Secrets of the Russell Library 2024 | Library Card Signup Month

Join Cate Tsahalis and Shannon Barillari as they interview our very own Mary Dattilo about the new and improved Secrets of Russell Library! This season, actors will entertain the audience with historical stories told by an eclectic cast of library characters. Shannon returns with Kim Spachman for "Turn That Shhh Up!" where they discuss library card signup month and the goings on here at Russell this September. Lastly, Stephanie Rush, Kate McCarthy-Bond, and Christy Billings give theatrical book recommendations to pair with the upcoming Secrets of Russell Library performance. 

Book Recommendations

R-E-S-P-E-C-T : Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul by Carole Boston Weatherford
Brave ballerina : the story of Janet Collins by Michelle Meadows
The Breakup Lists by Adib Khorram
All the Right Notes by Dominic Lim
Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli
The Chance to Fly by Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz
Stand Up, Yumi Chung! By Jessica Kim
Second Chance Summer by Sarah Kapit
The Backstagers by James Tynion IV
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

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Transcript

Interview: 0:08

Welcome to Middletown Strong, Looking Up with Russell Library. I'm Kate Salas, here with my co-host, Shannon Baer Larry. And today we are chatting with assistant director of public services Mary Titilayo to talk about this year's edition of the Secrets of Russell Library, which is happening on October 25th and 26th right, Mary? Correct. This is a very unique library experience that our community will not want to miss. So thank you for taking the time out of your packed schedule to have this conversation. Mary. No problem. I'm glad to be here. So for those who aren't familiar with the secrets of Russell Library, can you share a little bit about how it started here and how the format has looked these last couple of seasons? Well, the head of our children's department, Amy Slovic, came to us with an idea that involved giving haunted tours of the library. She had done this at a library that she used to work at. And she took one look at Russell Library and said, Hey, this would be perfect. And we had to agree. So we looked up a little of the history of the library, and we wrote a script and we trained some of our staff to give tours of the library. We did this after hours in the dark for the last two years. Very, very popular. A lot of people came to it. We decked the library out with spooky exhibits and we told a few ghost stories and it was hugely successful. So we're taking it in a little different direction this year. Awesome. I remember I did it the first year and I was just a ghost. Yes, you were a ghost, but it was still a lot of fun. You did get to creep out some people. You did. You are you and another actor were in the windows of the old church. And when we took our guests on the tour into the courtyard there you were in the windows, holding your candles and looking spooky. And people loved it. It was a fun time. Yeah. Well, since it's changing this year, we learned over the summer that you're changing the format of secrets this year. What inspired the change and what can patrons expect at this spooky season? What inspired the change is, for many years I was working with the Cheshire Historical Society on a production that we called Spirits Alive, and that took place in the Hillside Cemetery in Cheshire. And what we did is we research churched people who lived in the town a long time ago, found their stories, wrote scripts and then cast actors to play these spirits and gave tours. In October through the cemetery. And we did it as a fundraiser for the Historical Society and raised quite a bit of money. And I was got to be one of the spirits in the cemetery, and it was a lot of fun. And I realized that we could do the same thing here and make it a theatrical experience instead of just a guided tour, though, instead of just coming in to, say, a theater area and sitting down and seeing the entire performance. Our audience is going to move through the library, from theater to theater to theater, from room to room to room, and see four different performances, ending with a spooky tour of our basement. Oh, that sounds like fun. That kind of reminds me of the what you were describing It was worth over Christmas. Yes. Yes. It's very similar. They do a Christmas Carol there in December. And the way the play is written is you go into the mansion and you sit down in the ballroom and Scrooge is there and then you follow him through his evening and you follow him from room to room in the mansion and meet all the ghosts and the story unfolds as you follow him. It's a ton of fun. My daughter actually works on that production and it's schedule again this year, so. Right little plug there for me. I highly recommend it. So as librarians, we care a lot about historical accuracy, fact checking and quality writing. So who can we credit for the research and scriptwriting of this performance? Well, several of our librarians did all the research. We have the Middletown room, which has a lot of historical information in it about Middletown and about the library and several other reference guides and they dug out a ton of information about not only the construction of the library, but the history of the people who actually worked at this library. And so I give full credit to our wonderful librarians for that. As for the script, well, I wrote the script and asked whether I knew that. And well, I will say this I am a published playwright. So I did have I do have a background in script writing, and I've worked many years again with with Spirits Alive in Cheshire. And so, you know, I have a feel for how the script should be. And so we picked some actors, not actors, characters from the past, who will appear in each section of the library and tell their stories and and how they are connected to the history of the library. It's wonderful. Yeah, that sounds awesome. It's going to be very interesting. Some of the stories are funny. Some of them are tragic. The library has a very interesting past, and I think people will be highly not only entertained, but they'll learn a lot of new things about this library. Yeah. Having that blend of comedy and tragedy at the same time makes it a real story. Yes, exactly. This is a very human story. This library and a lot of people have cared deeply about it. And it shows in its history. It's got a lot of history. It sure does. So. Oh, it does. Mary, can you talk a little bit about the production process? What kind of work and preparation is involved to pull off a community theater experience like this one? Oh, that's a ton of work. Yeah, this is. It's going to say, seems so seamless when you come to it. But we've been working on this since July already to get the script written, to order all the props we'd need and to plan out the route and then to discuss of all of all the characters that we had researched, you know, which ones were going to tell their stories. We have enough information we could probably like for several years tell different stories each year, which will be very interesting. But we cast in August for the actors. Some of our staff will be acting. Yes, including me. But we have two other librarians who will be acting in this production. And then we cast two young actors from the public when we set out a casting call, and they will also be involved. So it's how many of that is one, two, three, four or five of us will be speaking parts, but there will be others who will be floating around as you go through the building. We have a feeling spooky Ghost and possibly, yes, we have a few ghost librarians. We have, you know, some some. I don't want to give spoilers here, but they'll be sound effects and yeah, it should be, but it's going to take a lot of coordination and a lot of rehearsal. We start rehearsals next week, even though the production is not until the end of October, and because everybody has to memorize their scripts and and then refine them and learn how to act the part and make their everyday life stories sound, you know, compelling and interesting to the audience. And it's all in the delivery. So it's a lot of work on the actors part. And then we have a full crew people have to set up and clean up that night, and people who have to, you know, greet you in the lobby and staff the desk because, you know, we'll be open after hours. And so we need a lot of staff working on this. I think fully one quarter of the staff was involved in this production. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. You never really unless you're in the theater world, you don't realize how much happens behind the scenes. If it's a good production, it seems effortless. When they go on stage, it's just like, Oh, look at this. But so much work goes behind the scenes into this. Quite a bit of work. This is a labor of love, that's for sure. That's for sure. So for the last two years, our Secrets tour has really attracted individuals that were kind of looking for that spookiness, along with patrons who were just intrigued by the curiosity she's found within our building. Given the change of format this year. Who do you think this performance will really hook? Oh, if people are looking for a spooky experience, yes, stop by. We can provide that. If you're interested in the history of Middletown and Middle Library. Absolutely. If you love a good play, a theatrical production, this will be entertaining. Even if you're not a fan of history. Or, you know, I'd like to think we've hit it just right. We're going to be telling an historical story, but we're not going to, like, scare you to death. There will be no one jumping out at you. It'll just be a spooky atmosphere with these tales of how the library came to be and what happened to some of the people who were involved in the library. There's a there are several interesting stories. So I think it has a broad appeal for anyone who would like a nice night out. This is it. I love it. Sounds lovely. Yeah. And I'm just going to interject one question so people will probably wonder, this is a free event. This is the free event this year. Yes. We have talked of making it a fundraiser, but since this is our first theatrical version of Secrets of Russell Library, we wanted to give it basically a dress rehearsal before we decide to charge people for it. I think it could become a very good fundraiser for this library, but this year it is a test and we will not be charging. It is just a regular library program for anyone who registers. That being said, we have to limit the number of people that are in each tour that comes through in each audience. So there will be limited seating and we open up registration on October 4th, I believe. Speaking of audience members, is this show child friendly and or handicap accessible? Sadly, because our building being what it is, this show is not handicapped accessible. Many parts of our building are not handicapped accessible. It's an extremely old building, and there's only so much we can do to make it handicapped accessible. You do need to be able to walk up and down stairs to attend this this show. Next year we thought of addressing that in a different way. But for this performance, yes, you had you have to be mobile and you have to be able to keep up with everybody. We're going to have tours and performances every 15 minutes coming through. Yes. Basically what happens is a tour starts at

6: 11:35

00 and they go into the first theater area and then the next tour will be right behind them at 615. And so it's going to keep and that's how you do it. In a cemetery tour, for instance, you just keep the tours coming through and the actors just perform. We will be performing seven times a night on Friday night. A boy who sang When I was in the cemetery in Cheshire, we did 14 shows a night. Wow. Oh, my God. It was hard. Yeah. Yes, that was like, by the end of the night, you're feeling like I think I've said this already. That terrible. Like I'm an actor. Actor gets when they are like, Oh my God, did I did I flub my lines? Did I say it already? Because you've done it so many times, right? Seven should not be too bad. Now. You know, hopefully our newer act we have some newer actors but this is it's each part is small. Each each show that you see will be anywhere from 7 to 10 minutes long. So you sit down. There will be sitting in each area so you don't have to stand for the entire tour, which in our tours in the past you had to stand. You had to stand and walk through the whole thing. Yeah, this year there will be seating. Okay, so that will be helpful. But we do have two, three sets of stairs that you have to go up and down. You have to go up into the main part of the library and then from the Hippodrome you have to go down into the children's room and then you have to take a stairwell down into the basement. Yeah. So death definitely walk in and then we have to get you out of the basement again. So and as for being child friendly, I would say no, we do discuss. There is overall there there are some adult themes in this show as as far as what happened to some of the characters, how they got their jobs and why why they left their jobs so I would not bring a young child to this. Teens would love this. Okay. Definitely. But I would like say, you know, 12 and older maybe. Okay. But I wouldn't bring any young children to it. It may be past their bedtime, too. That's true. Some of the show, well, we're stepping off, I think the first show at 6 p.m. and then the last show is at seven. Depends on the kid. Every time I put my kids to bed at 6:00. Yeah. Yes. But I would not bring young children to this. It is going to be dark. There will be spooky elements and there there will be, you know, some tales that you would, you know, may be hard for a child to hear. Yeah, not a ton of them, you know, but. Yeah, but it's not an front. Yeah. It's not geared toward children. Okay, good. So you sort of hinted at this a little bit in a sentence or two a while back, but do you see this event growing from year to year and kind of what does the future look like for the secrets of Russell Library in your mind? I would love to continue this every year. Usually what happens again, referring back to my cemetery tours experience is eventually you have a collection of scripts. Usually you get, you know, 5 to 7 years worth of scripts and then you can shuffle through. Yeah, and change the shows up. And there are still a lot of stories to tell about this library. And I can see us doing several years worth before we start, like going back to our original scripts and mixing them up with some of the newer things. And so I would love for this to become an annual a, you know, fundraising event for the library. I love that idea. Yeah, well, it's been so successful the past two years. It has. And the fact that we're changing it and we're like New Year, let's spice it up a little bit. And I think with the actors and kind of making it more of a theatrical performance, it's going to draw even a different crowd and more people and limiting the show. So it's not they're going to have it's the desires their people are going to want it. It's October, it's New England. I know. And people love Russell Library and they do. And and it's the last weekend of October, the spookiest weekend of October. So it it will I think it will be a lot of fun and I would love to sell out every while sellout you know I would love to see every seat filled and since they're we're not selling them this year. Oh, gosh. It it's if you've never been on a tour like this, I highly, highly recommend it. There are a lot of fun. And hearing the story from like one of the people of the past actually telling the tale rather than a tour guide, just reciting facts is a whole different experience. Well, it's like I went to the Mark Twain house and you had I think The Butler was giving the tour rather than the tour guide. And I think the tour guide did a wonderful job. Yeah, but when you have the person in character, it just makes it that most real. Yes. And I've done some things with my historical society where I act out and I'm a woman from the colonial period choosing between two men. And it's so much fun. So this I can only imagine it's going to be great. So I remember my kids at snow school, they did this thing in fifth grade and it was like a wax museum, so they had to choose a character from the past and then act as them. Now, of course, they're fifth graders, right? So that the quality of the of the performances were what you would expect. But it was a great idea because it really allowed them to get into character and it made it just a lot more, I don't know, just a richer experience, I think, all the way around. Exactly. You're right. And it people when someone's in character, people believe that that's who they are. So when you meet like a former library director on this tour or to too young people who used to visit the church when it was a church and not a library, you're going to believe in them, that they've come back to tell you these stories. Also, I will give another little hint. A lot of people may not know, but last year, the Eastern Connecticut Paranormal Society did some investigations in this library. And we will be talking about some of their findings on this tour. The characters will be mentioning them frequently and what they found and how some of those characters might have interacted with them. That's exciting. Yeah, that's fine. And we should also mention, so the last two years we did every weekend in October, right, where this is just going to be the two days that people really need to. They do because of how intense, intense of this production is going to be. We really can't do every Friday. That's way more than the staff could do, way more than the actors can commit to. So we chose those those two days just to have those performances and not where everybody out in. There will be a wait list, too. There will be a wait list. And I and another thing people may not know, we have a brand new online calendar and it's really wonderful. So if you get on a waitlist and someone cancels out and the seat frees up, it automatically puts you into that seat and notifies you. So, yes, it's very nice. It's a really nice system. So if you're on a wait list, yeah, by all means, do try to do that, because you might snag a seat. Yes. So still register? Yes. Even if it says it's full. That's what we're saying. Yes. Yes. That was my long winded way of saying why. Yes, do that. It actually brings us to that last question. So if after this interview, listeners are saying, this is for me, I can't wait to attend. Where do they sign up? Which we kind of know, but through our website. But what do they need to know about registration or any logistical details to ensure that they won't miss this event? Okay. First of all, if you have not signed up for our newsletter, go onto our website and subscribe to our newsletter because the newsletter will start advertising Secrets of Russell Library in giving you all the registration information. That is the number one best way to learn about this show. If you don't care to do that, then go to our. You'll have to go to our website. As I said, registration does not open up until October 4th, I believe. And once October 4th comes, you can begin to register. Both those nights will open up and it's obviously first come, first serve. We could you can register one person can register up to six people. Oh yes. Our our software defaults to a registration. So say you want your whole family to come. Only one person needs to register, and then you just tell. You just say the number of people at that reserved you six seats. It's quick. It's easy. Okay, So if you go to our Web site, Russell Library dot org, and that's three. LS there two LS in Russell one Ellen library and go to the top right hand part of the page. You'll see a link for events and you click on that takes you right to our calendar. But again, you won't be able to get into October 4th. So, Mark, your calendar is going to say, mark those calendars. All right. Anything else you can think of, Mary Lou, before we wrap up? Well, there are there are some stories that have not ever been talked about before that are going to be on this tour and one in particular involving a former librarian. From a long time ago. And it's going to be, I think, a lot of fun and if you. Yeah, I think it's totally worth everyone's time to come out for this. They won't be disappointed. I agree. Yeah, it sounds like a great time. Oh, well, Mary, thank you again for chatting with us today. I personally look forward to this event every year and I am confident that many of our listeners feel the same way. So I appreciate you shedding some light on just the changes that we can expect for this season. And to our listeners, thank you for joining us and please stay tuned for important library updates on Turn That Up and some perfectly themed book recommendations from our librarians on shelf life. Have a wonderful day. Bye bye.

Speak: 21:40

Hello and welcome to the segment we're calling. Turn that Show up. Projects at Russell Library that are too good to keep quiet. This month. You have an opportunity to participate in the library's first ever library card crawl. We're doing that in honor of library card signup month in September. So on Saturday, September 21st, from 10 to 2, you'll have an opportunity to sign up for a library card or use your library card for special programs. And it's a day to get a prize. So if you come to the borrowing desk, you can show your card or sign up for a card and you will get a special bookmark that will include events and other activities that you can do to enter in for a prize. It's as easy as getting your bookmark, signing up for a library card, getting a free book at one of the service desks. Finding the foreign language section in YSL. Finding the memory box, visiting our book Nook or attending a program. And we will have a lot of great programs going on that day. So for a preview of what some of that stuff will look like, I'm turning it over to Shannon. Yeah, so there's a lot of programs in that for our span of time. So from 10 to 11, we have the secret lives of Owls and the Hubbard Room. From 1115 to 12, we'll have meet the fire marshals and fire safety. Will also, if everyone's familiar with the infamous Bear. I love Bear. We love Bear. He'll be in the space from 12 to 1. There's a guided meditation. There's two half hour sessions. It should be in the courtyard. But if the rain comes because old New England will keep it in the Hubbard room from 1 to 145. We have magic with Jeff Horton. That sounds awesome. From 1 to 2 and the information department will be having a memory box demonstration. And from, oh, also from 10 to 12. Oh, all day. Oh, my God. We're going to have a Nintendo Switch free Play Mario party that's going to be on the third floor and meeting room three from 12 to 1. We're going to have mocktails and popcorn in the lobby. We have an awesome popcorn machine that we were able to get in. The mocktails are absolutely delicious. I think Brandy will be doing them from 10 to 2 throughout all day. I don't know what it is, but that's another thing that's happening. I think that's the Eastern Connecticut paranormal society. Yes. Awesome. Thank you for the assistance with the acronym, which is just in time for Secrets, which you guys just listen to the interview with Mary. So super excited for October and then all day long will be do library card signups. So with all those things, say you go to the language foreign language section, so you go to the memory box, so you go to the book nook. If you go to any service desk, a staff member will be there to punch a hole into your bookmark. So there is so much going on and I guess signups are also required to attend the library card crawl as well. So but if you want to just kind of jump in that day, I don't see that being a problem either. Yeah, come in. Get a library card, join the fun. Yeah. We're also having a special library card for the month of September in honor of our library card sign up month. That is special to Middletown. It is the air bridge, and the picture is done by a local photographer, sir. Yeah, it's a it's very beautiful. So we're super excited about this. I will be here that day. I will be giving demonstrations in the memory box, and you'll probably just see me, like, floating around and assisting whenever I can, and I'll probably attend the magic session. That sounds really fun, but yeah. Yeah. September library card signup month. We're excited. And this crawl, I think is just the beginning. Yes. Well, thanks, Ken. Anything else I was about to say? I can't think of anything else. Yeah, there's from September 21st. I tend to tend to, to there'll be a lot lot happening, a lot to eat and cheers to the library. Yeah. Cheers. Thank you for hearing about everything we have to say about library card signup month. Next is shelf life, so stay tuned for some great recommendations. Hello and welcome to Middletown Strong. Looking up with Russell Library today on shelf Life. We're going to be talking about books that contain theater. So today it's Christy Billings, Stephanie Roche and Kate McCarthy. Bond. We you just had to giggle that the way you said it. I liked it. It was very theatrical. Very theatrical. Thank you. Yeah. So, Stephanie, can you tell us a little bit about the topic that we're doing today? Sure. So when we met as a podcast team a few days ago, a couple of weeks, I don't know. Time means nothing. We were discussing what topics were coming up, what kind of interviews we had coming up. And for this episode that you will be hearing either after before. I don't know. I don't know. We mixed up the we mixed up the order of things. So the main interview today is about this season's secrets of Russell Library. But as far as I understand that this season is more theatrical, It's it's based more in theatrics, almost more like a play compared to how it was last year. So I thought we could talk about theater and performing arts and books to go with the conversation. And we've talked about lots of spooky books before, so I thought this might be an interesting alternative. And I love books about theater, so I thought it'd be fun if we all brought books about performing arts. I think that's great. Yeah. Have you guys both been in theater productions before? Yes. Okay, so we're all we're all theater people. I mean, there's just something so fun about being able to step into a different character and try it on. When I was a young kid, my mom used to have us go perform at nursing homes. Yeah, Same. Yeah. Really? That's crazy. Yeah. So we we would my mom would write, like a play, and we would go perform it. Okay. My gosh. I know. So, like, I think it does help, like, to be able to speak in front of people and to be comfortable in your own skin when you do that kind of thing. As a kid, I didn't do theater at the nursing home. I did vocals and instrumentals. But yes, my mom would also bring us around and do the nursing home circuit. Very cool. Then when I also at our church, we had something called Cracker Box. Anybody that's from Durham will recognize that from like the oh, a few years ago, I'll say seventies and eighties. But our pastor Phil put on plays that he actually checked out from the Russell Library. Oh, we had a whole section in the eight hundreds that was scripts. Cool. And so he would check them out and then purchase them, decide which one he's going to do and purchase them. We would do them. So, yes, theater. Fortunately, there's authors that have also decided to incorporate this kind of knowledge that we've experienced into books. So I'll start with stuff because she has a bunch. Oh, I sure do. I have a whole list of recommendations, so I'm going to talk about one main one that I just want to scream about. As you all listeners know me, I like to just scream about books. Okay, So the book I want to talk about today is called The Break Up Lists by a DB Cram. Is this a young adults romance? It's fiction. And I read it maybe two months ago. A Deep Quorum is an author that I love. He wrote Darius the Great and Darius the Great, The Diaries, the great books, which I think I might. Yeah, I remember hearing about that. And so this is this is a white contemporary, and this is his latest Y.A. book, and it's about Jackson, and he's the school stage manager. So literally backstage techie, he's a school stage manager, and he has seen so much heartbreak between his parents divorce and the constant trials and tribulations of his sister, Jasmine's love life. So every time Jasmine's love life goes south, Jackson makes a quote unquote breakup list to remind her why that guy was trash. Oh, I love that. So as the good brother that he is, every time she goes through a breakup, he's like, okay, I want you to get over him. Here's all the reasons this guy is the worst, so that when you find yourself wanting to get back, read the list. Remind yourself that don't go back. So no going back. So when the swim team Captain Liam enters the picture and both siblings start crushing on him, romantic chaos ensues. So it's almost a love triangle, which I don't really like. But this one is done in a way that is like not annoying. I think. So what I loved about the story, aside from it being about the theater kids, which I love, and it's what we're here to talk about, it's got like big mushy crush feelings and angst and messiness that I love and why you love feelings, Big feelings. I love the feelings, boys. So this is got all those, like, angsty smoochy crush feelings and it has this really cool in text representation of disability. So I like that. It's really cool. It's the first movie I've read a book that did this, so Jackson. Is deaf, hard of hearing, and he wears hearing aids. And so this is the first time I've seen this in a book where the main character is deaf and giving readers a glimpse of what it's actually like to have a difficult time hearing people in day to day interactions. So I thought it was done really well and it's unique. And it stuck with me because Jackson will narrate and he will go, Oh, and then he said something, something because he can't hear it. He can't make out what the person is saying. And now you as the reader, also cannot make out what the reader was saying and what a great perspective. Great point of Google. Yes, but I came across it in the text. I was like, What's happening? And I was like, Oh, he's inviting us to be in his perspective, physically, knowing what it's like to hear or not be able to hear interactions. And there's also mentions of sign language hearing aids and lip reading that really fleshes his character out. And I thought it was such a unique way to introduce a character and the fact that he's working in theatre, he's working on a stage production, and he is also dealing with the challenges of not always being able to hear actual cues and actual conversations with the people he's working on this production with. So again, the break up list by a DB Khorram, it's got disability representation, it's got queer representation and it has big feelings. Oh man, I wish I had this book a year ago because my son is hard of hearing gay and wears hearing aids, and it was hard to find a book that had something. So I have never read a book like this. So my son has upper frequency loss, so PS and BS and S's get lost. But you wouldn't believe how often that changes the meaning of a word. So you can totally get lost in what was going on. You use all these context clues of something, something that literally what you're hearing. Yes. That's wild. Yeah. So this book is excellent. He sounds good. Let's hear some of yours. So I actually went more towards like biographies and singers, ballerinas and musicians performing arts. And they're all these amazing, beautiful stories and about performing artists who have overcome certain things. One of them is Brave Ballerina, The story of Janet Collins, and she is a black author or a black ballerina. And when is this set? This is set in the thirties and forties was a time when racial segregation was widespread. Janet pursued dance with a passion seeking private lessons after being excluded from discriminatory dance schools. So she was accepted into the ballet roost in Monte Carlo as a teenager, but they wanted her to paint her skin white for performances. Good grief. Right. So the illustrations here are amazing training. This is the dancer who kept going strong, bare feet, flying to a Spanish song. So there's this nice rhythm and there's rhyming, but it tells the story of her and what she did to become a ballerina and her experience and her experiences. Yeah. And who is the author of that? The author is Michelle Meadows, and it's illustrated by Ebony Glen. That beautiful pictures. Yeah. Yeah. Those are definitely just pick it up just to take a look. Exactly right. And what what appealed to me about all of these books is the illustrations like Respect, Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, the author. The illustrations are amazing. And what I like about this one, about Aretha is it taught, you know, the talent is bolded and then it gives a few short sentences about her talent and where she's going. It's just like the song R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Yeah, Yeah. It really rhythmic storytelling for this type of book. Exactly right. Yeah. Yeah. So those are two of the ones that I chose. And then the other ones were before John was a jazz giant, a song of John Coltrane. Also very simple text, great illustrations, talks about his early beginnings, talks about his interests, and how he got into being a jazz artist. These are all fabulous. Young. So I went more towards, you know, the music and dance aspect of performing arts. Absolutely. Every night, especially as we were saying earlier, if you're not into performing theatre on stage, you might not you might still want to perform musically. The dance related arts are all kind of that same vibe of, you know, getting up and putting on a show. So interestingly enough, the book I chose, Tom Leake, which is by Ann Patchett, is set during COVID, and that's all I know about this book. Yes. So it tells the story of a play called Our Town by Thornton Wilder. I love that play. So I didn't know anything about the play. Somehow I managed to live under a rock and had I read it in middle school, I had never performed it, never had seen it. I'm kind of surprised we never did it in Cracker Box because. Yeah, it's pretty classic. Yes. And New England. So. Yes, but I had not any knowledge of it. So this is is kind of around that theme because this the main character is she is helping folks audition for parts in the play. Oh. Her name is Laura, and she ends up auditioning for the main role and she gets it. So it's just kind of wild because she never intended that in the beginning. The story begins during COVID spring of 2020, when things have all gone off the rails. And Laura is actually here. She's an adult with three growing up daughters in northern Michigan, and they have a cherry farm. So it's like, how do we get to the cherry farm from the performing arts in the play and everything? So the play takes place when she's a young girl and is the correct age to play this character. So it's told in flashback, so it's told in flashbacks. I had a little bit of a hard time getting into it because it is very character driven and it really was like it was during COVID. It's very slow, like nothing was happening. We were all just trying to figure out our next whatevers and she and Patrick captures this so beautifully, but at the same time it was like, No, please, I don't want to go back to that time. I don't want to experience this again. But she really captures that feeling. So there's a lot that happens. She auditions for the play and she's picked. And now her whole life changes Because of this. She becomes a screen star because of this play. Oh. She meets one of the people that's very influential in her life who becomes an even bigger movie star. Mm hmm. So the stories that she's telling when they're on the cherry farm in Michigan is to her daughters who want to know about this famous movie star that she knew during the play. Interesting. I had no idea that this book was about. So it's it's very interesting. I did try to see Our town because I was very curious about it after kind of like wanting to know more about it. So our town is just very existential. It's very different than, I think anything that I could relate it to. I don't know. Another play that's similar to this. It's also very sparse. Yes. Yes. The costumes very sparse. Yes. And so I looking it up. It's not a comedy. It's not a drama. I think you're right. It's an existential play. It's just a very interesting piece by Thornton Wilder. So I have had mixed reviews from patrons and myself. I'm not sorry I read it. I think I would have benefited knowing more about the the play and our town to enjoy it a little bit more. Meryl Streep narrates it. So I've heard that. Her. Yes. So that I think I would probably recommend, even though I have not done that myself, I think it's more meaningful. I heard people like that audio for that reason. Yes. Yeah. So that's Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, who I absolutely adore as an author, by the way. And that was my choice. All right. I'm going to round us out with some more picks, just real rapid fire in case you listen to this conversation. You're like, I want more books about theater. Okay. So I have one called All the Right Notes by Dominick Lim. It's an adult romance fiction, and it has musical theater references. It's actually more about music and a music teacher, but it also has musical theater references sprinkled in. Another one is called Kate in Waiting by Becky Albert Tolley, which is a young adult romance, and that's about theater kids. They're doing a play and there's lots of feelings. So of course I loved it. We have a middle grade fiction with disability representation called The Chance to Fly by Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz. It's about theater kids, and the main character is a wheelchair user. Oh, and we have. Yes, we do. And it's about the the difficulties and the lack of accessibility, the theater spaces. Oh, yes. From the point of view of a middle schooler. Oh, yeah. Yup. We have Stand up Yumi Chung by Jessica Kim, which is also middle grade. And it's about a girl who goes to stand up comedy camp. Oh, my goodness. Is really minor. I think a lot of kids would love to. Yeah, Imagine themselves doing that. So very hard job. Yes. And there's also there's so many different versions of performing arts camp. I thought it was interesting that she went to stand up comedy camp. Yes. She wants to be a comedian. Then we have a second chance. Summer by Sarah Kopit, which is also middle grade. And it's about theater camp. A lot of theater camp. I love how can you tell there's a thing? And then I have the Backstage was by James Tenney in the fourth, which is a middle grade Y.A. graphic novel fantasy series about theater, kids and magic. I know, but that's, like, intense. Yeah, I know. It's a lot of things. Yeah. So it's literally called the backstage doors, because when you open up backstage, it's like a fantasy land that kind of you can dip in and out and it's cool. I flew through a couple of years. Is it a series during the graphic novel series? It's more of a comic book series, but we have it in graphic novel form here in Hawaii, right? Some of them are y. Some of them are middle grade. Okay. Little split. Okay. Yeah. Anyways, we hope you enjoyed hearing about our theater experiences and some performing arts books, and we hope this pairs well with our conversation about this year's secrets of Russell Library. Thanks so much for listening today.