Today's draw was Jen Shackleton! I first met Jen in the theatre's 2018 production of Mark Twain's Is He Dead?, having already been acquainted with her husband Sidney from the earlier Spamalot production. In Is He Dead?, he and I formed a comic trio alongside a very significant TAPAS figure you'll hear about later; I was very pleased to unexpectedly receive a bombastic and show-stealing role as the fast-talking and scheming art student Agamemnon "Chicago" Buckner, and Jen played Chicago's demure yet fiercely jealous girlfriend Cecile.
I recall being nervous before rehearsals began, about the scene near the end of the show in which Cecile plants a spectacular kiss on Chicago. I'd never done that onstage; how does an actor become comfortable getting so close and personal with another actor? When the time came to rehearse the scene, Jen simply planted a spectacular hug on me instead, and that's what we went with all the way to performance day. So... I still don't know the answer to that question. It's probably not that big of a deal. Most actors have done it. But... yeah. It'd be weird to kiss somebody for a show. It's a part of acting I'm totally okay with not having experienced yet.
Shortly after Is He Dead? came the first official TAPAS project - recording the Irregular Webcomic! character soundsets for Icewind Dale. Following so closely on the heels of our production together, the Shackletons were cast as Alvissa and Mordekai. It was really fun to dip our toes into voice acting for the first time, from emotional surprises I didn't know my script had until they were performed, to having a hard time getting in the headspace for all the wordless grunting that goes on in a fight scene.
As time went on, I prepped for an upcoming return to Quincy by asking for auditions for Keys & Kingdoms - Jen took up my request to audition for Kinzie, giving her a posh accent I hadn't expected, shaping the way the character's been written and portrayed ever since... about two years after that, I was finally beginning to assemble the casts to actually start recording! Jen was all set to be the only person in both shows, being Kinzie and reprising the role of Alvissa for Irregular Fantasy!
But about half the actors I had collected had to drop out once the time came to seriously commit, and the Shackletons were among the last to do so. I soon learned why when they posted the announcement that Jen was pregnant with twins. Best pregnancy announcement ever: two Dungeons & Dragons character sheets, supposedly for an adventure scheduled to happen, oddly, in several months. The hint at what was really going on was found in the background: way off to the side of the character sheets was a small stack of books about being pregnant with twins.
So they have adorable twin girls now. It's always fun to see their many updates!
I finally got to work with Jen again recently in The Hobbit. So, not starring in both TAPAS flagship series anymore, but I hope she can appear in both shows in the future. I heard her mention once during Hobbit rehearsal that she only does non-musical plays because she can't sing. I'm always curious to what extent that's true, when people say that. Being able to sing in a stage musical is a very high bar for singing. Singing as an animated character, standards aren't quite as high. Just being in character can suffice sometimes. Depends on the role, of course.
And, there we go. Jen's been in since the ground floor and I hope our viewers get to hear her voice again.
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