lisa Durupt: Oh, yeah, I had to learn the hard way. Like a couple of things with female hockey. You can't hit, right? And and just the way the sport evolved, we were not nearly as skilled as the guys. Like we could skate as good because we'd all come from ringette, which is a Canadian sport where you have a stick and a ring. Look it up, it's a trip. Um, but it definitely meant that you know, when you got frustrated, a lot of times as girls, you were you're in that age group where you're trying to learn how to socialize in general, and now you're adding like the aggression of sports that you're kind of frustrated because you're maybe not as good as you see on TV. And and so I just remember one time I was really young, I was like 12.

It's when I first started. I had seen a fight in the NHL. I don't remember who, but I was like, I'm gonna try that. And we had to wear masks. So in the fight I had seen, a guy grabbed the other guy, like he had his glove on and he grabbed the guy with his face and just like slammed his head with his helmet on into the boards and into the glass. And so the first time I got in what I considered a fight, I grabbed the girl's helmet and did the same thing, but my glove got stuck in her mask. So now I was trying to get my glove out, but every time you do that, her head's coming with you, and then she's pulling away. So it just looked like I kept slamming her head into the glass, and my parents were just like standing there cheering until they realized how long it was going on for.

And now I just looked, I just looked like the devil. So then they had to blow the whistle and come like, take my glove out of her helmet. And it was a disaster. I was really bad at it. I had a lot of temper issues to work through, apparently. So I'm good now. I got it under control now. But yeah, I was intense.

[16:19] Al Malafronte: You brought the good parts of your sports background though to your craft because one thing that I love about you is, and I know in recent years you've given back in such a big way, you know, through helping enhance the presence of the arts in Canada and develop the great performing talent there. You're the founder of Tri-Cities Film Studio, aims to train up and coming actors of Vancouver. And you've preached how important it is for your students to have that sports-minded outlook on the business when it comes to dealing with the challenges that you're gonna face in a very cutthroat industry.

[16:51] Lisa Durupt: Yeah. You know, I you know who Derek Jeter is? I hope you know who Derek Jeter is.

[16:56] Al Malafronte: Uh who doesn't know who Derek Jeter is?

[16:58] Lisa Durupt: If you if you don't, just turn off your mic right now. We love you, but go away.

[17:05] Al Malafronte: I know, yes, yes, exactly. At this point, you could just go away. I don't know, I don't mean that. We'll take all the listeners who can get it.

[17:11] Lisa Durupt: But anyway, yeah, we love you. Exactly. So you heard it from Lisa first. But you know, it's funny. I when I hear you say things like that, that level of honesty, it rem it reminded me of uh a video I saw once of Jeter speaking with a bunch of like these up and coming minor leaguers, and he told them point blank, you know, everyone in this room is talented, but most of you aren't gonna make it. You know, less than 10% of prospects will get to play a single game in the major leagues. And from there, so often the biggest challenge is just to stay in the majors and not give up.

[17:40] Al Malafronte: Yeah, you always have to look over your shoulder when you're first starting out and have that pressure perform. Did you yourself face a lot of big challenges going into it later in the game?

[17:49] Lisa Durupt: I use with air quotes before you made it. And do you feel like that happened?

[17:53] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[17:53] Lisa Durupt: I don't I don't think you ever feel like you made it. I think you're constantly worried that like, is this it? Are they gonna find out that I really don't know what I'm doing? Uh but that's every actor, and you hear people, you know, hear someone win an Oscar, and then they're like, Yeah, oh my God, I thought I was gonna get fired on the show. And you're like, what? But yeah, I definitely I was way late to the game. You know, everybody else had been doing it in my eyes, because it's it's always through your lens, right? And and we never think our version is as cool as everybody else's version. Yet everybody else thinks that everybody else's version is better. So I got into all of this again by fluke, really, right place, right time, and it just snowballed from there.

But I was already 26 when I uh landed on a series, and even then I didn't even have an agent. And then by the time I got out to Vancouver and finally got an agent, I was now up against these women in theory, even though they say it's not competitive. It is, right? There's one position in 30 of you at an audition, plus the 200 tapes they took to see. You uh you realize really quickly that you got a lot of catching up to do. And so to me, that's where the whole idea of the sports-minded approach came from was that that's all I knew was when you're in a pressure cooker situation and you're you whether you'd be uncomfortable or you feel lesser than what do I know? The only thing I know is to go back to the work because I can't control who they're picking or what, you know, back against sports reference, what you what positions they need.

I just know what I'm really good at and maybe what I can adapt to. But if I change it too much, if I try to go be the goalie, because I know they have that position, but I'm really a defenseman, like that's not gonna do anything for anybody so it's just that idea that you have to have a tough skin you have to be really honest and clear with yourself but also too you gotta look at it from the point of view of if you don't make the team or if you're not selected it's not personal they just didn't decide at this point that they needed you and so how can you go a step away look at what you could you know improve on and then come back at it with the same energy and and maybe more education or um having practiced or rehearsed more it's it's really not to beat you down when they don't pick you it's it's there's not people are not thinking about you as much as as actors think they are they just they just don't they they need a piece of a puzzle and and you just weren't it and that's okay.

[20:12] Al Malafronte: So that's the sports to me people who succeed in sports the one thing uh just kind of drawing a parallel that I think that they do really well in sports that they don't do as well in acting is on both sides of the fence they talk about different ways to you know uh deal with the nerfs and all that but I feel like sports they talk about sports psychology like it's really you know a smart move or an extra thing you add onto your plate but in acting they talk about therapy and they make it sound like it's awful like we're all a hot mess and we need therapy.

[20:43] Lisa Durupt: And it's like wait a minute it's exact same thing just disguised you know one looks fancier and one looks a lot like more poo poo.

[20:51] Al Malafronte: So you bring up a good point about that though you know the sports psychologists these built multi-billion dollar franchises hire sports psychologists for their specific franchise to deal with their players on a regular basis. So you think there's more of a stigma on the acting side of that?

[21:08] Lisa Durupt: Oh, for sure. Because I think, yeah, I mean, I I want to be careful not to offend anybody, but I definitely think that if somebody says in the acting world that they go to therapy, it's like they suddenly have to announce and feel like totally behind their choice, as if it's, you know, that they're just getting ahead of the fact that people might put it down, you know, that that they're super proud of it and this and that. But you never hear, like if Serena Williams is falling apart in the final, you know, uh um is it match? What am I gonna say? Tennis.

[21:39] Al Malafronte: Yeah, thank you. Okay, who that was close.

[21:41] Lisa Durupt: Uh you know, she she's she's calling in Tony Robbins or she's calling in whoever she needs, and nobody's questioning it. Nobody's making her feel like she, you know, was falling apart. It's like, no, this is what she needed to succeed. Whereas with acting, if an actor's on a film and they're you maybe, you know, they're just not getting it and they need to go, you know, deal with therapy or whatever it is. A therapist, I it it wouldn't it feels as an actor like that's not something that athletes necessarily ever have to answer to. Whereas with acting, therapy is just this, you know, it's this interesting subject that some people will find very taboo, others don't want to talk about it, they're shy to admit it, right? And then some people are just very loud about it. So yeah, I think it's a very different situation depending on which career you have.

[22:27] Al Malafronte: Yeah. And it's and I wish it wasn't. I wish it could just be even like mental health is mental health, regardless of what you're doing.

[22:34] Lisa Durupt: Absolutely, Lisa. And it that's why it's so refreshing to hear you speak about it in such an honest and candid way, because there should not be a stigma whatsoever. And uh, yeah.

[22:43] Al Malafronte: I there that I mean, that's uh wow. I you know what's funny, I never took a step back to really analyze that, but it's crazy, right?

[22:50] Lisa Durupt: Triffy.

[22:52] Al Malafronte: Well, you certainly have a good head in your shoulders, Lisa. And you know, you've accomplished a lot in your career, but uh we do a little thing to like officially initiate you to the baseball music Broadway community on Break A Bat.

[23:05] Lisa Durupt: Okay.

[23:05] Al Malafronte: Oh no, oh no. What is it?

[23:06] Lisa Durupt: What is it?

[23:07] Al Malafronte: The competitive nature. I'm like, dear God, don't fail.

[23:09] Lisa Durupt: Okay, here we go.

[23:10] Al Malafronte: Yeah, it's just think of it as a fun little party game. It's called Fastball Derby. It's kind of like the uh the bottom of the ninth, uh games on the line, two outs, or Aroldis Chapman is on the mound, throwing a hundred miles an hour. I'm gonna ask you a question. You tell me the first thing that comes to your mind, some stories that you know you want to sprinkle them by all means, and you try to bring home that winning run.

[23:28] Al Malafronte: Do you think you can handle it?

[23:30] Lisa Durupt: Got this. I got this. And it's win it. Here we go. Okay, let's do it. Fastball derby. Um favorite meal in Canada.

[23:38] Al Malafronte: A Canadian food or just something that I just have eaten back home.

[23:42] Lisa Durupt: Yeah, like what's something you like to eat back home? Like, is the steak particularly really good there? Is there like a certain certain Oh, poutine? Come on. Come on, poutine. Nobody makes poutine like up in Canada. Absolutely not. Poutine, all the way. Done.

[23:54] Al Malafronte: Do you make it yourself?

[23:55] Lisa Durupt: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But and poutine is something that as a teenager growing up, it's always what you think of when you come home from the bar. Because we can go to the bar a lot earlier than you, or we can go at 18, depending on the province or 19. And so you come home and it's like that seems like the perfect time to try making poutine. And because you've seen it in restaurants. Why can't you make gravy at three in the morning? Why can't you make hurled cottage cheese or whatever at three in the morning? Like, oh yeah. There's been some epic poutine moments in my teenage years.

[24:27] Al Malafronte: Love that.

[24:28] Lisa Durupt: Okay. I love that. I love that. I love all that. Especially I would really would have loved when I was 19 that you could drink earlier. But anyway, let me move on to the...

[24:33] Al Malafronte: Yeah, that would have been cool.

[24:37] Lisa Durupt: Um part of why my buddy chose McGill University, by the way, but we'll get into that out there. Um exactly. Whole other story. Okay. Audience question from Bob Warren in New Orleans.

[24:48] Al Malafronte: Uh, have you ever been to either Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest? And which do you think is better?

[24:52] Lisa Durupt: I have been to Mardi Gras. I have not been to Jazz Fest. I would have loved to go to Jazz Fest because I a musical theater brat. So my husband is somebody who loves to sing jazz. He did a live show like that right out of theater school for years up in the Yukon of all places. Uh but yeah, I went to Mardi Gras and I was blown away because you can't genuinely exp or understand what it's like unless you're there. Like it's insane between the beads and the parades and everybody's just in a good mood. It was mind boggling. And the one thing that I wasn't prepared for was just how like as a female, they warned us, they're like, be careful, don't go here, here, and here. And I'm like, what? But on TV, it looks so cool.

They're like, no, there's some pretty dangerous places. Be careful. And I was like, that won't happen to us. Like just totally naive people who coming to the, you know, to the city, not fully understanding what's going on. And I was very lucky, had a wonderful experience, so none of that really pertained to me. But yeah, I loved it. I would go back. Well, I'd go back as often as I could. I just haven't gone back yet. But I'd love to take my girls there one day, just experience it. Because I went right after a couple years after Christina, and yeah, yeah, just to hear the stories and talk to people was amazing. So yeah, I've definitely been part of it. That kind of got off track, but I brought it home. I brought it back. I was like all over the place, but we're back at it. Mardi Gras, done. There we go. Lisa Durupt, big Mardi Gras girl. There we go.

[26:29] Al Malafronte: Um, all right. We were talking about musical theater there for a moment. One Broadway show you've yet to see, but really want to.

[26:36] Lisa Durupt: Oh my gosh, where to even start? Um one that I would love to. It's old school, but You're in Town. It was popular. It came out the 9-11, like the day that all went down. It came out that week or weekend. And it's I think it's probably one of my favorite, just because it's so clever. If you don't know what it is, they have to pay to go pee. So it's You're in Town, not Your in Town. And it's just the best satire, and it's so funny. And yeah, I mean, I don't even know if they still do it, but that would be one that if I could go back in time, I would have loved to see the original cast of You're in Town.

[27:13] Al Malafronte: Uh in the spirit of the season, your favorite claymation Christmas special.

[27:19] Lisa Durupt: Is there more than one? I just know the original one with the abominable snowman and and I don't what is that one even called?

[27:25] Al Malafronte: Well, you're thinking of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, sure.

[27:27] Lisa Durupt: Yeah, yeah, full on. Yeah. Okay. Well, you know what? If that's your favorite, because it's the only one you've seen that qualifies. But there are a lot, there are a lot of them, by the way.

[27:34] Al Malafronte: And they...

[27:34] Lisa Durupt: I probably have, yeah, I probably have seen more, but that's the one that like sticks out. Is that's what I'm saying? Like, is there like my mom always put on that and played Felice Navidad by Boney M. So to me that's like Christmas.

[27:46] Al Malafronte: Now, I'm not sure if it was Felice Navidad or not, but uh the next question was the Christmas song you played most recently on your Spotify.

[27:54] Lisa Durupt: Oh, for my daughter, Dominic the Donkey. That and the hippopotamus for Christmas are like on re mother effing repeat. I have under three year olds.

[28:05] Al Malafronte: You part Italian playing Dominic the Donkey?

[28:07] Lisa Durupt: I my last name's Balfrante, so I love it. Yeah, my husband's a Mingati, so yeah, he's Italian, definitely, 100%.

[28:15] Al Malafronte: Okay.

[28:16] Lisa Durupt: Just never ends at our house. Just first thing in the morning. Here we go. Here we go. Mommy and Daddy, Bailey's in the coffee. Here we go. We got this. We're good. We got life. We're good. Between that and a nine month old, we're just, we're just, I'm telling you, man, we're just surviving right now. We're in the thick of it. So we're just, we're just making it happen.

[28:35] Al Malafronte: Congrats, by the way.

[28:36] Lisa Durupt: I know that.

[28:37] Al Malafronte: Thanks.

[28:38] Lisa Durupt: Thanks.

[28:39] Al Malafronte: Um, okay. Strangest place you've ever been recognized.

[28:47] Lisa Durupt: Oh at uh there, what's it called? Orgill. It's a, it's where it's a what is even called? It's a convention for where they, it's like hardware convention place. Somebody out of nowhere was like, oh my God, you're in a Christmas movie. And I was like, what the heck? Like, I don't remember why I was there. And yeah, it was very surreal. I was totally shocked. But it was cool. I mean, they turned out very nice and we kept in touch actually via email. I I'm Canadian. I get sucked in. I'm like, yeah, we can be friends. And then next thing you know, you're getting emails forever. And they were lovely, but yeah, yeah, Orgill. I don't even know what you call it. It's like the smaller home hardware stores and stuff, like that's where they go to purchase, like big buying convention.

[29:34] Al Malafronte: Yeah.

[29:35] Lisa Durupt: And I think at the time I was working back in the day for like I had just started doing homework and it was, so this is like 10 plus years ago. And I don't even know what I was there. I was helping with a marketing. I went to like some of their shows for them. You know, when you're an actor and you, you know, even until you kind of get rocky rolling, you still always feel like you need to have something on the side until you get to a spot where you feel good about life. And yeah, so I was there doing marketing or something with a company, and yeah, it was trippy. It is so weird. It was so weird, but I'll take it. It was cool. It was nice of them.

[30:10] Al Malafronte: Fact about Lisa Durupt that would surprise people the most.

[30:16] Lisa Durupt: Oh, that's uh, that's a tough one. Probably that I have a temper, but like a really long fuse. I mean, after the hockey story, that's kind of a no-brainer. Oh, here's a weird fact. I can't straighten my pinky on my right finger or my right hand because when I was in second grade, I slammed my finger in my door by accident in my little in my bedroom. And because I was the kind of kid that always wanted to go to the hospital, and my parents were like, Wanted to go to the hospital? What? I just thought it, I just I think on some level I was the second child and I just wanted more attention. I don't know. But I really wanted to go to the hospital. And so I thought it'd be cool to get like a cast or something.

Little did I know that eventually with sports, I would go to the hospital more times, like to the point where they pulled me aside and asked me if my parents were hurting me. And I had to be like, no, I just was at rugby today, or I was at this today. But my dad would had had enough of taking me to the hospital for things that they were like, no, Mr. Durupt, she's fine. So he took two popsicle sticks and cotton bat and made a sling for me and told me to wear it for a week and taped it. And so I mean, looking back now, I don't know when I realized it, but I can't, it goes to about 45 degrees and that's it. And it's because the doctor, since I've asked about it, they figure my tendon was snapped or something, and I should have gone to the hospital.

But the one time I should have gone. Now, whenever my dad makes me, you know, feel bad about something, I'm like, hey dad, remember this moment? Parent fail. And then he drops. So yeah, that's that's I don't know, it's a weird one. But yeah, there you go. But yeah, a little bit of a temper if I long fuse, but I'll a little bit of a temper. Bit of a temper and a fetish for going to the hospital. Okay. Yeah. Weird, right? Right? That sounds horrible when you put them together. Dear Lord. Oh man, we just lost out of your audience. Sorry, guys.

[32:01] Al Malafronte: Oh, they're used to it. That's why we love that question.

[32:03] Lisa Durupt: And uh we also love this final fastball derby question, which is uh, what is the best piece of advice that anyone ever gave you?

[32:12] Al Malafronte: Oh, the best piece of advice goes to a gentleman named Rick Skeen. He was my stage combat teacher in university who was the person who ended up hiring me for stunts because he was a stunt coordinator in Manitoba. And he said to me, anytime you are nervous or anytime you feel worried about starting something new, remember that moment and then think to yourself, five years from now, we'll see who's laughing and take stock of that and then try as best you can, you know, whether whatever it is you're doing around the five-year mark to really sit with that and remember how crappy you felt walking into that, whether it be that dance class or that singing lesson, or that first time you tried out for something, because anything is surmountable if you just commit to doing it and not quitting it. And so that was probably the strongest piece of advice I ever got from someone quite early on. I think I was 18 at that time.

[33:02] Lisa Durupt: So Rick Skeen for the win.

[33:04] Al Malafronte: Wow, Rick Skeen. Okay, well, thank you, Rick, because uh obviously it served Lisa really well. And because, you know, we I just had so much fun hanging out with her tonight. And I'm so excited for like all of our listeners to get to see you, Lisa starring in Christmas with a Crown, uh, this Wednesday at eight on Lifetime. If there's one big lasting takeaway that you hope the folks at home can get uh from this film of yours, what would that be?

[33:28] Lisa Durupt: Just uh don't it's that old saying don't judge a book by its cover because you never know when sometimes you know the world is or the universe is giving you gifts you didn't really know you wanted or needed for that matter.

[33:40] Al Malafronte: Wow. Yeah. That's awesome stuff. And uh wow, I cannot thank you enough for joining us tonight. This was an absolute blast.

[33:47] Lisa Durupt: Well, thanks for having me anytime. Now that I know how to hook everything up and work it, gosh, you guys, you don't even know how patient they were with me in technology. So thank you, thank you, thank you. You are gonna hide that. I blew it out of the water.

[34:04] Al Malafronte: That's the lasting impression that I get. And thank you again. We'll make us a holiday tradition, okay?

[34:09] Lisa Durupt: Done. I'm in. Sign me up. Deal. Awesome. Good stuff. And uh thanks again to Lisa, and thanks again to all of the folks at home who listened to this installment of Break a Bat tonight. Be sure to subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. This is Al Malafronte signing off from the Batter's Box. We'll see you next time.

[34:28] Al Malafronte: Thanks for listening to Break a Bat. This is produced by the fine folks at the Broadway Podcast Network. Visit and subscribe at bpn.fm slash breakabat. You can find me online at break underscore a underscore bat underscore podcast. And you can also find the Broadway Podcast Network on Instagram at Broadway Podcast Network. It's been so great having you here with us today, and we'll see you next time.