This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jayke Workman: The government has confirmed that there are alien life forms, and scientists are saying that we have now entered global boiling.

[0:07] Jayke Workman: So let's talk about musical theater.

[0:14] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, did you hear?

[0:16] Jayke Workman: Did you hear?

[0:17] Jayke Workman: Did you hear my god guys?

[0:18] Jayke Workman: Take that hot.

[0:21] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, my god!

[0:27] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, you guys!

[0:30] Jayke Workman: What's up, everybody? My name is Jayke Workman, and this is Oh My Pod, you guys, a musical theater and pop culture podcast.

[0:36] Jayke Workman: You guys, this episode is a little different, and I am so excited to be able to share it with you.

[0:41] Jayke Workman: I had the opportunity to speak to the executive artistic director of an organization called Only Make Believe, Miss Tamala Aldridge.

[0:49] Jayke Workman: And you guys, Tamala is doing incredible, incredible work for children across the United States.

[0:55] Jayke Workman: So I cannot wait for you guys to hear our interview.

[0:58] Jayke Workman: But first, of course, we're gonna talk about this week's BroadwayWorld Recap, mama.

[1:04] Jayke Workman: First, you guys, we have to talk about Theater for a New Audience announcing their upcoming season.

[1:09] Jayke Workman: Their 2023-2024 season includes Prometheus Firebringer, Waiting for Godot, Public Obscenities, and Macbeth and Undoing.

[1:18] Jayke Workman: And you guys, Waiting for Godot is gonna star Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks.

[1:23] Jayke Workman: So I am beyond excited to see this show.

[1:26] Jayke Workman: It's absolutely hilarious, and these actors are incredible.

[1:30] Jayke Workman: So I cannot wait to catch these at Theater for a New Audience.

[1:32] Jayke Workman: And if you're not familiar, Theater for a New Audience is an award-winning off-Broadway theater company committed to developing and vitalizing the performance and study of Shakespeare and classic drama.

[1:42] Jayke Workman: And they're based in Brooklyn, and they just create some incredible works.

[1:45] Jayke Workman: So if you're in New York, I highly encourage you to check out their season.

[1:49] Jayke Workman: Next, you guys, it was just announced that Isabelle McCullough is gonna take over the role of Maisie in Broadway's Shuckt starting on September 8th.

[1:57] Jayke Workman: Caroline Innervickler, who originated the role, is going to depart the show on September 3rd after having done it for quite some time.

[2:04] Jayke Workman: So congratulations to Caroline on a fabulous run, and congratulations to Isabel on the opportunity to take over.

[2:10] Jayke Workman: You guys, I'm saying it now, I'm calling it, I think Isabel McCullough is a sleeper hit.

[2:16] Jayke Workman: I think she is going to blossom into a star in the very near future.

[2:21] Jayke Workman: She just played the lead role of Meg in Hercules at the Paper Mill Playhouse.

[2:25] Jayke Workman: She just was working on the new Water for Elephants musical at the Alliance Theater.

[2:29] Jayke Workman: She is turning it out, and now she gets to try her hand in the Broadway company of Shuckt.

[2:35] Jayke Workman: I am just so thrilled for her, and I cannot wait to see where she goes.

[2:38] Jayke Workman: Next, you guys, it was just announced that with only a week's notice, Broadway's New York, New York will close this weekend.

[2:45] Jayke Workman: This one comes as a bit of a surprise to me based on the Tony Awards buzz and all of the people attached to the show, but it's gotta be an extremely expensive show to run.

[2:56] Jayke Workman: It has huge scenic elements, tons of costumes, so I understand from that point, but it's so disappointing that the cast and crew only had a week's notice that their show was gonna close, not giving them enough time to really figure out what's next for them and coming off of such a high with all of the Tony Award buzz.

[3:13] Jayke Workman: So my heart goes out to everybody involved, and congratulations on a beautiful show.

[3:17] Jayke Workman: And while one show comes to an end, another is gonna be in development at the Paper Mill Playhouse.

[3:23] Jayke Workman: It was just announced that Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblazada are going to star in The Great Gatsby, and I am so excited about this one.

[3:32] Jayke Workman: I think Eva Noblazada has one of the most incredible voices on Broadway right now, and the idea of her taking on this fantastic classic role in this classic work is just so exciting to me.

[3:45] Jayke Workman: She's obviously departing Hadestown.

[3:47] Jayke Workman: Um, and if you haven't seen her in that, I highly recommend running to the Walter Kerr to catch her in one of her final performances as Eurydice.

[3:56] Jayke Workman: But I so look forward to seeing her play Miss Daisy Buchanan.

[4:01] Jayke Workman: And she'll be playing opposite Jeremy Jordan as Jay Gatsby, who also has one of the most incredible singing voices.

[4:07] Jayke Workman: So I cannot wait to see this show.

[4:12] Jayke Workman: It's gonna run from October 12th to November 12th.

[4:15] Jayke Workman: So catch me in New Jersey in the fall, honey.

[4:18] Jayke Workman: Next, you guys, we have to talk about two new Broadway shows officially opening this week.

[4:25] Jayke Workman: The new comedy The Cottage, starring Friend of the Pod, Miss Laura Bell Bundy, opened at the Hayes Theater this week to rave reviews.

[4:33] Jayke Workman: You guys, this play looks absolutely hilarious.

[4:37] Jayke Workman: It also stars Eric McCormick, Lily Cooper, Alex Moffitt.

[4:41] Jayke Workman: Like, you guys, this cast is stacked.

[4:43] Jayke Workman: I cannot wait to see it.

[4:45] Jayke Workman: And the other new show that just opened on Broadway, which I am dying to see, is the one and only Back to the Future, the Musical, playing at the Winter Garden Theater.

[4:56] Jayke Workman: I have so many friends in this show, and for most of them, this is their first original company on Broadway, so I am just so excited for them, and I've heard nothing but incredible things about the show.

[5:06] Jayke Workman: Specifically the spectacle, the DeLorean, all of it.

[5:10] Jayke Workman: So I cannot wait to go to the Winter Garden and see this.

[5:13] Jayke Workman: I've actually never seen a show in the Winter Garden Theater, so what a first time.

[5:18] Jayke Workman: But happy opening to both of these shows.

[5:20] Jayke Workman: It always makes me so excited to see so many artists get to do their work.

[5:24] Jayke Workman: Yay, theatre!

[5:26] Jayke Workman: And lastly, you guys, it was just announced that Golden Globe and SAG Award winner, Miss Sarah Paulson is returning to Broadway.

[5:34] Jayke Workman: She is going to be starring in Second Stage's production of Appropriate by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins.

[5:40] Jayke Workman: And I am over the moon.

[5:42] Jayke Workman: I have been such an admirer of Sarah Paulson's work for so long, and I've not been able to catch her on stage yet.

[5:48] Jayke Workman: So this will be my first opportunity to see her on Broadway, and I'm thrilled.

[5:52] Jayke Workman: Her last performance on Broadway was in Collected Stories in 2010.

[5:57] Jayke Workman: So it's been quite some time since she has been on the boards, and the entire Broadway community is so excited to welcome her back.

[6:04] Jayke Workman: And you guys, this has been the BroadwayWorld Recap.

[6:09] Jayke Workman: Oh my pod, you guys, I am so excited to welcome my next guest on the show.

[6:13] Jayke Workman: She is an actor and a creative, a mother, and she is now the executive artistic director of an incredible organization called Only Make Believe.

[6:21] Jayke Workman: It's Tamela Aldridge.

[6:23] Jayke Workman: Hi, Tamala!

[6:25] Tamela Aldridge: Thank you. I'm actually thrilled to be with you.

[6:28] Jayke Workman: I'm so glad you're here.

[6:29] Jayke Workman: I'm so excited to hear about your organization and the amazing work that you do.

[6:34] Jayke Workman: Please tell me how did you get started with Only Make Believe?

[6:39] Tamela Aldridge: So I got started with Only Make Believe in 2008 when I lived in New York City. I was one of the actors, and Only Make Believe has a team of three professional actors who go into hospitals, care facilities, and special education programs, and we perform interactive theater for the children there.

[6:57] Tamela Aldridge: So these are children who normally don't get the opportunity to go to theater. We bring theater to them.

[7:02] Jayke Workman: Right.

[7:03] Tamela Aldridge: So I was one of the actors. And um, then life happened, and I needed to move to Washington, D.C. Life being I got married and got pregnant, and my husband lived in D.C.

[7:16] Tamela Aldridge: And the organization was looking to do its first expansion branch here in D.C. So I was actually kind of freaking out, losing my mind a little bit because I'm like, I'm leaving New York. I don't know anybody in D.C., you know, except for my husband.

[7:29] Tamela Aldridge: So I thought this would be a great creative outlet for me in the last trimester of my pregnancy to help Only Make Believe launch the D.C. branch.

[7:39] Tamela Aldridge: And that was the plan then. And then now you fast forward 11 years later, and I am the executive artistic director of the entire organization.

[7:50] Jayke Workman: Yes, and how incredible that you, as you know, started out as a professional actor and clearly had the draw to work with an organization like this who is doing such good for these children. But to get to try your hand at being a leader, that's so incredible.

[8:24] Tamela Aldridge: Because I love the work that we did with Only Make Believe. You know, I just going into hospitals and performing with kids who you're just giving them an opportunity to be a kid. They're not thinking about their medical condition or their disability. They're just being kids, having fun, you know, empowering their own voice, right?

[8:46] Tamela Aldridge: Right. And I love that. But I think when I became a mother, it resonated with me differently about how important the work that we were doing with Only Make Believe was in the lives of these children. And it just made me, that's why I'm still here.

[9:04] Jayke Workman: I must say I was so excited to get to talk to you because as a performer myself, there have been many times when I have hoped and wanted to be able to use my art to effect actual, like more tangible change like what you're doing. And my mother, who you know has always supported my experience and my career in the arts, she works at one of the largest health organizations in the world, the Mayo Clinic. And so getting to, you know, learn from each other about our respective fields and how they can coincide and how we can work together to integrate the arts into healthcare is really amazing.

[9:46] Jayke Workman: And it's something that I don't think people necessarily think of when they think about, you know, healthcare reform and the world of the arts, but they go hand in hand, and I think that's very obvious in the work that you're doing.

[10:03] Tamela Aldridge: Yeah, I mean, and you know, we say it all the time how art transcends space, right?

[10:10] Tamela Aldridge: Yeah, but you really get to witness that in a real life situation, not some, you know, going to a theater in the dark, suspending your disbelief. You know, this is in real time in a waiting room in a hospital or playroom in a hospital, and seeing not only these kids and the medical challenges they're facing, but also their families, and so much of their day-to-day is dictated by their condition, right? They're being told what they have to do, where they have to be, what they can't eat, what they can't eat.

[10:47] Tamela Aldridge: You know, so this 30 to 45 minutes of interactive play with Only Make Believe, it gives them the power of choice of what they want to do. Some kids don't want to become a star of the show, and it's fine if you just want to sit back and watch. But for those children who, you know, instinctually they just want to jump up and join in the fun, they have the opportunity to do that. And whatever you offer is more than enough.

[11:18] Jayke Workman: Wow. That's so amazing and inspiring.

[11:21] Jayke Workman: So tell me how um how does it work when you um when someone asks you guys to come to their facility, how many times do you do that? Like how is it like a weekly thing? Is it like a one-time experience?

[11:35] Tamela Aldridge: So, right now we are we have four plays that we perform, interactive plays to be performed. So it's over a month. So we come once a week for a month, and we have four different narratives in which the kids play an integral part in telling the story.

[11:55] Tamela Aldridge: Our actors bring this amazing hand-painted trunk that's full of costumes that our volunteers have made for the children. So these costumes serve for me two purposes.

[12:09] Tamela Aldridge: The first purpose is while we're there, they can dress up in the costume, and especially in the hospitals, they're no longer aware of their hospital gown.

[12:18] Tamela Aldridge: Or if they're a young person who is having chemo treatments and perhaps they've experienced hair loss, they're no longer so self-conscious about that issue because they're wearing this wonderful crown that a volunteer has created for them.

[12:32] Tamela Aldridge: Or one time we had a hat and they had created Rapunzel hair with this yarn going down. It's just beautiful. And it really is transformative for them.

[12:42] Tamela Aldridge: So with the action and the storytelling, we're engaging their imagination, but these costumes really make it transformative in a physical sense for them too.

[12:53] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[12:54] Tamela Aldridge: And then they get to keep the costumes, which I think is very important because we know these young people are going to have challenges down the road, right?

[13:06] Tamela Aldridge: And for me, on a day that may be a struggle for you, perhaps you put on that Rapunzel headwear. Reminds you of how you felt and your experience playing with Only Make Believe, and that gives you the oomph, the strength, the endurance, the fortitude, whatever you want to call it you need to get over that hurdle for that day.

[13:32] Jayke Workman: Oh, I love that.

[13:33] Tamela Aldridge: So I love that we can leave that with them. And they can take as much as they want. You can do a hat, a mask, we have volunteers who sew who make these beautiful capes. So it's whatever you want, get it, and we leave that with you. So you can remember that the fun you had in the imaginative experience, but you can also remember the feelings that that experience created in you about what you know about yourself and who you know yourself to be.

[14:06] Tamela Aldridge: Or you're becoming.

[14:09] Jayke Workman: That's fantastic. Well, I was able to take a look at your beautiful roster of performers who work for you. How do performers come into the realm of Only Make Believe?

[14:24] Tamela Aldridge: Well, once a year we hold auditions in New York and Washington, DC for professional actors. And I mean I auditioned and got selected. So and it's actually, you know, for a professional actor, what I loved about it is because we have a roster, we have a very robust roster, you know, we want our actors to be pursuing their dreams of being professional actors, but also know that they have a very specific skill set that can really engage on a very simple level with a young person.

[15:04] Tamela Aldridge: So we allow them the freedom to, if when they have availability, let us know. And we'll plug you in and you'll go out into the field. If you book a TV part or film part or regional theater and you have to be gone, just let us know. We'll take you off the roster. So that's what I really loved about it when I was an actor.

[15:28] Jayke Workman: Right.

[15:28] Tamela Aldridge: And I think it also provides them such a wonderful opportunity to really hone some of your artistic skills where you know you never know when you're gonna get that audition where they're gonna ask you for a certain dialect.

[15:42] Tamela Aldridge: In our OMB show, you can create whatever kind of character you want to create. You can give it the British accent, or an African accent, or they learn to speak another language. So maybe there's a couple of words that you'll say in another language.

[15:59] Tamela Aldridge: Yeah, we give you the opportunity as an actor to constantly hone those skills and your improvisational skills, which are so important.

[16:09] Jayke Workman: Absolutely because you don't know what you're gonna get from the children, right?

[16:13] Tamela Aldridge: So it keeps the actors alert and in the moment, and it really is about training that muscle, keeping that muscle firm and solid, and it benefits you not only professionally but personally, because also as an actor in New York, I didn't have lots of money. Let's just be honest.

[16:34] Tamela Aldridge: A lot of different organizations I would love to support, I just didn't have it. I felt that this was a way for me to use my natural skills and giving back to young people and pouring into them like my theater teachers poured into me, or my family poured into me.

[16:54] Tamela Aldridge: Yes, being able to do that just for that small amount of time, you know, it's great for us, it's life-changing for these children.

[17:03] Jayke Workman: Absolutely.

[17:04] Tamela Aldridge: And I can say from personal experience that working with and for children is such, I mean it's soul-filling, but it's also so informative.

[17:18] Tamela Aldridge: It truly, I mean, like the famous quote: there's truth in wine and children. It's like there is, they are not gonna lie to you, they are honed in and paying attention to what you're doing.

[17:29] Tamela Aldridge: So being on your toes, like you said, and honing that sort of improvisational skill is I'm sure just so thrilling to get to work with these children.

[17:39] Jayke Workman: So then, what is the next step for you guys in terms of scale? How do you get this into regions all across the country?

[17:51] Tamela Aldridge: Well what I will say is that prior to the pandemic we were in the New York metro area and the Washington DC metro area and between those two cities we had about 65 partner facilities which was great.

[18:06] Tamela Aldridge: Of course once the pandemic happened all in-person performances stopped. So we used that as an opportunity to develop virtual programming.

[18:15] Tamela Aldridge: And that virtual programming has since become our expansion program to where now we're in 11 different pediatric hospitals all over the country.

[18:27] Jayke Workman: Wow.

[18:28] Tamela Aldridge: And that's what we're looking at doing. That's how we're going to do our expansion. So we're in Dallas, Orlando, Boston, St. Louis, I know I'm forgetting someone, Atlanta, I'm sorry I'm forgetting that but it would and it just kind of because they needed these pediatric hospitals still needed content and engagement for the patients who were in the hospital during that time.

[18:54] Tamela Aldridge: And we'd always been about live theatrical performances but we just bought some green screens, sent them to our actors, retooled our scripts, came up with some wonderful visual images to support the narrative, figured out how to work this thing called Zoom because nobody really knew about Zoom prior to the pandemic, and how do you use it with sound cues and then add a Q lab and you know it's really become what we call now we have expansion sites and we could have never dreamt of that three years ago.

[19:31] Jayke Workman: Wow. Well that is just fantastic. Congratulations to you, Tamala, as you know, the executive artistic director, but to all of you because the work that you're doing is so beautiful and important, and I'm just so thrilled to get to highlight it here.

[19:44] Jayke Workman: I can't wait for everyone to hear your story and to have the opportunity to help support you guys. How other than, you know, friends of mine who I will absolutely be recommending to audition for you guys and everything, how can people help you guys as an organization?

[20:02] Tamela Aldridge: Well, if they can go to our website at onlymakebelieve.org, and there is a menu that says how you can help.

[20:10] Tamela Aldridge: And they can do that.

[20:14] Tamela Aldridge: How you can help. And they can click on that and they can see volunteer opportunities. Of course, if they would like to make a contribution, they can make a contribution there.

[20:23] Tamela Aldridge: We have a very robust corporate volunteer program. So maybe if they want to bring their company along to help the organization, so we have lots of opportunities of where people can become involved, and the more involvement we get, you know, it's great.

[20:40] Tamela Aldridge: I think the one thing about Only Make Believe is within the organization, we are a community, but we are a larger community outside the organization, and where that is really just important for the children we serve is that most of them spend so much time in isolation, right?

[21:02] Tamela Aldridge: That when we're able to come in as a team of actors, and then we bring costumes that the community has made. This community is made of corporate professionals, it's made of individual volunteers, it's made of children who volunteer their times to make costumes for other children.

[21:21] Tamela Aldridge: You know, it makes them feel a sense of a larger community as well, even though they're in some of these isolated circumstances.

[21:30] Jayke Workman: Absolutely.

[21:30] Tamela Aldridge: And I must say, Tamala, too, that I would imagine for all of your employees and your roster of performers and everyone, it must be so inspiring to see a black woman in such a beautiful position of leadership as the executive artistic director.

[21:48] Tamela Aldridge: I mean, congratulations to you for being such an incredible leader for this organization.

[21:53] Tamela Aldridge: Thank you for that, Jayke. And I receive that, but I really do have to say I am the executive artistic director, and I am an African American female, but I have an amazing board of directors.

[22:08] Tamela Aldridge: I have a stellar staff, and when I tell you I have a phenomenal acting company that you know, I'm here on their shoulders.

[22:17] Jayke Workman: Right.

[22:17] Tamela Aldridge: You know, it's great to see me, but it really is a village with OMB, and again, spectacular board of directors, sensational cast, and just truly committed and dedicated actors who have actually kept this organization going when you know a lot of nonprofits didn't survive the pandemic.

[22:42] Jayke Workman: Absolutely.

[22:42] Tamela Aldridge: So it has truly been a team effort, and I feel proud to have them on my team and to be able to represent the incredible work we do.

[22:53] Jayke Workman: Absolutely. Well, Tamala, thank you so so much for being here. I hope to meet you in person, and I hope to get to work with you on this incredible project that you have created. But thank you, thank you so much for being here.

[23:08] Jayke Workman: And I look forward to sharing this episode and getting the word out about Only Make Believe.

[23:15] Tamela Aldridge: Thank you, Jayke. This has been such a wonderful experience. My first podcast with the one I think one of the best doing it because I had a great time.

[23:25] Tamela Aldridge: Oh so thank you so much for helping us get our mission out there and just for the work that you do for Broadway and theater in general.

[23:35] Jayke Workman: Oh my gosh. It is our lifeblood. So thank you.

[23:43] Jayke Workman: You guys, that's it for another episode of Oh My Pod, you guys. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe anywhere you listen to the pod.

[23:50] Jayke Workman: And you can follow the show on Instagram at O My Pod, you guys. Also, if you loved Tamala's interview as much as I did, I highly encourage you to visit onlymakebelieve.org to learn more about this incredible, incredible organization and to find out how you can contribute.

[24:04] Jayke Workman: Thanks so much for listening. Bye.