CIFA_EP36

AUDIO	VIDEO	
STEFFI D: Hi, everyone. I'm Steffi D. 	Lisa and Steffi appear in different chat windows on screen	
LISA HUMBER: And I'm Lisa H. 		
STEFFI D: And welcome to Check In from Away. 		
LISA HUMBER: This week Stephanie and I are heading back to the theater. 		
STEFFI D: Thanks for joining us. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	CREDITS SEQUENCE
TEXT: Check In From Away with Steffi D. and Lisa H.
Steffi and Lisa’s windows slide together and they mime clinking their mugs together.	
Hey Lisa, guess what? 		
LISA HUMBER: What! 		
STEFFI D: Did you do anything cool and different this week? 		
LISA HUMBER: Well that's really funny that you should ask, Steffi, because I actually went and did something amazing with one of my best friends. 		
STEFFI D: Who's one of your best friends Lisa? 		
LISA HUMBER: Ding ding ding ding, you and I went to the opening night performance of Blindness at the Princess of Wales Theatre 		
STEFFI D: Lisa, being back in the theater for the first time in 17 months, was so emotional and cathartic for me, it's so amazing. 		
LISA HUMBER: It was so amazing and in fact, we wanted to share that journey today with the viewers so here we go. 		
STEFFI D: Let's do it. Lisa no theater experience is complete without going out for pre show drinks. 		
LISA HUMBER: Exactly and the neighborhood around the Princess of Wales Theatre has tons of fun bars and restaurants to hit up but we chose a spot that was really, really important to us. 		
STEFFI D: Yes, so close to our hearts. Lisa, we went to have a drink Hey Lucy's before the show, which is the last bar we went to together on March 13, 2020, which was unbeknownst to ourselves our last show of come from way. 		
LISA HUMBER: Also the last time I was in a theater properly was before we went to Hey Lucy's on March 15, 2020. So it was like full circle we had to go back to Hey Lucy's. 		
		
STEFFI D: All right Lisa where are we? 		
LISA HUMBER: Right here at Hey Lucy's. And we are about to go see a show. 		
STEFFI D: So exciting Cheers. 		
LISA HUMBER: Cheers 		
STEFFI D: Cheers and Cheers. OK Lisa, how are you feeling about tonight? 		
LISA HUMBER: I'm really excited, I'm really nervous. I have so many feelings like mostly just kind of overwhelming a little bit like I going to the theater has been part of my life my whole life. Being an arts worker working in the theater, seeing the theater. So it's really like Christmas morning a little bit. 		
STEFFI D: It really is, except it's August so it's not Christmas. 		
LISA HUMBER: But that's OK, I have the same feeling. 		
STEFFI D: You know what, I genuinely lose track of time in the pandemic, I hesitated before I said it was August but it's August, 2021. 		
LISA HUMBER: And I will see the Princess of Wales Theatre is one of my favorite venues in Toronto. I've worked-- I've had the opportunity to work a few shows there, I love the crew there, I love staff, I love the space. So I'm really curious to see what they're going to do with the space like. I know there's only 50 audience members and that's a big theater. So I'm curious to see what it looks like. 		
STEFFI D: We're setting on stage though right? 		
LISA HUMBER: I think. I'm not sure. 		
STEFFI D: I think we're sitting on stage. I don't know we're going to find out we're going to tell you after. 		
LISA HUMBER: OK, Lisa we're going to walk over to the theater now. ready? 		
STEFFI D: Yeah, let's do it. 		
LISA HUMBER: Great, it's going to be a solid probably like what a 3 minute walk, less. Probably 30 seconds. 		
STEFFI D: It's about probably 15 seconds. 		
LISA HUMBER: Probably 15 seconds. We're really close. Hey Lucy's is right next door. 		
STEFFI D: Yeah, it's perfect Hey Lucy's perfect this kitty corner to the POW AKA Princess of Wales. 		
LISA HUMBER: That's right. 		
STEFFI D: Also Lisa we cannot move forward with our evening without saying that Hey Lucy's has wine night on Thursday night 499 for glass of wine. You can't go wrong. 		
LISA HUMBER: You cannot go wrong. Have a glass of wine and then head over to the POW. And for all you folks at home POW is insider speak for the Princess of Wales theater. 		
STEFFI D: Now you're in the inside circle baby. 		
LISA HUMBER: OK, Lisa going out for drinks before the show was amazing but my favorite part of the evening is walking into the glorious Princess of Wales theater. 		
STEFFI D: Yeah, I was super nervous like I didn't know what to expect it being our first time back in a theater after 17 months. But it was so easy and so low maintenance to get in like you have the app the movie shop or the tickets are emailed to you and it's like everything socially just since it's super safe and really, really, really like breezy quick fast. No problems at all. 		
LISA HUMBER: And when you walk in there's little stickers on the ground and you have to go to the like where your seat numbers are. We have a couple pictures of that. Cute pictures of us next to our seats sticker. And then they usher you in like row by row inside of the theater. Super easy peasy lemon squeezy and very socially distanced and super COVID safe. 		
STEFFI D: Lisa, guess what. 		
LISA HUMBER: We are here. We're at the Prince of Wales theater we're about to go back to the theater after 18 months away. 		
STEFFI D: I know. Can you believe it? 		
LISA HUMBER: No, I can't, I have all the feelings. I can't handle it right now. 		
STEFFI D: Me too I have a lot of feelings right now. 		
LISA HUMBER: Yeah. 		
STEFFI D: This is the poster. 		
LISA HUMBER: Spoiler alert we're seeing blindness. 		
STEFFI D: We are seeing blindness spoiler alert. 		
LISA HUMBER: Isn't this exciting? 		
STEFFI D: Yeah, it's so cool. 		
LISA HUMBER: I'm really excited right now. 		
STEFFI D: Should to go in? 		
LISA HUMBER: Let's go inside. Let's get our masks already. And then go inside. 		
STEFFI D: Let's do it. 		
LISA HUMBER: Here we go Lisa. 		
STEFFI D: It's happening. 		
LISA HUMBER: It's happening. 		
STEFFI D: Hey Lisa, do you have any of these symptoms? 		
LISA HUMBER: Absolutely not. Do you? 		
STEFFI D: I hope not. No of course not. 		
LISA HUMBER: Hey, you go first. 		
STEFFI D: OK. So are you coming? 		
LISA HUMBER: Yeah. 		
STEFFI D: So things are working a little bit differently now. We have digital tickets. 		
LISA HUMBER: All right, let's do it. OK so-- 		
STEFFI D: Oh, Hey, Lisa. 		
LISA HUMBER: We're in the lobby as you can hear it's pretty busy. Lots of hustle bustle. Lot's of like known cases like, Mr Mervis he's here in this. 		
STEFFI D: That's right David Mervis. 		
LISA HUMBER: We were just chatting with him and some other like-- 		
STEFFI D: No big deal. He recognized us by face. You know by face. 		
LISA HUMBER: By face. 		
STEFFI D: Can you say that? 		
LISA HUMBER: Even with the mask. 		
STEFFI D: Even with the mask. 		
LISA HUMBER: So that was exciting. And now we can drop to our special circle. 		
STEFFI D: Yep, here it is. 		
LISA HUMBER: And we're just waiting to enter in the auditorium. 		
STEFFI D: That's right. It's pretty easy like having [INAUDIBLE] So easy. 		
LISA HUMBER: No problem you just hold it the digital phone app. You show it, they scan it, they bring you to your circle and now we're just waiting. 		
STEFFI D: Yeah, we're just waiting impatiently to get inside to watch our show Lisa. 		
LISA HUMBER: It's happening. 		
STEFFI D: It's happening. I know. 		
LISA HUMBER: It was so thrilling walking into the space. You actually are sitting on stage to watch the show. And for me it was so overwhelming because I worked in that theater so many times and where we were sitting I have stood in that exact spot hundreds and hundreds of times over the last 10 years. So it really felt like coming home. Like I just-- The emotions were too much I couldn't handle it. 		
STEFFI D: And what's really cool also because of COVID safety everybody sitting in little pods. There's two [INAUDIBLE] or single seats around the stage and everything socially distanced. 		
LISA HUMBER: Exactly. 		
STEFFI D: Lisa, we don't want to give too much away of what the show was like you just have to go see it for yourself. But mind boggling and mind blowing would be words I would use to describe it. 		
LISA HUMBER: 100%. I've never experienced anything like this ever in my life. I promise you, you will not be disappointed. 		
[VIDEO PLAYBACK] 		
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] 		
- Are you awake? I was talking to the man with the eye patch he told me what's going on out there. In the first 24 hours he said there were hundreds of cases of blindness. They were all alike they all showed the same symptoms. The same whiteness nobody felt pain. On the second day the government announced that this situation would soon be under control. They used what they called a curve of resolution to prove that there were clear signs that the epidemic was on the way, they were wrong. When a scientific advisor went blind during a press conference on television. People not to panic. An influential member of the government came up with the idea that it was up to individual families to keep their blind indoors. Never allowing them to go out on the street. Whole families became families of blind people. They couldn't take care of each other. The government started using abandoned factories, disused churches, sports buildings and empty warehouses. The traffic fell into a state of chaos. It's hell out there. 		
[END PLAYBACK] 		
LISA HUMBER: Steffi, I don't want to give too much away but I'm super excited because today we have the associate director of Blindness, Dayna Tekatch, joining us. To tell us a little bit about the show and the experience of putting it up during a pandemic. 		
DAYNA TEKATCH: Hi, everybody. My name is Dayna Tekatch, and I am the resident director of Come From Away, the Toronto production. And I was most recently the associate director on the Toronto production of Blindness, which opened last evening at the Princess of Wales theater. Well, Blindness is a sound and light installation a creation, a collaboration between the different technical departments of a theater project created by the Donmar Warehouse based on a book by Jose Saramago, which is an extraordinary novel about a pandemic, an epidemic of blindness. So it's a very intense experience but beautifully, beautifully theatrical, can only happen in a theater. And what they did was take a very challenging situation which was COVID and translated all of the art they could to make it into a safe experience for audiences to have. And it's a really big experience to have in the theater. 		
LISA HUMBER: Amazing. And Dayna, just riffing on what you just said, it's really interesting because the show debuted in London, England. You're here in Canada, and it's the middle of a pandemic. So how do you put a show up that you've never seen, that you don't know anything about in Canada and make it the exact same kind of experience that they had in London? Can you tell us a little bit about that? 		
DAYNA TEKATCH: Yeah, that whole entire process, which happens with all sorts of big shows that are all over the world involves the word associates. So you create a relationship with-- so I got to create a relationship in a few brief Zoom calls with Walter Meyer Yiohan, an amazing director who lives in England now. And so each department had an associate. So the original sound design team has an associate here and the original lighting team has an associate and we all in our individual departments do the best we can to acquaint ourselves with everything that particular creative is going to bring to the table. And we all had conversations, many conversations with that our personal creatives and then you come into the room and there's an element of doing exactly what existed before but then honestly being sensitive to and understanding that you're in a new space. And so we were in the most amazing Princess of Wales theater which required slightly different things for sound and how it was going to work in the space and certainly our vaulted grid above the above the stage is so different from the Donmar Warehouse. So we got to be creative ourselves and trust our instincts on what would fulfill the vision of each of our directors. 		
STEFFI D: Why do you think that a show like blindness is relevant right now? We can't avoid that question. 		
DAYNA TEKATCH: Yeah. I think that, the word you used in your when you first started speaking Stephanie was the word catharsis and I know that he was really grateful when his wife came and saw it, the director that she said the word cathartic. And you have to in order to come to joy truly come to joy and truly come to help and truly come to relief you have to be in the darkness, you have to live and experience the really challenging things in life to come out the other end. And blindness in the world of blindness I would say is worse than our pandemic while our pandemic has been horrible and an unbelievable loss for millions of people and all of us have a lot to recover from. What happens in this story is even darker so that when it turns the corner and offers you rain shower to clean your soul, you feel it in a really profound way. And so I think the bottom line too is that it's a theatrical offering and our business was decimated by this time. And anybody who's willing to make art right now that's theatrical-- all art is beautiful, all art is beautiful. But it's very worthy of love and attention to focus on theater. 		
STEFFI D: Lisa, this is my least favorite part of the night when the show ended and the lights came up I was shook. My legs were shaking a little bit even I would say. And we had to leave the theater and I've never been so sad. And we walked away and we chatted and I have to say goodbye to you. And honestly I've never been so sad in my entire life. 		
LISA HUMBER: And it's true it's like, and you could feel the whole energy. Everyone was kind of feeling the same way because everyone was hanging out on the sidewalk like right outside the door it's just like wanting to collectively like take a breath after this intense experience that we all had. It was amazing. 		
STEFFI D: Oh. Lisa, Lisa. 		
LISA HUMBER: I know. There's no words right? 		
STEFFI D: OK, I have I have no words. My legs are still shaking. The hair on the back of my neck is just-- My arm-- 		
LISA HUMBER: It was unbelievable. 		
STEFFI D: It was, it's like I don't have words. 		
LISA HUMBER: An experience that we can't even explain it to you just have to go see it for yourself it literally was incredible. 		
STEFFI D: For real, like just Lisa. 		
LISA HUMBER: Right. 		
STEFFI D: I will never be the same after this theatrical experience honestly one of the coolest sound designs that I've ever heard in my entire life like wow, wow just wow that's all we got to say wow get to the Princess of Wales theater. 		
LISA HUMBER: Wow. 		
STEFFI D: Wow. Well Lisa what a glorious evening it has been. 		
LISA HUMBER: Yeah it's been that level. 		
STEFFI D: Seeing a show with you. Seeing you irl in real life. 		
LISA HUMBER: It's so good. 		
STEFFI D: And honestly I'm going to catch my ride. This is my ride back home. Oh, there you go you got it Lisa. 		
LISA HUMBER: All right, Steffi it's so good to see you. Love your ride. 		
STEFFI D: Thank you. I wish we could like you could double. You can sit-in the basket if you want. 		
LISA HUMBER: Oh, let's do it. 		
STEFFI D: You can try it out. 		
LISA HUMBER: Good night. 		
STEFFI D: Good night Lisa. 		
LISA HUMBER: See you soon. 		
STEFFI D: OK see you soon. Thanks for joining us on check in from away Hey Lisa, so how can people go see blindness? 		
LISA HUMBER: Well, they can buy tickets online the show runs at the Prince of Wales theater until August 29th or you can download the new movie shop and just buy the tickets that way. It's super easy. 		
STEFFI D: You know what I just realized it's funny that I just said, how can people go see blindness see blindness. 		
LISA HUMBER: Yeah, I get it Steffi. 		
STEFFI D: Whoa. 		
LISA HUMBER: Whoa, Oh, Oh, Oh. 		
STEFFI D: Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of In from away. See you at the theater. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: @steffid5 @lisahumber
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ALL: Cheers. 		
LISA HUMBER: Wow, that was so amazing. 		
STEFFI D: OK, it was so amazing and you know why in true come from away fashion. 		
LISA HUMBER: Yeah. 		
STEFFI D: We thought that it might be cool while we're walking home to stop by the theater. 		
LISA HUMBER: Should we do it? 		
STEFFI D: Mhm. 		
LISA HUMBER: Do you think they put up the check in from away poster of our faces yet in the market. 		
STEFFI D: I don't think So I'm really disappointed to report. 		
LISA HUMBER: Not yet. 		
STEFFI D: Not yet. 		
LISA HUMBER: But. 		
STEFFI D: But soon it'll be just come and see Lisa Humber and Steffi [? Dominique-- ?] Antonio in come from away. This guy just said what's up it was so funny. That's right. 		
LISA HUMBER: Come see the hit stars of check in from away. 		
STEFFI D: The hit stars? 		
LISA HUMBER: I mean the stars from the hit talk show check in from away. 		
STEFFI D: There you go that makes more sense. We're almost there. Thanks for joining us on our walk. 		
LISA HUMBER: OK, well this is the real reason we came was so Steffi could just-- 		
STEFFI D: The real reason is that I wanted to look at myself on this poster. I remembered this girl but she's very far away. I love you Janice Mosher. Perhaps someday soon we will play again. 		
LISA HUMBER: Hopefully. 		
STEFFI D: Lisa's book it's our beloved Royal Alexandra theater. 		
LISA HUMBER: I know hopefully we'll be back soon enough. 		
STEFFI D: I hope so fingers crossed. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	FINAL SLIDE
Check In From Away logo on the screen.
TEXT ON SCREEN: @checkaway @checkinfromaway
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