Loading summary
Transcript117 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign. I'm an attorney, I'm an actor, and I'm an advocate. My name is Sean Hayden. When I was wrongfully fired as an actor from a certain famous theater, I fought back. Suddenly I was a whistleblower and I
- [00:20]
B
told my story true crime style in a podcast.
- [00:24]
A
Since then, I've been telling your stories and having the tough conversations that a lot of people in the entertainment we don't want us to have. This is Stage Combat, the podcast. Actor Aaron Lazar arrived in New York City as a young man with a big dream to be a Broadway actor. And he achieved that with 11 Broadway shows and including the Light in the Piazza, the Phantom of the Opera, and the revival of A Little Night Music, which he starred in with Catherine Zeta Jones. But Aaron's most inspiring and consequential work is happening right now. It's how he has intentionally chosen to live his life since he received a diagnosis of ALS four years ago. Als, also known as Lou Gehring's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Aaron came public with the ALS diagnosis in 2024, and since then, he's been on a mission to share with others what he's learned on a journey which he calls healing with ALS, whether through song, with his 2024 Grammy nominated album the Impossible Dream, which features Josh Groban, Leslie Odom Jr. And Kelli O', Hara, among others. Or through his own video podcast called Impossible Dreams, or through just having conversations like the one we're about to share with you.
- [02:05]
C
The identity and the narrative that I had been living by that Aaron Lazar gone. Not easy to do, by the way. To die, to be reborn.
- [02:16]
B
Is that how you look at this? In a sense, you've been reborn.
- [02:20]
C
Yeah. And then you do that and go, why is my body not working? You know what I deserve? And the ego wants to come back in. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm grateful I'm present. You know, I'm blessed. I'm in this moment right now.
- [02:37]
A
I'm Sean Hayden, and you're listening to the season premiere of season four of Stage Combat, the podcast Aaron Lazar Healing with als.
- [02:51]
B
Aaron Lazar, welcome to Stage Combat, the podcast. I was afraid this day would never happen.
- [02:58]
C
Thank you, Sean. Thanks for having me. I'm glad we finally made this happen.
- [03:02]
B
So I'm going to start this. I'm going to tell you my Aaron Lazar story.
- [03:04]
C
Oh, everybody seems to have one these days.
- [03:07]
B
Well, they do, because you're Aaron Lazar.
- [03:09]
A
So, Aaron, you And I had never met. But 20 years ago, I was cast in my first Broadway national tour. It was a show I'd never seen. It was called the Light in the Piazza. And before rehearsal started for the tour, I went to Lincoln center to see the show. And at the end of the first act, I was so overwhelmed by not only the beauty of Adam Getto's music in the show, but your performance with Katie Clark. You were singing say It Somehow, the last song of Act 1. And I am sobbing. I am, like, ugly crying, tears all over my shirt. At intermission, I'm with someone, and they gesture over to the right and say, hey, Sean, this is Adam Guettle, who I met wearing this green shirt that is soggy with tears all over the top of it. And that's your fault, Aaron Lazar. Thank you for that.
- [04:07]
C
I'm not taking the blame for that, Sean. It sounds like. Sounds like a you problem, but I appreciate the credit. I'll give it credit to the entire production that that show was incredibly special and always will be. I'm glad that it moved you.
- [04:21]
A
Yeah.
- [04:21]
B
What comes to mind when I say lightning? A piazza?
- [04:23]
C
Just, you know, probably the greatest art I ever made on stage, and I was blessed to make a lot of art on stage. That was a breakthrough role for me, and I'll. I'll just forever be grateful.
- [04:35]
B
I've been following your journey with ALS ever since you became public with it, as many of us have been, and following and being inspired by how you're choosing to take that journey, and also the wisdom you've been sharing with all of us about what this journey with ALS has taught you. And you actually. You use the phrase you're healing with als, right?
- [04:59]
C
That is exactly right.
- [05:00]
A
Yeah.
- [05:01]
B
And what do you mean by that?
- [05:02]
C
It's a healing journey. It's not a dying journey. In fact, I think life, no matter who you are or what you're dealing with, you can choose it to be a healing journey if you become conscious and aware of how to align with your highest self. In order do that, you have to heal a whole bunch of stuff that we're never taught and we're not really even exposed to as part of life. It's just, you're born, you do what your parents tell you. You rebel or you don't. You're perfect or you're not, and you enter this matrix, and then some shit happens at some point, and you go, oh, I don't know how to deal with this. I have no idea how to deal with that divorce or you know, loss of identity or an illness or loss of a relative or loss of a job or, you know, whatever it is. And then you can play big or you can play small. I've just never been one to play small. So one of the first things somebody told me when this happened was, now's not the time to play small, dude. It's time to play big. And I just started swinging for the fences, and the only way I can play big is if I believe in myself, if I believe in life, if I trust myself, I trust life. If I trust that life, God, the universe has my back. I've been on an extraordinary healing journey for over four years now. So, yeah, I'm healing, but not just from als. I'm just on a healing journey. ALS is part of it. And ALS has not taught me all these things. You know, people go, is ALS your greatest teacher? I used to say, yeah, you know, I think it is. But as I've gotten to know myself, I mean, man, the disease, I would say, is a catalyst, as any trauma or tragedy or significant adversity can be. It's a catalyst to change. It's a catalyst to knowing yourself.
- [06:50]
A
That's so interesting to hear you say that. So ALS was just the catalyst for the discoveries you were going to make about yourself in your life, but since then, you're now making those discoveries independent of the diagnosis. It's just you, Aaron, discovering yourself spiritually, emotionally, mentally, in every way.
- [07:10]
B
That is you, right?
- [07:12]
C
Yeah, it's a remembering. I mean, I think it's basically the hero's journey. I think that's why, you know, movies are. Are so wonderfully inspirational and evocative and creative, and we're all living some version of the hero's journey. You remember who you really are, and at some point, if you are not living in alignment with who you really are, something's going to give you an opportunity to line up.
- [07:37]
A
I love that you mentioned the hero's journey. It's something I studied when I was trying to tell my own story on this podcast. It's a template for so many movies. The classic plot of Star wars comes to mind, and it usually starts with someone in an ordinary world, and then they enter the strange new world where they meet challenges.
- [07:56]
B
But the hero comes out of that
- [07:58]
A
strange new world sharing this new elixir. What he has learned, I'm simplifying. The hero's journey has many steps. So in your own life, where do you feel you are on that journey? Are you sharing the elixir?
- [08:12]
C
Yeah, man, I'VE been trying to share an elixir. This isn't my wisdom. Right. It's wisdom that I am grateful to learn, understand, embody, integrate, share.
- [08:24]
B
So what did you discover once you were given a diagnosis and you started on this journey? What did you discover about yourself that
- [08:34]
A
was not in alignment of who you really are?
- [08:37]
B
Just as you just said, I had
- [08:39]
C
created a life for myself that was more about dying than it was about living and healing. It was a lot of fear and a lot of stress and a lot of worry and a lot of not good enough.
- [08:49]
B
And what part of your life are
- [08:51]
A
you talking about as an actor?
- [08:53]
C
I mean, everything I was living in for the 3D of life, you know, as an actor, I was almost 20 years in the game at that point. But there was a baseline fight or flight underneath it all that I was never going to be the millionaire that 25 year old Aaron getting married to Ford model who, you know, we were both like, we're going to be millionaires and we're going to have everything. We're going to have the best life. And living under the terror that I had failed and that was never going to happen under the extraordinary pressure that I put on myself to somehow manifest that for myself, regardless of what that may or may not have been doing to me. Completely unaware or unconscious even, that was another way to do things. Totally unaware of any health that there's like, you should pay attention to the health of your nervous system. Yeah, you should pay attention to the health of your mind, your emotions, your soul. But I had an Alexander technique teacher named Chloe Wing. She was like Yoda man. You'd walk in, she was in like a, wearing like a ghee, sitting yoga style on a table in the middle of an apartment. 5 floor walk up Lower east side back in the day, before Lower east side got gentrified and yeah, when it was cool, commercialized, when it was cool and arty and you know, just like there was a vibe there. And I walked up the steps one day and nothing in that apartment except a wall of white paper, you know, on a wall that you could draw on or write on. And she would show how energy flows through the skeleton and how using your mind, you could influence your body, you could bring blood flow to your hips. I was working on my hips and knees because I was all banged up from doing eight shows a week, six days a week, and throwing my entire self into it. You know, knee surgeries and neck surgeries and all kinds of shit. Can I curse on stage Combat podcast
- [10:41]
B
Hey, you Already have.
- [10:42]
A
And the answer on stage combat is always, fuck, yeah.
- [10:45]
C
Oh, there we go. So anyway, first thing she'd always do is just say, how are you, darling from South Carolina? And I dared that day to be like, I'm all right, you know, I'm the lead in a Broadway show and it's like a dream job, but like, it's not enough and I'm busting my ass and if my wife stops working, we're not going to have enough money, you know, And I just think I need to do more. And I feel like I deserve to have this million dollar superstar life or something like that. And then I was being honest, you know, that's what I wanted. That was the dream is like, how am I going to get there from where I'm at eight shows a week, six days a week for money that if you're a single family income in New York City, you're. Even though you're a lead in a show.
- [11:34]
B
Yeah. Everyone thinks everyone's rich. Working on Broadway is not true.
- [11:38]
C
Right?
- [11:39]
B
Yeah.
- [11:39]
C
And I'm just, you know, I'm a 25 year old kid piecing together the reality of what I've chosen to dream up and materialize in my life. And I'm going, you're my guru, what do I do? And she's like, oh, you deserve. Is that what you think? She goes, you think you deserve. And she was like, you don't deserve shit and you don't know shit. She's like, life hasn't even happened to you yet, you know? Yeah, it's happening and you can't go drawing conclusions about it and thinking, you know, everything. You have to be present for it. And she was essentially teaching me the building blocks of creating your life, the energy by which you create your life. And you don't create your life from entitlement. You get into real problems when the ego goes, I'm the greatest, I'm the greatest. I'm the greatest. And nobody's hiring you, then you can have a real crisis of identity, you know?
- [12:36]
B
Yeah. Because you're like, I'm this thing. Why is no one buying it? No one's buying it. Therefore I'm nothing.
- [12:45]
C
Yeah. Therefore I am nothing. Right.
- [12:47]
B
That's how that thought process goes.
- [12:49]
C
That's right. Then you spin down to that. And same thing with healing, you know, I am healed. I've done the work, I've changed. I've healed so much of myself and ancestral karma and lineage and with my family and with my relationships with women and how to be A better parent. And, you know, all of these things have evolved and expanded so much recognition of patterns and changing of patterns to create new patterns, to essentially totally change who I am in the quantum field, in the matrix of life, change the. The identity and the narrative that I had been living by that Aaron Lazar gone. Not easy to do, by the way. To die, to be reborn.
- [13:35]
B
Is that how you look at this? In a sense, you've been reborn?
- [13:38]
C
Yeah. And then you do that and go, why is my body not working? You know, why I deserve. And the ego wants to come back in. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm grateful I'm present. You know, I'm. I'm blessed. I'm in this moment right now.
- [14:06]
B
I've heard you tell a story of you recalling working on Broadway and doing a performance, doing stage door, and then walking through Times Square and then realizing you never felt as alive in your real life as you did on stage.
- [14:22]
C
Yeah, I mean, I think we all have that, you know, there's the high of what you do. It's flow state, you know, I now understand what that is. It's just all the biochemistry is, you feel high. It feels like a mystical experience. You're out there in front of an audience. You're doing what you love to do. You're being validated for it at the highest of levels. You're being paid to do it. And then you walk in the door to your home and you're just a normal dude, you know, and you got real problems and everybody's got them, you know, or little babies and you're not sleeping and. And there's like, wait a minute. Life isn't all this. I don't. I guess I was just so immature, so green or so such a young soul or something to not know how to enjoy my real life as much as that thing. But the irony is, I really did. I just was addicted. You know what I mean? It's like if you're addicted to something.
- [15:17]
B
Yeah.
- [15:18]
C
You think you need that thing in order to feel a certain way.
- [15:21]
A
Yeah.
- [15:21]
B
Because there's a. It's the ultimate dopamine hit.
- [15:24]
C
Right. So then if you're not getting that thing, you're like, oh, but like, it's man. I mean, now that I remember who I am, I can just enjoy sitting with my kids and looking at the birds and doing stuff that, like, if I was doing that, I wanted to enjoy it. But I felt so much pressure to get back to work, go get the next job, figure out the next thing. Go make more money, be a better dad, be more perfect husband.
- [15:49]
A
Do you think that feeling of only feeling alive when you were on stage was because so much of your identity was tied to that person who was on stage?
- [15:59]
C
It's a good question. I don't know how I would answer that. Probably yes. But I've learned that we author our lives from our identity and not our symptoms, you know, not our bodies. You know, I am not als.
- [16:15]
B
Yeah.
- [16:15]
C
And I'm not my body. I mean, the identity that I created for myself was definitely a very specific guy, like a perfectionist who was going to live the dream, be the perfect actor, perfect husband, perfect father, make everybody proud, everybody will like me. And it was impossible. And that's the irony, is that, you know, I have the impossible dream, the album and my logo and my whole platform and brand, and impossible dreams, the podcast, and the AI machine, impossible dream machine that we're using to look at ALS outlier data. And all of it is inspired by the guy that I used to be in a song that I sang when I first started that dream before I had created Aaron Lazar, the Broadway leading man who then became the character that I played for 20, 25 years, and I lost myself.
- [17:08]
A
I think this idea of identity is really important, and it keeps coming up in the stories of other people that we told on this podcast, in the sense that people's identities, they become fused with their work, their jobs, and so when they're rejected or they're mistreated or they're traumatized by the industry, they're left feeling, well, who am I? And I was really intrigued by something you said. Talking about the energy essence of ourselves is actually God. That's who we are. We're more than just these different roles we play and different hats we wear.
- [17:47]
C
Yeah, well, how could you be something that can go away?
- [17:49]
B
Exactly. Exactly, Aaron.
- [17:52]
C
So you're not anything that can go away, including your body. At least this is what I believe. But what I believe is also inspired by the 100 books that I've read on this stuff, from neuroscience to mysticism.
- [18:04]
B
You're quite a reader.
- [18:05]
C
Well, you become quite a reader when you gotta save your life, save your ass. But, no, I'm passionate. I love. You know, it puts me in a flow state. If I didn't love learning this stuff, I wouldn't be here talking about it.
- [18:16]
A
Well, you know, I used to talk
- [18:17]
B
in terms of, oh, I'm more than just an actor. I'm a husband, I'm a lawyer. I'm all these other things. I heard you say something that really took it even further, which was really eye opening to me, that you. You're more than a husband, you're more than a father, you're more than these things. You are you. And I never thought of it like that. I thought, like, oh, there's these fallback roles for me to fall into, but
- [18:41]
A
I hadn't been taking into account. No. Who am I as a soul? Who is Sean as a soul?
- [18:47]
B
As a spiritual being.
- [18:49]
C
Yeah. Well, I think there's identity with a capital I, which is what we're getting into, like your true, deep identity, and then there's identity with a small I. And that's. Yeah, your husband, you know, your creator, your podcast host, your whatever you are within that identity. But all of those little I things are temporary, including I'm a handsome body or I'm a disabled body, you know, whatever it is. Like, that's not capital I. Capital I is, you are an eternal spark of light.
- [19:28]
B
I want to talk about surrender because you've talked a lot about that, and I know you're a big fan of the Michael Singer book, the Surrender Experiment. I think that ties into a lot of what we've been talking about, the role of surrender in your life and what you've learned since you received a diagnosis of als.
- [19:46]
C
Yeah, surrender was just something that hit me about a year ago. A psychic reader named Noella Risley, who. I'd become a good friend and predicted a couple amazing things in my life up to that point. And I was really at a tough spot. I was exhausted. You know, I had done all the work that I could possibly think I was. Where's the. Where's the physical healing? Where's the feeling? I was looking for it all the time. I was stressing about it. I was getting upset. I was exhausted. Trying to stay in a positive mental state 24 7, believing that if I had any vulnerability or whatever, I'd spoil all of the crops that I'd spent years planting and I'd ruin the harvest, you know, she just went, surrender. It's literally all she needed to say. And for whatever reason, I'd heard that word so many times before, but at that moment, it made complete sense. I was on my way to my first fitting for playing the Governor of California in the Countdown on Amazon, which was stressful because I'd never worked with Eric Dane. No one knew he had ALS at the time. And I'm playing the most powerful guy in the room, and I'm in a wheelchair you know, not to mention the fact that I don't even know if I can put on a suit. And it was this pressure, and I just was starting to get like, man, I'm, you know, stressing me out. And she said, Surrender had the best time at that. Fitting universe opened up. Turns out not only did the, you know, the wardrobe crew know what to do because Eric had als, they knew. No one knew at the time, he told me that day, but the whole crew knew what to do. So the point of Michael's whole book is life has existed long before human DNA was ever a part of it. And so you don't need human DNA and the human mind to interfere with the grand nature and the grand scheme and the grand infinite plans and eternal plans of life. And once I sort of appreciated that, I was like, well, how can I get the hell out of the way of my life? And that's a big part of the success that I've had over the last couple years. Even before that was doing that in some respect, opening my heart again after closing it off to heartbreak and loss and pain, you know, feeling safe to be in the world, and that life supported me and my family and my dreams, even though I had this nightmare of a diagnosis. All of these, like, wait, how are these two contrasting things existing at the same time? Like this paradoxical nature of my life. And a lot of it was surrender, surrender, surrender, surrender, surrender. That doesn't mean capitulate or give up. It means let things happen for you.
- [22:30]
B
I have gotten to know a lot about you by watching these, so.
- [22:35]
C
Sorry.
- [22:37]
B
Well, it's by watching these beautiful videos that you've done with your sons.
- [22:41]
C
Oh, yeah. They're amazing. My kids are amazing. Yeah.
- [22:44]
B
Yeah. You've got two sons, Adrian and Julian.
- [22:48]
C
Yeah, Julian.
- [22:48]
B
Julian's the oldest, right?
- [22:50]
C
He is, yeah. Yeah.
- [22:51]
B
So there's this card game, right? You guys were doing this card game.
- [22:55]
C
It's called Skin Deep.
- [22:56]
B
Yeah, the Skin Deep card game.
- [22:58]
A
Yeah.
- [22:58]
B
Have you played this before? Before you did these videos for them or.
- [23:02]
C
So the guy that created the Skin Deep is one of my oldest, dearest friends.
- [23:06]
B
Oh, is that right?
- [23:07]
C
He was going to become that big director and I was going to become that big actor, and we made a movie together when we were, you know, 25. And he went on to put his storytelling gifts and skills into what? One of his sole purposes on this planet is to enlighten the space between two people through conversation and questions. So he created a game, and they film live sort of pairings playing this game. And he asked me if I wanted to do with my kids.
- [23:38]
B
So how did your sons feel about doing that?
- [23:41]
C
I mean, my kids are ballers, man, so they're.
- [23:43]
B
They really are.
- [23:44]
C
I mean, they're down.
- [23:46]
B
They went down for this. Yeah. I just want to play one of
- [23:49]
A
those clips between you and Julian, who was 15 at the time. Here it is.
- [23:54]
C
Question for you is, do you think your life would have been better if
- [24:00]
D
this didn't happen to me? No.
- [24:03]
C
So then if that's true, then no matter how hard this is, your life is actually better somehow because of it.
- [24:14]
D
Yeah. And it's.
- [24:15]
C
Which is kind of with amazing.
- [24:18]
D
With this experience, I see some of my friends that are just, like, completely, like, not centered with their emotions, and they just. Some. Sometimes they just like, completely outrage about things that don't even make sense. It's. It's just stupid. But with me, I feel like I'm way more emotionally mature with this, so, you know, it's all for the better. It'll just help me out later in life, and it will with you, too, so.
- [24:48]
A
Yeah.
- [24:50]
B
How did you feel hearing that from him? It was a really beautiful moment.
- [24:55]
C
I mean, I'm blown away by my kids all the time, and I'm so grateful for them. And it comes from, you have a true north, and you gotta have people you know that are your ride or dies that are with you on that true north. And that started for me with my kids and thought I had a fiance who was with me on that, and it turns out she was not. You know, she was for a time, and then she just. She wasn't. And I just thought, I certainly don't want to go through a breakup in the middle of als because I know how devastating breakups have been to me in the past, but I'm going all in on this. God, if I have to walk away from anybody or anything in my life in order to heal, that's what I have to do. And we parted ways amicably, and it was me and my kids for a couple months, and then wouldn't, you know, God delivers to me this healing house that I'm now in. That is exactly what I needed to be in order, you know, to be disability friendly and have nature and some water for me to get in. And then God collides my existence with the woman who's the love of my life just months later. And I'm going, this can't be. I can't. I'm not interested in a relationship. There's no way this woman loves me. Why Would she love me? Why would she sign up for this? Blah, blah, blah. You know, here we are a year and a half later, and she's my ride or die. She's on the team.
- [26:20]
A
I'm so happy that you found that kind of relationship, Aaron.
- [26:24]
C
And it's what it takes. You know, I gave a speech at the ALS Network gala, and I really felt the power of the people in the room, because patients and their families, whether you're living with ALS or another disease or another trauma or tragedy, like, it takes a village man. And the amount of people who have showed up for me to be on this ride with me in ways that are like, yeah, here's a perfect example. I need to deal with estate documents and all that bullshit.
- [27:00]
A
Well, I know a little about that. I'm a lawyer, and, I mean, that's just something everyone needs to deal with, no matter where they are in their life.
- [27:07]
C
Yeah, we all do. Right? So you're dealing with your wills and all that crap, and I'm like, well, just want to make sure that, like, whatever I'm putting together with these documents is authentic to me. And out of nowhere, I get a recommendation for an estate lawyer who, when I get on the phone with them, would talk to me for an hour. And then he's like, oh, and by the way, I'm not charging you for any of this. I'm like, what? He's like, I know what it is to live with some difficult health circumstances. Yeah. And I want to offer this to you. And it turns out, you know, my relationship with this guy has grown and grown. He tells me about a daughter of his that he lost to down syndrome, that, in her short life, gave him the experience of knowing what's important and what's not. And he now offers pro bono legal work to families when children with down syndrome need legal paperwork. And it makes you remember that there's great people in this world.
- [28:10]
B
Yeah, look, that's a lawyer I'm proud to share the profession with. That's a good man.
- [28:15]
C
That's right. It's a reminder that there are so many good people in this world. Don't watch the news and feel yourself identifying with something that you're not. Stay true to who you are. Know that there's great people out there. Know that when you advocate for yourself from a place of truth and belief and trust in yourself, that the universe responds. You know, you're not alone.
- [28:46]
B
Aaron Lazar, thank you for sharing your heart with us, your journey with us. And we're going to keep listening to what you have to say.
- [28:54]
C
Thank you Sean. I'll be talking so I appreciate all the support man. And this was cool.
- [29:04]
A
Aaron's Grammy nominated album is called the Impossible Dream and you can watch his video podcast Impossible Dreams Podcast on YouTube. You can also hear the audio version on Spotify and Apple Podcast Foreign. The Podcast Season four We're looking at the social phenomena of what went wrong with Broadway's 23 million dollar flop, the Queen of Versailles, with some help from
- [29:40]
B
Matt Koplik, host of the podcast Broadway Breakdown.
- [29:45]
E
I have felt honestly since the 2016 election that that has become a case for a lot of Broadway and film of there's a villain of some sort that everybody zeroes in on because there's so much that we don't have any control about in the world at large and our own country right now. But we do have control over how everyone views this work. We do have control over smearing the reputation of Sedgwick show. So it closes and its closing becomes a moral victory. A political victory if you will.
- [30:14]
B
That's coming up on episode two, the
- [30:17]
A
Queen of Versailles on Broadway. What the hell did we learn? Let us know what you think about our conversation with Aaron Lazar. What's on your mind after hearing this episode? Send us a DM at Instagram stagecombatthepodcast ig where you can also follow us or email us@stagecombatthepodcastmail.com just a reminder that nothing in this episode should be considered a substitute for medical advice or legal advice. Please consult with your own medical professionals and your own attorneys. Did you know? You can hear bonus content and more of my conversation with Aaron Lazar plus insider information about this episode at Stage Combat at Patreon. Just follow the link in the show notes. If you believe in the meaningful content we are producing, you can support us for just $5 a month so we can produce more episodes for you. And there's no commitment. You can enjoy the bonus content you want to explore for a month or three months or even throughout the year. And if you are an existing Patreon member, thank you for making this podcast happen. This episode was edited by Alex Griffith. Mixing and sound design were by Justin Gerrish. This episode was written and directed by me, Sean Hayden for Heywood Productions llc. Be sure to hit follow on your podcast platform. You can do it right now so you don't miss a single episode of Stage Combat. And hey, while you're there, why not rate us five stars and leave us a review to let others know what what this podcast means to you. I hope today and every day brings you an opportunity to claim your story. Stage Combat is a production of Heywood Productions, llc.