Ryan Wagner

I Survived Theatre School

Intro: Boz is buying a house!
Let Me Run This By You: 47 year old Gina saw 19 year old Gina doing accent work and Mark Rannin owes me an apology.
Interview: We talk to playwright, director, and USC alum Ryan Wagner about self-diagnosing as a bad actor, protecting your joy, Miguel Arteta, filmmaking, his short film Every Other Week, Growing Up Hip Hop, being a PA, and keeping a cohort of friends to make films with.
FULL TRANSCRIPT (UNEDITED):
1 (8s):
I'm Jen Bosworth Ruez.

2 (10s):
And I'm Gina Paci.

1 (11s):
We went to theater school together. We survived it, but we didn't quite understand it.

2 (15s):
20 years later, we're digging deep talking to our guests about their experiences and trying to make sense of

1 (20s):
It all. We survived theater school and you will too. Are we famous yet? I'll be

2 (31s):
Recording this whole time by the way, if I just realized that

1 (40s):
La Tova motherfuckers. That's what I have to say. Okay.

2 (44s):
Universe, what is it that you're trying to tell us about why we can't do this

1 (47s):
Today? Okay, so what we will say is humans of the world, we had started, we thought we recorded 20 minutes ago and really we were just having a great conversation. So

2 (59s):
I guess you missed, you missed a great time. We'll, we'll do our best to recap, but honestly there's nothing like the energy in the moment and I'm not certain I can duplicate it.

1 (1m 10s):
Yes, let's not do that. So let's just, let's just say that I'm in the house buying process, but I also wanna say like, that was good to to to get out and just that, you know, it is really interesting, you know, mercurys and retrograde, all the things that people talk about. But what I'm noticing right this second in the, well, not right this second, like, you know, throughout the day, the last couple days, is that I keep tripping over my own feet. Like literally. And I keep thinking like in any shoes, any kind of, I'm tripping over myself and it's like, okay, what is the message there? And I think one of them is like slow down, but also it's okay if you stumble also.

1 (1m 55s):
Oh yeah. Things are kind of wonky right now. Also, you're buying a house, trying to buy a house, trying to close on the house and moving potentially. So there's a lot going on. But tripping if you find yourself, And the other thing is, I had, yeah, that really mean roommate I had here used to say like she would get super, super clumsy before like her period or during,

2 (2m 19s):
That's how I get. Yep.

1 (2m 21s):
And I'm in this weird menopause situation. So like, or prairie menopause I guess. So all the things are happening. So I'm just saying, and everyone's like, well you don't wanna buy a house during mercury and retrograde. And I'm also thinking, I know and I also think that, yeah, like the whole planet's dying and in retrograde so like, you know what I mean? Like are we really gonna pinpoint the blame Mercury for

2 (2m 44s):
Yeah, let's don't split hairs. The girl needs a house, she needs more space. Space. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well I'm excited for you. I think that's gonna be great. I can't wait to buy you a housewarming present. You'll have to send me your Pinterest mood board about how you're gonna Oh,

1 (2m 59s):
The part about this, the best part about this, well, not the best, but one of the parts, and my cousin hates it when I say this, but I have, I'm gonna have a, she shed

2 (3m 8s):
Nice. Your cousin hates it. Yeah. Cuz it's like, is it not PC or something?

1 (3m 12s):
I don't know, it just, she, No, I, she said it sounds like something peeing going on, like there's some bodily function involved, but I think it may be because it's, maybe because it's gendered too. I don't know. But I love saying she she, because of that commercial Yeah, with the lady goes Richard, some, someone burned down a she shed or whatever that for the insurance company Anyway, so I, I am going to keep everyone updated on what's going on there. The other thing I wanted to ask you was, is it fall there? The most important question.

2 (3m 45s):
Yeah, it's great. I mean it's like the weather is getting, you know, cool but not cold and it's still sunny mostly and yeah, no, this is what listen intellectually, I understand exactly what people mean when they say when they live in California and they say, Oh, I missed the seasons. Like if they grew up on the East coast, I, I do really understand that and it is kind of nice to have a change, but I still think I'd be fine without that too. Yeah, I'd be fine if it was just summer, I'll, I'll all year long. Well

1 (4m 19s):
I think because, because for me it's actually not about the weather, it's the nostalgia, right? It's like, oh with the, the things that are conjured up to me Gilmore Girl's style when I think of the fall. Right. And it is, and a lot of that has to do for me with family and like it's around my birthday and I remember walking home from like elementary school and having, being excited that I could hear the leaves crunching and I knew at my house was waiting my grandma and all the amazing

2 (4m 50s):
Oh,

1 (4m 50s):
That's nice. Yeah. But she's dead and the whole thing went to shit and my parents, So I, when I, and it is beautiful, but I also know that for me a lot of the seasons is about memories, right? It's not actually

2 (5m 2s):
Yeah. And I don't have that, I don't have any nostalgia about fall and winter and, you know. Right. Yeah. So that makes, it

1 (5m 7s):
Totally depends on the divide. Hey, by,

2 (5m 20s):
I mean we, we as women have so many mountains to climb and as podcasters. Okay. So Bo and I have talked several times on the show about wishing we could have a camera to record or something that would've captured any of our time in the theater school, whether it was on stage or, or or otherwise. And I don't know about you, but I resigned myself to, It's never gonna happen and we're just always gonna wonder about it. Well, don't count out Ms. Allison Zel, who recorded all of her performance. She was a director, MFA director. So it makes sense to me that she would wanna make sure she had her performances on camera.

2 (6m 1s):
Now I wanna reach out to the other directors of my other workshops cuz you know, I did all the workshops. So Sean Plan again and David Mold, if you are listening and you have video of any of your shows from theater school, please let me know. Okay. So, okay.

1 (6m 19s):
Wait, wait, wait. I just have to say one thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I'll mute again. This is fantastic. Also, of course Azel of course because she was like, she was so much more to in my mind, like more sophisticated and grown up and like New York City and all the things. Yeah. So it doesn't shock me, but it does shock me. So proceed.

2 (6m 37s):
Yeah. Yeah. She's the kind of person who probably started doing to-do list when she was like six years old, which is what my daughters like, and those people are forces to be reckoned with. But yeah, so I did, there's a Paula Vogel play called Des Doona, a play about a Hankerchief. And so it's a feminist take on Othello because it's from the right, The fellow is that? Yeah, Okay. I just, I just flashed on Wait, that's not the right place. Yeah. And so my, and I remembered it of course as soon as I saw it I had to do this crazy accent, this crazy dialect. It was like, o...