Hey friends, thank you for joining me for another episode of YQG in Bloom.
My name is Tracy Martens and I'm your host and tonight we are recording at the KordaZone
Theatre in Windsor, Ontario and I am with Joey Wright who is directing the upcoming
production of The Three Musketeers.
How's it going?
Good, how are you?
I'm great and I also have Nick Prsa and you are playing Athos?
Athos.
Athos, okay, I knew I was going to screw that one up.
Everyone does it once.
Don't quiz us on any of our French.
Okay, so when is the production coming out?
We open on September the 13th, so in ten days.
And it's every weekend through September?
We run for three weekends.
The first weekend is Friday, Saturday and then we have a Sunday matinee and then the
following two weekends are Thursday, Friday, Saturday night.
So let's get this out of the way.
What is this version of The Three Musketeers?
Since everybody has their own interpretation.
There's always a different interpretation on every production or movie or anything like
that of The Three Musketeers.
What I was looking for was to kind of take the vibes of Pirates of the Caribbean and
put it on stage with The Three Musketeers.
So most of the show is action comedy with little bits of drama, tragedy, grief and loss
kind of just sprinkled out over a little bit.
Oh, so it's going to be...
It's kind of all over the place.
You start off with this, with D'Artagnan who is going to Paris to be a musketeer.
He's on an adventure and inadvertently finds himself mixed in on a scheme by Cardinal Richelieu
to overthrow the king and falls in love and there's so much going on at all times, but
it's just, it's fun, action filled, laugh filled and there might be an occasional tear
or two.
Okay, so it's The Three Musketeers soap opera.
And who is Athos?
Athos being one of The Three Musketeers is someone that I was quite drawn to when Joey
had put up the auditions for this because he's such a wonderful contrast between the
other two who are brought wonderfully to life by Nicole Clark and Gianluca Iacari.
Okay, so we have a female musketeer.
Yes.
And she does a great job taking Porthos' vanity but also bravery and being able to meld them
together.
She's just a wonderful stage presence and Gianluca does an amazing job with taking the
piousness of Aramis with his kind of one weakness of being a lovely woman.
Now in the case of Athos, Athos kind of contrasts them where he has that kind of romanticism
that those others two have kind of put deep, deep, deep, deep, deep down.
He's this kind of brokenhearted sullen member of The Musketeers.
So when he sees D'Artagnan who's youthful and is ready to fall in love, as much as he
wants to caution him with being too naive about rushing in trying to do a swashbuckling
adventure, he sees a bit of himself in that as well too.
So that's I think my favourite part about playing this part by not just being a kind
of almost an older brother figure to D'Artagnan but the personal journey that he finds to
kind of rediscover that kind of love of life and going into the great unknown that he used
to have.
That's a really interesting way of putting it.
It's almost like there's a smidge of jealousy but it pushes him to become the person that
he wants to be.
I like that.
Because he's been, without spoiling anything, his heart is not the same that it once was
because something that happened in his past.
So when he sees D'Artagnan kind of looking almost like he's going down the same path,
it takes him aback almost.
But that romanticism that he had for that part of his heart is kind of transferred into
being this person who wants to serve his country and his king.
So those kind of highlights, even though they're kind of pushed down still, are coming through
even from the beginning of the play.
And through doing that, it's been an amazing process to discover where those glimmers get
to come through under Joey's direction.
I can't wait to see it.
I'm definitely coming to this one because I don't even know the last time I've seen
a production of The Three Musketeers, like obviously on TV.
It's been a long time so it'll be completely new and fresh for me.
And what made you decide to direct this?
I love the 90s Disney Musketeers movie with Kiefer Sutherland, Tim Curry, Charlie Sheen.
I think that's the last time I've seen it.
Yeah, I love that movie.
It's one of my favorite go-to movies.
If I'm sick at home eating chicken soup, that's the movie I put on.
And I was on vacation and I thought to myself, I wonder, there's got to be a play.
There has to be a stage play of The Musketeers.
Did a little bit of research, found a script, ordered it, read it and was like, this is
fun.
This is just a silly, good, fun time.
And I was like, that's the one.
I want to be able to put on The Musketeers and have a cast that just has fun, an audience
that has fun.
And they're coming to the theater for that performance.
And it is just, like I said, it's a swashbuckling adventure tale and you just get to enjoy it.
There's no heavy thinking.
There's no wondering, is there a plot twist at the end?
It's just two hours of just enjoyment and fun on stage.
No, we're not going to get lost in the language.
No, it is written in plain English, our English.
How many cast members are in this production?
So the script calls for 12, but we have 14.
Oh my goodness.
And we have the stagehands also kind of popping in and out throughout some of the scenes.
So we have a pretty decently sized cast.
One of the things you pointed out earlier, one of The Musketeers is a woman, Porthos
played by Nicole Clark.
And it's not a woman playing a man.
Porthos is a woman in this show.
She brings a great energy.
She brings a great character.
And I'm like, why not?
Why not have Porthos as a woman?
In the old story.
Old story.
We're all men, but I figured it's 2024.
Why not?
Yeah, she could kick butt.
And it's great.
We have a couple bits throughout the show as well with the fact that we've changed Porthos
from a man to a woman.
It sounds like a lot of fun.
It is.
That was my goal was to just have a fun show.
And you said that there hasn't been a production of The Three Musketeers and Windsor in a long
time.
I think it's been about 10 or 15 years.
And the last company to do it was UP over at the university.
Wow.
So yeah, it's time for a new one.
Why not?
It's time for something fresh, something new, something people haven't seen in a long time.
Let's go for it.
Now have tickets already?
Are they on sale yet?
Yes.
Tickets have been on sale since the first weekend of August.
Oh, cool.
We were in the Pride Parade.
The whole cast, most of the cast was in the Pride Parade.
They were in costume.
We were sword fighting because we have eight or nine large sword fights throughout the
show.
Wow.
On the set?
On the set.
And it's not just on the main stage.
We have sword fights on the stairs.
We have sword fights upstairs.
We have people that run out a door and come in another door.
Eric Smith, our fight choreographer, once I got the okay to do the show, he was my first
phone call and I was like, hey, I want you to fight choreograph.
And he's like, I'm in.
He's been working on these fights for the better part of a year.
You have a fight coordinator.
That's pretty cool.
With the fights that we have.
Yeah.
I mean, the show starts off, top of the show starts with a fight that's about a minute
and a half long.
Now, are you in it?
No, no.
You're just directing?
I'm directing and producing and that is plenty of work for me.
But you act too.
I do.
Yeah.
And how long have you been with Cordova?
My first show that I was directly involved in.
I was kind of a late bloomer because I was Clue in 2022, I think was the first.
No, you were in the Fantastics.
Oh, yes.
And that was pre-pandemic.
So right before that all kicked off, I was in the Fantastics, but I've been involved
in community theatre since about 2012.
So going back to like early high school.
So you've always liked it.
Yes.
And I think maybe this is kind of full circle because being on this stage on Cordova specifically,
my dad used to do Croatian school plays when this was the Hrvatski Narodni Dom when it
was next to the old church.
So this is kind of a bit of a family affair being on this stage as well.
That's really cool.
Now, do you just do performances with Cordova or are you with other production companies?
I've worked with quite a few production companies.
I started off at Windsor Light and they still do amazing work and they have a great season
coming up.
I've also worked quite a bit with post productions as well too.
And I've also recently served on the board of Windsor Feminist Theatre as secretary.
So the great thing about theatre in Windsor is just how diverse this scene is.
I still stand by that outside of Toronto and Stratford, we have the strongest theatre scene
in the province.
It's true.
This is my third podcast here and we've talked about it before that the theatre in Windsor,
the productions, we're getting more and more of them which is great.
When UP, when they announced the shutdown of UP.
It's horrible.
We had a rehearsal that night here for Three Musketeers and a bunch of the cast was either
directly involved with UP going into UP or had graduated from UP.
So it was a shock to the system but also it was an event that really shook people up and
it is a big loss to the community to not have that 66 season community theatre company here
anymore.
I mean that's the thing is you have these students that are in there taking theatre
and acting and production and directing and you know what have you but yet they're not
offering to be able to do performances there.
They have to look elsewhere.
Luckily enough we do have quite a few different places where they can go to but I'm hoping
that something might change and get on the road.
We are too.
We're welcoming to everybody that wants to come in.
We hope that the decision gets reversed but that's entirely up to the university.
So what is because you work here.
You work here.
I mean you're not just director of this play.
You do other things with Cortisone.
So what will be the next play after?
Is it the Halloween one?
So the next thing here is Frankenstein directed by Jeff Maren Tate in October and then we
have our annual holiday panto in December that's going to be directed by Mark Worsley
and then Tracy our founder here at Cortisone is directing our season opener Urinetown next
February.
I happen to see that online about Urinetown.
Really quickly what's that about?
It's sort of a.
Because it sounds.
It's definitely not a name where you're like oh I know that show.
It's basically sort of a dystopian era play where your water usage is tracked and you
have to there's a severe water shortage so you have to track all of your water including
your urine.
So it's a musical about just all sorts of kind of crazy nonsense and government control.
I don't know too much about it.
Tracy I know is absolutely over the moon.
She's finally getting to do it.
She loves the show.
She's been wanting to do it for years.
She finally gets that opportunity so I'm excited to see what she puts on.
And I'm told that the creative process is quite fluid so we're really looking forward
to it here.
Are you going to help out with that?
Well I think considering Tracy had approached me at the last rehearsal I think I may be
roped in in some capacity or another.
I myself am taking six months off.
You are?
Well earned.
I've been going nonstop since COVID ended.
Our second show back from post pandemic COVID was Clue which I directed and produced as
well and that was in February of 2022 and since then I've had a show on the go.
Multiple shows on the go from then.
Will you work with Corda on the board?
I'm the treasurer.
You're the treasurer so you're not taking a break from that you're just taking a break
from the stage part?
Acting and directing.
But I'll still do all of my board duties and the treasurer stuff and I'm the fun police
when Mark wants to buy new things.
I say no Mark we can't afford that.
Okay can you come to my house?
We both need the fun police every once in a while.
I don't know I think he said he needed a new mic so go for it.
I need a camera.
Cameras, mics, yeah go for it.
Why not?
I really love coming to the Cortisone Theatre because you guys do not one play is the same
they're all over the board.
I think that's what makes it so fun for people is they don't feel like they have to go to
every show they can pick and choose.
One of the things we like to say about ourselves is that we're dramatically different because
it's not just your usual theatre fare.
You don't get the standard musicals, the standard classical shows, the standard plays.
You know Three Musketeers is a very well known show but I have put my own spin on it.
We're doing Year in Town, no one's ever heard of that but it's a fun musical that's going
to be great but we also do the classics like The Importance of Being Earnest, Frankenstein.
So there's a we try to do a mix of shows that people are very well aware of that they know
that they love that they want to experience again or see how we do it differently but
then we do the shows that no one would ever consider or think of that people get to try
out for the very first time.
It really is an institution in the Windsor area and I know we veered off a little bit
from The Three Musketeers and I know you guys have special nights.
Yes, we do.
So the second weekend, the Thursday, we have Pay What You Can so anybody can come in and
if they can only afford $5 for a ticket they can pay $5.
So there's no in advance?
It's strictly all at the door.
And then the third weekend, the Thursday of the third weekend we have a scent free performance
so there will be no popcorn made here at the theatre.
We ask no one wears any perfumes or colognes and if any flowers are brought for the cast
members to talk to one of the volunteers and they will bring the flowers backstage out
of the general seating area.
That's a great idea to have that for the place because I mean it is a very nice and cozy
atmosphere and so many people have allergies and issues.
It's a big space but when you put 80 to 100 people in here it gets small really fast and
when you have one person who is wearing very strong perfume or popcorn being made in the
popcorn machine it fills the space.
So we wanted to make sure that everybody can come whether they can afford a full $25 ticket
or if they have an allergy to perfume or colognes or anything like that.
We wanted to make sure that everyone can come to Cordo no matter what.
That's great and I can't wait to see it.
I'm definitely coming.
I'm really excited and I want to thank you so much Joey and Nick for being with me today.
Thank you for coming by.
We love having you here.
Oh always.
I want to come back for Frankenstein too.
Oh absolutely come on by.
I mean like with Three Musketeers it's a classic as well with our own twist.
I know Jeff I've been privy to some conversations about the set and they have some very very
cool ideas about the lab and the set and the creature so it's definitely going to be one
you're going to want to see and get a little sneak peek of before the show opens.
For sure.
Thank you again both of you.
I really do appreciate it.
And again my name is Tracy Martens.
This is YQG In Bloom.
Make sure that you follow like subscribe to my channel so you can get updates on any of
my new podcasts and follow KordaZone Productions on Instagram or what is your website?
KordaZone.com.
And get tickets.
Make sure you're down here for the Three Musketeers.
You guys all have a great day.