A (2:46)

You're in the alley.

C (2:47)

But he had seen Mahira and I in 2024 when we were both doing Henry VI at the Old Globe, which was world premiere Barry Edelstein's adaptation of Henry VI trilogy. So it was very funny that he saw my work in this newly adapted, never before seen take on a classic work. And now we're working together on this newly adapted, previously seen in a different way, old work that's brand new because it was never finished. It's so funny how it's worked out that way.

B (3:19)

This is a wonderful theme for you. Now, how did this audition come about?

C (3:24)

So I have wanted to work at Classic Stage for a long time. I have such a. I really enjoy classic works. That's been the majority of my experience as an actor so far in my career. And I love Thornton Wilder. You know, like many of us, when I first encountered his work, it was Our Town. It was in high school, and I read, I think, the soda shop scene and like a couple other scenes, and I saw some people do it and I was like, okay, that was cute, I think. I don't know. Like, I didn't feel, you know, I. Which is the part of the genius of his writing, right? I took it at face value and didn't understand what of it. And then years later, I saw my friend in a full professional production and it broke me open. It broke me open. And I was so excited when the following year, I got to do a production of Our Town at Alabama Shakespeare Festival. It was my first Equity contract that. And we were also doing Romeo and Juliet at the same time. So taking on these two gargantuan stories and characters at the same time was so riveting. But I've. Since then, I've always had such an open space in my heart for Thornton Wilder and the way he sees the world. And watching his interviews and reading his other works has always got my heart pumping and falling in love with life. So when I saw, I was like, what do you mean? Unfinished Thornton Wilder play? What do you mean by this? And then the csc and I was like, I gotta get in there. So when I saw that the Equity principal auditions were happening, I was just like, okay, if I can get in, if I can get seen at that, I know it's a long shot, but I have to throw my hat in. And I was able to get an audition appointment. I showed up and did my monologue and got called back for an appointment with Rob specifically for Laurencia about few weeks later. And then a week or so after that, I can't remember exactly the timeline. We had our final callback and that was actually at CSC on the Baker's Wife set. So it was just so strange to walk in and I'm in this French village and I was like, what is my life right now? I love it. Don't wake me up. But what is my life?

B (5:30)

This brings me to a quote about you from the University of Chicago's Black Shakespeare Database.

C (5:37)

Oh my goodness.

B (5:39)

At her most essential, Cassia would consider herself a lover of words and of learning. She's continuously amazed at the power of words to shape, expand, connect to and conceptualize the world. So how does that passion of yours fit into the work that we've been talking about, particularly the Emporium?

C (5:56)

Yeah, I will always say words have always been my first love. I learned to speak early, to read early. I just have such a love of language and particularly poetry. And while the Emporium isn't poetry, in a sense, there is heightened moment, there is style, there is language. What I really love about poetry is the challenge of how much meaning, sentiment, context, whatever you want to get in there, how much has to be done with economy of language and strong imagery. And that is something that Thornton Wilder does. And I think because of the themes that he writes about so often when he's writing about eras and cycles and, and how the micro and the macro are the exact same thing. Like it's. You're watching a conversation between a mother and a daughter, seemingly mundane conversation in their garden. And it's breaking me open because the simplicity, this economy is breaking my heart because I'm thinking about my own conversations with my mother, conversations that we didn't have. And then I'm thinking, okay, and this play happened way before. So people have been peopling forever. And then without, without realizing it, suddenly I've gone from snapping beans in a garden to now I'm thinking about how did, how did early people talk around the fact, like, what was the mother daughter relationship there in the cave? You know, it's. I. I will stop there.

B (7:20)

Well, let's talk about the relationship between the company that you're currently working with, the intimacy of the theater that you're in, and the audience participation that's written into with that playing such A large part. What's it like for you and the wild cards that can arise?

C (7:39)

That is a great question, I will say. So Thornton Wilder's first novel, the Bridge of San Luis Rey, the final quote of that book is it's used a lot. It's used all the time. And I think this is such a common theme in his work is he says, there's a land of the living and a land of the dead, and love is the only bridge. Love is. You know, I'm butchering the quote a little bit, but I think CSC has such a deep love, not just for the classic works, but for their audience, for their subscriber base, like there is when I first was meeting Joe Raphson, the producing artistic director, or talking to Carrie, our general manager. There is such a knowledge and connection and love that they have for their audiences. It feels like really genuinely, we're bringing things to you that we're excited about and we hope you're in it with us. And then the intimacy of the space, we're right there on top of each other, you cannot help but have connection. And that intimacy hopefully breeds, like, a loving relationship between us and the word and the world, and then the audience participation of it all. Thornton, you know, he loved bringing attention to the meta nature of theater. He loved pointing to. I will say this. This is not exactly the word. I mean, but the artifice and how important the audience is to theater because it's a highly collaborative art. And at the end of the day, who it is all. Who is it all for? It is for an audience. It is to be shared. So his love of the audience, of including them in the ways that he does and poking fun of them at the ways that he does and how he writes little love letters to them throughout is, I think, again, it's like, okay, this is his concept. This is what he was always working on and writing about. That love is the only bridge, even if it feels abstract, even as we're in the Lower east side of Manhattan in 2026. That love and that connection is always existing. Particular since, you know, Thornton Wilder passed on in the 70s, I believe he has long since been in the land of the dead. But he's still. His words and his love for people and humanity is still reaching and affecting audiences today. And I think that's the only word is magic. That's magic.

B (9:50)

And with that magic, I'm going to say thank you. This has been so enlightening, and I really appreciate your time.

C (9:57)

Thank you so much. I'm so excited that I got to talk about this with you and meet you. It's been a great, great part of my morning.

B (10:04)

Oh, good. I'm Lauren Clash Schneider with Cassia Thompson playing Laurencia in Thornton Wilder's the Emporium at csc.

C (10:15)

Sam.