This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Eliza Gunther: Hello everyone and welcome back to Stage Door Podcast. You are with Eliza and Tori and we have been gone for a while, but we're back. Things have been happening, but we're back now, hopefully. Touch wood, touch moving boxes. Things have been a bit hectic for the past couple of months in a myriad of good and less good ways, but fingers crossed, we are somewhat back now.

[0:36] Tori Bullard: Exactly. So I guess to give you some context, I had a few health things going on, so that kind of made things a little difficult to record. And then Tori has honestly been killing it in life. Come on, Tori, come through. 2026-2025 has been your year. Not only are you moving right now, you had to quit your job at Harry Harthog as well. So it's been a bit hectic. And then to top it all off, I don't know, I don't want to spoil your news, but you've been booked and busy.

[1:16] Tori Bullard: Booked and busy. I mean, it's not news as in, like, there's nothing new. Like, if you follow me personally, like on my personal Instagram or even on our Stage Door Instagram, I have shared stuff on there. And I also want to make a note that obviously we're not skimming over Eliza's medical issues, but it's not something that we're sharing because it's a privacy thing. And that's totally valid. So I don't want it to be like, oh, we're just talking about me and my success. No, it's just a privacy thing. I think both of us have spoken quite frequently about mental and physical health stuff before on the podcast. But sometimes that stuff is just for us.

[2:10] Eliza Gunther: I will be sharing it, like, don't worry. I will be sharing what was kind of going on for me the last couple months. But I think the time's just not right right now. And I'm keen to do that in the future. And I'm all good, by the way.

[2:23] Tori Bullard: Yes, yes. And that's the thing.

[2:25] Eliza Gunther: I'm perfectly fine.

[2:26] Tori Bullard: Like, Eliza is fine.

[2:27] Eliza Gunther: I'm good.

[2:28] Tori Bullard: Eliza is good now.

[2:29] Eliza Gunther: I'm really good.

[2:30] Tori Bullard: I'm preparing for my wedding as well. So we've got, like, there's a lot going on. So I'm getting married next year, which is kind of wild. So I've been, like, madly also trying to plan my wedding the last three months. Because, you know, when things happen and then you don't forget to plan your wedding, it starts coming around really fast. Because I've got, like, seven months now until I get hitched, which is kind of crazy.

[2:56] Eliza Gunther: That's crazy. But very exciting.

[2:59] Tori Bullard: And Tori's a bridesmaid as well.

[3:01] Eliza Gunther: Bridesmaid! I'm the most non-binary bridesmaid to ever be.

[3:07] Tori Bullard: It's all right. You'll look hot.

[3:11] Eliza Gunther: So obviously there's been a mix of good and bad things happening, which is why we have been gone a little bit longer than we planned. As life does. Life lifed. And we couldn't record for, it's been, like, three months. Well, it's actually been longer since we recorded because, like I said, we record in batches.

[3:31] Tori Bullard: And we were originally taking a break on purpose. Like, we were originally taking the break and being like, oh, we're gonna, like, take a little pause so that we can, like, organize it all. And then life just hit us. And that's just honestly, that can happen.

[3:46] Eliza Gunther: Yeah, we had planned to take a little break because we have, and we still have, plans for the podcast in the future. They just have to wait a little bit until we are in a better spot to do so. I mean,

[4:00] Tori Bullard: And everything lines up, you know, like, it has to line up perfectly for things to happen. And look, something that I think, I don't think we have to keep it a secret because it is something that we plan on doing. And hopefully it's something for you guys to look forward to. But we are, fingers crossed, touch wood, going to be recording in person, which is a massive feat in and of itself, because obviously Eliza is based in Narm. I am based on Gadigal. And so two different states. So us making sure that that aligns recording in a studio in person, we've got a fantastic studio that we do plan on working with, which is very exciting. But that requires, it requires time, it requires money. And it requires life to allow us to be able to do it. So that is something that is coming in, in the future.

[4:57] Eliza Gunther: And which was why part of the reason that we originally took our hiatus was to get that ball rolling, to give you guys the best possible content we could. And then life-lifed and that hasn't happened yet. And that's okay. It will, it just is going to take a little bit more time.

[5:13] Tori Bullard: Exactly. But I also have to say, like during this time, we have to give a massive shout out to Bridie. So you guys might know a bit about Bridie. I think we've talked about Bridie before, but Bridie is actually the backbone of what we do here. Bridie is absolutely incredible and does so much work for the podcast. Bridie is our review coordinator, does our website, looks at emails, is replying to people, is organizing amazing opportunities, is helping with the social media. Bridie is the queen of all queens and has literally saved our little buttocks the last couple of months. So we literally could not do this without Bridie. So everyone give Bridie some love because they deserve it.

[6:02] Eliza Gunther: Yeah. Bridie is the reason that the podcast currently is still running in this little unplanned hiatus that we took. Our main thing is that we do this for the love of it. We have such a passion for it since day one. We've been doing this for six years, which is constantly crazy. And we just have such a passion for it. We have a passion of sharing our stories, creating a show that we wish we could have had when we were first starting in the industry. And I also want to really quickly shout out to people who have really helped remind me, especially in this unplanned hiatus, that, and it feels a little self-indulgent, but like that this podcast, it does matter and it is important and people do genuinely listen to it and love it.

And those two people are, it's the amazing Matilda, stage manager extraordinaire of Bonnie and Reed, who has just finished their run with Bright Star at The Haze. They were kind of a last minute call in at the start of the Bright Star season to ASM on Bright Star and they did a fucking phenomenal job alongside Jemima, the stage manager. But Matilda is also stage manager for Bonnie and Reed, which is one of my current projects. So massive shout out to Matilda. And also a massive shout out to self-proclaimed number one fan, Melinda Fernandez, one of my castmates, Max's mum. So thank you so much for reminding me and reminding us that people do listen and that it has had an impact on people and people care about the podcast and what we do.

And that just, it means a lot to us because I think sometimes when it's just me, Eliza, Bridie kind of doing what we do, it can feel super insular and it can just feel like we're just doing it for shits and gigs. But like, in reality, people do listen and it does have an impact on people. And that's really important to us and it matters a lot. So just a quick moment to say thank you so much for being here and listening and supporting us through the years. Thank you so much for being here and for sharing this love of the Australian art space with us because it means the world to us that you're here.

[8:32] Eliza Gunther: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. We are so lucky to have the community that we do and that we've been able to build and we love you guys. But I guess on a slightly different note, let's talk a little bit about what Tori's got going on because I think it's really fun for the podcast. Let's talk about your shows. So we've got two shows to talk about today. The wonderful show that you did, your own show at Qutopia, Train of Thought, Sydney Fringe, Wild. How do you feel you finished your first run of your own show?

[9:07] Tori Bullard: Yeah, it's crazy. I learnt so much. So yeah, I put on my first ever solo cabaret and I say solo in air quotes because there's obviously a team behind it. It is me and an accompanist on stage, but it is more than just me that brought this show to life. But I was at Qutopia for Sydney Fringe's Queer Hub for five performances at the beginning of September and that was amazing. Ticket sales were terrifying and I'm very excited because we broke even and that is huge for first time putting on a show to be able to break even. But above that and above the money of it all, it's I'm so proud of myself and the show that I created, which is basically a one person show about myself and about my experiences as someone who is queer, someone who is neurodivergent, who is chronically ill. It was kind of just like a show amalgamation of who I am and my experiences, my overthinking and it all takes place on a train trip and hence Train of Thought.

[10:33] Eliza Gunther: Train of Thought, yes.

[10:35] Tori Bullard: And I'm also so excited, which was not anticipated in the slightest. I was a finalist for Best in Genre for Music Theatre and Cabaret and I did not win the Fringe Award for that. That went to the amazing Songbird Siren, who had an amazing show called Confessions of a Drama Queen, which if it ever comes back around, you must see. She is stunning and amazing. But the most surprising thing at the award ceremony was that they announced a new award supported by Qutopia, which was the LGBTQIA plus Storytelling Award, which I won. Which is still crazy to me. Pretty much once they got past the Best in Genre award and I didn't win in my category, which is... I was thrilled to even be nominated. I was like, oh, okay, that's so fine.

We'll just enjoy the rest of the award ceremony. And I was literally sitting next to my producer and they announced this new award supported by Qutopia. They get a one week remount season in 2026 at Qutopia. I was like, that's so fun. And they were like, the winner is, Train of Thought. And I literally feel like there was a moment of me just sitting there going, is that me? What? What do you mean? And I'm sure that there is, there is, bless, neither myself or my producer were prepared for that at all. I had stopped recording the awards, except for things where I had friends nominated. But for that award, they didn't say who was nominated for it or anything. It kind of just, they were like, and the winner is this.

And I was like, oh, wait, what the fuck? Okay. So that's crazy. So Train of Thought will be coming back. I don't have the exact dates yet, but it will be coming back as part of Qutopia's main stage season in 2026 for a week, which is crazy.

[12:54] Eliza Gunther: It's amazing. It's literally amazing when I, I swear every like Tori, Train of Thought was the best kept secret ever because Tori, Tori was like, oh, it just got announced. And then I was like, oh my God, Tori, you're doing a Qutopia. Your, your thing is on for five nights at Sydney fringe. What do you mean? You're in this like really cool pamphlet and your face looks beautiful. I'm like, what is going on? And then next minute you do the show. It's like fantastic. Not only do you get

[13:21] Tori Bullard: You have a fantastic review from Theatre Thoughts, which are our other beautiful podcasting friends. And that goes really well and then all of a sudden it's like, hey, we're at the awards show, hi, I've just won an award at my first Sydney Fringe for putting on my first ever show. And this is a concept you've had for years, so I mean just watching this whole thing I was like, hey, I wish I was in Sydney and I got to see it because I'm so jealous of everyone who did. And B, thank goodness it's coming back for round two, love this. And I'm just so proud of you, like this is your little baby and now it's gonna be a bigger baby. It's so crazy and the funny thing was, so when I won this award I sent a photo to my whole team, so I had the amazing Sarah Campbell as my director, Lillian Hearn who was my MD, then I had Babette Shaw and Millie Higgins as part of the show, and my amazing producer Rika.

And I sent a photo to them and was like, look guys we won the LGBTQIA plus Storytelling Award, but I hadn't actually mentioned to anyone yet that that meant a one-week remount, because I was also still processing what had happened. And then my amazing director Sarah, who we have had on the podcast before from Little Big Theatre Co, sent me a message and was like, hey, I wanted to wait until after Bonnie & Reed but I just wanted to let you know I have a bunch of ideas, if you ever want to do the show again I would love to be involved. And I was like, hey, crazy you say that, because we get a one-week remount and I would really love to work with you again, because obviously such a big challenge, I found, I feel like you're gonna ask me questions and I feel like I should wait until you ask me questions.

[15:24] Eliza Gunther: No, well I was gonna say we can definitely talk about the process of it, because I think it's really interesting in the sense of like putting on your own work is something we don't do a lot and we don't talk about a lot, and even Sydney Fringe, like the idea of doing a Sydney Fringe sounds kind of a little like scary to a lot of people, being like, okay, I have an idea, but like how do I even put it on? So in like a small, I guess, nutshell, can you kind of go through the like process of putting on the show? What are the processes that you might need, like who might you need, how did you reach out to those people? That was a lot of questions in one.

[16:02] Tori Bullard: Okay, so for me, I have had this show has been my brainchild for like six years. Probably, honestly, maybe even longer than that, since I was at uni, and it is something that I've always wanted to do. I had planned on doing this cabaret as part of Fringe two or three years ago, when I wrote, I've written another Fringe show previously. It was not, it was a short play, I was not in it at all, but my only involvement was writing it, and then I pretty much gave it to the producer and director and was like, be free. So I didn't have a lot to do with the actual production itself. I just wrote it and then I kind of very much so gave it away. That same year at Fringe, I had planned on putting this cabaret up, but then I kind of went, is it too much to do two shows?

And yes, long story short, it would have been too much to do two shows for me personally. Whether, I can't remember if we spoke about this on the podcast before or not, I inadvertently took a break from acting for a couple of years, and then got out of a bad relationship, found my love for performing again, and then at the beginning of 2024, I quit my full-time job and was like, no, this is what I want to do. This is, this is where my passion lies in life and I think I have what it takes. So I committed to auditioning full-time and after a year of auditioning full-time and not booking anything, which is very normal and it's very okay, I went, okay, well if no one's gonna cast me in anything, I'm going to put on my own show.

And I have found for me that there is nothing that works better for my neurodivergent brain than a deadline. So I went, okay, like, fuck it, I'm gonna do this, this is gonna force me to do it. So next steps were, I had like made the decision that I was going to be doing Sydney Fringe and then I put it out there because I have no idea about producing, I have no idea about MDing, I really, as an actor, I have not done a lot of research into the other side of things. So for me, it was very much, I put it out on Instagram and said, hey, I'm wanting to do something at Sydney Fringe and I'm looking for a producer. I had the amazing Rika reach out to me, Rika from The Haze, who offered to produce it and kind of teach me about producing at the same time.

And so once I had a producer and someone that kind of had an understanding of what needed to be done and the application process, we jumped on together, we did the application, paid the fee, paid the initial Fringe fee, and then we went, okay, now we're somewhat locked in. So Fringe applications open around March each year, for Sydney Fringe at least. For example, Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide and Newcastle Fringe applications are currently open and it is October currently. And I think Melbourne Fringe, I unfortunately kind of completely missed in the process of Sydney Fringe. So Melbourne Fringe is currently happening right now, I believe. It is actually, yeah. Yeah, so I completely missed that application, but to be fair, I was like, we'll start with Sydney Fringe and we'll see how we go.

So once that initial application was done, you also choose, because Sydney Fringe has hubs, so there is the Limitless hub, there is the Cabaret hub, there are many hubs. So I think I put a preference down for like the Queer hub and the Cabaret hub, personally. You put like how long your show is going to be, like what kind of capacity you would want, what kind of seating arrangement you would like, because there is like Cabaret style seating where it's like, you know, little tables versus, I was like, I would prefer theatre style seating, but within, with a moderate, moderate to small audience number, it being my first show, and I believe I originally put down two to three nights, and they went, here's five nights, and I went, no, no, no, please, two to three, and they went, take it back, and they went, here's five nights, and I went, okay.

So you don't necessarily get to pick what time you perform or your location, but there are preferences that you can put in. So I ended up performing in the 9pm slot, which is the last slot of the night at Q-topia's Queer hub, for five nights, which is intimidating, but overall I had a fantastic experience with Q-topia and with the Queer hub, which is fantastic. Anyway, once all of those details are kind of in, then the process started of finding an MD, finding a director, and actually starting to properly, properly write the show, because obviously I had had this concept for a very long time, and I had ideas of what I wanted it to be, but I didn't have, like, a solidified, like, storyline or anything like that.

So one of my first big steps was to kind of create a little bit of, like a, what's the word, like, like a synopsis, kind of, of the show, what I wanted it to be, the feelings that I wanted it to evoke, the kind of ideas that I wanted to leave audiences with, and then I took that into meetings with possible directors and MDs, and I got very, very lucky to, um, I had a meeting with Sarah Campbell, um, and we had great chats. Obviously I already previously knew Sarah, but we haven't ever worked together in that kind of setting, so we decided that, yes, we did want to work together, um, and that we both felt very strongly about my idea. I then reached out to Lillian Hearn, who I, again, very lucky to get the opportunity to work with as my MD and as my accompanist, and then started the process of, like, writing the show out fully.

I think we ended up going through maybe, like, 10 different drafts of the show, um, and it is still not, um, at its, obviously, I put on the show already, um, and I'm very happy with the show that I put on, um, but there are things I would love to change and fine-tune, and that's where Sarah comes back in, because we will be working together again on the remount of the show, which is very exciting, um, and making some changes, um, they have some ideas, I have some ideas, so I'm very excited for that. Obviously, during the process, there is a lot of things that kind of come up, and I remember us having some chats about some of those things that came up, which I wouldn't have expected, I don't think you would have expected.

[23:18] Eliza Gunther: No. What were, like, some of the biggest challenges that you kind of faced through the process?

[23:24] Tori Bullard: Yeah, I would say, honestly, one of the biggest challenges absolutely is imposter syndrome and tall poppy syndrome, um, it is really hard to think that a show, a one-person show about me is going to be of interest for anyone, um, and spoiler alert, it was, and that's, I'm very chuffed by that, um, big challenges were doing a solo show, like a 45 to 50 minute show, like that, where it's just 98% reliant on me knowing this entire script, um, and look, I wrote it, so it's easy for me to fluff if need be, but I still wanted to do it, I wanted to do my own story justice as well. Yeah. Big challenges were marketing, I, marketing and ticket sales, I, is not something that I knew anything about. Another huge challenge was licensing for music, because when it's not your own music, you need licensing.

This was a doozy. This was a doozy, um, I would highly recommend if you're doing a cabaret with music that is not your own, look into licensing with plenty of time, don't leave it the month before, like I did, thinking that that would be enough time. Spoiler alert, it was not enough time. Pretty much, you go through, I went through someone called One Music, um, and then through One Music, you go through Opera Amcos, which is where all, like, the music licensing lives, um, and pretty much you apply for the rights to songs, um, and I kind of just assumed that you would apply and they would say, yes, you can have the rights to these songs. I learnt rather quickly and violently, and I must say a massive shout out to Adam from Opera Amcos, who listened to me weeping, having a mental breakdown to him over the phone, because I didn't understand how music licensing worked.

Four or five out of my, like, eight songs did get rejected. There was not licensing available for, which I did not anticipate. And how close was this as well? This was two weeks pre-show, so definitely apply more than a month ahead of time, because obviously, as well, you are not the only person that they are doing licensing for, like, there are hundreds upon hundreds of people that they're doing licensing for at the same time, so they, you can't guarantee that if you apply on one day that you're going to hear back the next day. It takes time for them to go through your list with all these codes, as well, and find whether they've got the licensing or not. Also, keeping in mind that I'm not doing a concert, I'm doing what is described as a dramatic context license, which means that I have put my own context to these songs. It is not necessarily the context of these songs, how they originally were. And that plays a role in me not getting approved for these songs, I believe. I think. They don't tell you explicitly.

[26:42] Tori Bullard: And it seems that especially for things like Sondheim, these classic music theatre numbers, they don't love it when you take songs out of context and put them into your own context because they don't want songs to be misconstrued, they don't want their meanings to be changed. Which I get, um, but it was then a back and forth for probably like a week, at least, to try and see if I can get these Sondheim songs. This is just two of the couple that did get rejected. And they did end up- and they pretty much, uh, look I'm appreciative that the person I spoke to was very upfront with me. She was like, I would prepare backup songs because it is unlikely that these will get approved. And I was like, huh, okay.

So pretty much I went back to Ampra Amkos and was like, here are a list of like 10 additional songs that could work in these contexts because I needed to see if they were even available to be licensed. That was a thing. Some songs were not available to be licensed. Some songs had to go directly to labels or directly to, um, the licensee holder of rather than going through Ampra Amkos. The moral of the story is if you're going to license music that is not your own, leave yourself plenty of time. I would leave yourself at least two months. Don't become too attached to the songs, uh, too ahead of time. You can't do it too far in advance. You need to know like what the venue is, how long the show is.

You need to have an understanding of what you want the show to be and the approximate revenue that you could make from that. Cause that does impact things as well. Um, so you can't do it like months in advance. Um, but I would leave yourself at least two months so that if stuff does need to change, you have plenty of time to do that and you're not panicked about it. Like I was having to change a bunch of songs two weeks before the show and look, did it all work out in the end? Yes. Was it stressful? Yes, it did work out. And like despite having to change things, some things change for the better and, but yeah, it was an incredible process that you got to do and you got to finish your show, which was amazing and it all went super, super well.

And now you get to remount it, try new things. Um, it's very exciting. It is very exciting. I'm very, I feel very lucky to have done it and I feel very, um, honored for it to have had the response that it did. Um, and for people to have come and seen it, not just like friends and family, but people that I don't know that just saw the ad for the show and came and saw it, that meant a lot to me and I'm excited for it to be back at Qtopia in 2026. Ooh, keep an eye out. Now talking about other shows that you are a part of. Now we're going to move on to your current show that you are about to open very soon, Bonnie and Reed, which is a new musical and you are playing Bonnie. This is exciting. This is Tori's lead debut in a new musical. Um, it is a show about pirates. Please tell us what is this show about? What is your role in it?

[29:55] Tori Bullard: Yes. So as Eliza said, I'm playing Bonnie. I'm playing a character and Bonnie. So Bonnie and Reed is a new queer musical based on real female pirates of the 1700s. Mary Reed is captured aboard a ship with a cutthroat female captain and Bonnie sailing alongside Calico Jack. However, Mary must keep her identity hidden, disguised as Mark Reed. She must help them escape a feared naval captain hunting them down. But what happens when Anne begins to fall for this mysterious Mark Reed? This new musical explores the themes of love, identity and finding your place in a world where you didn't think you belonged. I love this. It's kind of like everything you want it to be and more. It is. And it's an amazing show.

It is, I think, one of my favourite things that I have ever worked on. It is, like Eliza said, it's my first time ever leading a show, which is very scary and intimidating, but also like amazing. And I feel so lucky to be trusted with playing Anne. And I should mention as well that this incredible show was created by Emily Whiting and Aidan Smith, also with the musical assistance of Ben James as well. And it is such a beautiful, special and unique show. I did really love as well, I heard I saw on Instagram that you guys recently had a little fundraiser as well. And the energy was so amazing. It was like pirate, like shindig, what do they call it? Sea shanties. Shindig. Sea shanties. And it was so awesome. The music sounded really lively and the cast just seemed all like they're so connected to the piece, which is so awesome to see.

[32:01] Eliza Gunther: Also, let's talk about the photo shoot. You look hot. You look so hot.

[32:10] Tori Bullard: It is the first time I've really done like a photo shoot for a show. And I remember looking when we first saw the photos back, I was like, wait. It's the first time I've ever looked at myself and been like, am I hot? Playing this, like a really feisty female pirate. It's crazy. Pirate has literally never looked so good on you. It is a good look for you.

[32:26] Tori Bullard: Thanks. It was crazy to me and it was such a fun and exciting day. We did that photo shoot, oh my God, back in August. We were on an actual tall ship in Sydney Harbour and it was raining and it was freezing, but it was like one of the best days of my entire life doing that photo shoot. So I feel so incredibly lucky to be trusted by this team with playing Anne. It means a lot to me.

[33:05] Eliza Gunther: Absolutely. And how are rehearsals going? Like how's it all settling in? Because I know the other day you had your first like off book, which off book is like where you have to know all your lines and then you do like, were you doing a full run of the show?

[33:22] Tori Bullard: Yes, we did a full run of the show. So we are three weeks from opening the show now. We have our SITS probe this week, which is crazy, but also so exciting. Rehearsals are going amazingly. Working with this team has been an absolute dream from the initial audition to the callbacks to actually working with them. They have been amazing. Our director, Holly Mazzola, is just out of this world to work with. She knows exactly what she wants. She knows how to get the best out of her actors. She is just so on the ball and has like such amazing ideas, but is also so open to our ideas and kind of our input as well. Because obviously when you're working on a new musical, you're really kind of shaping these characters as well.

Obviously they're based off of real people, but we really are shaping them and moulding them. And doing that alongside Holly has been amazing. I mean this whole creative team, Lauren Mitchell as our choreographer, has been so incredibly accommodating and has been so thorough and so positive. Like I feel like it could be so easy to get frustrated with things when people either aren't remembering steps or things just aren't going correctly, but she's so incredibly positive and she's such a bright light. And our amazing MD, Iris Wu, she is hilarious first and foremost. But again, so incredibly supportive, sending me like note bashes on a Sunday for things. Because obviously I think the fantastic challenge of working on a new show is that this is the first time I'm ever hearing this music.

And some things like just click immediately and some things take a little bit more note bashing, a little bit more time. And so she has been so amazing in like taking the time to really make sure that we feel comfortable so that she can feel comfortable so that the whole thing feels comfortable. And then we have like the amazing Charlotte Jones as our assistant producer. We have Gita who is our production designer. It's just the whole production team is amazing. And I mean this whole cast that I'm working with is seriously... I feel so incredibly lucky to be working with these people and they're all so young.

[36:13] Eliza Gunther: Which was like a bit intimidating to me at first because I am the oldest cast member by like about four years. Not to say that you're old. I'm so mean. I swear that was not supposed to say. I was just shocked that they were all so young.

[36:20] Tori Bullard: Yeah, they are. They're all, to me, they're like incredibly young. But directly opposite me playing Mary Reid is Gaby Lanham and like her voice sends me to the gods every time without fail. Jack Mitch is playing Jack Rackham or Calico Jack and he has been such a fun person to work with. We had the opportunity to work together during our final callback and like the energy was just like unmatched. I loved it. Percy Chu plays Johnny. Pierre is played by Ben James who is also one of the writers on the show. A little bit of a Hamilton moment. As I was talking before about Max Fernandez, Melinda Fernandez's son is playing James Bonney. Yes. Took me two seconds to click. I was like, oh Melinda, Melinda, Melinda.

Melinda Fernandez, we love Melinda. And then we have our amazing ensemble slash swings. It's crazy to me that I, for the first time in my life, I have a swing. That's crazy. So our amazing ensemble is Alex Travers, who is also the swing for Mary. And then we have Helen Jordan-Lane, who is my Anne swing, who I love with all my heart. And then we have Elliot Aiken, who is Jack's swing. All of our swings are obviously as well, also in the ensemble. So talented. This whole rehearsal process from day one, I was so nervous coming in to leading a cast alongside Gabby. And we also had a little bit of an interesting experience in terms of the audition slash callback process, which we will get into. But the rehearsal process has been amazing.

Everyone has been so kind and generous with their time. We have had the incredible fight captain, Sione. We have had an amazing intimacy coordinator, Shundell, who I've never done fight choreography or intimacy coordination. And those have been big, exciting challenges, because it's obviously something different for me that I've never experienced. And so it's locking into a very different part of my brain, which has been a very exciting challenge for me.

[39:09] Eliza Gunther: I feel like you can learn a lot from those things, because I remember us having a chat about that, and you were like, oh, it's so surprising, actually doing intimacy with an intimacy coordinator, how different that is. And it's a really great practice that we're now bringing in, that kind of thing. Because the more that we educate everyone on intimacy work, the easier it does become to safeguard yourself in situations. And also just have the really great actors tools around those things.

[39:41] Tori Bullard: So it's really cool you get to experience that. And also fight choreo is so cool. I mean, who doesn't love some fight choreo? Give me the fight choreo. Thank you.

[39:56] Tori Bullard: I will say, we often have done fight choreo and intimacy coordination on the same day. And my god, is it exhausting. It's tiring. And doing it in the moment, you're fine and you're great. And then they're like, great, let's take a 10 minute break, and then we're going to move on to music. And then you stop for 2.5 seconds, and you're like, oh my god, I am bone tired, exhausted, what the hell. But it has been amazing and such a fantastic challenge. I have never had so much dialogue in a show before, or so many songs. And that has been a crazy challenge. We had our first day off book two weeks ago.

[40:34] Tori Bullard: Welcome back to the Stage Door Podcast! We are so excited to be here with you all after our little hiatus.

[41:04] Eliza Gunther: Yes, it’s been a wild three months, hasn’t it?

[41:34] Tori Bullard: Absolutely! I mean, we’ve both been booked and blessed, but also, you know, a bit broken in the process.

[42:04] Eliza Gunther: Right? It’s like, how do we balance everything?

[42:34] Tori Bullard: Exactly! So, let’s dive into what we’ve been up to. I had my cabaret debut, which was such an incredible experience.

[43:04] Eliza Gunther: That’s amazing! Tell me more about it.

[43:32] Tori Bullard: Well, it was an award-winning cabaret, and I was just so thrilled to be a part of it.

[44:02] Eliza Gunther: Wow, congratulations!

[44:32] Tori Bullard: Thank you! And then, I also made my lead debut in ‘Bonny & Read’.

[45:02] Eliza Gunther: That’s so exciting! How did that come about?

[45:32] Tori Bullard: It was a bit of a whirlwind, honestly. I auditioned, and then suddenly I was cast as the lead.

[45:42] Eliza Gunther: That’s fantastic!

[46:02] Tori Bullard: It really is! But it also came with its own set of challenges, as you can imagine.

[46:22] Eliza Gunther: For sure! What was the biggest challenge for you?

[46:42] Tori Bullard: I think just managing the pressure of being in the spotlight for the first time.

[47:12] Eliza Gunther: I can only imagine!

[47:42] Tori Bullard: And then, on top of that, I had to balance rehearsals with everything else going on in my life.

[48:02] Eliza Gunther: It sounds like a lot!

[48:28] Tori Bullard: It was, but I learned so much about myself and my capabilities.

[48:54] Eliza Gunther: That’s the silver lining, right?

[49:20] Tori Bullard: Exactly! And how about you, Eliza? What have you been up to during our break?

[49:46] Eliza Gunther: Well, I took some time to recharge and get back into the creative swing of things.

[50:12] Tori Bullard: That’s great! Sometimes you need that break to find your inspiration again.

[50:40] Eliza Gunther: Definitely! I’ve been working on some new projects and exploring different creative avenues.

[51:08] Tori Bullard: That sounds exciting!

[51:36] Eliza Gunther: It really is! I feel like I’m finally getting back to where I want to be creatively.

[51:46] Tori Bullard: That’s so important!

[52:06] Eliza Gunther: It really is! And I can’t wait to share more about it as we go along.

[52:32] Tori Bullard: Yes, we have so much to look forward to!

[53:00] Eliza Gunther: Absolutely! Let’s keep the energy going!

[53:16] Tori Bullard: Yes, let’s do it!