STAGES REPERTORY THEATRE
3201 Allen Parkway, Houston, Texas 77019
www.stagestheatre.com
Rob Bundy, Artistic Director
Kenn McLaughlin, Managing Director


I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE!
July 14 through September 12, 2004

Book and Lyrics by Joe DiPietro
Music by Jimmy Roberts
Original Direction by Laura Josepher
Directed and choreographed by Jimmy Phillips

THE MUSICIANS
Musical Director / Pianist…….Steven Jones
Violinist……………………….Nicholas Baker

THE MUSIC

ACT I
Prologue……………………………………………….The Company
CANTATA FOR A DATE…………………………… The Company
Not Tonight, I'm Busy, Busy, Busy…………………...Jennie and Jeffrey
A STUD AND A BABE………………………………Kara / Joanne and Tom
Men Who Talk and the Women Who Pretend They're Listening….. The Company
SINGLE MAN DROUGHT……………………………Jennie and Kara / Joanne
WHY 'CAUSE I'M A GUY………………………….Tom and Jeffrey
TEAR JERK………………………………………… Jennie and Jeffrey
The Lasagna Incident…………………………………Kara / Joanne and Tom
I WILL BE LOVED TONIGHT……………………..Kara / Joanne
And Now the Parents………………………………… The Company
HEY THERE, SINGLE GAL / GUY………………..Jeffrey and Kara / Joanne
Satisfaction Guaranteed……………………………. The Company
I'll Call You Soon (Yeah, Right)………………….Kara / Joanne
HE CALLED ME…………………………………….The Company
Scared Straight………………………………………. The Company
CANTATA REPRISE 1…………………………….. The Company
WEDDING VOWS…………………………………. The Company

ACT II
ENTR ACTE…………………………………………Steven and Nicholas
CANTATA REPRISE 2……………………………. Kara / Joanne and Tom
ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID……………………….Jennie
Whatever Happened to Baby's Parents?……………Jeffrey, Tom and Kara / Joanne
THE BABY SONG…………………………………Jeffrey
Sex and the Married Couple………………………..Tom and Jennie
MARRIAGE TANGO…………………………….. Tom and Jennie
The Family That Drives Together………………… Kara / Joanne and Jeffrey
ON THE HIGHWAY OF LOVE…………………. The Company
Waiting……………………………………………. Kara / Joanne and Jeffrey
WAITING TRIO………………………………….. Tom, Jennie and Kara / Joanne
CANTATA REPRISE 3………………………….. Kara / Joanne and Jeffrey
SHOULDN'T I BE LESS IN LOVE WITH YOU?………………Tom
The Very First Dating Video of Rose Ritz…………………………Kara / Joanne
Funerals Are For Dating…………………………………………… Jennie and Jeffrey
I CAN LIVE WITH THAT……………………………………….. Jennie and Jeffrey
Epilogue…………………………………………………………… The Company
I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE…………… The Company

I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE!
Interview with Jennie Welch and Jeffrey Gimble Starring in the 2004 Stages Repertory Theatre Musical Production

By Maria Theresa
Theresa@HoustonTheatre.com
July 13, 2004

It was after 5:00pm on a hot summer day as I walk in to Stages Theatre to meet and talk to Jennie Welch and Jeffrey Gimble, the stars of Stages' musical production I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE! It was 3 days before the Premiere, and I have not yet seen the show. They were scheduled for a 6:00pm rehearsal and we had to finish the interview before then.

Theresa: Were you both in the original cast production in 1999?
Jeffrey: I was. I'm the only one from the original cast.
Jennie: He's the only one from the original cast.
Jeffrey: In 2 to 3 weeks Joanne Bonasso will join us, shell be coming back, she's also from the original cast.
Theresa: So, do you all have scenes together?
Jennie: Yeah (laughs)
Theresa: And you pretty much got the whole thing down…..
Jennie: We start previewing tomorrow night, so we're hoping that we actually… we got the show together rather quickly. But then one of our performers had vocal nodes and had to drop out so we had to put Kara Greenburg in really quickly, so yes, even then we pretty much had the show down. So, we're in pretty good shape.

Theresa: Is it all musical or is it part musical or part narrative?
Jeffrey: Both. It's all comedy, almost everything with the exception of a few pieces.
Jennie: And even the poignant pieces are comic
Jeffrey: Yeah even the poignant pieces are funny.
Jennie: They have a little bit of humor. There are whole scenes together that are funny, and they're 2 - minute progressive scenes about relationships.
Jeffrey: The situations in the show are quite funny 'cause the first act is all about dating and what's it's like to be single and trying to find the right person. There's a very funny number that I think is indicative of what the show's all about. It's called He Called Me. The whole thing is about the fact that this girl had a date with a guy and he said he would call her the next day. And he did.
Jennie: (laughs)
Jeffrey: And since he actually returned the phone call, she bursts into song….these 2 Italian Pizzeria guys come crashing through the wall with pizzas and start singing with her and that her mother……
Theresa: Dancing (laughs)?
Jeffrey: Yeah….and they burst into this crazy musical number that's all about how great it is that this guy returned the phone call. But I think that's very typical of this show. It captures these little things that happen……
Jennie: Right. Little parts of life that people can relate to, of things that happen to you in a relationship, where it has worked out or hasn't worked out or weird dates that's just a little off the wall…..or parents dating……just about anything that you can think of that has happened to you in your life we hope people can relate to in the show.

Jeffrey: The second act really covers Marriage. So, it's married life and things that happen once you're actually committed to someone and there's a crazy number where I play dad and she plays my daughter.
Jennie: I'm a little girl.
Jeffrey: And there's this whole musical number of just driving in the car and dad thinks that he's really this hot stud where's he's driving this car and he's in his own little world and the mom is nagging everyone away and the kids are screaming in the back. It's just a number that is exactly what any suburban family would be going through on a daily basis and people love that. It's about them! It's a tribute to their lives.

Jennie: I have a number about being a bridesmaid all the time and how awful my dresses have been. That I have all the bridesmaid dresses I've gotten and that they're all ugly. I mean, the costume I have is outrageous. Something that every woman just about can relate. How many times have you been a bridesmaid? Oh my Lord.
Jeffrey: We have 2 extensive scenes that we do. We do one scene about 2 very high powered executives who are on a date. And the reason they don't have time for dating is they've got their careers, they got their businesses, they really don't have the time and they don't want to go through the emotional roller coaster of dating. So, they try to figure out how in one date, they can go through an entire, say, year or year and a half of dating. You know, they just pick the key points, that way they can avoid all the messy stuff.
Jennie: All the emotional stuff that you have to go through (laughs)
Theresa: And that's the two of you?
Jennie: Right

Jeffrey: And we also do a scene very late in the show that's really my favorite thing in the whole show where we play 2 old people who happen to run into each other at a funeral. And the man, he wants to pick her up. He wants to meet her. They're both widowed. And it's not just like he just wants to meet her and get it on…..at the age of 78.
Jennie: (laughs)
Jeffrey: He wants company. She's very reluctant after years and years and years of being married to someone. And it's this very touching, oddly funny scene between 2 old people trying to connect.
Jennie: And start a new life perhaps.
Jeffrey: Or at least have a love or two before……
Jennie: (laughs)….before it's all over.

Theresa: So it's not necessarily just a boy meets girl relationship. It's father - daughter….
Jennie: It's families. The first act, I guess, it's more boy and girl dating.
Jeffrey: Yes, the first act is really dating.
Jennie: And the very last scene of the first act is a wedding, as it were, I mean a silly wedding, but a wedding nonetheless.
Jeffrey: A wedding between two people who have been forced to marry each other.
Theresa: Oh no! (Laughs)…like an arranged marriage?
Jeffrey: Well, it's this whole crazy scene where they do sick singles dating workshop led by Jennie's character in a prison and play this crazy Trentell prisoner…..
Jennie: Very funny……(laughs)

Jeffrey: "My name is Trentell. I'm a convicted mass murderer. I'm gonna be locked up in this shit hole till the day I die and I'm single. That's right, I'm single. Oh yeah, sure, I was like all of you, great job, bought stereo equipment, drank bottled water. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to find my significant other. And then come New Year's Eve, I got an invite to this party that I couldn't get no date. So I went alone. And all my friends were there. All my married friends, all kissing and cooing and cuddling and calling each other cute names like Sweetie, Pumpkin, Poo Bear. Well I couldn't take it anymore, I snapped! I got out my AK47 and blew their married asses straight to Hell!"

Theresa: (laughs) That's hilarious!
Jeffrey: I was so frustrated with being single so I killed all my friends. And I was like, completely out of my mind. I go up to 2 people in the seminar and they're scaring me, so I force them……
Jennie: …..to get married. He's just scaring them straight. He's got 7 consecutive life sentences and he's in jail for the rest of life.
Jeffrey: It's totally ridiculous.

Jennie: One scene after the other and then there's a scene where I play the girlfriend of his son and we decided to break up. The parents thought we were getting married so they had this whole number about how disappointed we are to them for not getting married because they were so ready for them to get married. Just a slice of life after another….

Theresa: So, this play….I mean musical….this is actually a musical?
Jeffrey: Oh yeah, a musical…..
Theresa: Did it originate from New York?
Jeffrey: Uh-huh. And it's still running there. It's like the longest running opera musical revue in New York. They were there in 1995 and it's still running…..
Theresa: You've seen in it there on Broadway?
Jeffrey: Uh-huh. I saw it there and then I did it here, we did it in December 1999 and the woman who directed it back then (Laura Josepher directed Stages' original production) is the director from New York. We are using her concepts, some of her original staging but not all of it. We have a new director on this production, we kinda have like 2 directors…..sort of…..kind of……
Theresa: Mr. Jimmy Phillips, who also directed Always……Patsy Cline.
Jennie: And Steve Jones is the musical director, who did the music before. So he still has his notes written in from the last time they did it.

Theresa: From the way you describe it then, are there more people than the cast of 4 people listed here? Or is this pretty much it?
Jeffrey: Just 4 people……
Theresa: Oh wow. Really? Just pretty much……
Jeffrey: We're constantly improvising……
Theresa: (laughs) But….how does that….work?
Jeffrey: We do lots and lots of different skits and we all play different people.
Theresa: And you all look totally different each time?
Jennie: No….not totally…..not that extreme…..but enough difference.
Theresa: Enough difference……
Jennie:…..that you know it's a different character. Right.
Theresa: How neat.

Jennie: It's a fun show, it's one that you'll never have a moment to get bored backstage. You're always either onstage or changing to do the next scene……
Jeffrey: Or trying to remember……
Jennie: So, you'll have to remember what scene to change into next. We have people backstage that help us in and out of stuff. And sometimes I wear a pink dress and I then I put a jacket over the dress instead of changing the whole costume. So they vary in their extremity. But….um….you just do it (laughs).
Theresa: That's fun. And it's exhilarating, that's what keeps you going right?
Jeffrey: You don't even think, you just do. With this show, the way it's staged, we're onstage pretty much all the time and we move the set around and change it around for each different scene. The audience knows that we're actors changing, they're always in on the joke that way.

Theresa: The Patsy Cline musical that's playing onstage next door is a slice of Texas. Would you say that this is more a slice of New York?
Jeffrey: I think this is really for anyone who's….this is very much an American show. I don't know if it would translate outside of America. But I think it applies to anyone living in any major city in this country who is either dating or married.
Jennie: I think it's for any type of place where there are singles bars, or enough of a metropolitan area. I think that any part of the country could relate to most of it.

Jeffrey: It's been incredibly popular everywhere it's been done. They did a production in Dallas that ran for 3 years, so people just relate to it. Because it's all about relationships and I think the writers, even though the scenes are very funny, they're also very honest. They pick on things that we all go through. Everyone goes through situations where you meet someone you're excited about then they don't return your phone calls. They never talk about that sort of thing.

Theresa: And you guys are singing about it….and dance…..
Jennie: (laughs)
Jeffrey: We make light of it, so it doesn't hurt too much.
Theresa: That's great. That's wonderful. How many characters do you play?
Jennie: Oh, I'm not sure. Just about 8, don't you think? (Looking over Jeffrey's shoulder at the script).
Jeffrey: Well, there's a script right here.
Jennie: You know, I never counted it up.
Theresa: How do you memorize all those lines?
Jennie: Know what, I did look at it the first day and thought, "Oh my God…." But really, they are such specific spool vignettes that with the right amount of timing, you get it down eventually. But it was…..you know…..you just have to take it one step at a time.
Jeffrey: (Counting) 13 different people.
Theresa: Wow…..that's neat.
Jennie: I guess that just about what we all do. We're all in just about the same number of scenes.
Jeffrey: And I play 12.
Theresa: You play 12 (incredulously).
Jennie: Because you're not counting the bridesmaid…..
Jeffrey:….between the clergywoman and the…..
Jennie: That's true….that's true…..that's true…..(laughs)
Theresa: And you play one of the Italian pizza delivery guys (pointing to Jeffrey)….Right?
Jeffrey: Oh yeah.
Theresa: Okay.
Jeffrey: One of my deeper moments in the show.
Jennie: (laughs). They are very funny. Complete with moustache and all…..
Jeffrey:….and the pizza hat.

Theresa: That's very deep. You've mentioned your other characters such as the bridesmaid…..what other characters do you do?
Jennie: I play the busy, busy, busy woman at the beginning, our scene together…
Theresa: ………the two executives?
Jennie: That's right. We're way too busy to actually have a date so we have a fantasy date. The last thing we do is go through a year after we've broken up. It's just sort of, we just decided "Okay, this is the course of our relationship….."
Jeffrey: Since we're building our careers, we're just not really interested in going through all of that roller coaster.

Jennie: And then I play the girlfriend that had a bad date with the man who's boring us, a number called the Single Man Drought. I play his girlfriend in the movie theatre where he's saying "It's a chick flick" and it's too boring.
Jeffrey: Yeah, he's watching a cinema therapy kind of film and I hate it, but I end up crying about it.
Jennie: And then I play the girlfriend of disappointed parents.
Jeffrey: I play the father, who thinks that his son and his girlfriend are gonna get married and we're all excited about that and ready for the wedding date. And then they tell us that the wedding's not gonna happen.

Jennie: I play the mother, in the pizza delivery scene, I come out as the mother in this awful jumpsuit. And then we play a married couple who decided we wanted to have sex. It's called Parent's Tango, but our children are constantly interrupting "I got stuck in the head, Mom…." These poor people who are exhausted at end of the day, it's like, maybe we'll do it tonight. But it's constant interruptions.
Jeffrey: They've got dishes to clean and many errands to do.
Jennie: And then I play another character, waiting in the ladies' room and I have to pee. The whole song is about needing to pee, because the line is so long and we're having to wait for the toilet. So I go to the men's room in the end because I can't wait any longer.
Theresa: (laughs). That's something we all can identify with.
Jennie: Exactly. Exactly, that's what I mean. Everything is so familiar.

Jeffrey: There's a scene with this guy Tom, he sings this song about waiting for his wife in the department store, and he ends up holding her bag while he's waiting for her. And then I'm a football slob watching TV and ignoring my wife and I'm eating potato chips and she's trying desperately to get my attention.
Jennie: 32 more seconds is left in the football game, which of course is an eternity. She talks about that, having to wait for him all weekend.
Jeffrey: This number's all about having to wait for your spouse or wait for something.
Theresa: gosh, isn't that awful?

Jeffrey: I play this one crazy guy who's bored with his marriage but when he gets into his car he becomes, you know, a cool stud.
Jennie: And then the daddy……
Jeffrey: There's a very funny scene between a mommy and a daddy, they have a newborn and they have stopped speaking the English language and talk baby-talk all the time.
Jenny: Baby-bee-bee-bee-bee…
Jeffrey: And he has one of his best friends come over and his friend says "I can't talk to you anymore." He's like "Why, why don't you talk to me? Come on, I wanna show my slides of my baby." And I have a little song that I sing to a teddy bear, very sweet. And then we do this scene where I'm an old man….
Jennie: I play Muriel, the elderly lady.

Jeffrey: I love this one little commercial scene that's about if you have a really horrible sex life, and you want to sue your partner, here's a 1-800 number and a law firm that will allow you to sue your partner for not delivering sexually.
Jennie: (laughs) He comes out and he says "Hi, is your sex life not worth it?" It's very funny. It's a bit of a slice of relationships. If you get bored with one scene, it'll be over really soon, because none of it is so terribly long that you'd could get too bored with it.
Theresa: I guess, after you watch the musical, you learn to appreciate what you really have.
Jennie: Oh come on, it's really not that bad! It's really lively, and it makes you laugh about it, it makes you laugh at yourself. Or something that you may think as a horrible trauma, and maybe after awhile, maybe next week, it can be just silly and stupid.
Jeffrey: It really celebrates life, even with all its complexities and frustrations. It really celebrates having relationships.

Theresa: Why did you choose to become a part of this play?
Jennie: I definitely auditioned and was the first runner up the last time they did it in '99 so I knew some of the songs of the show. So I definitely wanted to do the audition again and I was so glad they picked me. I was really hoping that they would, since the girl that did it before has moved to London so she's not even in town anymore. So I was hoping I would get the opportunity and I did!
Theresa: Have you seen the play prior to auditioning the first time?
Jennie: I saw it in 1999 when Stages did it the first time, but I didn't know anything about it before the audition. It was just a show they were doing. I do more auditions for musicals. I'm an actress who sings. I'd love to do just straight plays, but I do love to sing as well. So, it's right up my alley. What can I say?

Theresa: Tell us about your past background. How did you become a musical actress?
Jennie: I saw Bye, Bye Birdie at Theatre Incorporated here in Houston when I was a little girl. My parents took me to see it. And that was it. For Christmas, that was the album I wanted. I wanted Bye Bye Birdie and Camelot and I started to memorize the whole thing and would lip sync and perform the whole show. My poor family had to watch me do the whole thing. At a young age, I enjoyed musical theatre. And then in high school, and in college. I performed in the Houston Music Theatre (the Arena Theatre used to be Houston Music Theatre) and they used to have a whole season in the summer time. It was just something that came naturally, something that I needed to do. My soul needed to feed itself, to sing and dance and perform. It's been in me for a long, long time.
Theresa: Are you married?
Jennie: I will be married for 22 years in August. My husband also works for Theatre Under The Stars and he's backstage. John Eggers is a property manager for TUTS and we met on a TUTS show on Scrooge in 1978. We had to both be in the theatre and it was one of those backstage romance. I had to audition for each musical, and each time you get cast, it's a thrill!

JENNIE WELCH BIO HIGHLIGHTS:
Alley Theatre: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Domina)
Theatre Under The Stars: A Chorus Line (Maggie), Mame, Phantom, Canterbury Tales
National Tours: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (2 years), Mame (with Juliet Prowse). Houston Grand Opera: Showboat.

Theresa: Who are your most favorite actors?
Jennie: I would say Shirley Maclaine is up there, just because she's a musical lady. Bebe Neuwirth.
Theresa: You grew up here and enjoyed musical theatre here in Houston. Have you seen musicals outside of Houston?
Jennie: No, I have to admit, I have never been . I do Dallas, places that I could feasibly go to. I have friends that go to New York all the time and audition for stuff but I've never been one to go up there and do their audition, although it's probably a good idea. I should do one.

Theresa: You've traveled to Cairo, Egypt for the Houston Grand Opera. What was that experience like?
Jennie: It was a lot of fun. We were doing Showboat. It is a male oriented society which was a bit disarming for a Southern girl because the men are……well, the women are not revered. (Laughs). There was one point where there were a group of men walking towards me on the sidewalk and I actually had to get off the sidewalk so they could pass. I mean it was interesting. But it was a fascinating city, obviously with all the museums and pyramids and everything. It was a wonderful historical experience. The theatre groups arranged all sorts of trips and tours to see the city. I was there for 2 weeks.

Theresa: Do you have a favorite director?
Jennie: Oooooh, I love Rob Bundy, even though he's never directed me but because he works this theatre. I love him to death. Jimmy Phillips has been a terrific director. I've only worked with Jimmy as a performer, we've been in shows together, but I think he's done a terrific job directing the show. I've enjoyed working just recently with Gregory Boyd, Artistic director at the Alley Theatre. We just did A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum. He was a lot of fun. I can't say there was ever a director that I didn't like.

Theresa: Who influenced you as an artist?
Jennie: Probably my parents the most, Pat and Patty Welch. We actually read Shakespeare around the dining room table. They didn't push me into it, but they encouraged, I was exposed to it and I was given the opportunity. My mom drove me to voice lessons and played the piano for me. My father has passed away, and my mother lives in Alma, Michigan now. My sisters and mom live up there. My dad taught at the University of Houston for 20 years. My family's originally from Houston. I grew up here, Bellaire High School. (Laughs).

Theresa: How about you Jeffrey, how did you become a part of this musical?
Jeffrey: I became friends with Rob doing a play for him in 1987 when he first took Stages Theatre over. And we stayed in touch and I just kept bugging him about projects that would be right for him. I'm real obnoxious that way. I was living in New York at the time and Laura Josepher, the director lived in New York. But Rob said, "You know, you really should sing for her down here. She should see you with all the other performers in Houston. So, if you could fly down." And all my family's here, I'm the only one who lives in NY, so it's always a good excuse to just come home. And I flew down here to audition for her.

Theresa: How did you end up living in NY?
Jeffrey: I was working here, I was a company member here at Stages in the '80s. It was a non-union full time acting company for several years and I was lucky enough to be a part of that right out of college. And we did all kinds of crazy stuff, we did Children's Theatre. We did the evening shows, and on the weekends we did all the risque nasty stuff like Vampire Lesbians of Sodom and Psycho Beach Party. I was a part of that for a long time. It had a huge influence on me. And I sorta got to a point where I went, "I've done as much as I'm gonna do in Houston. I think I need to test myself and see what I could do in NY." So, that's when I moved, I moved there in '89 by myself. Luckily, 2 of my closest friends who were also company members here at Stages back then ended up moving there the following year. So I was very lucky. My friend Barbara Simms and Walton Wilson, they are now a married couple. Walton teaches at Yale University and Barbara is a marvelous actress who's had many leads for the Houston Shakespeare Festival.

Theresa: So, you're just visiting Houston?
Jeffrey: I'm here to do the show. My parents live here, so when I do a show I stay with my folks. And it's an opportunity to see my family and an opportunity to work.

Theresa: So the last time they showed I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT NOW CHANGE! Musical here in Houston, it was around Christmas?
Jeffrey: We opened around Thanksgiving of '99 and we ran through the end of January 2000. I was also here at Stages last year doing a play called Dirty Blonde, which is all about Mae West.

JEFFREY GIMBLE BIO HIGHLIGHTS:
NEW YORK: Lark Theatre, Vital Theatre Co., Lilli Theatreworks, Theatre 3
BOSTON: Forbidden Broadway
FILM: Graveland (with C. Thomas Howell) Sci-Fi Channel
Education / Training: University of Houston; SUNY Purchase; 7 years with Peter Thompson.

Theresa: Do you get to work in New York, constantly?
Jeffrey: I wouldn't say constantly. Most actors, some months you're working and some nights you're working in a law firm, which is what I do. But I have a movie that's coming out on the Sci-Fi Channel. It's called Graveland at the moment, I don't know if that's gonna be the name eventually. So that's my new TV role.
Theresa: How wonderful….
Jeffrey: That's my first venture into the whole film thing, and it was a great, great experience.
Theresa: Tell us about your past background…..
Jeffrey: I wanted to be an actor since I was 3 years old. My parents took me to the old Houston Music Theatre, which I think is still around and they took me to see a production of Peter Pan. And I saw Peter Pan start flying and I said, "That's it!" Some people I know have gotten into it sort of like here and there. But for me, it's been real consistent. I went through a couple of years in my 20's where I've had some terrible experiences in school, and kind of questioned it. But other than that, it's been sort of disgustingly, a passion, an obsession.
Theresa: Who are your most favorite actors?
Jeffrey: I love Kathy Bates. I love, love, love Kathy Bates. I really love Spiderman, Toby Maguire.
Theresa: He also did Sea Biscuit…….Any favorite directors?
Jeffrey: Love working with Rob Bundy. He's really great, the way he works with actors. I learned a lot from Rob, working with him as an actor because he gives you an enormous amount of freedom. Once I had that experience, I sort of, I never went back. I'm like, "Well, if I'm not working with Rob, I'm gonna pretend I'm working with Rob." (Laughs). I ask a lot of questions. Rob lets you be a part of the process, he doesn't just say, "Go there, and don't ask me why you're going there." And my friend Laura Josepher, who directed this musical originally, works very much that way, also. I met her here in Houston, but we ended up doing a bunch of things in New York together. And we did Dirty Blonde together here last year. We sort of have a little artistic partnership.

Theresa: Rob is great, I've interviewed him. There are reasons why he's the Artistic Director here at Stages Theatre. He's just……he's directing The Exonerated at the Alley Theatre which will be shown this coming October. You also mentioned Peter Pan, which is part of TUTS upcoming season with Cathy Rigby. What qualities do you look for in an actor?

Jeffrey: I like to work with people that are open, who are open for anything. And people that you can trust. You don't want to work with a loose cannon, where you don't know what to expect when you're walking onstage. You want to feel like you're with someone who you could trust. So, you're comfortable out there. 'Cause it's always….
Jennie: ….where you won't be thrown.
Jeffrey: It's risky out there. But if you're with someone you trust, even if you forget your lines or whatever, you'll find your way out of it.
Theresa: Who influenced you as an artist?
Jeffrey: I studied with a guy named Peter Thompson for a long time in New York. He was a huge influence for me. He allowed me to ask a lot of questions. He helped me work through a lot of bad habits. And he was just a gifted, gifted teacher, who happen to teach classes at the Michael Howard Studio in New York.

Theresa: Isn't it great, they're doing this production again?
Jeffrey: Yeah. The 1999 production closed sort of prematurely last time. They just went over really, really well, we had huge audiences. And so when they closed, there was this idea that we would re-open for the summer of 2000. But for whatever reasons, that never happened. But Rob Bundy, the artistic director kept saying, "We might do it again, we might do it again." So finally, I guess it was back in March, 2004 he called me and said "We're gonna do it again this summer, do you want to do it again?" And it's a lot of fun. It's not Shakespeare, but as an actor I certainly relish the opportunity that are very deep and artistic. It's a lot of fun to be a part of something that the audience gets so much out of. The audiences really love this musical because it really speaks directly to their lives.
Jennie: It's a fun show. It's a fun cast too. We enjoy each other so that helps a lot. But it's definitely a fun show to do.

Theresa: What would you like to say to the Houston audience?
Jennie: Come see our show! I think it's a wonderful show. I mean, it's a good show, and WE ARE GOOD to boot. It's a talented cast, if I do say so myself. And you know, I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. A fun evening to have for anybody, for guys and girls, you know. It's not something that guys are gonna be drug to and hate.
Jeffrey: I think everyone will love it. Just find their way here to Stages, get a parking space, they will have a great time. And we are ready! We are ready for the audiences to come. Let them come!