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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Everybody, this is Robert Bannon, and before I hit the theme song and introduce the show, I want to tell you about some exciting Roundtable news.

[0:06] Robert Bannon: The Roundtable has a brand new website. You can go to robertbannon.com, find out all about me, find out all about the show. Brand new and now up and running with brand new Roundtable merchandise.

[0:08] Robert Bannon: Go to robertbannon.com, follow me on Instagram, and make sure you're subscribing to us wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube. Now let's do a show. Are you ready? It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:33] Robert Bannon: Welcome to the Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to the Broadway World, the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, Spotify. You know, I can tell when I'm going to like a guest because I get their energy even through the computer. And if they come to play and they're a good time, then they're my kind of people.

[0:49] Robert Bannon: And Britt is my kind of people because she's directing the show called PHYL. And I had told her that my ex-boyfriend was named Phil. He was my first boyfriend. Now I have a husband. His name is Darius, and he's amazing. But 11 years ago, he was a choreographer. I was in a show. He's now gone on to be a reality TV person. And I've gone on to be an international superstar.

[1:13] Robert Bannon: And Britt has gone on to be an acclaimed superstar director who has this incredible new show, not named after that Phil, called PHYL, about women. And it's been exciting to get right into it because, really, the more Phils we can talk about today, the better. Phil. All the Phil. Dr. Phil. Anyone. If you're watching, comment below if a Phil has done you wrong or done you right.

[1:36] Robert Bannon: Why? Has the Phil in this done people wrong? It depends on what you think. It really is like a question of the show is how you feel about Phil. I personally I love Phil and I don't I don't feel she does anyone wrong in this production.

[1:53] Britt Berke: Well, she's Phyllis.

[1:54] Robert Bannon: She's Phyllis.

[1:55] Britt Berke: She's Phyllis Chester. She's a governess. And she has a great life until a moment of lost temper leads her to risk everything. She has a she she like many governesses in 1911, which is when the play was written. She has a weird life because she is kind of in the middle. Like she'll never she probably won't meet someone and get married, but she isn't part of the waitstaff at the house. She's educated, but she's kind of like in limbo forever and she's really unhappy and she has like a bad case of wanderlust and desire and yearning.

[2:35] Britt Berke: Because it says that she like this show, this season, and all of the things that are being done here at the Mint Theatre Company are dealing with sex, love, marriage, the complexity of relationships.

[2:46] Robert Bannon: What is the Mint Theatre Company?

[2:50] Britt Berke: The Mint Theatre Company is an amazing theatre company that finds lost and neglected underloved plays that have never been produced or published usually and gives them their first staging or if not their first one of their first stagings. And this is my third time working there and they are amazing and everyone should be seeing shows at Mint.

[3:04] Robert Bannon: Everyone should be seeing shows at Mint. You could be seeing shows at Mint right now. All you got to do is go to the Mint website, which is minttheatre.org and that's theatre T-H-E-A-T-R-E. So for you and you and you could see this PHYL, by Cicely, who's old, and directed by Britt, who's young, and you can get tickets right now for The Run.

[3:30] Robert Bannon: The Run, everybody, I have these notes if I'm professional, its performances have already been up and running and opening night is the 22nd of October. What's it been like to let this baby open and be in previews?

[3:41] Britt Berke: It's been wonderful. It's, um, you know, like that the play was written in 1911 and it was banned by the Vice Chancellor at Oxford because of its stance on sex and marriage and the stance on sex and marriage.

[3:56] Britt Berke: Yeah. Well, Cicely Hamilton believed that marriage was a business that you shouldn't have to participate in if you didn't want to. And in 1911, that was, like, ridiculously radical and kind of insane, because you had to get married to, like, have money and, like, vote, or not even vote, of course you couldn't vote, but, like, you had to get married to be independent in any way and then, like, you weren't independent because you were married.

[4:24] Britt Berke: So she just believed that marriage was, like, an economic choice that was forced upon women and she really wanted women to be able to not make that choice if they didn't want to. And Phyllis was in conversation with that.

[4:36] Robert Bannon: Phyllis, I can feel it already. Even though Phyllis wants to get married, she doesn't feel like she should be stopped if she doesn't get married. Her life is limited, Britt.

[4:45] Britt Berke: She doesn't even, her life is limited and she doesn't really want to get married. She just wants to live and she's looking for ways to do that. She wants to, like, see the world and, like, yeah, like, be in her body and be desired and experience romance, but she doesn't necessarily want to get married. But she wants a man's company or a woman, a person. She wants company.

[5:07] Robert Bannon: Yeah, she does. Oh, God. I hope she's a lesbian. Is she a lesbian?

[5:13] Britt Berke: I'm not telling.

[5:14] Robert Bannon: I'm not telling. I don't care what she is. She could be whatever she wants.

[5:17] Britt Berke: And I love her.

[5:18] Robert Bannon: Thank you. Here's what I've learned.

[5:20] Britt Berke: OK.

[5:21] Robert Bannon: This week, my husband binge watched The Gilded Age.

[5:23] Britt Berke: Yes.

[5:24] Robert Bannon: Good. Now, I don't, I can't, I don't have, my ADD is too bad, so I can only catch pieces of it.

[5:30] Britt Berke: Totally.

[5:31] Robert Bannon: And because I get, like, it scares me. I get scared, Britt. When you tell me it's written in 1911, I'm going to say, I'm bored, I'm going to not know it. But in The Gilded Age, the lady wanted to get divorced or not get married. And Christine Baranski has a canary because she says, you can't be divorced or not get married. Like, you'll be not a part of society. You can't even come to my house.

[5:50] Britt Berke: Yes, exactly. The stakes are high.

[5:51] Robert Bannon: Let me say, this, I swear, I promise you, come, come see this. You will be my guest. You will come to see PHYL. It is, you, you won't believe it's written in 1911. People see the show and afterwards they're like, but you changed it, right? They're like, you changed some of the lines, you changed the ending. I'm like, no, it was just really radical and it's really sexy.

[6:15] Britt Berke: So it is as written. And if it's made in 1911 and you think it's going to be by someone that's British and it's going to be too artsy-fartsy and too fancy, it's not like that at all. It's as modern as can be.

[6:23] Robert Bannon: It feels radical, contemporary.

[6:28] Britt Berke: Yeah, it really is a sexy play. The Mint is delivering on their promise to make a season about sex and marriage and love.

[6:37] Robert Bannon: That's what it's called. If you look it up, everybody, the whole season is spicy, spicy. Let's talk about sex season. It's love, plastic, love, sex at Mint Theater Company.

[6:45] Britt Berke: It's true. Like the song.

[6:46] Robert Bannon: That's before your time. The Salt-N-Pepa wrote a song. Anyway.

[6:50] Britt Berke: Yes.

[6:51] Robert Bannon: I'm with you. Rince, you're a baby. How did you become a director?

[6:55] Britt Berke: Well, I'm probably less baby than you may be thinking I am.

[7:00] Robert Bannon: You're 19 years old.

[7:01] Britt Berke: Yeah, I'm 16, you guys. This is my high school project. No, I'm an adult and I made my off-Broadway debut with The Mint like four years ago. I directed this production of Becomes a Woman, which was written by Betty Smith, who wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and I love working with them. This is my third project with them. I just think the mission of the company is so worthy and amazing, and how did I become a director? I was a theater kid in high school.

[7:31] Britt Berke: I know you were, too.

[7:32] Robert Bannon: I know you were. Where did you grow up?

[7:33] Britt Berke: Long Island.

[7:34] Robert Bannon: And I'm from Jersey, so it's the same thing. What was your high school big musical role? I see it in your eyes. You have a story for me?

[7:38] Britt Berke: No, I got the lead. I'm not trying to be like this, but I got the lead role in Ninth Grade, which got a lot of heat. You get a lot of heat because I'm a freshman. And I was Daddy Warbucks in Ninth Grade.

[7:43] Robert Bannon: Did you shave your head?

[8:01] Britt Berke: Don't judge me, Britt, that I did not. I wore the bald cap because I, but I did shave my head for Saturday Night Live when I was older. Because if they offer you a part on Saturday Night Live and say you gotta shave your head, you shave your head. But for ninth grade, Annie, I didn't know.

[8:15] Britt Berke: That's good.

[8:16] Robert Bannon: And how did that set you up for the rest of your high school career?

[8:19] Britt Berke: Well I got to play Albert Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie, and I got to be Skye Masterson in Guys and Dolls, and then I went to Juilliard and dropped out.

[8:26] Robert Bannon: Why'd you drop out?

[8:27] Britt Berke: Well, I went on a bad audition for, this is not about me, Britt.

[8:32] Robert Bannon: I need to know.

[8:33] Britt Berke: I went on a bad audition for Rent, and Rent has a lot of themes in my life, like Phil, the ex-boyfriend who was the choreographer, because I did eventually do Rent regionally and et cetera. But I had a bad audition, and I just thought, like, I met agents and they were like, you're too fat, you're too character actor, you don't have a role, you know, all this nonsense that people hear.

[8:53] Britt Berke: And then I just was like, this is a miserable life. I don't want to do this. So I stopped acting, and I went to become a school teacher, and then I did not go back to acting or singing until I was 31 when I did Rent. I went to acting school. I went to Meisner Conservatory and got a degree at 30.

[9:10] Robert Bannon: That's amazing.

[9:11] Britt Berke: Okay.

[9:12] Robert Bannon: Wow. That's amazing. And then you do this production of Rent, you fall in love, you get back into acting, and your whole world changes forever.

[9:17] Britt Berke: And my world changes.

[9:18] Robert Bannon: And this show started in COVID, and 1,100 episodes later, here we are with you, Britt. And that was a good segue. You brought it right back.

[9:25] Robert Bannon: So for you, growing up in Long Island, I always say, director, see, you'd fire me, because the reason I don't want to act anymore is because I don't want to listen to anybody. That's why I host my own show. The role of an actor is to do the vision of the director, that is your role. And so do directors, are directors just bossy people, you just want people to listen to you?

[9:45] Britt Berke: No. I think that the job of an actor is to direct their part, and I'm directing the show. And I'm helping the parts work together in harmony, and I'm working with the actors on their specific roles. But all of my actors right now, they have a relationship to their character that I can't have, because I'm not embodying the role every day.

[10:04] Britt Berke: So I'm listening to them and seeing what they're doing and pulling out what is most useful for our production and braiding everything together. I don't think I'm bossy. I mean, sometimes I am like, well, I think it should be like this. But most of the time, I'm trying to be just like a really good listener and careful, delicate collaborator.

[10:24] Robert Bannon: Where's the line of a director where you're micromanaging, like blocking and movements versus what you envision? Where's the line of I'm supposed to say something and tell you what to do versus, okay, that's what's in your body, and that's how you inhabit it?

[10:39] Britt Berke: It's such a good question. And I think it might be like the ultimate question that every director asks every day until they die. Like, I think that is like about your practice and what feels good to you. For me, it's like, we should all be servicing the play. So we can try it my way, we can try it your way, we can try it a different way. But hopefully, if we're both being honest.

[10:59] Britt Berke: And working with as little ego as possible, someone's gonna be more right for what the scene needs. But of course, you get to the point and there are moments where you're like, if they were just, and I would tell my actors this, there are moments where you're like, well, I know how it should be, and then they do it how it should be, and you're like, oh God, that was so wrong. Your body's moving through space, it's so different. And it's like, Peter Brook writes about it in his work in The Empty Space. Our most famous directors are just like, whoa, what is me and what is you and how do we find balance there? I think that's so beautiful.

[11:38] Britt Berke: I'd work for you.

[11:39] Robert Bannon: You could join me. This is an audition right now, you're doing a skit. I'm gonna give a monologue, but before I give my monologue, you know what I like about this theater company is that you don't have to see overdone monologues because a lot of people, young people who are in acting school, when you get called in, look for these plays that are not done often because everyone has heard that monologue 75 million times. So unless you have something amazingly new to it, like you're gonna do it upside down or play the violin, maybe you should try something different. Go see new works that have not been produced very often.

[12:07] Britt Berke: Yeah, and there are also amazing monologues in these plays, especially in Phil. Our Phil, her name is Lily Ganser. She is a phenomenal actor. She's so special and she's doing these like acrobatic exceptional monologues and you can come steal them for your college audition. You can steal them for your college audition. That could be you. It could be Phil. I really love that. Look, my student, I don't teach musical theater anymore, but my little Aiden, he's leading the Buena Vista Social Club National Tour. And when he went to go into, when he went to Manhattan School of Music, when he got in, we talked about the overdone monologue and like really tried to find something. You want the person to lean in and say, I've not seen this before. I've not heard this before. Same with the song. So that's a neat thing, Britt. That's a cool thing.

[12:54] Britt Berke: So for you, is there a feat? There seems to be, and I don't know what your goals are and your plans. We've just been best friends for 15 minutes.

[13:02] Robert Bannon: I know, we're doing so well. But when you want to be a director, is there like a ladder or is there no singular way to be a successful director? So is it like, I'm doing this at Theater Row. My goal is that this leads me to another off-Broadway project. And what is the, are we going to Broadway? Are we making a movie? Like, what is the dream?

[13:20] Britt Berke: Listen, yeah, I think it's like the, that's a great question. And I think it's different for everyone. For me, it is of course like, yes, to have more off-Broadway productions and eventually Broadway. And I do like making films. I've made a few short films and I enjoy it a lot. So would love to expand. Like, I think it's always just to be making stories that reach more and more people, which kind of inherently means moving into like larger scale and larger budget venues. I would really love to direct an original musical. So if anyone's listening and you have a great original musical that needs a director right now, text me, FaceTime me.

[14:00] Robert Bannon: Find her.

[14:02] Britt Berke: And we can find you on social media?

[14:02] Britt Berke: Yes, my Instagram is Brit Burke. DM her, message her, say, I have a new musical. Say, hi, I'm Andrew Lloyd Webber. I would like to hire you to do my brand new musical. Whatever. Send her, don't be shy. Like, you can reach out to me. And I have, I'm so lucky. I have so many amazing collaborators, playwrights and musical theater writers who are always kind of dreaming and scheming. But yeah, the goal is to work a lot for a long time.

[14:27] Robert Bannon: I love it. And you can see the work right now. The work is up and running. October 22nd is opening night. It runs through November 7th. And you can get your tickets. It's right there on Theater Row on 42nd Street. So you can grab some food and whoop it up. And the tickets start at $39.

[14:42] Britt Berke: Yeah, it's true.

[14:45] Robert Bannon: A slice of pizza in New York is $39. This is cheaper than your dinner probably. The show is cheaper than your dinner. Did you move to New York City?

[14:57] Britt Berke: I went to Barnard for college. So I stayed here after college, which was really lucky because all of my Barnard professors were like, do you want a job? Like there was a lot of community when I graduated helping me kind of like get my foot in.

[15:11] Robert Bannon: Which is incredible. They say it's a very tight knit school.

[15:15] Britt Berke: Like it is like the women's liberal arts school of the universe.

[15:18] Robert Bannon: It's true. It's an amazing, it's Girl Columbia.

[15:22] Britt Berke: Columbia for the girlies. And it was amazing. It was a great experience. It was a really like rigorous. And also they really, I think my education at Barnard is why I really like these old texts and kind of going in there and looking around because it's such a like rigorous, academic, theoretical education.

[15:39] Robert Bannon: That's because she's smart. Her and Greta Gerwig and Joan Rivers were all hanging out together in college.

[15:47] Britt Berke: So that's the truth.

[15:50] Robert Bannon: So now the show is up and running. How do you stay active with your ear to the ground? Like do you collaborate? Do you talk to other playwrights and writers? Do you sit through readings? Like what is the community like for you as a director?

[16:05] Britt Berke: In November, I have like three or four readings slash developmental workshops. So it's kind of just like this constant collaboration. It's kind of funny because you have like all these projects that you're keeping track of. But to me, it never feels overwhelming or like confusing because they're all so specific. And I'm like, oh yeah, that play with that person needs exactly this thing right now. And that, so you just, the same that I'm sure you do with all of the projects that you're balancing where you're just kind of like, okay, how can I love that thing really properly right now?

[16:38] Robert Bannon: So we'll see.

[16:40] Britt Berke: It's hard. I don't know why I feel so comfortable with you because I'm just too kinky and enchanted up. But it's hard because I have a very hard time saying no. And I, because I feel like there's an, we're taught as artists that like, if we don't say yes, we're never gonna work again, we're gonna make people mad.

[16:45] Robert Bannon: I have a very hard time turning down interviews because we do an interview a day.

[17:00] Britt Berke: Because we do an interview a day?

[17:08] Robert Bannon: That's crazy. So like I said, we've done 1,200 interviews since 2002.

[17:14] Britt Berke: So in four years, three, six, 12, 15, almost an interview a day.

[17:19] Robert Bannon: So, but I love it. So when you love it, it doesn't feel like, when you're directing or when you're an artist, you're an actor, you're a singer, you're a painter, like when you love it, and the fact that you can do something and reach people and spread joy, that's the greatest gift in the world.

[17:34] Britt Berke: It's true.

[17:35] Robert Bannon: I know, and I really do. I'm sure you, I don't know if you feel this way actually, but I feel my most whole and clear and like safe when I'm actively directing or like collaborating.

[17:46] Britt Berke: So it's like, it doesn't cost a lot for me because it's like, it pays me. Like I benefit from how much I love working on here.

[17:56] Robert Bannon: It's your calling. It's what you're meant to do. It's your quest. It's what you're supposed to do. So never, ever stop. And Britt's going to keep on going and we're going to follow Britt, everybody, and we're going to find her on her next show. But until then, what's it going to feel like opening night when you see your baby in front of the crowd and you hear the audience and you see their work? Are you nervous?

[18:15] Britt Berke: No, because I really trust my actors. I just think it's going to feel so good. My favorite thing at the Mint, you know, we've been in previews. I love when the lights go like in the last moment of the show or even in the moment before intermission, when I hear people's reaction and they say things like, oh, this is so radical. Or they say things like, I wasn't expecting that. I really love that four seconds, right, when the curtain closes. And I'm excited for that on opening night, just to see how people feel about it. And also to, yeah, to let my actors just continue to live in this world and throw everything into it. It's very special. I feel really lucky.

[18:51] Robert Bannon: I think it sounds incredibly fun. You have a big cast, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, what do you have, nine people? And two of them are kids. Like I have a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old. It's my first time working with children. Any tips?

[19:08] Britt Berke: Yes, bribery works in my classroom. I bribe them.

[19:10] Robert Bannon: Yeah, totally. If you do this, I will buy you McDonald's Happy Meal.

[19:17] Britt Berke: I bet my kids, and I had to buy 16 McDonald's Happy Meals.

[19:22] Robert Bannon: Well, what was the bet?

[19:23] Britt Berke: They'd take it seriously. If you couldn't say. If a student got in trouble, the student wouldn't listen. So I said, if you keep doing this, you're gonna get in trouble. They said, no, I won't. I said, I guarantee you by Friday, you're gonna get into a lot of trouble. And the kid said, okay, make a bet. I said, okay, I'll buy you a Happy Meal. He got suspended and expelled. And I had to buy 16 Happy Meals.

[19:43] Robert Bannon: Oh, no.

[19:44] Britt Berke: Young teachers in the world, don't do, this is 20 years in, don't do that.

[19:49] Robert Bannon: Go, go, bribery. If you're listening, don't.

[19:54] Britt Berke: Don't offer to buy.

[19:56] Robert Bannon: Wow, lose-lose situation for everyone.

[19:58] Britt Berke: I mean, terrible, I'm so sorry.

[20:00] Robert Bannon: Well, we ate McDonald's.

[20:01] Britt Berke: I mean, and they left me all their, they left me all their Happy Meal toys on my desk. They, as like a, that was their, like, we give this to you in tribute for their Happy Meal.

[20:11] Robert Bannon: What are the toys these days? What’s in there?

[20:13] Britt Berke: Hold on, hold on.

[20:14] Robert Bannon: Yeah, let's see.

[20:16] Britt Berke: They're very bizarre.

[20:18] Robert Bannon: They're odd.

[20:19] Britt Berke: I don't under, they're SpongeBob's, but they have no color.

[20:22] Robert Bannon: So I don't understand them.

[20:25] Britt Berke: Wait, wait, wait. What's gonna, hold on. Apparently this is weird SpongeBob SquarePants.

[20:30] Robert Bannon: See, I've never seen, I'm 42 years old. What the heck is that?

[20:33] Britt Berke: This is just like.

[20:34] Robert Bannon: This is a little SpongeBob.

[20:37] Britt Berke: Well, like.

[20:38] Robert Bannon: Who has no color.

[20:39] Britt Berke: No, it's not. Like, that's so interesting. Are you supposed to color them with a marker?

[20:42] Robert Bannon: I don't know.

[20:43] Britt Berke: These toys are a little too esoteric for me.

[20:45] Robert Bannon: I'm a little out of.

[20:46] Britt Berke: They're esoteric.

[20:47] Robert Bannon: See, that's a Barnard answer.

[20:50] Britt Berke: That's what Greta Gerwig would say if she was here.

[20:52] Robert Bannon: She would.

[20:53] Britt Berke: So what are we gonna do if you, who should see this? Tell me, who's coming to see your show?

[20:58] Britt Berke: Everyone should see it. Anyone who has ever had a dream for their life or who has ever wanted more should come see Phil. It's for dreamers, it's for people who want, it's for people who want big lives.

[21:13] Robert Bannon: And that's everyone.

[21:14] Britt Berke: A lot of us.

[21:14] Robert Bannon: It's everybody. And if you don't, you should, because you deserve a big, giant life. I wish you the biggest, most giant, dreamer-filled, fulfilled life. And I'm so grateful you came on. I hope you come on for the next one. And I'll be following you on social media and we'll all be following you. Go to.

[21:28] Britt Berke: Yeah.

[21:28] Robert Bannon: IG.

[21:30] Britt Berke: Thanks.

[21:31] Robert Bannon: Thanks for being here.

[21:32] Britt Berke: So good to meet you.

[21:33] Robert Bannon: So fun to meet you.

[21:34] Britt Berke: Thanks for everything.

[21:35] Robert Bannon: I had so much fun, mintheater.org, and go see Phil, not that Phil, whatever Phil you're thinking about, a different Phil, different Phil.

[21:41] Britt Berke: Yes, go see our Phil, P-H-Y-L Phil. Go see Phil.