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Hilarie Burton: Hey everyone this is Hilarie Burton and you have tuned into the Southern Gothic Productions Podcast, a weekly look into the inner workings of a production company. So sit back, and enjoy a peek into our journey.

Denise Gideon: This is Denise Gideon for the Southern Gothic Productions podcast. This week, Hilarie Burton and I got the chance to sit down with Rachael Sutton, who of course, as you all know, plays Clarisse Birdsong in Southern Gothic Production’s web series, ‘Friendship Union Community Theater.’ As of now, everyone has had a chance, hopefully, to see the episode. It’s been a really great process to watch. I remember I got the script for the first episode of ‘Friendship Community Union Theater,’ sent to me prior to going down to Wilmington for the shooting of the episode, and as I read through it, I just started laughing. There’s so many great moments in there, and I hope everyone really enjoyed it! And I know that some of you are probably thinking that you really hate the character of Crimson LaCroix, but I tell you, when I read the script, and her last line, a real zinger of a line, I just started laughing. I though it was mean of her, of course, but you got to have that cocky ingénue and I really enjoyed her attitude and just, ‘Hey. If you don’t hire me, it’s going to be your loss because I’m so amazing!’ To see her to be able to deliver that line on set and to have read it first, it was really a lot of fun, and so to see this process go from script to screen to viewing, has been a lot of fun and has been a lot of… it’s been very interesting and I’ve learned a lot about how this film process works, and I know that Hilarie Burton and Kelly Tenney and Nick Gray have also learned a lot about the process of this and will be able to move forward to film the second episode and third episode and fourth episode, because everything’s a learning process. It was a learning process for me to go down and see the kind of film making needed to film this web series. As you’ve heard before it was a small crew and a small cast and, you know, you maybe had do deal with a dirt truck or a garbage truck backing up and the beeping noise and having to stop filming and do it again. I’ve had to learn on set etiquette and where I needed to go and what I needed to do. Some of the other sets that I’ve been on, it was very rigid and you were afraid to turn around because you might get a glaring look by someone. The one thing that I really enjoyed about being on set is getting to see the filming and being able to meet all the cast and the crew is just how, like they’ve said before, laid back it was, how much fun it was. Of course, you know, Nick was stressed as he said before in doing this and directing the episode, but they still did it in a way where everyone didn’t feel it. Everyone seemed like they were having a good time and it was something that they were going to make that was special, so I really hope you guys saw how special this was, and you know, to be able to be involved in it the way I was, to send out some pictures through Twitpic, and to be able to, you know, get some on-set interviews, it was a very nice thing to be able to be involved in. And, like I said last week, we’re kind of opening up the vault, and we had that great interview with Nick that we wanted to share with you guys to kind of lead you into the web series and these next two weeks with Rachael Sutton and Taylor Kowalski who plays, of course, Clarisse Birdsong and Walter the Stage Manager. These are really in-depth interviews with these two actors, and being able to do it with Hilarie, who makes everything fun and makes everything light and easy, it was very fun to be able to do these interviews and we get their insight into the characters and see what makes them tick, and what made them want to spend two days in a theater on the fifth floor building in downtown Wilmington filming this web series, and I’m really excited to bring that to you. So, really enjoy it! I really hope you enjoyed the first episode of ‘Friendship Union Community Theater.’

Kelly Tenney: Hey this is KT and you’re listening to Southern Gothic Production’s podcast.

DG: We’re being joined by Hilarie Burton and Rachael Sutton. Now, Hilarie, we’re going to be talking to Rachael about playing a character called Clarisse Birdsong.

HB: Rachael, you’ve known Nick for a while, right?

Rachael Sutton: A couple of years.

HB: A couple years?

RS: Yeah.

HB: How did you meet him? Because I met him in a bar… [laughs]

DG: You talk about bars a lot. [Rachael laughs]

HB: The thing is it’s like Wilmington. It’s a beautiful town but there’s two streets here and one of the streets is all bars, so it’s kind of…

RS: Yeah. Eating and drinking.

HB: Yeah, that’s what you do. It’s a college town, man!

RS: I met Nick… he reviewed me in a theater production.

HB: Of what?

RS: ‘Vanities.’

HB: Well, was he kind to you?

RS: He was kind to me… [laughs]

HB: Okay, not to… What did he say about other people? [laughs] No, cause we joke around all the time in our blogs and stuff like that about how he used to be the theater critic in town and everybody wanted to kick his ass.

RS: Yeah.

HB: What did he say about the other people? He had just come down from New York too. He had a very high standard.

RS: He said they were miscast, if I remember correctly.

HB: Oh.

RS: Yeah.

HB: And what did they say about him behind his back?

RS: Well…

HB: Cause this is a town where everybody knows everybody, so it’s hard to have an objective opinion.

RS: Right, well they kind of said, you know, obviously he didn’t watch the whole performance… I don’t know.

HB: Yeah.

RS: I can’t say yes or no.

HB: Well, and kind of off of that, you’re character, Clarisse Birdsong, is a woman who’s come down from New York. Why don’t you tell us a bit about her, because it’s kind of Nick’s story, you know.

RS: Clarisse… I think that she has a very high opinion of herself, but it doesn’t always come out to everyone else because she’s had some rough go’s in the theatric world.

HB: Yeah…

RS: She just… it’s unfortunate, really.

HB: There’s an ebb and flow to success. Sometimes it’s a river, and other times it is a dry patch.

RS: Well, I’m wondering, if for Clarisse, she put her heart and soul into her art, and her art was not appreciated by the masses, unfortunately.

HB: Oh, rats! I know you’ve never felt that way because you are so wildly talented. You are so appreciated here. What have been some of your favorite parts? Because you’ve been doing theatre for a long time, right?

RS: I think my favorite role I’ve ever played was that of a child. I played Little Sally in ‘You’re in Town.’ That was really fun.

HB: Oh, that is fun.

RS: Kids are fun, yeah.

HB: Yeah, you can get away with a lot more when you’re playing a kid.

RS: Yeah.

HB: That’s cool. How old were you when you started doing theatre?

RS: Well, I was a rock in my 4th grade production.

HB: Oh, really?

RS: Yeah.

HB: Was it ‘Plymouth Rock’?

RS: No, I was just a rock.

HB: Okay.

RS: Like, rock number 3 – Rachael Sutton.

HB: Yeah, I was skunk #2 in my 5th grade play.

RS: Nice!

HB: ‘Winter Wouldn’t Wait.’

RS: Oh, see, but I was very angry with my mother at that time because I wanted to be painted all gray.

HB: Oh, yeah!

RS: Like, my eyelids, my teeth, everything. [Hilarie laughs] I didn’t want anything to show.

HB: No.

RS: And she’s like, ‘No. You’re supposed to be playing a kid playing a rock.’ And I’m like, ‘No! I’m supposed to be a rock!’

HB: See, that level of commitment is what’s gotten you here today.

RS: It is, really. I mean…

HB: You have to focus.

RS: If I could do another role like that… who knows. My career would take off!

HB: Alright, well maybe webisode number two, we can do a flashback and give you that chance.

RS: Yes!

HB: Oh my god! Brainstorm!

RS: Paint the teeth, paint the tongue gray.

HB: Yeah, inside of your ears.

DG: Where it all started for Clarisse.

RS: Place the history.

HB: And you were one the… we had our big open call and you were one of our last auditions that we had. You, like, scooted in last second. Had you come straight from work? Or…

RS: I had come from rehearsal for a show.

HB: Okay, yeah. You scooted in and was like, ‘Sorry! I don’t have a monologue!’ And then delivered…

RS: That’s the story of my life!

HB: But dude, you delivered like the funniest thing we heard all day.

RS: Thank you.

HB: Yeah, you told us about a child’s production of… what was it?

RS: ‘Aristocats.’

HB: ‘Aristocats!’

RS: With special permission by MTI.

HB: I mean, what a great, great show.

RS: It was.

HB: How old were the kids you had doing it?

RS: 8, 9, 10.

HB: Right on.

RS: 4th and 5th graders.

HB: Did anyone paint their whole body gray in that show?

RS: There was a lot of commitment there.

HB: I’m sure it would be overwhelming.

RS: Yeah, it was. There was some… a lot of them wanted to be in the front row every single time when there was like 30 in the cast. 

HB: Yeah…

RS: Somebody has to be Rock #3.

HB: Dosey Doe, you know? I totally get it. Well, you’ve done an amazing job these last couple of days. You are a natural and I’m excited that I get to do a scene with you.

RS: Well, I’m very excited I get to be a part of this, and I’m honored and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Clarisse.

HB: Oh, dude. For Clarisse! Yeah, I’m excited to see what kind of production she puts on at this theater company.

DG: You had some great expressions when we were filming. I would sit up, you know… well, you probably had an easy way of doing it because you had to watch all those strange people, as Clarisse, doing those wonderful auditions. Can you talk a little about preparing yourself to get into that, just like frustrated, oh my gosh, role of Clarisse?

RS: Well, I thought, and think, about often times that person that’s auditioning that I’m watching… that is me, and dance, you know, something that nobody else could possibly understand, or want to understand ever… That’s me, usually. [Hilarie laughs] I make the faces that people make at me when I’m onstage. Some of them.

HB: Dude, they’re perfect. I’ve walked in… my favorite thing is when you walk into an audition and, like, or you’re walking into a meeting, and you go to shake someone’s hand, and they’re like, ‘Oh, no, not a touching person. Germs.’ [Clarisse laughs] And then you have to try to make them laugh, and they’ve just rejected you, and you’re like, ‘Ugh. Weird.’

RS: Or, for me, often times I have a cold or something, and somebody will hug and I’ll cough, and they’ll go ‘Oh my gosh. Are you sick? I can’t get sick.’ You just… you know the whole rest of the day they’re eyeing you because you’re the one who got them sick and dare they sneeze the next day.

HB: No, they’re not going to cast you.

RS: If you turn on SARS.

HB: SARS, yeah.

RS: SARS!

HB: SARS, yeah.

RS: Trichinosis, something, you know, whatever!

HB: I’m just saying. Yeah, you could give it to your casting director, and then you’re screwed. You’ll never ever work again. I’m really glad you didn’t make me sick,

RS: In the kids show I directed my stage manager… he was a kid. [Hilarie laughs] He’s eccentric. He’s my favorite child of all time. He said, ‘I won’t miss this show unless I catch Malaria!’ [Hilarie laughs] I said, ‘I am so glad we haven’t had a bout of that here, you know, because I don’t want you to miss this show!’ [Denise laughs]

HB: No! We need you!

RS: And then he said later… he said, ‘I have a magazine of AK-47 bullets for you!’ And I’d say, ‘Thank you!’

HB: How old is he?

RS: 11, yeah. I know, he has quite the extensive vocabulary.

HB: Dude, 7 more years sounds like a dream man!

RS: I know! Seriously!

HB: God, when are you 18?

RS: Seriously, I want to say, ‘I’m going to have a daughter someday. Can you just save yourself?’

HB: ‘Mom, he’s going to die for me. He told me so! He’d fight malaria!’ No, that’s the kind of loyalty you need in this cut throat theater industry.

RS: Especially in theater. It’s cut throat.

HB: Oh, yeah.

DG: Can you tell me a little bit about what you’ve learned while filming this gorilla-type filmmaking?

RS: This is my first experience ever doing anything on film.

HB: Which is baffling to me, because you’re so good at it and you really have awesome instincts.

RS: Thank you, Hilarie. But it’s much, much harder, I believe, than theater. Because in theater you have all this time to rehearse, and then if you don’t get it right you can go home and sleep on it and come back the next day and you’ve had more experience and you’re fresh, and in film you have to really work on it right in the moment and get it. I’m also honored at how nice everyone is here. Theater is not always that way.

HB: [laughs] It’s not the way they told you it would be.

RS: Nobody’s like, ‘Do you need a drink of water?’ Everyone’s like, you know, ‘I’m thirsty!’ ‘Too bad!’

HB: [laughing] Yeah, ‘get back in place!’

DG: Well, before we close, tell us what you think of Hilarie as a boss.

HB: Oh, geez. God!

RS: Hilarie is a dream boss. If I had Hilarie as a boss everyday, all smiles!

DG: How much did she pay you? Did she give you extra?

HB: Yeah, for saying nice things.

RS: Well, hey, I’m hoping later…

HB: Under the table. Yeah, yeah. I’m going to tip you nice.

RS: 50 cents or something, I don’t know.

HB: Totally.

DG: We’re going to be talking with Taylor Kowalski who plays a character named Walter who has a little bit of a…

RS: Oh, Walter!

DG:… a little bit of a crush on Clarisse, maybe!

RS: He does. I mean, my personal… I think Clarisse should give Walter a chance.

HB: Oh, me too.

RS: I don’t think Nick’s looking to my input in the writing.

HB: Yeah, he’s got what he wants.

RS: Walter. Like, I just hear, [sings] with Walter! Walter.

HB: Yeah, he’s angel harps, you know. He’s a lovely man.

DG: Next week, Hilarie Burton and I will be sitting down and talking to Taylor Kowalski who, of course, plays the role of Walter the Stage Manager, so make sure you check it out next week!

HB: Thank you guys so much for listening to the Southern Gothic Productions podcast. Make sure you check us out every Wednesday.

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