 Oh, okay Here we go custom custom live streaming All right, and we're good Hi everyone, this is Golden Thread Productions. Thank you so much for joining us For those who don't know Golden Thread is the first American theater company focused on the Middle East We are here based in San Francisco And today we're talking with three artists from our youth program Golden Thread fairytale players Who have been involved with a production of a Palestinian play Leila's quest for flight So I'm really happy to welcome our artists Maya Nazal Sarah Kasab and Simone block welcome guys ladies. Thank you. Thanks to Ron. Thank you for having us So let's start with just having you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about both your cultural background and how you got started with Theater, so let's go. Let's start with Sarah Ahlan was ahlan. I'm Sarah Al-Qasab. I've been with the fairytale players since around 2007 When we were a seven person ensemble I'm my background in theater is in as in production as a costume artist Costumer and designer Started off in fairytale players as a performer and also a costumer and now I'm the stage manager for Leila's quest for flight And have been in several fairytale player productions. My background is first generation Arab-American from Jordan and Majid they made my Dope here Hold on wait for it. Wait for it. Okay Thank you everyone Thanks, Sarah. Um, and you you've been with golden thread fairytale players since 2003 right so it's seven No, I came to san francisco in 2006. So I think it was six or seven when we started With uh, the girl who lost her smile and we were still a seven woman ensemble Yeah, that was uh, kareem al-rawi's story Uh, great. So let's move on to uh simon Simone you're muted right My name is simon block and um I came to the barrier like 20 years ago 19 and a half now And I was already a performer, but I've been carrying two hats. I'm a performer and I'm a teacher. So I've been a performer for a for quite a long time And um, I have a background in dance and I've done a lot of physical theater And in leila I Leila quest for flight. I am playing mainly leila the six-year-old palestinian little girl So I have no ethnico ethnic um Middle eastern background But I did uh Two tour in algeria in north africa when I was in my 20s fell in love with the country and more And then it happened that I do have a grandson who speaks farsi. So life goes around and I'm completely involved with this culture One more time And I enjoyed very much. So yeah theater middle eastern dancing teaching Being our own little kids That's pretty much a big part of my life Thank you Thank you simon go maya Hi, i'm maya nazan. Um, I am palestinian american. I was raised in san jose california, so i'm um, you know, i'm i didn't immigrate or anything i'm first generation Uh, but I was culturally raised syrian. That's where most of my family is and where I used to visit I also grew up in jordan for a little bit. So I have a lot of different Um exposure to different cultures in the middle east because they're all very different I didn't start doing middle eastern theater until leila's cluster flight. I used I started doing theater for Um, well, I started in high school, but it was all just american plays old white We're in by old white man, uh, so it was very exciting to do something that was A lot closer to my identity and I've had so much fun and I've got to Play around with a completely different medium with movement and And have the audience be children, which is I mean you have to expand your imagination to a completely different degree because You don't learn that in school. I didn't learn how to perform for kids in school, but it is very different and I've had so much fun um Yeah, I want to maybe start by just talking about leila's quest for flight and and just to give some background to to uh folks who are watching Uh fairytale players in terms of the aesthetic of the performance Uh, we utilize a traditional physical theater aesthetics Many of them from the middle east like, uh Epic storytelling or, uh physical comedy We also utilize comedia del arte. We utilize folk dance And then we work with actors who are multilingual who can actually bring in Their own language into the play Uh, the play is about 30 minutes long and it's performed by two actors who often have to perform Many many different parts Back when sarah started we had a seven member ensemble and each actor perhaps performed one or two Parts, but now these two actors. Maya, how many parts do you play in uh leila's quest? I think I play over 10 Like maybe 12, I think Yeah, yeah, and uh, so leila's quest is the story of a little palestinian girl who wants to become a pilot and um It's not until she has to prepare for going to school when she goes to the optometrist and and is told that she doesn't have 2020 vision And because of that she can't become a pilot. So she has a meltdown and These mythic birds come to help her Realize her dream and realize that she can achieve whatever she wants to achieve so um sarah, how how how has it been for you being involved with leila's quest since you have sort of a longer history with fairy tale players Well for being part of leila's quest, it's been amazing to be stage manager and support all these characters in the story um My background in the bay area has been as a children's performer for a live performances mostly like private corporate and birthday party events. So I have a lot of interactive experience and like when I can talk to the actress and be like when the kids do Then you can Because that's a continuous thing For me, it's been wonderful to be part of leila's quest for flight because it's always wonderful to see somebody who looks like you or sounds like you and to show as a as a child Just represent like we said representation matters, but specifically We don't have a story focused On someone from the middle east. We like we're usually a side character or an anti character So it was really nice to center, you know our little girls Others maya simon Wow, it's been such a pleasure to be to be a Leila quest for flight. So um I had three mothers Maya is my last mother No They're all pretty pretty um much younger than I am I am a grandma So that's been interesting. So So what simon is talking about is that we had to recast The role that maya is playing we had to recast it three times. So during the two year tour Simona has been partnered with three different actors and all three were much younger than you And I remember when you came to audition you assumed you were auditioning for the role of the mother When we cast you for leila you were surprised talk about that a little bit Yeah, well, I I am not six year old little girl But uh, but it's been such a pleasure. It's been a treat for me And I must say that I had a couple times where I had to play an old man in the evening in a in the show completely different twice two different theater production and in the morning I was the piggie tail little leila jumping all over the place and rolling and doing all those things A fun actor. It's such a pleasure to be able to switch from one character to another And to be there. I mean, it's not it's not completely superficial at all. I mean, I have to go into the Into the character and it's been it's been a treat. Really. I I enjoyed very much And it's very physically demanding for you, isn't it because you have to tumble and do cartwheels Um, what else? Yeah, physically and roll around on the ground like the rolling pot on the ground I remember always sweeping for tunjera Otherwise Let me get hurt. Yeah, it's 30 minutes of action packed Performance really and I just want to interrupt as a stage manager. Not only our maya mother and simone leila Among many other characters, but they also play within the construct of our fairytale players show We always have players as though we're a traveling band of players and we're going to put on this and many other shows for you So maya's also player one in all of those responsibilities and simone's player two in all of those responsibilities and the characters that come along with it And I played old man in the show You play an old shape Yeah, yeah, how about you maya jump in? um, so I joined it was definitely different for me because I joined after there had already been two um people cast as mother and player one so it was difficult trying to navigate it to make it my own but also to carry the same energy and Movement because it is the same show, you know, even if I bring my own thing to it We altered the script a little bit, but it's It's leila's quest for flight. So I wanted to make sure that I carried that through Um, so it was a little bit more feel like rehearsals were more tailored for me than for simone You know someone had been doing it for so long um But it was it wasn't too hard. I feel like we have such a great chemistry all of us and And rehearsals were so playful. I mean we just got to experiment and I feel like with touring especially with going to schools you learn so much as you go It's so different than performing on one stage with this being a traveling group of players. It's like I mean your skills are challenged for real you you have different spaces You have different audiences. You have different ages and kids are a tough crowd. I mean they are um They can be laughing the entire time Which can be great or they can be laughing the entire time and it can be horrible It's it you really get to um You know challenge yourself and how focused can you be through this entire thing while playing like 10 plus characters and And being vocal and moving around Yeah in a different spot every time. Yeah. Yeah, I call a vaudeville boot camp I want to say some two things first of all I want to emphasize the chemistry and it happened that uh My eye and I we worked together before and there was reverse I was playing her grandmother And we were dancing together So that was yeah, that was great. So we already knew each other Yeah, we were working on my cousin's short film So it was honestly so great to see Simone and I had already known that Simone was Doing this show and I remember I was like, oh my gosh, it's golden thread productions. I need to get involved I'm like Simone like like a star. Hi I was like star struck But then I got involved. It was it was honestly full circle And the other part I want to emphasize also that it may be a kids show but it's for everyone and I As a as a performer and as the player I'm I'm able to look at everybody in the room and I'm telling you everybody is reacting and laughing and sometimes making weird faces The teachers the parents We we played also for all elderly people Everybody is having fun. It's really a beautiful show. I'm I'm going to say that over and over It is a beautiful show I'm glad you brought that up Simone because I think that playing in the senior center was one of my favorite shows that we ever did There was so many technologic technic technical challenges, but that show is really rewarding That's that's an experiment we did to see we did an outreach to elderly housing facilities Um To see if you know a children's show would be would appeal to them And I remember watching them, you know, I could see the profiles of rows of audience and they were awestruck they were like They were engaged. They loved they were absolutely engaged. It was I expected some people falling asleep or losing interest They've been walking away, but they didn't it was really great No, we had to hold the doors so everyone could get in. Yeah And one of the things again just aesthetically that's um It's not unique to fairy tale players, but it's it's a choice we make is that we We don't have a fourth wall, right? So we engage with the audience directly and there's actually audience interaction And in leila's quest maya you lead the audience interaction mainly so you have to recruit Volunteers to come Talk about how that what that and what are what you're doing and how uh, how your experience has been doing it Yeah, so, um That was I think for me the most stressful part of the show more than anything because I always Was taken out, you know as soon as you break that fourth wall And I'm still player one, but I'm now trying to communicate with children to be like now stand on this x now stand here While running the show at the same time. So that was incredibly stressful every night. I don't think I Ever didn't have like a mini panic attack before it happened But luckily we had a system Me and thought I had a we all had a system But thought I would kind of pick some before we do it before and that way we knew who the volunteers were Because it was a lot less stressful than Picking up in the middle of the show and especially since we were on a really tight time frame I think we only had 30 minutes great if I remember and Yeah, these kids were everyone wants to volunteer obviously so Yeah, but it was I think that is what made the show is that the kids are involved the interaction is What gets them so hyped it's that they know that they actually have a chance to be a part of it So just tell us what do they get to do what do the kids do? Yeah, so the kids get to um Well, everyone gets to involve be involved vocally So we'll ask them the questions they get a response. They get a sing the alphabet with us So everyone is involved in that way um And then we have volunteers that come up and hold up birds As we go through the alphabet and then they can fly around with the birds And they actually get to be a character. So they get it every single time it was different every kid brought something different You either flap the bird up in the air or you just went around with it or you become the bird some kids would flap their own wings their own arms um and Uh, yeah, but it was it was very quick enough for them to feel involved But also not forget with the show Yeah, I have to say that as a view or one of the most gratifying moments in the play is actually for me is when kids repeat the arabic alphabet Uh, because I feel that by itself Learning the first seven letters of the arabic alphabet and feel feeling comfortable with that including Ha, which is tough in it for english speakers like that feels like such a triumph to me, you know and Breaking of barriers and stereotypes. Um, one other thing in the performance is that at the end Both of you actor simon and maya wear these giant birds Bird wings right costume pieces and simon you have to Turn as the kids Circle around you Uh, what is that challenge like? Well, it reminds me another challenge I had when I was in another, uh, theater company a street theater company Where I was wearing mask so I could barely see and my challenge was to not hurt the kids This time I could see so it was not as challenging But still I have to be really careful that I'm not hurting anybody with my big wings So I bring them towards me and I pick out so I can see that I'm not hurting anybody with uh, either my wings or You know another part of my body But yeah, of course I have to be very vigilant and be sure that I'm not hurting anybody And um, and then they having fun and most of the time they do My eye is the one who's uh leading the The circle so I rely on her as well Have there ever been instances where you were a little like you had to pull the kids away or something like that I don't recall I'll speak up on that one There's only been one instance where there was maybe a kid who didn't know to follow out And I had to pull them over to come sit back over here with me wherever they were holding on on the edge of the stage Um, and sarah you constructed those giant wings Talk a little bit about I mean we have a production designer mohdar paki who hand painted all the art the cover But then you did the construction and the fixing of the head So that the actors can see what they're doing. So talk a little bit about that process So mohdar is a fine art painter and a caricaturist and Set designer and so he made uh, his paintings more in a flat Sort of way. So the wings themselves were beautifully painted But we had to add a hood So I took um some similar fabric and constructed a hood for each bird and then made a way for The flat wings to wrap around the body And then I connected them to some isis dance wings, which already are very birdlike and middle eastern dance um accessory So we had some more full circle shapes that we could make and then it had the little dancing sticks So that we could extend that beautiful painting of a bird beyond The palette onto the body and around So, um, it was cool that the wings existed for me to build off of but then I built him a hood and then he got to Paint on something that already existed for a body to finish that before I got before I mounted it So it was a little back and forth play between Um mohdar and I to determine how this Art style that he developed for the show could wrap around a body and be used in three dimensions Yeah, and I should add that. Um, so we've been working with mohdar for the past two shows two or three shows where he uh, um, he definitely did. Um, uh, 21 day tomorrow I definitely did tomorrow two three shows. Okay 21 days tomorrow and Yeah, so far, uh, golden thread fairy tale players. We have a repertoire of seven original plays for children. So that's great and um mohdar who is a fine artist Handpaints are props. So all the birds are Handcrafted by hand and hand painted the palestinian village is hand painted. So each piece is like you know a work of art and one of the early uh issues that we noticed was The kids would take the birds and keep Right, so all the props had to be reinforced from the beginning because mohdar made a beautiful thing And then we had to make it kidproof, which is you know, actor proof minus 10 years Yes, that was fun. That was fun. Um, so I also want to ask you a little bit about your theater training. um So this this kind of theater that we're doing with fairy tale players is very specific um, what kind of training did you have before that prepared you for uh performing In fairy tale players and if not then You know, what have you learned I guess from Performing in fairy tale players and I'll start with sarah since again. Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Um for me I started performing in high school plays Like little shopahore, you know side character And same thing side character christmas carol you're always like, you know that character Because you look like this you're not the leading person. You're that over there So that was my experience in theater and performing So I was like, okay, I would rather participate in something that I can make that is for everyone So I trained as a costumer So I have a costume design background fashion show production The theater costumes And then when I moved to san francisco, I started a my Cabaret performance group called the new eccentric's and we made the world's first pop-up book musical So it was very interactive kind of a street show kind of thing I worked with the new old-time shatakwa which tours underserved communities that don't get live performance And we did that I did that with them for four or five years and they've been doing it for 40 years And then so I took that into my interactive children's performance as a fairy or a unicorn or a mermaid and Or you know a roller skating lightning bug at some corporate event So my background is mainly in interactive entertainment So that's why I think that I can really support the actors with the audience participation portion And make sure that I call the right audience volunteers that are gonna Feed the show instead of you know stuck from it. Um, so Yeah, that's my background I mean, we don't get to do that kind of interactive in performance right now unless it's through the screen so I'm glad that we're still get to make this for leila. Yeah Uh simon, how about you? Oh well performing I started performing when I was a little girl as a ballerina then I joined a theater group in middle school and i'm still in contact with the the student who was leading And he's uh, he's a professional Actor musician director and professor in france. Yeah, I forgot to say I grew up in france It's maybe important to say that I And um, and then And then I joined so um different theater groups different theater schools Different dance schools Yeah, I have a background in dance which uh allows me To uh become a physical theater quite easily also and you also mentioned streets theater. Yes So that is bad like so what happened is when I came here almost 20 years ago Unfortunately, I came with an Injury, so I had to change my plans because I wasn't very Uh, I couldn't I could barely walk but I could I did manage to perform and to join um A physical theater group called uh sun and moon ensemble And I with big puppets and maskeys and I did a lot of street performances We had a residence for a year in the Yerba Buena's garden So I really learned did a lot of parades a lot of interaction with the kids, but not only the kids adults as well I've done things with adults when I When I was in Avignon in france, you know, you have to kind of uh, you know When you do parades to uh Attract the people said they come see your show So I've I've learned a lot by doing that because as I say I had sometimes mask I could barely see and I had a little kid coming next to me And I had no idea that he was right underneath me. I haven't killed anybody. So I'm good But I had so much fun doing that It's something that I had not done in the past and I realized I love in interaction. I also done a lot of um Uh with another group that uh doesn't exist anymore. It's called blue heart planet. I did a lot of interactive A theater with map in the mission It's a long time ago. It's like 15 years ago 16 years ago 17 years to me. It seems like yesterday, but that's But I I learned to do things interact in an interactive way, which was not my training I was more more classic. I mean always very physical but um Not so much with interaction. So I I learned Great and Maya you talked about just having a I don't know a regular theater training To uh talk a little bit about what that means and then how do you have to What's challenging about fairytale players? um, yeah, so I have I guess like the Cookie cutter. I guess a theater training. I got my ba at san francisco state university And then I trained in new york for um three months at stela adverse and I mean I I feel like I've always said this school. I feel like art in school for me personally They don't mesh and so everything I learned it lives inside of me and it aids me but um When you're doing a show like lila's quest, it's really your imagination and you can't train Your imagination of school. You can strengthen it by you know being more creative in your days But I don't think that I don't think necessarily that my training is The reason for my performance in the latest quest In any whatever that performance is but I do have to say that at specifically at stela adler. I We had clown classes movement classes voice classes. So I did have to pinpoint what my weaknesses were and I saw them when we were rehearsing I saw my energy and I have to be bigger than life and I have to be I have to you know move In a different way and and I think that if I hadn't done the training, I wouldn't have been able to notice those moments where I was like, oh, I have to work on that but I didn't like refer to my books or anything Fix those issues. I think I I think it's always Experience and so for me my greatest training Maybe this is just in my head But I think my greatest training was in high school and just being able to do shows And I was lucky enough to go to a really diverse high school that allowed me to have the opportunity to play leads and Strengthen my performance goes I wanted to add something that because I'm talking about diversity Um, well I mentioned I did two tour in North Africa I learned a lot about a lot of things, but actually that's where I learned the most about interaction because we have so many Unexpected events happening during the shows It was quite something because uh The like what what unexpected events? Oh well one time we had the army coming being on stage or people crossing the stage like nothing happened or One time we had um A fight of the technician um How do you call that being recorded? I mean not recorded being um heard Yeah, while we were playing on stage. So we have each time we were like gathering and saying okay What if this and this happened each time we had a new thing happening that we were not prepared for And the other thing I wanted to say is that um, I uh also work in the Japanese theater in Paris As well as here as theater of yugan. So I have different different also training Uh, well while we're talking about diversity and representation Um, I know that when I came to the u.s. When I was 14 and there really wasn't much Uh, children's programming that had any meaningful middle eastern content um And in the bay area when uh, you know when golden threads started as Uh, our audience members were having children. They in fact demanded content for their children, right? They were fed up with uh All the you know, kind of eurocentric material that was being done at schools Um, sarah, I know you had said before in in one of your past interviews that you wish there were Programs like fairytale players when you were growing up talk about that. Why is why Why does that matter for children? I mean, I think for me it would have mattered to have a program like fairytale players Visible to me as a school-age childhood and that would have helped me determine that I could focus on theater in On purpose initially Because it it represented me or it offered something for me Or I it was just something that I could identify with basically so just I having something that You know our middle eastern kids can identify with I think is important. I wish we had it for that reason um and Again, it's just centering on Our story instead of it being subsequent to another story Or you know Or only the magic fairytale portion without any of the context Yeah Yeah, how about you uh my um I mean you said you went to a diverse high school. Um Was there any middle eastern content that you got to play with? Um, no, I never got to experience experiment with any middle eastern content even when I was living in jordan I did two years of high school in jordan. We did plays like the visit um So we didn't And Alice in Wonderland and and stuff like that. So we didn't actually I didn't know that there are middle eastern plays. I didn't know that there are middle eastern playwrights. I'm sure I I'm sure they existed. I just didn't I didn't have that content um What's the difference when you as a performer? What's the difference when you play The part of a palestinian girl as opposed to I don't know Alice in Wonderland There is no difference There's it's I think that If you were to do the role of Alice in Wonderland Well You would achieve the same depth that you would as playing a palestinian or um any character that is rooted Has the same cultural background as you I think that the only thing is that You understand that in a certain way, but the you understand that culture in a certain way But the thing is if I were to pick up A play right now and play a palestinian character who's 23 years old I can't use my own experiences because I was raised in america. I don't have the same experience as someone who was raised in palestin Um, and everybody is individual. So I actually think that It doesn't make a difference Maybe you don't have more of an emotional connection Um personal as a person not not as an actor I think there's more pressure and responsibility but I think again as an actor. It is your responsibility to Find that emotional connection regardless, but it might be easier if you were emotionally connected Um, I don't know. I think it's very specific to a person and how involved they are because Someone could pick up a role someone who was raised in palestinian could pick up that role And do it probably in the moment because their emotional level is way higher than You know, I'm not I'm not going through the same thing that someone from palestin is going through And people in palestin are even not going to the same thing as other people in palestin. You know, there's so many different experiences Yeah, I mean and also there is the whole idea of theater being An opportunity to enter someone else's experience and character, right? So that's why we do Theater we don't do theater just to play ourselves, right? Because if if that was satisfying then we didn't do Then we wouldn't need it, right? And you find yourself in that in the character so obviously it's more fun to find yourself in a character that is Similar to you. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I guess I'm I'm looking at it more in terms of storytelling Maybe sarah, what is your take on this in terms of being able to tell these stories I think it's good for everyone. I definitely had my only emotional moment as a stage manager When I was backstage and the whole audience Repeated the entire first few letters of the arabic alphabet and I saw all the teachers look around at each other and be like Yeah, that was good. And I was like, this is important and I like had a little heart swell and I got all teary And I'm like just getting ready for the next thing so It's a good teaching moment that we get to welcome folks into this culture that otherwise have Zero reference point. I mean we're talking about how we have no content Available for us. So that means that nobody else gets anything but what they see on news So it's a great teaching tool for everyone Simone anything you'd like to add well, I I have a strange position because I'm playing this six year old A palestinian palestinian little girl. I am not palestinian. I am french I'm Playing in english I do Say a couple things in arabic and because of my past I did learn a little bit of arabic. I mean dialect in algeria, so So I I did have an entry in the culture that was completely foreign for me Even though there's a lot of north african in in In france There's also this dichotomy like there's no really i mean it's changing a bit now but People had no idea what it is to To have this this kind of culture and there's so many prejudices and so many Can I say like As you say a lot of things come from the media. It's it's it's very negative in in general or Extremely simplify, you know with with disney and things like that, you know very Very simplified So it's an honor for me and at the same time I keep saying it. It was a pleasure A real pleasure Sorry, go ahead finish. It's just as I said, I mean Playing something else than you are that that's the treat, you know We have an audience question What is an audience interaction that filled you with joy or you could never forget? Who already said mine when they when they said when they all Said the alphabet when they sang the alphabet. I just had like a sweeping moment way where I was like, whoa This is important right now But uh, there was some there was some great little kid interaction. I'm going to go back to when I was um tough princess tomorrow and tomorrow rescues nuzzah the brave Um show when we performed at kzv school So that's an army and folk folk play And I'm not Armenian, but I got to play princess tomorrow rescues nuzzah the brave in front of an audience Of Armenian children that know the story like snow white and the seven dwarfs That know all the characters in the story they knew all the words that we said and they were so thrilled That we told their story to them So that would be my best audience interaction. Yes, and they brought you flowers after the show They gave me a sweatshirt for the school Back to do we did it twice there? Yeah, that was great. Yeah, how about you guys Simone? How about uh, it's the hugs afterwards When we could hug Yeah, that's As the class is leaving after yeah, we do our stand there and say goodbye to them Yeah, we give them a q&a after we give them a q&a right after and then then the q&a never ends because they all Yeah, and then some kids wanted to uh to write and draw things I don't know if it really happened, but they had the desire but the hug they do they Sometimes we receive thank you postcards from classrooms. They're posted on our website. That's really How about you Maya any unforgettable audience interaction moments? Yes, um, I think this happened a few times, but whenever there's a middle eastern Child in the audience and it's never more than two or three kids Um, you can just see them shocked They're shocked that they've been represented and they don't even look at it as representation It's just like I know I I know what that word means, you know I know the alphabet I can sing a few right now um Feeling like oh i'm accomplished because I understand this kind of like there's there's richness to that and That was that was for me the best that's for me to have part of the whole show Reaching out to the middle eastern kids And we've had and palestinian kids were there too specifically And and or street cred with their friends when when when they can tell what that what the language is And they all know that that kid speaks eric, so everybody gets to look at them It's an interesting reversal because prior to that you're considered a weirdo Right speaks a foreign language then you know afterwards you're like, oh, you're so special because you speak this language That was performed, you know, so there's there's a big reversal there. I remember All right, especially when the dance music comes on and the folk dance music is so Universal across all cultures so that kids that are participating from other cultures They can acknowledge that this folk dance is legit and the music they hear the music and they're like, that's cool So the cool, you know the coolness factor is amplified for the kids that identified with the show because everybody else who Knows anything about their own culture or background can acknowledge that the music and the dancing was was right on The kids thought we were very cool We were we should we should acknowledge our choreographer lisa tati ocean who's been with fairy tale players for a few productions now Um, I was just going to share that one day. I was at my local trader joes on or lake shore back then um, and this is when we were doing the girl who lost her smile um And that is about the name of the girl is jahan and she has lost her smile and All these performers come to help her find her smile and jahan means the world the world. Yeah Um, and I was you know at my local uh trader joes and then this little girl came to me pulled Pulled my sleeve and showed showed me to her mom and say They were at our school today They performed at our school and she told me all about jahan and how she and then she like Gave me the best summary of the place and a review You know positive review to her mom. It was like I was just gonna stunned and her mom said She hasn't stopped talking about it since she saw the report. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah, that's so good. That was great Um, so we should uh say that leila's quest for flight has now Become or we have produced it as a radio play Featuring maya and simon and sarah as our stage manager So that radio play will be released next week on november 10th and you'll be able to Listen to it for free anywhere that you get your podcasts You can find a link to it on golden threads website golden thread dot org Or on your podcast services So i'm just curious after you've I don't know performed what 40 shows in person in front of an audience then you had to do a radio play What was that like? um, I think For me, I really enjoyed the radio play because I didn't have to worry about moving and I didn't have to worry about My physicality, you know, I'm always that's what's on my mind. I feel like for performers It's like you have to make sure you're everything is on point. But this was just like You just go. I mean, I don't know. I didn't watch myself I don't know simon if you watch yourself that you guys watched us. We probably looked crazy like I was lying around the room and I was like up and down and you're just not really self-conscious when you're doing it, which I really liked I thought it's funny that you said you didn't have to think about moving because you had to think about not moving Too much away from your microphone For me, I kept saying it was bittersweet. It's like it was like the grief of of uh Not tumbling and and we had to cut some part And at the same time it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed I I like uh, I like, um How do you say voice over and things like that? I really liked to do this kind of thing and putting all the energy in the voice Instead of the movement Now you had to rein it in we had to tell you don't move your arm so much You're used to tumbling on the floor Yeah, well I used to do all kind of things and Well, I imagine it's tough in terms of Timing isn't it well because when you learn your lines you usually learn your lines with your action and you kind of time it Right. Yeah, and she's been doing it for so long in the same way that she hasn't separated the movement from the action They're like ingrained in her body. So that's why it's such a challenge But uh, yeah, so that's why we had other rehearsals because uh, well It does require some work Yeah, but did it didn't feel less satisfying because you weren't moving. No, it was actually very pleasurable I like to know a lot as I say, but I really like the show Yeah It was I would say We weren't performing for the kids. We didn't have to We didn't have to do like when you're performing for kids You have to keep in mind that you're performing for kids. So you have to Do this this and this but I felt like we were performing for ourselves And that's why the performance. I think was we did a great job was because It was just like me and Simone Acting like you know, just me and Simone being these characters and it was so much fun We didn't have to think about anyone who was watching Um, but obviously it's always better with an audience because you want to hear the response Yeah, you didn't get that live response But it was so nice that you guys got to play the show that you already love to each other who you already love and know And that you just got to just bounce it back and forth And we still have our audience participation portion And then we just faked it with us for you for your best of sake I'm excited by the Radio play being available worldwide, right? Yeah And curious for example if kids in Palestine will will listen to it and how you know How will they respond to to your performance and You know, as you said, this is a play in English based on Palestinian folk tales, but it's still in English So, you know, what is that like? So i'm really curious to hear back from folks as more people Listen to the radio play You have a question about that. I know you said it's going to be in podcast form But will there eventually be a version on youtube with our like maybe our slides of our illustrations That's that's not in the plans. No because we actually hand are we'll have to make it The release is limited So our union contract limits our release time So we're just going to focus on the radio play and cool not And on youtube, you know, it becomes like a slideshow and right Audio thing and it's a little I don't know. I think it's distracting and distracting. Yeah. Yeah. It's distracting if you see pictures that do not Exactly match what people are saying Yeah, um, but laura espino our Program manager Has created an interactive activity guide for to go along with the radio play So it has a lot of interesting stuff where you can build your own wings Uh, it has audio Cues that you can click on and you can hear the Alphabet spoken so you can learn the alphabet song you can learn the whole alphabet. So it's it's a lot of fun Um, and so they'll go on our website next week also So, you know, I think it's a really nice package for kids and families to learn more Learn more about, uh, you know Learn more about palestinian folktales and and also, you know, little girls, uh, one of our Uh audience members is asking what theme or themes in laila's quest. Do you think resonates the most with children in the audience? Who wants to jump on that? Okay, I'll go first. Um, I think the You know the hard work do what you dream kind of thing for kids You know, like don't let people tell you what you can or can't do theme um Jumping others go ahead. I was thinking of the fear in school Yeah, the first day of school I remember myself and I've seen other kids, uh The anxiety of of going into school and not knowing what's going to happen. I remember that very very well Long time ago I think the biggest theme that I think resonates with the kids, um is follow your dreams What's that? I think I think that was Um, I think that's what they graph on to the most But I also think another one is have fun, you know, we're singing and dancing and um, a lot of the volunteers were really shy um, even though they volunteered and They still like got to loosen up. I think that was a huge lesson in that in that show I think there's another one is the the The rolling the mischievousness of the rolling pot. I think the fact that it's mischievous is like She's doing that naughty pot naughty pot Everybody. Yeah, everybody liked how she got in trouble I I always thought the play is a girl power play. Is that not a theme that comes through? Do you think? Well, we're all girls. I think That was what I'm saying I'm like, well, they do what you dream. Yes, it's also very specific to females because she gets to have the story about her Yeah, I made that it has a female name in the title is Yeah, I think it's indirectly A theme I don't think I mean we do kind of touch on it with uh, you know, I'm the only girl at school That whole there's a whole portion about that um But I think just the fact that it is a girl if she's a girl Layla in the title Um that alone is girl tower without having like touch on it in the actual show Yeah, and also showing up all female show all female production. Exactly. They see they could see like what you said. Yeah Has anyone ever commented on that in your experience any audience members commented on it? No, but I think that we had more Participation from girls because yeah, we didn't have one girl who wanted to be a pilot Uh, you did say that at the end during the during the That's always fun when you ask the kids what they want to become when they grow up Yeah, that's a fun question any final comments or uh reflections before we wrap up Speaking of our our questions that we asked the kids at the end I mean we open it for them to ask us questions But we also ask some things like what do you want to be when you grow up and what are what are your back? What other languages can you speak besides english? And it's really wonderful to see all the kids want to participate in that Because they're not always going to speak up in the school or they speak in english or they only speak in mandarin or whatever wherever we are Um, so and it seems to kind of open the rest of the kids eyes to each other and look around and be like Wow, I didn't know they could speak french and chinese. That's so cool That's great. Well, I want to thank all of you for participating in today's episode of no summary Conversations with artists who don't fit in a box, which I think we demonstrated even though On video, we fit in a box that but in life We don't we don't fit in a box Um, this has been brought to you by golden thread productions. I want to thank our partners at howlround for live streaming There will be an archive of this conversation on golden threads website and on golden threads facebook page This is the last no summary of this year But we are planning to continue the series next year and this will be part of our Efforts to provide digital content At no cost To our audience worldwide So if you are able to please make a donation to golden thread productions I wouldn't be doing my job right if I didn't ask for a donation Um and spread the word leila's quest for flight the radio play will be released next week november 10th when We will know who our next president is Thank you so much everybody. Thank you and goodbye