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[0:00] Justin Mock: You're listening to The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Justin Mock. In today's episode, we throw it back to 2019 interviews with Hadestown original cast members Afra Hines, Kimberly Marable, and Ahmad Simmons. These interviews took place with Mo Brady right after Hadestown swept the Tonys, receiving eight Tony Awards of its 14 nominations, including the Tony for Best Musical. We hope you enjoy.

[0:36] Afra Hines: My name is Afra Hines, and I live in Harlem, New York.

[0:39] Ahmad Simmons: And you play Worker Number 2. When did your relationship with Hadestown begin?

[0:45] Afra Hines: So I was doing the Donna Summer musical, and my friend Kim was doing a reading of it. And so she was talking about how amazing it was, but I hadn't heard of it before that. And then I got an appointment to go in. So of course, I started, you know, researching, and I heard the album, Hadestown album, and I was just obsessed with the music.

[1:06] Ahmad Simmons: I am Ahmad Simmons, and I currently live in Harlem.

[1:10] Justin Mock: And you're in the ensemble, the chorus of Hadestown. Do you have a name? Are you Worker Number 4?

[1:18] Ahmad Simmons: I'm the infamous Worker Number 4.

[1:20] Justin Mock: You are Worker Number 4.

[1:21] Ahmad Simmons: Pants is what I like to say. First, I heard about Hadestown. They were doing a two-week dance workshop staged reading type situation in June, because they were adding an ensemble to the show. They wanted to work on some of the numbers that they were going to implement the ensemble in, and David Newman, the choreographer, wanted a little bit of time to just sort of see what that might mean. So they hired, I think it was about seven or eight of us to come in for two weeks and literally just learn all of the new stuff they wanted to put in before London, workshop some of the dancing, so they could see it on its feet and see what they needed to change and what they wanted to work on. That was the first I ever heard of it, and then from there I was totally hooked.

[2:04] Justin Mock: What did you work on? The entire show? Just the pieces that the chorus are in?

[2:08] Ahmad Simmons: No, it was just the pieces that David wanted to add some things in. So we worked on living it up a little bit, the chant material, getting used to the turntable idea and how he wanted to shape that. There's a number called Come Home With Me, where we go into this sort of very cinematic fantasy world using the tables and chairs, and that was one of the main things we worked on, sort of using the metaphor and the images of Anais's lyrics come to life through these inanimate objects. So it was really cool, actually, to do that. We did sing through the whole score, eventually.

[2:45] Justin Mock: And were they teaching you vocal parts?

[2:48] Ahmad Simmons: Yeah. Who from the present Broadway company was part of that workshop?

[2:51] Kimberly Marable: Kim! Kim! Madame Marable.

[2:56] Ahmad Simmons: Kim, yeah, Kimberly. My name is Kimberly Marable. I am actually born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, but I live in Harlem now.

[3:02] Justin Mock: And you play worker number one.

[3:06] Kimberly Marable: Yes, I do. The first time I heard about Hadestown was actually about a year ago. A friend of mine is one of the co-producers and was just like, you have to hear this music. I was like, okay. And I sort of pushed it off to the side. But then like a week later, I was called in to audition. They were doing a choreographic workshop type thing before they went to London. So then I did actually listen to the music and was like, this is unreal. And so I got to do the workshop, which was really cool. It was vocals and movement, because they were really trying to solidify the purpose of the worker chorus. They had sort of experimented with it in Canada, and I think they wanted to take it the next step farther. So we were the guinea pigs a year ago.

[3:45] Justin Mock: What kind of things did you work on? Do you remember specific songs, specific pieces of movement?

[3:49] Kimberly Marable: One of them actually is in the show. We worked on Wait For Me, the first one with the lights and the marching and all of that.

[3:59] Ahmad Simmons: With the big lights?

[4:01] Kimberly Marable: With the big lights.

[4:05] Ahmad Simmons: Okay, that we saw on the Tony Awards.

[4:05] Kimberly Marable: Yes, exactly. We didn't have the actual lights, but we were told that that's what they would be. So we were walking around in circles and showing our lights.

[4:11] Ahmad Simmons: With things hanging from the ceiling?

[4:13] Kimberly Marable: No. No, you're just like—

[4:15] Ahmad Simmons: We were pantomiming the whole time.

[4:18] Kimberly Marable: You were acting.

[4:20] Ahmad Simmons: Yes, acting, darling.

[4:28] Justin Mock: Who's worker number two? Do you have a name?

[4:35] Afra Hines: I don't. No, it's me, Ofra, worker number two.

[4:37] Ahmad Simmons: You are?

[4:39] Afra Hines: Well, I would say for the first number, I feel like I'm me in that circumstance. So I don't have a name. I'm really more observing the story and listening to Andre as if my friend was telling me a story.

[4:55] Ahmad Simmons: Is that the first time you've heard the story?

[4:59] Afra Hines: No, I don't think so. I think it's a story, almost like a loved fairy tale that I've heard multiple times, and I love hearing it every time. And he's such a fantastic storyteller that I get excited to hear it, even though I've heard it before.

[5:14] Ahmad Simmons: It's like story time at the library or something.

[5:16] Afra Hines: Like when Orpheus and Eurydice meet, I lean forward because I already know that this is a story about them, but I'm excited to see it told again.

[5:27] Justin Mock: Talk about worker number four. Does he have a name? Do you have a name? Do you have a name for worker number four?

[5:33] Ahmad Simmons: Nobody knows this, actually. So I'm saying this for the first time, and it's going to sound weird probably saying this, but I call him Dwayne.

[5:41] Justin Mock: Dwayne. Okay.

[5:42] Ahmad Simmons: Dwayne, yeah. I don't know what... There was something when I put those pants on, and I sort of decided to keep my facial hair. He's a Dwayne. There's something sweet about him. Even in the hard world, this sort of oppressed world, there's some optimism in a Dwayne to me. One of my great uncle's name, who's passed on, his name is Dwayne, and he has a lot of those characteristics. So yeah.

[6:05] Justin Mock: So tell me about worker number one. Does she have a name?

[6:09] Kimberly Marable: Oh. I've always thought of her as me, to be honest.

[6:14] Ahmad Simmons: Yeah.

[6:15] Kimberly Marable: Yeah. I think what's great about our show and it being Greek mythology is that we are truly an active Greek chorus. So on the one hand, we're backing people up, like a standard musical theater chorus. An example of that would be like, Come Home With Me with Orpheus, and we're sort of singing his backup vocals in the beginning of the song. But then throughout pretty much the whole rest of the show, we get to have an opinion on the action that's happening. And we sort of become the conduit for the audience to be on the journey with us.

[6:49] Ahmad Simmons: Right.

[6:50] Kimberly Marable: Which is exciting. As an actor, it allows me to be my most honest and truthful self.

[6:56] Justin Mock: So you see yourself being that's that's Kimberly, you're you're you.

[7:00] Kimberly Marable: I'm me. Yeah.

[7:01] Justin Mock: And are you you when we go down to Hadestown?

[7:05] Kimberly Marable: I think so.

[7:06] Justin Mock: Are you your workers? Is it also you in those circumstances?

[7:11] Kimberly Marable: Yes. I think for me it is anyway. I don't know the other people. So far we've spoken to three people and everyone's had a different opinion, which I love. Yeah, there's no right answer.

[7:22] Ahmad Simmons: Well, that's one of the things I love about Rachel is that she really encourages us to bring our own thoughts to the process, essentially, that everyone has a seat and a voice at the table. And as long as it makes dramatic sense, and she's like, go for it. Let's just make sure we're all telling the same story here.

[7:43] Kimberly Marable: That's a great leader.

[7:44] Ahmad Simmons: Yeah, I'd follow her anywhere.

[7:48] Justin Mock: Talk about the rehearsal process for Hadestown compared to some of those other seven shows that you've worked on. Was it similar? I mean, I get the feeling that it was sort of more collaborative, but I'd love to hear that from you.

[8:02] Kimberly Marable: It was collaborative. David is so David Newman, the choreographer is so open and welcoming. And it really felt like a safe space where you could have a suggestion or an idea and not feel weird about throwing it out there, which is not always the case. But on the other hand, on the other hand, rather, they had already done a production of it. So there was definitely a picture already made, but he was really open to suggestions and input and all of that.

[8:31] Justin Mock: Is there a part of the show that you feel like is definitely has your stamp on it?

[8:36] Kimberly Marable: That's a good question. In living it up on top, there's moments where we got to, like Ahmad and I have a little like partner section that we were able to put together ourselves, which I love. But like I said, most of it was sort of already formed. So other than those sorts of moments where that's freestyle or like problem solving, where we would say like, you know, this would feel better on this arm rather than this one, or the spacing is weird, that kind of thing. It was pretty much set. But in act two, when we're the underground workers, I feel like that's where you see a lot of our personality come out, even though zombies. It's really, there's less set movement, if you will. So I feel like our personalities come through more in our acting.

[9:19] Justin Mock: Are you a worker at the beginning? I guess that's a big question I have. You guys are, you know, you were in the overalls or the coveralls with the goggles once we get to Hadestown.

[9:29] Justin Mock: Welcome back to The Ensemblist. In honor of Black History Month, we're revisiting our July 2019 interviews with the original ensemble of the Tony Award-winning musical, Hadestown.

[9:59] Justin Mock: First up, we have Afra Hines, who shares her journey into the world of Hadestown and the impact it had on her career.

[10:29] Afra Hines: I remember the first time I heard the music. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. The way it blended different genres and told such a powerful story really drew me in.

[10:59] Justin Mock: That’s amazing. What was the audition process like for you?

[11:29] Afra Hines: The audition process was intense but exhilarating. I felt a connection to the material right away, and I knew I had to give it my all.

[11:59] Justin Mock: And once you were cast, what was it like to be part of the original company?

[12:19] Afra Hines: Being part of the original company was surreal. We were all in it together, creating something special from the ground up.

[12:49] Justin Mock: That sense of camaraderie must have been incredible.

[13:19] Afra Hines: It truly was. We supported each other through the highs and lows, and that bond made the experience unforgettable.

[13:29] Justin Mock: Next, we have Kimberly Marable, who also shares her insights on being part of Hadestown.

[13:49] Kimberly Marable: I was so excited when I got the call that I was cast. The music and the story resonated with me deeply, and I felt honored to be part of such a groundbreaking show.

[13:59] Justin Mock: What was your favorite moment in the show?

[14:09] Kimberly Marable: There are so many, but I think my favorite moment is when we all come together to tell the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. It’s such a powerful moment that really showcases the ensemble.

[14:19] Justin Mock: That’s beautiful.

[14:29] Kimberly Marable: Thank you! It’s a moment that reminds us of the strength of community and love.

[14:49] Justin Mock: Finally, we have Ahmad Simmons, who reflects on his experience in the show.

[14:59] Ahmad Simmons: Being part of Hadestown was a dream come true. The themes of love, sacrifice, and resilience are so relevant, and I felt privileged to share that with the audience every night.

[15:09] Justin Mock: How did you prepare for your role?

[15:19] Ahmad Simmons: Preparation was key. I spent a lot of time understanding my character and how he fit into the larger narrative.

[15:29] Justin Mock: It sounds like a deeply rewarding process.

[15:39] Ahmad Simmons: It really was. Every performance felt like a new opportunity to connect with the audience and share the story.

[15:59] Justin Mock: Thank you all for sharing your experiences with us. Hadestown is truly a remarkable show, and it’s clear that the ensemble plays a vital role in its success.

[16:09] Afra Hines: Thank you for having us!

[16:29] Kimberly Marable: Yes, thank you!

[16:49] Ahmad Simmons: We appreciate the opportunity to share our stories.

[17:09] Justin Mock: And thank you to our listeners for joining us today. We hope you enjoyed this look back at the original ensemble of Hadestown.

[17:29] Justin Mock: Be sure to tune in next time for more stories from the world of Broadway.

[17:49] Justin Mock: Until then, keep celebrating the unsung heroes of the stage!

[17:59] Justin Mock: Goodbye!

[18:09] Justin Mock: This has been The Ensemblist.

[18:29] Justin Mock: Thanks for listening!