Welcome to Make Pretend S1E1 TRANSCRIPTION

JOE:
INTRO
Welcome to Making Pretend. Did you spend your childhood running around the woods making pretend? Did you love making costumes as a kid? Was Halloween your favorite holiday? The answer is yes, then you are in the right place. And the answer was definitely yes on all of those questions for me.

The same is true for my best buddy and business partner, Eric Auger. We're co-founders of TEN31 Productions and we've made a life of making pretend. And this is our blog or a pod or whatever it's gonna be.

TEN31 is a living arts company that specializes in living statues, dances and historical reenactments for special events worldwide. And we're kicking off this project to celebrate our upcoming 25th anniversary of Making Pretend. And, that is mind blowing for me.

For the first time, we're gonna open up about the start of our company and we're gonna have members of our cast and crew share
their stories of being performers, creating costumes and our experiences along the way of this quarter of a century of creating experiences and special moments for events, weddings and marketing campaigns. 

And today, Eric and I are gonna kind of go over the origin of the company, but we're also gonna have a question that will be answered in 10 minutes and 31 seconds. And that's gonna be the thing.

When our guests come on, they're gonna have 10 minutes and 31 seconds to answer the questions. So then we're gonna learn more about this company and how it relates to the world today.

Eric, how are you? 

ERIC:
Oh, I'm just fine. Feeling good. Happy to be alive. 

JOE: 
Looking good.

ERIC:
Ooh, we're both looking good. Now that we're both in our 40s. 

JOE: 
40s, yeah, exactly. We'll do the math later. So let's get into it. Let's just talk about how this company started!  And I'm gonna keep an eye on the time. We're gonna go over a little bit of that history and then I'm gonna wow you with a question. 


ERIC: 
Ooh, I love to be wowed.

JOE:
So we started this company kind of spontaneously out of our love of Halloween. And that's how we came up with the name. And a lot of people who've been working with us as clients over the years, they all have that moment when they're like, oh, it's not an address. It's an homage to our favorite holidays. 
So tell the story. When did we start?

ERIC: 
I believe it was the year 2000. Many moons ago. And well, we're both creative people. We both loved Halloween. As you said, we both loved wearing costumes and we just wanted to find a niche where we could express ourselves creatively with the artwork that we were creating for ourselves, as well as the characters that we were pretending to be. And trying to find that niche where we could actually do it and perhaps get not only emotionally and spiritually fulfilled, but hey, maybe even monetarily fulfilled as well. 

JOE: 
Mm-hmm, yeah.
And well, what about umm, more about, I remember a fun and special trip to Montreal where maybe you got the spark for this?

ERIC 
Oh, you remember that trip? I don't know if I remember it too much. 

JOE: 
Some of it.

ERIC: 
Oh, yeah?

JOE: 
Not all  of it. I remember running down the street, listening to the milkman deliver milk. 

ERIC:
At 4 a.m.,  that's right, that's right. With an empty wallet and a misplaced hotel key. 

JOE:  
Yes.

ERIC: 
Well, yeah, I remember that trip. Well, how it happened was, you and I frequently took buddy trips together at that time, or at least once a year, we decided to go away and do something. And I don't know who decided Montreal, I'm sure it was you, because I was more the follower than the planner. So we decided to go up to Montreal for a vacation. And unbeknownst to us, it was serendipitously that the Jazz and Street Performer Festival, which is an annual occurrence there, was happening at the same time that we were there. And we were both really excited about that aspect. And as I remember it, we kind of split up for a little while and we're just kind of meandering and doing our own individual exploring. And I remember walking down the street and seeing these performers. It was actually, I think like a circus group that was doing juggling and they would just have this big round circle of people, they're performing in the round.

And I was just watching them and I was like, this is really awesome. Like, they're just like, I felt like I was immediately part of their tribe. Just like, it's just a bunch of people dressed in costumes.

They were just doing what they love and they had an audience of people. And no joke, I was standing there and then all of a sudden I was overwhelmed with emotion and I just started sobbing uncontrollably on the street and saying, what is going on? And I didn't know why that happened or what it meant. And I shared that with you and we both kind of ruminated on maybe why that could have happened.

And it all comes down to the fact that we were there bearing witness to these people, being passionate, living their lives and just quite honestly, doing what they love and being themselves in front of a crowd of people and the people were responding to that authenticity of self. 

So I feel that from there, that was kind of the catalyst of us trying to find ourselves a little bit in so many words. And we just decided to look back at our love of costuming and kind of rely on that as the catalyst of what we could do or maybe become.

And we pieced together our now infamous gargoyle costumes. 

JOE
Gargoyle, yeah.

ERIC:
We decided to march down to Providence. Well, we lived in Providence at the time. We walked downtown during a WaterFire event, and which is a combination of an installation of public art and the art is braziers that are in the river that are actual
bonfires. So there was a lot of atmosphere. 

JOE:
Hence, the fire and the water.

ERIC:
Yeah, it's not fire water, not fireworks, WaterFire. And we decided to go down there and kind of find a perch to sit our wings and our bodies upon. And we just kind of froze there as living statues and the rest is history, so to speak.

JOE:
Yeah, yeah, indeed. And they were very rudimentary costumes. Everything was spray painted. We had grease paint on us, which was real fun to take off all of your arms and face and head. And that was all fun. And now we use water-based (makeup)!

But also there, we just went down sort of spontaneously. We didn't ask for permission. We didn't contact the organizers. We just sat down and we p]caused a traffic jam right on the riverwalk. And the organizers came over to see what the hell was going on. And one of them whispered in my ear, “We love what you're doing, but call us next time. We'll find a better spot for you.” But then it was not until a week later where we were able to spend some of that cash and those dollar bills at a “clerb” in Providence. And we were sitting in the car, and we had both been working our regular day jobs. And it was the first time that we connected since the premiere performance of the Gargoyle. And we shared with each other our experiences and that we both had kind of simultaneously at this one point, in this one song, this aha epiphany moment that we felt.

And you said, oh, we're gonna cry…
You were crying in the thing (earlier). There's gonna be a lot of times that we're gonna be crying on this thing where I get choked up so easily. But that we were able to share with each other that we didn't know what, but we felt something that was like, reached inside of us.

ERIC: 
Yeah.

JOE:
And it was just like, this, this is it. And I mean, for me, I was not sure what I was really doing. I was in between like school and I wasn't sure if I was going on to grad school or not. And I was just like, I always said like, I just had heavy ropes on me because I felt like I was tied down, but I realized that I wasn't tied down. I just have to get up, move the heavy ropes, pick a direction and walk in that direction. Umm it was just because of that, I think whatever energy tapped into us that night that we were like, why we're here 25 years later, I guess doing the same damn thing!

ERIC:
Yes, for sure. I think that it was a very parallel universe inside each of us where it just felt natural and felt right. And remember that we are there, as you said, with spray painted clothes, with gray grease paint, with a gargoyle mask, wearing fiberglass feathered wings, and that felt right…

(Two laughing)

JOE:
HAHAHA That was it?  I need to be smelling the paint and having the grease paint and the sweat go into my eyes.

ERIC: 
EYES… and blur out your contacts. Yes, and we both had the contact lens murkiness.

JOE: 
Yeah, it's just hazy for a little while.

ERIC:
I mean, I think it's the old adage of follow your bliss. And what does that really mean? I don't think you can really explain what it means. You can just feel what it feels like.

JOE:
MM, hmm.

ERIC:
And it's when it just feels right, why wouldn't you just do it? 

JOE: 
YEAH

ERIC: 
So I think for us, it was like,we found this not a new language, but a new conduit for us to express this creative Energy. Umm it just felt right. And from the response that we got from the crowds of people and from the organizers of the festival, it transcended into, yeah, it felt right for them too, because there was a positive response to what we were doing.

And again, we can say we didn't know what we were doing because we didn't know what we're doing. But, I would argue that we knew what we were doing, we just…

JOE:
We didn’t know what we were doing… 

ERIC: 
(Continues)  No we did…we just hadn't ever done it before, but we did it because we were just doing IT.. 

JOE: 
Oh, we didn't talk about the character


ERIC: 
Exactly

JOE: 
(Continues) and somehow the characters were the same. And we were just like- Like gargoyle brothers. We didn't talk about how we were gonna move. 

ERIC:
No (we didn’t)

JOE:
We just put these things on us and, (tearing up) here I go again! We  just became like these twins, these like gargoyle twins. The gestures, everything was just like it was written. Yea…, that was weird. That was definitely weird. 

And then that ended up really informing sort of the whole style and gesticulations of almost all of the characters that we have now. Of course, variations developed from input from other performers later on, but sort of the spine of it is still there.

ERIC: 
Well, the thing is, it's like we had nothing to lose and nothing to prove. So I think when you have that, and some may call it naive, some may call it not epiphany, but the highest extreme of joy, like- 

JOE:
Elation. 

ERIC:
Yeah, elation.
It was just like, oh, that's what I was saying. Like we were just doing what came naturally to us, even though we had never done it before. So it's kind of, you can't kind of argue that even in yourself when you're so overcome with positivity and knowing that this is just right and just doing what feels right.

JOE: 
Mmmhmm, yeah

ERIC: 
It was, yeah, it was obviously a game changer for both of us as far as

JOE: 
LIFE CHANGING! Imagine a picture book

ERIC:
YEAH! Not only as humans, but no, I mean, just as humans in general. A total pivot.

JOE:
Yeah, total pivot. That's what I mean, like life-changing! But just imagine, like from that moment, the picture book, like a (flip) animation book, if you could at that moment, like see everything that would follow that moment…

ERIC: 
Oh my gosh!

JOE: 
(continues) and all the places we would go and all the people that we would interact with. It's bananas!

ERIC: 
That's the joy, that’s the of it being, you know, the, what's the word I'm thinking of? It's the origin, you know? It's like, it just, it was divine intervention, how it’s just, like the big bang, right? POW!

JOE: 
Yeah.

ERIC 
It just starts, you know, you can't really explain. 

JOE: Right. All right, listen, we've got 10 minutes left.

ERIC
I see, I see, yeah. 

JOE: We're gonna go through this and make it happen. But listen, I just wanna say, I wanna stay with Waterfire cause there's a lot that we're gonna share along the way on this podcast and all the stories that we share. So I just wanna stay right there in Waterfire. 
And before I do that, I just wanna give, I wanna give thanks to our (CHOKES UP), I wanna give thanks to our moms.

ERIC:  
Ooooh, yeah, they're awesome.
They were awesome. I mean, it was- 

JOE: 
Yeah, because they were, they were the ones that instilled in us the love for Halloween. 

ERIC: 
For sure. Absolutely. Yeah. 

JOE: 
So, God bless them both.

ERIC
Yes, and gave us permission to be- 

JOE: Be freaks haha.

ERIC: 
Whoever we wanna be, whenever we wanna be.
Yeah, with no apology. 

JOE: 
Yeah, yeah. And also that store-bought costumes were not acceptable. Or in the budget. 

ERIC: 
Yeah, or in the budget. That's probably why!!

JOE- 
Both our moms made our costumes. They, you know, really instilled a love of Halloween. You know, like my mom would dress up as a witch every year and hand out candy and play the music. And, you know, and it was all about that really special, special night that they both gave us in terms of costume making and celebrating this holiday that rejoices in being something different than yourself. 

ERIC:
Yes. 

JOE: 
So, sticking with Waterfire and- Yeah. And a lead in, but you're gonna have less than 10 minutes and 31 seconds to deal with
this one. 


ERIC: I will say this in three minutes, I promise. 

JOE: Mmmmm, we'll see. I also have a follow-up just in case. I want you to tell me about the most interesting, memorable, first thing that jumps to your mind, the experience of all the times, and that's probably been hundreds of times that you performed at Waterfire... What's the one that comes to mind right now? 


ERIC: 
Out of all the experiences, I would say the one that resonates with me the most as far as just feeling would be when we were performing as gargoyles and a woman came up to me and she stood in front of me and she just looked at me and I looked down at
her, and she said, I found out this morning that my son was killed in Iraq. And she just looked at me and here I am as a costumed gargoyle, I'm like, what do I do? And I was just like, I don't have to do anything. I opened my arms and she took a step forward. We embraced and I held her and she just started to cry and cry and cry. And I was just like, I'm doing it. I just need to be here for her at this moment and not say anything or not do anything and let me be there fully for her. And I held her gently and she released and let go and she looked up at me and she said, thank you.
And then she walked away. 

And of course, how can you not reflect on something like that? And it just taught me that sometimes there's too much effort in trying to be and sometimes you just have to let go of all of that and give up the ghost and not try to be anything or be anyone, just be there for someone else. And in turn, you are so fulfilled and so filled with joy and love just by doing nothing.

So that was my most memorable moment for sure. 

JOE: 
And when that happened and she let go and walked away, what did you think or what was inside you at that point with a complete stranger coming up to you and saying that and revealing that about themselves?


ERIC:  
It may sound strange, but I think elation is the word that would best describe it because I knew that I was there for someone else and it was effortless for me. And to think that just by being still and again, fully accepting this emotional tidal wave that she was letting go of herself, but it didn't impede me, it didn't ruffle my feathers - pun intended. It just went through me. And I think that I was just the sifter that she just let it go and it went through me and I didn't hang on to it, I didn't feel I needed to let go, it just went through me and back up into the universe. And I could tell just her demeanor was so different. It was almost like I had given her not a reward, but I had just, she just let go.

JOE:
 It was a release.

ERIC:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was effortless for me to do so. And I was so happy that I could have done that for her and been there for her.

JOE:
Yeah, you know, like people will say, the gargoyles are scary looking and stuff like that, but then when you're near them, they truly are sort of like what they were meant to be. That their gargoyles were meant to scare away the evil spirits. And so the gargoyle
has always been for me sort of like a little bit like a family dog, you know, a guard dog. And he's just, he's a great pet, you know, that's there to maybe keep those demons away. He's kept the demons away from me, I would say. 

ERIC:
What about you? 

JOE:
Well, we'll have to wait on that maybe for the next time that we talk, because we're almost out of time. And I want to tell everyone that next time we're going to be talking with Alicia Wilder, who is our, you know, our third wheel in a good way, and really propelled this company to create a dance company. And so part of this experience along the way was seeing how as a business we adapt and change and still focus on what we do well, but then also don't be afraid to try something else different, or Eric, as you always say, give ourselves permission to fill in the blank. 

And so next week, we're going to talk with her and get some of her background information and surprise her with her 10 minute and 31 second question. It was a little off time this time, but that's because it's our first time doing it.

So we hope you tune in again, and these will be available on our website along with transcriptions and also uploaded into the interweb to watch over and over and over.


ERIC Lovely.

JOE: So Eric…

ERIC: 
Happy Halloween! 

JOE: Happy Halloween, everyone. And thanks a lot. Bye. 

ERIC: Goodbye.

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