[00:00:00] Fuzz Martin: What’s happening, my favorite listener, it’s
you.
Thanks for joining me for the 11th episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. I am your host, Fuzz Martin. No, I am your host. I’m sorry. I started this show about two months ago with the goal of shining a light on positive things happening in and around Washington County, Wisconsin. It’s been fun so far, and it’s been really fun hearing your comments, suggestions.
Feedback, someone stopped me at the hub in West Bend while I was getting coffee the other day to tell me they loved the show, and I really appreciated hearing that. Thank you. And I’ve also started receiving suggestions about great things going on in the community that I should talk about. One was, hey Fuzz, once 7th Avenue and Highway 45 northbound are open again, can you do a whole show just you driving and enjoying the lack of road construction?
That would be fun, I could do that, yes. But what we’re going to do this week instead is a different listener suggestion. This week we’re interviewing Kimberly LaBerge and Ben Johnson, both of whom are performing in the West Bend Theatre Company’s performance of Our Town, which takes place this Friday through Sunday, October 8th through the 10th, and then again the following weekend, October 15th through the 17th at the West Bend Masonic Center at 301 North University Avenue.
Without further ado, here’s Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz, featuring Kimberly LaBerge. And Ben Johnson.
Kimberly and Ben, thanks for coming on the show today. I appreciate having you guys on here and really learning all about West Bend Theater Company and the production of Our Town coming up. Let’s talk to you a little bit first, Kimberly, how long have you been acting and like, where did you get your start?
[00:02:14] Kimberly Laberge: Oh my goodness, I think I started acting when I was in sixth grade, taking some community theater traveling production that threw together a lip synced 60s themed Cinderella in a week. It was a very weird way to begin, but my, my mom and my family were always really into theater, so I started then and fell in love with it and went to high school for the arts and went to college for the arts and have just Stuck around.
[00:02:42] Fuzz Martin: What kind of other productions have you been in besides this one?
[00:02:45] Kimberly Laberge: So many . Some of my favorite productions that I’ve been in recently. I recently directed a production of Oedipus over this last summer. That was a huge passion project for me. A few summers ago, I got to play the role of Catherine in Taming of the Shrew, which was a massive dream role.
Now I’m really excited to be here playing Emily in Our Town, which is another massive dream role for me. So I’ve been kind of knocking off some bucket list theater items lately.
[00:03:11] Fuzz Martin: Sure. That’s great.
[00:03:13] Benjamin Johnson: And how about you, Ben? How long have you been acting? Oh, let’s see. Well, I was first bitten by the acting bug when I was in third grade.
My mom was forced me to audition for a production of the Boxcar Children, and I was having none of it, no part of it whatsoever. And so when that happened, I I thought, why are you making me do this? I hate this. I hate this. And by the end of the show, I’m like, well, I’m never going to stop doing this ever.
Fast forward through all the wonderful shows that I’ve gotten the opportunity to be in and, and, or direct. It’s been really a treat. And like Kimberly, I also went to school for the arts. And so it’s now fast forward to our town. Um, this is actually the second time I’ve done this show. The first time was 11 years ago with Sheboygan Theatre Company.
Um, It was a family affair just as much back then as it is now. My whole family was in that. My dad, who’s the director for the show, played editor Webb. And that was kind of my intro to theatrical literacy was this show, because it’s such a classic. And now getting to play George Gibbs is, it’s been a role that I’ve kind of always kept my fingers crossed in the back of my mind that I could cross it off and play one day.
And here we are. And I’m, I’m in, I’m loving every second of it. It’s so much fun.
[00:04:23] Fuzz Martin: That’s awesome. Our Town is going to be performed this coming weekend, Friday, October 8th through Sunday, October 10th, and then again, Friday, October 15th through the 17th, and that’ll be at the Masonic Lodge, 301 North University Avenue in West Bend, right near Highway 45, like where you would turn to go to UWM Washington County.
Kimberly, what is your role in Our Town?
[00:04:47] Kimberly Laberge: I play Emily in Our Town. So she is the daughter of Editor Webb and Mrs. Webb, and she is the next door neighbor of George Gibbs. So over the course of the three acts, you get to see her grow up from Fourteen years old and discovering love for the first time, to a grown adult reflecting back on what life and motherhood and the world means to be alive.
It’s really a wonderful, long spanning role over the three acts of the show.
[00:05:15] Benjamin Johnson: And Ben, how about you? What’s your, what’s your role? So I play the role of George Gibbs, who is the son of Doc Gibbs and Mrs. Gibbs. Kind of, sort of, with Emily, he too takes on quite a bit of a character arc from, from when he starts out in Act 1 when he’s, uh, 16 years old, to when he gets married to Emily at age 19, and then fast forward to Act 3 when he is 28.
So you get to see his arc grow. And his growth over that span of time as well.
[00:05:48] Fuzz Martin: What kind of work goes into putting together a production like this? Like how long have you guys been rehearsing and, and what does your week look like with these kinds of productions?
[00:06:00] Kimberly Laberge: Goodness. So the average production schedule is about a six week process, and that’s pretty in line with what we’ve been doing as well.
It’s given us the opportunity to almost every night of the week meet with the cast. and run through the scenes and do table work, which is just what we in theater call talking about the script and diving into the characters and understanding who they are and where they’re coming from, to lead us to the last couple of weeks as we’re getting really close to rehearsals and performances here.
So it’s around six weeks of meeting every weeknight, give or take a day or two, and getting to where we end up.
[00:06:37] Fuzz Martin: I imagine that doing this isn’t the only thing that both of you are doing during the week, so what, uh, Kimberly, what do you do outside of being in this performance?
[00:06:48] Kimberly Laberge: I do so much. Um, my life is a constant juggling of things so right now some of my main things are I’m in my senior year of college at UWM getting my degree in theatre practices and then while doing that I am working in theatre in a lot of different ways, so.
So I stage manage with Coles Wild Theater. I’m a performer with Royal Fairytale Events, which basically means that if someone says, I want the real Rapunzel to come to my birthday party, they might get me. Um, and I do freelance work here and there as a critic and as a teacher and just to pick up the pieces and stay in the arts.
[00:07:27] Fuzz Martin: Sounds great.
[00:07:28] Benjamin Johnson: How
[00:07:28] Fuzz Martin: about you, Ben?
[00:07:29] Benjamin Johnson: What do you do outside of this performance? Well, when outside of this performance, I’m studying my lines for the performance. No, that’s only about 95 percent of what I do. Um, my actual, my, so my day job is I am a 4k through 4th grade elementary general music teacher in the Dodgeland School District in Juneau, Wisconsin.
So I teach little ones ages 4 through 10, all about how music works. And so that’s a lot of fun. And then like Kimberly, I also am very involved with theater and theater. Really, all, all over the state. And actually, before coming here, before doing this tonight, just came from holding auditions for the Murder Mystery that I am going to be directing, starting literally the day after this show ends.
So, it’s one right to the next, so it’s been fun. And I do shows through various theater companies through Wisconsin. Like, Theater for Young Lakeshore Productions, This is my first time with West Bend Theatre Company, but it’s been great. And also doing shows with Memories Ballroom in Port Washington as well.
[00:08:29] Fuzz Martin: Ben, what have you found to be the most challenging about getting prepared for this performance of Our Town?
[00:08:35] Benjamin Johnson: For me personally, the biggest challenge for me, this is actually easy. It was, it’s definitely the, the, showing the different ages that George portrays. Because in the first two acts, he is a few years younger than my actual age.
So for me, it was looking back and thinking, okay, what was, what was Ben like at age 16 and age 19? And then thinking about, okay, now what would, how would George be at age 16 and 19? And going through that arc, putting those two time periods together, the real challenge for me has been kind of finding a, A happy marriage between the two, and still wanting it to be convincing, but also have a sense of a timeless quality that this show so beautifully portrays.
So I think that’s been the biggest challenge for me in terms of getting myself prepared for the role, because it’s a, it’s a role that I, that I know very well, but wanting to make sure that I keep it as is, but also put my own little spin on it too, as with every role that, that I tried to do.
[00:09:41] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, certainly.
And how about you Kimberley, what have you found challenging about getting prepared for this?
[00:09:46] Kimberly Laberge: Man, the role of Emily is tough. She, pretty famously in the third act, looks at her life and her experience of life and puts words to what it meant. And so the whole show has these lovely baked in meanings about small town life and simple living and how just being alive is reason enough.
But Emily is the one who puts a name to that. And so there’s a lot of pressure as an actress to give the show its meaning in that third act and elevate it in that performance to retroactively look at everything that’s happened on stage so far and say, that’s why it mattered. Emotionally, that really runs the gambit and it is a whole roller coaster to do it every night.
But it’s also the joy of the show. It’s not very many shows that give you that opportunity to say, this is what life means, but Emily’s character really does.
[00:10:40] Fuzz Martin: Very good. Kimberly, dream role. If you could have a dream role to perform in any, any play out there, what, what would you take?
[00:10:50] Kimberly Laberge: You’re killing me. It was this one.
No, so as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been kind of knocking off some dream roles. I got to do Catherine in Taming of the Shrew, and I’m now getting to do this one. I think the next one, there is a 14 year old daughter in August Osage County, and while I am beyond that age, I look at that text and that show, and it is a very emotionally laden, complex family story, and it’s one of those stories where, because of the The scenes that this character enacts in, you want an actress who’s older than 18, but who can play younger.
And so, as I’m now playing a role that starts at age 14, that’s kind of one of my special skills. I can play younger when I need to. And so, that’s, that’s my next goal role, if I get the opportunity.
[00:11:39] Benjamin Johnson: Certainly. How about you, Ben? That’s a good question. Dream role of mine. Well, it’s funny. My, my, my bucket list In terms of shows and roles, it isn’t really that big, I’d say.
I will say I did get to cross one of them off three summers back when I was in a production of Guys and Dolls and I got to play Skye Masterson. That was That was absolutely a bucket list dream come true for me. And then in terms of other roles, I don’t know if it’s well known, if I had to say one dream role would definitely be playing the role of Anatoly Sergeyevsky in the concert version of the musical Chess.
That would be the end all be all for me.
[00:12:21] Fuzz Martin: Excellent.
[00:12:21] Benjamin Johnson: That’s awesome.
[00:12:23] Fuzz Martin: So Our Town is coming up this weekend and next. Is there anything else that you’d like the audience to know about Our Town, what to expect when they see the performance?
[00:12:36] Kimberly Laberge: I think the show is beautiful. It is one that people tend to have all heard of.
It’s one of the most produced shows of all time, so a lot of high schools will pick it up, and other community theaters, all the way to professional productions, but there’s a reason why it’s done that much. And I think it’s because it’s relatable, and it’s a story that whether you feel like your life is wonderful and full of imaginative, crazy experiences, or if your life feels boring and simple, and bland even, you know, this show breathes meaning into the whole gambit of experiences.
And so I would say don’t be turned away by the fact that you’ve heard of it, and it feels like an old fashioned show that everyone’s done before, because there’s a reason that everyone’s done it. It’s that beautiful, and it’s that worth doing over and over again.
[00:13:27] Fuzz Martin: Well, Kimberly and Ben, I, I guess, break a leg.
And we’re looking forward to seeing Our Town at the Masonic Lodge in West Bend with the West Bend Theatre Company. Friday, October 8th, the 9th and 10th, as well as Friday the 15th, 16th and 17th. And we really appreciate you coming on the show and hope it’s a great performance.
[00:13:48] Kimberly Laberge: Awesome. Thank you for having us.
[00:13:50] Fuzz Martin: Thank you so
[00:13:50] Benjamin Johnson: much. Thank you. Thank you. You’re very welcome.
[00:14:00] Fuzz Martin: Tickets for Our Town are available at westbentheaterco. com. That’s westbentheater, with an R E, co, with a C O, com. westbentheaterco. com. Portions from Our Town will be donated to Habitat for Humanity of Washington and Dodge Counties. And again, the performance will take place at the West Bend Masonic Lodge, 301 University Avenue in West Bend.
Shows are Friday, October 8th, two shows on Saturday, October 9th, Sunday, October 10th, then again Friday, October 15th, two more shows on Saturday, the 16th, and one final matinee on Sunday, October 17th. So help support the arts in our community and buy your tickets to Our Town Today at westbendtheatreco.
com. That’ll do it for this week’s episode of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. We’ll talk to you again next week. If you like the show, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts, and follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at FifteenWithFuzz or visit FifteenWithFuzz. com.
