This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Mary Dina: 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] Brian Sedita: Hi, Brian.

[0:27] Mary Dina: Hey Mary.

[0:28] Brian Sedita: It's been a long year.

[0:29] Mary Dina: It has.

[0:30] Brian Sedita: It has.

[0:31] Mary Dina: It's been over a year, technically, but it has been over a year. But it is another year of celebrating our birthday of Page to Stage.

[0:39] Brian Sedita: Yes, happy birthday, Page to Stage. You've turned two years old.

[0:43] Mary Dina: I'm cheersing to you.

[0:44] Brian Sedita: Cheers.

[0:45] Mary Dina: Well, it's also crazy that this is our 50th episode as well.

[0:49] Brian Sedita: Mm-hmm.

[0:50] Mary Dina: I was thinking about that earlier today. I was like, wait, wait, wait. It was crazy because originally, like if you were to ask me like a year ago, I could probably list off in order every podcast guest that we had. And now, now it's just all a blur. And I don't know if it's just like the last year has been making my brain a little mushy.

[1:07] Brian Sedita: Mm-hmm.

[1:08] Mary Dina: Or if it's just that we have 50 people now to remember.

[1:11] Brian Sedita: Well, I was just before we hopped on this virtual studio session, I was on the phone with episode number one guest, Christy Hess.

[1:20] Mary Dina: Oh.

[1:20] Brian Sedita: And I was telling her that we were hopping on to record this 50th episode, and she was like, oh my gosh, 50 episodes. Like that's huge. Like that feels like it's been so much time. Like so many things have happened for us personally, for us, like professionally, obviously the industry and the world included in that too.

[1:40] Mary Dina: But I was thinking about that too recently, is that like, you know, putting aside the fact that we're providing a space for artists to share their work and to learn about theater and different positions in the theater. I do think what's so interesting about what we've created, at least on a personal level, is that it's almost like a keepsake for each other of our lives and like thinking about like our lives at the time of recording a lot of these podcasts, because it is so much a part of our lives, and we're always in constant communication on, you know, new episodes and content and stuff like that, that it kind of just like embeds itself in our lives, and now it's just part of the fabric. So it's like a little keepsake for us too of like these years, which is really exciting to think about that way.

[2:28] Brian Sedita: Yeah, and it's also it's been cool, especially in the last several months, several episodes, where if we look, I mean, maybe this is only something that you and I might know, but if you look at our guests, you can kind of trace back to like how we met them because we've not been recording with a guest in person in over a year now. And so we either have known the person already and we reached out to them, or we met them, like Brian, you've met a lot of people on Clubhouse, yeah, with what you've been doing. And then just reaching out and like, you know, we met, I mean, we've known Ruthie for a few years now, but just reached out to her after she wrote an article. So it's been a lot of like digital connections, and it's cool to kind of trace back like how we've met people based on what's been happening within the industry or based on what's, you know, what's been coming up, like, you know, social media wise.

[3:21] Mary Dina: Yeah, wait. So actually thinking back to pre-pandemic, we recorded in person, and since the pandemic, we haven't at all recorded in person together. But I'm just wondering like initially when the pandemic hit, it was like very disappointing that we didn't have that emotional like energy and bond together in the same space, but that's gotten a lot easier over the past year. Why do you think that? Like, do you think it's because we're using a platform that you're able to see people?

[3:51] Brian Sedita: I don't know because even when we would FaceTime with the guests initially, we had tried to FaceTime with the guests at the same time. Which was another just like added technical element that was tricky. I remember doing that with Mark Franklin.

[4:08] Mary Dina: Yes, who I think was our first release in quarantine or second first or second release in quarantine was Mark. And I think it's gotten easier because maybe everybody's just adapted to the digital like space that we've been living in. Even the guests, maybe they were also probably uncomfortable at first, but now if they're still involved in some sort of work capacity like yourself, I mean, you're not even in the office still, you're still doing everything for work from home and virtually. So I think that that's gotten a lot easier in that sense.

[4:45] Brian Sedita: I've also loved getting to see, so for our listeners who don't know, we use a platform that allows us to see each other. It doesn't record video, but like right now I'm looking at Brian and Brian's looking at me, or at least I think he is. But we've been able to see for most of the episodes that we've recorded, we've been able to see our guests and see also where they've been recording. So what comes to mind immediately was Margot recording from her closet. And when we asked to turn for her to turn her camera on, it was she it was just like very close because her computer was like in a weird position because she was just trying to record inside of her closet. Like Justin Guerini, when he recorded, it was in his closet.

[5:25] Mary Dina: On the floor of his closet, too. Very well lit, though. His closet was very well lit. He's done it before in there. I even recorded some in my closet at times.

[5:36] Brian Sedita: Oh yeah. I've recorded one with Mo. I recorded in the closet because it was the only place that had light in the place that I was staying at the time. But like, even aside from like all the technical elements of the past year, I think also it's just gotten us what I love about doing everything virtually, like one of the trade-offs for doing it virtually is that we could record pretty much anytime with anyone anywhere. We even in the past year were able to record with somebody in Singapore, Joanna. So I just think that like the accessibility of even us running the podcast and making this easier on us has been super helpful because I also think what you live in New Jersey, you live in New York. I mean, now you're in Delaware. Woo woo.

[6:25] Mary Dina: Um, I also think though that it felt kind I mean, although it was very jarring for us to be like in a studio for a few months recording episodes to having to go home and record these from our houses, but it felt very much kind of like going back to our roots, right? So like we we already we were very when we started the podcast, we weren't a part of a network that had a studio. We bought mics ourselves, we bought pop filters, we recorded off of Audacity. First it was Audacity, and then we switched to audition, yeah.

[6:59] Brian Sedita: Yeah. So, you know, we were doing these. We did them from my apartment in New York. Like it was very like raw. We actually do remember we used to rec you and I used to record on one mic, and our guests would record on the other mic.

[7:12] Mary Dina: Totally, yeah. So we had we had that experience of like kind of like I mean, it was our foundation. It was our roots, so it felt very much like we were going back to how it used to be. Obviously the only difference was that we now were not in the same space. We were not sharing a mic. We probably would be very frowned upon to share mic right now.

[7:32] Brian Sedita: I mean, like originally also we were only trying to find guests that had microphones because we were like, oh yeah. I was a stickler. I was like, oh no, we have to have a really good sounding quality podcast. And like I hope that our listeners think that we have a decent sound quality for this podcast. But there are just some things that you have to let go, and especially over the past year, you just can't control a lot of things. And that was one of them. If we wanted to record with a guest, I kind of just gave in and said, okay. And then it was like I never cared about it at all. Because I mean, I listen to podcasts on my own, and while yes, you could tell when the person has a super sick sounding microphone that like is absolutely amazing and like appropriate for professional recordings, you're still getting the content even if they don't have that kind of microphone.

[8:25] Mary Dina: So I really let go in that sense.

[8:28] Brian Sedita: Really get loose.

[8:30] Mary Dina: Yeah, I think it also is really just like if anyone is listening to an episode from the pandemic well after the pandemic has ended, it'll be kind of interesting to like it's a time capsule, you know, it really is like a moment of time where even a lot of our we tried to like keep the conversation very evergreen, but there was definitely parts of the conversations we've had with our guests over the last year that you know it couldn't be helped because it was so ingrained into everything. And even if it was something like was very timely that happened in the news or an update that happened in terms of what was happening within the world within New York or within the Broadway industry itself, you know, it definitely worked its way into conversations for sure.

[9:16] Brian Sedita: And I know that we actually ended up changing our final question.

[9:19] Mary Dina: We did, which we really held on to our final question for a long time. And then it was like seven months, and we were like, okay, Broadway is not coming back yet. So let's maybe tease the fact that we have a new series lined up for Page to Stage in our third year, and we're not gonna share all the details now. We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna tell you guys the missing puzzle piece at the end of the episode. But Mary, do you wanna kind of tease this concept for season three?

[9:51] Mary Dina: Yeah, so we record continuously and we've released continuously, even though we're celebrating, you know, going into our third year of the podcast and going through, you know, we'll be starting 51 episodes the next time we release an episode, which is crazy and exciting. We wanted something new. I mean, obviously, like, you know, year one was spent mostly, I would say probably half the time was spent recording in my apartment in Inwood. The second half was when we joined the network, and we still recorded by ourselves, even though after we were joined the network. And then year two, we had started to record at the studio, and then the pandemic hit and we were, you know, recording separately again.

But we were looking for something that was challenging, but also still like kept us going. And something that we kind of both we both kind of came to the realization through probably one of our like two-hour phone call conversations was that we wanted to keep the conversations about process. We want to keep having guests on who are not often heard from or who are not, you know, in the spotlight in terms of podcasts or media. But we wanted to really dive in on a specific show and bring in people from a specific show and talk about their process of putting on the show from the page to the stage. And so, you know, I'm very excited, Brian's very excited that we're gonna have a mini-series essentially now.

So every show that we bring on will probably be about five to six episodes, a mini-series, and it'll all be around one specific show. And so I think of it like a like almost like a documentary podcast, but not in the sense of like going back and forth between a bunch of different people in one episode. We will sit down with you'll know that this is the show we're gonna be diving into, and we're gonna be sitting down with one of the collaborators from that show and talking about their specific process on that show, so that by the end of it, and hopefully, I mean who knows, by the end of us recording each one of them, we will probably Mary meaning Mary and I, and hopefully our listeners will have picked up so many puzzle pieces to put together to create like one giant version of this process or one giant storytelling of the process of this show.

[12:18] Brian Sedita: Yeah.

[12:18] Mary Dina: And so we're going to do a mix of obviously Broadway and off-Broadway. I would love to do regional touring productions, even.

[12:27] Brian Sedita: West End.

[12:28] Mary Dina: Yeah, we've always been very open to not just focusing on Broadway, although I know a lot has been Broadway. That's just because of where we both are work. But I also am very interested, and I think that obviously theater goes beyond Broadway. You know, the Broadway is not even, I would argue, not even the like the end of the road, you know. I don't even think there is an end of the road. I think it gives us a lot of avenues and a lot of great potential partnerships with theater companies and producers who want to promote their shows. And so we're open, we're excited. We're really hope that you guys are all excited. I would love to know before we keep going. Anyone who follows us on Instagram or Facebook, send us a DM and tell us who like what shows you want to hear from. Again, Broadway is not it, you know, Broadway is not the only area that we're going to be covering. So if there's a production and also it doesn't have to be currently running.

[13:26] Brian Sedita: You know, it we also we'll do the research that we can do if we've not seen it, but you know, give us shows that you're interested in hearing from or that you think might have an interesting journey that you maybe have not heard before, or people that you or even people, people who you've not heard before, and we can kind of go back go in that avenue, backtrack a little bit.

[13:46] Brian Sedita: And of course we'll do our best, but we've been working on this series or at least just putting it together since January, since the new year, when we talked about what are our goals for 2021 for Page to Stage. And so, I mean, we've put a lot of thought and energy into working and reworking and reworking this series.

[14:07] Brian Sedita: Yes, this is not this is not the first draft. We are uh very just, you know, relieved that we finally found the perfect show to dive right into, which we'll get to in a little bit. But I have a question for you, Mary.

[14:21] Mary Dina: Sure.

[14:24] Brian Sedita: Uh, if you think about the pandemic and the episodes that we uh that we created over the past year, is there anything that sticks out to you as like a defining moment of the past year or or specific guests or roles in the industry, maybe something that you learned. Was there a specific job that we covered that you really didn't know much about that you really became a listener?

[14:50] Mary Dina: Well, it wasn't that I didn't, it wasn't that I didn't know too much about her job. It was the fact that I definitely have never heard a person in her role talk about her job before. And that was Michaela Brewster talking about what she does working on like with social media for shows. I feel like we don't, we often see the work that they put out, but we don't often hear from them. So I mean, I might be a little biased because that's also partly what I do for a living. So it was it was cool to like get someone else's take on it. Um, but I think I was more excited because it was definitely not a traditional role that that maybe a theater maker might not think of when thinking of like what like what does it take to put up a show? Um so that was really exciting.

[15:40] Mary Dina: Um it was also really cool to talk with Cody Renard Richard because that we had talked our first episode was with the stage manager, like with Christie. Um, and it had been what episode was he? He was episode 32. So it had been, you know, 30 episodes essentially since we had talked with another stage manager. And I was gonna say whose experience was not vastly different because it's the same job and it's in the same industry, but like you know, just to hear somebody else's process, it's it's exciting to be able to just go back to a role that we've already covered and still get a completely different episode out of it.

[16:13] Brian Sedita: Yeah, yeah. And again, with with an area that we don't often hear from, like we don't how many times have you like listened to a podcast that has featured a stage manager talking about how they do their job or what like what is their day-to-day look like? Um because at least at least for me, I'm so not interested in hearing or asking anything from a guest that they might have already covered in another podcast.

[16:40] Brian Sedita: And I mean, I try and if we're gonna have a guest on a lot of times our guests have never been on podcasts, which I think is kind of the reason why we're doing this.

[16:48] Mary Dina: Yep.

[16:49] Brian Sedita: Um, but if they have, I love to listen to as many podcasts with that guest that they might have done already, because there's always little nuggets that I'll find that I'll be like, okay, I want to expand on that on page to stage because there's already information out there that this person spoke about this. So why am I gonna cover that here? Of course, like we want to give as much like general context for the listeners as possible, but I'm not interested in like just copying somebody else's questions and copying the episode just for page to stage's purposes.

[17:19] Mary Dina: Right.

[17:20] Brian Sedita: How about you?

[17:21] Mary Dina: I'm gonna flip the question on you.

[17:23] Brian Sedita: I would say two really stuck out to me, but I'm gonna I'm gonna narrow it down to um something that I was really passionate about getting on the podcast was Richard Patterson from Musical Theater International MTI shows. Um he's a licensing director, and uh if you haven't listened to the episode, go back and listen. Because I found it really exciting because we all start, or at least you and I both started doing this in middle school, elementary, high school, you know, academic theater, where shows were licensed out and you got your scripts and it said MTI shows a lot of times, or it showed whatever licensing company it might have been. But MTI was seemed to always be the one that my school went with.

[18:09] Brian Sedita: And uh to be able to talk to somebody that like is on the opposite side of that uh company, uh, or it from like a different perspective than I would have, or any of the audiences would have was really exciting for me because it's just that there's so many ways that this person could have a stamp on what's going on in the theater, you know, and you have no clue. And like that's another thing that is so amazing about covering so many different topics is that like you just have aha moments and you're like, oh my god, somebody does that. And it's like, yeah, they they put their stamp on this. And so I just think that that was a great conversation in terms of covering something that we never talked about.

And and honestly, like his his whole like origin story, if you will, was really beautiful and um and brought to attention the fact that he didn't want to be an actor, he didn't have that dream. He's like in his dream job, and like most people would never even know that that dream job even exists.

[19:11] Mary Dina: Yeah, no, totally.

[19:12] Brian Sedita: I knew you were gonna say I knew you were gonna say Richard, um, for your favorite, yeah.

[19:18] Mary Dina: Did you okay? So I said two, so I'll give you two.

[19:20] Brian Sedita: Well, like what was another episode?

[19:21] Mary Dina: Yeah, you did say two. Um, I was gonna say uh I really enjoyed our conversation with um with Marc Jablonsky, which was a recent one. Um he's an arts and culture researcher at aka NYC. And what I loved about that episode was the fact that I always love like things that are a little more like businessy and like getting into like the real like nuts and bolts of like how things are working from like a financial standpoint and like logistically how things are working on the back end of theater, because I mean, of course, uh I have a very like I have like a very I think a very balanced brain where I I can do logistics really well and also like artistically I have a lot of creativity, but I think especially like in terms of what gets attention in the industry, uh it's the artistic side of things and it's like creativity gets a lot of attention, whereas that logistic stuff, and like those people maybe don't always wanna get on the microphone and talk about what they're doing, but when we get the opportunity to talk to somebody, it I mean that conversation lasted like over an hour, and we we trimmed it down to like just under an hour. But uh, we had so much fun with that one.

[20:42] Brian Sedita: And honestly, like that also adds to the experiences when the guest is and we have had such amazing guests that come on and they're just so giving with their time and their um and like what they want to share about their experiences and like when they get personal. I mean we're not really like a let's tell stories kind of a podcast where we're really focused on like the process, which I love that we have that's that really like that through line. When we start an episode, we kind of know we don't know where we're gonna end up, but we know that we have lots of questions that are gonna be about what they do. And we don't really, at least I don't think we get too sidetracked. I would say that we don't dig for dirt, but we dig for truth.

[21:29] Mary Dina: That's a great way to put it.

[21:31] Brian Sedita: Yeah, I like because we're not looking for a scoop. We're we're really just like wanting to know them as a human and as a theater maker. We're both really sensitive to like really like just kind of uh sensing what might be going too far. And I I'm one of those people that never wants to like take it to a place where you kind of like lose trust. And and actually we got that out of Ruthie in terms of like when she was explaining her process as a journalist. You just want to like establish that trust with them that we're not gonna take it too far because that's not why we're here. And it is really exciting to start an episode with a guest, and then by the end of the episode, they're like a completely different guest and a completely different person. They've kind of opened up over the hour, which was completely not a thing when we were in person most of the time.

[22:29] Mary Dina: Like I think it's even more prevalent that this happens over the virtual recordings because we're not with that person. We don't get to like hug them and say hey, shake their hand and like just vibe before we hit record. It's kind of like we're all here in this virtual space, and then now we're just talking about their their career.

[22:50] Brian Sedita: Yeah. And I think that's a good thing. It kind of takes that time to build the trust.

[22:54] Mary Dina: If yeah of course, we know some of our guests beforehand, so then that doesn't always read.

[22:59] Brian Sedita: Well I was that's what I was gonna say. So we actually we do know many of our guests beforehand in some capacity, but I would say we don't know them really well, all of them, before we ask them to come on. Usually it's been inspired by something we saw or um heard in the case of Clubhouse, um, or we have been they've been on a list. Like when Brian and I first started this podcast, we both made uh an extensive list of people who we actually knew who we could reach out to. Um, but also people who were like a wish list, people who we were like, okay, well hopefully someday we could get to them. And I'm very happy to say that we've actually I I haven't gone back to that list in in a while. But I'm happy I'm I guarantee you that if we did go back through that list that we would be crossing off a lot of people.

[23:45] Mary Dina: And and I'm very like, I'm very grateful that we've reached out to people who we who we don't know, but they have said yes, and that that means they trust us part one, you know, because especially now that we're virtual, you know, like like you said, we're not getting to to be there vibing with them to you know, where they can kind of sense our energy and vice versa. You know, it is a little bit difficult doing this through a screen, but I'm I can definitely hear when like that click happens that you mentioned. So I'll be curious to see if of our listeners can also sense it.

[24:16] Brian Sedita: Yeah, and I am so grateful that a lot of them say yes, especially like a year into a pandemic, because a lot of people are tired, a lot of life is going back to some sort of new normal or sense of normalcy. And so it's really nice that, and especially people are just like virtual zoomed out. They're they're kind of done in some ways with doing a lot of this kind of stuff. So it is really uh we we really appreciate it when they when they take time to come on here because it can be exhausting, but like we always have fun.

[24:47] Mary Dina: Yeah. And I but I also think there's something to be said, like, like I've heard a lot, I don't know about you, Brian, but I've heard a lot of people in the industry talk about how there's a lack of community right now, right? Like in a in a lot of ways, there's a lack of community. And I think that one of the reasons why podcasting has become so popular over the last year and a half, but also that like we've been able to keep doing this every, you know, every two weeks. Um, is because you know, theater people are at its core, they they need that human connection. And so this is a way to still create that community, but to still but also to kind of like remind each other and ourselves like why we do what we do.

Cause if you think about it, like we're not necessarily like talking about the big splashy things. Like we're talking about like what is it at its core that drives you? Like, what is it that like how do you do this? So it's very like very specific. And I think that also does a distraction, but also a reward and a reminder of you know, why we're here. Like we've not been doing it for a long time, but here it is. Like this, this is a good clear reminder of like, hello, wait, remember me.

[26:08] Brian Sedita: So what have you been up to over the past year in like personal life besides page to stage?

[26:15] Mary Dina: Oh. Do I have to answer this question first? Um, so I mean, I feel like a lot, but then also a lot of nothing. Um, as I feel like that's probably the case for a lot of people. Um, I was, I mean, knock on what I've been very, very, very grateful to keep my job through all of this. Um, and there was definitely a time where I was feeling very stressed. It was all of 2020. Um, and I've learned a lot.

[26:47] Mary Dina: I also want to call attention to the fact that both of us have kept our jobs throughout the pandemic, which we were both super fortunate enough for that to be the case. Uh especially early on, I felt super guilty about asking people to come on our podcasts that were not working and asking them to talk about work.

[27:05] Brian Sedita: Yeah.

[27:06] Mary Dina: And I wondered whether or not that was appropriate or not. And I think that a lot of the times it made them just really happy to talk about their job, even if they weren't currently working.

[27:19] Brian Sedita: Well, yeah, I mean, that goes back to like that sense of community that I was just saying. Like I think it was a way for them to stay connected and stay um in in touch with what with what you know with their why, because they were talking about their process.

[27:37] Mary Dina: Yeah. But yeah, I've managed to keep my job, which I'm like I said, I'm very grateful for. Um, I left the city temporarily, what I thought was going to be two weeks, turned out to be a year, which was shocking to me first and foremost. But um, we are looking for apartments as of as of today when we were recording, which is May 3rd. I'm still producing Ken's podcast. I'm in the works to start another podcast soon, which is comical. Um, but fun. Um, I I made it a goal of mine for 2021 to actually not only just identify a work life balance, but live it, like live a proper work life balance. Especially after the first couple months of the pandemic.

[28:23] Brian Sedita: I mean, yeah, I don't know how you didn't fall over.

[28:27] Mary Dina: It's because there was no time to stop. So there was no falling over because there was no time to stop. Um yeah, I'm definitely I feel like I'm definitely achieving that. I um I took my first like proper vacation in April of 2021. Um took myself on a solo trip to Florida, which was probably not the smartest idea for someone who was not yet vaccinated, but you know, we were very safe. I was in a house by myself with a private pool and we lived our best lives. I don't really know what else to say. It feels very strange. It feels very strange to like talk about myself because we don't do that on this podcast.

[29:01] Brian Sedita: We don't do that, and that is why we started a podcast because we didn't and as a podcast in a format where we talk to other people and ask them questions. Um, and if I remember correctly, when I listen back, or I haven't, but if I listen back to our one year anniversary episode, I'm pretty sure I made a similar comment when you were asking me questions, and I was like, I don't want to answer that. I kind of felt that way a little bit when I was on the Ensemblist podcast. It was a very short, it was very targeted about the Tony nominations. Um, but I was like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna handle this? It was fine. But what about you, Brian?

[29:40] Brian Sedita: As if I'm asking you this as if I don't already know because we talk almost every day. The past year has been uh very long and short and very jam-packed time. Um you had a big life, a big life change.

[29:56] Mary Dina: I had many big life changes, but um, like the biggest couple things were that Stan and I bought a house over in September, and so we've been living in that house, you know, doing some little house working house owner things, house owner things that I pretend to now know how to do. Um, called YouTube, you know, just YouTube everything. No, I mean that's been really a great thing to like move out of my mom's house and like not have to, you know, live with family anymore. It's just me and Stan, which is nice.

[30:35] Brian Sedita: Um, and we have our own space. I have my own office now it's to record these great podcasts from which is it's nice to like have a lot of my own space. Um and to be able to do things and have people over and like yeah, I just you know, it's it's fun to be able to do that kind of stuff, especially when like in the past year it's been hard to get people together. We didn't have a very traditional like housewarming, we didn't you know throw a party because it wasn't really appropriate to do so.

[31:07] Mary Dina: You should have had a virtual housewarming.

[31:09] Brian Sedita: I know. Well, now that we just put a pool in, we're hoping to do a a little bit of a everybody that's been vaccinated and like maybe a a couple people that are comfortable that maybe not. Uh, we'll do a little pool party over the summer for some folks.

[31:26] Mary Dina: Yeah. And I'll be back, I'll be coming back to the city by then, or I should be back in the city by this. Hopefully, by the time this episode releases. You'll be taking vacations out to my house to to stay in the backyard.

[31:37] Brian Sedita: Um in Jersey. And uh, and another big thing in my life has been Broadway by the Glass, which I don't think I've mentioned at all on the podcast. Maybe like a shout out here or there that Mary did on social media like stories. But um one of my longtime childhood friends, Kellyanne Coyle, and I started Broadway by the Glass, which is Broadway's premier cocktail destination.

[32:01] Mary Dina: So we're like the first Broadway inspired cocktail business.

[32:05] Brian Sedita: So we create custom cocktails and cocktail menus and signature drinks and lead cocktail workshops and um parties and stuff like that, uh virtually and in person. We just had our first in-person event last week for Broadway for Arts Education on a rooftop in New York City, uh, which was really great to be able to do that in person. And uh, you know, we make lots of drinks, so follow us at Be Way by the Glass. That's my that's my plug there.

[32:35] Mary Dina: And um don't worry, guys. You already know. I'm gonna put the link in the description notes of this episode so you can go there.

[32:42] Brian Sedita: Yeah, so follow us if you're 21, of course.

[32:46] Mary Dina: Follow us if you're 21. I have to say that. I I don't know what other life events have I had. Those are the two main ones, but also I did go on vacation to Florida as well.

[32:59] Brian Sedita: And it just so happens that it was at the same in the same city as Mary. We both went to Orlando. I went to Disney for a week with with Stan, and uh I did not go to Disney and Mary did not go to Disney, but we did make it a point to have dinner one night uh and finally see each other after 14 months.

[33:22] Mary Dina: I know or 13 months. Truly, truly crazy. Like I have it's funny because I think I said to you when we were at dinner that night that I was like, oh, the last time I saw you was when we recorded that episode with Stevie, and you were like, No, it's when we saw six, like three days before.

[33:39] Brian Sedita: It wasn't that. It was it was when we were supposed to go see emoji land, literally the day of the shutdown. We had tickets, everyone to go see emoji land the day of the shutdown. I I like we got comps to see that, and we we said, okay, and we're looking at the news, and it was you know, everything was bubbling. Moulin Rouge had announced that they weren't gonna perform that night, but like a bunch of the off Broadway stuff, even after Broadway had officially shut down was still supposed to go on.

[34:04] Mary Dina: And of course, I I was traveling from Jersey into the city, so I took the bus and I'm literally on the bus, and they make the announcement that emoji land was canceled. Of course, you know, everybody's gonna not be going to the theater that night. So we still went out to dinner to Bear Burger on 46th Street. Um, had some Tito's lemonade specials and a burger and said goodbye. Not knowing that it would be 13 months before we saw each other again in person.

[34:34] Brian Sedita: I know, isn't that truly crazy? At that point, I didn't even have plans to leave the city.

[34:38] Mary Dina: Yeah.

[34:39] Brian Sedita: I was like, oh, this is like it's gonna, it's gonna be bad, but it's not gonna be that bad. Um I remember taking a single, it was raining when we left the rest of the year.

[34:43] Mary Dina: It was.

[34:48] Brian Sedita: I remember very vividly remember that night. I I took a single photo and it was blurry because we were walking um down 46th. I don't remember. Like, shouldn't remember that night. I'm only 24. I think I should have a really good memory of a year or so.

[35:07] Mary Dina: A lot's happened.

[35:08] Brian Sedita: It's been it's been a traumatic year. It's it's okay. Um, but I just remember like, okay, like this is really eerie. It's pretty like pretty desolate down there.

[35:17] Mary Dina: Like there was no, there was no there were no people.

[35:21] Brian Sedita: It was kind of like gray and rainy, but yeah, I actually forgot about that. I I have been forgetting about that that night. W which is it's just crazy that it was the night that everything closed. And we that was the last time we saw each other until April of 2021, where we went to Florida and like of all places, like it's just crazy that I know it took going to Florida. We live like an two or three hour drive from each other.

[35:48] Mary Dina: Yeah.

[35:48] Brian Sedita: But it took flying to Florida to actually see each other in person.

[35:52] Mary Dina: Yeah.

[35:52] Brian Sedita: Ugh. We should have recorded an episode together.

[35:54] Mary Dina: We should have.

[35:55] Brian Sedita: We should have. I will also mention though, real quick. Um, we we did take a photo together, an iconic photo, which I will be posting on social media when this episode um releases. So go over and check it out if you want to see both of us together for the first time in a lot of days.

[36:11] Mary Dina: We still look the same, everyone.

[36:13] Brian Sedita: We do.

[36:13] Mary Dina: We do, we do.

[36:14] Brian Sedita: My hair is a little bit redder.

[36:17] Mary Dina: Not a little bit longer. You know what? My face was a little bit redder because I was in the sun for five days before that. Six days, so I was a little burnt. We're still us.

[36:25] Brian Sedita: We're still us at the core. Um, so I'm curious, Brian. Obviously, we're making a big change, which we have announced to everyone here listening. Um, but I I want to know what you're hoping to accomplish in the next year of podcasting.

[36:39] Brian Sedita: Well, I mean, especially because Broadway's gonna be coming back in 2021. That will be just another element to our content and at least our like lifestyle, if you will, like our podcasting lifestyle. We'll go back to seeing shows and stuff like that. So I'm excited to go back to seeing people again. I don't necessarily know if I will want to record in person as much as we did because of the way that like this is so much more accessible to our guests, to us. It just allows us to be able to talk to um people we would never be able to get on a normal basis, uh, or like pre-pandemic times.

[37:24] Mary Dina: But um, my goal, at least for this coming series that we're doing is to really just like get super specific and kind of be a time capsule for both us, the show that we're gonna be covering, and the people that we're gonna be having on, and like kind of get a little more deep in because we we love having somebody talk about their process uh about a specific show when we have them on as a guest. Especially like I always think about like the first person that we really had do this was Stevie Coleman and her doing a deep dive on Beetlejuice's uh advertising.

[38:01] Brian Sedita: And so ever since then I've just been like fixated on like specific shows and like having guests or like loving when guests talk about a specific show and like follow that as their like through line for the episode. And so to know that we have a whole series to kind of like keep getting more specific and more specific and like along the way, we will have picked up kind of like probably lingo and language and like stories from the show to bring to the next episode. I think that that will give us some better or like more deep uh dive into what they're what they're doing. Especially with like the show that we've picked. I'm excited to get the opportunity to go a little more deep than people may expect you to get with a show like this because it can easily be seen as something surface level, but but there are so many specific choices that go into every element of the process.

[38:58] Mary Dina: And so I just can't wait to uncover that with the creators and our artistic people involved in what we've chosen.

[39:06] Brian Sedita: Yeah, definitely. I love how you really skirted around that without giving too much away.

[39:16] Brian Sedita: Let me flip the question.

[39:17] Mary Dina: You're not gonna get it yet, guys. You have to wait.

[39:17] Mary Dina: Okay.

[39:17] Brian Sedita: What do you hope to accomplish in the next year?

[39:19] Mary Dina: Okay, so mine is not necessarily what the content of our podcast will be about, but it's more of like how do we expand our brand. So I have been slowly working on transcribing all of our episodes, which we keep bringing more out so it just makes it harder and harder and harder to get to now 50 episodes that I have to you know not that I have to transcribe but that I want to transcribe um because especially after our episode with Ali Bigory it became it became incredibly important to me to make sure that our episodes are um accessible to everybody to all theater makers. And so we we do that with the the teaser clips that we post on social media promoting the episodes where we always have them transcribed and it's on the graphics as it as it's as the audio is being spoken.

[40:15] Mary Dina: But I want to do it with all of our episodes. And so the original goal was to put it up the episodes on YouTube and have them all, you know, have the transcriptions there of it available to read. Um, but I'm playing around with the different options. So I haven't it's it's a long and lengthy process, but it is definitely something that I want to launch this year. Um, there is something else that we've talked about that I'm excited to hopefully be able to work on this year that I don't want to say now.

[40:46] Brian Sedita: See, this is the second thing I wanted to say.

[40:48] Mary Dina: You can say it.

[40:49] Brian Sedita: I didn't want to say it.

[40:50] Mary Dina: Oh, okay.

[40:51] Brian Sedita: Well, I'm gonna say it. It was my other part. So it's we definitely want to get our own website. And one of the things that we've talked about, I'm hoping this is what you're thinking, Brian.

[41:01] Brian Sedita: Okay.

[41:02] Mary Dina: Um, we I want our website to not just be a landing place for or a landing page for all of our episodes. Um, but I want it to be a resource. And so Brian and I have been talking about ways that we can use our platform, which I think is a great platform, but to also extend and expand to reach more people. And so we've talked about doing some things. I don't know if I want to get into the specifics of what we're really doing, but we want to use the website as a way to offer a resource to the things that we discuss within the episodes and not things that we don't necessarily discuss in the episodes. Um, so you'll have to stay tuned. It's on my list.

[41:41] Brian Sedita: It's on the list.

[41:42] Mary Dina: I mean, I'll give like a not like a I'll give a little like tease to that and just say like if you think about like our podcast is a process-based podcast, you get process-based episodes. So our content on the website will hopefully also have that sort of through line to it and and inner resourceful kind of way.

[42:06] Brian Sedita: Mm-hmm.

[42:07] Mary Dina: Yeah. Because I think what what we've what we've learned is that there's not one way to get to where our guests currently are. Um, but also we've covered a lot of jobs that when I was in high school, I certainly did not know were options in the theater.

[42:24] Brian Sedita: No, and I truly wish I did. I I like wish that somebody would have said, hey, here's the whole list of things you could do that aren't acting. And here are people, and here are people who are doing the things that are on this list.

[42:40] Mary Dina: So I think we're like skirting around it, but um, you know, it's our process of figuring this out, and it could change, so I don't want to say one thing and then it could become something a little bit different or completely different. So um just stay tuned.

[42:54] Brian Sedita: Yeah. So, do we want to tell everybody what show we're gonna be diving into for season three or year three of Page to Stage?

[43:03] Mary Dina: And it's just the first show in year three. We're gonna have a few shows. Um, but yeah, do you want to do that?

[43:09] Brian Sedita: Yeah, so I mean, like to go really full circle, right before the pandemic ended. I know Mary mentioned this briefly a couple minutes ago, but uh the last show that we saw before the shutdown was Six, the musical. And so we've chosen Six to do our deep dive on um for a bunch of reasons. One because it is something that we are gonna be able to celebrate when Broadway returns, uh, being that that's a show that has announced that they're coming back and is excited to return. So we're excited to kind of like be uh releasing these episodes right before they make their grand splashy return.

[43:51] Mary Dina: Yeah, I'm excited. We we've definitely come a long way. I feel like when we look at what our original thoughts were, what we what we wanted to make year three. Um I mean, I love the idea for the the original thought for year three, but I love, and this is one of my favorite parts about being in a partnership with this is like having the dialogue and going down that journey and like having those three hour conversations. Guys, it's a lot of a lot of three hour.

[44:19] Brian Sedita: I mean, not a lot of things. We have a hey, I have a quick thing to just discuss with you three hours later. It's now like midnight, and it's it's I mean, it's all great. I mean, that's like one of my favorite parts about being in this with you, Brian, is that like we we definitely are on the same page about a lot of things, but then we also like challenge each other on on our thoughts. And I don't think either one of us would have come to the table with with having this concept for with and using Six.

[44:48] Mary Dina: Yeah.

[44:48] Brian Sedita: If we hadn't spent those three hours discussing it. So just to tease it a little further, but Mary, can you bring up that sentence that we created? We kind of created like a little bit of a a log line or like a mission for what we wanted to accomplish and like our goal for the series, so that our listeners knew exactly like what we were gonna be focused on. And of course, our our guests too. We didn't want them to just think we're gonna talk about Six. We're gonna talk about your behind the scenes stories of making Six. And you know, we wanted to get very specific with a question and then really tool our questions and the episodes based on that central question.

[45:31] Mary Dina: We'll be focusing on this one central question. What role does history play in the storytelling of Six, a show that uses the history mix as a device? Our half hour episode turned into 53 minutes or less or more compared to depending on how I edit this. But yeah, we did it. Season we did two years of Page to Stage. Happy birthday.

[45:55] Brian Sedita: Happy birthday, Page to Stage. Um, of course, everybody uh we we say it all the time in our intro out or in our outro. But if you are listening still, and if especially if you've like listened to a bunch of our episodes, literally thank you. Just thanks for making it this far. Also, take a second while you're listening to us, like you could hit pause or you can if you can multitask, you can multitask. Like go to your review section of the app you're listening to us on and rate and review us. Uh, because it does help us get more people to to find us. I don't know, these algorithms, they're crazy. But also, we read like we read them, like we go and we read the review. So if there's something that you're loving, like let us know.

Like, and we'll do more of it. Or if there's a guest that you are really liking that you think is similar to another guest, like let us know. Thanks again for just making it this far, everyone. And thanks to Mary for being a great co-host, because like she said, I couldn't do this without her.

[47:02] Mary Dina: Thank you to Brian for being a great.

[47:04] Brian Sedita: This is getting to be too mushy.

[47:06] Mary Dina: Yeah, we're we're done. This is this needs to end.

[47:09] Brian Sedita: Uh all right, see you guys soon. Actually, before we go to the last question, I have another question for you. Where can our listeners find you on social media?

[47:18] Brian Sedita: Well, now I have a new handle. No, no, it's still at Brian Sedita for my personal stuff. But you know, like I barely post on there. I posted like three times in Disney World, which I never post. So my followers must have been like, wait, wait, wait, he's still alive. Um, you know, I use it as like a personal scrapbook. I don't use it for like a lot. I use like my story for like promo stuff for us and like at Broadway by the Glass or at Be Way by the Glass, I should say. Follow at Be Way by the Glass, everyone. Follow at Page to Stage podcast, everyone.

[47:51] Mary Dina: But I'm sure you do already if you're listening to this episode.

[47:52] Brian Sedita: Yeah. And how can our listeners find you?

[47:55] Mary Dina: Um, I also don't really post that often, mostly because I now manage a lot of social media accounts, or not a lot, but I manage quite a few social media accounts, and so I feel like I'm on there more often than I'm on my personal.

[48:09] Brian Sedita: But you post really cool videos of like a second of every day.

[48:13] Mary Dina: Yeah, so I use this app called One Second Every Day. I've used it for probably six years now. Like, I'm not even kidding. And I have all the footage to back it up. Um, but basically you just collect one second of your day. It doesn't have to be every day. I definitely don't do it every day, especially in the pandemic, man. Like it was the same thing. It's all my dog. Um, and if you go and follow me um at The Mary Dina, you will see it's mostly of my dogs. But yeah, so at The Mary Dina, um, at Page to Stage Podcast. Um, but yeah.

[48:45] Brian Sedita: Okay, so here's my question for you.

[48:47] Mary Dina: Yeah, what?

[48:47] Brian Sedita: What?

[48:47] Mary Dina: Oh, go ahead.

[48:48] Brian Sedita: I was gonna say, what is the first show you want to see when Broadway returns?

[48:52] Mary Dina: That was what I was gonna ask you.

[48:53] Brian Sedita: Um what is the first show that I want to see when Broadway reopens? This is hard for me because part of me is like, is it gonna be a show that's already been opened? Probably. Realistically, realistically. I mean, based on the the latest from the governor, it'll probably be one of three, probably be Lion King, maybe Phantom Hamilton, Wicked, so four. I don't know. I'm gonna, I mean, I've never seen The Lion King. I'm not a Lion King fan, everyone. I'm so sorry.

[49:27] Mary Dina: I'm sorry.

[49:29] Brian Sedita: I saw it twice. I loved it when I was six. You know what? Maybe both. But the musical, I saw it twice, once when I was six, and it was magical because I was six and it was my second Broadway show. But you know, as a jaded 15-year-old, when I went back and saw it again, it just didn't have that same magic.

[49:50] Mary Dina: Well, um, I I grew up on The Lion King. I grew up on The Lion King and I grew up on Aladdin, so I feel like I would really enjoy it. Um, I don't I don't actually have an answer to this. This is like a really hard thing because my go-to would always be something new, but I don't know it what's reopening.

[50:19] Brian Sedita: So that's like that's like a a cop out of an answer, and I'm sorry, but you make our guests answer it, and you can't.

[50:26] Mary Dina: Okay, I mean, I guess I mean, I think it I'm not I'm also not one to like re-see shows, like once I've seen it, like I've seen it. There are a few that I have seen multiple times. Um but I haven't seen Wicked since I was I don't know, 16 or 17, and I saw it, I got it won the lottery, so I was like literally front row and center, so I felt like my experience was very limited.

[50:51] Brian Sedita: I also was just like I don't know.

[50:52] Mary Dina: No that's a good experience.

[50:54] Brian Sedita: That is a good experience. I've never seen a Broadway show that close before.

[50:57] Mary Dina: So I think I would if I were to see Wicked again I'd love to see it like in the either in the front row of the the mezzanine or like in the back of the orchestra um just to get that like literally anywhere you sit in that theater you're having a great view I've sat in every area because I've seen it.

[51:16] Brian Sedita: You are biased because you love Wicked.

[51:19] Mary Dina: I do and that is my answer. That will be the first show that has been my answer this whole time that has to be the first show that I see when Broadway returns and I would die to be in the audience the first night that it comes back although I'm so interested to know how they're gonna like prioritize.

[51:38] Brian Sedita: No I'm just interested to know how they're gonna call it like are they gonna call it a preview are they gonna call it a performance are they gonna call it the second opening night yeah I don't know.

[51:49] Mary Dina: Um so that so that's my answer everyone and um if anybody gets any leads on when tickets are gonna go on sale for Wicked you can just shoot me a DM on any of my platforms and I'll I'll be really forever grateful if I can get a seat in that house.

[52:04] Brian Sedita: There's a lot of seats in that house hey wicked the musical at Wicked the musical just send us as press that night just case the stage needs to be there to got usher I will usher I would usher yeah no I would I would do probably anything.

[52:21] Mary Dina: Yeah we know this is getting really weird we gotta go.

[52:24] Brian Sedita: All right guys we'll see you soon um I hope you're excited for like this new format. I mean it's not it's still the same format, but it's like a new format.

[52:33] Mary Dina: It yeah.

[52:34] Brian Sedita: I mean, it's like the same kind of like episode structure in a way.

[52:37] Mary Dina: Or maybe a new concept and it's a new concept, but same format.

[52:40] Brian Sedita: It's the same us, new us.

[52:47] Mary Dina: We have to start seeing more people because this is just getting strange.

[52:50] Brian Sedita: This is where we don't just have it, just the two of us. We always have a guest so that it doesn't get weird.

[52:55] Mary Dina: Yeah, we have to just let it out once a year.

[52:57] Brian Sedita: So until next May, we're signing off.

[53:02] Mary Dina: Bye.

[53:03] Brian Sedita: Hey.

[53:03] Mary Dina: Bye.

[53:05] Brian Sedita: 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 Page2Stage 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.

[53:22] Mary Dina: That's Mary.

[53:23] Brian Sedita: We'll see you later.

[53:24] Mary Dina: Bye.