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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Well, hey everybody, this is Robert Bannon, and before I hit the theme song and introduce the show, I want to tell you about some exciting Roundtable news. The Roundtable has a brand new website. You can go to robertbannon.com, find out all about me, find out all about the show, brand new and now up and running with brand new Roundtable merchandise. Go to robertbannon.com, follow me on Instagram, and make sure you're subscribing to us wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube. Now let's do a show.

[0:29] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:33] Robert Bannon: The Roundtable with Robert Bannon. Roundtablers, we have a treat today. I am so excited to be with the lovely, lovely creators from FISH, which is opening September 26th, running through October 25th. And ladies, welcome to The Roundtable. Thank you for being here.

[0:49] Guests: Thank you.

[0:50] Guests: Thank you for having us.

[0:52] Robert Bannon: Yes, very, very exciting. So if one of you can just kind of give us a little synopsis of what FISH is about and why we should go see it.

[1:04] Tatiana Pandiani: I can step into that. So FISH takes place in 2016 in London, and it follows a 17-year-old girl called Karya as she sort of endeavors to find her missing brother. And in doing so, she enters a dark corner of the internet and the place spirals from there. And I won't say much more than that.

[1:30] Robert Bannon: Oh, already I'm like, oh, this is going to be good. I love that. And I did read a little bit about, you know, the synopsis of it and all. And I think it's important. And again, I don't know all of the themes in regards to it, but I think, you know, I'm glad to see things that are more like current of happening of like the past 20 years. I think it's time we need to bring like new and fresh stories, you know, that need to come into play. Why is it important, I guess, to, you know, have the discussion, you talk about like the dark net and the dark internet. I think that's such an important, especially in today, in the past couple of days, what's going on in the world. Why was that important to show, to bring to this story?

[2:13] Melis Aker: Well, I think we were having like extensive discussions about this, the fact that like the internet has been a part of our lives for a very long time. And I think we haven't exactly explored its history in that how it has impacted our lives and how we archive even things that were different in, say, 2016, like Twitter, which is no longer. And what are the accumulated factors that have consequences on our lives today because it moves so fast. So I think, at least for me, I started writing this play in 2016. And now having the distance from 2016 to understand how things have changed actually gave me a lot more understanding of where we are today. So it was important. I think it's like a new sort of, we're seeing it, I guess, around in other plays going on now.

It's like a kind of a new chapter of digital age or digital era plays. And I think that's important, especially when it comes to looking at young people and coming of age stories. So that's kind of the thinking, at least for me. I don't know if others want to join in, of course.

[3:28] Robert Bannon: And Alyssa and Yasmin, if you want to tell me a little bit about, you know, how, where you are, how you got to be with this wonderful, you know, fish story here, if you can give us a little bit of how you're feeling and your excitement for what's to come.

[3:45] Alyssa May Gold: Yeah, I'll start. Yeah, so I, I mean, first of all, I'm completely thrilled and honored to be with this incredible group of artists every single day. It is just not lost on me. And I came to be a part of FISH a little more in like what we consider to be the traditional way. I auditioned for it and I taped for it. And then I actually did my first callback was a Zoom callback because I was abroad. And so they very kindly let me again, digital age, how things change, and then did my final callback in person. And it's just one of the funniest, most brilliant plays that I've read in. I can't even tell you how long and to be a part of it and telling the story of these ferocious full teenage girls is really, I still can't quite express how much it means to me and, and to work with the phenomenal Yasmin Ranz-Lind. If you want to, you want to jump in.

[5:01] Yasmin Ranz-Lind: Oh my God. I mean, the feeling is mutual. Yes, Mina is so good at this play. And like from the minute we met, I was like, oh, we're going to have the best time. And especially because Libby and Karya, like that was what really excited me when I read the play for the first time, almost three years ago in like its earliest draft. There was something so exciting about really giving voice to like being a young person, growing up with the internet at your fingertips, it's really, really hard to like, remember that it's written in ink, it's carved in stone, what you do on the internet is like, it feels so far away from you. And, and I, in the early drafts, it was still so exciting to look at a play that was going to address and give voice to the desperation of being a teenager and how the internet makes it feel like you can do something like that you can engage in high stakes without having to deal with any consequence.

And, and also then specifically these two girls who have really different buy-ins to what they wind up doing and what that fallout is like, was just, it was, I think FISH is such a brilliant play because it simultaneously does a big conversation about the internet and also a sort of evergreen exploration of teenage girlhood and friendship and how you, you get really close with people and then a small thing becomes a very big thing that everyone doesn't have the same experience of. And it's just been so exciting to work on it for the last couple of years and watch it evolve and now be off Broadway and having its world premiere.

[6:34] Robert Bannon: I love that so much. And I love that you said ferocious, like, I think that's so wonderful too, when you're talking about like two friends, two girls, you know, that, that come together over, you know, an odd situation. And then there is the bond. And I will say as, as, you know, who had friends, you know, great, amazing friends, I am still friends with them to this day. I mean, I even have friends from like kindergarten that for some odd reason, we have this bond. And I don't think it's talked about enough that in regards to women, when we bond with someone, like it's there, it's not going away and you can not talk for a really long time. But when you see each other again, it's still there.

You still remember those amazing, amazing times and what brought you together. And I really, I love that. I'm now I'm getting more excited to see this. This is so amazing. Go get your tickets. This, this is truly, truly great. And I also think I did also read it talks about grief. And I want to kind of say like grief. And also I'm going to kind of throw this word in there like mental health as well. I think, you know, it's so again, with women, it's not really talked about as much, you kind of push it to the side, I think it's more coming to the forefront. And I just think it's important that we need to talk about it. It's okay to talk about it. And I don't know if that's one of the underlying themes as well. You know, within this?

[7:53] Melis Aker: Yes, 100%. And in fact, the intention was to bring something kind of heavier and heftier, like grief, and couple it with something that is also deeply absurd. And so for me, because for me, comedy lies in that intersection, like, you know, you can be looking at like a massive global event that's going on. But then also, you're you still have diarrhea. And you know what I mean? Like, it's like the absurdity of day to day life is, is hilarious to me. And the fact that you can carry grief while you're, you know, having a stomach problem, and just you want to, you know, date this person, and you have these so-called petty concerns in life. I think that's where comedy arises, at least for me. And when it comes to grief in this particular story, I think that's where the mother-daughter relationship is also kind of the core, which is that, you know, the missing person in their family affects a mother and a daughter differently.

And there are different stages of their also live as women, and they respond to loss differently. And I think, for me, ultimately, the play was kind of a little bit of a love letter to my mother, but also a way of finding a similar vocabulary of grief that is hard sometimes. So I think that's kind of where the grief conversation enters, at least from my end. But yeah.

[9:22] Yasmin Ranz-Lind: And I love that it's also taking place in London, you know what I'm saying? Obviously, it must be close to your heart as well to have it take place there. Was there a reason why you chose London for the setting?

[9:39] Yasmin Ranz-Lind: Well, I live in London and I had a close relationship to London growing up. I also grew up on British humour. I went to a British school in Turkey, so I have a very confusing background. But I think that, first of all, the geographical proximity of some of the things going on inside of the play that I don't want to talk too much about because then I'll give it away. But because 2016 is also a moment when, say, Brexit happened. And obviously, he who shall not be named was also president for the first time. But as in, it was a time in the world that felt like being in Europe also felt quite central to some of these events. So I wanted to place it there. I wanted to have British humour be part of the way I just like rhythmically think about language. And so it was my personal preference to see like, oh, I've never written a play about the city that I love so much. Or not about, but set in. So that's kind of how that happened naturally.

[10:44] Tatiana Pandiani: No, that's great. And Lisa, I do want to obviously hear from you as well. And speaking of, you know, London and the setting, how did when you got this and said, hey, this is something I want to be a part of, you know, what was your artistic thoughts and how to put it on stage? You know, if you could share with us some of your insight?

[11:01] Tatiana Pandiani: Yeah, for sure. I'm Tatiana Pandiani. Actually, I'm logging in on Lisa's. Oh, I'm so sorry, Tatiana. It's okay. This is her iPad. I didn't have my iPad. So yeah, I'm Tatiana. And Melissa and I have been friends for close to 15 years. So we moved to New York around the same time, just out of college, both of us. And we started working, you know, many, many years ago when Melissa was acting primarily in, you know, I was directing just in grad school and we worked together. And our friendship kind of took us to all sorts of projects in all sorts of places. And a few years ago, maybe five years ago, she sent me the first draft of this play. So I've been with it from the very beginning. And, you know, being an ally of her process and also shepherding the production elements, we had some developmental stages at the Signature Theatre here in New York City through the pipeline of new play development.

[12:06] Tatiana Pandiani: And then that led to a workshop that was two years ago, where we actually got to stage in a very DIY way without a full production. But we did get to stage the show and kind of start to ask some of the really difficult questions that the play itself on paper has for a director, primarily that there are pivotal and important parts of the play that are just one person texting, which is kind of an inherently anti-theatrical thing, because you look at the floor and you look at your phone. And so, like, how can we actually create a theatrical convention that is exciting and actually theatrical to communicate something that is on a screen? And that, you know, nowadays, I think even on TV shows and films, people are kind of tired of just messages populating your screen and reading messages. And so we started investigating that at the Signature a few years ago.

[12:58] Tatiana Pandiani: And then the other huge part, which is that there's a third of the play that happens inside a swimming pool while characters are learning how to swim. And so that's another thing that obviously we had to create a theatrical convention for in a choreography. And so those two things, I think, were kind of like my in from the directorial perspective, in addition to the kind of the really exciting dramaturgy of the piece and Minis' writing, because both of those things are kind of like big, big projects, right, for the play to really feel, again, theatrical. There's a lot of language and there's a lot of tone and vibe that feels very cinematic, but ultimately we're in a theater. And so this is a theatrical representation of all of that.

And yeah, and then through that pipeline, we got to try out different things and then come to this production now a couple years later with some of that groundwork there already and continuing to kind of build on top of it, but with a really exciting sense of world and again, movement and choreography and all that.

[14:07] Tatiana Pandiani: And I also feel like, you know, like the theater is not very good at being literal. You know, like if you want to see a real car explode, you probably should watch a movie. You know, if you want to see an actually, you know, 85-year-old or six-year-old, you should probably watch a movie. So the theater is not really good at that. The theater is actually good at relationships and allowing an audience to fill in the gaps, right, to use your imagination. And so I think a lot of the choices that we've made are super exciting because they're just so theatrical. It's like a theatrical way of communicating the story. And I got to just work with a super exciting design team this time around. And so every department is kind of at the top of their game supporting that vision of how to make this as theatrical as possible.

[14:57] Robert Bannon: I love all of that, Tatiana. That's like, that's one thing with, and I love theater. I've grown up, you know, going to theater. I'm 48 years old and, you know, I live in New Jersey and going to the theater was always, you know, always such an event. You know, it was, it really, I still get dressed up when I go to the theater. You know, it's just, it's just how it is because it is, it's, there's something about, and I think people that have never experienced it before, whether it be a play or a musical, like there is something about when you see two live people on stage having a conversation, whether it's just two people or you have all of that about, it's just, it really does bring you in. And I, oh, I love the process of it all of like, how do you bring what is on paper, you know, with, and it's very true, like with the texting, like, how do I not have a screen?

How do I not have, like, I love that. I think that's so interesting how, that's why I love creative women, you know, how you bring it to the people, to the masses and it is a stage and, and how do you, you know, get that to be, I love that so much. I'm getting more and more excited about this. This is so amazing.

[16:05] Tatiana Pandiani: I also love that it's, it's also kind of, Mellison, you talk about this, like it's a story of, you know, it's, it's a family, you know, you have a brother and sister, you know, and a mother and a daughter and a mother and a daughter, that's always, there's always something there, always.

[16:13] Yasmin Ranz-Lind: I mean, 100%. I'm like, I was scared for my mother. It's complicated, because you can see yourself in your mother, earlier on in your life, that could be not a great thing. And then later on, you can be grateful that you can see your mother, you know.

[16:27] Tatiana Pandiani: And so I think...

[16:28] Yasmin Ranz-Lind: Very true. Very true. I relate to that 1000%.

[16:48] Yasmin Ranz-Lind: Yeah. And I think just, just, I like to look at a coming of age story from kind of an ageless perspective. I like to say that this is a coming of age story for the mother character as well. And in fact, like all the other characters, I want them to have a full life that is changed by this event in the play, and that they can propel forward and change in some way. So obviously, it's, it's a plot driven play, and it follows a central character, but we have an ensemble of people that I hope do come of age in a different way, if that makes sense.

[17:26] Robert Bannon: That's so exciting. I do. I just, I love all of that. It's, it's just, it's, you've got the best friends, you know, you've got the mother daughter, you know, and then everybody coming together. I think that's so great. And I don't want you to give anything away. But Round Tables, you need to go get your tickets for this. Tickets are on sale, wptheatre.com. Go online, get those tickets. And Melissa, I do just have to add, just a teensy, if you can spill the tea, because I know you're writing Prince. Is this true?

[17:49] Alyssa May Gold: Oh, I'm writing the adaptation of the memoir written by Maite Garcia, who was Prince's first wife. And it's a memoir that's being adapted to a feature film. So that's, you know, in development, and development always takes ages.

[18:23] Alyssa May Gold: We're very excited. We're big 80s fans here. So we were when I was told that I was like, this is fantastic. This is so wonderful.