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[0:00] Jeryl Brunner: From Shakespeare to sports, from Fossey to Alvin Haley, from Santam to Burelis, from McNally to Faye. It happened to the greats, it still happens every day. When lightning strikes is the moment you know. When lightning strikes, where your matter goes you can stand in Shell Eureka, do whatever you like. You'll never forget the moment when lightning strikes.

[0:26] Jeryl Brunner: Hi, this is Jeryl Brunner, and you're listening to When Lightning Strikes, where we talk about the tingly mic drop moments that led you to becoming an artist. Brendan George wrote and starred in A Eulogy for Roman. This riveting immersive show recently ran at 59 E 59 Theaters, directed by Peter Charney. A Eulogy for Roman was a hit at Edinburgh Fringe Fest. Brendan is a New York City-based actor, writer, improviser, and singer. Welcome.

[1:08] Brendan George: Thank you so much, Jeryl. It's a pleasure to be here.

[1:10] Jeryl Brunner: It's a joy to have you on the show. I loved this production, this performance. I loved how immersive it was, um, that we were all a part of its, dare I say it, its creation.

[1:30] Brendan George: Yes, yes, absolutely. You're welcome to say that. I always say it's partially created by me, but audience-generated as well, which was a highlight for me.

[1:39] Jeryl Brunner: So how did it all happen? How did this come together, this beautiful show? Can you take me to when it came into your life?

[1:48] Brendan George: Yeah, absolutely. So it actually dates back to the summer of 2020, because, or at that time, it was our first pandemic summer, if you will. Um, and hopefully the one of only a few. Uh, but at that point, you know, theaters were shuttered, the future of live performance was really uncertain. And a brilliant colleague of mine, Peter Charney, who co-created the piece, he reached out to me remotely and he said, "Hey, I've had this idea for a few years." He had some seedlings of ideas. He reached out to me and he said, "I think it's a solo show. I think it's interactive, but I haven't written any of it, and I think you're the guy for it." Which, as a not working actor at that point, that was the dream sort of call you get, because it was more than just an invitation to work.

It was an invitation to create, and it was an invitation to really dream up a whole world together. And I have some experience writing and I do have experience improvising and with solo shows. So this was also really squarely in a pocket of interest with me. And then Peter and I got to the drawing board and we first started to align our values and what we think we'd want to incorporate into this piece. And I think with the missive at that time that we wanted something fundamentally theatrical that needed to be live and it needed to be a shared communal experience among strangers that maybe leave as something more. Uh, with that goal in mind, that's basically what we set out to create.

[3:32] Jeryl Brunner: So did he come to you with an idea of more of what it could be, of you know, the storyline? I mean, what was the pitch or was there, you know, that elevator pitch of this is what it's about?

[3:41] Brendan George: He approached me with two ideas. One I'll maybe keep secret because of the nature of the show, but one I can share openly, which is he had the idea of a funeral with a bucket list. So that was one of the guiding principles we had. And then, you know, if you experience the show, there's some information that gets revealed. He had an inkling of that as a separate thought, and we sort of combined those together. But this idea of a funeral with a bucket list was a really enticing premise because it immediately redefined the relationship between performance or performer and audience or observer. Suddenly it was, oh, maybe we can work together to create content or we can work together to create the plot necessary to fulfill our end destination.

So everyone gets invested through that process. And part of the joy of the show and the excitement is the discovery of what's going to happen. So I don't want to give too much away for people who might see this show in the future. But what can you tell us? If somebody asked, what is A Eulogy for Roman about, what would you say?

[5:10] Brendan George: I'd say for me, the show is about belief and the power of belief. And this manifests in many, many ways through the show. Uh, and it is fundamental to theater itself, you know, the premise of theater when we enter a room on an imagined premise is that we have very real feelings, emotions, calls to action as a result of this fictional or heightened mode of storytelling. And this show really manifests that in a particular way. But we, uh, you know, it's very moving to me every time I get to do the show to see that the power of belief gets people who sometimes come to the show having no idea that it's interactive, having no idea that it's remotely immersive, and it's getting people out of their seat doing things they had no idea they were gonna do. It has people talking to each other. It's so thrilling, and that's just a testament to the power of belief.

[6:17] Jeryl Brunner: Yeah, and can we say that it starts with a funeral, right? And you're there to give the eulogy, and then things transpire from there.

[6:33] Brendan George: Yes, yeah. So if anyone feels completely lost with what actually this entails, it is set up as a eulogy for a man that you have never met, but that is the protagonist's best friend, Roman. So Milo is hosting a eulogy for Roman, he's welcoming everybody into the service, and he is set out to introduce himself, Roman, and to honor his recently departed friend. But what he doesn't anticipate is that the ceremony is somewhat difficult to complete, and that he actually wants to enlist the audience on a voluntary basis to finish the ceremony.

[7:10] Jeryl Brunner: That's a beautiful way to put it. And can you talk about the trajectory of the show? So here you wrote it during the pandemic, and then what happened?

[7:21] Brendan George: Yeah, so the journey was totally unruly and unpredictable in the most exciting and rewarding of ways. When Peter and I first sat down to write this, again, we were starting remote, our audiences were remote. We were developing an interactive solo show over Zoom, which as you can imagine was a tall order. So we didn't even know if this show would work when we actually got in front of people, if we would get that chance. And then quite fortunately, you know, luckily we worked our way back into theaters, we worked our way back, even if it was masked, you know, we felt confident that we would get to do a version of the show. And it was about December of, let me get my timeline right. I guess it was December of 2021.

So at this point, it's been a year and almost a half from when we first started talking about this show. The show's been written, we've done some virtual workshops. And I was talking with Peter about finally mounting it, finally finding a way to produce it. And Peter had had an experience years ago, actually, when he was in high school going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. And Edinburgh at that time had announced that they were going to proceed with their 75th year. It was going to be largely in person. They had done a hybrid kind of virtual thing the year prior. And we thought, you know, this could be a really great opportunity for this type of show and also for us as creators to get to introduce ourselves and bring this very unusual theatrical piece to an audience that maybe would be really excited by it.

And lo and behold, that's what transpired. We ended up going out that August, so now this is August of 22, and the show unexpectedly for us was a big success. We went out there with no budget, no PR team, no marketing team. It was just the two of us and an urn and handing the flyers, you know. And critics ended up coming, critics ended up really championing the show, which was extremely humbling and exciting. And then we got an invitation basically a week after we landed back in the States feeling proud, but that we had completed our mission. We got this invitation from 59 Theaters to be programmed into their season potentially, and we jumped at the opportunity. They're an amazing theater, so we were very flattered.

[10:07] Jeryl Brunner: So you just had this extraordinary run at 59 E 59 Theaters. Tell me about that experience and what the joy is of working with that incredible theater.

[10:21] Brendan George: Oh, very. I can't sing their praises high enough. They are so attentive and caring and responsible and supportive. They really helped us see the vision of the show and us as artists. Um, and again, Peter and I were only working on this show, the whole journey as two people, and suddenly we had this theater of full-time staff excited to help us see this through. So, you know, everything from our world building was very particular. So everything from what we were gonna do pre-show, how the ushers were going to refer to the show as a ceremony or an event instead of a performance. You know, they were just game for everything. And it was extremely fulfilling to get to merge this immersive, somewhat site-specific event with the resources and enthusiasm of an established off-Broadway theater.

And we got everybody under the sun as a result, which is how this show thrives. I mean, the show is as rich and as textured as the diversity of the audience members who enter it. And we were thrilled to see that we had subscribers from 59 coming to see it and saying this was unlike anything they'd seen at the theater, or that this was one of their favorite things that they'd seen at the theater. And in fact, I started to recognize some subscribers were coming back and were telling their friends to come because the show's different in different ways every time. So I left, you know, by the end of our, we ended up extending the run. And by the end of the run, I was like, you know, starting to recognize strangers, uh, formerly strangers, but now friends at this point who were coming in and were checking it out, bringing friends, and it was just so fantastic. And it was really an ideal space. Having these seats. This, yeah, we were in their tiniest theater, so it's only 53 seats, which is perfect actually for what we wanted to do.

[12:28] Brendan George: And I want to read something Elizabeth Vincentelli said. The New York Times, she wrote, "The bravest thing about A Eulogy for Roman is its embrace of kindness, resilience, and community." How does that make you feel?

[12:48] Brendan George: What did she say though? Oh gosh, that was, it's touching. I mean, it gives me a little bit of goosebumps to be honest. It is so flattering when I feel like the show is really seen for what it is and what it's attempting to do.

[13:05] Brendan George: And I think that's what it gives me is it just makes me feel very seen in this show and what we're creating in that room. So it was really exciting. And what's so beautiful is here we are, you know, for years we were separate, right? And to come together, I mean to see theater is, you know, an act of community building, yeah, and togetherness sounds so hokey, but it's true. No, it's true. But this is another step further, yeah. You know, which is so incredible. Yeah, and I'll add too, you know, I think it is it can feel in this strange way a little defiant or maybe radical too generous, but to be earnest and to be sincere and to be endearing and honest and not be cynical or jaded, you know. I think, and I think there's a place for that tone and attitude, of course.

Look at the world we live in, but I think, again, returning to the idea of this piece as a piece about belief and hope. And I think, especially knowing where this piece was generated from at a time where we were feeling so low on hope, so low on belief, it only makes sense for me. And it's so relieving, frankly, that people were willing to open their arms and embrace this show, even if it is endearing and hokey and earnest in its certain way. It's, you know, I'm glad that every night it felt like a big warm hug between me and 53 strangers. It's like we did this, we made it to the end, and we opened our hearts to each other. And that's just beautiful, you know.

[14:58] Jeryl Brunner: Yes, yes. And also, may I add, it's also about bravery and courage. Your courage and how you would list the audience and also the audience's courage.

[15:09] Brendan George: Yes. You know, to get up on stage and do these things with you. I was moved, I mean, I would cry, you know, weep regularly at shows, just moved by people being that level of brave, that people who you could tell were not coming into this space looking to say or do anything. And suddenly some part of them was nudging them or overtook them, and they felt safe enough and comfortable enough and brave enough to suddenly say that thing or do that thing. And every time they crossed that threshold, I just, it really moved me. It was spiritual to witness in many ways.

[15:50] Jeryl Brunner: That's wonderful. So I'd love to know your lightning strikes moment when you knew you had to be an artist.

[15:58] Brendan George: Yes, okay. So I think I've thought about this and there's a couple different lightning strikes I suppose in my life, a little bit of a thunderstorm, but I think really to trace my earliest roots on this when I was nine years old I was in my first musical. I was a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz and what's funny about that, I don't remember it being a profound acting performance necessarily, but the sensation that I experienced simply being in the act of making theater, simply being with peers as well as with adults creating something together as a team. Prior to that, the only group activities I had participated in were sports where they're inherently, even when you're working with the team, they're inherently competitive and there's a lot of comparison.

I spent the majority of my childhood and adolescence feeling quite self-conscious and feeling isolated or, you know, insecure in different ways. And it was just the experience on this first show perhaps without even realizing that I felt for the first time a sense of belonging and a sense of place and use and drive. And slowly but surely with Revaz became an orphan in Oliver. And it became, you know, and it unfolded. And this was all at a community theater very close to my house growing up in Connecticut. And that became my home away from home. And I mean, quite literally sometimes. I mean, I was sleeping on couches, and you know, they couldn't get rid of me over there. I ended up like joining the board.

And I think that that was the munchkin was maybe the first lightning strike in what became a storm of my time, spending my whole childhood and high school years in this theater very close to my house. And it became so integral to who I was and what I believed in in life, what I wanted to do with life that I even went to college and tried to take a break off of different advice. I was like, you know what, maybe I won't major in theater. I majored in environmental science. I went to Brown and I was just doing environmental science, and it took, I cracked after like three weeks. I couldn't last without it. And suddenly I was back, I was performing, I did improv in a cappella, and I was doing student theater, and at that point I said, you know, I'll get my degree in environmental science fine. But as soon as I graduate, I'm going to New York, and I won't be able to live a satisfied life without trying this fully. And luckily I'm still doing it. I have no intention of stopping.

[18:57] Jeryl Brunner: That's wonderful. And here you are. I mean, you're continuing your education, right? You're in the NYU grad acting program as we speak.

[19:08] Brendan George: I am, yes. Simultaneously, I was, yeah, there I was very thankful and grateful to get the opportunity to, in the summer between my second and now this third and final year of the grad acting program, to get to put up the show with 59, actually start rehearsals for my third year during the days. And then I'd be there 10 to 6, go uptown and do the show at 7:30. But this is the total dream. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be at 27, no less, getting the opportunity to rehearse all day, do my own show uptown at night. I mean, it was so exciting, and I've had a taste, and I'm hoping that this is only the beginning.

[19:50] Jeryl Brunner: That's so wonderful. Yeah, to be working on your craft during the day of card, and then executing that at night sounds so technical, and it's all part of this, you know, the stew of learning, all of it.

[20:09] Brendan George: I agree though. I mean, I think it may sound technical, but that's for me what, you know, where I'm at is that I am training and I am working on the craft component of performance, and it has been so, it's been a great exercise to have my own show and get to apply that training to real-world events, real-world application. And yeah, I just, I can get in my head a little bit as a student still, thinking about all the things we're working at at school, but then when I went out with that show, it just was, it was helping me actually float so much easier through the process, and it did instill me with confidence, and there's still so much I have to learn and want to learn. I mean, at this point, I'm hoping this mindset of learning stays with me for the rest of my career, and that's what's been exciting too.

Is the show taught me so much, school is teaching me so much, and there's no reason that after I graduate in eight months that I will stop learning. That is gonna be with me. And I'm so excited for me in 20 years to look back at me now or re-listen to this interview and say, oh, how young I was and what I thought I knew, because you only gain experience with life.

[21:33] Jeryl Brunner: Well, and I love that you're already taking all this agency, you know, over your career, over your like not just sitting back and letting people auditionally, and of course, there's that piece and auditioning and getting jobs, but actually co-writing a show and you just on faith going to Edinburgh and putting it up and handing up flyers.

[21:58] Brendan George: Yeah, you know, I mean, it's so it's advice that I think young artists get a lot, which is that you shouldn't wait for opportunity, you should create opportunity, and I actually feel a little mixed about that because sometimes that can put even more pressure on a young artist to feel like, well, gosh, everything seems so far away, and now you're telling me it's my fault that it's far away, you know. But on the other hand, I do think there's something that as a young artist is incredibly empowering to remember that I do have the tools to create, and even if it's not going to Edinburgh and getting nice reviews, it can be I just want to write something tonight, and I don't need permission to write.

I can just open my laptop or open my notebook and write. And that's actually how I fell into writing, and this whole process with Peter was another testament to that, which is as an actor, as you mentioned, you know, you have to wait oftentimes for permission to do your work. You have to get cast, or you have to have a project that invites you in. And as a writer, or in many other disciplines too, but that's where I found it most. You get to empower yourself and say, I have an idea, I'm gonna write it. I have a voice, a story that wants to be heard, so I'm gonna speak it. I'm gonna share it. And when I as an actor am sometimes feeling like I've hit a wall or a ceiling, I can suddenly creep out the side door and get a taste of that because it reminds me of it taps into that creative well that I have that I always want to keep in touch with.

[23:48] Jeryl Brunner: So how did you first connect with Peter?

[23:51] Brendan George: Peter and I actually met at the 24-hour plays.

[23:55] Jeryl Brunner: Oh, which I think you're familiar with, yeah.

[23:57] Brendan George: I saw that you had you talked with Mark Armstrong.

[24:00] Jeryl Brunner: Yes, and I actually wrote a 24-hour play.

[24:03] Brendan George: And did you? Oh, fantastic.

[24:04] Jeryl Brunner: Oh, yes.

[24:06] Brendan George: So the great, the great uniform.

[24:09] Jeryl Brunner: Yeah.

[24:09] Brendan George: Yes, yes.

[24:10] Jeryl Brunner: So they do this program, 24 Hour Plays Nationals, where they take theater makers under the age of 25. And this was in 2019. So it was this was now the first or the last pre-pandemic summer. How terrible that I'm using that as a time marker. Hopefully, I'll get rid of that. But yeah, it was the summer of 2019. He was brought on in the directing cohort of five. I was in the acting cohort of about 25, and we actually didn't really work together over the course of our workshops, but we met on a social level and we sort of stayed loosely in touch. And I think just being aware of each other, you know, we and mutual admiration and respect, of course. I would have, I was eager to work with him. I really wanted to work with him.

And like I said, I think he actually, I want to give him credit, took the chance on me, which was to say, I think you might be right for this. And famously, I guess he will tell the story as well. But unbeknownst to me, I was very eager in a way that surprised him, but then reassured him he had made the right choice because he pitched me a few ideas, he was like, maybe we can talk soon. I was like, great, tomorrow at noon. How does that sound? I just, I was ready to go right away.

[25:26] Jeryl Brunner: So why do you think he felt that you were the right person for this project?

[25:36] Brendan George: Well, I think some of it was professional experience. Again, I had done two solo shows, I had some improv background, but you know, and I don't want to take words out of his mouth or be too self-aggrandizing, but I have been witness to him answering a similar question. And he basically just described that the experience in 24 Hour Plays, the way that I was engaging with the other cohort members, as well as the audience at large, he said there was something that made people feel very safe and very seen, which is a huge flattering compliment.

[26:17] Brendan George: It's beautiful. And it also became the bedrock of this whole show. I mean, the character that we built. So knowing that that was what he valued, I was able to also be aware of that and really dig into that. And that was so important for me. The show definitely only can operate if the audience feels safe and cared for. So I definitely tried to continue to emulate that. And um, yeah, as I could attest to that, you know, as an audience member of A Eulogy for Roman, that not only did I feel seen and safe, but I felt that you really listened in a very profound way because you come back.

[27:00] Jeryl Brunner: Yes, you can share that.

[27:01] Brendan George: Yeah, but I call it a magic trick. Yeah, there's a moment, yeah, where I at the end I actually list back everyone's names and the moments that they've shared over the course of the show. And it's, it actually you'll maybe be interested to know, wasn't in the original script. I didn't know that I was gonna do that. But it's something that organically happened where I was as the host of this event, genuinely getting so connected and attached to the different people that I remember I think this was in Scotland, it just started to happen where I would recount all that we had created. I was just so blown away by the magic that we had all worked together to create. And I would recall that to the audience.

I'd say, when you did this and your name, this and this and Jessica and Tony and Ian and that became like the moment at the end where we were able to look at everything that we had done and appreciate the profundity of that. And uh anyway, then going to New York, well, that was a sure fight. We knew we wanted that in, and I actually went even further to get, as you could probably tell, I get as many names during the show as I can. And even if it's as small as you're gonna hand me a little note card, or you have, you know, and or you accidentally drop something, and um, and then yeah, it's just so uh that is that is a real treat for me and a good challenge for me every time too, is see how many people I can hold in my brain. It's extraordinary.

[28:45] Brendan George: I want to just go back to Connecticut for a moment. So what was the town that you grew up in?

[28:52] Brendan George: Yeah, I grew up in theater. I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. Uh which is only, for those who don't know, it's only about an hour by train outside of New York. And there's a really robust theater scene out there because of its proximity to New York, and there's a good value on the arts, I think, in Fairfield County at large. And there's this fantastic community theater called Curtain Call, which, as I said, was my second home. And uh Lou Orson, the executive director there, has been there for my whole life and has just built something so like the caliber of work there, I wouldn't have known because it was kind of the only theater I was aware of. So I've only grown up and seen the context that this is just totally next level community theater.

It sort of redefines what you'd expect from that. I've seen productions there that uh yeah, rival some of my favorite stuff I've seen. And they do a youth theater program every summer. So that's where I was doing youth theater in the summer, but then during the regular season in the year, they need the munchkin or they need the orphan or they need you know the, yeah, whoever it was running around in the background. So I did a lot of that, and um it was it was great opportunity.

[30:09] Jeryl Brunner: So what led you there in the first place?

[30:12] Brendan George: That's actually a funny little story too. It's not quite a lightning strike, but it is pretty funny. So when I was about six, six or seven, the story goes, I we used to get catalogs in the mail, you know, like LL Bean or certainly around holiday time, you get those paper copies. And I guess this is what my mom says. My mom says that I was looking at the catalog, and there were these child children for the kids' clubs. And I said, how come these kids get to be in the magazine? And she said, because they have cute butts. And I said, I have a cute butt, which I don't know, that to us was really uh the sort of nonsense conversation you have with a child. Um but then suddenly I, for whatever reason it sparked a real idea for me that I wanted to be in this LL Bean magazine.

Why not? And long story short, my parents bless their hearts, they indulged the notion because I was a very determined child, and they uh brought me in. I ended up doing some like print modeling when I was like seven years old. That's that's where we're getting with this. It's just that I just was taken and I did a little bit of it. But the problem was I have two older siblings, and my parents were uh, I guess at this time my dad had stopped working, but my parents are together. Uh, but anyway, that it was too much of a commitment. And they said, look, we cannot keep driving you into New York City for modeling what we we did not know what we were getting ourselves into. But what we can do is sign you up for theater at the theater that's next door to our house.

So if you're so desperate to be seen, go enjoy that. And uh they I think even at the time they were like, and then in high school, you can you can let us know. Well, the rest was history. Once I once I got into the theater, that was the rest. Um sorry, a bit of an unusual story, I'm sure.

[32:19] Brendan George: That they found the redirect.

[32:21] Jeryl Brunner: Yes that was really great that was transforming. Are there did you want to mention other lightning strikes moments? Do you say you had another one?

[32:29] Brendan George: The only the other one that really comes to mind is, you know, for me, acting was a hobby, and it was not something that I was, even though I may have wanted to make it something more or take it more seriously. The my dad was an accountant, he was very practical, pragmatic. And if you do the numbers on on becoming an actor, they're not the best numbers. So I think he always felt, uh, along with many mentors, felt, you know, you're you you have a love for this, you're great at this, but you know, be careful, be careful because there's so many other things you can do, and if you choose to do this, it may be a really hard path, and and there's no guarantee on the other side. So the other lightning strike for me was actually when I was in high school, I was in a production of Pippin, and I was Pippin at a another theater that I loved called Actors Conservatory Theater.

It was based in Yonkers at the time. I was doing a youth production of Pippin. And this show completely opened my world. It still remains like my favorite musical. I just, I think the world of it. And I, you know, I was a junior in high school and I was excavating the real meaning behind the text, and I was my synapses were firing in all new ways that I had never experienced. So the lightning was charging, but then it struck when I actually got to see Diane Paulus's Pippin that year, I think it was. It was the revival was on Broadway. And I sat in my chair at that production crying, just crying from the sheer brilliance of it. I mean, I was crying before anything emotional had happened. I mean, I was just blown away with the way that the um heightened theatricality and circus performance and movement and dance and singing, and it just was layer after layer after layer, and it all enhanced the story that was actually being told.

You know, it wasn't just spectacle for that sake, it was really to me, and that you know, I already had this attachment to the show, and I had really strong principles of what it was about and what it needed to say, and it leaped past my already very high bar, and I was, I remember taking the train home afterwards, like I couldn't speak. I went with a friend, and she she thought I was entering a depression depressive state because I was just so moved. And I wrote, I went home and I wrote a letter to myself that I wish I had here. I do know it's still at my parents' house under safekeeping. But I wrote a letter to myself that basically stated from me to me if you can ever make anyone feel a fraction of what you have felt today, you have lived a life worth living, and you are on the right path.

And it that was that was a big lightning strike for me. I just for the first time really got serious. You know what? I know the odds aren't in my favor. I know the numbers aren't great. There's a bazillion actors and only, you know, two parts sometimes it can feel like, but um, actually, you know, the the only way I won't get a chance to do this is if I don't try. Um, and ever since I've also learned that you know what, those numbers are a little misleading because there is at least right now, I have uh grown into a much more abundance mindset. And I think that there is space for all of us. There's space for all the stories to be told. And I think that that framework was really just understandably, it was a protective framework that I had grew up around, but um I have learned a little bit beyond that. I think it's a bit of a false notion, and there's uh there's room for all of us.

[36:39] Jeryl Brunner: I love that mindset. And how what's next for A Eulogy for Roman?

[36:45] Brendan George: That's a great question. Uh we will see where A Eulogy presents next. I really would love to license the play, actually, because we we were approached by uh actually as soon as in Scotland, a year ago, we had some high schoolers come to see it. And one of the high schoolers was like, I want to do this for my senior project or my high school. And I hadn't even thought of that. I was so complimented, and I thought, yeah, rock on. You're like, but that is so ambitious, but so exciting. And if I could be there to see it, I would go attend. Because one thing I haven't done with the show is I haven't gotten to be in the audience, which I want to do. So uh anyway, I think I'd have some aspirations around that, though that's a work in progress.

And as far as my journey with the show, I'm definitely open to still doing it. I think this was a really fulfilling run, but there's always room for more adaptation, more people to share this with, more places for it to go. So we're open-minded. I will say I'm not making any promises. I I don't think this is inappropriate to share. Maybe Peter will kick me later, but we uh we had like a nudge from somebody in Japan who owns a theater company and and maybe would be interested, you know. So that's that's the sort of thing that luckily the show may be able to handle because it's pretty low, it's pretty low overhead with being a solo show and the the tech, as you saw, is more of an urn on the table.

It's really the heart of the story that that brings the production. So um, you know, if we went to a new location, we'd have to adapt a few textual things. But other than that, the show's ready to roll, and I will be I have a suspicion that this is not the last of A Eulogy for Roman.

[38:34] Jeryl Brunner: Oh, I hope it's not the last. I hope many more people get to experience it and be a part of it.

[38:41] Brendan George: Thank you.

[38:41] Jeryl Brunner: Thank you. Well, Brendan, it's such a treat to have you on the show. So much congratulations and have a wonderful day.

[38:49] Brendan George: Thank you.

[38:50] Jeryl Brunner: Of course.

[38:51] Brendan George: Thank you so much, Jeryl. This was a pleasure. The great city still happens every day when lightning strikes is the moment you know. The theme song was written by Tom McGovern. This episode was edited by Sarah Goodman and produced by Anna Strout.

[39:08] Brendan George: Lightning strikes.