Interview with Lauren Sperling and Javier Santovilla about Relationship Suck

you can't be anything but honest because there's madness in your head there's no forgiveness in the air cause it's warmer in your bed so what's it like to live inside a world you'll never really share so what's it like to live inside a world that doesn't really care lying awake in the dead of the night seeing my life and it's not looking bright i'm freezing to death in the warmth of your arms wasting my time hello world this is chris abalo's podcast experiment and i am chris abalo welcome to the show thank you so much for tuning in live at skid row studios.com every monday night at 9 bm as you probably know we record the show at skid row studios and stream live so you can stream watch or listen to the show live as it happens so thank you very much for doing that thank you for also following the show on twitter and instagram and tumblr at cape pod we do appreciate that and of course like chris abalo's podcast experiment on facebook and uh tell your friends of course this show is very much supported by listeners by you guys visiting our sponsors and by you guys spreading the word and telling everybody about it so thank you very very much for doing that uh lots to do this week because relationships suck but we'll get more to that uh get two more of that in just a moment uh but first a couple of things uh last week as we mentioned uh sherry and i were going to the cat house live show down at irvine meadows which was a blast but rather than take up a bunch of time talking about it since last week was pretty much all about music i'm just gonna be writing about it so if you go to chrisabalo.com on wednesday which would be the 19th you can uh check it out on the blog section i'm gonna talk all about the all-day concert at cat house live featuring many many many 80s bands which uh was a blast overall no surprise there that we had we had a good time at the show but i'll be talking about that in detail uh just in the blog and while you're at chrisabalo.com please click the 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couple of things i am slightly frazzled by the way because on the way here no more than you let's say like 19 minutes ago, I avoided an accident coming here because some dick, some moron, had to cross three lanes because I realized they were in an exit lane and they were to my right and I was coming up on their left. So of course they had to... And thanks to a lot of time spent playing Mario Kart as a kid, I was able to just do evasive maneuvers and just ride around them and they were able to coast safely across three lanes of traffic. And not get off the exit. So screw you, whoever you are. Random person. I don't even know what type of car it was. All I knew was I'm not getting in an accident because I need to go in the air. So I was able to swerve around. So I am slightly frazzled. So if it sounds like it, I apologize. If it doesn't, damn it. I'm sorry I brought it up. Anyway, so Sherry and I were talking about Rush and the great documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage. And in the last week, I've been on kind of a documentary kick. Thanks. In large part to Netflix because there's so many documentaries that you can see on there that you probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. So in the last week, I've watched four documentaries and I want to recommend all of them because they were great and unsurprisingly have a lot to do with movies and music because I tend to enjoy those the most. But first one I'm going to recommend to everybody is Lost Soul, The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau. Many of you are certainly aware of the, what's now known as one of the worst films in the history of film. One of the worst films of all time, the 1996 film, Island of Dr. Moreau with Val Kilmer and of course, Marlon Brando. And like I said, Now Regard is one of the worst films ever made apparently and how it started out as being actually what was supposed to be anyway, a really cool sci-fi film and through all sorts of things, all sorts of issues and setbacks and whatnot became a mess essentially. Even more timely because of the, the reaction to Fantastic Four because there's a lot of things, I don't want to say buzz about town because that makes me sound L.A. douchey, but there are a lot of things about what happened with that film and why it had so much promise and why it turned out apparently to be not great. I haven't seen it yet, but now frankly, I'm even more curious to see it. But there are actually, I also talked about a few months ago, The Death of Superman Lives. What happened? The Superman movie that's supposed to come out in the late 90s with Nicolas Cage, and Tim Burton was going to direct it. And now you can actually buy that actually, The Death of Superman Lives. So go look that up. It's not streaming anywhere, but you can buy it directly from the filmmaker, which is awesome. But people kind of think like, oh, such crappy movies. Why did all these stupid movies come out? It's really, really hard to make them. Not that I've made a proper movie yet, but it's really hard to make a movie and have everything come together and have the movie be at least good because there's just so many variables. So nobody sets out to make a bad movie. Nobody sets out to make a flop. There's just a lot of things that can go wrong in a situation like that. And this film was, you can see kind of from conception and a little bit of background regarding the book it was based on and just kind of everything that went through. And they talked to the majority of the cast, obviously not Marlon Brando, because he's long dead and not Val Kilmer, unsurprisingly, when you, frankly, when you watch the documentary. I don't know if he really has much defense for what went on. But yeah, there's a lot of the cast and a lot of the crew, a lot of people involved in the film. And of course the director who was then fired from the movie, Richard Stanley, who is pretty fascinating involvement with regard to it, even what happens after he gets fired off the film. So I absolutely recommend that. Also watch while we're on movies, Doc of the Dead, DOC of the Dead, which is a documentary, not entirely about zombie movies, but it kind of goes through the history of zombie movies up to and including the mainstream culture that surrounds zombies, including things like Walking Dead, zombie walks, training camps where you can go and they'll train you for the zombie apocalypse or places where they give you the virtual experience of shooting zombies and all sorts of other madness, which was just a lot of fun. And all these documentaries, by the way, they're all like 80 something minutes. None of them are especially long. So it's easy to knock out four in the course of a week. Really fascinating though. And talk to a bunch of people who are obviously heralded for being huge in the zombie, particularly film world. Of course, they talked to George Romero and Simon Pegg and Bruce Campbell, you know, everybody who's been involved in a lot of the favorites, it's up to and including, it's from about two years ago. So it's up to including like World War Z and like I said, Walking Dead and a lot more mainstream zombie stuff. And just culturally kind of how zombies have become such a mainstream thing. Really, really fun documentary. So check that out too. Mel Brooks, Make a Noise. One of my heroes, one of my filmmaking and writing heroes, Mel Brooks, who just made, he's made so many great movies and still talking about doing a sequel to Spaceballs, which would be so perfect with, new Star Wars movies coming. That would be amazing. I would absolutely love, I'd be all over it just because I'll see anything he does, even though he hasn't done a film and it's coming up on 20 years. But kind of a career retrospective with a lot of stuff about his personal life in there too. But you've all seen Blazing Saddles and History of the World. If you're younger, you've probably seen Men in Tights. If you're from the South, you've seen Blazing Saddles. Just kidding. Everyone's seen Blazing Saddles because it's hilarious and it would never be made today. One of the best things about that movie could never get made now. Or even History of the World probably to a degree. No chance. But he's an absolute hero of mine. So I absolutely recommend Mel Brooks, Make a Noise. And finally, Jimi Hendrix, Hear My Train a-Comin', which is an authorized documentary and pretty much regarded as the definitive documentary on Jimi Hendrix's life. Not solely music, not specific albums or anything, but just his entire life. And it was fascinating. And it was cool. It was cool for me to watch to get more of a fully rounded picture because Jimi Hendrix was one of those people who when I was younger, and particularly when I first started playing guitar when I was 16, I kind of didn't, I didn't get the hype around Jimi Hendrix because the only thing I'd really seen or heard largely was stuff from Woodstock, which was a little out there and a little too psychedelic for my teenage taste. So I wasn't really into it. And I just thought, well, it was the 60s. So he was high. So he played a lot of crazy things and everybody loved it because they were high too. So I was kind of dismissive of it. It wasn't until I really learned how to play Jimi Hendrix songs and heard more of the music, particularly songs beyond just like Purple Haze and the songs everybody knows, Foxy Lady. When I learned how to actually play those songs though, that's when I really discovered how special of a player he is and how he really melded everything, all these different styles together between let's say pop guitar music of like Motown or R&B of the time. And then also with the blues and a lot of psychedelics. I like rock and really came to appreciate it within the last 10 years or so, what he's done and how special a player he really is. And a documentary was very eyeopening. They talked to family and of course a lot of his contemporaries, including Paul McCartney, which though you know, it's gotta be a pretty important documentary. They got Sir Paul to sit down. Can I call him Sir Paul? Because he's British and that's a British thing and I'm American. Should I even regard him as Sir? Well, regardless, Paul McCartney, you know who he is. Check out. Jimi Hendrix, hear my train of coming. I will list these as well at the Cape 63 post at chrisabal.com. Just so you don't necessarily need to run it back and be like, what did he say again? What documentary is on who? So they will be listed, but all these were great. Again, watched them all within the last weekend. Man, what a good time. I gotta say just last night, I saw a commercial that threw me off a little bit. It was a commercial for an airline, which shall remain nameless. Not really important. Although there's only like four. But they had this real like fancy, it was kind of specific to LAX too. So I don't know if it's perhaps as a regional commercial, but it was, they're showing this, I guess the VIP lounge and they're showing just this place. It looks like this VIP lounge, which looks like a supper club. When you watch old movies, it's like tables and there's elegant lights everywhere. And this is this huge bar and guy in a white coat with a bow tie and shit like that. And people getting surf, these nice meals and drinks, everything looks so classy. And I think this doesn't resemble my flying experience at all. Not even remotely. Because now granted, I'm not anyone's VIP when it comes to airlines. And I have yet to fly first class. I fly cattle class like the majority of you. So my airline experience is wait, you know, 42 minutes. To two hours to get through TSA. And then stand there and wait for your row or your set of rows or your section to be called. And then sit in a tube for six hours, breathing recirculated air. And if I get hungry, I get charged $11 for what's generously referred to as a protein pack, which is really just a handful of pretzel sticks, three cubes of Colby Jack and six or seven of those. Or seven grapes. Yeah, that's my flying experience. I mean, look, first class might be everything it looks like. And once you're actually on the plane, it could very well be bottomless mimosas and waffles any way you like them for the entire flight. But when I'm flying back mostly to New Jersey, it's just, yeah, it's just kind of sitting in the tube uncomfortably, able to lean my chair back about seven degrees and try to nap or pay to watch reruns of network shows. It's a blast. So it was, it's really funny. You see this and think, does anybody have this flying experience? Because I don't feel like this resembles my experience at all. And if that's the case, I sure as hell have an experience at LAX. wow. But I aspire to. See, I really want to be the person who flies first class. And frankly, part of the reason I've never done it as of yet is because I don't want to be spoiled and then never be able to go back to, you know, then dread having to fly coach again. So I want to get to first class and stay first class all the way. That's it. That's how it's going to go. And eventually it will. Okay. Last thing. And then we're going to bring our guests in. I was listening to a, an episode of WTF with Mark Maron. Great podcast. You're probably aware of it. As an episode from last year with author, Brett Easton Ellis, who, Brett Easton Ellis, who wrote Lesson Zero and American Psycho and tons of books. Who incidentally himself now has a podcast, which I, I will be listening to. But they were having a conversation about relevant, and how relevance is pretty much an antiquated term because frankly, everything in two, well, this was 2014, but everything in the last few years has become niche or niche or niche or however you say, you know what I'm talking about. It's become niche where you pretty much find your, your people, your audience, similar fans, whatever you find your, your things. And that's what you gravitate toward. There isn't just like one main thing. I mean, is it shocking when you say, you know, the Gilligan's Island used to have 68 million viewers a week. That's because there are three channels. There weren't a lot of choices. A bunch of people getting stuck on an island. Isn't that fascinating? What are they going to do? Stare at the radio, I guess at the time there was nothing. I mean, they could go out and see maybe some live theater or something. Too bad relationships suck. Wasn't around then. But anyway, they could do something like that, but instead they had to stay home because they had a handful of shows to pick from. And then at a certain point, TV went off the air, but now it's different. 24 hour programming, thousands of HD channels. And, everything's at your fingertips. So yeah, everything's kind of broken down to where everything has become, whatever you're into, you can find it. There's not just one thing everybody's into. And, even when it comes to podcasting, podcasts have become so ubiquitous, to the point where, I mean, there have been after shows for Breaking Bad. There are after shows people do for Game of Thrones or Walking Dead. Literally, like after the show is off the air, the next thing they do is go online. Some will live, stream, some are televised, and they will talk about the previous episode and everything that went on for the last hour in real time. And people will tune in and people love that stuff. You know, there are podcasts that are dedicated to certain shows. You find podcasts to talk about Twin Peaks and Simpsons and Frasier and all sorts of things and whatever you're into, you can find something and stick with that. That's your entertainment. So who's to say what's relevant anymore? It doesn't really mean what it used to, because culturally, I mean, I'm sure there are people living out here. I'm sure there are people I pass by all the time or who have even interacted with who may very well be on TV or be in movies, but there's so much stuff that it's impossible to know who anybody is or who I should say who everybody is. I mean, everybody's going to know, say, Brian Cranston if they see him, which funnily enough, just by coincidence, I was listening to a one on one interview he did with Adam Carolla from recently that you can still find if you go to iTunes. I was from about two weeks ago, and he was saying that, he was hesitant to take the role of Walter White in Breaking Bad because the show was on AMC because it's American movie classics. They don't do they don't do TV shows. You know, is this going to go anywhere? And it was probably the same way when HBO started doing something like The Sopranos. Of course, they had Tales from the Crypt, which I loved as a kid. So HBO has had original program Fraggle Rock back in the day. They've had original shows for a while, but when Sopranos came along and was getting all this attention, this critical reception, of course, Emmys and whatnot, I'm sure people were like, oh, this is this is different. So, I think that's kind of where the tide started to turn, where it's like, oh, this is subscriber supported, so it doesn't need to fit within a certain box like networks would do. And now it's Amazon because they have Transparent, which is getting lots of Emmy attention and just positive, critical and audience attention and a bunch of shows on Netflix. So now, yeah, everything's kind of broken down to whatever you're into. You can find it and you can be into it. So, so then what is what does it mean to be relevant? Doesn't really mean anything. I mean, people ask me about, you know, this show, how's the podcast doing? And I say, proudly got about 500 downloads a week. Now, mind you, that's just audio. That's not including YouTube. And the majority are from iTunes, which incidentally, if you are downloading the show on iTunes, please, if you could take a moment to rate the show, give it five stars and write a little review, we would appreciate it because it does help when it comes to sponsors coming in and people looking into the show to see its performance and getting varied, various support in that way. So if you are subscribed to it as well, if you don't want to listen every week, you don't have to. However, Lauren Sperling's here. This is her third time on the show and just a little over as many months. And so she'll be back for your lease. If you're tuning in because of Lauren, she'll be back. You can listen to the show and see she's on. But if you click subscribe, you will still be supporting the show and it will still be something to show when either we're approaching sponsors or sponsors are approaching us asking about the show and we can say, oh, well, look, here's the, these are reviews. On iTunes. And these are the subscribers we have. And these are the different things we have kind of going on because there's an audience for this show. Frankly, it's something that I don't know whether or not we should have done it with the only podcast that matters because we never measured downloads for the show, which was just strictly an audio show. And it's kind of a good thing that we didn't. I mean, frankly, I've only learned a lot about statistics and everything that kind of a lot of stuff within the last year since I've been doing the show, this show and here at the studio. So that changes things a bit for me. As far as now I'm aware of these things, but before, I mean, it could have, if the numbers weren't what we hoped or what different, um, the different guys that hope they would be, that could have maybe been a loss of motivation for some people, or it could have provided more motivation and the show might still be going now. So who's to, who's to know? We can't really say, but, um, yeah, the, the question of relevance, it's one of those things where you think, yeah, what, what exactly does it matter? What does it mean in 2015? It doesn't really mean anything. Everybody has, has their audience. Everybody has the stuff they're into and now they have the accessibility where they can find it. So, um, that was just something I found interesting and two podcasts that I listened to during the last week that happened to kind of coincide with that idea of, of what relevance is. So those are just my thoughts on that. All right, we're going to take a quick break and when we come back, our guests will be in the studio telling us all about relationships. So once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, once again, Audiobooks with over 180,000 titles to choose from. They have everything you could be looking for. 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Choose from any of these and many more by going to audibletrial.com slash cape. Sign up for your free 30-day trial. Get your free audiobook download and see what it's all about. Listen on your smartphone, your tablet, your PC, your Mac, basically any device. Get the app, download the book, or listen on the cloud. And enjoy. audibletrial.com slash cape. Do it. It's my choice. Save my life. It's my choice. Oh, the dice. It's my choice. Flying away in the dead. And welcome back. And re-welcome to the show, the re-returning of Lauren Sperling. Hi. Hi, welcome back. And please welcome... You can call me Javi. Okay, Javi. But, now I have the car for Relationship Suck in front of me. And, I just, as I was reading it before and making sure I was pronouncing it properly, and now that we're on the air, I immediately want to slip in like the Telemundo voice. And be like, Javier Santovania. That's good enough. Anoche. La programa de cape. Because I feel, well, if I say like, it's going to sound just very white. If I just say Javier Santovania, it just sounds very sterile. It needs to sound sexier. Oh, thank you. So, I'm just, well, I'm just saying, it's a very, because it's an exotic name. Well, I mean, you must think, so you've been living with it. I have to say it in English. It's fine. Javier is fine. All right. All right. All right. So, the play is Relationship Suck. It is playing at the Loft Theater downtown. You can go to loftensemble.org for tickets. And, that is happening this weekend, Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday at 7 p.m. And, tickets are $10. Once again, loftensemble.org is where you go for tickets. And, only four more shows. So, this Saturday and Sunday, and then the following Thursday and Saturday, correct? Yes. All right. So, everybody get your tickets. I saw the show last night, and it was hysterical. Thank you. It's a really, really funny show. I should say, Javier actually wrote the show. And, as one of the main stars of it. Thank you. One of the co-stars. So, you can just lean in a little bit, and get a little into the mic. Thank you, sir. Why don't you, because we've kind of heard bits and pieces of Florence. Where did you start? Where did you get started, period, on Earth? Where were you hatched? Yeah. I was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Ah. Yeah, and. So, you know that voice I did very well. Oh, yes. A lot of mustache dudes, little husky. Definitely. Si, you know, very. Oh, yeah, I can do the voice. Very swarthy, kind of Latin. Anyway. Go on. So, yeah, I went to school there. I graduated law school, actually, back home. And then, I just realized I wasn't happy, and I moved here to become an actor. Nice. I'm set for life. This is what I want to do. How long have you been here? I've been two years here. Oh, wow. Yeah. And you've already written a play. Is this the first play you've written? Yeah, this is the first play. It was originally supposed to be a TV show, which is what I wanted to do, but I'm like, I'm in theater, let's take advantage of it, and it became a play. So. It's fun. It totally plays out like a sitcom, too. Because even, I mean, I don't want to draw comparisons, not that they're unfavorable, because these are all hit shows, but I'm thinking like, when I was watching it, I was thinking friends, and how I met your mother, and the odd couple, because a lot of it revolves around the apartment, where these five friends, live. Yeah, definitely. And so much happens in there, where, you know, a lot of different, emotions, a lot of different, friendly activities, and confrontations, and all sorts of stuff happens, in this living room, that yeah, it really could play out like a, like a sitcom, or even like, something like the odd couple, like in the film. I was telling Lauren last night, like when you watch the movie, the first, almost half hour, just takes place in, Oscar's living room. Yeah. And you're just kind of watching it, it's like dudes playing poker, and then the phone goes off, and you know, it plays out very nicely, in one setting, to where it's like, oh, because it's a stage play, of course. Like it just works. So watching this last night, I was just like, this could totally play out, like a sitcom. And a few people, I heard say it to you, after the show as well. Yeah, people, a few people said it, it was like a mix of, Friends and Will and Grace, which is so fun, because that's how I grew up. I grew up watching those shows. Oh, for sure. That's why I want to be an actor. So I'm, yeah, it was definitely an inspiration, and then just based on true events, of my friends from back home, and some of my friends here, and all our sucky stories, came to life. Which everybody can relate to. Yeah, which is some of the best parts, when people ask me about the play, they're like, what's the name? I'm like, Relationship Suck. I'm like, oh my God, I can totally relate. It's like, yes, that's what I wanted. That's awesome. That's the hook. Yeah. It's just like, well, you know, it's a title everybody gets. Yeah. Yeah. And it's self-explanatory. That's what the play's about. Right. Well, I always get pissed off, when movies don't tell you, what they're about. Yeah. Argo, frankly, tells you nothing about the movie, but like Snow Dogs, tells me exactly, what the movie's about. So I get it. Dogs and snow. Right. I get it. Do they, is there sledding? All right. I get it. But, so yeah, just immediately, everybody knows, Relationship Suck. Oh my God. It makes total sense. And frankly, it even has a sitcom friendly title. Actually, since you said, growing up in Guatemala, are American sitcoms prevalent there? Or is American television? Oh yeah. American television is big in Guatemala. Is it really? We have ABC, CBS, NBC. Oh. We, sometimes we get them a little bit later. Right. Season behind, but for the most part, we, they get all our stuff. Wow. We're very Americanized, when it comes to TV, for the most part. Yeah. That's probably our biggest export, TV and film. Yeah. In this country, I would say so. Entertainment's the big, the big export product, which is hilarious, because it's intangible. Yeah. Everybody else has their specialties. America, it's all, well now it's all digital. So, so this all came about, just because of, friends, your experience, friends' experiences as well. Yes. Which I mean, there was such a, such a great balance to it too, because, obviously there, there is a gay relationship in, in the play as well. Yes. Which is, I'm going to get, at least slightly informed by experience. Yeah. I'm going to get, okay. That story is actually, exactly true. Oh really? It was so crazy. For you or for a friend? You could say a friend. No, that was me. Okay. Well, I was giving you the out, if you wanted it. No, it's fine. Like, I, I pretty much put all my secrets and everything out there, which I think, that's what people want to know. People don't want to see, fake. Right. Acting and fake, like stories. People, people, I think people relate more when the story's real. So yeah, that story's absolutely real. Everything happened. And it was so ridiculous about what happened, that I was like, I have to write this, because this has, people have to see this. People, there's people out there that do this kind of thing. Oh yeah. So I was like, yeah, I have to tell the story. And that's how. And everybody too, has an experience, not, not to give anything, away, but essentially the, the character that you play, falls for a new roommate, up down the hall. And a roommate, new tenant rather, down the hall. And, apparently is very, very loose with the, with some other people, in the neighborhood. A lot of other people. A lot of people, yeah. But it's something that anybody, regardless of the fact, you could, you could take out of it, the fact that it's, it's a gay relationship that's going on, but men and women have dealt with that, where the opposite gender has done the same thing to them. So it's, that's just a human problem. Yeah, definitely. That, that everybody's dealt with, where it's just like, wait a minute, I'm one of seven people you're seeing right now. Yeah. What is this? And in a way, it's, it's one of those things that, particularly here, like when I, I meet people who are from places outside of America, and they talk about how like, dating is weird here, like especially with, well now it's more prevalent with online dating, where it's like, everyone's dating a bunch of people at the same time, or like everyone's lining up two dates in the same night or something. And they think it's so weird, like, that people do that here. Like it's such, it seems like such an American thing to just like, ah, just date tons of people because we're excessive. I guess that's what it is. I'm just going to date everybody. Like dating sucks everywhere. I come from a different country and men are the same in every part of the world and so are women. We all suck. So it's, we all screw up and we all make mistakes and we fall in love with wrong people. So it's, it's, it's really, I think it's more of an international thing. We all go through the same stuff everywhere. That's true. Well, it's human. It's a human story. Which is the, which is the funny thing and funny. I cannot emphasize how funny this thing was to the point where I was trying to temper my laughter a little bit watching the show last night because I thought, I don't want to be obnoxious. I'm of complete faith that Loft Ensemble players will not break character just because this jackass is laughing at the show. But considering how other people, so many people are laughing out loud, I just went with it eventually because there are a lot of hysterical moments in this show and moments of gasping and all sorts of stuff. Like everybody really, because, there's that, there's just that human story, that personal story that everybody has and considering it revolves around these, these, the relationships of these five characters. Everybody can relate to it in some way or they have somebody in their life who can relate to one of these. a friend, like, oh, that's my friend. This is my best friend or that's the guy I used to know or whatever. Totally. There's, at least if you can personally relate, I'm pretty sure you know someone who's been through something that happened in the play. major archetypes in it. definitely. So what, give us a little breakdown for everybody who hasn't seen the show. Just these characters and kind of what they're dealing with. Well, basically it's a story of these five roommates who each of them have a relationship or lack of and that's why they're all affected by it because if we're honest, everyone, a big part of people's life is the search for love. It's a huge part. So, it's how some of them kind of think they know how to go after it but they really don't. Some actually do and they're not taking advantage of it and some get tricked into thinking that it's real and it's not. And I think one of the main points of the show is to realize that even though we may not find romantic love, there's still love coming from so many other places. Yeah. The friendship of the roommates, I think, is one of the most important parts that you realize. Not all relationships suck. So, that's kind of like, it's important for people to know that. Yeah. Well, everybody hears the title, everybody hears the statement relationships suck and everybody immediately goes to romantic relationships. It's like, oh, tell me about it. You don't think about, you know, family and friend relationships. Yeah, there's more out there. Of course. There's support, there's family, there's friends and then we get through those sucky relationships. We get through them because of our friends and our family and everyone that supports us. So, love is everywhere. Yeah. It's funny. It's one of the things that's said as a, I mean, as a writer as well. Like, it's one of the things people say about buddy comedies. It's a love story without sex. You know, it's like a Lethal Weapon movie. It's just like, it's a love story. It's between these two guys or you could say maybe even a father-son relationship but, you know, it's love but it's just, it's not that kind of relationship. Definitely. Whereas, where it's, if it's a romantic comedy then it's kind of a buddy comedy with sex as a goal. I'm using my hands to gesture as if nobody knows what I'm talking about. I just get very animated when I'm talking. So, why theater when you came here? Is it just the first thing you got into when you came to, did you come to Los Angeles first? No, no, this is my first, I came here to Los Angeles when I moved here. It's the first time. I do theater. What a head fuck. Jesus. A lot of cultural shock things. Yeah. Oh God. But, I became a fan of theater. I never thought I would be but just being, like feeling the energy of the audience just, they feed you so much. I mean, we've been having rehearsals and things were going great but just having an audience, they just fill you up with this life and it just makes you want to, it just makes it so much better. So, I've actually grown in love with theater. I never thought it would happen and I'm like, huge fan of theater now. I love it. It's just that contact with the audience you don't get when you do film or TV and it's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's also like, I mean, since I've been doing the show last January, it's that kind of immediacy of it where also it's like, it's out there and people are going to react to it and that's it. So, there isn't like endless takes and there isn't refining it. It's just going through which is refreshing to just go out and do it and then, you know, like I leave here and I'll have a bunch of tweets from people who are tuning in live to the show or whatever and there will be that response. So, it's great to do that and know that people are responding to it whereas you won't know until, you know, how many months later post-production if you're doing a film or a TV show pilot or what have you. And it's also so exciting because anything can happen in live theater and you have to do it because you can't like stop the show and be like, oh, let's, no, you just keep going and it makes it so exciting. That's how you find some of the best moments like the first night. my boyfriend in the show called me the wrong name and I was supposed to get up and leave anyway but it even pushed that moment and made it more real just by that slip of his brain. Right. And it was gorgeous. It was like a wonderful gift. You never know what's going to happen because people are clumsy and forgetful and like, you can rehearse for a year and still mess it up. Yeah. But it's usually even the mess ups make it even better. Yeah. Like on opening night, this girl in this great scene, just, her shoe, she broke. And it fit so perfectly for the moment and how she dealt with it was just amazing. Like people actually stopped and like, like got up and clapped because her performance was so amazing and the shoe part just made it way better. So yeah, it's super exciting and that contact with the audience is something you can't get anywhere else. It's one of the funny things too that's kind of, almost sullied the live experience in a lot of ways because now everybody's, you know, their own, everybody's a filmographer and they got to record everything. I mean, like at the concert I mentioned earlier that I was at Saturday and everybody, everybody's doing this, holding their phone up and then they're watching the concert on their phone because it's up to them to film it because, you know, nobody else is doing it and then they're not actually experiencing the show and there was a point when, I forget who it was, one of the singers from one of the bands said just put your phones away, enjoy this for what it is, don't record it, you know, just be here, be in the moment and with theater it's like you have no choice in a lot of cases the audience too because one place is a lot to whip your phone up. I don't know if you saw, I posted like a week or so ago, Benedict Cumberbatch is doing Hamlet in London. And people are recording it in the theater, they are recording it and so he used the stage door experience to like not really be an asshole but to be like, hey guys, like put your phones away, like we don't want to have to kick you out. Right. Put it away, like it's a live theater, it's something that you get to experience, never, no one else gets to experience it, enjoy that. Right. And it, I hope people do, I hope people stop recording it. It's one of those things. It's a once in a lifetime experience. It is. Why, why you want to, why, why are you going to tarnish that? For any live performance. Yeah. Like that's part of the fun is being there. Yeah. Not like, do you have shaky cell phone footage? Nobody's going to ask, Sharon and I were talking about that last week with concerts, like nobody's going to ask you like do you have cell phone footage you can show me? Especially something like that, national theater is recording it to put it in movie theaters. Totally. So why, you're not going to watch it on your phone? Go watch it in the theater. Well at the same time, it's like we, nothing has been at a Cumberbatch but it's not like, this is the only way you can see him act. Yeah. I don't get that either. But that's part of the fun though from the, I get it from like the performance aspect and same thing from, from, excuse me, performing music for ages too. It's like just that live interaction and feeding off the crowd and just like, this is happening in this moment and that's it. Yeah. Like you, you literally, you can't phone it in and sometimes you accidentally go on autopilot, like someone may call you the wrong name. Yeah. Or you're like, you know, it's like, you kind of feel like you have that, that safety cushion of muscle memory or whatever, you know, like it's in there. Yeah. And I'm going to deliver the line because I've been over so many times. Actually, it happened when I saw you in a Catalyst as well. Oh yeah. Yeah. And you were able to play it off. They called you, I forget your character's actual name, but he called you the other character. Yeah. Rachel. Yeah. And you turned just like, did you forget my name? My name. Like, which was perfect because she's a girl who's in this institution and she was kind of short with people. Yeah. If they pushed her buttons anyway. As much as I got frustrated because there were multiple times that that scene got messed up. It was also nice because it forced me to not be on autopilot, especially with Catalyst because we'd been doing this show in total off and on for over a year between the two runs. So it was very easy to go into autopilot for it. It's a character that I know so well now that I can just like, okay, we haven't done the show in a week, but cool. I did it. We're there. But it really forced you to be in the moment and I came up with some really awesome things that I was excited about. Like, in character, which is always a fun, fun challenge. So. There's a thing a story that the immortal Robin Williams told when he was on WTF with Marc Maron where he was talking about filming The Fisher King with Jeff Bridges. I said Jeff Daniels. Where he somehow, he's messed up a take. He flubbed his line or whatever it was and he was upset himself for messing it up and Jeff Bridges said, no, don't worry about that. It's a gift. Go with it because it's real. It's something that just happens in the moment. Don't get angry with yourself. Just go with it when it happens. Yeah. And this is Robin Williams who's taking advice off somebody else. Like the guy who could do anything and still, even, I mean, it's, on one hand, it's refreshing to realize like even in that moment, he's like, ah, as accomplished as he was. It's still like, you know, to get irritated but to have somebody say like, no, no, don't worry about it. Like if that happens, we'll work our way through it and there was, oh, I forget who was just doing a play. It'd be great if I could remember who was involved. A play that was going on on the stage, I believe in New York and there was a point when one actor said to the other, I think it was James Earl Jones and somebody else and I can't remember what it was but said, when, taking too long, like took an extra beat or two for a line and then turned through some monologue and said, can you help me out and then fed the next line. Like it was one of those moments that the audience wouldn't have known. Yeah. But in that moment, they're able to kind of react to it where it's like, oh, wow. And I've had that experience too. Like even with playing music, I remember stopping a song one time. I was performing, it was just me with an acoustic guitar just singing and playing and I stopped for a moment in the song and then suddenly kind of like went back into it and it says it was performance when I was at school. The teacher said, if you mess up, just keep going because the audience doesn't know what you came here to do in the first place. Yeah. It's one of those things where nobody knows necessarily how you had in your head or how it's supposed to be. They're just here to watch the show. It's so funny because you mess up a line and you're like freaking out. I messed up the line but nobody knows except for the director and the other actors. The audience, to the audience, it's the first time they're hearing it. So it's like, if you get that in your head, you're like, it's cool. I messed up. I won't mess up again. You just keep going and you're like, even better. It just gives little moments that are unexpected and they're real and happening in the moment which just makes it amazing. It keeps everyone on their game too. Yes. You really don't have a choice other than to actually hear what the other person's saying and react to it. And like you said, that's real because now you're having a real reaction. You're not just reciting lines. You actually need to be this character and respond and listen to what the other person's saying. Well, it's like Adam Chambers who's been on the show before is our artistic director and during Tech Week, he told us, he's like, you know, most of us went to acting conservatories so we've spent way too much money getting training. All acting is is having a conversation. Yes. That's all it is but we make it way too complicated for ourselves and we overthink it way too much but it's just having a conversation. Yeah. It's funny. One of the things when I moved back out here three years ago and was seriously pursuing voice acting and a friend of mine, very long list of credits, actor named Rick Scarry who was actually on Cape 4, I believe, if you go all the way back to two years ago, when he sat down to talk to me because I wanted his advice as somebody who's been doing it for, you know, and he got in the game late. He was almost 40 at the time we started acting before that was all radio but he's been on tons of sitcoms and Hallmark movies and all sorts of stuff, you know, he's done a ton of stuff so I just wanted to ask him kind of like, what do I need to know? What do you wish someone had told you 30 years ago when you started doing all this? And he said, nobody cares about your experience. They don't care how many shows you've done. They don't care what your training is. They don't care where you went to school. Nobody's gonna ask for any of that. All they want from you is you to do what they need you to do when they ask you to do it on cue. Yeah, so it's like there's this thing where it's built up and nothing gets it. I'm not a proper trained actor anyway, you know, so for even me to go and having auditioned for, I mean, particularly for commercials and whatnot and the part of me that's just like, wow, is this, you know, where I think like, well, what's the competition gonna be like? But it's something that I can't really, I can't use it to bog myself down because then you're just gonna go crazy. Like people live and die by whether or not they land in, you know, land apart from an audition and it's like, you can't do that because you don't know what the other person's looking for. But yeah, it's funny how like it's built up performing and I did the same thing to myself when I was playing music. It's just like, it's not good enough. It's like, well, don't, like you have to do it because there's no other way you're gonna break through to what you need to, to the way you want it to go. Lauren, why do people always cast you as the bitch? I don't understand. I don't know. Like, I can't, I can't imagine anybody saying you're like this anyway. You want to do it on stage? Like it's such a 180. Well, it's funny. You're crazy and you're, every part you're crazy, you're a bitch, whatever. Yeah. It's not, it's so far from, I mean, shows your acting chops off. Yeah. It's been, it's been a nice challenge because I'm so used to playing the, like, quirky, happy, best friend in musical theater and stuff like that. But then with, or even Tinkerbell, for instance, but then with Chico's Monsters as the bitchy cheerleaders, it was nice because it was still like a caricature. So I could kind of go into my comfort zone. But I got pushed a little bit further for that. But then with, with the Chavez show, the first few weeks, actually, it was very different from what it was. Um, then we all finally realized, no, it is a sitcom. We, we have to have those archetypes and, and realized I was the villain. Um, and so we just completely changed it. But that was the thing is, uh, one of our, uh, board members came in to watch the show during one of our earlier runs and she was like, you're too likable. No. Is that, is that when the wig came into it or was the wig always there? Um, soon after. I, I wanted to get a wig regardless. Um, it wasn't going to be blonde at first, but that definitely helped. Um, and it's funny because it's so tight that it just puts me in the worst mood. So it really helps. Like the wig is the bitch is the funny thing. Um, in the look. Just brings it to the surface. It really does because I sit with it on my head for two hours and I hate it so much, but it's great. It's great. Um, but yeah, no, I wanted, I knew that especially my hair was not right for this character. Um, so I was just going to get a brunette bob, but then Brie actually, who was like, you were too likable. We met to chat about how I should change the character and get the wig at the same time. So then after that, it kind of clicked in together into place not too long after that. But, and the cell phone, like she's on her phone the whole time. She's just so disconnected. There are some physical things that you were doing too, which I don't want to give stuff away, but it's also, if anyone's just listening to describe it, it seems a little, but yeah, just a few things that you kind of did where it's just like, oh man, everyone in the audience was like, you can feel everybody kind of growling. And it's so cool because Lauren is not that character at all. As a person, she's amazing, the sweetest girl ever. And she plays a horrible bitch. And she does amazing. She sells it. Oh, she totally. We were having this conversation last night when we were talking and Chris and I after the show, like Maddie, everyone was coming up to me like, I hate you so much. I hate you. And I was like, this is the only time you want people to actually hate you. I was like, thank you because I've been struggling so much to be hated in this role. So it's really validating and reassuring to have people hate me. You got it. You did it. Everybody, everybody's saying, oh, I hated that girl. But thankfully, everybody knows how sweet you are. So they're not bothered by it. With the cell phone though, going back to that, like I was so hesitant to use it because I hate that. Like I hate not being connected to my acting partner. But for that, it had to, it had to. It's such the time right now too because it is a modern day show. Oh, for sure. That's why everyone's always on their phones. We had a moment in the car when we were both on our phones and he was like, just sitting in the parking lot. He's like, I feel like such a Carla right now. We're so Carla. I have to ask because this probably helps because with, this is the, well, technically the second play I've seen at Loft but the third involving the Loft players. But did you, did you have this kind of going already or did you write it with these, a lot of these players in mind, with all the actors in mind? To be honest, I had written like a few scenes of stuff that's happened just to record it. So when I, hopefully one day I get my show on TV, it would become a thing and I would already have stuff written and then I saw actually Catalyst and April Morrow who wrote Catalyst just inspired me so much to write. I didn't have that kind of story that's so intense and so beautiful, so truthful but I had my own truth and then when I wrote it, I was like, cool, I have these people and the only person that actually has been in my mind since the moment I wrote it was Makila Khan, Sophia. She, I wrote it thinking of her and the character just fits her so well and then, all these other actors that I casted, I believe that my show was good enough when I wrote it but they just brought it to life and made it 10,000 times better. I'm so happy and so proud that each and every one of them is part of the cast because they've made it amazing. So yeah. It's a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant cast. Yeah. It is. Everybody was, that's why it felt like and that's one of the things I want to ask you because the stuff I've done in the past, the different sketches and whatnot I've done with my friends, the fun part about working with people you know is if you're writing, something you can write to their personality where if, the things I've written where it's just like, you know, well, my friend Andrew would say it like this so I'm just going to write it as he would say it if he were just reacting to it. So it's fun to be able to do that where it's, you know, you can, you know, the person will deliver it the way you intended. I mean, I've never written something blind for somebody who I didn't at least picture in my head. Yeah. So yeah, it's cool the way you're able to tweak it because everybody just, I mean, and for that, if you hadn't written it that way, everybody completely sold it. I mean, just the way it came out. I think aside from Javi, Michaela, and probably Nick who plays Andrew, no one else has really liked those characters. No. So it's been really fun and amazing to see how everyone else has adapted. Like, I had to adapt for this character. Like, Mitch who plays Barry is not like that at all. Not at all. Not at all. Total switch. Total switch. And seeing that come out of him has been amazing for all of us and Alex too turning Brenda Goff. That was brilliant. Yeah. That, Brenda was not Goff to begin with. Yeah, like, they've all had these like amazing choices that they made for each and every character that just gave the show a hundred extra percent. It was just, it was, it was so amazing. I'm so proud of them. Like, super, super happy. And even though I did have like a certain archetype when I wrote it, April, again, April Morrow said to me, she was like, just follow your gut. So when we were casting, I was like, my gut says you, I'm following my gut. And then it paid off. It paid off. I'm so happy. It's been, it's been a great run. And it's super, super fun as well because we're all friends. So I think that helps the dynamic as well. And the people that were not lofters, they just clicked with us. And we've been doing a lot together as a cast, like, which has been hard because I'm supposed to hate them and I love them so much. Like, we had a sleepover, we had a bonfire, like, we're really actually gross with how much we like love each other and talk. We have like 350 missed messages throughout the day, like between our group chats. It's just, it's terrible. But, that's great. That's the fun of finding something. And that's, as I said before when you've been on, that seems to be like the theater vibe where everybody's kind of, there's more of an all for one. Yeah. I mean, it definitely varies from cast to cast. But, you always have your little family per each show. Like, whatever that dynamic is. I would say from all the places I've been, this is probably the closest cast. Yeah. And it's just one of the most, even though there's been ups and downs, still one of the most fun rehearsals I've ever had. I have to say, between the writing and the performances itself, I think a lot of the reason people connect, I mean, certainly the audience I was in last night, I think everybody really connected to the way those archetypes were nailed. You kind of have the uptight, almost prudish, goth chick. You have the socially awkward guy. You have the guy who's in a relationship with the wrong person but kind of doesn't want to come to terms with it. But it's like, I should be happy but I don't think I am. But I keep coming back to her because it's safe. You know, it's what I'm used to. And so on. The girl's neurotic about like, I don't know if I want to get married but I love him and he's great but I don't know if I want to get married. You know, you have those characters where everybody's like, you know, like we said, you can connect to it because everybody knows these people or they are these people or have been that person, you know, at a certain time. But, God, it was hysterical. I can't emphasize it enough for everybody. Relationships suck. Playing at Loft. Loftensemble.org is where you go once again for tickets. Playing this weekend, Saturday night, Sunday night, the following Thursday, the following Saturday. Very short, run, criminally short run for the show but, it doesn't mean it's the end. No, not at all. I mean, you know, there could be some theater group in Wales that co-ops it and wants to do it themselves. This could travel. The worldwide audience could be tuning in like, I got to know about this. We got to get our hands on the script and then adapt it and whatever and says it takes place in like Cardiff. Wouldn't that be great? That would be really funny. But anyway, once again, Loftensemble.org and check out the regular run of shows that they have. I love the theater. I love going to the theater in general for, of course, Loft Cabaret, which. This coming Friday. Yeah. We have Cabaret on Friday at 9 p.m. Make a weekend of it, people. Yes. Go to Loft Cabaret. It's fun. Couple of bucks. Go see a bunch of great performers, music. Five bucks for some of the most talented musicians. Definitely. Music, some comedy, possibly interpretive dance. That's happened before? Not sure yet, but possibly, yeah. The show will be there this weekend though. Adam and Sean. Adam and Sean from the show, yeah, who've previously been on Cape. At this point now, at 63, I'm losing track of who was on and what number. Jordan Castee, who's been on the show before, perhaps might be there. Yeah, he's great. Yeah, he's great. He's great. Hopefully, he's been in here. I think he was on 41, 42, something like that. But anyway, a bunch of people have been on here, but I love going to that theater because it's great. And by the way, it was at least 102 degrees this weekend. Yeah. And everybody still showed up. Everybody showed up at the theater and laughed their asses off at the show. So once again, a tremendous compliment because it was just blistering this weekend and everybody was still there. Yeah. Everybody was still there in the theater. Yeah, just shorts, tank tops, sweating it out. And come sweat it out with us. Don't worry about the theater etiquette in this weather as far as wardrobe goes. Well, just to be fair, the show opens with Javi almost naked. So that's the way to kick off a play. Multiple people are almost naked in this show. Yeah, there's a lot of like 96% nudity and, you know, so if that's your thing, if you don't like theater and you like seeing some skin, pony up 10 bucks and go see Relationships Suck once again this weekend and next week as well. Four more shows, get on it. Check out Loft Cabaret. You can also get tickets as well. LoftEnsemble.org and of course all the links will be at ChrisAbal.com. Look for the post for Cape 63. Thank you both for coming in. Thank you. Thanks for having us. This has been great. Love the show. Thank you again, Lauren, for coming back endless times to be on the show. Wow, that's it. We're out of time. It's ridiculous. This goes too fast every week, I'm telling you. Hey, everybody, once again, please subscribe on iTunes. Give the show five stars. We do appreciate it. You could support the show by visiting all the sponsors and the PayPal button at ChrisAbal.com. Click the support the show tab and of course to check the show out on YouTube as well. All the links will be at ChrisAbal.com and follow the show on every social media platform at CapePod. And like the show on Facebook. So, until next time, for Lauren Sperling and Javier Santovilla, this is Chris Abalo and this was yet another experiment. See you next week.