This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:08] Jeff Malone: Welcome to Half Hour with Jeff and Richie.

[0:10] Richie Grasso: I'm Jeff.

[0:11] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie.

[0:12] Jeff Malone: And today on our show, we are welcoming a very special guest, Ana Villafañe. Ana is a versatile actress and singer who has made significant strides in theater, film, and television. She gained widespread recognition for originating the role of Gloria Estefan in the Broadway hit On Your Feet from 2014 to 2017, earning a Theatre World Award. Villafañe returned to Broadway in 2021 as Roxie Hart in Chicago. Her television credits include roles in New Amsterdam and Younger. She's set to star in the upcoming film, Castro's Daughter, opposite James Franco. And Villafañe was named one of the New York Times' 30 under 30 and has been honored for her contributions to Latin representation in entertainment. She's currently in N/A off-Broadway at Lincoln Center. Ana, welcome to Half Hour.

[0:56] Ana Villafañe: Hi, thank you. Thanks for having me.

[0:59] Jeff Malone: Ana, it's so great to have you on this show. And before we get into your current work in N/A, can you tell us a bit more about your journey from growing up in Miami to becoming a Broadway actress and what were some key moments or influences that have shaped your career path?

[1:14] Ana Villafañe: Totally. I was, uh, I had a lot of energy and I was kind of a tomboy. And, um, I started singing when I was seven. I did like a talent show at a summer camp. Um, I performed "Lucky" by Britney Spears. And, uh, the people who ran the camp were like, "Oh wait, this girl has like something really interesting or whatever." And so I started performing. I started doing, you know, choirs. I hated choirs. I was like the black sheep of every, you know, kid thing I ever did. But then, um, but then when I discovered theater, that kind of like unlocked something else where I was like, "Oh, you can be a different person. You can tell all of these stories." And I think there was a factor of escapism to it for sure because I always felt very like trapped and different and like I didn't belong and like I was so misunderstood and all.

So theater kind of gave me that, um, that way out and then it just like kind of grew from there. I did my first regional, like professional equity show when I was nine and when my school went to see the show on a field trip, I was like, "This is a thing I can sustain." Like I like, and so, and that was kind of it, you know. I graduated from high school and was gonna go study musical theater in Orlando actually. My whole plan was to like audition to be a Disney princess and like put myself through school like that. Um, but then I got signed the day before my 18th birthday. I was flown out to LA. I got an agent and I was like, "Well, I guess we'll try this." Um, and I moved to LA. I didn't know anybody out there.

It was terrifying, but I got a degree in opera. Wow, while yeah, while doing just like every Taco Bell commercial and murdered on a bunch of like procedurals and Latin roles. It was like you're either in the gang or you're getting murdered by the gang. Oh my gosh. So, um, so yeah, a lot of just like crying and getting killed. And then, um, and then On Your Feet. I mean, well, I had started, you know, really booking and testing for big things and, uh, all of these like near hidden misses and I was just like so, I was so, uh, frustrated. And I heard about On Your Feet, um, and when I asked my then team to put me, you know, in the room for it, they were like, "No, no, you're not like a theater girl, you don't understand.

Like there's like a whole, like there's a ladder, there's a, you know, you get your BFA in musical theater from like Carnegie Mellon or from Michigan or like there's like a formula and have that. Like you're an LA girl, like you're really, you know, you're testing for things." I was testing for like Pretty Little Liars and all that. Um, which now when I look back, I'm like, "Thank God that things went that the way that they did." Right. Um, but yeah, they were like, "Absolutely not." And I said, "You're wrong." And that's why I have new people. But, uh, but I'm, I'm, that's how you do it. I trusted my gut.

[4:31] Richie Grasso: Good for you. Good for you.

[4:32] Jeff Malone: And I do want to talk a little bit about On Your Feet towards the end of this episode today, but I kind of want to dive into N/A a little bit right now. Um, we saw N/A a few weeks ago, was so inspired by this piece. Congrats on the extension, by the way. You just announced an extension to September.

[4:44] Ana Villafañe: Thank you!

[4:46] Jeff Malone: And I think in this, you know, I would love to know a little bit more of how did you get involved in N/A? Was it, um, something that kind of came to you? Did you have to go to it with working with Holland and Diane? And how did this all come to be?

[4:58] Ana Villafañe: So it did come to me. It was completely out of left field, but, and I'm starting to realize that those are the magical things. Um, so my focus was elsewhere because I have this movie coming out in the fall and all this stuff. So we were kind of looking at series and looking at all these different scripts. I had taken a couple months off last year and then did Sinatra overseas, and then I got this random email in April about this play. And they're like, "It's a limited run, it's Lincoln Center, it's produced by Jeffrey Richards, directed by Diane Paulus. And it would be just a two-hander, you and Holland Taylor." Wow. I'm sorry. Yeah, right? Right? Yeah. So my brain just kind of exploded. Um, and then I, but then I read the synopsis.

I read like the breakdown of what the play was about. And I was like, "Oh, okay, hold on. Do I want to put myself in that headspace for this amount of time?" And like, you know, politics can be a little overwhelming, uh, especially right now. And I'm just like, "Okay, wait, this can go one of two ways," right? But then I read the script, and I was like, "Oh, this is incredibly surprising." And what Mario Correa has done is, in my opinion, really refreshing. I think the Wall Street Journal review said it's like a weighted blanket. Yes, yes. It does actually feel pretty accurate. Um, as soon as I read it, I remember thinking to myself, "Oh, I'm gonna do this play." And so I took the meeting with Diane and with Mario and with Jeffrey and with like the team.

And I remember on the Zoom, I had like a little post-it next to me with questions and with like thoughts and whatever. And, um, and after the conversation, I was like, "Well, I think that that went either very, very well or very, very poorly," because I was here like, "Well, this is what I think, and this is how I think." I'm like, I wouldn't stop talking. I'm like, "You're the one who wants the job." But, um, but then the next business day, because that was on a Friday afternoon, the next like Monday morning, I had the offer, and I was like, "Wow, well, I can't really say no to this," you know. And so, um, I've wanted to work with Diane ironically ever since we were seated next to each other on, um, on a shuttle from our hotel to the White House in 2016.

And I remember, and I didn't know her at all. And I was brand new to New York, I was brand new to the scene. We had literally just opened on Broadway, and I remember sitting next to this woman who's like this powerhouse, and I was like, "I really want to work with her one day." And like the gates are opening to the White House. And I'm just, and so it's funny how like now, yeah, right. Flat tracks. Yeah, exactly.

[8:02] Jeff Malone: Yes. And what do you feel like your research process was for, uh, portraying a character based on such a prominent political figure right now, inspired by AOC?

[8:16] Ana Villafañe: Exactly correct. The AOC. I mean, I think, um, you know, I think that first of all, I have to say there's something about society still, as much as, you know, we're moving forward, and as much as like my circles certainly would claim what I'm about to say, but like women in power is actually still not really widely accepted, digested, um, swallowed. It's, it's, it's, people are still very allergic to that, I think. Um, and stepping into the shoes of somebody so unafraid to use her power and somebody so, uh, or whether she is afraid or not, which I've been investigating a lot in my research with her, um, she does it anyway. Uh, that's been really inspiring and kind of liberating for me as a person.

I tend to be a little bit more of a people pleaser, and like I do care. I think as much as I hate to admit it, I do care if people like me or not. Um, but so I've really been trying to draw from what anchors her as a person. So I did a lot of research on her mannerisms, her voice, her facial expressions. I have like a, like a dictionary almost of all her different facial expressions that I've watched. Um, and I pepper them throughout the show. I don't like choreograph it because I think like leaving things to be spontaneous in the moment is how theater stays alive, especially in something like this where it has to be this tennis match that's constant between Holland and I, and neither of us can really drop the ball, right?

So I kind of have like a, like an arsenal of facial expressions and mannerisms that are so specifically her that whenever I do one, it kind of continues to thread throughout the piece. Um, I also, I am very aural, A-U-R-A-L. So, uh, so listening to her speak and just like how emphatic she is, how she lands her points, but I needed it to be not superficial. I needed it to be, um, you know, we live in a world of a lot of like clips, viral clips, little short attention span things. Nobody watches like full speeches, you watch the highlights, you know. Um, but the irony is like something as catastrophic as the actual literal presidential debate. Everyone has to sit and watch the entirety of it and you're just kind of cringing the whole time.

Um, versus something on stage where it's incredibly well thought out and well written, uh, can feel so uncomfortable for audiences, and I can feel that. And so that's where the research has come in because I've been able to find moments where I can really anchor myself in like what does my A, who is based heavily on AOC, where do her passions come from? So like I kind of like reverse-engineered things. So if I watched a video that was particularly alarming or particularly clickbaity, um, I kind of looked into like her history to find like where that passion came from.

[11:38] Ana Villafañe: And a lot of it comes from her socioeconomic background, her family. She's really deeply rooted in a lot of these very human things, but we dehumanize these characters because we see the viral videos and we see like we and we we do read the headlines. Yeah, so I really tried to keep her grounded and like show the progression of like the girl who gets the job, to then like by the end of the show, the star kind of standing in her power and being like, no girl, this is not how it's been anymore. And so that's what I tried to find.

[12:18] Jeff Malone: We'll be right back.

[12:22] Jeff Malone: Welcome back. And I find in and it's I what is also fascinating about the piece is it's N A, the N, you know, standing for Nancy Pelosi and the A for AOC, but you never say their name. We don't actually ever say their names in this show. And of course, it's inspired by and and I and I also think what's fascinating is just this week alone, as we're recording this in early July, their AOC and Nancy Pelosi are literally in the news for two very different reasons. But right AOC is pushing through legislation right now for this against this some Supreme Court justices, and Nancy um is speaking about Joe Biden's running, and and so like we I don't want to say we haven't heard from them in a while, but because they're still there, of course, but this week alone we've heard from them.

So I guess my next question is how is it hearing that news of them and stay feeling and now and also the news that you're extended now to September? It's not like you're gonna wrap this show up in a few weeks now, you got another all. So, like you're working with Holland. Are you talking with Holland about the politics of these two people like daily, or are you like putting what's currently happening in the world into your daily performances? I guess is the question.

[13:27] Ana Villafañe: So the interesting thing about it is it's very recent history, the show itself is a period piece, if you will. Right, true, and so it's just it just so happens to be a very recent period. So I personally, and maybe it's also just like to protect myself, but like I am trying to keep it in the period where it exists, and that the current events are speak too much into it. Um, but it would be a lie to say that it doesn't color the way that like the valve, I guess, of like emotions that come out because um, you know, the day of the fourth of July, for example, we had the day off, and Holland texted me, she's like, How's your holiday? And I'm like, I cried three times for a year. She's like, I'm not letting go of the dogs, they make everything better. And I'm like, we'll see you at work tomorrow. People were all like in the, you know, the violinists on the Titanic.

[14:26] Jeff Malone: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[14:27] Ana Villafañe: And what and and working with Holland, what it's just tell me what I mean, it's Holland Taylor, like, right? I I just I love her. Like, what is it like working with her every day up there? You're it's just you two up there, like the whole show.

[14:38] Ana Villafañe: It's just us the show. And what and it's funny because like you think of the show itself, and it's like, yes, it's a two-hander, all this stuff, but it's like backstage as well. You know, it's like you're really I'm I I am used to like a larger ensemble. Um, the smallest that I've done is was was Collective Rage, which was five of us. Um, and so Holland is I mean, talk about a strong opinionated courageous energy. Like, she's just incredibly present, incredibly smart, incredibly, I mean, on it, like not a detail goes past her. Um, she zooms in on absolutely everything and will tell you her thoughts. Um we have established this like incredible trust and this bond, which is really special. Um, I never would have like imagined, like, this was not on my bingo card, you know, here um, but uh this will tell you everything you need to know.

Our rehearsals started on May 20th. Which, which if you think about it, in the grand scheme of things, that is no time at all to open a show on uh June 11th. But she was very committed to having the work done to doing the work. Um, and so she wanted to come in early, so she had production reach out to me to have an extra week of rehearsal prior to rehearsal.

[16:17] Ana Villafañe: Wow. Just with her.

[16:19] Jeff Malone: Wow.

[16:20] Ana Villafañe: And we did. I was like, say jump, I say how hi. Yeah, yes. I'm down. Right. And she like called me. She was so cute. She like called me. Well, first we emailed. It's always starts, you know, more so she starts with an email and she's like, Can I call you? And I was like, sure. Yeah. Whenever you find. And so I like give her my cell phone number and she like full out FaceTimes me. And I'm just like, what is my life at this point? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and she was like, I just think that there's so much text that we could use an extra week. So if that's okay with you, like I would love to go into the rehearsal studio with you a week prior to Diane coming in for like legit rehearsals. It ended up being invaluable because A, we established our bond as soon as humanly possible, and B, I think um, it did give her a sense of trust that I wasn't just like, no, you know, right, right.

And I was like, you know, day in, day out, we were in in the the dungeons of Lincoln Center for like six hours. We're like, there are no windows down there, we didn't see the light of day, and there we are, like mid-May, just Holland and I, with like Mario would come in and there would be rewrites, and we would just flesh out the script and and talk it through and and explore together. And like she studied with Stella Adler, like in real life. Like not a book, not a master class. It's incredible.

[17:49] Jeff Malone: Yeah. Isn't that incredible?

[17:50] Ana Villafañe: It's incredible. And so we'd be like on tens, and I'm such a I think people don't know this about me because of like the commercial successes and like I guess the pop relevance of like what my career has been. But like I am a I'm a theater girly. Like I'm a nerd about this stuff. And so we'd be like on a 10, and she she'll just like turn to me and be like, you know, Stella used to say to me, and whatever. And I'm like, what did someone ever said to you? Are you right? Right, right, right. Write it down. Yeah, right. But I I so I was just like absorbing. I was trying to be as a little sponge to absorb all of her isms and like to kind of understand her and go into this as like a unified force, which we have, which has been kind of incredible. And like I'm gonna, I know for a fact it's it's one of those moments in my life where I know for a fact that like I'm going to look back on like this summer and just be like my summer with Holland, you know.

[18:52] Jeff Malone: Yeah, right. That's like really cool.

[18:54] Richie Grasso: Very cool. Wow, very, very cool. What um where do you we're gonna wrap up on NA a little bit and talk about some other things, but before we move off of an A, where do you what do you want audiences to take from this piece? Because I think when we left, I had so many thoughts. It was almost like I was like, Yeah, oh Nancy, I I or or N, right? Oh, I totally get that. Oh, A, no, I totally get it. It was like I listened, and then at times I was like, wait, but they're both on the same team. And then I was like, but they are, and then they aren't, and then they are. So I I didn't leave confused at all. I left feeling like, wow, this was like healthy debate, healthy um just conversation. It felt good um to kind of like be like, here's politics now, but let's just look over here for a little bit. So that was my personal. What are you just hoping audiences basically take out of this piece this summer from seeing it?

[19:43] Ana Villafañe: I think um you nailed it on the phrase healthy debate. I think we have lost a little bit, which it okay, I think extremes exist because extreme situations exist, unfortunately. Um I think, however, that as a generalization, people really need to start hearing each other out. People really need to find the value in being able to disagree and not hate each other, being able to disagree and find a middle ground, being able to witness to women disagreeing and not make it about this cat fight type energy, being able to witness like we can watch men fighting and it's fine, right? I think that there's something really um necessary about this piece. I also kind of think that however many years from now, hopefully, unless we go into a dictatorship and there are no arts.

Oh my gosh, however, many years from now, this is the type of play that can be revisited and be like, oh my god. Yeah. It is very insider baseball. And I will say that, like, even for myself, when I first was was going to read it, I was a little bit nervous. I was like, okay, I don't know. Like maybe maybe I would rather go watch The Lion King. Like, right, right, right. But but it is important to sit and look at the thing and to kind of understand the thing and turn it over to the other side and and kind of like um dissect these conversations, which happened a couple years ago, or you know, it's it's fictionalized, but it's based on real events and based on real people, and what they have to say is actually really important and still relevant right now, if not more.

And that's sometimes a little bit painful. And Holland die Holland and I had that experience during rehearsals. We would be really tired. And like we've both done harder things, so we were kind of trying to figure out the mystery with each other, and we'd be like, why is this so tiring? And we'd be texting after rehearsal, and we're just like, because it's exhausting to go home and there's no resolution in the play because it what I love, I I don't there's nothing I hate more than like an old Navy teacher that says old Navy. Not spell out for me what I'm supposed to think. Right, right, right. We say this all the time in this podcast. Yes, yes, yes. You need to start assuming that audiences are smart enough to like go home and have the conversations to think about it, talk about it, however, come to your own conclusion.

And the world of politics and the world of theater are kind of like mirrors right now. So, like, hopefully that extends to the real world as well. But Holland and I were discussing how like there's no resolution to the conflict in the show, and then you walk out to the real world, and there is no resolution to that same conflict plus 10 in the real world. So that is a little bit exhausting, but I think that maybe it is our responsibility to not look away right now, and it is maybe our responsibility, and I do feel that a little bit because Anna has never woken up and been like, I'm gonna go into politics today and fix it. Never, not one time. And in fact, after this experience, even less. Okay. But I have woken up and been like, how can theater add to that narrative and add to that discussion and and maybe open people's minds?

[23:20] Ana Villafañe: Like, I would love a curious fiscally conservative republican, but like in all not non-caps to wander into Lincoln Center and like listen. Let's I would love that. Because I think that that's where we need to go in like the world. Um, but yeah, I mean, all of that to say I think N/A couldn't be more timely and also could be very ahead of its time, just for those reasons. And like one of the I have a little notebook that I made of like AOC isms, um, things from different interviews, from different videos from across her life, like even post our show, little uh phrases, I guess, that I can always like turn back to an anchor myself with. And I do that for every character. I have like notebooks and phrases and I have playlists and whatever.

Usually I have a fragrance for like this girl's a little different, and so she's not as external. Uh-huh. Um, and one of the phrases that I love the most, which when I was thinking about doing this interview last night on the train and coming home, I was like, what am what is like the one if I had to pick one? Um, and it's misogyny transcends political ideology. Mm-hmm. Love it. So that's all I'll say. There we go.

[24:52] Jeff Malone: Maybe I don't even know if you know the answer to this or not, but do you do you think AOC or Nancy Pelosi know about this show? Will they come to it? Do you know if they're gonna try to, or maybe they're they don't want to go to it? I don't have you heard anything that buzz from the from either of them or their people.

[25:05] Ana Villafañe: Uh there has been a lot of uh discourse between their people and our camp. Um, very early stages in very true form. The like, I believe it was like the chief of staff, like Pelosi's chief of staff, like reached out and put feelers out and such. Um, I think AOC, I mean, first of all, they're both like busy. Yeah, right. But like I'm also kind of like, girl, we got this. Yeah, please do you. Yeah. But you know, I think that if they were to come, they would they would recognize um the importance, the significance, and the way that it is honoring them without making anybody a hero.

[25:53] Jeff Malone: Yeah, not a hero or villain thing.

[25:56] Ana Villafañe: Right. Um, and I think that's like really important also to spell out. Um, but well, and I guess I'll say one more quote then. And so there is something also that she says that she doesn't want to be a savior, she wants to be a mirror.

[26:12] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[26:12] Ana Villafañe: And so I do find that this show is particularly uncomfortable for certain people, maybe, because it does hold up a mirror. Very intensely. And sometimes like you look in the mirror and you're like, oh, okay. And sometimes you look in the mirror and you're like, no.

[26:29] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[26:29] Ana Villafañe: You know, and so it's hard. So it's, it's, it's uh, I'm I'm very proud of it. And I think one of the things that you guys mentioned in the initial episode that you did, which I listened to, which I loved, the way that you broke it down, and it was just such an insightful conversation. Um, was about the fact that the names are not said and that proper nouns, like specific names for anybody are not anybody. It's usually the titles, their titles, their job positions, things like that. Um, except for the two migrants who are killed crossing the border.

[27:12] Jeff Malone: And that is by design.

[27:15] Ana Villafañe: The fact that you guys picked up on that and talked about that was I remember like I like got all chills.

[27:22] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[27:22] Ana Villafañe: Because that was a discussion. Yeah. And and because your director and your writer and your producer trusted your the audience. I left that theater saying, I have seen so many shows lately where I am being beaten over the head with narration, and this is the message. You got it, right? Audience, this is the message. And instead, I was like, nope, this play trusted me to go in and and listen and leave there. And Jeff and I talked the whole way home about what about this and what about that? And that's what theater I think is supposed to do, whether it's Broadway off Broadway, community theater doesn't that's and so we're sometimes I feel like that rope is unraveling a little bit. And then this refreshed and re So your team really kudos to you all for bringing that in.

[28:03] Jeff Malone: And and I know we're getting tight on time here, but I did want to talk really quick about your days as Gloria and on your feed.

[28:11] Ana Villafañe: We'll be right back.

[28:16] Jeff Malone: Let's jump back into things. We have we have fans that love that show. And I just know if you have a quick minute, you talk about what that was like. You played another famous woman on stage. What was that like?

[28:25] Ana Villafañe: Which I also think it's like my like fourth biographical but yeah, it was the best. It was incredible. It was I mean, the best way to move to New York definitely is uh in that context. But I mean it was such a sense of community and authenticity, and um every single person became family to me. And I know that that's like thrown around all the time, and it's like sure you became a family, but it was it really it really really felt that way. Um and I I miss it to a certain degree. I mean, I I think it was just a magical like four years of my life that I I can't even imagine my life without now. Like it was so formative. It was also like the way that I walked in was not the way that I was.

[29:15] Jeff Malone: Yeah, yeah.

[29:15] Ana Villafañe: It's amazing.

[29:16] Jeff Malone: Yeah, so it was it was incredible and like Gloria is still one of my like closest friends.

[29:22] Ana Villafañe: Wow.

[29:23] Jeff Malone: Yeah, it's like very weird.

[29:24] Ana Villafañe: It's like very weird how my life has has kind of happened in that way, like between Gloria Estefan, um Castro's daughter, Aina, um now Holland, all these like incredible women with Sinatra, like I was playing Ava Gardner, but Tina Sinatra is our executive producer, so like she like is texting me about this about like we need to come to the N/A. Like, you know, like things like that. And I'm just like, wow, like somehow life has really landed me in my own.

[29:52] Jeff Malone: It's amazing.

[29:53] Ana Villafañe: It's so cool. And it and I feel like this is such a random thing, but did you and Gloria go to the same high school?

[29:59] Jeff Malone: Yeah, we did that's cool.

[30:01] Ana Villafañe: I didn't know when uh I auditioned, I knew because everybody knows that.

[30:06] Jeff Malone: But that's so cool.

[30:07] Ana Villafañe: Yeah, it is, it is. It's it's really wild. And also the first time I ever sang live like professionally was at Disney's Contemporary Hotel for like a national conference and um and it was reached by Gloria Estefan.

[30:20] Jeff Malone: I was nine years old.

[30:21] Ana Villafañe: Wow, wow, wow.

[30:23] Jeff Malone: Amazing.

[30:24] Ana Villafañe: And and now post September 1st, what's on the docket for you in terms of work? Anything coming up that you're allowed to say for after the N/A is over?

[30:31] Ana Villafañe: One well, there's a couple things. Sinatra is very much happening, which is pretty exciting, but that's not until next year. Yep. I have another movie that I would be filming in the fall, which all of that is going to be uh literally uh figured out on Wednesday of next week. Wow. And then my and then Castro's daughter is also slated to be released finally this fall, which it was supposed to come out last year, but the strike is happening at that time. So I was like really, really sad in London when we were in rehearsals for Sinatra, and I was uh I was like, okay, we were supposed to do the Venice Film Festival and like all this stuff, and then it it all fell through because of um the strike, the side strike, but there have been edits now, and I'm actually really really excited with uh the version that is going to be released soon.

[31:21] Jeff Malone: Can't wait.

[31:21] Ana Villafañe: Yeah, going into a different different arena, but yeah, good for you.

[31:27] Jeff Malone: And uh, we do like to end our episode with one final question. Um, so our listeners always love to hear about a fun, unexpected moment that happened behind the scenes. Do you have a particular backstage story that you can share with us?

[31:41] Ana Villafañe: I do.

[31:48] Ana Villafañe: As we've established, she is also 81 years old.

[31:52] Jeff Malone: Wow.

[31:53] Ana Villafañe: The level of bow down.

[31:55] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[31:55] Ana Villafañe: Yes.

[31:57] Jeff Malone: Yes.

[31:58] Ana Villafañe: At 81 years old, I should be laying down.

[32:01] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[32:02] Ana Villafañe: But she is fierce.

[32:04] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[32:04] Ana Villafañe: So we're in rehearsals, and um, we had just gotten our dressing rooms unlocked, I think. Um, and I taught her what a thirst trap was, and she was fascinated by this concept. Um, and she like didn't get it at first, and I had to like really, really break it down for her. And so, like, that was one of my proudest accomplishments. And then fast forward, um, we're on stage just recently, and I have this video actually on my phone, and I wish it was one of those days at rehearsal where like I did the least. So I look crazy in this video, and um our assistant director recorded it because my prop phone, like my my cell phone for A, um we were kind of like in between things. I don't know what we were doing, but everybody we were in tech, every single creative was in the house.

And um, Colin grabs my prop phone because I was saying how like there was there's no service downstairs at Lincoln Center, grabs my prop phone and she starts Googling me to prove that there was internet.

[33:12] Jeff Malone: Googling Ana Villafañe on my prop phone on stage, and I feel so embarrassed because it's like fully lit, on stage, whatever.

[33:22] Ana Villafañe: And I was just like, What are you doing? And there's this video that's like seven minutes long of me. I start crying.

[33:28] Jeff Malone: Oh.

[33:28] Ana Villafañe: Because she's just like, I just wanted to prove to you that the internet works in here. Blah blah blah blah blah. And she's like going on and on. And I'm just like weeping and everybody's laughing. And it was just like I was so embarrassed because I was just like never in my wildest.

[33:41] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[33:41] Ana Villafañe: Like dreams or imaginings. When I've been like, yeah, I'm gonna be on stage at Lincoln Center with Holland Taylor one day, and she's gonna be Googling me.

[33:49] Jeff Malone: Just the internet works.

[33:54] Ana Villafañe: What a story.

[33:54] Jeff Malone: I love things like that.

[33:56] Ana Villafañe: Oh my gosh. I'll share the video one day.

[33:58] Jeff Malone: Okay.

[33:59] Ana Villafañe: Maybe on closing.

[34:01] Jeff Malone: Well, we are just about out of time. This was so wonderful just to hear these stories and just hear what the wonderful things you're doing and are going to be doing. So kudos to you and the team on this show.

[34:10] Ana Villafañe: Um, and we just thank you all so much for listening today to Half Hour Podcast.

[34:15] Jeff Malone: Um, and we hope to see you around again sometime.

[34:17] Richie Grasso: We'd love to have you back.

[34:18] Ana Villafañe: That'd be fun.

[34:19] Jeff Malone: Whenever your next project arises.

[34:21] Ana Villafañe: I love it.

[34:21] Jeff Malone: Absolutely.

[34:22] Ana Villafañe: And and next time I will have as much of a tan.

[34:25] Richie Grasso: Okay.

[34:28] Jeff Malone: So thank you all so much for listening to our episode of Half Hour today.

[34:31] Richie Grasso: Yes, we hope you enjoyed our conversation with Ana.

[34:34] Jeff Malone: We will share the all information on where you can learn more about Ana in the description and where to get tickets to the show.

[34:40] Richie Grasso: And to our listeners, if you have suggestions for future episodes, we'd love to hear from you.

[34:43] Jeff Malone: You can connect with us on Instagram at Half Hour Podcast.

[34:46] Richie Grasso: Thanks so much for joining us today, Ana.

[34:49] Ana Villafañe: Thank you.

[34:50] Richie Grasso: I'm Richie.

[34:51] Jeff Malone: And I'm Jeff.

[34:52] Richie Grasso: Saying ta-ta for now.

[34:53] Jeff Malone: Bye.