This Podcast Is... Uncalled For - Elizabeth Young-Collins (Fringe Adjacent)

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

Elizabeth Young-Collins has a show in 2024 KC Fringe - "A History Tour Hijacked" - and was kind enough to ask us to be on the podcast to talk about her show, the life experiences behind it, and her thoughts on Kansas City as a first-time visitor. You can find Elizabeth's work at www.youngsings.com  

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Dreamers Rise and new worlds Make Hi everybody Welcome to the podcast I have Elizabeth here today So go and introduce

yourself please Oh, sorry, I thought you were talking to someone by the name of Ben. So Elizabeth Young Collins, and I wrote a show called A History Tour Hijacked based on some life experience of being a tour director myself, tour guide in Washington in the spring for 15 years now, I think. And I had a play to write, and we were moving and some health problems on loved ones. and I just realized I better take the time to write about something I know. So I wrote about also my love of country, my love of having your dreams come true,

and I do think of America as a land of the dreams of dreams. And I have for years shown people the United States Capitol, the White House, and all of the monuments of memorials, a city of great vistas. So I combine. Now, can you hear me okay? because I got it great. I gained a great headphones. Okay, great.

Okay, yeah. So thank you. It was nice of you to invite me to the podcast. Well, you and any other French artist I wanted to do it. So, yeah, at D.C. I was in D.C. in 95. On, believe it or not, a high school trip, I was in Navy Junior R.R. T.C. all four years of high school. And that includes going to different naval bases.

Well, I got to go on a trip to the Hampton Roads area, so Norfolk, Virginia Beach. And that's the primary part of the trip. But we took a couple days, went up to D.C., got to tour to Capitol, got to drive around D.C. saw the White House, back when they still allowed to traffic around the White House. So Arlington Cemetery, Union Station, and then the next day, they let us lose on the mall. Okay, good.

Yeah, the National Mall. Am I disturbing you? Oh, okay. I tell the things I tell them people. I've disturbed my husband, so I figured I must have disturbed. He is up in this October. But one of the things I like to do in the show is I pretend, you know, he's not British, and I talk about how the mall,

actually I don't bring this up in the play, but anyway, that the mall is a British word for a grand sword of grass. And it's not the mall like Tarje or whatever. Right. So, yeah, and James Smithson, now he was buried there, and that he gave us some money that finally John Adams went and got for us, build the Smithsonian Institution to create all those museums. So it's kind of fun.

So, yeah, well, I'm lucky enough to have gotten into the trifecta, which is Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Indianapolis. And I live half an hour north of Indianapolis. That's awesome. Yeah, I had to look up your hometown on the fringe of website. Yeah, you're just outside. kind of like, yeah, it's the suburbs of Indianapolis, yeah. Yeah, suburb, yeah.

So when we moved there, so we had lived right near, I lived only 12 miles south of Boston and south Boston, and I'd been in the parades and sung, you know, for St. Patrick's Day and also. So when we moved, I'd lived over 30 years in Boston. So when we, my husband asked me how I'd like to live, how would I like to move to India? He got this dream job. I said, and my response was, you mean, how would I like to go to hell?

I was not happy because when I was a teenager, my father's hair, I was one of 70s. Like, here, take my gremlin, go across the country, go to California, how fun. You know, I stayed in K-Oa campgrounds by myself. And anyway, I remember just being so flat. However, I moved here and everything was, you know, I didn't know anybody and there were a lot of roundabouts. I was dizzy. I went to the Indy Fringe to volunteer because I was sitting, you know, I was in the suburbs, this HOA, right, Homeowner Association.

And this older woman came up to me before I volunteered at the Indy Fringe. This woman came up to me and said, she said, are you retired? Does your husband still work? Do you have children? Do you have grandchildren? Do you have a church? And I was like, no, no, no. So I thought, oh, my God, they think I came here to die.

So in that area of Zinesville, I'm a little bit more liberal than some of the others. So I moved to, I mean, I volunteered at Indianapolis to be with other artsy, fartsy people. And then the next year I wrote my own show called Why Be Normal and You Really Are Extraordinary. Right. It was nice to be in company of people who don't care so much about being normal, whatever that is. Yeah. As they say, it's just a cycle on a washing machine. Yeah, I agree. I agree with this. So, yeah, first time in KC.

Yeah. It's wonderful. We just had, well, I think I told you, it was trying out these different places. So we were lounging around. He had a business meeting, my husband. So we found this place, the corner cafe, where we could have breakfast all day long, delicious food. And then I went to Lulus for Thai food. And we heard that Jack Stacks was good for barbecue. So we went there. So we are being a typical tourist as well as myself hounding Danny. Because I'm the producer and I wrote this show. And I originally had a woman actress play opposite me. And she unfortunately had a friend who is deafly ill. So she had to pull out of the show.

So I had to rewrite it. And I'm sure it's actually better. But now because this guy, my husband, plays a heckler and he's been doing that for a long time anyway. all right cool cool yeah so so yeah a couple of things yeah yeah the i have not tried the corner cafe yet myself up in riverside right yeah so uh those i'm familiar with the area riversides uh a northern suburb it's a northern suburb yeah we got up too late to go again to et cetera. Exeter.

Oh, yeah, that's actually pretty good. Exeter. S right next. South Plaza next to Minsky's. In fact, I think it's the same company owns both. Okay.

So tell me about your how you got involved in the fringe if you don't mind. Oh, not problem. So 2011 was my first year volunteering for fringe. And I've been a French volunteer

sense. In fact, I'm a fringe volunteer for this year's festival too, so in addition to being a performer, you know. One year I did a video, actually, for fringe. It's part of my volunteering. I came to be a performer while I started the podcast in 2019. 2020, I really wanted to do interviews in front of a live audience, and we know what happened in 2020. repeat 2021 and 2022 the life fringe starts back up

but everyone in my house except for me got COVID a week before this festival so they forced me to do virtual fringe that year last year just volunteered but this year now let's try it again and so far it's been

it's been pretty good it's been pretty good so far yeah super yeah I just saw, yeah. So I've really, yeah, I'm very grateful to be here. And, yeah, I thought it was timely also about what's going on in the world. Because one of the things I do say whenever I give a tour of Washington, which is all. Is that I don't discuss politics, religion, or dieting.

And then when everybody gets along well. So in this show, I just vaguely refer to George Washington, when he took designs for the White House, did not want to have a mansion or a palace or even a resort hotel like some of those rulers in Europe. And so he designed what some would consider a modest domicile for the greatest power in the world.

I was speaking, of course, about the president's wife, the first lady. And they go into stories and they have to decide whether I'm telling the truth or not. Last night I gave out lollipop. and that was pretty good. That's cool. If you get the answer correct of the history,

I give you a lollipop. It's a lot of fun. It's a much lighter show than the one I did last year, which addressed issues of alcoholism. Last year was the Betsy show, but I didn't do it at Casey Finch. I've had that translated into French. And I do sing in French in this show

because I was a French English teacher. Yes and years ago, but I decided to use that talent in the show as well. and talk about how France helped us in the North Garde Independents. Mm-hmm.

You know, independent. Good deal. Good deal. Yeah. So I've been through Indianapolis a couple of times as we talked over to the phone. My dad's from Pittsburgh originally.

So we would always you know, I'd take 70 out to Pittsburgh and going back and it goes through Indianapolis. I'd probably should make a point to a visit at some

points, especially during basketball season. Oh, yeah. Because I've, because the Pacers have long been my team. Okay, great. Yeah. Mini-app. Big section in the downstairs where you could come and stay

with us. Oh, nice. Nice. We just built the house, you know, after a fire, so it's kind of fun. Like, hey, this is a whole new apartment. We were able to redesign some things with the insurance company some. But anyway, sorry, so you're going to come to

Indianapolis? I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking about it. It's on my to-do list. When? We'll see. But it's my to-do-this. Minneapolis, I have been, and I swear, it's one of the most beautiful cities in the United States, my opinion.

Absolutely. My mother was born in St. Paul. My cousins all live in Minneapolis, and they're going to, they're helping me promote this show because I, you know, obviously, I'm not there. but also because they helped me last year when I was in it. And what a blast, you know. I had one show that was at 10 o'clock on a Sunday and two people showed up and I was grateful for those two people because I thought I'd be like if I have anybody this late at night, right?

Anyway, my cousin. That was my show last night at 7.30. Oh, okay. Just a couple people showing up and one of them I'd been on the podcast before. Okay, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. So, Danny has some people that he knows from work, and this one man bought 20 tickets for his staff.

But unfortunately, because of my husband's medical thing, we have to go back down to Indianapolis. So we had to cancel the July 27th concert. And that was kind of just pointing to me. But anyway, his health is more important, of course. Yes. In the fact that he's a co-star. So, but anyway, three of them are going tomorrow night. They just called and let us, they wanted to take us out to dinner.

But I don't know about you. I don't usually have dinner with people before a show because I'm, I don't know. Well, I'm a venue that's serving foods to the, the, yeah, Black Box Theater. Well, I know they serve alcohol, but do they serve food? Yeah, I'm at the Independence Boulevard Church. So, and they are, and they are serving, yeah, nachos and burritos. Yeah, that's good, yeah. And as well as some alcoholic beverage.

and I'll not call on beverages, so, yeah. Okay, cool. So that's pretty cool. You never know. You think, oh, no one's going to come, but you don't know who lives where and who knows who. Yeah, of course, Independence Avenue. I know that the French volunteers have been asking,

yeah, can we get more volunteers to do Independence Avenue because not a whole lot of people have been doing it? it's notoriously a bad part of town but the venue's been fantastic and had no problems with parking or

anything. It's just got that reputation to it you know. Now, but isn't it near the bird where you have been performing or not? It is not. It is actually northeast of the bird. Okay. Because I

saw something i thought of that i thought was the name of okay i'm still getting to know the town getting to know about it yeah okay and uh and you told me you were a stand that's the fair fair fair fair field uh in uh union hill right yes so you may notice to some uh street car construction oh more do yes yeah that'll be open next year so if you come back for a fringe next year yeah you get to you'll be able to hop on the street car get to the crossroads the crossroads stop is like literally a block or two from the bird so right right okay yeah no no i've noticed that okay yeah well we're in the black box theater which is kind of like you know speaking of union is out on union anyway it seems kind of out there you know like way away

from yeah west bottoms right but people yeah but people have been coming So next year Praise God or whatever you want to say Dear God willing Not that I particularly religious But I do think there's some power out there Taking care of things that I can't control Anyway, I'm trying to say

Coming back next year would be fun Because I know my lay the land a little bit more Sure Yeah, so that would be It's always a lottery, right? As far as you know Yeah, it's, yeah, in terms of, yeah, just living, you know, we have to do what we got to, like, like this past week, I've had a borrowed car. My car is currently in the shop.

Oh, my gosh. So, how have you been able to handle that? Like, is it just? I'm borrowing my dad's car right now. well i know like jordan is the guy at magician you have you heard of jordan anyway he yeah we met briefly at the previews last week because uh he's also been at the indy fringe where i first met him but he i went to his show and he was saying something about um oh not saying something about he introduced me to the woman who is putting him up um what do they call that

harboring him she's harboring him because he's a no what's it called when you put someone up. Building. Yeah. Anyway, lovely woman building him. We looked into building in another French festival and it didn't go well. The people must have thought we were like 25 and we wouldn't mind living on a hard floor. Okay, we're going to a hotel, honey. But this, that's why we stayed at this hotel. But we have to start applying for grants and stuff like that. So that would be helpful. It's just a thrill to be. be here and it's a thrill to be able to do it so I'm grateful great yeah I got a good review the woman said that it was fun and I had a lot of energy and that um it was she said if you're a history

and travel nerd like I am you're going to love the show she said she highly recommended it so I've gotten one review yeah I haven't any one review yet at least not on the website but after our first show, someone did a couple of saying, hey, you guys were fun today. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Yeah, I think it's a wonderful thing to take some time to

just get away from you know, bad news and all this media stuff about the thing that I, why I really wanted to do the show was that there is, for me anyway, so distracted by celebrities and news

and dramatic and traumatic and or it's all about how great other people are or not you know there's a lot of gossip and it's about personalities so I thought I really wanted to do a show about the principles that

this country's founded on and also founded on a lot of violence especially for the indigenous tribes and stuff like that but at any way it's also you know balance of government checks and balances and all this and people who fought for what they believed in

and died for what they believed in. And so it's about a dream and how you have to fight, you know, focus on who you are because in each one of us, you know, we are gifts to, we are, there's no one else like you or me, right? And so the story is about focusing on principles, not personalities and on your own history,

you know, because I go on about these people, of course, historic like George Washington and Piers Cholphevon, but the key is like, you know, to really honor yourself and all your creation, and that's why like you create obviously in the really cool because I think that with all of the busyness

and all of the media and the distractions could be very easy to just go through life and never create anything of your own which is another good reason to move to a place you've never been because then you have to suddenly you know make some meaning out of your life so thank God for the fringe festivals

to enable us to create and write our own shows And it's really, really cool. All right. Well, thank you for your time. Did you have any questions you wanted to ask me? Is there any place in the KC you want to try out before you had? Well, I don't know enough about it, but I'll take any recommendations you have.

Okay, so a couple blocks down from where you're standing, there's another great barbecue joints. It's called Gates. Oh, Gates. I did see that sign. Okay. All right. Is my husband a lot of his barbecue? I will warn you, though, when you walk in, they'll scream, Hi, my help you.

They will scream that at you. So be prepared for that, but the food is outstanding. Okay, great. How does it compare to Jack Stacks? Do you like Jack Stacks, too? Jack Stack is a, is a, is a, classier than Gates

but still just just pretty good yeah okay and of course I'm not supposed to ask you about comparisons

something about just two last week I think I've heard this twice comparing is the death of of creativity

or something like it now now it comes a barbecue I will gladly compare barbecues around the place

but yeah that's really literally a 10 minute we're not even from here Gates so cool yeah yeah

now these people are coming down from Chicago to see the show hopefully they're also coming here for work

or whatever I mean I'm thrilled that they're coming they called anyway so I said to Danny how many people

you think we're going to have at the show tomorrow and you said three so we know at least

anyway they want to take us out to ice cream to Betty Grable's or something like that Beta Grable I'm not familiar with that one soon

okay I'd probably have the name on all right or it could be a place in our bins yeah yeah yeah

so that's our addiction if you will we don't drink alcohol so we have ice cream there you go I have a website by the way if I could put that out there

for you yeah do it okay because I do sing professionally I love to sing people's happy, happy birthday, you know, whatever. I do a lot of concerts that are concerts. It says you are chatting as a guest, so I can post this on here. Yeah, go ahead.

And you can, okay, oh, you're doing the chat thing. Okay, I show the chat. Okay, there I am. All right, it is youngsings.com. Yes. So, yeah, I've been singing since age 40. I became a tour director, tour guide since age 50. And at age 60, I became, started to emerge. And now apparently I'm a full-fledged playwright according to my director. She's worked with Harold Prince on Broadway. And so she's very experienced and she's still

working with me. She told me I wouldn't take no for an answer. So I guess that's good. To have, you know, a lot of, all it takes, right, is one person to support you and help you. And it's just really, first it was my husband and now it's my director. Right. Oh, well, it was my mother, I suppose. Maybe my father, I don't know. Anyway. Yeah.

That's funny you mention it because I started this podcast when I turned 40. Very cool. Yeah. So you're probably younger than I'm. I'm 69. I'm 45. Yes. I figured you were when you said that you'd, yeah.

yeah so in 1995 is when i got my first singing gig all right i would have been a yeah that was the same year that i took that a trip to dc when i was a sophomore in high school so so cool yeah it's fun to be here and fun to be and that's i suppose another theme is that you know someone said to me um what do you say said something like oh you're finally becoming a star at eight is it in an old age or something or I don't know and I said I'm a bloom

I'm a late bloomer but at least I bloomed yeah if you start thinking you're old something your body starts going there right so good deal

go on trucking good deal all right all right well I think we'll go and wrap it up here so thanks for thanks for agreeing to come on

and best of luck with the rest of your shows. Thank you, Mike. You're so kind and very exciting, fun to meet somebody else in Kansas City. All right. I appreciate the opportunity. You're welcome. This podcast is Produced and edited by Mike Chernefsky.

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