This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Brian Sedita: Hey everyone, welcome to Page to Stage. A conversation with theater makers. We're your hosts. That's Brian. And that's Mary. Join us as we focus the spotlight back on the theater maker to uncover their process. We speak with folks in the industry that often aren't heard from, such as stage managers, producers, crew members, marketing professionals. And everything in between. We hope you enjoy this episode.

[0:26] Mo Brady: Hi, my name is Mo Brady. I am a theater advocate, and I advocate through a few different ways. One is my primary job, which is on the communications team at Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. I'm also the co-creator and executive producer of The Ensemblist, which is a podcast, a social platform, and a website.

[1:05] Brian Sedita: Oh yeah. Especially in 2020. Oh my god. You're actually our first release for 2021, which is pretty cool. So we're wiping the slate clean and starting fresh with Mo Brady.

[1:18] Mo Brady: It feels good to be here. It feels good to be here in 2021, doesn't it?

[1:22] Mary Dina: Yes, I feel it. A little bit of weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel a lot of emotions.

[1:28] Mo Brady: Well, I all okay. So I just have to say this feels like a very full circle moment for me at least. Because I remember two things. One, I remember listening to your podcast, Mo, like in the what felt like the earlier days, and thinking how innovative it was that just to have a podcast, but then also to have like a podcast focused on Broadway and theater and things I loved and still love. Um but then also I remember I feel like it was like a year ago, but it probably was like 10 years ago when I met you at a coffee shop to talk about podcasts and just things. And just we had just launched, or we were a few months into Page to Stage and just how like welcoming you were and how excited you were.

And you said earlier that you were an advocate of theater, and it is so true. And so it feels crazy that we're sitting here talking with you right now because I just I don't know, you've just been such a supporter of our podcast. So I just want to thank you before we get into our deep, deep, deep conversations.

[2:27] Brian Sedita: Yeah, I second that. You got your guys are such good podcasters, you know. Um, I so it's I I truly believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. And so as one of the first podcasters in the theater space, I really try to make a point to welcome people to make them feel um confident that what they're doing is worth their time and an exciting way to share their voice and their creativity. Um I think that's really important.

[2:59] Mo Brady: And then on top of that, I really like your podcast. I will advocate for many theater podcasts, but the cream really rises to the top, and I think Page to Stage is there. So congratulations on all your fantastic work.

[3:10] Mary Dina: Oh, thank you. We're so excited to be able to talk to you about, you know, of course, your podcast and the many other things that you have in your life that we talked about that you mentioned a little earlier. But I'm wondering, since your podcast is called The Ensemblist, I'm wondering if you can begin by telling our listeners what the word ensemble means to you, and maybe how that word has shifted since the beginning of your career or time in the theater and to how you see it now, especially in 2020.

[3:36] Mo Brady: An ensemble is a group of people that work together who uh see each other's talents and skills and value each other's um abilities both individually and as a cohesive unit. I think the the way that people think about ensemble often is a chorus, right? We think about the people who aren't the leads who aren't the principal, they are the ensemble. But really, an ensemble is a group of people working together, and so it doesn't have to be just singing and dancing in the back to be an ensemble. In my opinion, Come From Away is one of the most fantastic ensemble shows that we've seen on Broadway in decades. And that is n that doesn't have an ensemble, you know. So it's really about people working together to tell a story and everyone being used at the height of their ability and being seen and appreciated for their contribution.

[4:35] Brian Sedita: So do you think that over the years dating back to the earliest Broadway shows, do you think that the ensemble the appreciation, like I guess the general population's appreciation of the ensembleists, do you think that has changed? Um, whether that is people understand what the role is more and that they appreciate them more as individuals and as artists, or do you feel that it still has like a lot of room to grow?

[5:03] Mo Brady: Uh option B. I I I think it has grown. Um, but I think it really depends on the creators and how they want to use their ensemble. We still see fantastic uses of ensemble and what I think are really middling uses of ensemble, where they aren't being used to their fullest ability to tell a story. So I think it it it hasn't really followed the trajectory of the growth of the American musical theater in a really clean way. I mean, the other thing is that so many of our greatest musicals have no ensemble, especially when we're thinking about the financial viability of uh commercial theater production, shows get smaller and smaller and smaller. So you think about Hamilton was the theater darling of 2015, 2016.

It has an ensemble. That ensemble is well featured. They're very much a part of the storytelling. But then you think about the next three musicals that won the Tony Award for Best Musical, it is Dear Evan Hansen, it is The Band's Visit, and Hadestown, which either have small ensembles or no ensembles. So I wouldn't say that the trajectory of how ensembles are used or appreciated is really in line with how the musical theater has developed. And I don't necessarily think that those artists are more seen or heard or valued for their contributions as well. I think that sometimes we know of specific performers, but that's often because of their social media presence. You know, they're the fact that they are creating unique content outside of the stages that they're performing on, and we know them for that, or they're cute boys, and people follow them because they're cute boys. But like the the but the idea that as an industry we are elevating non-principal performers to the same level of respect as our leading characters, I think is just not true.

[7:05] Mary Dina: So you started out in the ensemble of Broadway shows. At what point in your career did you start The Ensemblist? And was it sparked by some specific what was like that sort of uh, you know, uh jumping off point that like got you to start this platform for advocacy for ensembles?

[7:25] Mo Brady: I was in the ensemble of The Addams Family on Broadway in all of 2011, New Year's Day to New Year's Eve, and I really loved seeing how talented my fellow ensemble members were. And this was a time, this was the infancy of Instagram. This was really before people had their own social media platforms. And so it really was dependent on the kind of old school theatrical press online, you know, the websites, the playbills and the Broadway.coms and the Broadway worlds to sh give an insight to what it meant to be a theater artist. And so I wanted to find a way to celebrate and champion those artists that I was working with that I thought were so talented and were really finding ways to be successful in this industry.

And so I didn't end up starting the podcast until about a year and a half later, 2013. But it was definitely inspired by my appreciation and my love for these ensemble performers and really feeling like the work that they did and the dedication they showed, the amount of talent, the amount of skill they have, um, just wasn't really being understood by theater lovers, theater appreciators.

[8:44] Brian Sedita: And since then, you have since grown The Ensemblist platform like tenfold. I mean, you have a newsletter, you have obviously you still have the podcast, but it's you know, have a blog, you do a crazy photo series where you incorporate f New York photographers and take photos in New York with the Ensemblists of shows. You have a Patreon group now. Um I mean, you do a lot with it. And so when did you realize that The Ensemblist was a like a global platform in a way that could provide more value, more content, um, offer a deeper appreciation and become a a huge advocate for ensemblists on Broadway, but also across the globe. And if I might add to that, uh from like a business standpoint, when did you ever see like a shift in what you were doing and kind of like an aha moment for this is a business in a way?

[9:35] Mo Brady: Yeah. The the shift really was inspired by the parting of me and our co-creator, Nika Graf Lanzaroni. She and I started the podcast in 2013 and she left, I want to say at the end of 2017. Um so when we worked on it together, it really was the first five years and we really were focused on podcast episodes. When she decided to hang up her bowler hat, as it were, um, it was an opportunity to reassess how much time and effort I wanted to put into The Ensemblist and really where I thought it was of the most value. And so we stopped podcasting for about a year. We would do maybe an episode every one month or three months, but it the the podcast was really on hold for most of 2018. And I decided at that point to double down on the blog, just seeing that there was m there were more stories to be told than what we could craft in our original form of the podcast.

And when I let myself go from this version of the podcast is the only way that we tell stories as The Ensemblist, it really just opened up other doors and made me realize that sometimes a story is really good for a blog, and sometimes it's really good as a podcast. And sometimes it's just needs to be a photo online or an infographic on an Instagram page and or some combination of those things. And so by sort of abandoning the podcast at one point, it really allowed us to figure out the best ways to tell different stories.

[11:32] Mo Brady: And that's where we've found I what I think is success is that when somebody comes to us with a story idea or there's something going on in the community that I would like to amplify that we can say, all right, this is really a good story for these different outlets because it'll land the best there. It wasn't super intentional. When Nika left in 2018, there were a couple of things that happened. I think I was really getting off more on the advocacy for our community side of it, a little bit more than the let me teach theater lovers what a 10 out of 12 is. So the more that we were finding stories of the underdog or certainly ways to to shine a light on what ensemble members do, but be more of an advocate for them rather than just simply amplify for them. I I think we grew in the community's esteem for us to tell their stories.

[12:38] Brian Sedita: Yeah, it seems like a lot of people put a lot of trust in you and the brand to um kind of like carry that sort of advocacy work for them.

[12:47] Mo Brady: Yeah, it's it's a it's a real gift because people answer my texts or they answer my emails or they reach out to me. You know, one of the things we've done through the pandemic is every three months we put together an infographic of where theater artists are living, like where what New York-centric theater artists are living. I was just seeing on social media so much people not living in New York or packing up moving vans, and I was like, where are people really going, or is this just the Instagram algorithm feeding me people in moving vans? And so, you know, the last version we did, the nine-month version, I think had 256 responses. And that meant that was that was me sending a text with a Google form to hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Broadway performers, and 256 of them responded to my text message.

Like that's that's that that is a trust. That's a value. And then the the other side, the this the scary side of that is that um people really do, I think people in our community really do look to us. You know, I I had a big learning experience in December where I posted some memes on our Instagram account that were uh a little inflammatory. Um they were definitely based in conversations that I've seen ha ha happen in the theater community and truce that I think but I think like any meme it distills it to its truest point. Um one of those memes were this year's Tony Awards are a joke. And I had a lot of pushback on that. You know Broadway actors who I respect very much text me and say hey I think that you wrote that was really shitty and it it caused me to reframe what I meant which was not that this year's Tony Award nominees are a joke but the fact that the Tony Awards haven't really seemed to get it together in a way to properly celebrate these artists with any sort of ceremony and that is in my opinion is a joke and disappointing but as memes are want to do it wasn't there wasn't a lot of nuance in them.

[15:04] Mo Brady: But the fact that these Broadway artists, you know, texted me, slid into my DMs and were like, "I really like you, but what I think you did here was really shitty," that meant a lot to me, you know, because it meant that they value how we project into the world and that what the Ensemblist has to say is important.

[15:26] Mo Brady: So, you know, it was a mistake on my part, but it made me feel good that they cared about what I have to say.

[15:34] Brian Sedita: Well, I think it's probably a testament to like this community that you've built. I mean, obviously the Broadway community has existed for a while, but I think that this very specific niche community that you've created with your platform really drives a lot of those conversations.

[15:52] Brian Sedita: And so I think that's a testament to you and the work that you've been doing.

[15:56] Mary Dina: Um, yeah, I was curious. I was gonna ask you about those three memes that you posted not too long ago.

[16:03] Mo Brady: So I'm glad you brought it up. I'm assuming there wasn't too much like pondering; it was very much because the—I don't even know what it was called—the generator thing that made those memes was very popular that week.

[16:15] Mo Brady: Whatever that was.

[16:16] Brian Sedita: What was it?

[16:17] Mo Brady: Yeah, the Zaz generator from Netflix is the prompt.

[16:20] Brian Sedita: Yeah.

[16:21] Mo Brady: I mean, the other thing I'm sad about is I like The Prom. I love the Broadway show The Prom. I really appreciate and admire the film version of The Prom. And so I didn't mean to insinuate in any way that I don't like the film.

[16:38] Mo Brady: It was a moment where I realized power that I didn't know that I had. And so, well, I was just gonna—what I was gonna say was obviously shifting slightly, but not too slightly. This year has just been like insane and completely bananas. But the way that you've navigated the platform during this time, I would say is admirable because I know as content creators ourselves, Brian and I have definitely had a few conversations over this year of just being like, where do we stand with everything that's happening?

[17:10] Mo Brady: Like, how do we continue having these conversations? Because there is one question that we always ask at the end of these episodes that just has been feeling more and more depressing as the farther we get away from March 12th.

[17:25] Brian Sedita: And so, like the last thing you saw that you liked, is that the question?

[17:29] Mo Brady: Yeah, the last great piece of theater.

[17:34] Mary Dina: Yes, yes, of course. I'm a Page to Stage stan.

[17:38] Mo Brady: Um, it does, and then certainly in listening to the last few episodes, you've like qualified that question as well. So it makes sense. Um, but you're talking about the pivot in this time. I guess I just feel lucky that the inner drive inside me that feels like I'm never good enough and can never sit still is one that also inspires me to create because I just never have felt in the last nine months, ten months, that there wasn't a story to tell.

[18:13] Mo Brady: We were a twice-a-week podcast at the beginning of 2020. And then in March and April, we were a seven-day-a-week podcast because there were just so many stories to tell. And that, I guess, is sort of being the gift of advocating for the artist instead of the art. You know, like we were interested in how artists are navigating this time, just like we're always interested in how artists are navigating their careers. This is just a different part of their careers.

[18:44] Mo Brady: And in fact, it's more interesting than going on as an understudy without enough rehearsal or, you know, like having your first costume fitting for an iconic show that you saw as a kid, and it brings all of these memories flooding back to you. You know, those are the kind of stories we might have shared last year. This year, the stories are really about how artists have negotiated this pandemic, um, the places they've found success and the challenges that they've faced.

[19:19] Mo Brady: And so there's just been a plethora of stories to tell, in my opinion. Um, and I do have to say, I don't do it alone. Before the pandemic, there was a team of four of us who worked on the Ensemblist. Um, and throughout the pandemic, in part because I think that that trust that you mentioned, um, many, many performers have reached out to me and said, "I need to do something creative. Can you help me?" And I always say yes because it—I mean, talk about street cred. If the Ensemblist is gonna have true ensembleists working for it, then it really is sharing the stories of the Broadway ensemble.

[20:08] Mo Brady: It's not my view of the stories, which I think is the danger, right? Like I haven't performed in almost a decade. I have an appreciation and a memory of what it means to be a Broadway ensemble member, but I don't—I'm not doing it, right? So the fact that we've had Aaron Albano and Michael Fatica and Francesca Grinnell and Kirsten Anderson and Christine Shepard and Bahia Hiba and Will Blum all create podcasts or edit our website with us this year just means that the true experience of the Broadway ensemble member really is getting out there through our platform, and that's something I'm super proud of.

[20:52] Brian Sedita: I'm glad that you brought up all of the different seasons and series that you guys have on the Ensemblist because that was one of the things that I was so intrigued about your podcast when I first discovered it, and like the way that you guys break down the seasons on like the platforms that you'd like, like Apple Podcasts, right? So for anybody that doesn't listen to the Ensemblist first, go do that.

[21:15] Brian Sedita: Um, but you'll notice that all the seasons are broken down into like series that you guys create, and you guys come up with some pretty genius series that I really enjoy listening to. But which is your favorite? I wanna know.

[21:28] Mo Brady: Okay, the Tony Telecast one was my favorite, definitely.

[21:31] Brian Sedita: Oh, good, we're coming back to it.

[21:33] Mo Brady: Yeah, it's so cool because, I mean, you guys do provide like awesome historical context for a lot of the content that you guys produce, and like this specifically like dials into that historical content that I'm interested in because I'm one of those people that like loves musical theater, but like loves the, you know, the stuff that I was alive for.

[21:54] Mo Brady: Um, but to hear you guys do like a deep dive and talk about the things that like brought us to where we are today is so interesting and fascinating. I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about the producing side of the Ensemblist and all those series. How do you balance all those different podcast content in addition to all the other elements of your brand? I know you just said you don't do it alone, so...

[22:16] Mo Brady: Yeah, I don't do it alone. So a lot of it is about working with other artists to figure out the stories that they want to tell and how often they want to tell them. One thing I'm very cautious of, of someone like Aaron Albano, who has co-produced the Tony Telecast series with me, is how much does he want to work for free, right? Because none of us get paid, so it's like, okay, you want to create something with me, but do you want to create something every month? Or do you want to create what Aaron does with just twice a week, which is a lot.

[22:21] Mo Brady: So a lot of it is sort of navigating what exactly each producer wants to do in terms of how much time they spend on a project. I do try to do a little bit of this mini-series will come out on Tuesdays, and this mini-series will come out on Wednesdays. But really, I hope what people do is they trust the brand, the Ensemblist, and they may not listen to every episode because the title or the guest doesn't necessarily intrigue them in the same way. But what we're trying to do is provide what I think is a balance of entertainment that is based in theater and the real issues that artists are dealing with right now.

[23:39] Mo Brady: So like the Tony Telecast. Sure, we come to it from an industry perspective, but also it's light entertainment. We've done recaps of Smash. We've done recaps of Fosse/Verdon. Those are not necessarily—those aren't about the artist community right now, other than when we shout out members of the artist community, but it's more just like a lighter look at our industry series that you guys produced.

[24:10] Mo Brady: Um, you know, I've really enjoyed taking these deeper dives. We did one this fall called The Line, which was based on an idea that I had had for years, which was the similarities in stage pictures in some of the most important and esteemed musicals in American musical theater, right? So you think about the line—the line is what I call the line—is the actors all standing on the edge of the stage directly addressing an audience. There is no differentiation between principal and chorus. It is just everyone in the show, and they're all standing there, and they're all individuals, they're all being seen, and they're all connecting with us in the house.

[24:54] Mo Brady: And this is, you know, this is a moment that we see in Rent in Seasons of Love. This is a moment that we see in Hamilton in the opening number. And so I wanted to see if there was like a connective tissue in the artists that created those stage pictures. And so I spoke to some of the creators of Hamilton and Rent and also Soft Power, which uses it, and also A Chorus Line, which obviously has a line in it, to talk about—to ask them about how they saw the line functioning as a storytelling device, and if they thought there was a connection between those productions kind of in their energy.

[25:35] Mo Brady: And what I was fascinated to find out is that Michael Greif, when he put the line in Seasons of Love, he said, "This is my ode to A Chorus Line," you know. So I sort of back channeled it 30 years later, but I was like, "Oh, I was right." That's so cool. And so to see kind of like hear from the artists who created these great ensemble moments on stage, these iconic moments, right? Musical theater is about like big singing and dancing, and yet, when you think about some of the most like the production photos that are shared from these well-loved Pulitzer Prize-winning Tony Award best musicals, it's just people standing in lines.

[26:18] Mo Brady: Like it's not Ziegfeld Showgirls, right? Or falling chandeliers or helicopters. It's just a line of people. And so it was sort of a fascinating discovery and a very different kind of experience than like this podcast we're doing right now, or many of the podcasts that we do on the Ensemblist, which is like I turn on the mic, I ask questions, they answer the questions, then I edit it down and I put it on the internet. This was much more of sort of like a journey.

[26:47] Mo Brady: We have another mini-series that's debuting right now that's all about The Addams Family. Um, because I recently found out that The Addams Family, the musical, has been the most popular musical in North America for four of the last five years. And the way that I experienced that show from the inside is that it was a Broadway pariah. It was not a flop, but it was not a well-loved show. So I wanted to figure out how that happened. You know, it's something that's like an idea that's been in the back of my mind for years and years. How did this thing that I just saw people sort of snub their nose at become the most popular musical in North America for half of a decade?

[27:32] Mo Brady: And so I've sat down with writer Rick Ellis, I've sat down with our associates who staged the show in multiple productions, you know, and also around the world, and really kind of got into the nitty-gritty of like what—like how what happened? Um, and that's been super fun. Um, and a little scary to like look writer Rick Ellis in the face and be like, "Your show wasn't very good, was it? Like, how did you fix it?" But all of the guests so far have been really transparent, and it's been—I guess it's been enough time that people really look back at that experience, I think fondly, versus when I was in that show.

[28:19] Mo Brady: I mean, it's a dark show because it's about The Addams Family, but it was a dark—it was a dark space. It wasn't a very happy theater to walk into for a lot of people. Because I think the Ensemblist has such a specific point of view, which is to celebrate the ensemble experience, we can come at it through a lot of different doors. Sometimes talking about the Tony Award telecast and sometimes doing a deep dive into how The Addams Family went from a musical nobody liked to a musical everybody likes.

[28:52] Mary Dina: No, I think that's so fascinating though, Mo, because now I'm like wondering, like, does this—has this happened? Could you say this could happen with other shows? And now I'm gonna be racking my brain for the rest of the night being like, what other shows could this happen with?

[29:06] Mo Brady: I mean, I think we're experiencing it with The Prom. You know, The Prom was not a flop, but it didn't recoup. It was nominated for Best Musical Tony, but of those five nominees, it was the least nominated musical of that season. And the fact that it got turned into a movie with Meryl Streep within like a year is nuts. Yeah, but that's a show. Like, that's a show that didn't necessarily like when you looked at the industry, the season, that wasn't the show that was being celebrated, and yet it, through a confluence of events, some of which I've heard about on this podcast, has turned into, uh, is having the last laugh right now. Literally, I mean, literally right now, where there's no musicals.

It's Tom on the Tony, and it's great, and we're gonna be so excited to see it back in the theater when theater's open again. But in this moment where we're starved for musical theater performances, like The Prom one, you know, it's The Prom and Hamilton. Who would have thought a year ago?

[30:15] Brian Sedita: While we were just talking about The Addams Family and you being a performer in the Broadway company, I just wanted to like sidebar for a second and ask you if you could reflect back and say, like, do you miss anything about being a performer?

[30:27] Mo Brady: My go-to answer is no. Um, and I'm trying to kind of parse and see if I feel any more nuance about that than no. Um, I guess, and then like a better way for me to like kind of ask the question, I guess, would be, you know, I guess a lot of people have crazy tr unlinear trajectories in the business. And, uh, I guess, you know, people I think that transition out of acting a lot of times want to still have, um, want to still feel that sort of fulfillment through some other part of the business because they're hanging up the towel and acting. And, uh, I'm wondering, it sounds like you feel very fulfilled in what you're doing. Um, do you think that you were ever chasing that as an alternative to acting?

[31:17] Mo Brady: Oh, completely. The ensembles came out of this desire to be an advocate, but also, um, I needed a creative outlet and I wanted to feel like I had a voice. And those are two things that I for many years got to do as a performer. Um, you know, when you self-produce though, you are you get to be in charge of whether you're creative, you get to be in charge of what your voice is. And so there's a lot of there's a lot that's just better about creating your own pursuits rather than putting that in the hands of others, especially in an industry that is there's it's so competitive and there's not a lot of opportunities to work, particularly at the level that I wanted to work at, I guess. You know, I think back, I'm a and you see this in The Ensemblist.

I love art, I love history, I love traditions, I love community. There's so much about being in a show that checks all of those boxes, you know. Like when I think about what I miss about performing, I think I like miss, you know, like I miss the call board. I miss like signing in, I miss, you know, the prop tables, or the sort of camaraderie of artists coming together, the feeling of controlled fear, you know, you're putting yourself out there in a very vulnerable way, but in a way that you feel confident that will also be appreciated by the end of the night. And so like there are parts about being a performer that I wouldn't say I miss, but that I still appreciate. But there's like no part of me that wants to audition for shows or like, you know, sort of also disrupt my life or work at nights or work six-day weeks, or be constantly afraid that my job is gonna go away. Like there's just so many other parts of being a performer that I don't miss.

[33:26] Mo Brady: And certainly don't miss enough to want to try to pursue that as a career. I mean, talk to me in 20 years when I live in some regional city and I'm like the old character man in all of their musicals, and I'll be like, oh, I'm so happy again. But at this point, I'm much more interested in like being a part of our industry at its highest level and having a creative way to tell stories and be a part of that community. You know, I feel I look back at my ensemble experience in The Addams Family. Yeah, there were, um, you know, 15 of us in that company in the chorus at any given time, and there were some replacements, multi replacements. You think about probably 30 people. A decade later, you know, many of them have gone on to successful Broadway careers.

Many of them that was their last Broadway show, but I don't think there's anyone else in that ensemble that has such a creative voice in our community as I do, which is what I wanted in the first place. And so I, uh, in that way, even though it was my only Broadway show and I didn't get to do it again, um, or didn't try to do it again, I won. I got what I wanted. You know, I didn't get to tell the world that it wasn't a fluke. Um, I didn't, I didn't, you know, I didn't get the other the next one so I could be like it wasn't a fluke. I'm actually good enough to be on Broadway, but here we are a decade later, and I get to have a creative voice and still feel like a part of this community in a way that I don't think would have happened if I would have pursued performing and maybe dropped off like many of my other former colleagues did.

[35:13] Mo Brady: Yeah. Oh, but The Honest Homeland was not my favorite show I was ever in. Not by a long shot. It was not I have felt fulfilled as an artist, um, creatively valued, um, more in my wheelhouse in many, many other shows more than I experienced in on Broadway. And so like, yes, it was the show I've done the longest, and it was the show I've done in its sort of the highest form of our industry, but it wasn't the best time I had. Like I think that's very valuable though, because for anyone out there, your listeners, like it's good to know that like Broadway is not doesn't need to be like the end game, or like you get to Broadway and you've like fulfilled all these boxes. I mean I wish, I wish, but also like you're never gonna believe it until you see it for yourself, right?

[36:16] Mo Brady: Yeah, like how many people have told me or told your listeners that like Broadway is not the end all be all of being a performer, and you're like, that's fine, but I still want it. I mean, I think what I think what you have to do is evaluate why you want it. When I was really actively pursuing getting cast in a Broadway show, it wasn't about the artistry, it is being in the right place and at the right time. I looked around at the landscape of Broadway shows and I was like, okay, these are the five I can probably get in. Let me work on the either skills or the material I know is in the auditions with coaches, and let me get myself primed for these five spots so that when I and if I get called in, I am 100% at my top of my game.

That was not about me being the most well-rounded artist or being the most fulfilled artist. I was trying to refine myself to be the right shape peg for the hole they had created. Um, and because it was such a singular goal, I think that was part of the reason why I was prepared for it when the opportunity came. But that, you know, you don't look at a decades-long human life and think that you want to live it as chasing after singular dreams that are not necessarily fulfilling, other than in this check your box kind of way. And that's what I wanted. I wanted to be on Broadway and I really worked to make that happen. So I wouldn't tell anybody who was in that position themselves, it's not worth it, or don't. But if your goal is to be a fulfilled artist who creates characters, maybe there are other venues for you to do that. That just wasn't my goal at that point in my career. My goal was to check the box of being on Broadway.

[38:06] Mo Brady: And I got it. And you got it. But certainly, like you said, Brian, you get to that point and you're like, what's next? Do I want to check the box of another one? Or do I want to do something where I feel more, um, creatively valued, or do I want to, you know, find a different way to be creative that I'm not looking at grosses every week, wondering if my job is gonna go away.

[38:28] Mo Brady: Yeah. And I think it's such an important part of like uncovering the process. So I'm I'd love for our listeners to be able to hear that coin that sort of, uh, um, take on things. Obviously, as we've closed out at this point when our episode has released right now, we have closed out 2020, we have said goodbye, and we're in 2021. I'm curious, Mo, as to what you're most hopeful for in terms of our industry in this new year as we look to reopening Broadway to hopefully be a better industry on all cylinders firing. What are you looking forward to the most?

[39:06] Mo Brady: It's a couple of things. Um, I think the fact that our industry doesn't have any sort of guiding organization that governs all parties has really shown, uh, why that would be valuable at this time. We've had, in my opinion, a severe lack of leadership as an industry because it is all of these unions really fighting for themselves. You know, it's the actors, it's the producers, it's the theater owners. Certainly, we're looking to the Broadway League. I feel like that is who we used to look to guidance for, but for individual artists, there's been none. You know, they've the Broadway League is really excited about the Save Our Stages Act, but the Save Our Stages Act helps producers and theater owners. So good for Jujamcyn, good for the Schuberts, but it's not helping the artists on the ground. Like we really could use stronger leadership in our industry. And I hope that we demand that. And I hope that we can rally around who those leaders prove themselves to be.

[40:24] Mo Brady: You know, the other thing is it related to that is the racial reckoning that we began in May and June. Um, and in my opinion, it's really been put on the back burner. Um, I think a lot of us in the theater community and a lot of people in the industry, which I think are two different things, the community and the industry, um, have said, oh, it is important for us to value BIPOC voices, and yet where's the systemic change? Like, we've got all these great organizations kind of doing the work from the bottom up, you know, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Black Theater United, Broadway for Racial Justice. Like, there is great work happening on the ground, and yet like why there's still no reason for the people the old white men in power to give up their power.

Um, and so it's not a clean answer. It just I I would really love to see our industry make itself more equitable. And I think that we've been made aware how inequitable it is, both because of the racial reckoning and because of the pandemic, but I don't see any path towards change. And so I would love to be led down that path.

[41:49] Brian Sedita: Yes.

[41:49] Mo Brady: Yeah, I mean, I've been watching the We See You White American Theater and how they have been continuously calling out the league for staying silent. Um, it's disappointing, you know. They've, it's disappointing. I think they're very much focused on the customer, um, and the sort of how the thing gets sold. That's something that the league has always been very good at, but it's not an artist advocacy organization. And yet, because there is no artist advocacy organization, we look to them for it, right? And so the fact that they've got all, you know, we've got all these, um, task forces. Well, what are they doing? Or why aren't they reporting what they're doing? Because if they're doing something, I sure as hell don't know about it.

Um, and or they're or maybe they're doing something that I do know about, but it hasn't been clear that they're the ones doing it. Um, and you know, the Tony Awards, like in the end, the Tony Awards don't really matter. It's just a party, but yet we had a contract that they were the ones that were gonna create the biggest most important celebration of our industry, and they have failed at that. Look, I'm I I'm I'm not the president of, you know, I'm not I don't work like at the American Theater Wing, I don't work at the Broadway League. Like I don't actually know the troubles that they're going through, but man, it from the outside it's very disappointing.

[43:19] Brian Sedita: Well, I it also has me wondering if it's if it's like a lack of just communication, because if they were to like to give us updates on like where they're at and maybe why they're not moving as quote unquote quickly as we're thinking that they would be moving, you know, and they said when they made the announcement about the Tonys this year, they had said, you know, by mid December, right?

[43:41] Mo Brady: Or early December, like why not give an update and say and then I mean, just give an update and just be like, hey, like, yeah, the fact that they haven't said anything is they think we forgot.

[43:55] Mo Brady: Or they've got bigger fish to fry, understandably so, right? Like, do we need a Tony's more than we need our industry to open back up? No. But then let's see the work that's being done to open the industry back up and to help the industry in the meantime. Maybe they would say this the staver Save Our Stages Act, which is part of the 900 billion that is hopefully passing this week in stimulus is to help our industry. And it certainly will help some people in our industry, but I would love to see a clearer delineation between how that help is gonna you know get jobs back. And hopefully by the time this episode airs, we will have some sort of knowledge on that.

[44:45] Mo Brady: One more I have one more question before we head to the lightning round. Um as a gosh, we are sprawling, we're going all over the place.

[44:51] Brian Sedita: I know, I love it.

[44:53] Mo Brady: Uh so as a content creator and advocate, what's one thing that you know now that you wish that you knew when you first started your journey with the Ensemblist back in 2013? I think we find the most success and land the most when we aren't not afraid to ruffle feathers. And we spent a lot of our early years afraid to ruffle feathers. Um I truly think that's that's one of our gifts is that we have very few fucks to give. And so just like a lie spreads faster on the internet than a truth. Someone saying something controversial or not even controversial, but um contrary to the the nice thing to say or the the party line that bravery gets respected I think by people. And so the more that we dig our heels into being advocates and saying the things that our actor community is afraid to say because they don't want to be uncastable or difficult to work with the the more I think people see us as a vital part of the theatrical infrastructure. And so I wish I would have known that at the beginning that that was where I was really gonna find the the sweet spot where where the resources would come to meet us.

[46:30] Brian Sedita: Well I think that and that's all that's such a um that's an industry wide feeling I think too so that's why I think a lot of I think that's why a lot of you know ensemble members and the people that you're advocating for are looking to you to actually put it out there in the world and actually make those ruffle those feathers make those waves for them on their behalf again because of lack of leadership probably.

[46:56] Mo Brady: Another thing is you know I'm a middle aged white man you know like I like like there uh you know a lot of the people that we're advocating for are you know not male who are not white are not approaching 40 and so like I there is a a gift in it sort of didn't yeah, it it comes back to what we were saying before. Like, I'm not ch hustling on the ground, and also I've had a few years of experience to sort of get some perspective that necess about the kind of stances I want to take that maybe people in their early 20s wouldn't feel as comfortable with. I don't know if that's true, but uh you said it, so there you go.

[47:40] Brian Sedita: Okay, so lightning round.

[47:42] Mo Brady: Yeah, let's let's go.

[47:43] Brian Sedita: You can kick us off.

[47:44] Mo Brady: Oh my god, okay. This is my favorite question on planet Earth. And I feel like you probably have answered this already in our conversation, but we'll see where it takes us.

[47:52] Brian Sedita: Okay.

[47:54] Mo Brady: What is one thing in the theater industry that confuses you?

[47:57] Brian Sedita: Why the bathroom lines are so long?

[47:59] Mo Brady: I mean, maybe that's one of your quo it it it just like there's just gotta be a better way. They're doubling the bathrooms in the renovated palace when that eventually happens in March.

[48:12] Brian Sedita: Really?

[48:12] Mo Brady: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they're doubling the bathrooms. That's what I read in the press release that they just put out. I think they're gonna have to figure out something. There's gotta be a better way to go, the bathroom. That's I guess a human thing. It it it baffles me.

[48:26] Brian Sedita: Um what are three adjectives that describe your favorite working environment?

[48:31] Mo Brady: Collaborative, imaginative, trustworthy.

[48:37] Brian Sedita: Is there something in your process that you find unique to you?

[48:41] Mo Brady: I don't think this is unique, but I am uh a hundred percent of the philosophy that ninety percent correct faster is better than a hundred percent correct slower. That is just that's just my view of the world, and I think it is one of the attributes of the Ensemblist and you know, of my of my caption writing. You know, like we aren't w it it it's more important to tell the story at the time it needs to be told than to make sure all the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted. What's that great quote? People won't remember what you say, but they will remember how you made them feel. That's not exactly it. Yeah. But it's, you know, um, especially in the age of social media and just how fast and how quick and second screen experience our culture consumption is. I just think it's better in the end to say it at the right time and uh proofread it later. The edit button is your best friend.

[49:54] Brian Sedita: Well, and I it is, and also like it is it one of the things in terms of team members that I have collaborators that I've really valued is people who don't have that theory, you know, who the the people who do make sure T's are crossed and you know, periods are at the ends of sentences because I know that that's not something that is um a part of innately part of my creative process, but I know is important. So I guess um yeah, yeah, just I work fast.

[50:24] Mo Brady: If you can go back in time and perform in any ensemble in any show, which would it be?

[50:30] Brian Sedita: Gosh, that is a great question.

[50:35] Mo Brady: I think it'd be Rent. I think it would be Rent. Um, in part because I think I bet I that feels like a really fulfilling show in terms of being a storyteller. It's also just like the show that hit me at the right time, being a theater loving teenager. Um, yeah. Rent.

[50:52] Brian Sedita: What is one hobby that you have outside of theater?

[50:55] Mo Brady: I've been really I've always been a really passionate hiker. I think it's the Pacific Northwest in me. I just love hiking, but this year I've really gotten into running. Um I've been I'm run running like five, six, seven miles every day, even today in the dead of winter. So I'm I've been really passionate about that because it also just gives me sort of time and space as an introvert. Um I have a almost five-year-old son, and so there's very little time for my brain to not be focused on him when I'm at home, and so uh I the the time to run it is been both uh uh something that has been really vital for me this last year.

[51:35] Brian Sedita: In your mind, what's the most iconic ensemble or ensemble role in particular?

[51:42] Mo Brady: I love this stuff. I just love it. Yeah, um yeah, it I mean, I think it's so ripe for debate. I it it's hard to think that a chorus line wouldn't be, you know, it is not only one of the most popular musicals of all time, but is sort of based around this idea of ensemble. Um, you know, with that the the concept of ensemble is baked into that show. Um, so I I I think it's a chorus line.

[52:09] Brian Sedita: And the last question what is the last great piece of theater that you saw?

[52:14] Mo Brady: Can I can I veer?

[52:16] Brian Sedita: Sure.

[52:16] Mo Brady: I was thinking about this. I was I was listening to a podcast, um, which I don't know if you've heard of, but podcasts are like really great. Um, and no, I was listening to I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about their favorite performances of 2020. And I I went and I I sort of looked into what that question meant for me, and it was like a a visceral experience where I like saw something that made me feel something. Um, and so I don't know if this actually answers your question. Do you remember on November 7th, in the hours after um it was announced that Biden won. And do you remember do you remember seeing on Kamala Harris's Instagram this like three second video where Kamala gets a call from Joe and she says, You did it.

You're gonna be the president of the United States. I mean, it I mean, it's been seen by millions of people. I mean, it it was so visceral. I mean, the relief, I think there was such a sense of relief. Like, I couldn't stop crying all day. And I it it it was just I was so I was so relieved, right? And to see like people on the street and the the clapping, see the the videos from New York City or other places where people just like just felt like they could put their shoulders down for the first time in a in a while. And somehow that video of Kamala Harris like congratulating Joe Biden just like hit me. I was like, that it so it's more content than theater because it's on social media, but it I don't think I'll ever forget that video.

Um I think I rewatched that video more times than I could count. Like and not even just that day. Like I kept going back to it. And there was something about the way her voice just like cracked a little bit when she said it was so raw. And again, like I totally hear you on like the release, like the tension release, just like left my body for a minute. I mean, I think it did what what theater does in its best form, right? It sort of like makes us emphasize with the storyteller, it makes us feel something. We've gone on a journey with this person, right? You know, baked into that is also that Kamala Harris is gonna be the first female vice president, the first person of color as a vice president.

Like it's it's mind blowing in so many beautiful ways. Um and it it it just like it just I don't know, it I can't describe how it made me feel. And theater, I think does its best when it affects us in ways we can't describe.

[55:05] Brian Sedita: Do you guys think that that's really the first time that they spoke since hearing the election results? You think that was like a genuine?

[55:11] Mo Brady: That'd be great theater, right?

[55:17] Brian Sedita: Right. That's what I'm thinking. I'm like, you know, like the you know, that kind of like uh not conspiracist in me thinks like you know, everything's a show, but like maybe it was a show like that particular, but I'd hope it wasn't because it was really beautiful, like you guys just said.

[55:33] Mo Brady: Hey, and if it was a show, it made us feel something.

[55:36] Brian Sedita: Yeah.

[55:37] Mo Brady: And as theater lovers, as theater creators, like good on them.

[55:42] Brian Sedita: Yes.

[55:43] Mo Brady: Like well, like now, and now we're talking about it. We're talking about that performance months later and how it affected us. Like, isn't that what great theater is? Like when we think about like we love talking about the the shows that affected us, right? And there's a show, it was three seconds long and it was on our phone, and we didn't experience it together, and yet we can have a shared moment of appreciation and humanity talking about that performance.

[56:09] Brian Sedita: Well, I'm looking forward to so many more performances by those actors in the next four years.

[56:16] Mo Brady: So this was the best way to end the first episode of 2021.

[56:22] Brian Sedita: Oh be yes. Uh before you go, can you tell everybody where they can find you, all that kind of stuff, and what your website is for the Ensemblist.

[56:29] Mo Brady: Oh, yeah. We're at the Ensemblist.com. You can find us uh there, also on Instagram. Um, and you can download episodes of The Ensemblist on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts. Um, if people want to know a little bit more about me, my family and I have an influencer Instagram account, which is a whole other thing. Fucking student account ever, okay? That's all I have to say. It is very cute. It's called Daddy, Papa, and me make three. Um, and we share our experiences as a family there. So that's the non-podcast side.

[57:06] Brian Sedita: Beautiful. And as always, everything will be in the description notes, so you can go check it out. We encourage you to check it out. Thank you so much, Mo. This just warmed my heart. Let's just let's just do it every week.

[57:18] Mo Brady: Every week.

[57:19] Brian Sedita: I know. Definitely gonna need another one with you soon. You create so much content. We didn't even talk about Broadway Cares at all and your work with Diane.

[57:27] Mo Brady: I know part two.

[57:29] Brian Sedita: Part two. It's coming, guys. People don't need to hear people are tired of hearing my voice. They have plenty of opportunities to do that.

[57:38] Mo Brady: Thanks everyone for listening to this episode of Page to Stage. To keep up with us, you can find us on Instagram and Facebook at Page2 Stage Podcast. And if you're enjoying these conversations, we would really appreciate it if you could take a couple minutes to rate and review us wherever you're listening to this podcast. Until next time. That's Brian. That's Mary. We'll see you later. Bye.