This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Rand Higbee: Hi, this is Rand Higbee. I am the guy who wrote OH NO! I FLEW TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN, today's episode, and welcome to Gathered by the Ghost Lights.

[0:16] Jonathan Cook: Hey friends, welcome back to Gathered by the Ghost Lights. I'm Jonathan Cook, your host, producer, and sometimes voice actor on this thing.

[0:24] Devon McSherry: And I'm Devon McSherry, the advisor to this emperor.

[0:28] Jonathan Cook: All right, we are launching our sixth season today. We're opening up with a dark comedy written by organ-based playwright Rand Higbee. This one is called OH NO! I FLEW TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN.

[0:40] Devon McSherry: No, no, no, no, it's OH NO! I FLEW TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN!

[0:46] Jonathan Cook: OH NO! I FLEW TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN!

[0:49] Devon McSherry: There we go, good, okay.

[0:51] Jonathan Cook: All right, the stage is set. It's Rome, 120 AD. You're about to meet a man named Festus, who is very excited that he has been cast as the role of Icarus in a grand performance at the Colosseum. However, his enthusiasm quickly wanes when the stage workers, Sabina and Brutus, fill him in on exactly what that role requires.

[1:13] Jonathan Cook: Now, gather round the ghost light, sit back and enjoy. This is OH NO! I FLEW TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN!

[1:20] Jonathan Cook: All right, I'll take it, all right. And don't forget to stick around after the story to hear an interview with the writer, Rand Higbee.

[1:37] Sabina: Um, excuse me, are you Sabina?

[1:40] Festus: I am. You must be Festus.

[1:44] Festus: That's me.

[1:45] Sabina: Or should I call you Icarus?

[1:48] Festus: Yes, I'm going to be Icarus.

[1:51] Sabina: I was just putting the finishing touches on your wings. Looking good, if I do say so myself.

[1:57] Festus: They look very good, but could I voice a very small concern?

[2:02] Sabina: What's your concern, Festus?

[2:05] Festus: It's just that the Colosseum is a bit of a walk from here, and I really do need to get there on time.

[2:10] Sabina: We'll get you there on time.

[2:12] Festus: I'm just a little concerned because—

[2:13] Sabina: Understood, but you have nothing to worry about.

[2:17] Sabina: Brutus, come here!

[2:28] Sabina: Brutus, in all the years we've been doing this, have we ever let an Icarus miss their entrance?

[2:35] Brutus: No.

[2:37] Sabina: See there?

[2:39] Festus: It's just very important.

[2:40] Sabina: I understand.

[2:42] Sabina: You see, I've been promised a pardon if I play Icarus.

[2:45] Brutus: We will have you there on time.

[2:47] Festus: What did you do?

[2:49] Festus: What did I do?

[2:50] Festus: To need a pardon!

[2:51] Festus: No, I stole an apple.

[2:56] Brutus: Naughty, naughty!

[2:57] Festus: I know, but it was just—

[2:59] Sabina: Do you have your line memorized?

[3:01] Festus: My...

[3:02] Festus: Oh, sure.

[3:03] Festus: Oh no, I flew too close to the sun.

[3:06] Sabina: I don't believe you.

[3:08] Festus: Really? That's my line?

[3:09] Sabina: No, I don't believe you're Icarus!

[3:12] Sabina: You have flown way up in the sky, your wings have melted, and now you're plummeting to a sure death. Icarus would show more emotion than that.

[3:20] Festus: All right.

[3:21] Festus: Oh, no, I flew too close to the sun.

[3:24] Festus: Oh, no, I flew too close to the sun.

[3:29] Festus: Oh, no, I flew too close to the sun.

[3:33] Festus: Oh, no, I flew too close to the sun!

[3:36] Festus: Oh, no, I flew too close to the sun.

[3:39] Festus: Oh, no! I flew too close to the sun!

[3:43] Sabina: That was very good.

[3:45] Festus: Thank you.

[3:46] Sabina: Very, very good.

[3:56] Festus: Thanks again.

[3:57] Sabina: Brutus, come here.

[4:07] Brutus: Go, go ahead, Festus, go, go.

[4:08] Festus: Oh, oh, no, I flew too close to the sun.

[4:13] Brutus: Oh, one of the best we ever had.

[4:22] Festus: That's high praise coming from Brutus.

[4:24] Festus: Thanks, Brutus.

[4:28] Festus: So do you think if I really do well that they'll let me play the role again sometime?

[4:43] Brutus: Oh, no, no, you only play Icarus once.

[4:49] Brutus: They don't make exceptions.

[4:50] Sabina: Hey, Brutus, Festus wants to know if he can play Icarus a second time.

[5:00] Brutus: That's very funny.

[5:02] Sabina: All right, Festus, time to put your wings on.

[5:05] Sabina: There we go.

[5:06] Festus: Okay, but I'm not really sure what was funny.

[5:10] Sabina: These wings are my own special creation. They have to look realistic, but remember that the wax has melted, so they have to look distressed as well.

[5:19] Festus: Yes, they look very good, but not too good.

[5:23] Sabina: Melted good, good, but not good.

[5:27] Festus: Thank you.

[5:31] Festus: Is that, was that the Coliseum?

[5:36] Sabina: It was.

[5:37] Festus: Now I'm worried all over again.

[5:39] Festus: The show has started and I'm one of the first acts.

[5:41] Sabina: Correction, you are not one of the first acts.

[5:45] Sabina: You are the first act.

[5:47] Festus: I am?

[5:48] Sabina: But how am I supposed to get there on time?

[5:50] Festus: Didn't I just tell you not to worry about it?

[5:54] Sabina: You did.

[5:55] Sabina: We'll get you there on time.

[5:58] Festus: But I don't see...

[6:02] Sabina: There are dignitaries to introduce, announcements to make. Just relax.

[6:05] Festus: I'm trying to relax, but I just don't see how I'm going to get there, even if I run all the way.

[6:10] Sabina: You won't need to run.

[6:12] Festus: Then how?

[6:13] Sabina: Brutus, come here a second.

[6:22] Sabina: Brutus, how will Icarus get to the Coliseum on time?

[6:26] Brutus: I will fling you.

[6:29] Sabina: Fling?

[6:30] Sabina: See there? Brutus will fling you. Worried no more, right?

[6:33] Festus: Fling?

[6:34] Brutus: Heave, hurdle, launch.

[6:37] Festus: But...

[6:37] Sabina: You see that contraption Brutus is polishing up? That's their baby. A catapult. You'll get on it. She cuts the rope and swoosh! Off you go, right to the Coliseum.

[6:48] Festus: But how?

[6:49] Festus: How do we know where you'll land?

[6:50] Brutus: Brutus has been using this catapult for years. As long as we get her men of approximately the same weight each time, she always knows exactly where you'll land.

[7:00] Festus: Where?

[7:01] Brutus: Right in the middle of the Coliseum.

[7:04] Brutus: There have been a few times when a strong gust of wind has pushed Icarus a bit too far into the crowd, or once he overshot the Coliseum completely. But no worries.

[7:14] Sabina: No wind today.

[7:16] Festus: So I'll be sure to hit the net.

[7:23] Festus: Net? Why would Icarus have a net? What lesson would he learn if he had a net?

[7:30] Sabina: I'm not really Icarus.

[7:34] Festus: You are Icarus if you believe you are Icarus. I've seen this act several times and it really is spectacular. The announcer briefly tells the story of Icarus and then he says look, here comes Icarus now. Then Icarus comes flying into view and says oh no, I flew too close to the sun.

[7:52] Brutus: Usually.

[7:54] Sabina: Usually. Sometimes the actor gets stage fright and instead of anything coherent, you just hear a whiny scream.

[8:01] Festus: AHHHHHHH!!!

[8:05] Sabina: I think I have stage fright.

[8:07] Brutus: You'll be fine, I have confidence in you.

[8:11] Sabina: There we go, wings all done.

[8:14] Festus: Say, that looks pretty smart.

[8:17] Sabina: You're a fine looking Icarus.

[8:20] Festus: I might want to play another role instead.

[8:23] Sabina: You want your part in, don't you?

[8:25] Festus: Yes, but...

[8:27] Sabina: Icarus is the star of the show, my friend. Every person in that Coliseum will go home saying, man, that Icarus was great. The ones who do go home, that is.

[8:39] Brutus: There's the signal!

[8:40] Sabina: Brutus, got the signal!

[8:43] Festus: Signal?

[8:43] Sabina: The get ready signal.

[8:45] Sabina: Hey now, remember, your line is much more efficient if you're flapping your arms when you say it.

[8:51] Festus: Oh no, I flew too close to the sun!

[8:54] Festus: Are there any other parts I could play?

[8:57] Brutus: That's right, fella. I would make a great Sisyphus.

[9:00] Festus: Follow me. I would push that boulder up the hill all day long.

[9:05] Festus: Just an apple.

[9:06] Brutus: 15 seconds!

[9:08] Festus: I don't want to do this!

[9:09] Festus: I don't want to be flung!

[9:12] Brutus: Upsy-daisy.

[9:13] Festus: No fling!

[9:15] Festus: I changed my mind.

[9:16] Festus: I changed my mind, please!

[9:19] Festus: I don't want to do this!

[9:19] Brutus: Five, four, three, two, one!

[9:24] Brutus: Now, Brutus!

[9:28] Festus: Ah!

[9:31] Festus: Oh no, I flew too close to the sun!

[9:44] Jonathan Cook: He was good.

[9:46] Devon McSherry: One of the best we've ever had.

[9:52] Jonathan Cook: That was Oh No, I Flew Too Close to the Sun, written by Rand Higbee. It was directed by Jonathan Cook and performed by Lily DeLaCuana as Sabina, Andy Middleton as Festus, and Madison Junod as Brutus.

[10:15] Jonathan Cook: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Oregon-based playwright Rand Higbee. How are you, sir?

[10:20] Rand Higbee: I'm doing good. Great, thank you for joining us.

[10:29] Jonathan Cook: Oh, it's fun. All right, so everyone just heard your dark comedy, OH NO! I FLEW TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN! But before we get into talking about that, tell us about your writing journey and how you got involved in theater and all that stuff.

[10:40] Rand Higbee: Well, I guess it goes way back to high school. Probably before that, I always liked theater. And I got into college, South Dakota State University. Shout out to the Jackrabbits. I actually started off as a math major. And that's probably one interesting tidbit about me is I've always had this kind of pull between math and theater, which not a lot of people, I don't think there are a lot of people like that. Usually it's one way or the other.

[11:05] Rand Higbee: But I started off as a math major there, but I got more and more into the theater. And I just wanted, eventually became a theater major. And I just wanted to learn every aspect of theater. So besides acting and tech work and directing, I started writing a few things back then. And it's just as has carried on. I after South Dakota State University, I went to, I started teaching at a little high school in South Dakota, White River High School. I guess I'll shout out the Tigers, too.

[12:02] Rand Higbee: But eventually, I started performing some of my plays there. And eventually, I just kind of got interested in pursuing that a lot more, a lot more fully. And so I went off to grad school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. And I got an MFA in playwriting there. And since then, I've just been working at it. You know, have had some jobs to support myself, non-theater type jobs, I mean. But now I'm out on the Oregon coast, and I'm retired, and I can devote a little more time to playwriting.

[12:44] Jonathan Cook: Wonderful. And you said you were a high school teacher. And I assume that kind of lent to your playwriting, because I read that you, a lot of your work has been produced at high schools.

[12:51] Rand Higbee: Yeah, well, that's kind of how I really got into it, is I started writing for my students, you know, for them, things for them to do. And then I got published in some high school catalogs. And which is really, for any young playwright out there, that's a great market. Because there's so many high schools out there, and they, not all, but a lot of them do plays. And a lot of them do those one act for contest plays every year. And they're always looking for new things. And so if you can break into that market, it's a great market.

[13:27] Rand Higbee: And I also, of course, people remember you, I get, I all the time, will run into, not all the time, but more than you would think, I'll run into someone at like a theater conference or say, I'd say, and they'll say to me that, oh, you're a Rand Higbee. We did one of your plays when I was in high school.

[13:51] Jonathan Cook: Nice.

[13:52] Rand Higbee: That's great.

[13:54] Jonathan Cook: Yeah. With that in mind, a lot of the plays you write are actually family friendly comedies. Do you see that as a bigger door to kind of get theaters to produce your work? Because not all theaters out there are looking for edgy stuff. A lot of them want that family friendly kind of tone to it. Do you see that that kind of helps you get more productions of your works out there?

[14:17] Rand Higbee: I think so. I think there are some people who don't like that aspect about my plays. Honestly, I've gotten into arguments with people about that, but that's just kind of, that's partly that I was raised in South Dakota and they don't like a lot of swearing in the plays, at least when I was growing up. In fact, if we got time for a quick story here, yeah, please.

[14:41] Rand Higbee: Funny little thing that happened to me. At South Dakota State University, we were doing the play The Shadow Box. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but it was big back in the late 70s. I think it won the Pulitzer Prize one year. It's about the seven, oh, I forget how many stages there are now of dying. I don't know if you've heard that.

[15:07] Jonathan Cook: Yeah.

[15:09] Rand Higbee: But it was a play based upon those different stages of dying. Well, so it had a heavy topic to it and there was a lot of swearing in it. We did it at South Dakota State University and we took out a lot of the swearing, but we kept in some of it. So I was an usher because I wasn't a good enough actor to be in it, but I was an usher and I could. It was fun being an usher because you can hear the audience's reaction as they're walking out of the stage of the theater.

[15:43] Rand Higbee: And as they were walking out, I heard these two older women talking and the one says to the other, well, what did you think? And the other one goes, Andy said the F word three times.

[16:01] Jonathan Cook: Keeping track.

[16:02] Rand Higbee: Yes, I know he did. And my first reaction to that was how stupid of them. They just saw this very powerful play and that's their big takeaway is that Andy said the F word three times. But the more I thought about that over the years, I thought, you know, it wasn't just them. You know, we made a mistake, too, or not a mistake, but a miscalculation, you might say. We missed with some of our audience. We missed because of that language. And that's just the lesson.

[16:40] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, I understand. Enjoying challenging the audience to think there's absolutely a place for that and there's absolutely a place for, you know, the fun, family friendly theater as well. But yeah, sometimes you have to know your audience and whether the message will reach them if you challenge them too hard. You know, like you said, if they're only focusing on the bad language, obviously they're not focusing on the message of the show.

[17:08] Rand Higbee: So, you know, I've had people when they did my play, The Feral Child up in Anchorage, Alaska. I had audience members who told me that they had seen it. The parents had seen it opening weekend and then they brought their kids back the next weekend because they realized they weren't sure about it, but they realized there was nothing wrong for a kid and that their kids would actually like it. And they were telling me this is the first grown up play that my kid has ever seen.

[17:43] Jonathan Cook: Oh, wow.

[17:44] Rand Higbee: And I just, I like that. I think that's a really nice compliment.

[17:48] Jonathan Cook: Yeah.

[17:49] Rand Higbee: Yeah, for sure. And if I'd put a lot of, you know, colorful language in it, that would not have been the case.

[17:58] Jonathan Cook: All right. Well, let's talk about the play that everyone just heard. Oh, No, I Flew Too Close to the Sun. This very comedic play. It has a nice setup. It's got a masterful punchline at the end. It's very, very dark humor, very fun, though. And our cast love doing it. Tell us about this play and your idea behind writing it and putting it together.

[18:24] Rand Higbee: Well, you probably can't see, but I'm wearing my solar eclipse shirt. Right out here on the Oregon coast back in 2017. But actually, the idea came from there's a Nova episode. And I saw this guy, it's been about 10 years ago now or so, but it was it was one of their double length episodes is about the Roman Coliseum and some of the things that went on there.

[18:51] Rand Higbee: And if you can catch that, you can find it on YouTube. I know it's it's absolutely fascinating and horrifying what went on in that Coliseum. And one of them is really true. Now, I don't know about the catapult thing. I think I may have invented that they would do reenactments reenactments of Icarus, the Icarus myth, where they would get him a lot of the time was just simply they take him up on a long, huge tower and then they'd push him off.

[19:25] Rand Higbee: And I guess it was, well, look, here comes Icarus. Wow. I mean, this is how they'd execute people. It was for people's entertainment. Ha ha ha ha. Oh, good thing we have special effects nowadays. Goodness, it's rather horrifying.

[19:43] Jonathan Cook: Yeah.

[19:43] Rand Higbee: So that's where I got the idea for it. And I but I had the idea in my head for a couple of years before I kind of figured out exactly how to go about it.

[19:54] Rand Higbee: I just didn't know. I didn't want to build a huge tower on the stage until I got the idea. And to push somebody off. And so it took me a long time. And I talked to a couple other playwrights about the idea. And they always would say, oh, it's a great idea. You got to write it. And I go, yeah, now, finally, I don't know what the I finally just figured out what the structure was.

[20:22] Rand Higbee: And then when I sat down to write it, it was it was like, I guess, because I've been thinking about it so long, it was pretty easy.

[20:32] Rand Higbee: And it was one of those cases where as I was writing and I thought, oh people are gonna like this one. Which sounds a little like I don't look like I'm full of myself, but there's times you feel like that and then people do like it and then there's time you feel like that and then nobody does like it. So I think because this is a play that we did in our short play festival, it was accepted to that and we decided to make an audio play out of it and our audience when they saw it live, it's one of those plays that it works good as the closer in a festival because it's just it hits with the humor. And from what I've seen online, other festivals that have produced this play have also kind of done it at the end and it's just such a crowd pleaser at the end.

And the beautiful thing about the character Festus is you make him very likable. He didn't do anything super wrong. He didn't kill anybody. He stole an apple and they're putting him on this catapult to launch him in the Coliseum. And I think that's just a brilliant little touch to that character for sure.

[21:38] Rand Higbee: Yeah, and unfortunately, I don't know if they'd actually execute someone for stealing an apple, but they were brutal back in Roman days. It was Roman Coliseum days. They were brutal. And now one of the cool things about our short play festival is that we it means open casting. So anyone that wants to be a part of a play production and wants to try acting, they come to auditions and the actor that played Festus, this was his first play that he had ever done. He's an older guy and he just he comes to theater all the time. He comes and sees the plays and he won an audition and he had a great audition and he ended up getting cast. And then that same cast did the audio play production and they just had so much fun revisiting those characters for everybody. Actually, I feel like each of their characters is likable in their own way, like how she takes her jobs very seriously, but she just loves putting on a great show.

[22:37] Rand Higbee: And the first time I ever saw it was at the Valdez Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska, and my friend Glica played Sabina and I always have her in my mind the rest of my life because Glica is Greek. And so she speaks with a Greek accent and she pronounces it, uh Icarus, which I figure maybe that's right, I don't know. But so I just will always hear that whenever I see a production of it or even when I'm reading it. I will always hear Icarus.

[23:29] Jonathan Cook: You mentioned the Valdez Theatre Conference. How many times have you been invited to have a play performed at that conference?

[23:36] Rand Higbee: Oh gosh, too many. It's probably about 15 or so.

[23:45] Jonathan Cook: Okay.

[23:46] Rand Higbee: It's going on right now. Yeah, this was one of the years where I didn't get invited, but it's alright. You have to take a breather from it. Everyone's in.

[24:01] Rand Higbee: Yeah, it is a great opportunity for anyone who's a playwright. I would urge them to submit for it and actors, they need actors too. And the way you get in there is you contact Dawson Moore who runs it and I don't know how the actors get in actually, but it's easier to get in as an actor than a playwright because it's the playwrights who are really fighting for those positions.

[24:31] Jonathan Cook: So what do you have coming up that you can promote? Any play productions or anything you're currently writing that we can hope to see in the future?

[24:40] Rand Higbee: I've written a full-length play. It's a full-length, but it's kind of a shorter full-length called Jerry the Gerbil. I just completed that, but I'm getting a reading of it for a company up in Alaska. See, one of my favorite jokes about me is that I'm world famous in Alaska.

[25:09] Jonathan Cook: Oh.

[25:11] Rand Higbee: So there's gonna be a reading of that. I believe they're gonna, because I'm not gonna be there unfortunately, but they're gonna record that. So that's one thing I've got going on. And I've written a play that I called Todd and Pitts. It's about Thelma Todd and Zazu Pitts and I don't know if those names mean anything to you, but they formed a comedy team back in the early 30s and they were trying to be the female answer to Laurel and Hardy. It's kind of an interesting story and I so I've sort of made my own version of it, sticking to some facts and some flights of fancy, but that's the one I've been working on for a while. I'm finding it kind of difficult. It's got a difficult act to that I'm still I don't think it's there yet, but I think it's one of those things like gee, it'll be nice when it's finished.

[26:13] Jonathan Cook: So people that just heard "Oh No, I Flew Too Close to the Sun," maybe they're involved with a theater. Maybe they want to put it on themselves. What's the best way that they can contact you in order to or to get in touch with you? Are you on social media? Do you have a website or anything?

[26:27] Rand Higbee: Well, one really good way to get a hold of me is Facebook. I'm on Facebook and I'm the only Rand Higbee out there as far as I know. So there is a Randy Higbee, you know, I cautioned about the why earlier, but there's only one Rand Higbee. I'm also on the, I don't know if you know about the New Play Exchange.

[26:52] Jonathan Cook: Oh, yes. Yes. I love promoting New Play Exchange.

[26:55] Rand Higbee: Yeah, so I'm on the New Play Exchange and that's a good way to get a hold of me.

[26:59] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, and they can also read a lot of your works.

[27:02] Rand Higbee: Say so, yes.

[27:07] Jonathan Cook: You have some plays published. Who are the publishers that you're through that if people want to kind of look and see what else you've done?

[27:14] Rand Higbee: Eldridge has a lot of my early stuff. That's where I got my high school one acts still get done. But also Eldridge has my play The Head That Wouldn't Die, which was kind of a breakthrough one for me. It was the first time I went up to Alaska for the conference and kind of got me known around a bit, okay, around the country a little bit. And then the other big one is the company is Next Stage Press. Yeah, I'm part of an anthology on there called Extra Innings: 10 Short Plays About Baseball. And I have one of the innings, I guess. And that was I'm kind of proud of because I was one of the people who really spearheaded that project. I got talking to my friend Dominica one day about baseball and I had a baseball play and she had a baseball play and I said, "Hey, you know what we should do?"

[28:17] Rand Higbee: That was it. It was a fun but kind of difficult project to put together because we were asking playwrights all over, "Do you have like a short baseball play?" Looking for nine to cover the nine innings. Yeah, right. But that was the thing. It was gonna be nine plays for nine innings, but we had a tenth one we liked, so that's the joke. We had to go.

[28:43] Jonathan Cook: Alright, Rand, well, thank you so much for chatting with us and thank you for letting us produce your hilarious play, "Oh No, I Flew Too Close to the Sun."

[29:04] Rand Higbee: Alright, thank you so much and we'll definitely stay in touch. Hope we can collaborate again in the future.

[29:11] Jonathan Cook: Alright. Okay. Thank you.

[29:13] Jonathan Cook: Alright, it's time for the credits roll. Let's do this roll.

[29:17] Jonathan Cook: Roll on, let's do it.

[29:19] Jonathan Cook: Okay, monster, monster.

[29:25] Jonathan Cook: Yes, yes. This has been a Gather by the Ghost Light production, produced by Jonathan Cook and Devon McSherry. Yeah. Yes, today's play, "Oh No, I Flew Too Close to the Sun," was written by Rand Higbee.

[29:35] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, it was performed by Lillie DeLecuona, Andy Middleton, and Madison Junod.

[29:40] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, so directed by Jonathan Cook with sound design by...

[29:45] Jonathan Cook: Yeah.

[29:46] Jonathan Cook: Curtains for him.

[29:50] Jonathan Cook: Yeah. Title music by JK/47.

[29:54] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, with additional featured music by Tim Kulig, Kashido, and Josh Tarp.

[29:59] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, this program is supported in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission.

[30:03] Jonathan Cook: Yeah, which receives a portion from the National Endowment for the Arts.

[30:14] Jonathan Cook: And as always, stay safe. Yeah, and we'll see you next time we gather by the ghost light.