The One with Fallon Willoughby

Transcription Pending

Adventures in Educational Theater.

I'm Jennifer Dooley, the founder and

executive director of Edmondson County

Drama, which is a K

through 12 theater program,

in the wilds of rural Kentucky.

And with me today is not Britt Norris.

He abandoned me with the sound equipment.

So now we can talk about him and he'll

never know, but he might come back.

And as you know, he is the tallest

technical director at Edmondson County

Drama and therefore

technically a director.

Actually joining me today is Fallon

Willoughby, who is one

of our OG drama darlings.

And she, make sure I say this right, you

are a first year experience instructor at

our local community college.

I am an associate professor.

Associate professor, fancy.

Thank you very much.

Yes, and a published romantecy, which is

now my new favorite word of the day,

author.

And we will talk about that

also amongst other things.

Is that your official title?

Why do you guys have titles now?

It's so weird.

So before we talk about the wonder that

is Fallon, where we always give our

audience an update on what we're

currently doing in the program.

So we are blocking the con, the show

we've been working on

for the last month or so.

And blocking rehearsals take five ever.

And they take even longer now, I think

they did when you were in the program.

So Fallon was in like the original

productions that we

did the very first year.

She worked on those programs,

primarily in tech.

She was the first Lightbox goddess.

Have you seen her light system now?

It's so pretty.

I'm so jealous.

You don't have to like push anything up

and down and the lights can change color

in the middle of the show.

It's just, it's magic of the devil.

So now we do blog rehearsals, we spend,

we do, we block five pages a day,

12th night where we had a student

director who took so much time blocking.

We had two student directors and one took

forever blocking and one

did the way it done before.

And I figured out that if you take all

that time at the front end, it saves you

a lot of time at the back end.

So we spent a lot of time on that.

But it seems like

we're not making progress.

And some days we don't.

Like yesterday we worked on fight

choreography and we worked on a page for

a day because there

were 20 kids on stage.

It's kind of like sound cues and cutting

the chandelier loops.

It's kind of like

cutting the chandelier loops.

Very much like that.

but we figured out if you build the solid

foundation with the

blocking, everything takes less time.

So I estimate 10 minutes per page

But then that gives the, if the kids have

something physical to work with, they

know they're blocking, they're moving

around the stage, they know their stage

business, they know where all the set

pieces are, we can block scene changes.

And this show has a scene change for

every scene, but it's at a con.

So the furniture is primarily folding

chairs and tables and

a couple of podiums.

And that's really all there

is, just moving them around.

And we have people that are working the

con who can move the furniture so there's

no dead air because you know how I hate

scene changes where everyone has to sit

and wait for something to happen that

makes my skin crawl.

So we do not have that problem.

And we will buy t-shirts for everyone who

is working on the stage

crew that will be part of that.

So it'll be great.

Okay, so if they have that movement

linked to the word, it's easier for them

to learn the dialogue.

All right, we also, I got a call from

Kentucky Shakespeare this week whose

website we'll link in the show notes.

And they offered to come and lead a

workshop with our students.

We try to invite them down at least once

a year to work with us because they are

an amazing, amazing

educational resource in our area.

Last year, because of some grant money,

they came down four times.

They did,

They worked on us with Midsummer.

They did

workshops, one with the middle school,

one with the high school.

And then they did a stage combat workshop

over at the public library.

So we wanna get them down

there as often as possible.

They offer all kinds of

for students K through 12 about American

history, Kentucky history, Shakespeare,

theater in general, but

also they will work with you.

Like a couple of years ago, they did

dialect and like physicality for

Victorian England when we did Pygmalion.

So they don't have to, you know,

specifically Shakespeare stuff.

And so when they called yesterday, I was

like, hey, you wanna

compete just had a fist fight?

How to do hand-to-hand combat?

And they were like, yeah, so they're

coming Monday and I'm super excited about

that because the kids-- Do you keep

having children sign waivers?

No, we don't because they've come before

to do stage combat and last time they

came, we did sword play.

And I thought this was really smart.

This is long ago that Kyle Ware was still

touring and I don't think he does that.

He works more in the

office now and directs things.

So they gave them all PVC pipe with like

pool noodles wrapped around it and they

talked about how to, it's like

choreographing a dance and

they went so, so, so slow.

So there was never any point.

And if a kid started to get out of

control, they'd be like, no,

they'd stop the whole class.

So I'm not worried about that.

I'm not worried about

anybody getting hurt.

No one either knee broken

or, you know, knock on wood.

Yeah, nobody getting their fingers sliced

off by a slap or a set.

Like we've had no injuries because of

Kentucky Shakespeare.

Those have been all

completely on our own.

So

really excited.

I love them and not sponsored by Kentucky

Shakespeare, but we should be.

Last week I said we were not sponsored by

but I talked about how I go to all my

prep work at Spencer's.

I go to the old Spencer's and stare at

the brick wall and work there and not

sponsored, but should be.

so back to Fallon.

Before I ask you any questions, I want to

talk about how, and I say this now,

Fallon's wearing all black.

Usually her clothing is so colorful.

Like she watched out on one of her

novels, but her hair's purple and blue.

So I feel better about saying that.

And pink.

So and pink, yeah, it's all the colors

and I can't, I don't know, I dyed my hair

black and it has gone poorly.

So I'm done with that now.

All right, so now rapid

fire questions, but not really.

You can talk as long as you want.

So why did you decide to

join Edmondson County Drama?

These many, I mean, well, what year did

you graduate from high school, Fallon?

Do I have to say that?

No, you don't.

I graduated in 2008.

I don't know, I

thought it was longer ago.

So that's okay, that's good.

I don't know, you all run together.

I can think about, well,

who was in a show with Fallon?

Well, Steven was in a show with Fallon.

And that's how, because I remember

years-- Steven also graduated in 2008.

He did, and none of you can

be more than like 25 forever.

That sounds great.

I can't because if you get,

if you guys got to 40, I

couldn't, I don't know.

Let's not talk about that.

Okay, I'm good with that.

It's fine, yeah.

And Madison, she also got to be like 25.

I know her kids were

like 11 or something.

My child is 11.

Your child is 11,

Madison's kids are that old.

They're maybe seven, but still.

Yeah, no, you're 25, it's fine.

It's okay that your

child's image is my grandkid.

That's totally fine by me.

So why did you choose to get involved in

theater when you were in high school?

Gosh, we were the very

first ones, weren't we?

So it wasn't even

co-curricular, it was all after school.

Yeah, I don't even

remember how it came to be about.

I just remember we were talking about it.

I think Colton Wilson was super involved

with it and we loved you and

it was like, let's do a thing.

So were you in my English class already?

Okay, yeah, I think

it's like a lot of people.

It was many years ago.

It was many years ago, yeah.

I think so.

So what was your first show?

Art Tower?

Okay, so you were in

the, were you in the box?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So Fallon's the

original live box goddess.

I was never on stage.

And that's okay, I mean, we do now, if

you come into, because it was

co-curricular, so anybody

did whatever they wanted to.

If you come into class now, you have to

memorize the Shakespearean monologue for

Shakespeare Madness and get up on stage

for like 20 lines or whatever and then

you have to appear on

stage for the first show.

You may not say anything, but

you have to be on the stage.

That's mean.

Well, because what was happening, we

first got to be co-curricular, was that

we had kids show up and be like, so I

just do hair and makeup and they didn't

wanna do anything else

the rest of the year.

And I was like, no,

everyone gets to play everywhere.

So we'll all try costumes.

We'll all-- I did all the things.

And then we'll poke around the box.

And I did, so when we did drama too, you

made me do a monologue.

So I did get on stage for that, but I was

never in front of lots of people.

Yeah, and you survived.

So we do make them get on stage that

first show, but if they never appear on

stage again, that's a

thing that happens a lot.

Taylor didn't do very much on stage.

I was the spotlight person for our town.

You were.

And they came and WD Ford it right before

the show and I was

terrified I was gonna get high.

(Laughing)

Thanks so much.

(Laughing)

We still have the same spotlight.

It's so loud.

It was so bad.

We did borrow a spotlight,

two spotlights from the gym.

They used to do that thing like they do

when the Wildcats come out at UK.

They use the spotlights upstairs at the

gym and so we steal those because you

can't hear them at all

because that was so loud.

You can't hear the cues.

It's like clunk, clunk.

But we did have a bunch

of light and sound cues in

the Rain where he turns on the light

equipment in a stage and it was supposed

to make a bunch of noise as part of the

sound cue like you so we

did get to use it for that.

Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk.

It was meant to be.

It's so loud so I don't know.

So are there any particular memories that

stick out for you from

your time in the theater?

Oh my God, how long can I talk?

Well the second part of this podcast

we're telling people this stuff, how to

do it and then we're just yapping about

stuff because most of our listeners

frankly are people that were in drama.

So it's almost like I was in that show.

I remember that, I

can't believe that happened.

Let's see, so the

spotlight night was grand.

I literally told Brett, I was like, so if

the moon starts sailing across the sky, I

am fine, you need to come check on me.

Because he literally did it I think five

minutes before the show

started and it smelled so strong.

Oh, I didn't remember that at all.

Yup, and then all the shows were great.

The

They're cutting the chandelier loose.

Cutting the chandelier loose because we

couldn't get the sound and the light cues

to go at the same time and I thought you

were gonna murder us.

And then the people who were supposed to

fall, we had to eject from the show

because they didn't go to rehearsal, they

went somewhere else and

made some bad life choices.

That did happen.

So we killed my husband and Kevin and

there was somebody

else, one of my kids maybe.

I think there were three people that got

killed by the chandelier and had to be

dragged out of the house.

I know Sean and Steven

were being crushed maybe.

No, they were killed as a chandelier.

But I do remember that we

made, Sean was supposed to have,

chaps.

Oh yeah.

And we couldn't find any because we had

money so we made them out of bath mats,

out of brown bath mats.

We started together.

I remember that.

That was fabulous.

That's also the show with the line, it's

a record player, it plays records.

So like 10 years later, I was in the

Kohl's with the different drama kid

Alexander, Christmas

shopping in Lexington.

And this guy says to his wife, "Look,

it's a record player, it plays records."

And I called Steven and I was just crying

because I couldn't even talk.

And he said, "Did you

see a record player?"

I was like, "I did, it plays records."

And no one else understands.

We dragged a rat across the stage in that

show on a piece of wire.

So many grand things.

That was a grand show.

That secret was in that show.

Oh, that was a good show.

Let's see, I still say,

sin.

Yes.

Because of drama, I'll be

like, "Oh, so and so of sin."

And people just look at me and I'm like,

"There's reasons that I really don't

wanna explain to you that

that just came out of my mouth."

Yes,

an OG phrase definitely.

Like the couch of sin.

So we keep all our

couch stored vertically now.

That's probably a good plan.

We take the cushions off.

We do,

They're all backstage.

They're not in the dressing room.

We only have one couch now.

One is plenty.

Probably.

And of course I directed.

So that was lots of fun.

And that was good.

I think if that had gone poorly, I would

not have invited other people to come and

direct, but I knew you could do that

because you're type A like me.

So I knew you would have

everything ready and ready to go.

We know what you wanted.

And we've done that show.

So we did Midsummer Night's Dream.

And then we did

Jersey several years later.

We're just a place in the Jersey shore

and the root camp and

mechanicals were all hairdressers.

And like Oprah and Tonya were

beach bones and it was good.

And then last year we

did Midsummer in the mall.

I was not prepared to do that show again,

but we had seen some of the, we saw a

production of it through Kentucky

Shakespeare, of course,

they were touring with it.

And the kids were

like, "We want to do it.

We want to set it like now."

And they wouldn't set it in the school,

but we could make that work.

And they're like, "What if

we're trapped in a mall?"

And I was like, "Yes."

I remember we went and saw a production

of it in Louisville and they had like the

hoop skirts that were painted metallic

without the dresses over it.

And I just thought it

was the coolest thing.

Didn't bottom have like a metal head that

you could see through?

It was like, yeah.

So, and that was like-

And none of it fell asleep and I had to

stop him from snoring.

Yeah, I remember that.

Yes, that was a good production.

That was also Kentucky Shakespeare.

(Laughing) Not a sponsor.

But should be.

So I will say one of the big tips I can

give is don't let your actors use clothes

that you're really attached to and that

you want to come back because I had

several pieces

disappear or not returning great

I've lost my favorite pajamas that way.

Yes, I feel that.

So, cause let's see, I did it gothic.

Yes.

And so I supplied a

bunch of the clothing.

Yes.

And I didn't really have a lot of it to

begin with cause I was a

poor, sad little child.

Yes.

And that was guilt

bought trauma clothing.

(Laughing)

That's terrible, we're

not gonna talk about.

But it's still fun.

It's what it was.

So I had those knee high lace up boots.

Yes.

Yes, I wore those every day, I think, for

like three straight years.

Yes.

The lovely person whom I do love a lot,

who wore those duct tape all over the

bottom of them to soften the sound while

she was on stage and

they never recovered.

Yeah, I didn't hear it once.

Yeah.

And then some of the clothing just like

disappeared and they swore they didn't

take it, but I never, it was gone.

I was talking last week about how, lots

of for my house, like we

have production analysis where

we have like a column for like costumes,

hair and makeup, props, that whatever.

And there's a key on the right hand side

and it has colors for different things.

The world of the colors is, I think light

blue, I have to bring it from home, but I

don't bring things I'm like.

I hope this is my great grandmother's

wedding dress or something.

Although I don't have those things.

But so you have to definitely be like, well

this is an object and if it gets broken.

Because I did bring something last year

for a show we called Trap, it was this

perfect beautiful green goblet and it

said in the script she had a drink, she

drowns herself with salt water from this

goblet in the middle of the theater, it

was very gothic and amazing.

That's amazing.

The girl did a great job dying.

We bought her a dress for five bucks at

Goodwill that she wore

at every show that year.

And the first, and it was

that dress we wore for that.

And

shattered that goblet.

And it was Jason and God, when he first

started working at the newspaper, he had

it on his desk when he worked at the

paper and it was in our house and he

always kept his change in it.

And I was like, I had replaced it with a

mason jar and he's

like, where's my goblet?

I was like, mason jar?

I could bring it green.

So yeah, they shattered the crap.

I was like, well, okay.

Cause I thought, oh,

this is the perfect prop.

So we had to go

somewhere and find a glass thing.

But yeah, so it's just stuff.

You have to look,

let it go, man.

If you're gonna let it go, yeah.

And I've donated things since.

You have.

The lovely Cinderella dress that will

never fit me ever again.

But like, half an dozen

people have worn that dress.

It'll definitely be in this show, if not

on an actor, there's a scene where it's

backstage at a costume contest.

It's definitely on that rack.

That's awesome.

So we're definitely using it.

And we have several sort of medieval

dresses and stuff that you've given us.

I know lots of kids have worn.

I will never be the size I

was in high school again.

So when I let go of it, I was like, this

has to find a happy home.

A lot of people do that.

Like all my prom dresses are here.

I'm not wearing those again, but they've

been, I bought a prom

dress for like 50 bucks in 1997

that has been worn every year here.

The black flapper dress

with the silver on it.

Yeah, no, it's been, that's

the best 50 bucks I ever spent.

My prom dress was in a

Midsummer Night's Dream.

I did get it back.

I don't, I may have re-donated it.

Yeah, she had those wings.

Oh, she was so cool.

So that was lots of fun.

She was so cool.

And Gavin kicked

because Steven told him to.

Nick had to pretend to be asleep.

Gavin was so cute in that show.

He was just five years old.

Also Gavin said, if I mentioned him on

the podcast, he would rip

his arm out of his office.

So I mentioned him every single week.

That's okay, it's all good.

It's okay, I was gonna bring him up

because I remember him being in my show

because I was so excited.

He had little fairy wings too, didn't he?

It was so cute, yeah.

He did, and Amy Payne, we had to, like my

kids were so little then that we had to

have a babysitter on set.

We had a child wrangler in the crew.

We did.

And Amy Payne was there

with, because Ian was tiny, tiny.

So tiny,

and I remember like, you

were pregnant all the time.

All the time?

A lot of things.

And then when you weren't pregnant, we

had your cute tiny little children.

So that was always fun.

So yeah, so I, the first, well, when we

were doing our town, I was

wearing Taylor during our town.

And Eustoritis, the

coolest thank you notes.

And I still have all of them.

Yes.

I don't do that as much anymore, because

I am old, but I shouldn't

write more thank you notes.

We do have a thing we call happiness

circle now, where in between shows,

between a morning show and night show,

everybody sits in a circle, and they have

to say a nice thing about anybody in the

circle, it's not like you say a nice

thing about a person next to

you, just wherever you want.

And usually they are, especially if it's

the last show of the year, there's

hysterical crying by the end.

And I start to my left, and I go all the

way around, and it gets to me, I say a

nice thing about every

single kid in the circle.

It's okay, I can make

you say it with a picture.

Oh, oh, Greta, yes,

she was that show too.

Yeah.

We still have those

set pieces behind you.

But that set piece and those stairs,

we're still using those.

So once you build something good, it can

last forever and a day.

Ever, we did all kinds of things.

purpose of our podcast course is twofold.

We're trying to help people who want to

start or have been given the opportunity

to run an existing theater program

or who have been well and told that they

now are the theater teacher for school

because they don't have tenure and they

do what they're supposed to do.

And so we're trying to give them advice.

And last week we were talking about

things that you need to do before.

Because like I'm ready to

go, I think out of script

I want to go audition like right now.

And I know that that's not a good idea

because I need to have a better idea of

what the physicality of

characters have to be.

And if they have to do things with their

voice, that is interesting, maybe more

different than what they usually do.

Or I have to make sure I can double cast

people if I've got 27

characters and 21 actors.

Because that was a great idea.

But it's better than not having enough

parts of the makeup parts for children.

you're princess number seven.

So do you, and I know this was many moons

ago, do you remember any prep work

specifically that you did

for shows or things that you?

Well, so learning all the lighting

functions was my greatest fun.

Oh yeah.

So I did a lot of that.

For directing,

since it was the first time you made us

put together an entire binder of doom and

then we competed on who

could have the best one.

That's right.

And I won.

It was the best one.

Because I am me.

So I have problems.

Yes.

No, you were like me.

Oh, this is the thing, we

have to do the thing to 110%.

We have the best version of the thing.

I made people dress up and

take pictures in costumes.

You did.

And I blocked out a seat.

I did so much prep just to

be like, I can do the thing.

Well, and that's the, you know, because

you had done that when you started to

direct, then you had

all that stuff already.

And we knew what the

costumes should look like.

And you knew what kind of lights you

wanted and things like that.

And I decided to make Puck a Girl.

Yeah, which I think we made-- I don't

think Steven has ever forgiven me.

He brings that up in weird times.

But also that bit, that bit where he

picked her up and choked her, like, okay,

so for our listening

audience, we did not murder a child.

On that note. And now her daughter is in theater.

I'm so excited.

And so what happened was, so we had

Steven who was this massive child.

Like he's-- Six foot something.

At least six three,

six four, I don't know.

Anyway, great big Burley, could have been

a football player, was a band of theater

kids dead, not even mad about that.

And this very small girl,

she's still the same size.

And she has kids who are in theater.

And so they were able to do this bit

where when Oberon gets mad at Puck,

she would wrap her arms around his arms

and he would put his hands on her

shoulder and his

fingers on her or in her neck.

Very much looked like he was choking.

Yes, and so he was so much bigger than

her, he could pick her up, but she was

controlling the action, which is

something they're gonna talk to our kids

about next week, I'm

sure in stage combat.

So she was holding him, but it looked

like he was holding her and she could

throw herself around and kick her legs

and make choking noises.

And all Steven had to do was stand there.

And it was so realistic that when we did

the night show, her mother got up in the

audience and yelled, hey.

And I was like, "Bran-da, sit down.

"We are not killing your kid.

"Because if you kill them, "you can't

come back and do another show."

So yeah, that was, and I don't remember

whose idea that was.

I don't, it's been too

many, probably Steven.

Yeah, that sounds like he saw

wrestling or something maybe.

He was like, "Hey, I can do this thing."

And I was like, "Mmm."

No, that was a really--

She was game and it worked.

Oh, of course she was game.

Yeah.

So that was a really cool bit.

And I think about that a lot.

I do know, I loved that show immensely,

but that was also the

day my grandfather died.

So it was a very hard day for me.

Yes.

And I showed up all in gray and you were

like, "What are you doing?"

Yes, why aren't you

wearing the pretty clothes?

I just picked up the first clothes that I

saw because I was in tears trying to hold

it together to do the day.

And so that was a really hard day and I

still have really happy memories.

So it's so conflicting.

It is, but I mean, I'm really glad that

we were able to be there and support you

because this, ultimately, I mean, yeah,

we do theater and I love theater and

theater, but also it's because we built

this community that you are still a part

of low these many moons later, right?

Where you come to shows or she just

brought me a board game from 1960s, which

is all about Shakespeare.

And I don't understand it at all.

It's like Shakespeare Monopoly, but also

Parchese, but also Trivial Pursuit.

It's called the

Shakespeare Bookcase Game.

It has all kinds of tiny busts of

Shakespeare that you play with.

I'm so excited.

Look, I digressed.

I got it at the Friends of the Library

Booksell of which I am a board member and

you should go to every hour.

Are you a board member

at the Pumac Library?

Oh, how fancy.

For the Friends of the Library.

Okay, for Friends of the Library.

Okay, so, because they're doing a lot of

theater down there

with the Library program.

So we've got a kid down there.

Sam Tres works with a

theater program down there.

And then several people that went to

school with Gavin and Gavin I think works

tangentially with them sometimes.

They are always doing something when I'm

volunteering at the bookstore.

Yeah, so, yeah, we did a Greek tragedy

with them last year.

We had, I think, three

or four kids in that show.

But we try to be a part of the stuff we

can, but it's just, it's so late at night

and so far we can't always do.

Yep.

What they're doing.

But they're doing great stuff down there

at the Library with the theater program.

Yeah, so I'm glad that, you know, when

kids do have things that happen,

you may have been out of school, we had a

girl whose father died during dress week.

And I said to her, if you

can't do this, then that's okay.

And she said, no, this is the only thing,

this is the thing I have to do right now,

so I can't worry about this other thing

right now, because I can't

do anything about my dad.

And so we all left rehearsal one night

and we went out to the funeral home for

the visitation to, you

know, support her family.

And there have been, we had a drama kid

whose mother died like

literally on Christmas.

And we all went out for that, you know,

so this is, you know, and we had, we lost

a student in the theater program.

We all went together to that funeral.

So I mean, part of being part of this

family's community is if you do have

something terrible happen,

then we're gonna be there.

When that student died

that was in the program,

all the kids came to my house and there

were kids that didn't even know that boy

that came and met along, brought me a

mule latte and all the donuts

they had at the minute mark.

Cause he said, I had something bad has

happened, I don't know what it is, but I

brought you all the food I can find.

So it's really, it's great,

it's great that we have this.

And it's been going on long enough that

like I said, like the kid who got choked,

Mackenzie, her daughter is in shows now.

Well, actually no, all of her kids were

in the musical cause

they're little biddies.

So.

I still have a red curtain that Matt Long

gave me after one of the shows that he

wore for some reason.

I don't even remember why.

A red curtain? It is a red see-through curtain.

He had it for some

reason and he gave it to me.

Was it Shakespeare branched?

And I still have it.

And I remember

absolutely nothing but that thing.

We need to get Matt Long on the show.

Did you do

Shakespeare branched with that?

I don't think so.

What else were we doing?

Cause that was Zach and DJ and Matt.

Well, we didn't have as

many classes, remember?

So like I did the one and

then I couldn't do the other.

So I was on the fringes of everything.

Yeah, that's right.

But they wouldn't let us do

as much when it first started.

That's true, we were on block, yeah.

And that show was co-curriculum because

we started doing classes

because I wanted Zach to stay.

Or if I was, I was doing lights.

That's true.

That's what I thought, I didn't know if

you'd done lights for that show or not.

I don't remember.

Who did, did I direct that?

I directed that one.

Had that angry volleyball

girl that takes pictures.

She was the,

isn't that terrible?

I forget all of your names.

I love her so much, but in high school,

she just looks so mad.

And every time they would break or drop

something, which there's a lot of mess in

Shakespeare bridge, she would come out

with this mom and just be so mad.

I remember that.

What is her name?

She took photos of my family.

She has a really cute little girl.

What are, did you learn anything that you

think, because you're not

doing theater professionally.

I am not, no.

Like the other people we've talked to

thus far, and they're the vast minority,

have done theater and made money at it.

And that's not something you chose to do.

90% of the kids have not.

So did you learn anything while you were

here that you think you'd be able to

carry out into the world?

The most ironic thing, because I hated

being in front of people, is that now I

teach and I'm always in front of people.

Yes, so how do you square that?

I will say that classroom management and

being able to keep people's attention,

even though I wasn't doing it, I had to

direct it and tell people how to act.

I learned how to

project and I watched you.

And so all of those things inherently

helped me down the road do

the same thing, basically.

That's very interesting.

Because sometimes it does feel like I'm

wrangling a group of crazy

children in the classroom.

Directing is very much

like teaching, I think, yeah.

Or acting.

I feel like when I'm in front of a

classroom, it's just like being on stage.

But that's interesting because you were

like, yeah, I don't

really wanna be on the stage.

I hated being in front of

people and now I am daily.

Do you think it's easier because they're

closer to you as opposed to having that

gap between you and the audience?

I think part of it is I

can be whatever I want to be.

I'm not playing a part, so whatever comes

out of my mouth is me instead of having

to memorize lines and be something,

a perfectionist.

So I was terrified of messing up.

I know, right?

It's shocking.

This is new information for everyone.

Rude.

No.

That's why I let you be a student

director because I knew you

were gonna do all the things.

So you have freshmen but

this is a community college.

So are they all, a lot of them like 18,

19, or do you have some like mix of older

adults who are coming back to school?

We do have more, well, we have

non-traditional students but

majority of our students are actually

straight from high school.

Okay.

Because we be much

cheaper than a certain college.

Sure.

what is the purpose of your class?

Is it a required class that they take?

It is required.

And so it is the how to

college and adult class.

Okay.

Basically.

So we do like, here's how you take notes.

Here's how you study.

Here's how you manage your time.

Which a lot of them are

like, oh my God, I didn't know.

I watched 40 hours of Netflix.

Right,

Because I make them do a time log

activity that they hate me for.

Where they have to do a lot of stuff. Okay. And then they have to do a lot of stuff. Okay. And then they have to do a lot of stuff. Okay. And then they have to do a lot of stuff. Which they hate me for.

Where they have to say what

they do every hour for a week.

Oh.

Yeah.

But then they're like, wow, I'm spending

a lot more time doing all

these things than I think I am.

That's really smart.

So,

it's a lot of things like that.

Then we also talk about like, money

management and financial aid and I cry

about student loans.

(Laughing)

Other like life skill type things.

So it's a mix.

How long, do you know how

long they've been doing that?

It became mandatory seven

years ago when I started.

Okay.

Because I know that wasn't a thing like

when I was in school.

But I know they're doing that at four

year college as well.

I know like.

So I taught university

experience at WKU as well.

Which is basically the same class.

Is that the same kind of thing? Yeah.

Yeah.

A lot of universities are making it

mandatory because research has proven

that it helps retention rates.

Sure, sure.

If you are lost the

wheeze, you don't take notes.

You don't study properly.

Then you're gonna quit and

they don't get your money anymore.

So no.

Like at Campbell'sville, they have like a

success coach or

something they have to meet with.

When I was at Western, they wanted us to

take a freshman orientation class that

was supposed to be that.

And somehow I got out of it.

I really don't remember how.

You didn't actually have to take it.

I guess, I don't know.

So university experience at WKU was, you

should take this class.

It is really suggested.

And so like some of the materials

mandatory and would kind of

like really try to get you to.

But it wasn't actually.

It wasn't actually mandatory.

So you can get away without taking it.

There's only a few programs that like

actually really require it.

Yeah, Transy had it and the way they did

it was like, they had a professor and a

student, upper level student.

So I taught that one year

when I was like a junior.

And I was an SOL.

And also when I was teaching university

experience, we weren't all necessarily

doing the same thing.

So depending on who your professor was,

you had a vastly different experience.

Oh, but this is a more

like med-tech curriculum.

Okay, well that's good, yeah.

And they've changed it at WKU since then.

Yeah, no, I think it's a good idea

because especially these

kids coming out of COVID.

Oh.

I mean, I think it's gonna get better as

it goes along, but they just, some of

these kids spend a formative chunk of

time not peopling and they don't.

And that's part of

what we do in the class.

We do what we can in the online class,

but for the in-person class, we're like,

I'm gonna make you

talk to each other now.

Yeah, and I think that's good.

And they're really sad about it in the

beginning, but then

they're like, I made friends.

And I'm like, it's amazing what can

happen when I make

you talk to each other.

Yeah, and I think it's a good idea

because a lot of kids

don't have the backup.

A lot of them don't

have support systems, so.

Yeah, and then do these kids come back

after they have come out of your class

and asked for help for

things or do you, good.

Yeah, so we have an app for the school

that students can ask questions on.

And I put it on my phone and then I

answer all kinds of questions.

I'm on there a lot.

There's some other professors who are

too, but it pops up and I'm just like two

seconds of my day I

answer a question and I help.

That's really cool.

I've had students email me, be like, I've

noticed you're on here a lot.

Can you help me?

I do that.

That's very

Just like students will come back and be

like, I'm not sure if you're the person

and I'll be like, well, I

can always help you find.

No, yeah, that's kind of like our job

here in the library is I will answer all

the questions I can, but if I don't have

the answer, I bet I can

find out who has the answer.

That's cool.

So do you help them transition if they

decide to go on to a four year school?

So part of the thing we talk

about in FYE is like transfer.

So are you here for a tech career?

Or are you here to transfer?

And then the WKU advisor and some of the

other ones will come

into the class and talk.

And we go over like, you can get

scholarships if you'll finish your

associate degree in GPA.

And we do like all that kind of stuff.

else, so you learned how, I think it's

interesting that you're talking about how

you feel like you can be

more your authentic self

when you're in front of your classroom

because of the work you did in theater.

When I feel like, when I am in front of

students, that is a

character that I am playing.

That is not, I don't know if it's very

interesting to me because I've never

thought about, I

should just be me at school.

That would be, I don't think.

I still have a job.

So wonderful.

(Laughing) I got lucky.

One of the biggest things to me about

life is that I am who I am.

Yes.

And so even when I'm in front of them,

I'm up there and I'm this crazy teacher

who has pink and purple and blue hair and

comes in wearing space high heels.

But I am always who I am.

And I've had a lot of kids tell me that

like, I dyed my hair for the first time

because you're an adult and

you have a job and it's okay.

Yes, yes. Or you make me feel more confident to be

myself or to try the same thing.

Good, that's good.

That is very important to me, so.

I mean, I don't know that I

feel like I'm inauthentic.

I just feel like this

is my teacher character.

Now I am like, this is

my more professional self.

There are things I'm not gonna let come

out of my mouth but

sometimes I want to, yeah.

Sure, sure. Yeah, that's interesting to me that you

think you're, that's really cool.

No one's ever said anything like that to

me when they talk about what they've

gotten from the program.

I think that's really neat.

So is there anything you wish you could

tell high school in drama, M.S.K.A.

drama, you, that you know now?

So I did not realize I was

bi until I was in my late 20s.

Okay.

Partially due to the religious trauma.

Okay.

And the father.

So even though there was things there, I

ignored a lot of it.

Right.

Because it was easier to ignore it than

have to deal with all the consequences

that could come with it, right?

Right.

Because like my dad used to say if any of

his children were gay, he'd kick them out

of the house and never talk to them and

all of those fun things.

And I wish I had just been more willing

to pay attention to that.

I don't think it would have changed where

I wound up but it would have been nice to

be more aware of earlier.

Do you think you would have felt more

comfortable in your skin maybe?

Probably, yeah.

That's interesting also.

kind of theater, have you done

any of the theater since then?

Like been a part of it or gotten to watch

it or like what is your kind of like

experience with theater now?

Well, I did come back when I did

AmeriCorps here and I got to do "Hipassa,

Billy Never After"

and all of those things.

I had such good luck

with AmeriCorps help,

let me tell you.

We did the lip sync battle during that

and I got to be Baby Spice

and I won and that was great.

that was really my only other theater

experience that I've got to be a part of

other than just coming

back and watching shows.

So, and my child is

discovering that he enjoys theater.

I would really like your

childhood like theater.

I'm trying so hard.

I mean, both of them are parents.

So we're working on it.

I mean, if he's supposed to dip his toe

in the water and just be like

member in the musical,

we're happy to have him do that.

I'm trying.

I can't even get him to agree to it.

I think I'm just gonna have

to drag him here screaming

and then immerse him in it and we'll see.

Or just have him come to auditions

because we have auditions for two days

for the musical and have

him come sit back and watch.

I can do that.

So really like sometimes, because we do K

through 12 and there's usually about one

kindergarten a year who just,

he is not, this is not his jam.

There was a drama kid that brought a

kindergarten like two years ago and he

came back and I said, he's just too

little, he's just not ready for this.

But then we have others that

have come in at five years old.

A lot of times they also have older

siblings or cousins or whatever and that

makes it easier for them.

But yeah, I mean, we

want you to come and play.

So, and it's, I mean,

everybody gets cast.

It's not like, oh, what

if I'm not good enough?

No, you're like, what if

I have to be in theater?

You have to breathe air.

I think that's always been the case.

It is like, I'm never gonna be like, oh,

there's too many,

there's too many children.

There were 70 kids in

that musical last year.

I still think you're crazy.

Let's go.

I mean, how can you

tell them no?

Yeah.

With all the sad faces.

Everybody gets to come and play, because

you don't know what kind of effect it's

gonna have on a kid.

Yeah, I'm trying to tell them, you don't

have to be on stage.

I wasn't, you can do all the other

things, but it's just lots of fun.

If he wants to tech, we ask they be in

middle school for their tech, because we

have found younger than that, they can't,

we have to go looking for him.

But yeah, no, just have him sit with him,

come sit on auditions, and see if he

wants to try it out, because you will see

kids, they'll go to

the stage and just go,

I don't like you saying happy birthday,

and they'll be like, happy birthday.

And we're like, yeah,

you're gonna play, you know.

I love it.

And sometimes they get braver, and

sometimes they say, I did this one time,

I'm not gonna do it again, I'm like,

that's cool, we love

you anyway, do whatever.

So yeah, no, we'd love to have it,

especially since you guys both

done shows with us, I appreciate that.

So how did you get the job you have now?

How did you get there?

So I went to school for an

English and History degree.

Are you in school right now?

Yeah.

(Laughing) You're worse than me.

And I worked as a tutor the entire time I

was in school, and when I went to decide

what the crap I was

actually gonna do with my degrees,

because I'd always wanted to be a college

professor, so right when I went to

graduate college, it was, oh look,

another crash in the economy.

And we had people with PhDs trying to

become just instructor level teachers,

like applying for instructor positions,

because the job market was so bad, and I

was like, maybe that's not the best

decision to make in my life right now.

And I realized that all the people I

worked with had student affairs degrees

to work at a college, and I was like, I

like this college

thing and helping people.

So when I got a student affairs masters,

I became a graduate assistant at WKU, did

a couple different things that way,

and then

get a job straight out of my masters

degree, but I worked at

Sears for a little while.

Yes, I remember that.

Oh, lovely Sears.

And then did AmeriCorps

for a year, and so out.

I think that program has such potential.

It is amazing.

But the fact that they don't pay you

enough to live on, and that you have to

leave after what, is it three years?

Three years is the max.

So you're just

getting into the community.

Now I have heard there are districts that

have AmeriCorps, that the person gets to

stay, but the district has

to fund part of their thing,

no, that program, I mean, you were really

good at it, Steven was amazing at it too,

and then we'll get somebody who doesn't

know anything about anything, and then

we'll get somebody good, but then they

have to leave, and I'm like, how can you

build community and have all these

resources ready to throw at these kids

and know what the kids need,

if you can't stay?

I would have loved to stay at that job,

but it literally paid $1,200 a month.

That was terrible, just terrible.

The only thing was they put your loans in

forbearance so you don't have to worry

about them for a year,

and that's basically--

And you don't accrue

interest when it's in forbearance.

Yeah, so it was not--

so from AmeriCorps, I actually wound up

landing an advising position at WKU for

organizational leadership,

while I was there, so I already had the

one masters, and I was advising students

for organizational leadership classes.

So is that like a

full-time job, is advising?

Yep.

And students would be like,

well, what is this class about?

And I would be like, this is the

description in the book, and I was like,

this is dumb, I should know what these

classes are, so I

decided to get a second masters

because working at WKU, you get one class

free every semester.

Yes, yes, yes.

Minus some tax loophole things.

Yeah, yeah.

So I got a second masters, and finished

that second masters-- Which is in what?

Organizational leadership.

Oh, okay, okay.

Yep, and while I was getting that

masters, one of the other advisors was

like, don't you have a master's degree?

And I was like, yes, yes I do, and she

was like, would you like to teach?

And I was like, actually, yes, that is

the thing I wanted to do with my life.

So I started teaching

university experience.

Once I had more org lead masters, one of

the professors was like, and

now you're gonna teach for us.

So I started teaching organizational

leadership on the side too.

Oh, that's great.

So I was doing that, and then things went

into chaos because they decided to merge

all the advising

together in one place at WKU.

Oh, right, yes.

Before there were some central advisors,

but then it was like by program.

And just through some other things that

happened, I was like, "I

need to find a different job."

And I had applied for a couple things I

didn't get, and I was sitting at my desk

one day and literally like

seven emails came through.

And they were like, "Hey, Sky CDC just

posted this job for

first year experience."

And so I applied for that, interviewed,

turned out the person I had been working

with to teach at WKU, her

husband was the provost.

So I didn't feel like I didn't know

anybody, and that helped a lot.

Yeah,

So I got that job and started at Sky.

That's awesome.

So, and I've been there for seven years.

Okay.

Let's talk about the writing stuff.

Do you wanna talk

about the writing stuff?

Sure.

I wanna talk about that.

So you've got three, two novels are out,

the third one's coming out in February.

March.

March?

Maybe earlier, we'll see.

I read the first one.

I cannot put it in my library.

No, you cannot.

I really, I thought it was cute.

So when people ask me about it, I'm like,

it's like if Hogwarts was a college kind

of, and there was some spicy.

So the, I saw a meme one day that was

like, what if magical creatures had just

always existed and we were happy

together, basically.

Right, right.

And I was like, ooh, that's fun.

And then she started out as a baker, and

then I decided I was annoyed with that,

and then she became a college professor,

and I easily could

figure out how to write that.

Oh yeah, no.

That's the thing I do all the time.

I was like, oh, this

is Fallon, that's fine.

Yep, and so she's a college professor,

and she's trying to figure out a spell,

and a very handsome witch comes and buys

the bakery that I was

determined to still have.

And so they wind up together, and they're

soulmates, and they're spiky.

So are they gonna come, I haven't read

the second book yet.

Do they come, are they like minor

characters in the second book?

They are minor characters in the second

book, and the second book follows her

best friend who is a health inspector,

and they're trying to save this farm,

basically, from being bought up by a bad

corporation that will pollute the water.

And the inside jokes are so much fun.

And people are like, "I

want to be in a book."

And so I've named

characters after people.

I want Tyler to be in

a book, that's fine.

I can do that.

I can support that.

Why did the bus get so

high when you did that?

Because I'm excited.

I've never been in a

book, I've been in a song.

The third book is written, so you'll have

to be in the fourth book.

Okay, that's fine.

Do you have thoughts

about that fourth book?

Like are you having, let's see.

So the second one's about this friend,

the third one, I read the thing about it.

Oh, so it's about a

student at the college, right?

Yeah, two of them.

That's the main character.

Oh, you have both students, yeah.

One's a vampire and one's an elf.

Yes.

So do you have thoughts about, like how

far out do you have this series planned?

It's gonna, in theory,

gonna be the whole alphabet.

And I know the next two at least.

Okay.

And then some of the short stories.

So it's like short story

book, short story book.

Okay, and you have that sort of like the

main ideas for this part already.

So the next one is gonna be

called "House and Hauntings."

And it's about a

werewolf and a medium witch.

I'm gonna tell you right now, I didn't

think about the alphabet

thing until you said it.

I feel really tough.

But that's cool.

So how are your classes going?

Are they going well this semester?

Yeah, it's the point of the semester

where I'm utterly completely and totally

exhausted because it's all kind of hit.

So fall break is in two weeks.

I'm doing our writer's retreat, so I

don't know that that's gonna actually--

Where is that gonna be?

It's on the west, Nashville.

So do you do the thing, have you ever

read Stephen King's on writing?

Yeah.

Oh my God.

That made me think for five minutes I

wanted to be a writer.

I was like, oh, this

is literally the how-to.

I can do it.

Then I was like, I don't

wanna do it, I will not.

It's one of my favorite writing

So like one thing that I remember him

being very, and other writers I've read,

I like to understand how people do things

that they're good at

that I'm not good at.

Not because I wanna know what I do that.

I'm like, oh, you're

good at that, show me.

So do you have like a certain, like you

write this time every day?

Do you do that?

Your face doesn't have.

My brain squirrels too much.

I have tried to do that.

And then I'm like, no, I wanna do this

other shiny thing right now.

And I can't let it go until I do it.

Right.

But this also isn't your

primary source of income.

So if you don't write a book right now,

you're not gonna lose

the house or whatever.

Right.

I bounce around a lot.

So like right now I'm editing book three.

See that's the part I wanna do.

I wanna edit.

I'll edit your stuff if you want me to.

I just don't, I cannot start from whole

cloth out of blank thing.

If you want to grammar edit

my books daily, we can talk.

I would very much enjoy doing that.

Okay.

inspired and then I will write a lot.

So I wrote this current novel in spurts.

So like I wrote

10,000 words in one night.

Wow.

So like I will like just hardcore hit it

and then burn myself out and then back up

for a day and then go back to it.

Well that tracks.

I understand that completely.

I wrote baked and

brewed in a month in 30 days.

I wrote that entire novel.

For the novel November thing?

Yeah, in 30 days.

And then added on a little bit to it,

sent it to an editor and

boom, published it the next year.

So yeah.

So do you work with a publishing company

or are you self publishing?

No, I'm self publishing.

Okay.

I was going to, but right now the market

is kind of crazy and you can send like

the recommended thing to do right now is

to send 10 query letters to agents.

And then it can take anywhere from six

months to a year to hear back from them.

Yeah.

When you can just put it

out yourself much faster.

And that would raise my anxiety levels so

far through the roof that I think it

would kill any joy I had for it.

And it's just, I can

just do it all myself.

And then I know what's on the book.

I got to pick my covers.

I get to do.

Who's doing your covers?

I'm in control of all the things.

Who's doing your cover on?

Malice and Mayhem.

She's Scottish.

I love her to pieces.

And so I was having trouble.

I was trying to make the cover myself.

That is not in my wheelhouse.

Yeah.

So.

So what's your overhead

if you're self-publishing?

So the thing with

self-publishing is it can vary.

Okay.

A lot.

And that's what people think they have to

spend like thousands.

And I have talked to

people who have spent thousands.

You very much do not.

Now I'm lucky in some regards, because I

don't do some of the

steps of the process.

So I spend about $700 to $1,000 per book.

I have paid off the first

book and the second book.

Okay.

And I haven't done the math since then to

know if I've, but I'm

making money every month.

Well that's just good.

Are you mostly selling

like from Amazon and stuff?

Well, and so I will plug one more chapter

bookstore in Cave City.

Taylor is one of the best people on the

planet and she has sold like 30 copies of

my book in three months.

So like Cave City has that main street

and there's like Ace Coffee Shop.

Yes, I'm obsessed with Ace Coffee Shop.

Almost as much as I am with Spencer's.

Not sponsored.

Not sponsored.

But should be.

(Laughing) If I had,

So she's down the street.

Okay.

Right beside the Casey's.

Okay.

So.

All right, so where are you selling most

books, like at local bookstores like that

or through Amazon or through personal

appearances?

I will be at a ball on November 1st.

Oh, that's fancy.

At the White Squirrel.

So that would be a good one.

They have the ball at the White Squirrel.

They are.

And that place has everything.

White Squirrel Brewery.

Not sponsored.

It's sponsored, but it should be.

It should be.

No, not sponsored.

(Laughs)

It's the person who does a bunch of the

pop-up events around Bowling Green.

Right.

So she's organizing it.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well, that's cool.

So what is the theme of the ball?

Fantasy.

Okay.

Cross up.

Okay.

Are there gonna be other authors there?

Yes.

Oh, that's fun.

She's gonna have several

vendors and different things.

So, and the tickets

aren't super expensive.

You should come.

Okay.

What is it?

November 1st.

I don't know what I'm doing.

It's a Saturday right after Halloween.

It's like months away.

You think every day is months away.

All right, that's all the pearls of

wisdom we have for you

this evening and this episode.

I wanna thank Fallon

Willoughby for joining us.

And as always for Brent, for raining in

all my digressions and

getting hours and hours of tape.

No, this is the best part of his day, is

listening to me talking his ear.

So feel free to contact us at

hippychick101 at gmail.com.

That's H-I-P-P-Y-C-H-I-C-1-0-1.

You know how to do this, right?

At gmail.com.

It's like the highest to the end of every episode.

I feel like the more I can tell people,

the more likely they'll remember it.

For any questions, confusion, concerns.

And as I've been telling my students

since time immemorial, have a great day,

stay out of trouble,

and don't make babies.

Don't make babies!

Some of these people are adults.

They can make babies if they want.

You can make babies if you are

financially and emotionally prepared for

that responsibility.

Well, cock on that, nobody!

(Laughing)

Then maybe you guys should rethink your

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