Shadowbox’s Amy Lay

Tim Fulton 0:08Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, I sat down with Amy Ley, meta-performer for Shadowbox Cabaret in the Brewery District. We talk about Amy's background, what it's like to see a show at Shadowbox, how to describe your art, what's coming up for Shadowbox, the importance of a sense of play, and why Amy chooses to stay in Columbus. You can get more information on what we discuss in today's episode in the show notes at theconfluencecast.com. The Confluence Cast is sponsored this week by Art Makes Columbus, Columbus Makes Art, featuring stories about our city's incredible artists, stories full of inspiration, challenge, passion, and success. For videos, articles, an up-to-the-minute calendar of events, and an artist directory, visit columbusmakesart.com, the resource for all things arts and culture in the capital city. Enjoy the interview. Sitting down here with Amy Ley, meta-performer for Shadowbox Live down in the Brewery District. Amy, how are you?

Amy Ley 1:26I'm very good. How are you?

Tim Fulton 1:27Good. Good. Where'd you grow up?

Amy Ley 1:29I grew up in Mansfield, Ohio.

Tim Fulton 1:31And then how'd you get to Shadowbox?

Amy Ley 1:33Uh, I auditioned through OTA's, Ohio Theatre Alliance, and also SETC's, Southeastern Theatre Conference, and Shadowbox was at both. They actually hired me at the first one, OTA's, and I said, "I would like to see my options." So I went to S-

Tim Fulton 1:51Hmm, maybe

Amy Ley 1:51Mm, maybe. I'll give you a maybe.

Tim Fulton 1:53Okay.

Amy Ley 1:53Uh, I went to SETC's and there were a lot of, uh, traveling children's shows and opportunities for internships, and Shadowbox was just the, the right choice at the right time, and I had no idea I would be there 14 years later.

Tim Fulton 2:07Right. And so you were there at the Easton location.

Amy Ley 2:11Yes.

Tim Fulton 2:11And did you go through the process that I'm aware of, where you come on as an actor, but you're essentially a server in the beginning?

Amy Ley 2:19Yes. Actually, all of our actors are also servers. Our, all of our company members are also either in the kitchen c- making the dishes, uh, uh, making the, the food and the, and the drinks, the bartenders, the servers, ushers, food-

Tim Fulton 2:33But it is sort of a, like an onboarding process, right?

Amy Ley 2:36No, this is the whole way through.

Tim Fulton 2:38Oh, okay.

Amy Ley 2:38I am still a server at Shadowbox.

Tim Fulton 2:39Okay. I didn't know that.

Amy Ley 2:40Yes.

Tim Fulton 2:40Okay.

Amy Ley 2:41No divas.

Tim Fulton 2:42None? Talk about sort of your journey there. You came on as, you know, a kid fresh out of college.

Amy Ley 2:49Yeah.

Tim Fulton 2:49And so what have you seen change in the time that you've been there?

Amy Ley 2:52Well, I started just going right into being an actor, singer, and dancer. That's, that's what I wanted to become, was a triple threat, and I, and I think Shadowbox had that c- opportunity and created that opportunity. Uh, I saw a lot of flexibility in creating many different characters in a short amount of time versus going to, uh, Chicago or New York where I would be a server, uh, as well as trying to make it in this one theater to play this one character. And I just saw more opportunity to create.

Tim Fulton 3:25Okay. You guys do, what, three shows a fiscal quarter-

Amy Ley 3:30Yes

Tim Fulton 3:30... right?

Amy Ley 3:30Yes.

Tim Fulton 3:31And so you're mounting, creating shows a- constantly.

Amy Ley 3:34Constantly.

Tim Fulton 3:35How does that process go?

Amy Ley 3:37Oh, gosh.

Tim Fulton 3:37In terms of, like, even down to deciding on what to do.

Amy Ley 3:42Yeah. So there are eight creative team members.

Tim Fulton 3:44Okay.

Amy Ley 3:45Um, and a large majority of them are a decade or two decades older than m- me.

Tim Fulton 3:51Okay.

Amy Ley 3:51And they've been ... You know, Shadowbox has been around for about 25 years.

Tim Fulton 3:55Right.

Amy Ley 3:55So the eight of us kind of sit down in this creative team meeting and we create the shows. Uh, we try to at least a year in advance.

Tim Fulton 4:04Okay.

Amy Ley 4:04Uh, and there are some formats that we've been able to identify through our creation. It's really neat. Uh, we start, started with the basic format of the sketch comedy and rock and roll, and that's what a lot of people know Shadowbox Live, through the Easton Town Center as the sketch comedy and rock and roll club. But now that we've moved to the Brewery District, we've been able to extend our entertainment offerings. We do musicals and dance theater. Dance theater is so much fun. It, it's, it's great because we have this live band that is always the home base of all of our great shows, our live band and our singers, and then we grow from there. Um, but these formats we've been able to identify, and then we create a show lineup for the year based on these formats. So we have the Wednesday, Thursday show, which is typically a rockumentary style show. For instance, our Beatles tribute show or-

Tim Fulton 4:57Right

Amy Ley 4:57... the Pink Floyd tribute show, the Joe Cocker tribute show. So that's the Wednesday, Thursday night. Then Friday and Saturday, we do our sketch comedy and rock and roll, which is two shows, 7:30 and 10:30.

Tim Fulton 5:09Okay.

Amy Ley 5:09Um, so we create the format for that. Or, that was our home format, actually. And then on Sundays, we do the musicals. So we offer, you know, currently running the Little Shop of Horrors.

Tim Fulton 5:21Right.

Amy Ley 5:22And we've done Chicago and Jesus Christ Superstar and ... You know, so we've done a lot of great musicals as well as the sketch comedy and rock and roll, and then we created this new format of the rockumentary style shows, which are perfect because it's a blend of kind of what Broadway is going toward- Utilizing old rock genre-

Tim Fulton 5:42Right

Amy Ley 5:42... old rock stars and turning them into a musical. We don't turn it into a musical. We, we could, but what we have typically done in our rockumentary style shows is turn them into a more, well, rockumentary. You get a little education, you get the rock, you get the great sound, uh, of the ... You know, we try to emulate the singer as much as possible.

Tim Fulton 6:03Right.

Amy Ley 6:03And the costumes, we try to emulate the costumes that they were utilizing at the time.

Tim Fulton 6:09And giving a little bit of background to what the band was like and what-

Amy Ley 6:13Yeah

Tim Fulton 6:13... was happening at the time culturally.

Amy Ley 6:15Yeah.

Tim Fulton 6:16And so while you guys all, you know, you're still a server, you also have other administrative duties there. You are also the art director for the company.

Amy Ley 6:24Yes.

Tim Fulton 6:24What does that role entail?

Amy Ley 6:27Uh, I curate the galleries. So I have, uh, Amy Ivanoff, actually, just a lovely breath of fresh air. She just came in to assist me in curation of the galleries. But we have a lot of great wall space.

Tim Fulton 6:39Mm-hmm.

Amy Ley 6:39Uh, and art just goes hand in hand, you know, singing, dancing, acting, production, art on the walls, and, and we just wanted to be this art entity, I guess. So we decided to curate all of our walls, and, uh, it's been successful actually. Um, so that as well as, uh, I'm kind of the Tim Gunn of the costume team.

Tim Fulton 7:02Okay.

Amy Ley 7:03So I run, uh, Linda Mullen is our costume designer, our head designer. Over the years I've been able to gather ... We had quite a large library of costumes already in our collection, but, um, I've, o- I've been over the years able to go to thrift stores, have donations that, of some really great pieces. And because our shows run a vast gamut of time-

Tim Fulton 7:28Right

Amy Ley 7:28... I need to have a, an '80s prom dress, but I also need to have a Renaissance, uh, you know, beggar woman.

Tim Fulton 7:36Right.

Amy Ley 7:36So, so yes, I'm the Tim Gunn of the costume team, just try to help the costume designer understand what Steve Guyer, the, the CEO, head producer of the shows is, is looking for and, uh, what colors are also our brand. Yeah, I've been able to understand our brand a lot better in 14 years, of course. And it's really neat. My love now of, of rock fashion is just gone through the roof, and I, and I love teaching it too. I had no idea.

Tim Fulton 8:04Talk about sort of the structure of the company because it is nonprofit.

Amy Ley 8:07Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 8:08You guys do now own the building that you're in.

Amy Ley 8:11Yes.

Tim Fulton 8:11You actually just ... Did you acquire the whole building when World of Beer went out? Is that what happened?

Amy Ley 8:16No, actually there's another, uh, company moving into the World of Beer space.

Tim Fulton 8:20Okay.

Amy Ley 8:20We just own our suites, our-

Tim Fulton 8:22Got it.

Amy Ley 8:23Yeah.

Tim Fulton 8:23Your-

Amy Ley 8:23The one suite happens to be very large in the, on the main floor.

Tim Fulton 8:27Got it.

Amy Ley 8:28It's, uh, uh, the bistro as well as the theater space.

Tim Fulton 8:31Right. And you, you allow for outside events to happen there as well.

Amy Ley 8:34Absolutely. In fact, it's, uh, it's been a little confusing, I think for some of our audience. They will go to the Hashtag shows, which is a great improv troupe that we've-

Tim Fulton 8:45Mm-hmm

Amy Ley 8:45... taken under our wing, and they're an amazing troupe. They do shows every Wednesday night, uh, their improv shows. And their audience base has just grown exponentially, I think because they've been able to have this home base, um-

Tim Fulton 9:00And-

Amy Ley 9:00... and create

Tim Fulton 9:00... be consistent. Yeah.

Amy Ley 9:02Yeah. And create in a consistent location. Um, and, uh, but a lot of newcomers to Shadowbox think, "Yeah, I've been to your shows, you know, that $5 night out at the Wednesday."

Tim Fulton 9:13And you're like, "Nope, that's not us."

Amy Ley 9:14"That's not it at all."

Tim Fulton 9:15"That's not our thing."

Amy Ley 9:16We're ...

Tim Fulton 9:16"That's not what we do."

Amy Ley 9:17But we love them. They're amazing. Um, so we, you know, are still trying to get the word out that we've moved from Easton five years ago now into this new location. Company events is, is, uh, big right now for us, uh, the holiday season coming up.

Tim Fulton 9:31Right.

Amy Ley 9:31And, uh, calling, uh, and, you know, cold calling some of these companies, HR companies, saying, "Have you been to Shadowbox?" And, "Yeah, I've been one time at Easton. You guys still there?" I'm like, "No, we're new. Come back down." "Come back down and enjoy." But-

Tim Fulton 9:45Right

Amy Ley 9:45... um, or they've seen, "Yeah, I saw the Hashtag show on Wednesday night." No. So, uh, it's all about education right now, I think, in, in getting our name back out there, but we've done some amazing creative, uh, shows since Easton, even, um, with our Gallery of Echoes collaboration with the Museum of the Art, um-

Tim Fulton 10:05Can you talk about that a little bit and how that show is structured?

Amy Ley 10:08Yeah. So about four or five years ago, so about when we, we moved down to the Brewery District, we wanted to get into more collaborations. Uh, collaborations just create so many, uh, new visuals and new, new ideas, new concepts. So we've collaborated with the, uh, Ballet Met, with, uh, the museum, and that was where the Gallery of Echoes, uh, concept came through. Um, our in-house band, so Steve, our CEO and producer, started Shadowbox with rock operas-

Tim Fulton 10:39Okay

Amy Ley 10:39... if you can imagine. And then it became this sketch comedy rock and roll thing, and now it's come back to this rockumentary and o- other things. So Steve, being this lover of, of rock oper- opera and creation of that kind of genre of music, wanted to get that back. And, and the, the members and, and band members that we've had with us for about 25 years now are-

Tim Fulton 11:04Right

Amy Ley 11:04... are very good and, and can create, you know, anything. They've been creating these piece, these, uh, these pieces, whether they be a show based on a Japanese folk tale or a Gallery of Echoes type show. So that is our collaboration. We started with the Columbus Museum of Art, and, uh, they took about 25 pieces to write music and write the story through the music. What was going through the artist's mind, what the artist was going through at the time, and what they were trying to, what story they were trying to tell through-

Tim Fulton 11:38Right

Amy Ley 11:38... their piece. So we wanted to do that visually. Uh, we collaborated with the Mills James Productions and put a, gosh, I don't know, it feels like 100 feet long flat screen on our stage, which shows HD close-ups of each art piece from ... And it started with the Columbus Museum of Art.

Tim Fulton 11:58Right.

Amy Ley 11:59This year we, uh, collaborated with, uh, local artists actually.

Tim Fulton 12:03Okay.

Amy Ley 12:03So we're doing another Gallery of Echoes. It's coming up, uh, first weekend of November.

Tim Fulton 12:07Okay.

Amy Ley 12:07Um, so we're really excited to bring that one back. But- What they do through those Gallery of Echoes shows is go into in-depth photo, uh, and video shots, HD, of the brush strokes and pan out to things that the naked eye just can't see, and experience that visually. That's the first layer. The second layer is that the band is playing this music that is telling the story of what the artist was going through or what story they were trying to tell, and the band is playing that live while you have dancers in front in either costumes that emulate that era or, or-

Tim Fulton 12:45Or emulate the piece

Amy Ley 12:46... the piece-

Tim Fulton 12:47Right

Amy Ley 12:47... or platform that the artist was trying to. So that is the Gallery of Echoes show, and it is just a layered piece of art itself. It's like a-

Tim Fulton 12:56But it's much more a performance art piece than it is sort of, you guys break down the fourth wall a lot-

Amy Ley 13:02Yeah

Tim Fulton 13:02... at Shadowbox. This is much more a performance piece-

Amy Ley 13:06Yes, yes

Tim Fulton 13:06... sort of. And I imagine the music is not like, da-na-na-na-na, like-

Amy Ley 13:11Well, it can be

Tim Fulton 13:12... rock music.

Amy Ley 13:12It can be, actually.

Tim Fulton 13:13Okay.

Amy Ley 13:14Um-

Tim Fulton 13:14Well, depending on the piece, yeah.

Amy Ley 13:16Depending on the piece.

Tim Fulton 13:16But I'm thinking about water lilies or-

Amy Ley 13:18Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 13:18... Picasso-like pieces, that it's gonna be a little bit more subdued-

Amy Ley 13:23Um, not-

Tim Fulton 13:23... of a show. Or am I wrong?

Amy Ley 13:24No.

Tim Fulton 13:25Okay.

Amy Ley 13:25Not really. Some of the pieces talk about death and destruction or-

Tim Fulton 13:29And so they're gonna compose-

Amy Ley 13:30... war

Tim Fulton 13:30... like a metal piece for that?

Amy Ley 13:32Yeah.

Tim Fulton 13:32Okay.

Amy Ley 13:32And so you've got the, the genre of there's a little bit of rock metal, but then there's also a piece that is about this cherry tree in Cherry Alley and the memories of this couple who walked down the lane when they were, you know, this age, and now they're 50 and they're looking at it again, or there's also this other piece that's based on, uh, the eye, the third eye, so it's got a little Indian-

Tim Fulton 13:57But it is fair to say-

Amy Ley 13:59... East Asian feel

Tim Fulton 13:59... that this show is a little bit more subdued. I'm sure it's still an immersive-

Amy Ley 14:03Yeah

Tim Fulton 14:03... total experience, but very different than-

Amy Ley 14:06A sketch comedy and rock and roll show. Yes.

Tim Fulton 14:07Right.

Amy Ley 14:08It's very different.

Tim Fulton 14:09Okay.

Amy Ley 14:09And, and that's what I think, um, confuses so many people about us, like, "What do you do? Who are you guys?" Because we do these, these artful pieces like Gallery of Echoes, but we also do the sketch comedy and rock and roll where you can just-

Tim Fulton 14:22Which can get a little bawdy and raunchy.

Amy Ley 14:24Yeah.

Tim Fulton 14:24Indeed.

Amy Ley 14:24But it can hit you in the face with, um, yeah.

Tim Fulton 14:27Okay.

Amy Ley 14:28So we do a lot of variety there.

Tim Fulton 14:29But I mean, that's important, and that's what sort of keeps-

Amy Ley 14:32Yeah.

Tim Fulton 14:32You sort of have to change it up and keep changing it up to get people to keep coming back.

Amy Ley 14:36Yeah.

Tim Fulton 14:37Yeah. Talk sort of about, you know, you got into this to be a performer.

Amy Ley 14:41Yes.

Tim Fulton 14:41And while that is a large part of your work, you are also doing a whole lot of other things to contribute to keeping the wheels turning and keeping everything functioning there.

Amy Ley 14:52Yeah.

Tim Fulton 14:52How has that sort of shaped your view?

Amy Ley 14:54Ugh. I love and hate it.

Tim Fulton 14:56Okay.

Amy Ley 14:58I think when I, when I was in college, I, I was with this troupe, which to this day now I understand that it kind of honed my comedic skills. I had no idea at the time I would be doing sketch comedy and rock and roll later and developing all these zany characters. Um, but I was with the troupe, uh, on the Becky Thatcher Showboat in Marietta, Ohio.

Tim Fulton 15:18Okay.

Amy Ley 15:19And there was a troupe-

Tim Fulton 15:20Haven't had the pleasure.

Amy Ley 15:22It's on the bottom of the river now.

Tim Fulton 15:24Okay.

Amy Ley 15:25So you won't. Um, but what a, what a fun summer. I did a summer with this troupe, um, that did melodrama, and we marketed our own shows. We costumed our own shows. We, you know. So that started my engine of, oh, okay, I know how to do this. And, and I came back for a second summer the third summer of my college. So this is my thing. I never wanted to stay home and just chill at home.

Tim Fulton 15:48Right.

Amy Ley 15:48I always wanted to be doing something and be activated in my craft. What more can I learn about my craft so I can be just better at it? And I wanted to be this triple threat, you know. I was a nerd and watched Danny Kaye and the Marx Brothers, and that was who I learned from.

Tim Fulton 16:03Well, that's how you learned how to do pratfalls, right?

Amy Ley 16:05Yeah, exactly. This troupe was marketing, you know, we were marketing our own. We were, uh, costuming our own. And, and I think I had this epiphany that I just would get more out of my craft and my love for my craft if I could do all of it.

Tim Fulton 16:22Okay.

Amy Ley 16:22And so going to Shadowbox, it was right back at home and, and they said, "Hey, you're gonna be calling and marketing these people that come to the show and tell them about the new show." Okay, that makes sense. Okay, uh, now we're also going to call some companies and get them in here to have their holiday party with us.

Tim Fulton 16:38Right.

Amy Ley 16:38And maybe they have a spring event, and maybe they wanna watch this show, or they're a group of dentists that wanna come see the rock, you know-

Tim Fulton 16:45Let's-

Amy Ley 16:45... Little Shop of Horrors or

Tim Fulton 16:46... figure it out.

Amy Ley 16:47But it, it, it just always was a part of what I was doing at the time, and I never thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be great to go to New York and be a server, and then try to audition for this one thing and just..." I, I f- I felt like that choice would suck the life out of me.

Tim Fulton 17:05Okay. I mean, it's hard, certainly.

Amy Ley 17:08Yeah.

Tim Fulton 17:08And again, you do have the virtue of sort of having a certain amount of security here.

Amy Ley 17:13Yeah.

Tim Fulton 17:13Like, you know that you're gonna have a job in six months.

Amy Ley 17:16Well, I don't know. If people don't come back to the shows, I have no idea.

Tim Fulton 17:19If you don't get the dentists to show up to-

Amy Ley 17:21Right

Tim Fulton 17:21... Little Shop of Horrors, or, you know, have you reached out to botanists too? I mean-

Amy Ley 17:25Oh, yes. That's a very good idea.

Tim Fulton 17:28I mean, what you're saying without saying it is it's your role and everybody else's role there to get the butts in the seats as well.

Amy Ley 17:35Yes. Yes.

Tim Fulton 17:36So, and because that's what's going to make a viable company.

Amy Ley 17:40Yeah.

Tim Fulton 17:41I think, you know, there are, I could probably count on my hand the number of viable theater companies in town, and a lot of them are supported by more grant money than you guys are.

Amy Ley 17:51Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 17:52Because while you are a nonprofit, you are almost entirely dependent on ticket sales, alcohol sales, food sales-

Amy Ley 17:58Yes

Tim Fulton 17:59... to keep everything going.

Amy Ley 18:00Yes. And a lot of those, uh, other entities in Columbus are kind of turning their head at us, going, "What, how are you doing this? What are you doing over here?"

Tim Fulton 18:10Right.

Amy Ley 18:10You know? So a lot of them have tried to emulate our niche in that.

Tim Fulton 18:15Okay.

Amy Ley 18:15Uh, we do ask for grant money for certain projects.

Tim Fulton 18:19Mm-hmm.

Amy Ley 18:19But we aren't continually Funded

Tim Fulton 18:23Well, you get some support from, like, GCAC, right?

Amy Ley 18:26Yes.

Tim Fulton 18:26Okay.

Amy Ley 18:27When we ask for a specific project.

Tim Fulton 18:29Oh, but it's not ongoing support?

Amy Ley 18:31No.

Tim Fulton 18:31Or-

Amy Ley 18:31I don't believe so. No, uh, we're project oriented-

Tim Fulton 18:34Okay

Amy Ley 18:34... I think, when it comes to our, our, our asks.

Tim Fulton 18:37Right.

Amy Ley 18:38But that is something that makes us stronger, I think, because we have developed these just out of sheer, we have to get the people in the seats.

Tim Fulton 18:48Right

Amy Ley 18:48... these marketing, uh, ideas. And we can't just throw money at it, so we, we throw creative- creativity at it. We throw our young actors and performers at their passion for their art.

Tim Fulton 19:02Right. I mean, what would you say to more traditional theater companies and theater-goers when they're coming to check you out for the first time? Because it is sort... Like, I grew up doing theater.

Amy Ley 19:12Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 19:13And when I was working for the Columbus Alive, like, I would go and see a show. And it was a little bit jarring, frankly.

Amy Ley 19:21But that's the sketch comedy and rock and roll.

Tim Fulton 19:23Right.

Amy Ley 19:23You saw one genre.

Tim Fulton 19:25True.

Amy Ley 19:26You saw one genre of show.

Tim Fulton 19:27Right. But to an extent, I don't want my server performing for me. If that makes sense. What-

Amy Ley 19:34Oh, is it, is it... Why, ooh, uh, let me ask you that.

Tim Fulton 19:36Yeah.

Amy Ley 19:36Why is that? Why don't you want your server performing for you?

Tim Fulton 19:39Because I'm also not the kinda guy who goes to Dick's Last Resort because I have a perception of what I'm going in-

Amy Ley 19:45Interesting

Tim Fulton 19:46... a- and am going to get. You know, this was probably 10 years ago.

Amy Ley 19:49Uh.

Tim Fulton 19:50Uh, not that, you know, you weren't-

Amy Ley 19:51I was there. It might've been me. I might've of- offended you.

Tim Fulton 19:54Yeah, I don't think you of- of- ... I, I don't think it was that I was offended, it just wasn't what I expected.

Amy Ley 20:00Oh.

Tim Fulton 20:00That I expected... The fourth wall exists for comfort of both parties.

Amy Ley 20:05Interesting.

Tim Fulton 20:06Does that make sense?

Amy Ley 20:07Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 20:07I'm also not the kinda guy who, like, goes to an improv show because I feel uncomfortable when audience members are shouting things.

Amy Ley 20:14Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 20:15And that's probably just because of how I was raised in that art form.

Amy Ley 20:20Yeah.

Tim Fulton 20:20I, is I have an expectation of how this is gonna go.

Amy Ley 20:23And I'm the kinda person that will go to the symphony and want to clap when that section is done, just because I thought that section was done well.

Tim Fulton 20:30Right.

Amy Ley 20:30And screw your standards. I will not wait till the end of the song. I will clap because I love the artistry in that one section, and I want to applaud it, and I'm that asshole.

Tim Fulton 20:41But isn't there some amount of decorum that should be maintained?

Amy Ley 20:47Should it?

Tim Fulton 20:47Yes. I would argue.

Amy Ley 20:50Okay.

Tim Fulton 20:50I don't know. It's the reason why you can't touch stuff at the museum.

Amy Ley 20:54Hmm.

Tim Fulton 20:54You know what I mean? But you guys are a space for something different. This is something different.

Amy Ley 21:00Yes. I don't know. I feel like if you're, if you're not living and breathing the art, I don't f- feel like you're ever in it with me. If you're not feeling the bass because I've turned it up so loud you're feeling it in your heartbeat, I don't feel like you're in it. I don't feel like if I don't come off as grandma that was just in that sketch, and I don't come out to you in the audience and tell you to, you know-

Tim Fulton 21:23Sit up straight

Amy Ley 21:24... sit up straight, and, "Hey, you're obviously not trying on this date this evening." And I, and I harass people.

Tim Fulton 21:30Ugh.

Amy Ley 21:30You know? And it's, it's fun, and it's just immersive, and it gets you, gets your heartbeat going, I think.

Tim Fulton 21:36Right.

Amy Ley 21:36It makes you feel alive because it's, just has to. It's... So I agree with you. I'm, I think there is a line when you go too far to control an audience member to have to do something.

Tim Fulton 21:49Right.

Amy Ley 21:49I think, you know, if they're really not interested in doing it, they won't play along. And as an artist, I f- I don't know, maybe I just can read people a little better.

Tim Fulton 21:57Right.

Amy Ley 21:57When I feel like they want me to stop, I will stop.

Tim Fulton 22:00Right.

Amy Ley 22:00And I don't stop right there. I'll just come down and, and let them off nicely. Um, but-

Tim Fulton 22:05Well, and I am not saying that it's, that there's something wrong with it. I am just saying that it's different from what I expected, and I wanna-

Amy Ley 22:12Yeah

Tim Fulton 22:12... sort of, part of the reason we're talking today is I want people to understand what that experience is, and to experience it.

Amy Ley 22:19Yeah.

Tim Fulton 22:20But I guess I just want... I feel like people don't check out things like the symphony, ballet, theater, because it's not accessible to them. And so when you-

Amy Ley 22:32Yeah

Tim Fulton 22:32... provide a little bit of education for them of, like, this is what this is going to be like, that sort of lowers that barrier of entry, or at least that barrier of entry.

Amy Ley 22:42Yeah. Well-

Tim Fulton 22:43There are others

Amy Ley 22:43... uh, absolute. And, and what's so hard about Shadowbox is, is it's, uh-

Tim Fulton 22:49It's different every... It, I mean, it's different night to night.

Amy Ley 22:51Yeah.

Tim Fulton 22:51It's not even, like, different, you know, "Hey, we're putting up a different production in two weeks." It's literally this is a different show tomorrow.

Amy Ley 22:57You can come three times in one week to Shadowbox Show and see a different show.

Tim Fulton 23:01What's the ticket price right now?

Amy Ley 23:03Um, it ranges from 30 to $40-

Tim Fulton 23:06Okay

Amy Ley 23:06... uh, depending on the night of the week.

Tim Fulton 23:08Okay.

Amy Ley 23:08Uh, obviously Saturday-

Tim Fulton 23:09That's all general ad- general admission seating?

Amy Ley 23:11Yeah.

Tim Fulton 23:11Okay.

Amy Ley 23:12And we do have student and military discount pricing as well.

Tim Fulton 23:15Senior citizen?

Amy Ley 23:16It's senior citizen pricing, yes.

Tim Fulton 23:18Good to know. That does not include food or drink?

Amy Ley 23:21That's correct.

Tim Fulton 23:22Okay. That's separate.

Amy Ley 23:23That's correct. But, and we do group rates, and we do... We have actually our own in-house catering, so we do events. Uh, there's so many birthdays and anniversary events at Shadowbox. That's the other thing that I started to develop, are these little niche things that, that we could do to help people have even more immersive, you know, event.

Tim Fulton 23:45You're facilitating an experience.

Amy Ley 23:47Yes.

Tim Fulton 23:48Right.

Amy Ley 23:48So if you have a birthday party and you wanna get Elvis-

Tim Fulton 23:52Mm-hmm

Amy Ley 23:52... to sing to your wife, you can, or Marilyn Monroe to sing Happy Birthday Mr. President, or... You know, and they're just touches of little... I, I think that people, when they get off their couch and they get out of their homes, they expect something to get them out of the realm of whatever their depressive minds are in.

Tim Fulton 24:10Okay.

Amy Ley 24:10Uh, get me out of that space, you know, election, the whatever. Just get me out of that world. So when you come into this new world of Shadowbox, we're here to entertain you and get you outside of all of that crap.

Tim Fulton 24:24Okay.

Amy Ley 24:24And maybe that's where you feel like you're, you know, you're still holding onto that stuff, I'm a real person, but we don't want you to be a real person. We want you to be just, uh, just this, this sponge. Just soak up this fun and something you didn't expect to experience or think about.

Tim Fulton 24:41Okay. What's sort of next for Shadowbox? First of all, back to the ticket, like, let's say I'm there on a date. It's, uh, on a Friday night.

Amy Ley 24:50Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 24:51Am I gonna walk with, like, a $200 bill, 150?

Amy Ley 24:53I would say o- over the whole night you would probably walk with 150, $200 bill.

Tim Fulton 24:58Okay.

Amy Ley 24:58Yeah.

Tim Fulton 24:58So it i- I mean, it is an event, if you will.

Amy Ley 25:01Yeah. Come in. We have a full bar, and-

Tim Fulton 25:03Right

Amy Ley 25:04... food is really great, and just, it can be casual or upscale. So if you want an upscale night, we also have started to do reserved tables.

Tim Fulton 25:13Okay.

Amy Ley 25:13So our typical style of seating, you come in, it's first come, first served, and you may be sitting with another couple at another table. That's cool. They're not, you know, tiny, tiny spaces, so you have plenty of space, elbow room, if you will. Um, but you are-

Tim Fulton 25:27But it is sort of like a, at least for the seating, it is almost like a wedding setup in that-

Amy Ley 25:31Yeah, you're at tables

Tim Fulton 25:33... there are, like, eight, eight-top tables.

Amy Ley 25:33Eight-top, six-top tables.

Tim Fulton 25:35Okay.

Amy Ley 25:35Four-top tables. And unless you have a desire to do a reserved table for yourself, and we have that option, um, but we also have the option to do a staff party or a gathering or a, a retirement party or whatever. Um, and we have full catering, so you can have, you know, beef tenderloin carved to order at your banquet, and Haricots Verts, and tri-colored potatoes, and your, your wine served at your table. And, you know, we can do that fancy experience with-

Tim Fulton 26:05Right

Amy Ley 26:05... linens and china. Um, so I think that's why it's such a neat space as well. We've been able to turn it into a trade show for, uh, for companies. Um, we've done the Condom Couture event-

Tim Fulton 26:17Mm-hmm

Amy Ley 26:18... and turned that into a fashion show, which is really wonderful. We just completed a show last Wednesday and Thursday, uh, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame event, where the CEOs, I don't know if you heard about that, this-

Tim Fulton 26:31Oh, CEOs for Cities.

Amy Ley 26:32CEOs for Cities-

Tim Fulton 26:34Yeah

Amy Ley 26:34... uh, were playing, you know, their instruments. Uh, and it was great to have their staff in and their friends and family. But we can turn the space into pretty much everything. Uh, and, and it's, um, it's not your typical stuffy hotel section block of room that has fluorescent lighting and it's just, you know. It's a versatile space.

Tim Fulton 26:55Now that you guys have settled into that space after having, well, after having originally left the Short North, gone to Easton, come back, if you will-

Amy Ley 27:02Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 27:03... uh, what do you see as sort of, you know, the five-year vision? What, like, what's coming up next for Shadowbox?

Amy Ley 27:10We are doing some really interesting shows. The Gallery of Echoes show and the, we did a show last year based on a Japanese, uh, folk novel-

Tim Fulton 27:19Okay

Amy Ley 27:19... or folk tale. Um, and we worked with, um, a professor out of Osaka, Japan. W- I think that's the next level in entertainment, the Gallery of Echoes project being a project that could go to any city-

Tim Fulton 27:33Mm-hmm

Amy Ley 27:33... and go to any MoMA, if you will.

Tim Fulton 27:36Okay.

Amy Ley 27:36And say, "Okay, MoMA, what are the 25 pieces that you'd like to have?"

Tim Fulton 27:41Have us do a show around.

Amy Ley 27:42Yeah.

Tim Fulton 27:43Okay.

Amy Ley 27:43Exactly. Um, so we could do that nationally. We also-

Tim Fulton 27:46You guys haven't done touring shows-

Amy Ley 27:48No

Tim Fulton 27:48... before, right?

Amy Ley 27:48No.

Tim Fulton 27:49Okay.

Amy Ley 27:49Not at this time. I think we need a lot more a lot more performers to get that going and our shows going on.

Tim Fulton 27:54And a little bit more money.

Amy Ley 27:55Yeah, but we're always looking for great funding.

Tim Fulton 27:59Hint, hint.

Amy Ley 28:00Wink, ting. Can you do the ting sound there?

Tim Fulton 28:02Mm-hmm.

Amy Ley 28:02Okay.

Tim Fulton 28:03Yeah, I'll just add it in.

Amy Ley 28:04But this project of Gallery of Echoes can go to any city, any MoMA, and also that same... It starts with the band. It really does-

Tim Fulton 28:12Okay

Amy Ley 28:13... because that same band also just did a show based on this Japanese folk tale, and the head marquee designer, uh, David Mack out of LA, and he is a graphic novel artist-

Tim Fulton 28:25Okay

Amy Ley 28:25... w- associated with, um, uh, the Daredevil series. He is in Marvel right now deep.

Tim Fulton 28:32Right.

Amy Ley 28:32So he has another graphic novel that's coming up and probably is going to be on Netflix sometime, but-

Tim Fulton 28:39Okay

Amy Ley 28:39... uh, Kabuki.

Tim Fulton 28:40Okay.

Amy Ley 28:40The name is Kabuki. And so next year, 2017, we'll be doing a Tenshu of sorts kind of show, but not really. So it's, it's gonna be a graphic novel show, a musical/opera/whatever you wanna call it, but it's going to be a production. It's going to be visually stunning with... You know, it's a graphic novel that's just being told live on stage with this live, uh, live rock music. So it's, it's gonna be huge. Um, so I think that that's our next step of production. We're still continuing on with the musicals.

Tim Fulton 29:14Mm-hmm.

Amy Ley 29:15If you wanna come and see Scrooge, or you wanna come and see Little Shop of Horrors, or, you know, your classics, we'll always be doing that, and I think we'll always be doing the sketch comedy and rock and roll because we are great in our sketch comedy writing. It's always pertinent to, you know-

Tim Fulton 29:31To the time.

Amy Ley 29:31Yeah.

Tim Fulton 29:31Well, and you guys have a good, Jimmy Mack's a good guy, and you guys-

Amy Ley 29:34Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 29:34... have a good sort of stead of writers and performers doing it.

Amy Ley 29:39Yeah. And the band is always great, and we can always take cover tunes that are a- available to that theme that we're, that we're trying to produce that, that sketch comedy show toward. And the rockumentaries will always come along because there are people that die like Pink- ... you know, or like like, um, like Prince-

Tim Fulton 29:55Prince

Amy Ley 29:56... and like-

Tim Fulton 29:57And Bowie

Amy Ley 29:58... and Bowie. And we're doing that show in 2017, so there are always artists. You know, when, when Joe Cocker passed, we immediately did a Joe Cocker tribute show. You know, so there are always gonna be great artists to do that rockumentary style of show.

Tim Fulton 30:10Thank God that people are always dying.

Amy Ley 30:12Thank God.

Tim Fulton 30:13That's what you just said.

Amy Ley 30:14Did I really just say that?

Tim Fulton 30:16Sort of.

Amy Ley 30:17I'm-

Tim Fulton 30:17I mean, we're always gonna have content-

Amy Ley 30:19All right

Tim Fulton 30:19... 'cause people are always gonna die.

Amy Ley 30:21Great artists are always gonna die, you know?

Tim Fulton 30:23Right.

Amy Ley 30:23Um, we're always gonna wanna celebrate their life and their music.

Tim Fulton 30:28Right.

Amy Ley 30:28And we're always gonna wanna celebrate artists, whether they're alive or dead.

Tim Fulton 30:32Right.

Amy Ley 30:32Yes, I'm very cynical and very dark about- So sorry about that. But I think that that's our next level of show is to work with a live artist, David Mack, and, uh, his graphic novel and also the, um, I hope the Gallery Beckos project does pick up. I mean, it's such a brilliant idea to work with a museum, and how better to bring art to life but to literally do that?

Tim Fulton 30:56Bring it to life, right. What's the audience like at this point? And this is totally getting into, like, business, but are there 25-year-olds?

Amy Ley 31:04There's such a huge range. It depends on the show. It depends on what, what we've connected to them to their, their understanding of what they're even getting into.

Tim Fulton 31:13Okay.

Amy Ley 31:14I mean, there's so many people that do, "I was told it was cool, you know. I don't know how to describe this Shadowbox thing." And I think that that's our, that's our biggest monster in our face is we do so many different genres of e- entertainment and formats, and some formats that we're just making up ourselves, but it works.

Tim Fulton 31:34Right.

Amy Ley 31:34Um, one of the, one of my favorite shows that I brought to the creative team was burlesque. Now, I didn't bring the format burlesque. That's existed since, you know-

Tim Fulton 31:42Yeah

Amy Ley 31:42... 1920s-

Tim Fulton 31:43Yeah

Amy Ley 31:43... 10s, 20s. And I brought it up to do a burlesque show. As I said, we have great dancers. We have great bodies. But we can also do it in a way that it's classic to burlesque, to the early burlesque times. So I don't want any, you know, I was like, "I don't want any pole humping. I don't want any floor, floor humping. I want classy, teasy, feathers, and, you know, that kind of idea." And I had this, you know, I had this list of music that I wanted us to do live. So it always starts with the music. For some reason, it just-

Tim Fulton 32:15Right

Amy Ley 32:15... starts with that.

Tim Fulton 32:16Well, when you have a house band.

Amy Ley 32:17Yeah, I mean, and they're great. And they're also, you know, writers themselves, composers themselves. So I came up with that, and then through our comedy, Jimmy Mack and, and Steve got together and they said, "Well, let's do old time burlesque sketches or Vaudeville sketches."

Tim Fulton 32:32Okay.

Amy Ley 32:33So it just came together that that, boom, that's a new format of show.

Tim Fulton 32:36Mm-hmm.

Amy Ley 32:36And we do the burlesque show every year. And it's great because it's got this title, Burlesque. You know what you're getting into, but you don't really.

Tim Fulton 32:44Okay.

Amy Ley 32:45Because when you do get into it, you see in between each burlesque song is this old Vaudeville sketch that was done literally with other burlesque troupes in the '20s, in the '30s. And let me tell you, the characters in those sketches are so much fun, uh, because you're doing the voice quality that the, you know, "Come up and see me some time." "How you doing, Mr. Johnson?"

Tim Fulton 33:09Right.

Amy Ley 33:09You know, and it's just, um, it's just fun to play with that. So that show I was so excited to be such an integral part of it. I, I just, um, and now it's a formatted show that we do every year. The problem is, is finding Vaudeville sketches 'cause there are only, you know, so many years of them.

Tim Fulton 33:25Right.

Amy Ley 33:26Um, but they do bring up the greats, the, the great original sketch artists, the great original, you know, Laurel and Hardys, the, you know, the Marx Brothers, the, the voices that were used in, and they're just, they're just brilliant.

Tim Fulton 33:39Good. How did you originally get into doing theater?

Amy Ley 33:42So my mom tells me this story that she brought me to several productions because I was ADHD or something. I don't know.

Tim Fulton 33:48Okay.

Amy Ley 33:49She sat me down, and, uh, we were watching this show when I was about three. Eight when I started to get into performance, but when I was three she said I just would not sit still, and I just wanted to get up and play with them is what her- she tells me the quote is.

Tim Fulton 34:03Okay.

Amy Ley 34:03"I just wanna get up on stage, and I wanna play with them." So I think that that's kind of been my constant love of theatrics is I just wanna get up and create and play. And so my mom brought me to an audition for, you know, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-

Tim Fulton 34:18Mm-hmm

Amy Ley 34:18... in some children's production, and I loved it. And from there it stuck, and I think I got into the love of the discipline of it, the understanding that I could be better at it if I had more versatility.

Tim Fulton 34:32Mm-hmm.

Amy Ley 34:32So I got into that and really focused on I wanna be a great actor, I wanna be a great singer, and I wanna be a great dancer, but telling those ... Now my understanding of dancing and, uh, singing is if you don't have the acting understanding, then those two other things don't-

Tim Fulton 34:47Right

Amy Ley 34:48... don't compute.

Tim Fulton 34:49You're doing it falsely.

Amy Ley 34:49Yeah.

Tim Fulton 34:50Yeah.

Amy Ley 34:50So that's kind of where my, where my focus went. And I did a lot of, uh, local theater when I was in high school and went to college for music theater and was in those pr- or the, the productions at the university. Then, yeah, auditioned and knew I wanted to be with a troupe but just didn't know where. And my family had always been very playful and comedic at the table. So it was always the, um, best part is, is when you can get your brother to pass milk through his nose so it makes mom leave.

Tim Fulton 35:19Right.

Amy Ley 35:19You know, that's the goal of dinner. I don't know if anybody else had that goal at dinner when they sat down to dinner, but that's the goal of our family dinners.

Tim Fulton 35:26Right.

Amy Ley 35:26Um, so here's my father just laughing his ass off and my mom getting so pissed, um, and then just the m- me and my three brothers. And so that was just the, that was the goal. And I had no idea till later when I tried to teach sketch comedy and teach acting that that sense of play and that sense of camaraderie in play is, is so- Underdeveloped in young students in our, in our, you know, young actors today. It's, it's really, um, kind of scary. We've, we actually do have an arts training program.

Tim Fulton 36:03Okay.

Amy Ley 36:03So I, uh, had started to get into a, an understanding of the, of these students who just have their, you know, cell phones right in front of their faces and then aim, they emote with emojis. They don't emote with their bodies and their-

Tim Fulton 36:16Right

Amy Ley 36:17... physical facial tics or expressions.

Tim Fulton 36:20Uh-huh.

Amy Ley 36:20Um, so my love and understanding of that is kind of what, what fed me through and now I guess I'm, I'm loving teaching it and-

Tim Fulton 36:29So you guys do classes there at Shadowbox?

Amy Ley 36:32Yes.

Tim Fulton 36:33Okay.

Amy Ley 36:33We're not into adult classes yet, but we're-

Tim Fulton 36:35Okay

Amy Ley 36:35... we're going to be. We do a program with STEM-

Tim Fulton 36:39Okay

Amy Ley 36:39... uh, science, technology, engineering, and math every spring. We started with Metro High School-

Tim Fulton 36:44Okay

Amy Ley 36:44... as our base, uh, through Battelle, and now we work with several STEM schools to teach, uh, these high schoolers because, uh, th- they're getting out of their school science, technology, engineering, math, and there's no art.

Tim Fulton 36:55Right.

Amy Ley 36:55Art's centrally trained. So, um, we're doing a program which gives them an understanding of all three, acting, singing, and dancing.

Tim Fulton 37:03Okay.

Amy Ley 37:04Um, and we also have a boot camp program in the summer that we, you know, try to develop their understanding. Yeah, we know you just wanna be an actor or you just have this interest in singing, but here's the thing, you won't actually be looked at as an amazing singer or a musician or a dancer unless you have this base understanding of who you are and what character and what story you're trying to tell. So, um-

Tim Fulton 37:27Well, and what it is though is a summer camp.

Amy Ley 37:29Yeah.

Tim Fulton 37:30So it's a boot camp, right.

Amy Ley 37:30Like, so th- so there's a spring camp and a summer camp basically.

Tim Fulton 37:34Okay.

Amy Ley 37:34Um, but yeah, that, uh, we've been doing that for about four or five years.

Tim Fulton 37:39Okay.

Amy Ley 37:40And-

Tim Fulton 37:40And that is an audition entry program-

Amy Ley 37:43Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 37:43... from what I saw. Okay.

Amy Ley 37:44Yeah. Uh, up until about 21, young adults. The right age that they can under- they do already understand humanity a little bit, but not-

Tim Fulton 37:53Well, and they have a commit- they want... It's not like their parents are putting them into this. They made a choice to be there.

Amy Ley 37:58Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 37:59Right.

Amy Ley 37:59Yeah. Um, and not necessarily, you know, "I wanna be a famous actor someday," but maybe they just got into it because they wanted to be m- more outgoing or more expressive.

Tim Fulton 38:09Okay.

Amy Ley 38:09But even in their, "I'm so expressive," they're so tiny and I, I worry about these kids just, you know, they're watching so many things. Everything's at their fingertips, so they can go to a Google or a YouTube video or whatever, a Vimeo, and they're seeing it, but they're not expressing it themselves or they're not playing with it. So that's our biggest challenge is to get these kids to come out in front of their phones and play.

Tim Fulton 38:40In addition to the gig at Shadowbox, why do you choose to be in Columbus?

Amy Ley 38:46It's clean.

Tim Fulton 38:47It's clean?

Amy Ley 38:49It feels so clean. Columbus is just beautiful. It feels clean. When I walk down in the city, it feels clean. Um, I love New York.

Tim Fulton 38:56Where is it dirty?

Amy Ley 38:57I love Chicag- New York, Chicago. It just feels dirty. Like, I just-

Tim Fulton 39:00That's 'cause the sidewalks are old. It's not 'cause they're dirty.

Amy Ley 39:02I know that, but they just feel dirty.

Tim Fulton 39:05Okay.

Amy Ley 39:05Um, no, it is, it's clean. Um, and I love the... It's innovative.

Tim Fulton 39:10Okay.

Amy Ley 39:10This city to me feels so freely innovative and I don't know why those other cities feel like they would just be, you know, "Here I wanna be..." No.

Tim Fulton 39:20No, we're gonna push you down.

Amy Ley 39:20They've got too many layers of, of, "Oh, we're gonna push you down."

Tim Fulton 39:24Right.

Amy Ley 39:24Um, and-

Tim Fulton 39:25Well, and I guess, I mean, we touched on it earlier, but it's difficult there.

Amy Ley 39:29Yes.

Tim Fulton 39:29You know? It, one, it's super expensive.

Amy Ley 39:32Yeah.

Tim Fulton 39:32And two, it's difficult to get around, you know, with stuff.

Amy Ley 39:36Yeah.

Tim Fulton 39:36With physical things. And the combination of those two things makes actual living hard.

Amy Ley 39:42Yeah.

Tim Fulton 39:42And so then you can't do the additional things.

Amy Ley 39:45Right. And also I'm a love of nature. I w- and I love in Columbus that 20 minutes I can be out in a metro park or a beautiful, uh, you know, meadow wood space. So-

Tim Fulton 39:56Okay

Amy Ley 39:56... I also love that side of Columbus.

Tim Fulton 39:58And you're close to home still.

Amy Ley 39:59Yeah. And I, you know, I, my parents are so supportive and I, you know, I love being close to them and my family is, my brothers are fairly, fairly close as well.

Tim Fulton 40:08Okay. Great. Amy, thank you so much for your time today.

Amy Ley 40:11Thank you.

Tim Fulton 40:20Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, your family, your contacts, your enemies, your local actor. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. I'm your host Tim Fulton. Have a good week.