This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Eli Tokash: Hey everyone, and welcome or welcome back to Take A Bow Podcast.

[0:03] Sydney Lucas: I'm Sydney Lucas.

[0:04] Eli Tokash: And I'm Eli Tokash. And today we have Elizabeth Teeter on the podcast.

[0:09] Sydney Lucas: And she's been in multiple Broadway shows and has had experience since she was just like 10 years old.

[0:15] Eli Tokash: Um, professional experience, but she but she's had experience before that because her parents were involved in the arts beforehand. So we're gonna talk all about that, all about her different experiences and how at literally was it 14 years old, she came to New York City and pretty much did a Broadway show just like by herself, like she was in New York City pretty much by herself.

[0:40] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, so this is the perfect episode for child actors, and she really takes everyone like all of you through the journey of what it's like to truly be a child actor, as far as all the responsibilities that you kind of feel as a child actor and her being in three Broadway shows. She had perfect explanations for all of the crazy events that child actors face.

[1:04] Eli Tokash: So we're very excited to dive into that with you guys, and then we'll stay tuned after the interview because we have a little bit of an announcement and a change coming to Take A Bow that you won't want to miss.

[1:16] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, so without further ado, Elizabeth Teeter, curtain up.

[1:40] Eli Tokash: Today's guest made her Broadway debut at just 10 years old in Mary Poppins, and then went on to be in The Crucible on Broadway, The Audience on Broadway, and The Secret Life of Bees off Broadway. And she's only 19 years old. She is an actor, a singer, a dancer, a musician, an artist, and she's just bursting with talent. We are so delighted to have her on. Everyone, please welcome Elizabeth Teeter to the podcast.

[2:08] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes.

[2:10] Eli Tokash: Thank you.

[2:11] Elizabeth Teeter: Thanks for coming on. This is a blast.

[2:12] Eli Tokash: Thank you for having me. I had some technical difficulties on my end.

[2:17] Elizabeth Teeter: So we've already introduced each other. We practically recorded a full podcast already.

[2:25] Eli Tokash: We've gone on an entire adventure. We went on a house tour. We got to know each other. And I promised I would say this again out of the bottom of my heart. Their podcast is amazing. I told them this before it cut off. What you guys are doing is so incredible, especially just because you know, we're all young. We're young adults for teens, and so it's so cool to be like, yeah, you can start a podcast. You can interview these amazing people. Yeah, I can do whatever. Oh, not for not saying I'm amazing. Um, but some of the guests that you've got that you've had are just incredible. And um, so you know, I saw you. It's amazing. I think it's safe to say that we're all best friends now.

[3:04] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[3:05] Elizabeth Teeter: And we're and we're so excited that now you're a part of our family at Take A Bow.

[3:10] Eli Tokash: I just fly to New York, and we shove a slip sleepover of things, you know, rapid test. So, what happened was is that we started recording, and then about like eight minutes into it, we not Sydney and I couldn't hear Elizabeth anymore.

[3:26] Elizabeth Teeter: They were so polite. I was in the middle of like they just asked me one of my first questions, and I was talking, and they were just politely nodding. Um, we were about three questions in, so we're gonna try this all over again. Uh so bear with us. There's gonna be some giggles. There're just gonna be some giggles. We're gonna have some.

[3:48] Eli Tokash: Exactly. So let's start from the beginning again.

[3:54] Elizabeth Teeter: Act two. When and where did you get your start in the business?

[3:59] Eli Tokash: Okay.

[3:59] Elizabeth Teeter: So I was seven years old. Um, my I always preface, I said this last time. My parents are not crazy stage parents, they did not push me into anything. But my my family are artists. We love the arts. My dad is a professor of musical theater at Webster University. I would practically beg him and force him to act out all the Disney movies with me. I was always just making up stories and would beg him to take me to see shows that he had directed or you know, things that he needed to see for work. You know, five-year-old me wanting to go see Les Mis and not really knowing what was happening but enjoying it. And then I begged my parents to let me audition for the Muni Theater, which people may or may not know, but it's a huge outdoor theater in St. Louis.

And my parents sort of said, Okay, if you don't get in, you can do summer camp, it'll be great. But I did. I was in, um I was incredibly lucky. My first performance ever was on that huge stage, which is crazy. I got to do Meet Me in St. Louis, if anyone knows that show. Very sweet fitting for where I live, my hometown. Right. And then I just kept auditioning. Yeah, kept auditioning and went from there.

[5:10] Eli Tokash: I love that your parents are supportive, but they're not like you said, they're not stage parents.

[5:15] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, and there's a difference. It's so important.

[5:19] Eli Tokash: Absolutely. But so helpful growing up, having parents that understood the business and were able to help me with those things. It's funny though, when they asked me my or people asked me about auditions, and you know, since my dad's a teacher, sometimes he would run things with me, but I'm very much like I want to do it on my own, like no, thank you. So my parents were just basically like, Do you need anything? Like you know, like we're there for you, and they always told me, and this like sticks with me forever, is you know, as I kept doing more theater, they were like, if you wake up tomorrow and don't want to do it anymore, that's completely fine. Oh they never forced me so many kid auditions.

I feel like you guys probably know you see parents sometimes dragging their kids around, and you know, you would just wonder if the kid really wants to do it, and I really want to do it, and they never forced me to. So I love that. Love you, mom and dad. My mom's cooking, so maybe she can hear me. But yeah, they like nurtured your passion.

[6:11] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, yeah. And it's cool too, because we're similar in a way. Well, first of all, our initials are both ET. Um, second of all, we're both not from New York, and our family's kind of like just dropped everything to in order to move to New York and to order to make this all happen, whatever came our way. You also came to New York at similar ages.

[6:33] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[6:33] Elizabeth Teeter: When you're yeah, I was around 10 years old. So I actually have three other siblings. So I have a twin brother. Oh my god. I have a 15-year-old sister and an 11-year-old sister. So we're a big house, there's six of us. And I feel like I'm talking about my parents so much, but I like I love them, they're incredible. And they're very um, very big on, you know, everyone is equally important, everyone's interest is equally important. But when I when I got Mary Poppins when I was around 10, my whole family basically packed up. We went to New York. My dad stayed home for work, and we consider that one of the best years in our family's life, just because it was so much fun. Coming from a smaller town to someplace like New York, we were just like, oh my gosh, the culture and we were we were all homeschooled.

Praise to my mom. Homeschooled us for the year. So we had the natural history museum as our backyard. Yeah. Um we would go take classes there. There was a cool homeschool community. So for the whole year was just like incredible.

[7:31] Eli Tokash: There's a homeschool community.

[7:32] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah. So in New York there's actually a great homeschool community. It's a lot of kids that are not in school because they have other passions or they're trying to follow you know they're crazy smart or they love the arts or whatever. And so every Wednesday they would have a big recess. So all the homeschool kids would get together at one playground and we'd have like five hours straight just like recess like a bunch of kids running around and playing so and there were obviously like some homeschool classes and stuff. My mom mostly sort of covered it which is just incredible but I love seeing videos of you and your dad specifically I saw one recently of you and your dad going doing this I think it was yeah yeah yeah on Instagram and I was like oh my gosh that is so um so acting together my dad loves to tap he's an amazing tapper.

He did um the role of Don Lockwood in Singing in the Rain so many times um I sadly didn't get to see it but um I was not alive excuse then but that's his tapping is his love and I I like to tap ballet sort of always been like more my thing and so whenever I would ask my dad to tap, he'd be like, Yes, come tap with me. So over winter break he says you know, we've been stuck at home doing whatever. I went up to him and I said, I really want to learn this entire number to Moses poses because he's known it forever. Um, the original choreography from the movie. And so I asked him to teach it to me, and it was just such a fun memory. We we you know just practiced together and recorded so had so many mess-ups, but it was just it's so fun to have that on video.

I'm so lucky to be able to like look back and say, I got to do this with my dad. And yeah, so it was just super fun, and so special. You know, I had a lot of friends reach out and say that they just brought them joy to see uh see us having you know, goofing off.

[9:26] Eli Tokash: Yeah, honestly, truly it it did. It's so special. It's definitely one thing that like quarantine has done, like the one good thing that COVID's done is it's just like continued to bring people together that just love creating and love the art and it's like forced you to like you know, do create but in other ways, absolutely because we don't have a stage, and and I feel like it's a really testament to um how we as artists need to continue to create, you know, we need to connect with each other, and um no matter what that is or how that is, just because we don't have a uh the setting of a stage, um doesn't mean that our art has to stop necessarily. But yeah, truly I do feel grateful. I mean, obviously, this has been a horrible time, and I'm so lucky for where I am right now in terms of that I'm able to stay with my family.

Yeah, I obviously work in theater, but I'm I feel like we're all at an age right now where um we're not dependent, dependent on it for a job. Yeah, it is a job, but we're not at an age where oh my gosh, I need to pay my bills. I'm reaching that, but I'm still able to stay at home, so I just feel so lucky that I'm safe at home with my family. Um, I have a lot I'm sure you guys have a lot of friends too that you know that are just you know struggling right now. And it's just uh allowed me to um explore other things. Like I've been writing music, I've been trying to write music and and like you know, try other things. There are good things to come out of it, you know.

[10:51] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[10:52] Elizabeth Teeter: I don't know, but I actually think I might. I think I'm doing it. Like actually I don't know when, I don't know how many songs, but um I just over quarantine over the summer I started writing and um I said, you know, why not? Why not have no pre like I don't want to put any pressure on it? It's not like I'm trying to sure break into the music industry.

[11:12] Eli Tokash: Yeah, it's creative expression.

[11:13] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, it's just for fun, and I said, you know, I had some friends that were like, I really want to listen to this if you if you release it. So um who knows if that's gonna happen, but uh just so people can can keep up with if if you do end up um releasing an album. What is your Instagram so people can go and call in?

[11:32] Elizabeth Teeter: It's Elizabeth Teeter, my name Elizabeth Teeter Official. Um I post clips of songs sometimes on there. Hopefully I'll I don't know. We'll see if something comes out of it.

[11:42] Eli Tokash: What kind of music do you like to write?

[11:44] Elizabeth Teeter: That is a great question. Um I honestly kind of don't know the I don't know the genre and I've talked to people and they're like it's kind of all over the place. I just love a lot of instrumentation, so I love like strings, orchestrations. Um it's kind of folky, kind of um along those lines. Nothing super pop like. Yeah, I'm still figuring out how to use like logic and mixing and garage band and all those things, but um it's just been fun to do, so who knows? But uh it's been a fun pastime.

[12:15] Eli Tokash: Awesome. Hey, who knows? If you're the you're the next biggest like music star, we're gonna be like, We had it on the cover!

[12:24] Elizabeth Teeter: And I have to I have to bring up before anything else, Sydney. Our paths have crossed so many random times.

[12:30] Sydney Lucas: So many times.

[12:31] Elizabeth Teeter: One of them, which we're gonna talk later on, being the we we both like did were in the it's in the same Tony season.

[12:40] Sydney Lucas: Yes!

[12:40] Elizabeth Teeter: I was gonna about to say I met you for the first time on the red carpet carpet.

[12:46] Sydney Lucas: Exactly.

[12:47] Elizabeth Teeter: You had your little left animal with you.

[12:49] Sydney Lucas: I thought it was so with me.

[12:51] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes. Oh my gosh. Your little good luck charm. Oh my gosh. Um also I saw um I'm pretty sure I saw your second preview of Fun Home.

[12:54] Sydney Lucas: Second preview.

[13:01] Elizabeth Teeter: Wow, that was really early on.

[13:03] Sydney Lucas: That was that's honestly the second the previews. We changed so much during the previews.

[13:08] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh yeah. Yeah, I can only imagine. But I was blown away. I think I was like third row or something crazy. We had amazing people and I know I just have to gush about you for a second. You were incredible. It was just oh such a beautiful show.

[13:25] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, and then we it's just we'll probably get into it more later, but we've had so many like I met you there, then um you did the workshop of See You Life of Bees, like and we were so we worked with the same director, and then we did our reading together.

[13:38] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh my god, that's right. And then we did this reading with Rachel Brosnahan like Rachel Brosnahan and Constance Woo. And when we saw Billie Eilish on the street.

[13:48] Eli Tokash: Yes!

[13:49] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes, we remember that. Yes, you saw like a flash of her green hair.

[13:53] Eli Tokash: Exactly.

[13:54] Elizabeth Teeter: That's so funny. Oh my god. And like I think we went to Schnippers. I had to leave, but like everyone went to Schnippers or something. I that was crazy. I remember being so excited seeing you and Sadie on the Tony Awards red carpet.

[14:06] Eli Tokash: It's kind of intimidating being a kid there. There's all these people towering over you. And the only kids I saw in sight were you, Sadie Sink, and Ian Armitage. We all like ran over and we're like, hello! Like, hi, sorry about that. That wasn't supposed to happen.

[14:25] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh my gosh, I can't wait to talk about this. So you made your Broadway debut in Mary Poppins.

[14:31] Eli Tokash: Yes.

[14:32] Elizabeth Teeter: So before our episode cut out last time, we were talking about right where we were back.

[14:32] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[14:32] Elizabeth Teeter: We were talking about the audition process for Mary Poppins. Uh, so what was that audition process like and what was it like to finally have your Broadway debut?

[14:50] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, so um this was sort of where my story cut out um last time we were playing. We got right up to this point. But um it was kind of a quick, crazy process. Um I got an agent pretty recently in New York, and um it was one audition. That's it. Um I was very lucky that it was just one audition for me. So there are three Janes and three Michaels, um, since ever the kids are so young. Um and it's a big part. We're on stage a lot of the time, and you know, the boys are like eight or nine, and the girls are, you know, ten. It's very, you know, really young. I was called in with this huge group of kids, I don't know how many, but uh we were just we were talking about earlier how the directors really want to see if kid actors can take direction because you know they have to remember where to go, they have to you know remember their lines, especially being put into a show that's already like a machine that's running, you know, they don't want anyone to mess up.

Um so we did we basically played a lot of games. We played um red light, green light, but it was um instead of green light being go, it was you had to stop, like reversed things just to see how we, you know, processed it all. Or I remember there was one where um we had to sit with a partner and look at them, turn around and then like look back and have they change something and you had to like observe it, or I don't know. Um really unusual for like the typical audition process um that you would see. And then, you know, we sang in front of all the kids, which um you know it's kind of nerve-wracking, but yeah, sang a little cut of a song and danced sort of a bit and did one scene and that was it.

And I remember I was back home and my class, my like fifth grade or fourth grade class, I guess I I guess I was in fourth grade, which is crazy. Um they were going to the baseball game. Like my choir was going to the baseball game to sing like the, you know, national anthem or something. And like right before, you know, I get the call that I got it, and I was just like, I'm not I I'm sorry to the baseball fans out there, I'm not the hugest baseball fan. But I stayed home with my mom and we, you know, we got ice cream and celebrated, but it was just bizarre and crazy. And then, you know, it was the best year that I could have asked for. And the funny thing is, um, kind of going back to my parents being involved somewhat in the business, is um Megan Osterhaus, who played Mrs. Banks at the time, who played my mom.

So my dad's mentor in college, his daughter was Megan Osterhaus. So she was about three years old and knew my dad. So when whenever he was, you know, however old, she was running around when he was being coached at like three, and then it came full circle and she played my mom. So like that was so cool. And then one of the understudies for Bert was um Jesse Swim, who was like my mom's little brother in college. So like we are like my family already knew a lot of the cast members in a way, and everyone was just really excited to sort of like have us have the family be a part of the Mary Poppins family. It was a little bit of a so right away. It was like my parents were like, we have like little aunts and uncles, you know, like taking care of her. Like it was just kind of a fate moment of like this is happening and all these people are just coming back into our lives with a show.

[18:03] Eli Tokash: Yeah, um, which was super special. So it's interesting because that's actually kind of how our paths have crossed. The way that we so when Mary Poppins were doing auditions, they auditioned both for the tour and Broadway at the same time.

[18:18] Elizabeth Teeter: Right.

[18:18] Eli Tokash: I remember it was like we want tour Broadway, like you would like write down. Yeah, and so they were doing so there was like even more kids because of that because they had to cast more kids. And I I don't know if it was the same year, but I experienced the Mary Poppins audition because I did the tour.

[18:33] Elizabeth Teeter: Wait, wait, you did the tour, Mary Poppins?

[18:35] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[18:36] Elizabeth Teeter: And I and I know you.

[18:38] Eli Tokash: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[18:39] Elizabeth Teeter: And it's because like Juliana Regaloso and Maddie Malahey and they all like they would always talk about you. So then like Sydney said like Elizabeth Teeter's coming on the podcast, and I was like, Oh my god.

[18:54] Eli Tokash: It's all good.

[18:56] Elizabeth Teeter: It's a really special, isn't it? Like it's a very special show. It holds like a very special part in my heart.

[19:01] Eli Tokash: Absolutely.

[19:02] Elizabeth Teeter: And it's just interesting because like you're totally right in everything that you said, like it's a completely different audition. And at the time, like you don't think about stuff like that because you're just like a kid and like you're like, oh yeah, games, great. And yeah, right. And like then looking back on it, like it makes total sense. Like it's so interesting to see the different ways that creative teams come together to create this audition that they can really get a sense of who may fit the role best and may fit the show best. And it's cool because like that's why it's so hard too to like ask how do you audition? Like how do you do this? And like it's so it's hard to answer that because it's just always different.

[19:40] Elizabeth Teeter: It's always different. I know it's like it's changed so much, obviously as I've gotten older, like my auditions now are completely different. It's still such like a vivid memory and um such a smart audition process, honestly, for that show. It makes so much sense. Yeah. Um that we need the kids to be on their toes, especially with just you know, the amount of stuff going on in that show. Like, you don't want anyone to get hurt, you don't want anything to get messed up. And they were replacing all three pairs of kids, so they had to find, you know, you know, I was with someone blonde, they needed to find, you know, someone shorter than me and blonde, and like the other two pairs had to look alike, so I can only imagine how it just everything had to fit together. And we were the clo I got to do the closing show. Um we were the closing company very final performance.

[20:22] Eli Tokash: Wasn't Aiden in your cast?

[20:24] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes.

[20:24] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[20:27] Eli Tokash: Aid and Jim, right?

[20:28] Elizabeth Teeter: So Aiden did Finding Neverland with me.

[20:28] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah. I love Aiden. Aiden's the best. We had the best time together, and we only got to perform like um the show together about like four times. Um because we didn't look too much alike. We got really lucky and uh were placed together for the final performance. That was super special because we were really close. And then we got to do it again that summer at the Muni. The Muni rehearses for 11 days. It's eleven days of rehearsal, that's it. And then they put up a show for a week. And so it was honestly pretty smart and lucky because as you know, Jane and Michael have a lot to learn. So imagining teaching kids that in 11 days is just crazy. And you know, the show closed, I think, in March, and the sh the one at the Muni was that follow that summer.

So we like remembered our lines, we remembered the music. Um we knew everything except obviously the blocking was changed. It was just kind of lucky and smart for them to you know have kids that already knew the part basically.

[21:23] Eli Tokash: So after the show closed, did you move back to St. Louis right away?

[21:26] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, I think my dad was doing a show somewhere possibly. So we we drove, we like road tripped and sort of made like a fun vacation out of it, just so we weren't suddenly like flying back home and it was just this, you know, like when shows close, it's very just like sort of jarring the first sad the first couple days. Um I remember I was so sad just because it, you know, I never I didn't want it to end. I did feel lucky to close the show because it was just, you know, the magic was crazy. All the 40 Janes and Michaels from you know, over the years. I never had to have that conversation of, you know, you're a little too old, you're a little too tall, you know, or whatever. I mean, I'm still pretty short, but you know, it was sort of just a nice, you know, we it was not expected.

The show was the show was doing really well, so it sort of came as a shock to everyone. It was a super special uh night to be a part of. Speaking of there being a lot going on in the show, there's a lot of tech technical stuff in the show and blocking. Did anything ever go wrong? Were there any stage mishaps?

[22:31] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh gosh. Too many to remember. I can't remember exactly because it was like so long ago. I think I got pretty lucky in terms of like nothing terrible happening. I know I'd heard stories of like, you know, the nursery when it flies down like not happening or you know, things like that. My shoe fell off at one point, but that was a lot more dramatic in my 10-year old head than it actually was. You know, obviously, I was like, my shoe came off. I got it two seconds later, it was fine. But I thought it was dramatic at the time. I know there have definitely been some mishaps in other shows, but I can't actually specifically remember. Do you do you have any mishap stories in other shows? We love mishap stories.

[23:08] Eli Tokash: Oh gosh, mishap. I love mishap stories.

[23:11] Elizabeth Teeter: Well, for The Crucible, the one that I remember the most. If you know, people know the story of The Crucible, it's very dark about the Salem Witch trials, and I played um Betty Paris. So I basically um possessed for a lot of the shows. So I like scream and do all these things. In the end of Act One, I get up on my table, my character and Abigail Williams start like staring at um something in the audience and shouting, like, I saw so-and-so with the devil, I saw so-and-so with the devil, and like the curtain comes down and we're shouting these people's names, so it's very like creepy or whatever. And one night the curtain, like the scrim wasn't coming down, and so we're just staring out there.

Obviously, we run out of names that are like in the script. We had like, you know, four or five names, and then we said all of them and just you know, we're standing there, and everyone on stage sort of just started like to leave, but the music was still like it went into this new part of underscoring that I'd never heard before, and I was just like, What's happening? And all of a sudden I look and I'm the only one on stage. Everyone else had dipped, and so I was like, How do I? And I was supposed to be like, you know, possessed and sort of twitching and doing all this creepy stuff, and so I was like, I can't just walk off stage. So I like got down off the bed and like twitched my way back to the chalkboard and started doing this like old choreography they had told me to do.

And then I just like rolled off stage. Like I and just left. And like that's not it, it was it was honestly not a terrible mistake. But I just like the feeling of having you know a company of like 16 people on stage, and then all of a sudden being like there's literally no one on stage, right? What did everyone know I need to go? You played that all well.

[24:58] Eli Tokash: Yeah, we didn't know.

[24:59] Elizabeth Teeter: I made it I made a I was like, I I just imagined if I was, you know, doing this creepy stuff and then just dropped my arms and you know left. Um and my character was supposed to actually like the scrim would come down and it would come up, and my character was supposed to like fly for a second. It ended up being like my understudy, like a double because it was too fast. And I was actually very thankful. I got to fly like once in tech, and then it it was cut for me. And I was actually grateful though, because I would have to lay in the harness for like all of act one on this table uncomfortably and doing all this possession stuff in a harness, and so I was I was like, you know what? I flew a couple times, it was fun. Um so we were afraid that when the scrim didn't come down, that Allegra, my understudy, would just be like you know, in the air hanging there. I don't think that happened. I think they stopped her in time. Yeah, we love a good mishap.

[25:51] Eli Tokash: Like been there, done that fly already flew.

[25:54] Elizabeth Teeter: Well, I already flew. Obviously, it was fun, just the harness is pretty uncomfortable. You probably know from Finding Neverland.

[26:02] Eli Tokash: No, we were I thought you like you get like thrown in the air.

[26:06] Elizabeth Teeter: We get like lifted.

[26:08] Eli Tokash: Lifted, yeah, it was like yeah, it was like imaginary flying.

[26:12] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, my brother had to fly in Peter Pan Live, and he kind of like is so uncomfortable with Sydney. I remember visiting him on their set one day and just walking up to him being like, You get to fly, and him just standing there in the end because he's been in the harness for hours, and it's just pinching and oh yeah.

[26:31] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[26:31] Elizabeth Teeter: And he's like, I have to get out of this.

[26:35] Eli Tokash: It's really not that glorious.

[26:37] Elizabeth Teeter: Like, I guess I've flown three times if The Crucible counts. I flew in The Wizard of Oz in a production and then um I did Jerome Robbins Broadway at the Muni, which is like I had a little Peter Pan section, so we were hoisted, you know, super high in the air. So not anything too painfully long. It's definitely fun, you know. Everyone wants to do it. You it's super fun, but it definitely is uncomfortable. For the moment, I'm sure.

[27:00] Eli Tokash: Our fucking can get really old.

[27:04] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah. I have to ask, so you've done a couple shows uh where you've had to to talk in a British accent. So your first one is obviously Mary Poppins.

[27:13] Elizabeth Teeter: Is that something you knew before doing Mary Poppins? Or would did you learn it from there and then kind of just like used what you learned? I learned it from there, but I've always really loved dialect. Like dialect is something I've really been interested in. I feel like some people have an ear and are drawn to it, and I've always just loved it. And so uh Mary Poppins, they they were kind of less specific. It was sort of a generic British accent for the audience, um, which is based on Queen Elizabeth the second was very specific. We since we were playing Sadie and I were playing The Young Queen, we had to have like intense dialect sessions. We would listen to recordings and and the accent was completely different than um Mary Poppins because it's like BBC British, so it's like very kid up here, you know.

Um, super specific. But I thought it I thought it was so cool. I guess yeah, I learned two different dialects for that. But it's nice now because I feel like I feel like really comfortable in British. So I feel like I'm comfortable comfortable enough to say like an auditions and things that I can do a British accent. Right. But you know, nobody speaks really in BBC British accents anymore. You know, it's a t definitely a type. I loved it. I thought it was you know super great. And and Helen Murin, who was playing the Queen was just so helpful and sort of would, you know, come up to us and and help us.

[28:33] Eli Tokash: Wait, does she speak in that specific accent?

[28:35] Elizabeth Teeter: No, she has she has a different British accent. Um it's definitely more laid back, it's not as crazy. But the amazing thing about her in that show was she was spanning all of the different ages of the queen. So she went from like 20 years old to 70. Wow. And in different orders too, it wasn't like chronological. So she would, you know, be changed on stage and all of a sudden jump up and be this 20-year-old young woman, and she just embodied that. You know, you wouldn't even know her age in real life because she's just so fantastic. And so our part would be, you know, sort of to come on, she would have an audience for the prime minister, that would be like a scene, and then young Elizabeth would come on and sort of have flashback dialogue with her about what she was going through.

And so the fact that not only that I got to be in the show, but like all of my scenes were with her, is just looking back, going, Oh my gosh, I got to do that. And you know, you know, at 13, I didn't even realize, you know, when I first got cast, I knew she was, you know, this incredible actress. You know, you know, you just you never realize. I feel like you realize when you're in it, but you really realize afterwards what a gift it was. I'm sure you have the same thing with your shows. I mean, I'm sure Sydney, you know, the fact that you in Fun Home, the fact that you were nominated so young, like all this stuff, I bet it's still just like that's crazy.

[29:51] Sydney Lucas: It's pretty surreal.

[29:52] Elizabeth Teeter: Speaking of Helen Mirin, was there anything that you learned from her, whether it be advice that she gave you or stuff that you just learned just from working alongside her?

[30:03] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah. She is one of those celebrities that is even better in person than you would think. I I've been super lucky to work with some really awesome people and learn what is the right way to be like a good company member. What is the right way to lead a show? And not just talent-wise and on stage, but s offstage. Like that's the biggest thing. Her grace, the first day of rehearsal right away, comes up to Sadie and I introduces herself. It's so completely sweet. I mean, just so down to earth. Like she would host, she hosted like a barbecue or something like a potlock and the cast. And the thing the moments that stick with me the most are um opening night, Sadie and I both got to bow since only one of us got to perform.

And basically the entire ensemble cast comes in, bows, we part ways, and Helen comes down, takes her bow as she should. She's, you know, the lead of the show. Opening night, she grabs both of our hands and takes us down to bow with her on her solo bow, which of course we didn't like need. Like, you know, we're a small part of the show, but it was just her love of wanting to share that moment with us. And throughout the show, she would, you know, call us and uh after a scene and be like, let's like try this this way, or you know, because we had s we we tried to mimic her physicality and things like that, um, as playing versions, and she was always you know, trying to do things. And I I remember one night s I have uh the speech that I gave the character gave about like addressing the nation or whatever, and it was sort of my longest like monologue speech or whatever.

It was when Helen was having a quick change, and I remember being nervous that it was like too fast or too slow. Like, you know, you want to get the pacing right so she's not stressed. And she came up to me after a show and um she said about like your your monologue or scene and I was like, I'm so so I really I was like, I'm so sorry, do you need me to like change like the speed? And she was just so down to earth. I was like, I was really listening. I really listen every night and just the way you think about your words is so beautiful. And she she's literally quick changing, it's her only break, but the fact that she is listening to the other company members and like admiring what we do is just wow incredible.

And you know, obviously she's she's older now, like she's she's she's older, but she's doing such incredible work still, and um, you know, she'd be in her little bathrobe with like she'd have like a wine glass of milk, you know, or whatever in her slippers and then be on the red carpet. I remember she's carrying a wine glass of milk once. I was like, Hey, Helen Marion.

[32:40] Eli Tokash: She can do whatever she wants.

[32:42] Elizabeth Teeter: Exactly. She can do whatever she wants, whatever she wants. But to get to the story that we mentioned early about when I met Sydney.

[32:50] Sydney Lucas: Yes.

[32:51] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh my god. Suspense is real. So there were only a certain amount of, you know, tickets that were going for the Tony Wars that season and that they offered the cast, and then Sadie and I were lucky to to get two tickets and we were, you know, we were so excited. We got dressed up. We went so excited to see you do your thing. We were sitting in the balcony, and I get a call from our company manager, and I was like, What? You know, this is before anything had happened. This is when, you know, we got there pretty early, just to you know, be in our seats. And she's like, Are you guys here? And we I said, Yeah. She goes, Helen's looking for you. And we went, He uh isn't she out like doing and she goes, Yeah, she's on the carpet looking for you right now.

So, you know, of course, we're like, what is going on? We're, you know, 13, like whatever. So Sadie and I like grab each other's arms, and little 13-year-olds like run down to the corner of the street. And you know, it's like crazy. It's the street is blocked off, there's a crowd, there's the big tent. It's crazy. It's so overknowing. I can't even imagine, like, well, you're you know, you're the youngest one on there. No, it's just there's so many people. I don't think I've ever been around that many people or yeah, I can only imagine crazy movie premieres with like a list celebrities. Like, I can only imagine how stressful that is. If you can imagine these two little 13-year-olds going up to the security guard and going, Helen Mirren is asking for us.

And he's like, um, no. And we said, We're in the show. And he goes, No, like, I'm sorry. Like, we how ridiculous does that sound? How ridiculous. These two kids just asking, like, we're meant to be on there right now. You know, he's in the corner of the street. And all of a sudden, like this figure in her beautiful white dress, Helen comes out of the tent, and people are screaming, you know, channeling your name, like on uh whatever, you know, outside of Radio City. She comes and walks off the whole section, like the the carpeted section. She comes literally on the corner of the street in her full dress up to the security guard and like near the crowd, like just in the crowd, basically. She comes up, she goes, Oh, you know, hello, like these girls are with me.

The security guard's like, um, like, ma'am, I'm sorry, but like I really can't let anyone back. Like, if I can't let she was like, No, no, no, no, no, no, they're with please. Like, and she was like, I understand you're doing your job, you're incredible. Like, like this is what you're supposed to do, but please, like, they're with me. And you know, obviously, how didn't you say no after she she literally was, you know, bartering with this security garden. You know, you're doing great, like this is what you're supposed to do, but I swear they're with me. And so all of a sudden she just takes our hands and is like, come on, let's go.

[35:29] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh my gosh. And literally said, you know, I want this to be an experience for you too, because it's important. Oh my gosh. You know, she did not have to do that. I always say she did not have to do that. So she brought us into the carpet to you know, walk down and take pictures with her. Um, you know, spinning us around. And that's when we went up when I met Sydney. I was like, I have to go up and say hi because I was so excited to see you guys there. I I totally was not expecting anything like that. But but truly, like seeing seeing I I don't know if children I don't know if we were the same way, but like seeing another child there who was like around the same age. I was like, Oh my gosh, hey, what I mean, I was still sort of like just in awe of you because I was like, You are you know, incredible, like you're nominated. You're how old were you? I can't even remember you were little.

[36:17] Elizabeth Teeter: Eleven? Okay, but still, like that's crazy. And so it was really brief, but I went up to her and you know, we were like saying good luck, and she had her little good luck charm, like her uh stuffed animal.

[36:19] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, no, I was eleven.

[36:26] Sydney Lucas: Oh yeah, bongo.

[36:28] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, bongo, yes, yes, and you look so cute, and and we just sort of, you know, all three of us sort of like pow out and we're like looking back, I'm like, that's crazy. Like these three little girls just you know, on this on this carpet, but that's just oh there he is.

[36:46] Eli Tokash: That's so so I mean have you always had him.

[36:49] Sydney Lucas: Um he was um he was a gift from my grandfather. And I really wanted my grandfather to my grandma was able to be there. My grandfather passed, unfortunately before before um Funhome came to Broadway, but he was able to see the lab and the off raw way and all that stuff.

[37:06] Elizabeth Teeter: That's great. But I really wanted him to be there for the Tony Awards, and so Bongo is like the the physical representation of him and so I got he was you know you know um Flat Stanley.

[37:17] Sydney Lucas: Yeah I think he was pretty much my Flat Stanley, like I was literally going around taking pictures I was putting him in random places backstage in Radio City.

[37:25] Elizabeth Teeter: That's incredible and taking pictures with Vanessa Brown and I I would like put him on random celebrities and just take photos with them. But yeah, and I I I remember multiple people telling me to not have him during the red carpet, but I'm like I'm taking him.

[37:40] Sydney Lucas: Like I'm so glad you didn't so special.

[37:42] Elizabeth Teeter: You have to continue that. Whatever next pro like whatever next big thing you do, like you gotta you gotta keep him.

[37:43] Sydney Lucas: You gotta keep him on the carpet.

[37:49] Elizabeth Teeter: I will always keep him and I'll take him. Keep him taking him everywhere. I just remember that so distinctly that I was like, 'cause I like have special, like, you know, stuffed animals when I was younger that like to me. And I was like, I just think it's so sweet. Um obviously now knowing the what he represents is so sweet.

[38:04] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[38:04] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, that's always the story I tell when they ask when people ask me about Helen and this is sort of a long story, but there aren't enough words or stories to tell to s like show how much um she inspired me and meant to me because uh you can be incredibly talented and um but I feel like real success is like what happens behind the scenes, real um grace, the way she treated everyone um just as equal, from every crew member to every cast member.

[38:33] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[38:33] Elizabeth Teeter: And she's, you know, that I feel like that's what matters.

[38:36] Eli Tokash: Um Absolutely.

[38:40] Elizabeth Teeter: Just a beautiful person, like a a wonderful, a wonderful person. I mean in every way too.

[38:45] Sydney Lucas: Yeah. I mean, it's very similar to like um I didn't know her personally, but with Rebecca Lucre, who just, you know, passed, and everyone's talking about her talent and her beautiful voice, but they are equally, if not more, talking about what a kind spirit she was and joy she brought.

[39:00] Elizabeth Teeter: And I feel like that is that's what you want to be, you know. You want to be a person that people like enjoy being around, and that especially at her level, Helen's level of fame is just crazy, you know, making everyone else feel just as important as you know.

[39:14] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[39:14] Elizabeth Teeter: That's why Helen Mir and Rant.

[39:16] Eli Tokash: So speaking of actually like fangirling, which is like we we have to fangirl about someone else really quick.

[39:23] Elizabeth Teeter: Okay.

[39:24] Eli Tokash: So you you were in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, which is first of all, just like absolutely insane.

[39:31] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah.

[39:32] Eli Tokash: And we actually had Beanie Feldstein on the podcast, and we we fangirled with her about Sir Sha Ronin. Um so we'll get into Sertia a little bit later, but like what was it like doing one of the most famous playwrights work on Broadway and just like a tragedy? Like you said, like you were possessed every night. Like how hard is that? Like to do that eight shows a week.

[39:55] Elizabeth Teeter: Well, it was my first time doing eight shows a week because I had rotated with I was living basically alone. So I was 14. I stayed with a host family because so basically everyone went out from Mary Poppins, then just my mom came out from the audience and my my family would like come during the summer. And you know, the third one, my mom was like, girl, we can't do we can't keep up her on your own. So through a friend, um, we found this amazing family that had this incredible apartment on the upper west side. They had a lot of money because the the dad worked in in like, you know, Olympic coaching or something crazy. The kindest people, they let me stay in this gorgeous apartment for free. They I had my own room, my own bathroom.

Just like another moment where it was like everything just aligned, and I'm so lucky that that had they became sort of like my New York family. They had a couple of kids that I became like the little older sister. But it was sort of like living alone because our path just like went in completely different ways.

[40:52] Elizabeth Teeter: You know, like I slept in from the show and the kids were already up and at school and they were at work, so I basically was by myself a lot. At 14, it was crazy because it's like I learned as much in the show as I did off because all of a sudden I was going everywhere by myself, I was getting food by myself, I was doing my laundry by myself, and it was like, you know, at 14 in eighth grader, that's kind of crazy. And just like navigating my way around New York, and you know, I will never forget when my mom dropped me off and you know, we'd say goodbye and I walked into this empty huge apartment, and I was like, oh wow, I'm by myself. There's never, you know, it's funny when a lot of people like I'm a freshman in college and a lot of people are experiencing that for the first time going to college, but I already feel like I've sort of experienced that in a way because I was so young and just had to do my laundry, figure it out, learn from it.

Yeah, you're like, all right, I've already done that, I've already been there, done that. That's like what I remembered that the leader. I've lived by myself. I do a bad saying completely by myself because obviously I was with this host family, but um they would leave on weekends to go different place. I'd get friends to my to come over because I I just did I didn't want to be completely alone in that you know, big place. It was definitely a lot of learning. But back to the show, it was crazy because the first day we came in, and uh Ivo Van Hove, the director, is very sort of out there director. Um we didn't know what to expect until we sat down and he showed us his vision, and you know, we're like, oh, we're in school uniforms, we're not in classic pilgrim costumes, we're in this big open set.

It's a very different idea. We were like, this is interesting. We didn't know, you know, I had no clue if it was gonna be traditional or not. Obviously, we had seen like a view from the bridge, which he had done, or I'd seen that, so I said, I don't think this is gonna be traditional. I remember being surprised because I had a small party, I only had a few lines. Um, but I was on stage a lot because I was basically I I was passed out on this table, and then I get up and scream and do all this stuff. I don't know how I didn't kill my voice. Yeah, I had to lie. Scream crazy. But my favorite part of the show, it sounds funny saying favorite because it's such a dark show. Like my favorite part was getting possessed.

Like the third act is like all five of us girls come in and in the courtroom scene, and um all mayhem breaks loose when all the girls are sort of mixing lies and truth, and you don't really know who's telling the truth. Sir Sharonen or Abigail Williams character is like being interrogated and all this stuff, and she sort of starts this like huge wave of like lies, and all the girls get in on it. And they basically Stephen Hoggett, who he was involved in um Cursed Child, I think, with all the Harry Potter magic stuff. He came in and worked with us and basically choreographed this whole dance like possession sequence. So it was like this storm happened, there was wind blowing, music going, and all of a sudden it would be like, you know, we're down on one knee, and then we're up, and then we're running, and then we're on the windowsill, and we're back.

Wow. We have like a whole session with him where he would he would come up to us, and not in like a painful way, but you know when like someone knocks you in the back end of the knee and you just like fall over. Oh, yeah. He liked that all the time. Oh my god. Every single time. Every single time we hang out together, I have to watch behind my back. I have to walk behind him. He just I feel like we're all meant to hang out. I feel like these random connections. I know. Honestly. So you obviously know. Eli's like, yeah, I know what that is. Yeah. I either do that or I kick the bottom of like when you see the colour. Yeah. No. That's the most annoying thing. So tip, if you ever hang out with Eli in person, walk behind him.

Watch your back. Watch a ball walk behind him. That's so funny. But he would come up to us and do that. And you know, we'd sort of like fall over, and he's like, that's how that's supposed to feel. Like in for certain moves, is like your body is like something's happening to you and you can't control it. And so he we'd like do these exercises with our finger, like moving around the room. And there were a lot of mishaps with that sequence because it was just craziness everywhere. I was just a bit scraped up all the time. Because we were running around the amount of times we had to like we had to get up on this windowsill at one point and then launch backwards and like run backwards. And the amount of times I just yeah, and I was completely fine, but um it was funny.

The guy that played my dad, Jason Butler Harner would just clearly be laughing, and it's not supposed to be laughing, but there's so much going on, no one could tell. And he'd be right next to me and be like, uh, are you okay? You know how things go, but uh that was probably my favorite and coolest part because I love dancing, I love movement, I love doing things. Anytime we can do stage combat or something physical, I'm like, yes, let's go. Yeah. So that was that was definitely a trip. And I didn't even know I was in that scene. I remember we did the first reading, and I was like, Oh, I'm in this. I'm in fourth of this scene. So that was sort of a an exciting surprise. Right. It was very physical.

Yeah. Yeah, super physical. Very detailed too. It's I don't know, like just being at like 14 doing a show to this like extreme and just like being on your own. Like, holy cow, what a time in your life. Like it was crazy. And I mean, everyone was sort of ready for the show to be. It was a limited run, but everyone is a bit ready for it to be done in July. It was like, you know, seven months, just because um it's just a heavy show. You know, the hour long. Ben Wishaw, who played John Proctor is another person I could go on about. I won't spend that time going on about him. You know, he's playing this terribly dark role that's so draining and just the sweetest person, you know, always lively. Um, another crazy oh, I don't even know how I forgot about this, but a crazy experience in that show is um I worked with the dialect coach Kate Wilson on the audience for my British accent.

And she had kind of worked on the crucible just for some dialect stuff with people and also just to make sure their voices were healthy because you know it was a very like screaming heavy play and other stuff. And so I knew her already, and and she had taught me a specific warmup that we did, Sadie and I did every night before, and so we started doing it for the crucible, and it gets time for like you know, opening and things like that. She's like, Elizabeth, do you just like want to keep like will you just keep leading warm up? And I was like, Are you kidding? Like, I'm 14. She's like, you know it, you've done it for like a year. So every night I would warm up basically the entire company. And that's I mean, wild that they would, you know, let me do it.

It became so sort of like a joyous moment because we never all got to see each other. We were always on stages at different the stage at different times, and um it was just a depressing show. So getting to miss everyone at the beginning and you know, go through a whole warm-up routine that was just light hearted and fun, led by this really young teenager. I mean I hopefully you know lightened yeah no that was like a moment for the for everyone to come together and have a wholesome you know yeah just you know connect and and laugh and have fun. Let's talk about Secret Life of Bees for a sec. So Secret Life of Bees it was uh was it pre was it also developmental when you did it so yes but okay so I don't know if people know but Sydney and I have like cross paths through this too sort of Sydney did like an early you did like an early workshop of it right like early Yeah I think I did it right before you did it.

Maybe yeah yeah I remember I was asked to audition maybe for one of the earlier parts of it but I was I was going to Peru that summer with my brother on a certain trip and I'm always a big fan of like everything happens for a reason. Like you were totally meant to like you know everyone who does a certain role is meant to do it at a certain time. I completely that's like my motto that's my life motto. Yeah like if we're if someone were to get the role after me or like have it move on I'm like you know what like okay cool like it's theirs now. Exactly. You know yeah totally and it's like I so and so was meant to do it then and now and I think it's so cool getting to be like we both played that role in probably totally different ways which I think is awesome.

High five but yeah it was it was the first um like stage mount production. Did during rehearsals were there a lot of changes? Yes for for those who for those who don't know like explain a day in the life of rehearsals. Since this was my first experience with like a brand new show that was being mounted. And also I'm an I'm like a book nerd, so I love the book. So the fact that like a book that I loved was getting turned into a musical was just, you know, I was over the moon about that. Basically, with a new musical, is they're re writing everything every day. So we would come in and they would hand us here are your new pages for today, you know, we would have to check like the mailbox because as you know, probably with Fun Home and everything, like everything's changing every day.

They had scenes cut, songs cut. There was a song I had that I sang one night and then it was gone the next, like certain things like that. But the I mean the craziest thing was with me was um when I had done my other shows in New York in the past, like the crucible and audience, I was in middle school, so it was a lot less like school strict because I was sort of unenrolled and homeschooled, but I was a junior in high school doing the So you got the Bees, so it was like the end of my junior year. So I opted out of tutoring because I said, you know, I I want to stay like with my high school, and also I just want to be in the room as much as I can because it was just a role that sort of needed to be there.

I had classmates and teachers like sending me notes and schoolwork, so I'd like go to rehearsal from like 10 to 6 and then I'd go home and do my homework. Oh my gosh. Which was like sort of rough. Like it's just with like testing happening, and it's like I remember it was like academically really hard. Finding the motivation to like do these notes that I was like, I don't know if my teacher's even gonna see these, whatever. So I had to take finals during previews. Like I had to like go and take a final and then go and rehearse and then we'd have a preview. Um I remember I had like a a breakdown one night. I'm a pretty chill person, like I was like, everything's fine. Like I really just I feel like with stress, I was like, if I don't think about it too much, and I just say everything's gonna be fine, it'll be fine.

But um, it was like our second day of previews. You know those certain assignments that you just really want to be done with? You're just like, I'm so done with this. It was like a research paper or something, and I was like, I did it, I done submitted. I made the mistake on a break. I checked my phone, and this was like the second day of preview, so we were changing a lot. And I checked my phone and I had this email from my teacher that was like basically I'd like cited everything wrong and I needed to go back and fix things. It ended up being fine. Like it wasn't a huge thing, but I in the moment when you think you're done with something and you're like, I'm just so done. And then getting this email that was like, You're not, you did it wrong, and I was like, Stay calm, stay calm.

And I like went back to the dressing room, but I was crying. I was like, Oh no. Fine, it's gonna be fine. That was my only sort of like moment where I was like, Oh my gosh, if you know the story at all, it's these wonderful black women in the in the company who play the Bow Wright sisters. We all shared one big dressing room because we were at the Atlantic, which is like super small. So they literally all came up and were just like mothers, like, it's okay, like cry it out, like it's okay. Putting my back and being really sweet. That was like sort of the only time I I felt like way under pressure. And Sam Gold like came up to me and he was just very sort of like he didn't he felt you could tell you felt like a little awkward and like like Yeah, he's like I don't know what to do.

Like, what I I came back to my break, and obviously they told him that I I just needed a minute, and I was like, you know, ready to go. Like I took my five minutes, I'm like, I'm good. I came back. And um, he's like, Is it like the new scenes? Like, is that too stressful? And I was like, No, it's just school. And he goes, Do you want me to call your teachers? And I was like, No, but just the image in my mind of Sam Gold calling my teachers is a little funny, like thinking about I don't know what he would say. My teachers would be like, Who is this? We all have those time zone break. Yeah. I I give myself props for like keeping it together during a a stressful time. Yeah. And were you by your were you by yourself at this time?

I was staying at the same place that I did for the Crucible, which is crazy. It was, you know, years later, and we just sort of kept in touch and I said, like, is there any way that I could stay there again? Of course they were like, Yes, you can come here. Oh my god. And it worked out because it was like their last like year, like staying in that apartment because they were moving. So like, you know, I was turning 18, like I was 17 doing the show, so it's like I was turning eighteen in the fall, and so the next time I knew that I was probably gonna be going for a project, I was gonna be, you know, looking for my own place to sublet, or like, you know, being in college and like officially being there on my own.

So it was kind of an end of a chapter to to stay there. But um then my family came came out in the summer to see the show and we all sort of made a a family trip out of it. But yeah, that was another another time alone that I would go back and have to do my school work. Thank god for my loving classmates and friends who um like my best friend would just send me pictures of notes and you know, a lot of my friends from school were not in theater really. It was hard for them to know, but they were just so supportive, like, yeah, let me send you whatever. It's uh it's fine. And my teachers knew me by that point, um, since it was later in the semester. So they understood that uh that I wasn't if I couldn't turn something in, it wasn't because I was just, you know, slacking on.

Right, exactly. Like you're you're a lead of the show. So I'm I'm sure they realized they hadn't cut you a little bit. Yeah, I took out the busy work, they took out the busy work and let me um they let me just sort of do the bigger projects, which is I was grateful for. But that's so much to handle though, and you were what you were seventeen? Seventeen. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's a lot. Your birthday wasn't your birthday the same day that Joe Biden um got elected. The day before. So it was like election November 6th.

[54:26] Elizabeth Teeter: So like honestly, it was crazy 'cause we were just staring at the TV the whole time.

[54:30] Eli Tokash: Oh, your birthday is November 6th?

[54:31] Elizabeth Teeter: November 6th.

[54:32] Eli Tokash: Yeah.

[54:32] Elizabeth Teeter: So it was like election day. Remember.

[54:35] Elizabeth Teeter: November 7th was like when he officially was elected. But I just remember that was like a stressful, you know, obviously stressful time. But my best one of my best friends, his birthday um is the day after mine, and so we kind of both were like, what a great birthday present. Like this is all we wanted. I was like, this is all I want for my birthday.

[54:50] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, it's so funny. Time is so weird to me right now. Like, I was like, wait, I thought I just saw you posting about your birthday. And I was like, that was in July. Like, how long is it? I've been at home this semester, so everything's a bit blurred. I was actually in New York when everything shut down. Because I had graduated in December and I was up for like a gap semester. I had actually just started rehearsing for something that never got announced and could never be said because everything shut down. But it was like three days in rehearsals and just like bam, everything shut down.

[55:22] Elizabeth Teeter: Everything and so I was like, do I go in tomorrow? Like, what's happening? And I was subletting a place and staying with roommates, and I remember just like I don't know if you guys were in the city then, but like it was so freaky. It was weird. Like apocalyptic. Everyone was running into grocery store. I remember I remember calling my mom on Saturday and I was like, I think I need to come home. Good thing I did, because everything like everything really shut down. Right. It was wild.

[55:47] Elizabeth Teeter: Remember, remember when we went to I think it was at Telsey when we like ran into each other at that one audition? When was that?

[55:54] Eli Tokash: That was right before the shutdown.

[55:57] Elizabeth Teeter: That was right before the shutdown. That's what I thought. That's crazy. That's literally crazy. Sydney and I probably saw each other like last, like the day before everything shut down because I had just sort of Oh my god, it was the day before. It was like actually the actual like I think it was the day of, or maybe it was two was very soon. I remember with that audition, I had just heard back from like the the the thing that I got that was like supposed to start rehearsing really soon, and so I was like, oh gosh, I have to, you know, go in and learn these lines. I was sort of stressed and just I feel like I did terrible at that audition.

[56:27] Elizabeth Teeter: But um I remember seeing you in the waiting room and we just chatted for like a minute and we're like you you talked about just like school and stuff like that, and it was really chill. Then literally the day after everything shut down. I was just thinking about that when I don't know if this was in our the the podcast where we're having our technical difficulties or this one. But when when you brought up the fact, oh maybe no, it was this one. We're talking about Mary Poppins auditions and how auditions are so different now now that we're um like adults, I guess.

[56:55] Elizabeth Teeter: Um but I was thinking about that specific audition when I went in. I just remember this is it's gonna sound weird, but I just remember the the casting, the person who was manning the camera. Uh huh. How she just was so comfortable cursing and and yeah, super chill and just and I don't know, I don't know why. Like I remember thinking in that moment, like, okay, this is the moment I turned an adult because this person is now completely fine. So it was cursing in front of me. Yeah. I don't know why. But so I was sitting in the case. I feel like I listened to one of your recent podcasts, or like I had turned it on or something. I feel like I remember you mentioning something like that.

[57:31] Elizabeth Teeter: And um, I remember you saying, like, I think it was the audition right before I shut down, and I remember actually thinking, I think I was there. I think I was there.

[57:40] Elizabeth Teeter: But it's definitely it definitely is different. Like now that because we're like older now, you know, 17, eighteen, 10 or 19. Um, I remember now it's it's it's nice to be officially an adult legally, just for like reasons. Like so many I've gotten so many more random auditions that are like 18 plus only. Like they only want, you know, nice. They only want people that are like not in school or like you know, things like that. But I think you were saying it feels a lot more chill, and I totally feel bad. I feel like as a kid you walk in sometimes and it's like this huge group of people and everyone's very, you know, care you wanna sing your song now? You know, it's very just you know especially at Telsi, we've probably been there a lot.

[58:17] Elizabeth Teeter: Like I feel like now that we're older, they're just like, hey, you know, it's nice to see. I feel like when people get nervous and they forget is like casting directors and like directors want you to succeed. You know what I mean? Like they want you to come in the room and they want to be like, oh, that's the person I want to hire. Like they're never pitting against you. Um I try to remind myself if I get if I get nervous, I'm like, you know what? They want me to do well. Like they're I'm not walking in and they're not like, I hope she fails. Like you know what I mean?

[58:43] Sydney Lucas: Very true.

[58:44] Elizabeth Teeter: So I'm just like, whatever happens, just happens, you know. We've probably all been there. We we haven't really talked about it much on the podcast, so I figured you would be fun to talk to about talk about it with. You're someone that has done like two musicals and like two plays. So I just wanted to hear like from your s opinion, uh, what the biggest difference is between the two. Like, do you notice a difference in the audience? Do you know a difference in uh your preparation and like what you need to do to prepare and auditions and etc.?

[59:14] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, that's a really interesting question. The audiences are definitely very different. Especially for plays like the audience and the crucible, um, that are a lot more intellectually based. Like it's um the audience was very like political and and the crucible wasn't a way too because it was sort of this old text. And so we get a lot more older people coming in, we get a lot more uh serious people coming in, and so it it definitely can be hard sometimes to find that energy. I think, because with musicals, at least there's like a bit of a feedback of like you know, applause of a song, or like you know, laughs, or if there are jokes involved. Um, but with more serious plays, sometimes it's hard when you don't get that.

Um, and we always I I feel like there's a difference between um okay, the audience is bored and sleepy, kind of tired, or they're like intently listening, kind of tired. Or not not tired, but like intently listening, kind of silent. Do you know what I mean? You can tell when they're like drawn and focused, and then there are some nights where you're like, are they paying attention? Like, are they just sleeping? I really don't know.

[1:00:17] Elizabeth Teeter: Are the stage doors different too?

[1:00:19] Elizabeth Teeter: Oh, absolutely, yeah, absolutely. I haven't had any crazy experiences because the shows I've done are like were not super like super commercial, even with the audience. It was pretty respectful in terms of like uh people coming for Helen. People were very respectful, people were very quiet. Um, it wasn't like this crazy rush. A lot of people didn't recognize me because I was in a wig, so I would kind of just like sleep out and they're like, oh, cool. Obviously, there it was a bit bigger for like uh the crucible with with fans of like Sortia and people like that. But yeah, I mean, at least what I've seen in going to different musicals, like sometimes the musical stage drawers are just crazy and just yeah, very wild.

But also the energy of the show is very bright and like has that energy, and um people walking out of the crucible are a bit like, oh what if we just walk everyone just died? Like, what did I just watch? Right. But I feel I feel really lucky to have gotten them kind of experience in both and um over the over quarantine. I've actually done um I've done a few like radio plays and things for the Tennessee Williams Festival here in St. Louis, and gotten to do like the the glass menagerie, which is hopefully gonna be put on live like at this later this summer if we have vaccines and everything safe. I really enjoy doing plays. I love singing, dancing, and acting, but I consider acting m my favorite in terms of like if ever I feel self-conscious about my voice or dancing, I'm like, okay, lead with thought, lead with intention, lead with acting. That's where I feel most comfortable.

[1:01:52] Elizabeth Teeter: So I think I try to approach uh musicals in a similar way, but it's been really cool. I I really I really would love to do more more plays. I also just love I love to sing, like I love musicals, I love that energy. And like dancing too, like you have that. Yeah, I really like Vinish where I get to dance more because I haven't really gotten to do that, and I love to dance. And in terms of like preparations, like what what did you have to do like differently for the plays and musicals? Obviously, like you may not have to like warm up your singing voice, but you may have to warm up like your talking voice, like stuff like that.

[1:02:24] Elizabeth Teeter: Well, for the crucible and the audience, I did like sort of a whole vocal sort of warm-up like that. But I remember well, Mary Poppins was just a whole different thing in itself because they had a very specific, they would like take the kids down and warm them up with the conductor to be like, Are you okay today? Can you sing? You know, are you sick or whatever? But I remember Secret Life of Bees was sort of the first show that I had done. Bigger, longer, longer running show where I was like, Okay, I'm on stage for a really long time and I'm uh singing a lot and just energy wise had to be focused. And like Sydney knows it's sort of like a depressing beginning. Like she sort of just the character really starts in a bad place and like it takes a bit for her to warm up. It's it's a lot, it's very it it can be it can be emotionally draining at times.

[1:03:10] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, and I remember um did you do the reading with you did the reading with Brett, correct?

[1:03:16] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, I did with Brett, yeah.

[1:03:18] Sydney Lucas: So I don't know if the number Oh my gosh, I love him.

[1:03:21] Elizabeth Teeter: I love him too. He's just a trip and so fun and talented. But um, I don't know if the number was still in there, like the fifty-five Fairlane car. Do you remember that?

[1:03:30] Elizabeth Teeter: Um that was I was always looking forward to that. I was like, okay, once she gets there, she actually smiles and is having a good time. Like what I always look forward to.

[1:03:39] Sydney Lucas: Yes.

[1:03:39] Elizabeth Teeter: Cause you're like, oh my god, having some fun, like stop, like get over yourself. So before the Secret Life of Bees, I would make sure to I would go on stage, I would like warm up my voice a bit, I would do jumping jacks with some of the cast members for fun, and then we'd have fight call. And then I always had a weird ritual of like we had this little staircase, and I would go and shut the door and I'd sit in the staircase for like a minute and just sort of like breathe or whatever, like get sort of in the headspace, and then all of us just held hands backstage before. We all like had a circle and just like um Nate, one of our one of the ensemble members who played Neil.

[1:04:12] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, just the biggest spirit, biggest heart, sort of like preacher like quality in his his speaking would just give us the most, you know, inspiring speech before, and we'd all, you know, say one thing. I don't know, sometimes we'd say one thing we were grateful about or whatever, or if somebody was having a hard time or struggling with a family member, we'd be like, This is for them. Um, and just all connect before we went on stage, and that was sort of, you know, I I sang a lot, but in terms of like it sort of fit right in my vocal register, I was lucky with that. So I feel like um uh I'd have to warm up a lot more if it was like extreme, like extreme heights. It's very folky music, you know, with Duncan.

[1:04:49] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah, so it wasn't anything super crazy, uh like belt pop like crazy heavy. But we didn't have understudies, that was sort of the other thing that was a little scary. We didn't. We didn't that's oh that's scary. Um we only had a I think one show maybe where we had to cancel because someone was not feeling well but um yeah. I think the rule is like you have to be um ten weeks long or something in order to have understudies. So we like just extended to that mark. So we got like a few studies and rehearsal but like I don't even think if they'd be able to go on because of like rules and things but um definitely make sure we like took care of ourselves because you know that's the worst feeling is like oh gosh I'm not feeling well or you know something happened to my voice or whatever and like the whole show has to be cancelled.

[1:05:34] Sydney Lucas: Yeah.

[1:05:34] Elizabeth Teeter: You already feel like oh man my understudy has to go on. Obviously it's a great opportunity for them but um uh you always want to be able to show up and do your best especially being like oh the show's on the line okay yeah for anyone for any let's say there's a kid out there listening to this who wants to be a child actor um a theater actor I guess specifically in your opinion what is the easiest thing about being a child actor and what is the hardest thing about being a child actor just so they are aware.

[1:06:03] Elizabeth Teeter: I think the easiest thing is if it's coming from a place of pure joy and wanting to do it. Um I think sometimes what can happen is if you're doing it for too long and if like if you forget why you're doing it. You know what I mean? And that's just important not to forget because I feel like I will never I will never try at least try not to forget what it felt like when I was 10 doing Mary Poppins and just the sheer joy and magic and like amazement of it all. And I feel like that shouldn't we should try to never let that go away. So I think the easiest part is just feel lucky and enjoy it and savor every single second.

[1:06:41] Elizabeth Teeter: Um I guess the hardest part is um trying to stay grounded. Do you know what I mean? Don't let it go to your head. Let it go to your ego. Um find other things to talk about with kids you know find other friends still I I feel grateful because my parents never uh I guess as a kid I didn't really audition too much thinking about it. Like I did marry Poppins but I kind of wasn't on to one to the next to the next and the next which I think is really important as a kid too. You want to have your downtime I was very like big on downtime like I know there was like the Broadway park and things like that and there's a great community of Broadway kids but I was definitely more of an introvert and like I know that I needed my like reset time and so I know that for me personally it's okay to say no to going to dinner with your friends between shows.

[1:07:07] Elizabeth Teeter: It's okay to say no if you want to skip out on the park because you want to be with your family you know I was really big into family I was really big into resting and like doing my own thing and so like that's okay too. Don't feel pressured to um fit in a certain mold like just be you know you're gonna you're gonna try to compare yourself and try to be in a certain group but like just be yourself.

[1:07:49] Elizabeth Teeter: Yeah it's unbooking cliche but just walk in the room and like have a good time and be yourself. Be yourself. I love that I love that. I mean it's so much yes be yourself and have fun.

[1:08:03] Elizabeth Teeter: Just enjoy it. You're the best thank you so much for coming on today I love talking to you guys. You are incredible. Um I'm sorry if I went on too many rants about you know people like Helen. No they were amazing. I love you. Sydney, like both of you, I really hope like we get to like do something together. I think it'll be so I love doing that reading with you, Sydney. Like that was so much fun. I know it was only a day. Really fun. But like I hope we all get to, you know, if not work together, just hang out.

[1:08:36] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, totally.

[1:08:36] Elizabeth Teeter: Yes, once everything is better.

[1:08:40] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, for sure. Soon. Well, thank you so much for doing this. And we had a blast today, so we appreciate you and your time.

[1:08:44] Elizabeth Teeter: Thank you so much. Take about Elizabeth Teeter. Woo! That was a blast. I mean, literally what she had to say about Helen Mirren, like that whole spiel was everything. Like you and you could tell just like what she was saying, the tone of her voice, everything, how much gratitude and just love she has for her and admiration. Um and everything like that. So that was really cool to listen. Um I also thought another fascinating thing that she talked about was the difference in the audience between plays and musicals. I I guess I like never really thought about that until like doing research for the episode. Also, speaking of plays, I didn't get to see The Crucible because it was during Finding Neverland.

But after researching the show, that looked so cool, and I was literally like dying to hear about it, and then like she talked about like being possessed and everything. Like that was super cool to me too. I don't know. I'm rambling. I thought it was fun. She had a great lot of great points that she talked about. So thank you, Elizabeth, for coming on.

[1:09:52] Eli Tokash: Oh, your thoughts.

[1:09:53] Sydney Lucas: Oh yeah, it was it was a blast. And um, and like you said in the intro, it it truly is it truly was a an amazing episode for you know, child actors or people who you know want to, you know, know what it's like to be a child actor, especially in the theater industry, and you know, your family having to make sacrifices and sometimes you having to grow up a lot quicker than you normally would in order to pursue your dreams. And so I thought that was just perfect had that she talked all about that kind of stuff, and you know, her pretty much growing up in the business and like in Secret Life of Bees, and when she was, you know, 17 and and she was pretty much you know on her own, it was junior year of high school, all that kind of stuff, how she managed that at such a young age and the kind of stuff that is required for uh child actors, especially in the theater industry. So thank you so much, Elizabeth.

[1:10:42] Sydney Lucas: Wait, just to piggyback off of what you said, I thought another cool thing, like as far as like being a child actor, really show she really showed the sacrifices that are made, not only as like a family member, but also for you, like who is acting. Obviously, you are the reason your family has to sacrifice, but y it it's like a whole family, like it takes literally takes a village. So it was just really cool to hear her story and how that all worked out for her. And it was really cool also to hear all of your guys' full story moments that you all that you shared.

[1:11:17] Eli Tokash: I know isn't that crazy?

[1:11:19] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, it was really cool. Um so yeah, it was fun to talk to her and have her on. Should we uh turn it over and make a little bit of an announcement?

[1:11:30] Eli Tokash: Yes. We've kind of left them in suspicion just waiting.

[1:11:36] Sydney Lucas: Okay, yes. So we have an announcement to make on uh the drum roll, please, drumming about a change that is coming to Take A Bow Podcast. And that announcement is that Mike. Sorry, but I am going to be transitioning away from doing Take A Bow weekly. This doesn't mean that I won't probably come back in the future to be, you know, to do the occasional episode as a host or or stuff like that, but I will no longer be here weekly as, you know, co-host. But Eli will continue to do the podcast every single week. And so you still get content every Thursday and it's gonna be awesome, and you are most likely gonna see me back occasionally. And yeah, I just wanted to say thank you so much, Eli, for taking me along for this ride. This has been quite the year.

[1:12:34] Eli Tokash: Oh my god. Don't even don't even thank you. I mean, th this Take A Bow what it is today as we all know it would definitely not be the same without you. And who knows what it's gonna look like moving forward. Um so I'm very excited to see how it all works out. I'm so excited to see where the podcast goes from now and you know, watch and and see it grow and and can to see, you know, the content with you or whoever you may decide to bring on. Uh, currently, Eli, you're gonna you're planning on doing it by yourself for a little bit, right?

[1:13:07] Eli Tokash: Yeah, so I guess the plan for now is I will be taking over uh and it'll be m myself and a guest um that you'll be listening to you every Thursday. I may be on the search in the future to get another co-host.

[1:13:22] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, you then you can that you can talk to, do these like introductions.

[1:13:24] Eli Tokash: Yeah, yeah. So I definitely want someone that not only like to talk to during these episodes, because obviously we do that in the interview, but I love these little segments that we do in the intro and outro, um, where it's just you get to connect with someone else and your friend and talk about like all things Broadway and like look back on the interview and everything like that. So if I do end up missing those, because obviously just by myself, the footprint or the blueprint of the show uh is gonna have to change a little bit, but I'm gonna figure it out. And if I miss having that extra person, I'll definitely be reaching out and maybe get on another co-host. But we'll definitely keep you guys updated on all of that.

[1:14:06] Sydney Lucas: Yeah, Take A Bow is still gonna be a thing.

[1:14:08] Eli Tokash: Take A Bow Podcast is still gonna be a thing.

[1:14:09] Sydney Lucas: Yeah. And this doesn't mean this doesn't this isn't like a full goodbye for me. Like I said, don't be surprised if you see me going forward in in episodes or hear me.

[1:14:18] Eli Tokash: Totally.

[1:14:18] Sydney Lucas: Yeah. And we'll make sure if you follow along to our Instagram, you know, you can you'll see all of those little updates before um we air the episodes. We'll give updates as far as the co-host and if Sydney is back this week or whatever. Um whatever it may be, we'll definitely give up updates there. But the most important thing is that Take A Bow as a whole will be continuing, and I just want to continue to bring entertainment to you, you all. So you you still have something to look forward to on Thursdays. So we're very excited.

[1:14:51] Eli Tokash: Yes, Eli. Oh god. Pressure's on, baby.

[1:14:54] Sydney Lucas: No. Oh god. No, thank you, Sydney. Take A Bow. You need to take a bow. Um we'll we'll do it in your curtain call and your final performance, uh, which is actually going to be next week. Yeah, so we didn't want to spring it on to next week, but just an update. This is Sid's second to last episode, and her last episode will be next week, and I will take over starting in February.

[1:15:17] Sydney Lucas: Yeah. So just quickly, obviously, yesterday was a great day with uh inauguration day, and it's really cool. Sydney and I are currently recording on Wednesday, uh, January 20th on inauguration day. And it's really cool because the Broadway community is actually going to be represented because Jagged Little Pill is performing for inauguration day.

[1:15:38] Eli Tokash: Whoa.

[1:15:39] Sydney Lucas: Yes, and Cindy's dear friend Lauren Patton uh will be performing. So yes. So so it's great to see the Broadway community being represented on such a high stage, I guess you could say, like inauguration day, and this is no regular inauguration day, so it's even cooler. And another quick thing I wanted to mention, everyone knows Billie Eilish, correct?

[1:16:02] Eli Tokash: Of course.

[1:16:03] Sydney Lucas: Okay. Do you know Phineas?

[1:16:04] Eli Tokash: Mm-hmm.

[1:16:05] Sydney Lucas: So he writes all the songs for Billie, and he's now starting to like sing his own songs and all and write that and continuing to write for Billie. But he actually released a song called What They'll Say About Us. And it's actually about Nick Cordero and Amanda Kloots and Elvis. And it's in the perspective, it's about like the journey of someone like losing someone. But this was particular like he what inspired him was Nick and Amanda's story. Oh my god. And she he wrote it from Amanda's perspective. It is absolutely beautiful. And when he was writing it, um, he spent a lot of time with Amanda and Elvis and just hearing her. And eventually he just came out with this beautiful song. And his last couple his last line of the whole song is I wish you could see him.

He looks just like you. Referring to Elvis, his son, um, who he only knew for about nine months. I could be wrong but yeah it it's it's just you listen to the song and it just like hits you in all the places it's amazing and I just had to share that with you all to go listen to that it's called What They'll Say About Us you can listen to it anywhere just search it yeah yeah yeah yeah it's it's incredible I I she posted about it on her Instagram and I I had to check it out and I fell in love with the song so yeah and I'm sure you all will so definitely go check it out.

[1:17:42] Eli Tokash: Well that about does it for this week's episode so we wanted to thank you all for listening to another episode and we look forward to bringing you another one next week and it unfortunately will be Sydney's last episode and I I don't know it's so sad um and it's so crazy that it's like next week like what anyways after after after when did we when oh my gosh wait hold on almost a full year it's been 10 month uh not ten. Eli I think the first time you have I think the first time you ever asked me about this was in March.

[1:18:17] Sydney Lucas: Wait no it was January 28th why didn't you know that that's crazy.

[1:18:22] Eli Tokash: Oh my god wait that's the last exactly that's the exact thing my last episode stop it oh my gosh wait guys you guys wait January twenty eighth um at at like three p.m Eli texts Eli uh Eli uh well I swiped up on one of his Snapchats um one of his stories uh he was he was like saying something I sure we talked about this before but he was saying something like weirdly cryptic, and I was like, What's going on? Like he he was like, Things are things are happening, things are you know, in the works, things are happening. And I was like, What's happening? And he was like, No, I can't tell you. And so finally I got him to tell me, and he was like, I'm gonna be starting a podcast. And I'm like, No way, you should like have me on or something.

I I love podcasts. And then Sure enough, she didn't know what she was getting herself into. And then and then he was like, Wait, hold on. And then twenty minutes later he was like, Can I call you? And so he calls me. He asks me to if I want to if I wanna be co-host with him on the podcast. I say yes, that was January twenty-eighth, and my very last episode will be January twenty-eighth. That's wild.

[1:19:28] Eli Tokash: That is the craziest thing.

[1:19:30] Sydney Lucas: Oh my gosh. It's been it's been quite a year. And thank you all for listening bec and allowing us to continue this for a full year. Uh we that by the way, that year is not when we started to release episode. That's when we like started to get the idea and everything and started to work things out. Our first episode, I don't think, came out until May.

[1:19:52] Eli Tokash: Yeah, I think May.

[1:19:53] Sydney Lucas: So yeah, oh my god, a whole year. That's a whole full circle.

[1:19:56] Eli Tokash: Yes, and we will be saying happy trails in honor of our one-year anniversary, Sydney.

[1:20:03] Sydney Lucas: Aww.

[1:20:05] Eli Tokash: Not forever though, not forever.

[1:20:07] Sydney Lucas: Not forever. Okay, so thank you so much, Elizabeth, for coming on. We had such a blast this episode, and thank you everyone for listening, and thank you so much for being a part of this journey so far. And um, we both can't wait to just expand the audience and expand this Take A Bow family, and we will see you next week.

[1:20:30] Eli Tokash: Sick beat him, alright? For our curtain call, we wanted to give a few special thank yous to Nikki Torsha and Corm McCullin on for our amazing music, Giselle Bustos for designing our logo, and Tessie Tokash and Sydney Lucas for editing our episodes. Feel free to subscribe and leave a review on whatever platform you are currently listening to us from. This podcast wouldn't be possible without the help of Dory Berenstein, Alan Seales, Brittany Bigelow, and Katie Rosen at the Broadway Podcast Network, as well as our top patrons Henry Friedman, Brian Thompson, PCC, and Patrick McNamara. Speaking of, if you enjoyed this week's episode of Take A Bow, go check us out on Patreon at patreon.com slash TAB and become a patron today.

Through our Patreon, you will form a relationship with us and get an inside look on what goes into this podcast. To learn more about this podcast, visit bpn.fm forward slash take a bow and follow us on Instagram at Take A Bow Podcast, where you can contact us with any feedback, suggestions, or questions, and keep up with all things Take A Bow. See you next week. Bye everyone.