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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:08] Robert Bannon: Well, welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World, the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, Spotify, wherever artists talk about art. You've seen our next guest on stage, on screen, all over the country. But did you know, allegedly, if this story is even true, we're going to find out. They're like, they go back. They have been friends. When I was going to be an actor, someone gave me good advice and said, when you go to acting school, stay in touch with those people because they're going to create things, they're going to make things, they're going to book jobs, and they're going to hire their friends. But you should be their real friend, but also you should use them to book jobs, which I think was the roundabout answer.

My husband is a U of M alumni. I am in Michigan this very second. I'm in Detroit, Michigan, as we speak. So, hey, let's go, and go blue, as they yell. And don't come here with no Michigan State sweatshirt on because that's a fake school. That's not U of M. And they're real actors, everybody. They're like Shakespearean and stuff, scary, fun stuff. Please welcome. Would you mind going in a circle? Would you, right here next to me, sir, would you introduce yourself, please, so I don't mess up anyone's name because it makes me anxious.

[1:15] Yuriy Sardarov: Yes, I'm Yuriy Sardarov. I'm Shakespearean. I don't know, but that is part of our show. I'm glad to be known as such. Thank you.

[1:31] Yuriy Sardarov: You are now, forever. Yeah. And I play Peter on the show, and yeah.

[1:36] Robert Bannon: See? He's a real actor. So funny. He says he plays Peter on the show because he's so used to being on Chicago Fire. All right. 161 episodes of My Father, My Cousin. They've all freaked out about this a lot. I've never watched it. Should I watch it?

[1:51] Yuriy Sardarov: Robert, you've never watched Chicago Fire?

[1:57] Robert Bannon: Don't judge me. I'm sorry. Did that sound judgy? Did that sound judgy to you? Did I lie to you? I could lie. Did you live? How did you end the show?

[2:06] Yuriy Sardarov: Next time. Yes, I died. I died. Yeah. I died after 165 episodes. We all got sick of each other, but we're best friends. Aside from these two. Well, these two are like, they're like sisters, I would say.

[2:23] Laura Lapidus: Even better. It's forced. It's not a choice.

[2:31] Yuriy Sardarov: Yeah. It's forced. Yeah. You don't really, you can't go back.

[2:35] Robert Bannon: Yeah. I love, I like that. So now I believe, if I'm right or wrong, Laura, you have like, are you the one that has like 15 jobs with this show?

[2:46] Laura Lapidus: Yes, that would be me. I have 15 jobs with the show, and then I have 15 jobs just to keep up, stay afloat in the world. But it's been, so yes, my name is Laura Lapidus. I wrote the show. I'm playing Kate. I'm producing the show with my husband. And we're also producing our four-year-old child. So yeah, it's a lot. It's been really, really amazing and special. Of course, stressful. Stress, however, is not hard to come by in this life. But this kind of spectacular thing that we've made only with people we love and adore and cherish, I would say is pretty, pretty special. So yeah, that's me. Husbands, babies, producing, acting, doing it all.

[3:44] Yuriy Sardarov: I mean, come on. You could fit in a few more things. Yes, sir.

[3:48] Tedra Millan: Yeah. Can I just say, we had a talk back the other day and I said, and I'll say it again, I don't know anybody calmer having 30 jobs than Laura Lapidus. You wear it well.

[4:03] Yuriy Sardarov: You wear it very well. So fascinating. Am I wrong, Teddy?

[4:09] Tedra Millan: Is she frozen? I thought she was so eloquent sitting there. In my head, I was like, she is-

[4:15] Robert Bannon: Wait, Robert, can we cut this part out?

[4:17] Yuriy Sardarov: Sure.

[4:20] Robert Bannon: Will you edit this out? This is so embarrassing.

[4:20] Yuriy Sardarov: No, we're going to-

[4:26] Robert Bannon: Wait, let me describe what's happening. Her hands are clasped. She has a very wise look on her face as her hair drapes casually over her beautiful-

[4:32] Tedra Millan: Oh, she's gone. Insulted.

[4:33] Yuriy Sardarov: She's gone.

[4:35] Robert Bannon: Honestly, I think what throws her is the concept of me being calm, because Teddy really is like my sister, my best friend.

[4:40] Yuriy Sardarov: Yeah, she's like-

[4:43] Tedra Millan: All the time.

[4:45] Yuriy Sardarov: I'm not, and also like, I'm not calm.

[4:49] Tedra Millan: But do you know when pressure makes people calm?

[4:53] Yuriy Sardarov: Yes, and you have to keep it together. We thought you were just so eloquently statuesque, and I was like, wow, she doesn't blink. They must teach that in acting school.

[5:03] Tedra Millan: I'm so sorry. I got bumped off somehow.

[5:07] Robert Bannon: No, you're fine. Would you like to introduce yourself?

[5:10] Tedra Millan: Nah.

[5:11] Robert Bannon: Okay. Thanks for being here.

[5:13] Tedra Millan: See you later, guys.

[5:14] Tedra Millan: Hi. Hi, I'm Teddy. I'm Tedra Millan. I'm playing Bianca. I'm playing Kate's sister, Laura's sister, and I have just the one job in the show.

[5:28] Tedra Millan: And it's really, really fun and wild to be doing this with these people.

[5:33] Robert Bannon: So you may know her, everybody. You may have seen her on The Pit. You may have seen her in Leopoldstadt. That's real. That's scary acting, too.

[5:40] Yuriy Sardarov: Oh, my God. That's no joke.

[5:42] Robert Bannon: Eight shows a week for that is, oh, boy. So, Laura, tell us, how did this come about? What is this show about? And why should we get a ticket?

[5:53] Laura Lapidus: Well, there's sort of like, I realize there's kind of like two answers to this question. So there's the creative essence of the show and what the show wants to be and do. And then there's what brought me to write the show. Which one should I start with, Robert?

[6:13] Robert Bannon: This is dealer's choice. I say, what happened when you woke up and said, I'm going to write a show?

[6:20] Laura Lapidus: Well, so I came home from Lambda in London, where I went on a Fulbright scholarship to get my master's in classical acting after doing Joshua Harmon's play, Bad Jews. Fantastic play. I got to play Daphna Fagenbaum. Some people call her Daphna. I call her Daphna. And I did that at George Street Playhouse and at Studio Theatre in DC and Theatre Wood in Chicago. And they all did wonderfully well. And I, it's like a very contemporary, very beep, beep, boop, boop, like, you know, zip, zap, zap, fast, fast, me play. And after that, I sort of felt like I really, like, want to sort of, like, round out my training with, like, a more classical technique. So I found out from Teddy about Lambda because Teddy had sort of, like, just gotten back from doing this one year master's at Lambda.

[7:23] Yuriy Sardarov: And Laura's a copycat.

[7:25] Laura Lapidus: That's a huge copycat. Actually, Teddy's also a huge copycat. But in this case, I was the copycat. And I, so I applied for a Fulbright because, you know, you got to figure out a way to pay for these things. They don't pay for themselves. They don't pay dividends. But I, they can. Everybody's making faces that you can't see. But, so, and my Fulbright, the sort of, like, crux of that research proposal was kind of figuring out how to, how to meet these female Shakespeare characters with, like, truly with myself. Like, you know, like, how do we bridge a gap in a way that maybe we don't think to or we don't have a process to because we think of Shakespeare as this very, like, sort of distant, far away, heightened thing.

And I kind of felt like, no, no, it can't be that. Like, because when you read Shakespeare, when you take even, like, literature, English lit classes about Shakespeare, you really do realize, like, oh, my God, this is about that feeling. Like, this is about this thing that happened to me yesterday. This is about eating lunch. This is about, you know, this is, it's all always shockingly normal. And even, like, this is a little dark, but even when, like, the freaking insurrection was happening on January 6th, I was like, this is a Shakespeare play. This is Henry Five or whatever. So maybe Henry Five's wrong. Don't, don't add me.

[9:04] Yuriy Sardarov: Coriolanus.

[9:06] Laura Lapidus: Sure. Maybe, well, Julius, anyways. So.

[9:09] Yuriy Sardarov: Caesar, yeah.

[9:11] Laura Lapidus: Wasn't I finished?

[9:16] Yuriy Sardarov: Sorry, it's going to be a long story and you're going to have to.

[9:18] Laura Lapidus: I like it. It's okay.

[9:22] Laura Lapidus: So after school, I said, okay, I want to look at Kate from Taming of the Shrew and I want to unearth her. I want to release her from the vault. I want to understand her on my own terms. And that's what brought me to write the play. And then I think I'm also, I want to sort of start sharing, I guess, more widely with people that part of what makes the play really special to me is that shortly after that happened, there was the pandemic and then my pregnancy. And then I had a very rare temporary, but sort of chronic illness called adrenal Cushing's disease from a tumor that was unbeknownst to me growing probably from my pregnancy. And so my health and my body were thrown off in this really drastic, hormonal, subliminal way.

And after going through the pandemic and being pregnant and giving birth and all of that, I was still not able to really be out there as a creative. And my whole creative life and focus and output became very private in a way that I had never experienced before as mainly an actor. And that's where I found writing. And that's where I found this play. And that's where I found Kate and Bianca and Peter. And I think that's worth sharing because that is part of what makes it really special to me.

[11:02] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. You took a circumstance that could have made you stop or quit. It's a lesson for everybody that we can pivot and keep going. And you're inspiring other people who as if they hit a roadblock or have a scary time, there's still beautiful, amazing things that come out of hard times. And thank you for sharing that. And thank you for giving your friends this incredible opportunity as well. I'm going to say that. Maybe they don't feel that way, but I feel that way for them. What a journey. What a joy. Before we get into your friendship, which I want to talk about because it's really fun and makes me smile. I want people to know that you can go to tohaveplay.com. Some shows are already sold out.

There are certain shows and dates that are not there or they're not on. So you've got to get a ticket. Performances have begun and they're going until the 12th. So you have days that you can go see it. And they're fun times on a Sunday, like at three or seven. Or you can go at the last shows at five and eight. So there's different times, seven o'clock at night. So you won't be going to bed at midnight. You still have time after seven to have a drink and talk about what you saw, bring a date, bring a friend. And you can even get tickets for less than fifty dollars. There is no way you can get there's like sixty and fifty bucks or less. You can't get a pizza for fifty dollars in New York City.

The Uber is going to cost more than fifty dollars. So when you're looking to bring a date to a fancy show and you want to show them that you're educated and smart and intellectual, then you bring them to this show. But it's not scary intellectual. It's enough to see here and you'll see people. Maybe you've seen them on stage and TV. You'll impress your partner, date, person and go. It's funny. It's funny, too. You're going to. It's incredibly well written. And also it's seventy five minutes long.

[12:32] Yuriy Sardarov: Thank God, because I can't keep up with ADD medicine. You gotta pay attention. You gotta pay attention, but man. But it's quick. It's tight.

[12:47] Yuriy Sardarov: Everything that I no longer am, because I'm old and dad bod it up. But that's beside the point.

[12:52] Robert Bannon: What? What are you talking about?

[12:54] Yuriy Sardarov: I used to be fit and thin, and now I just keep buying bigger clothes. But that's my own man show.

[12:59] Tedra Millan: That's life. That's life.

[13:01] Robert Bannon: No, because I see you on Instagram posting thirst traps, apparently.

[13:05] Yuriy Sardarov: But I gotta, I have to, this is, I have to do it. Do I have a choice? You know, my wife is like, you want to be an actor? You gotta.

[13:15] Yuriy Sardarov: It's the hard life of an actor. That is a good.

[13:18] Tedra Millan: It is.

[13:19] Yuriy Sardarov: That is a good.

[13:21] Robert Bannon: Please.

[13:22] Yuriy Sardarov: Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm, I'm, I am, I am, I am a sweet little baby fat boy at heart.

[13:29] Tedra Millan: And I always will be.

[13:32] Yuriy Sardarov: Me too. So tell me how you.

[13:33] Tedra Millan: Yeah.

[13:34] Yuriy Sardarov: It is a beautiful thing to be. Did you meet at the mess hall at Ann Arbor?

[13:39] Robert Bannon: Miss Millan, how did you all, how did you all meet each other?

[13:45] Tedra Millan: Oh my God. We all met at orientation.

[13:49] Tedra Millan: First day? Before school started. Orientation, because we were all in the BFA acting program in Michigan, and there were only 18 students in our class. There were.

[14:02] Tedra Millan: Yeah. So it was super tight. And we were in almost every class together for four years. But yeah, we met at orientation. I will never forget the moment I met Laura. I'm not actually going to tell you the story of what happened, but basically we were in an elevator and we just bonded really quickly. And, and Yuri, I can't, do you remember the exact second we met? It was all really.

[14:25] Yuriy Sardarov: You and me?

[14:26] Tedra Millan: Yeah. Or Laura.

[14:29] Yuriy Sardarov: What I remember is our parents, like at orientation.

[14:35] Tedra Millan: Yeah.

[14:35] Yuriy Sardarov: Parents were like Gita and Harriet. And my mom was like, so happy to have met your families.

[14:43] Tedra Millan: And my grandparents.

[14:46] Tedra Millan: That was kind of like my introduction to you guys was like, oh, my parents really love your parents. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[14:55] Tedra Millan: But we were, I mean, I was also 18. I barely have any memories from that time. It's friendship that has truly, you guys truly are not just showbiz friends. Like you truly go back to college and stay in touch and your families know each other. And you've grown in this business together. Yuri, what's it like when you see Laura call you and say she's writing a show or someone books a gig or someone's traveling? Like what's it like to have the community you have created in this tough business?

[15:21] Yuriy Sardarov: I think community is everything, not just in this business, but in life. And so when someone who you love and respect reaches out and says, I've made something. Do you want to be a part of it? I think it's in some ways as an artist and as a community member, it's like incumbent upon you to take a good hard look, you know, because it's going to be good. Like, I think art is what you make of it. I think it can be funny. It can be fast. It can be brilliant. But it's like the energy that every human being puts into the project is going to elevate it. Granted. It needs to be well written. If it's not well written, you're kind of cocked, you know, so. So, yeah, so I read the play and I was like, I have to be a part of it. And it's been a very healing process being with these two. Truly, truly beautiful and healing.

[16:18] Robert Bannon: Laura, am I frozen now? I'm back. OK. Look at that. Unprofessional as can be. Laura, for you, did you know instantly when you wrote this you wanted them to do this? And is there a moment where you look back and think of you all starting school together and now you get to produce a show with your friends that you've come through this journey with? It must be a real surreal moment.

[16:54] Laura Lapidus: Yeah, it's totally surreal. I mean, I always think I keep thinking, like, would I have believed myself if I told myself that this is what would happen? And it's funny because in a way I absolutely would believe that. But I also would kind of be like, how? Like what? Like what? Like what? What's the road that gets you there, Laura? But yeah, it makes total sense. And it's funny because Yuri and Teddy both have, like, very different relationships to the longer scope of the project. So because Teddy and I both live in New York. Yuri's based in L.A. And Teddy, Teddy has been reading for Bianca, like, since the first, first, first, like, Zoom reading that we did. Like six years ago. Yeah. And it would usually be, like, I would read Kate, Teddy would read Bianca, and Teddy's husband would read Peter.

And shout out to Sommer. Thank you, Sommer. And my husband would sort of just, like, sit there and, like, take notes. And that's what it was kind of for a long time. And then it's funny, like, when we started, uh, we started, like, marketing and getting the show going, Yuri, like, Josh had said, like, oh, should we think about Yuri for Peter? And I was like, no, no, no, Yuri doesn't want to do this. Yuri lives in L.A. Leave Yuri alone. Yuri's famous. Yuri's got fires to put out all over town. And then I texted Yuri, like, just, I think, actually, I think, no, I texted Yuri asking him if he would post about the show. And he was like, is Sommer in it? And I was like, no, Sommer can't be in it.

Sommer's not doing my usual thing. And Yuri was like, let me read it. And he was just so game and down and happy to jump in. And he's done an amazing job. So, and, yeah, it's true. Like, Yuri lives far, Teddy lives, Teddy lives close. Teddy and I talk a lot. But, like, we've, we've really snapped together. And it is nice to sort of give, like, being together, I think, gives our past selves a little bit of, like, grace and forgiveness. And I think that feels good.

[19:23] Tedra Millan: It's, it's, it's just, it's really interesting to have not been working together. Because in college, we always worked together. Laura and I did a scene from August: Osage County for our fight certification with rapiers and daggers. And, like, we were, we had a dialect thing that we did together.

[19:38] Laura Lapidus: Yes, we did, big dialect project.

[19:40] Tedra Millan: Yeah. And we, it's been, I don't know, many years, 16, 20 years, 16 years or something since we've graduated. I don't know, some number, we're ageless. Only three years. Don't count. It's been two years, freshly out, super young and tight. Yeah. But we, but no, it's really interesting to, to, like, know these, these college versions of ourselves, and then be presented again with, with it in a world of professionalism. And everyone is kind of the same essence of who they were. But we keep talking about this, how, how everyone has kind of not changed at all. And also, at the same time, just grown up and grounded. And everyone, I'm so, like, amazed by their patience and their empathy and generosity. And it's been really beautiful.

[20:37] Yuriy Sardarov: No, no, I just really, I want to say very quickly, because, you know, we're being, we're all being very nice. I think the script, when I read, no, no, no, this is another nice thing. Don't worry. I'll get to the mean stuff later when we're off air. The script itself, when I read it, it wasn't just that it was funny. And it wasn't just that it was, it was tight, and the relationships were there and clear. The literal script itself, the way that it is formatted, the way that the language flows in and out of dialogue, stage direction, action, was like, it was very clear that this was Laura, to me. And it was, it in itself was a work of art. And then the words and everything. So everything's sort of like a little Matryoshka doll, just kind of, like, fits neatly inside of it.

And Zoe Adams, our director, guys, what's the, what's one of the biggest, we went, we had a Chicago Fire talk back night. And we all went out afterwards. And the thing I kept hearing was, anybody? The transitions. The transitions. People were like, the transitions are incredible. And to me, I've never seen the transitions because I'm in the play. So I have no idea what's going on. And now I'm like, what is happening in these blackouts that people are so like, you know, what is it? Anyway, just wanted to say that. Let's get back to the serious stuff now.

[22:12] Laura Lapidus: No, that was beautiful. Please.

[22:14] Tedra Millan: Sorry, just to add on to that, is that, you know, it's, it's a, it's a loose adaptation of Taming of the Shrew. And the way, there was one day actually in rehearsal where Zoe Adams, our director, and I turned to each other and we're like, oh my gosh, Laura, the writing, because the writing is so dense and complicated. And like, you have to be on top of it or else it all falls away. And we were like, oh my gosh, the language is Shakespearean that she's written in. And it really is. It's like a heightened kind of language. But at the same time, it's so truthful to the way that Laura actually talks. Laura and her husband, Josh, who have been together since they were tiny children, sort of developed this mode of language together. And it is so written in her voice. But at the same time, it is heightened in a way that people don't usually speak in unless they're Laura Lapidus. And it's, yeah, so it kind of goes well. And it is intentional.

[23:11] Yuriy Sardarov: And everybody's going and everybody's going, how much of that was ad libbed?

[23:15] Tedra Millan: Totally.

[23:16] Yuriy Sardarov: You're going, none of it. Literally every, well, like all of it, you know, it's like, it's all in there.

[23:24] Laura Lapidus: The other night though, they did throw me under the bus. They're like, Laura is the only one who ad libs.

[23:27] Yuriy Sardarov: Well, you're the playwright.

[23:31] Laura Lapidus: I was going to ask, does it bother you if they don't, are not, we're not word for word? What's it like to be in a show that you wrote? Are you like, I didn't write that. That's not my language. Do you care? Are you Sondheim?

[23:42] Tedra Millan: They're both, I'm not Sondheim. I wish I was. No, they're both very, very good at it. Like it doesn't, you know, also like I'm an actor, like I know that we're all like, we all, we all mean to be saying the words. Yeah. I think, and there's, I think there's some things that, that matter more to me than others in terms of the words. And I also think it's cool too. Like it's still a new play. You know, I learned from them, like some, some little like mistakes that stick. I'm like, Oh, that's what that, that is what that wants to be. I mean, more often than not, you should really stick to what's on the page.

[24:24] Robert Bannon: I keep going back to the relationship you have and having to have a professional relationship and then your personal relationship. So I don't know if I can call you Teddy, but they call you Teddy. So now I'm calling you Teddy.

[24:34] Tedra Millan: Call me Teddy, babe.

[24:36] Robert Bannon: Teddy. So acting school and acting classes is usually very vulnerable. People don't really audit classes. You, there's a lot of personal stuff that comes up when you go to acting school, you learn about yourself. So, you know each other really well, you've worked together, you know the ins and outs, the good, the bad, and the ugly. How do you put the personal relationship away to do the professional, or do they live in the same place all the time?

[25:05] Yuriy Sardarov: Welcome to The Roundtable! I'm Yuriy Sardarov, and I'm here with my amazing co-stars, Laura Lapidus and Tedra Millan, to talk about our project, To Have & To Hold.

[25:35] Laura Lapidus: It's so exciting to be here! I think what drew me to this story was the depth of the characters and the way it explores relationships.

[25:59] Tedra Millan: Absolutely! The humor and humanity in the material really resonate. It’s a beautiful blend of comedy and drama that I think audiences will connect with.

[26:27] Yuriy Sardarov: And the chemistry between us is just electric. We really found a rhythm together that makes the story come alive.

[26:55] Laura Lapidus: I agree! It’s been such a joy to build these relationships on stage. Each character has their own journey, and it’s fascinating to see how they intersect.

[27:23] Tedra Millan: Plus, the writing is so sharp. It allows us to find those moments of levity even in the more serious scenes.

[27:53] Yuriy Sardarov: Speaking of journeys, I’ve had quite a ride since my time on Chicago Fire. It’s been a transformative experience for me, and I’m excited to share this new chapter with everyone.

[28:21] Laura Lapidus: And for me, this project felt like the perfect opportunity to dive into something fresh and challenging. I love how it pushes boundaries.

[28:49] Tedra Millan: Same here! It’s refreshing to be part of a project that feels so relevant and relatable to today’s audience.

[29:17] Yuriy Sardarov: I think what audiences can expect is a heartfelt experience. They’ll laugh, they’ll cry, and they’ll definitely see a piece of themselves in our characters.

[29:47] Laura Lapidus: And we really hope to spark conversations about love and relationships, which is what makes this story so special.

[30:17] Tedra Millan: It’s all about connection, and I think that’s something everyone can relate to, no matter where they are in life.

[30:46] Yuriy Sardarov: Exactly! And I can’t wait for everyone to see how our individual stories come together in such a meaningful way.

[31:16] Laura Lapidus: It’s a testament to the power of collaboration and the magic that happens when artists come together.

[31:46] Tedra Millan: I’m just so proud to be part of this team. It feels like we’re creating something truly special.

[32:16] Yuriy Sardarov: And we’re thrilled to share it with the world. It’s going to be an unforgettable experience for everyone involved.

[32:45] Laura Lapidus: So, mark your calendars! You won’t want to miss To Have & To Hold.

[33:15] Tedra Millan: We can’t wait to see you there!

[33:44] Yuriy Sardarov: Thanks for joining us today on The Roundtable. We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek into our project!

[34:13] Laura Lapidus: And thank you, Robert, for having us!

[34:43] Tedra Millan: Yes, thank you! It’s been a pleasure.

[35:12] Yuriy Sardarov: Until next time, everyone!

[35:42] Laura Lapidus: Bye!

[36:11] Tedra Millan: Bye!

[36:40] Yuriy Sardarov: See you soon!

[37:10] Laura Lapidus: Take care!