No, this isn’t the reprise of that one extremely weird number from The Addams Family musical when it first went up on Broadway. But it is, however, a really cool interview about a play that involves at least oen squid. Expect touching tentacles, diabolical spouses, ominous ticket takers, and more. If ever there was a grabbing tagline to get you excited about a world-premiere play, that would be it. And that’s exactly what you’ll get— especially the ‘and more’— with Truepenny Projects’ production of Chad Short’s Squidsbury. Taking time for a ZOOM interview, Co-Founder of Truepenny Projections as well as the Director and Producer of Squidsbury— Tessara Morgan, and playwright Chad Short, have given potential viewers the inside scope of what they can expect from this unique new world premiere play.

Thank you so much for sitting down with us and connecting with TheatreBloom to talk about your new show. Tessara, you’re the director of the show and involved with the company, is that right?

Tessara Morgan: Yes, I am the director for Squidsbury, I’m also the producer. And my partner, Luke Farley, and I founded Truepenny Projects back in 2017— no, actually before that in 2015 when we were living in Milwaukee. Then we moved to Baltimore in 2017 for my husband to pursue his career in painting and we just kind of brought Truepenny with us. We do plays but we also curate art galleries; that’s another thing we’re trying to get into what with Luke being a painter. So I’m Co-Founder of Truepenny, Director and Producer of this show.

That’s awesome. And this show, Squidsbury, is a new play by Chad Short. How did this show end up as a Truepenny Projects project?

Chad Short: Okay, so it is a long story. Well, I guess not a long story, but let me start at the very beginning. I actually wrote the original script [for Squidsbury] in 2015 in Susan McCulley’s playwrighting class [at UMBC]. I actually took the long-route out of UMBC; I was there for six years. And it wasn’t until my fourth year that they offered that class, so I jumped at it, and I wrote it there. It sort of evolved from there. There was a reading in 2017 with Interrobang Theatre Company. I was real close with Katie (Co-Founder and Artistic Director of ITC Katie Hileman) and actually David Brasington (Co-Founder of ITC) is on the puppeteer team for this show. It was nice keeping that connection. So that was 2017 and then I was cast in a show with Truepenny called Close Your Eyes and Sleep, when was that, 2019, Tessara?

Tessara: Yeah, it was another play we were workshopping. There were a couple of readings, we cast you in late 2019, and then… we were about to open… literally the week of opening… [insert Pandemic here] …we never had a chance. It never got to open. There’s no documentation of that show, it’s just a show that lives in our heads. We got to tech and that was it.

Chad: So that happened. During the Pandemic, the Close Your Eyes and Sleep cast and Tessa— we all wanted to with the project because everyone was asking and sort of hoping, ‘are we going to get to do it later?’ and we wanted to all keep connected. So we did readings of plays. We did a reading of one of the other cast members’ play. And then I said, ‘hey, I have this play, it hasn’t been read in a long time, it’s called Squidsbury.’ And we read it. And it was cool. We got notes, we talked about it. And then maybe six months ago—

Tessara: That might have been almost a year ago, Chad, that I called you. I think it was almost a year ago.

Chad: That’s crazy how time moves. But Tessara called and said she couldn’t get this play out of my head and I think we should do it. If you want to do it. And I was like ‘absolutely.’ From 2015, writing it, the reading— first with Interrobang and then over Zoom with Truepenny— to here. I think I got lucky, “hey let’s read this play” and Tessa really ended up liking it.

How does Squidsbury align with Truepenny Productions? Tessa, I know you said that it really stuck with you; what did you see in this play that made you feel like it was a good fit for Truepenny? What makes it align with the type of work that you create with this theatre company?

Tessara: I feel like at Truepenny— first of all, it’s all DIY theatre. It’s literally just me and Luke just running the show. It’s a quality show on a really small budget. That’s how we operate. I’m really inspired by the Baltimore DIY scene— Interrobang, ACME, just to name a few. What Truepenny does, especially with our plays, and I think that is just my style, there is a fantastical quality that we bring to our shows. I really love shows that are just on the cusp of our world. And I felt that Squidsbury very much represented that. It stuck with me because of how fun the show was and how cool it could look if we did it, from this DIY standpoint. This scrappy, intense show; I feel like we could do it right, if that makes sense.

We also tend to have very small audiences; this house is only about 30 people, and that was another reason why I thought this show could work. It’s a big cast. We have puppets. We have squids. We have other sea creatures that I won’t give away yet. I’ve always wanted to do a show on this scale with our type of audience size.

Another reason— and this is just speaking completely selfishly— but I really felt like I connected with the piece. I really enjoyed the themes that Chad was bringing to the table. There are themes of feeling lonely even though you’re surrounded by loved ones. The feeling of being a fish out of water, trying to find home; I know I’ve gone through that personally. I think a lot of folks in the cast have as well. I think those are a couple of the reasons. From a Truepenny standpoint, it’s a great fit. It’s fantastical, it’s edgy, it’s going to be fun on our budget, but also from a directing standpoint I just really connected with it.

There has been mention of the magic ‘P’ word a few times now. Let’s talk a little bit about these puppets! Chad, when you wrote this, were you envisioning puppets? Are they written into the script as puppets or has this come about as more of a directorial choice?

Chad: I guess realistically in my head I knew it had to be done some way. And puppets was the only way to do it. On the second page— tentacles appear on stage. The only real solution, unless you were making a film, is to do it with puppets. Once Tessa presented all these ideas, I was like “yeah, puppets, of course.” There’s no other option really. It has to be puppets.

Tessara: This is actually another reason I really wanted to do this show. Because it presented so many different problems, so many challenges we had to solve, especially these tentacles. How do we do these tentacles on a small budget? I had initially thought they were going to be flats, almost like a set-piece that we moved back and forth. But no, we quickly got into the puppet world. I found puppets last summer and decided “okay, we can do this.”

So you are new to the puppet world?

Tessara: Very new. Brand new. Brand spanking new, I would say. I’ve only directed one shadow-puppet show, which is like puppetry on sticks with lights. It was a BROS (Baltimore Rock Opera Society) show, Shadow Showdown. And now we’re doing puppet-puppets!

Very cool. Chad, what has this been like for you, marinating and stewing on this play for not quite a decade, that you popped out of a college playwrighting class, and now here it is with a real theatre, with a real audience. What has that process been like for you?

Chad: I can’t really describe it. I think Tessa can attest to the fact that every other phone call we have, I’m just like “thank you so much for this opportunity and for keeping me involved.” It’s just been incredible to see where it’s come from and how much more flesh the characters have now. They’re much deeper than they were seven years ago. That’s through collaboration. That’s through the reading and Tessa and I going back and forth. Tessa will send me notes and say, “I’m sorry for sending you this note.” And I’ll say “No, this collaboration process is exactly what I live for.” We help each other be better. That whole process from beginning to now, I’ve just watched— through collaboration— how much the script has improved and continues to improve every year. I think this is the best version of the script there could possibly be.

I’m super humbled and sort of still not believing that it’s happening. I’ve had short plays produced, I had a lot of virtual stuff done during the pandemic, but this is just a whole other level up. It doesn’t really feel real yet. I think until the lights go down it won’t really feel real.

We’ve talked all around the puppets, and other things, but what is this show really about— I know we have the description that you’ve put on the ticketing site, but if you were trying to entice people to come and see this, what would you tell people this was about?

Chad: Hmm. Tessa, do you want to take this one?

Tessara: I feel like the description is really good. When people ask me about the play, I say it’s about a person named Tina who is actually a squid and she’s forced to wear a human-suit by her husband. And I feel like that is usually enough to get people’s attention, to pique people’s interest. That’s what I would say, but to be more honest, when people ask me what the play’s about, I do talk a little bit about the themes. I talk about the whole ‘fish out of water’ notion, and how it’s about a person trying to find their way home. I bring that up because I think a lot of people can connect with that. I also just tell people that it’s a really fun show to watch. We live in this very scary world right now and I feel like this is a nice break from all of that reality. We do touch on some darker things and some harder things, but it’s just a fun show.

What have been the biggest challenges on the stage, onto its feet? I know you talked a little bit about figuring out the tentacle stuff and concluding that it had to be puppets. Have there been other challenges?

Tessara: I don’t want to jynx it because things have been okay so far! They’ve been going pretty smoothly. Obviously, Covid is still ever-present but we’ve went at that hard. We’ve been vigilant, we’ve had testing, and actually, our actors are still in masks [here in tech week.] They are going to be unmasked for the first time tomorrow [Wednesday of tech week.] So we have been taking that very seriously. I would say from a production standpoint, we are still taking Covid seriously.

As for the tentacles. Yes, they have been a challenge. The tentacles have been a learning curve. I’ve never designed puppets before. But once I assembled The Puppet Team, which is Isaiah Harvey, Jess Rassp, and David Brasington. Jess is incredible. She’s a puppet person around town. Once I assembled my team, I realized I may as well just design the puppets, rather than pay someone else, I’ll just do it myself. So we consulted with Jess, and David has been incredible. He’s helped me build all the puppets. I would say that was the thing I was most nervous for, throwing myself into this new endeavor. I had never designed or built puppets before this show. David and I took it day by day and figured things out and questions. Jess helped a lot with that. And then we also had Isaiah come in and try the puppets on and they gave us feedback, so that was a process that was difficult but it was difficult in a very fun way. And we are still problem solving the tentacles, but they have turned out amazing and I love them.

Chad, what about for you, what have been the challenges for you as the playwright? Often times the playwright isn’t available or isn’t included in the discovery process of a new work being mounted and produced for the first time. Have there been challenges for you?

Chad: I think my biggest challenge was just accepting that I was 3,000 miles away. I am in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in Washington state. I was in Baltimore for a decade and now I have just celebrated one year in Washington state. So I think, to leave Baltimore and then to have this opportunity happen in Baltimore— it felt like I had just missed it. Baltimore is my home so being far away was definitely tough. But that was less of an issue because Tessa and Luke, all of Truepenny, has just been incredible with keeping me involved. I sat-in on auditions with Tessa, I had a voice in the room for edits and stuff, and that just meant the world to me. Good collaborators, good friends, that’s what makes it all work.

That and then at the beginning, I think I was like walking through the script, and finding these moments where I was like “I know this has to go, but I love it so much. But it does have to go.” When you have a script that long, these pieces of things that you really don’t want to delete but you know they have to go? It’s difficult. And I have them, they’re saved somewhere on my computer, but they’re gone from the working script. Those two elements were my biggest challenges but they ended up not being so challenging because of how inclusive everyone has been all throughout this process. I actually hop on a ferry at 6:30pm today (July 12, 2022) to begin my trip back to Baltimore. I will be there for opening weekend.

Is there a moment in the show that defines what this show means for you? Some instance, somewhere in the show where the heart of the message really just connects to you? I know you, Tessa, had mentioned the overarching themes of ‘fish out of water’ and ‘finding one’s way home’, is there something specific— and you don’t have to give too much away— but is there somewhere that you find yourself gravitating to in this play?

Tessara: For me it’s definitely the ending. It’s just really beautiful and peaceful. There’s a lot of tranquility. I’m so sorry that’s ambiguous and I know I’m not really giving you any information. All I can say is the character of Tina finds a sense of peace or tranquility at the end. At the same time, you feel— what is this feeling? I can’t find the word for it. I love the ending because you get the peace and tranquility but you also get this feeling of ‘what is going to happen next?’ You’re still sitting on the edge of your seat. That’s a really hard feeling to get at with writing. That’s a very difficult thing to do, I feel, and Chad has done a really good job with that. The design work for the show has also supported that. It’s very mysterious; it’s great. It’s a very good ending.

Chad: It sounds like a cop-out, because I told Tessa to go first, and while she was talking, I’m thinking, “is the end the part that I like the best?” I have to agree, only because the ending that you will see this weekend is the literal, exact opposite of what my first script was. It couldn’t be more night and day in how it ended. There’s one particular line that is very similar to my dedication in the script that I have been able to work into the script. It has to do with safety and just feeling safe. And that’s all I’ll say.

What has being a part of Squidsbury with Truepenny Projects taught you about yourself?

Chad: This is tough. I think the older I get, this process especially, has taught me that change is good. I think no matter what, as an artist, I have to always be okay with change. Always. There are times when you have to stick your foot in the ground, but for the most part, it just reinforces for me how important change and collaboration are. I think there can be a lot of ego involved without it. And I’d like to think that throughout this process I have been able to, piece by piece, let go of some ego and let this play be in the hands of people that I trust, and know that I trust them. I wake up in the morning and say, “hey, this play is in good hands. I don’t need to worry so much.”

Tessara: I’m trying to think because there have definitely been a lot of little lessons learned. I feel like I always have the same lesson to learn. And maybe this isn’t a lesson learned but for me, I wish I had more time to rehearse. Not because we’re not in a good place but I wish I had gone back to my regular schedule of having more rehearsal just because I’m sad to see this show end. I feel like we’re starting to find all of these beautiful things but now we’re opening! I think the biggest thing, and I’ll kind of echo Chad a little bit, it’s relaxing the ego a little bit and knowing that the show is in very, very good hands. And I mean that more on the designer side of things, specifically going back to the puppetry. Usually when I embark on something new, or get into something that I’ve never done before for— like with this, specifically, the puppetry— usually what I tend to do is just do it all myself. Because I honestly don’t want to put the work on someone else, that’s where that comes from. I hate to burden other people.

So like with these puppets, I found myself saying, “Okay, I’ll just figure it out by myself” but that actually did not end up happening. I made sure to really talk to Jess and talk to David. I have to say that the puppets ended up being a complete collaboration between myself and David instead. And I think they are so much stronger for that. I guess the lesson I learned was really rely on collaboration, especially on the production side of things, outside of the rehearsal room. Even with costumes. This is the first time where I’ve asked help for the costume designs. Usually I just say, “hey, go find your costumes.” But this time I actually brought in someone. I asked a friend, and she said yes, and I think overall the lesson that I’ve learned is just asking for help and really relying on my other artist friends to help me with the design of the show instead of doing it myself. They’ve really come through, it’s amazing, and I’ve definitely learned my lesson to just ask for help.   

What is it that you are hoping people will take away from viewing Squidsbury? What do you want them to leave the theatre talking about and discussing?

Tessara: So usually with my plays, I want people to walk away feeling uncomfortable. Or feeling haunted. This show, I have to say, I really am trying to comfort people with this show. I want people to feel entertained and I want people to feel this weird happiness and not be sure why. I really am trying to make people feel happy with this show. Which is weird for me to say, because usually my plays are trying to do the opposite. Chad will tell you, Chad was in it. He was in Close Your Eyes and Sleep. And that show was uncomfortable! Usually I really go into the uncomfortable. But with Squidsbury I really am trying to make the audience feel a little warm and fuzzy, if I’m being totally honest.

I’m very excited to overhear conversations after the end of the show. There are these two characters— the ticket takers— that are these funky, ominous character that are really up for audience interpretation. So I’m really very excited to hear what the audience thinks of them. And with that being said, the ending of the play is totally up for interpretation as well. It will be interesting to see what the audience takes away. I think, depending on the person, it’s going to be a totally different takeaway. That’s happened in the cast already. Depending on that person’s background, where they come from, and the life they’ve lived, they’ve had completely different iterations on what the ending is. And that has been so fun and we’re completely embracing that. I’m excited to see how the audience reacts as well.

Chad: I’m going with my gut, which is what I thought while Tessa was talking. I hope you walk out of the theatre and I hope you call your parents and tell them you love them. That’s what I hope. And call your friends and tell them that they’re good friends and why they are good friends. That is what I hope.

You’ve mentioned the cast a couple of times now, and I would be remiss not to ask about them, what has it been like working with this particular bunch of people and were you able to find everybody that you needed or was it a lot of scrambling around to get the show cast? Just overall what’s the process with this cast been like?

Tessara: It has been just a pleasure. There has been honestly no snafus. Other than the typical Covid stuff, but nothing outside of that. For the casting process, we actually had a lot of interest and we could have cast this show like three times over. The people we ended up picking, everyone has really gone above and beyond. They’ve taken their characters into these beautiful spaces. You know when you’ve gotten to the good place in your show when you’re asking the person who’s playing the part questions. You’re relying on them to answer your character questions from now on and you can totally trust them with the character. I would say it’s just been an absolutely pleasure. Everyone has been extremely kind; everyone is here ready to work and they really give it their all. And everyone really likes each other. I have to say that— it’s a very fun group. We get a little loud. And we get a little rowdy. There is a lot of personality in our cast. It’s very easy for the characters in this piece to be very two-dimensional, just because there is a little bit of character acting, but they have all just totally risen above that. None of these characters come across as two-dimensional. They’re like five-dimensional with these actors. This cast is extremely dynamic. They’ve really made these characters their own and that’s all you can ask for as a director.

If you had to sum up the Squidsbury experience in just one word—

Tessara: OH NO.

Oh yes. Just one word— what word would you use?

Chad: Tessa, I’m cheating, because I have the list from when we read.

Tessara: Oh come on!

Chad: Whatever you say, I’ve got it. We’ll do it in tandem.

Tessara: That’s so hard! I want to say— Chad, you go first. I need time to think. Because one word is hard. I mean, I guess I can say it— because my gut is saying it— just, HOME.

Chad: I think if it’s not home, it has to be FREEDOM. Home is the actual word. That’s what it is.

Tessara: Belonging is another word that sums it up for me. Belonging.

Chad: Can I add just one more thing? You were mentioning what we might say to get people to come to the show and I just wanted to add— if you are a person who has ever felt for any reason uncomfortable in your own skin or that you don’t belong somewhere, this is a play that you need to see.

That I think covers every human ever.

Tessara: Exactly. And I think that speaks to why we picked the play as well. So yes. If that speaks to you, then that is another reason to come see Squidsbury.

Squidsbury plays through July 31, 2022 with Truepenny Projects at The Mercury Theatre— 1823 N. Charles Street in the Station North Arts District of Baltimore City, MD. Tickets are available for purchase in advance online.