Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: So the Friends of the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater getting ready for their fourth season of fun and excitement at the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater in Merrymount park at Pageant Field. And Sarah Callard and Ann Danby are here with breaking news. The schedule is finalized. Ladies.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Yay.
[00:00:18] Speaker A: Happy fourth season.
[00:00:19] Speaker C: That's exciting.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Yeah. And it went by quickly, Sarah.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Just from a thought to a packed summer schedule.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. And we are sort of adhering to our original plan, which was like, you know, the nine shows. I think it works out, too. And kind of a mix of, you know, we get the theater day or evening, I should say, which has turned into more of a theater weekend, because we've realized that a Friday and Saturday work better than just a Friday.
And then we have our Celtic Quincy night with Cherry Orchard. They're coming back.
A lot of people were disappointed. They were the only ones who got rained out last year.
So we're welcoming them back.
And.
Yeah, I mean, where should I begin?
[00:01:16] Speaker C: We have a lot to cover.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: Why don't we just start with a very quick overview of what Friends of Ruth Gordon have at end. The amphitheater is.
There are new people coming to the city all the time.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
So Friends of Ruth Gordon Amphitheater is essentially, four years ago now, that the amphitheater was essentially a threatened property.
There was talk of filling it in and demolishing it because it had been in disuse for a number of years.
And mostly this is because it just wasn't getting upgraded. The electrical was no longer working, the overhead lights were no longer working, things like that.
So a great friend of mine, Maria Mulligan, Maria Datilio Mulligan, we were childhood friends. She reached out to me because my father, T O N Traynor, was the architect of Ruth Gordon Amphitheater, which was commissioned by Mayor Larrea and was run successfully by the Larrea family, including, of course, Louise Larrea, who we love and recently passed away.
So at any rate, we formed a group, stood out in the rain, picketed, made our voices heard. And, you know, I wasn't about. You know, I never wanted this to be about my dad.
Although, of course, the amphitheater meant something to me from that regard.
But what I was really blown away with was just how many other people cared so deeply about the amphitheater. It was all part of their stories. They had all kinds of stories of how, you know, the different events that had happened there over the years.
And so it just became a life of its own. And really, it's the people.
I've gotten a lot of credit for this personally, but really, I feel like I was mostly just the poster child. And I certainly did a lot of work, but certainly so did Ann and Maria and Laurie. Earle and Helen.
Yeah, Helene.
So many people. It really came together.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: I mean, one of the things that I was so excited about is that coming from people standing in the rain and saying, please don't get rid of the amphitheater somehow turned into, Sarah, please organize Fridays with bands.
And she just stepped up and all of us have supported her in that and done what we can. I've kind of done the theater bit, but some. Few other things as well.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:03:50] Speaker C: But it wouldn't have continued if the people of the city didn't love it.
Right.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: There was obviously a need that people might not even realize that hadn't been met.
[00:04:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's. Yeah. There's this outdoor theater.
The bands love playing there. The acoustics are wonderful. People come out.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: And that's another part of it, too, is. Is the performers. Right. The musicians, the bands, the actors now, that see this as a viable venue to connect with their audiences. And it was always there. It's been there since the 80s. Right.
And it was unused for a long time. And now it's back again. And now you're getting to be another Quincy staple.
Friends wait in anticipation for the next schedule for the Friends of the Ruth Gordon Amphitheaters for Friends, Friday's event. And, Sarah, we are here to say it's done for 2026.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: I know. That's right.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Yeah. So let's run it down.
Yeah, let's do it.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: Kicks off Friday.
I had the date right in front
[00:04:54] Speaker B: of me the last Friday in June, which is kind of the schedule that we've been following all along.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: It seems like by that stage, everyone's
[00:05:02] Speaker A: ready to party, especially after the spring we've had.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Okay. So I'm really excited about kickoff night because, for one thing, we're bringing back Wolf Pack, which was a great band, a terrific band that played at the festival.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: They closed the festival.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: They closed the festival. And Danby did this summer, this past summer.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: And they're back.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: And they're back. So if you missed them last time, they're back by popular demand. And I am also excited about the opening act, which is going to be Ryan Peter Murphy.
So check him out on Instagram. He has a huge following.
He is a young, rising star, in my opinion. They're calling him, like the next Frank Sinatra.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: Really?
[00:05:46] Speaker B: He's just really incredible.
So he just came on my radar on Instagram and I thought, who is this guy? You know, he's great. He has a voice. It's amazing. And he sings all those songs. Like he sings a mix of. Of modern ballads, I guess you would call them. And the old stuff, you know, the old fashioned stuff from the American Songbook kind of stuff.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Really. Oh, neat.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Okay. And so he's actually a student at Berklee School of Music.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: What?
[00:06:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. He sings out his window. This is what he became famous for, singing out his window. And then like he would sing to a girl out the window and she would sing back. And, you know, it was kind of like a thing. So this became kind of a thing that he's well known for, I'd say. But he's a lot of fun and he's bringing his.
His other college buddies to back him up and he's going to open for Wolfpack.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Look at you discovering new talent here.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: Well, that's a part of what we do. That's always been a part of this, is that incubating of new talent because it's a great venue for that. It's perfect for that, really.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: People of Quincy get to benefit from that.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: Which is great.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: And the young people really need it. The people who are, they need an opportunity. Then on the July 3, we will not be having a show, which is consistent with what we've done before as well.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: Folks are either away or they're in Boston for all the activities there.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: And I hear that there's another show going, a big show somewhere in Quincy going that day. So I'm kind of glad that we didn't book it.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: On the 10th, we have the Divas with a Twist returning again by very big popular demand. There are some people that literally just come come for the Divas every summer.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Fine.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Right?
Yeah, they're fabulous.
And then on the 17th, we have one of my other favorites, which is Bluefish, Yacht Rock. Okay, Bluefish. So if you're not familiar with Yacht Rock, how would you describe it?
[00:07:44] Speaker C: How would you not be at this point?
[00:07:45] Speaker B: How would you describe it?
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Help me.
[00:07:47] Speaker C: How many things do they do they play?
[00:07:49] Speaker B: It's like Yacht Rock.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Like the boat. Like a boat. The yacht.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:07:53] Speaker C: So there's a. Yeah, yeah, like the boat.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: But on Sirius there's a channel called Yacht Rock.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: I believe you.
[00:07:59] Speaker C: That has a massive following.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: It's kind of like soft rock, but it's like a little bit hardening back to the 70s.
It's a little bit of that. You know, I think there's.
[00:08:10] Speaker C: The Jimmy Brothers are probably on.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: Oh, all right.
[00:08:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: Like, it's a lot of the stuff that I think people in our generation really love, so.
[00:08:16] Speaker C: But other generations are discovered.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: But other generations are too. Yeah. So.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:20] Speaker C: So, Michael, there's. Anyway, yeah. People who know what yacht rock is will be very excited.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: And if you don't know what yacht rock is, come check it out because they're amazing and they're one of the best local bands that plays yacht rock really well.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Are all the bands local, Sarah, or are they from all over?
[00:08:41] Speaker B: Not all of them.
Not all.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: Sorry to distract you.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Yeah, no, no, that's okay.
So on 724 again, as I already mentioned, we're having Celtic Quincy again, which will be Terry Orchard, and they play, you know, more modern Irish rock songs. But then they also will be bringing in their opening musicians that are going to play the traditional Irish stuff.
[00:09:02] Speaker C: Neat.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Which is really cool.
And then I guess I'll run down the rest of mine and then toss it over to Anne.
[00:09:12] Speaker C: July weekend is the theater stuff.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:15] Speaker C: So we'll talk about that.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: July 31, Friday and August 1, the Saturday.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Saturday. Okay. We can come back to that plays, which.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: And we'll discuss on 8 7, we're doing a movie night and that's a little bit still in the works. We're debating a couple of different films there. But on 8 14, we have the Glenn Andrews Band coming from New Orleans. Oh, and these guys are fabulous.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: Really?
[00:09:41] Speaker B: So Glenn Andrews is like the reincarnation of Louis Armstrong.
He sounds like Louis Armstrong. He kind of looks a little bit like Louis Armstrong, but he is just fabulous.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Does he play the trumpet like Louis Armstrong?
[00:09:57] Speaker B: He plays. I. I want to say that he. He actually plays a different horn.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: But very talented musician.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: Neat.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: And he plays with a great. With a great group. And they are just. I mean, if you want to think of. Just think of New Orleans and those parades that they have. And what's the biggest event New Orleans?
[00:10:16] Speaker A: Mardi Gras.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Mardi Gras. Okay. Just think about that. And that's what we're gonna be bringing to Quincy. It's gonna be fabulous. You're not gonna want to see Big Quincy. Easy.
Exactly.
That's gonna be fabulous. And then on 8 21, it's gonna be a special night.
We're having Disco Dream, which is a big band that plays. You know, they play all the disco era stuff. And they're. They're a big band, so they're gonna Fun. Okay. We've kind of got a few big bands coming.
[00:10:43] Speaker C: Come bring your dance shoes.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: Yeah, right. Yeah. Bell bottoms and horns and everything. White patent leather shoes.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:50] Speaker C: Anne.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: I'm a child of the 70s.
[00:10:52] Speaker C: No, I just had leisure suits in my head. Oh, leisure suits.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Plenty of those, too. Yes.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: That sounds good.
And what I'd like to do is dedicate that night to Luis Larrea and have an opening band. Our favorite supporters, and also close to Louise Larrea. Okay. Is the Rudder Crew. Used to be the Rudder Kings, but now they're the Rudder Crew.
And, you know, every one of them have been involved in helping to save the amphitheater. And especially Kevin Coughlin, former city councilor, whose family really was close with Louise Larrea and Joe Larrea, former mayor.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Former mayor and former first lady.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: Former first lady. Yeah. So I think that it will be really special for them to open that night and have that in honor of her. Very nice. She's a very special lady who we connected with. Maria and I went to visit her and just had an amazing time. She spent hours with us sharing the whole story of the amphitheater and a lot more, too. And my dad was also very close with them, too, so it meant a lot.
And then the final show will be 8:28. Studio 2 returns again by popular demand. It's becoming almost a tradition. Yes.
But they'll be closing out the season, and we can almost expect they'll get rained out.
[00:12:20] Speaker C: I was just.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:12:22] Speaker C: So you can put on your calendar, there'll be rain, and they'll actually be the next day. It'll be the next day.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: Okay. Well, two days later.
[00:12:27] Speaker C: Two days later. Sunday.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: They always reserve the Sunday as their rain date. And honestly, at that time of year, it's just. There's. It's like the Farm is Almanac.
[00:12:36] Speaker C: It really.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Every year, it's like it always just rains on that day.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: So we'll see. We'll see.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: And that's the Beatles revival act.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: Yes, Beatles revival.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: It's hugely popular.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: Hugely popular.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: People come from all over.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And we just never get tired of hearing them, you know, because they literally sound like the Fab for themselves. So it's like a blast from the Fab.
[00:13:00] Speaker C: It's such a wonderful mix of music. I mean, that's one of the things that I love about what we've been doing and what Sarah gets to put together is that there's something for everybody, really is. You know, there's this really. This whole mix of Music throughout.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: And I. Yeah, I mean just in the shows you've named, we've got big band, we've got 70s soft rock, you know, we've got jazz, we've got 60s Beatles, you know, music. So. Yeah, plus we have movies if you don't want music.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: And live theater.
[00:13:31] Speaker C: And a little bit of live theater.
So last year when we did the festival, if you recall, we had one ex and I had told you at the time, my God, we've got 20 from all over the world submitting and they were fabulous. And some of them that we did last year that were great, told the story of Quincy. But there were some that were great that we couldn't slot in there. But we said, listen, would you be willing to let us do Not a festival, but a night of one acts, two nights of one acts next year. And they all said yes, these five.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: So.
[00:14:05] Speaker C: So we're doing five one acts on the Friday and the Saturday, as Sarah mentioned.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: July 31st and August 1st.
[00:14:11] Speaker C: That's right.
And so one of the plays takes is from somebody coming home from World War II. It just takes place just like in a 24 hour period re acclimating himself and what the impact is and what had happened before. So that's one of them.
And one of them is an unusual celebration of a couple's anniversary and his idea and how that all plays out.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: I know you're keeping it close to the vest because you don't want to give away too much, Right?
[00:14:45] Speaker C: Exactly. Because I want them to come see the story.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
And one of them is. And the funny thing is I picked this for this year and then we had all the snow and all the challenges with parking and I thought, did I do this on purpose to wait a year? Because it's about a man who's not really happy about parking spaces on the street.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:15:06] Speaker C: I thought, well, that was good.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: A lot of people can relate.
[00:15:09] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
One of them is a young girl whose name is Abby who sits in front of the Abigail statue. And they end up conversing.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:15:18] Speaker C: And so there's what happens with that
[00:15:20] Speaker A: that's kind of appropriate for America 250 this year.
[00:15:23] Speaker C: Exactly right.
Again, I kind of didn't even do that on purpose.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:26] Speaker C: Okay. And then the final one is. One was near and dear to Sarah's heart, which is the one that she's co directing.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: Yay.
[00:15:34] Speaker C: Which is about somebody trying to write and the pigeon advises him.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: The pigeon. Okay.
[00:15:42] Speaker C: So I think that's really fun. It's a really fun play.
I couldn't explain why it would be part of Quincy 400, but we couldn't not do it. Okay.
So. And so we're excited that that's our fifth play.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Okay. So be plays that evening, the 31st or Friday night and then again that Saturday.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: That's right. So if people can't make it on the Friday, they can come on the Saturday. Excellent.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: Yeah, very good. And it's the Thalia Theater Troupe, right?
[00:16:09] Speaker C: The Thalia Theatre Troupe. That's right. That's right.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: Do you do performances all year round, Ann?
[00:16:14] Speaker C: Well, we're now. So this year we'll be doing three. So last year we did two. It was the first time that we didn't do something in our summer home, which is. Which is the amphitheater.
And so we did something at the Quincy's Arts Gallery last year and we're doing something again this year in June.
And then we're hoping to do. We're waiting for final confirmation of the location for a fall play. This will be the first time we do a play in November.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: Oh, very good.
[00:16:45] Speaker C: So, yeah, but the one coming up in June, I can come talk about it more maybe, but.
But there's a local photographer. She also writes poems and music from the poems, and it's called Nantasket Nonsense.
[00:16:59] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:01] Speaker C: And that's going to be in June. So. Yeah. So the birth of a theater troupe from the amphitheater.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: It's kind of like that incubation thing that we're doing.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: Very much so, yeah.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: And was at our first big community meeting that we had at the library, and I just remember saying, you know, I've really. I envision plays happening on this stage. It's a perfect place. You know, you can almost think of something I would like to do is some Shakespeare. Personally, I'm a big fan of the Actors Shakespeare Project. Actually, I've been to a few of their plays, which they do, and usually in Cambridge or Watertown, and they're just like a phenomenal group, you know, But I'd love to do some. Some Shakespeare with them maybe sometime in the future. Yeah.
[00:17:53] Speaker A: Do you know, did Ruth Gordon do any live theater?
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Oh, yes.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: Oh, she did.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Oh, she did.
[00:17:58] Speaker C: She wrote plays.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: She won Tonys and she acted in them. She was actually in Peter Pan. Right.
[00:18:05] Speaker C: She was in Peter Pan. She and she.
Yes. So Ruth Gordon's. She did a lot of theater is amazing. But so she started in theater.
She famously, you know, we told the story. We might bring it back again at some point about her her life story.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:18:21] Speaker C: But she started in Broadway and a lot of touring companies.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Okay, okay.
[00:18:28] Speaker C: And then after she did some films, she came back to Broadway again. And when the Ruth Gordon Theater was dedicated, she said, I'm going to write a play to be performed by the Quincy High School on this stage. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found it. I'm in.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: She did write it, though.
[00:18:47] Speaker C: I don't know if when she died, she was.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: She may not have finished it.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: We don't know if she finished it, but if I can find her papers, I'm going to find out.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Yeah. We did ask her grandson Jack, when he so graciously came to visit us. And we're hoping that we're in touch with Jack. He's a wonderful, wonderful man.
[00:19:02] Speaker C: He is.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: And we're hoping that he'll come.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Very good.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: Maybe he'll come to one of our shows this season.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: So it's really quite appropriate that there is live theater on stage at Ruth Gordon.
[00:19:10] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. And Sarah's right. So there had been a theater company in maybe the 80s or 90s that did Shakespeare on the amphitheater stage. So it's been done before, I think, you know, we get past our various celebrations of 400 and 250 and things. I think that it would be wonderful to do Shakespeare on that.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: Yeah. And I mean, that's just one thing. And not everybody is a Shakespeare fan, but I just think that theater of all kinds. I've always just loved it.
Ann said right away when I announced it at the community meeting, that I was thinking along these lines of having maybe our own little theater group.
Anne came up to me afterwards and said, I'd love to be involved in that. I've been trying to get something like that going, too. So it was a natural, natural match.
[00:19:56] Speaker A: Great fit. Yeah.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: Along the lines of the incubation again, is that we did a Friends rock music festival also a couple of years ago, and it was very popular. So I'll have to see if the grant for that comes through. There's a grant that there's an application process we did put in again for, but it's very competitive, and we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and see what happens. Okay. But if we get that, we might be doing that again, which gives a lot of the local. That really gives a lot of the local people a chance to get up.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Right.
Yeah. Maybe some of the performers from Porchfest, you know, can find their spot on that as well.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: Friendsofrga.org is the main website to go to. Right. You're all over social media. I know. As well.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: You're looking for more friends, Sarah, for the. For the group.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I mean, always, you know, join us on social media where you can really see what's going on.
If you. If you're confused about where to find the social media, if you just go on to our website, friends of rga.org the links are there.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: And I just wanted to give a little shout out to Breakrock Brewery. That's been a great partner with us throughout.
And Jay just actually emailed me yesterday saying that our amphitheater ale is coming. Aha.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: So Special Brew, it's gonna have its own special designed label in honor of the amphitheater. So we're just so excited about that.
Yeah. So that'll be.
We'll be selling amphitheater or Break Rock will be selling amphitheater Ale this season. And we'll have our. Our food vendors do George's Creek and Blacks Creek, and also our ice cream vendor Smiles by the Mile.
And I just want to thank the mayor. Thank you, Mayor Koch, for partnering with us on this journey and realizing how much this space means to the people.
And thank you to Dave Murphy and the Parks Department and also especially to Paul Daugherty, who's always worked very closely with us on the little nitty gritty
[00:22:04] Speaker A: stuff takes a team, right?
[00:22:07] Speaker B: It does. And I know that Dave has been saying that his team is working.
I need to meet with Dave to get the updates. But his team is addressing the Niagara Falls that would come in on a heavy rain and pour into the amphitheater. So his civil engineer, I believe, had a plan on mitigating that.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: Good.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: And also his new mason for the city is going to repoint the wall.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: Excellent.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: So eventually we will also get our ramp in there. But that, again, is a very, very big and complicated project, and way more complicated than you can imagine.
What happens is that we have a wonderful ramp design. For the first part, going down to that mid level mezzanine, you might.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: So it is accessible?
[00:22:56] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's accessible at the top, totally. And most people enjoy it at the top anyway. So it is handicap accessible, but we just wanted to make it more handicap accessible. So we do have, like a winding, very graceful, lovely ramp designed to go into that mezzanine level. And hopefully that will happen soon. The real challenge becomes when you get to the mezzanine, down to the stage, because it comes a lot deeper and a lot narrower and you don't have a lot to Work with. And so what you end up with is, as we've tried with our architecture team, we usually come up short on making it happen.
We may need to forego that or do some sort of elevator in the back or a tunnel, who knows? But I think that at least we can get some fresh pea stone put in and a lovely ramp down to the mezzanine in the next year. You know, five year plan.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:23:57] Speaker C: Maybe if there is a tunnel. That's our ten year plan. Wow.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:24:01] Speaker C: Because you do want to get the performers, if there's performers, plus equipment and
[00:24:05] Speaker A: sound equipment, lighting sets for plays.
[00:24:07] Speaker C: But I mean, if we were to propose a tunnel, I feel as if the city's really going to want to have some. Some.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: Well, they suggested it, actually.
[00:24:18] Speaker C: Did they really? Oh, I'm excited about this.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: That's a long range point.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: Yeah. That was in the conversations that I had with Dave. And it's an idea. It's just that some of our architect people pushed back on that because tunnels can become notorious for nefarious activities, especially
[00:24:38] Speaker C: if you're a teenager.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: Yeah. People hiding out in the tunnels. And you need to have it gated. It always becomes a little.
So if it's done, it has to be done.
Right. But that would just be like, you know, to the side of the stage.
[00:24:51] Speaker C: It would basically go into the yard. Right. Into the.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: It would go through to the yard,
[00:24:54] Speaker A: which is a secure facility.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: Yeah, the yard that's in the back, which is a lower level.
But in terms of, like, accessing it. You would then have an elevator.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:25:05] Speaker B: Yeah. It's a work in progress and it's challenging.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: Long range plan, 10 year plan. There you go.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: We're getting there.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Sarah, you had your own personal challenges that you wanted to talk about over the past couple of years.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: Yeah. So I know that some people were wondering where I was at a couple of the. I think I had to miss like three of the shows and I really couldn't be a big part of the festival that Ann did.
Colonial to Contemporary, I think was the name of it.
So it was more of a Thalia theater troupe endeavor and we kind of supported. But my own story was that I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
It's been a year of treatments, and, you know, I went through chemo, I went through radiation. This is why I'm sporting my very short haircut.
Two surgeries.
One of the scariest things I've ever been through because, you know, I really was operating from a standpoint that I didn't think I was at risk. You know, I was misinformed.
I was operating from a place where I think a lot of people come from, which is where they think that breast cancer is inherited, or they think you have to have a lot of high risks to get it. And honestly, I don't fit the profile at all. It's not my family. And I didn't realize that actually, we are all at risk. And it's because we're all exposed to a lot of radiation from different sources that can cause cancers, and cancers are, you know, many of. Many of them are on the rise.
I also was, I think, coming from a standpoint, you know, the few people that I knew personally who had breast cancer were lucky enough to catch it very early. And so for them, you know, they had a lumpectomy and they didn't have to go through chemo, and they kind of went on with life. And so I was thinking, oh, you know, there's kind of a misunderstanding out there that breast cancer is, quote, unquote curable, and this is not the case.
So I'm sort of on a little bit of a crusade now to spread the word to people to please get screened.
I was getting screened, but not frequently enough.
Although my doctors have actually reassured me that I probably wouldn't have caught this anyway, because what I had was a grade three, very fast growing and very scary cancer. So you don't want to assume that it's, you know, if you know somebody who has it, you know, don't assume, oh, they're fine. You know, breast cancer is curable. It can be. It runs a whole spectrum, and it can. One out of four people who get breast cancer will die from it. So it is a very serious thing. It's still one of the leading causes of death for women.
And beyond just breast cancer, cancer in general. I have so many friends who have been getting diagnosed with different cancers. And. And like I say, we live in a world where we're exposed to a lot. And so there's a lot that I didn't realize that sugar can be harmful, that putting on weight can be harmful, that these things can increase your risks. But again, even if you don't think you're at risk, you really need to get the screenings. So I just urge people to get screened for all those cancers. Whether it's colon cancer is another big, you know, a big one.
And if you have anything in your own body that doesn't feel right, act on it.
I just saw a dent on myself, and it was a very minor thing, but I was Fortunate enough that I had seen an ad saying if you see anything like that, that you should follow up on it right away.
If I hadn't seen that, I might have dismissed it as nothing.
So thank God, because I really. I had a close call. I was really told that if it had gone any further, you know, I might have been in the metastatic group, which is very, very scary.
So that's my story. And I am thinking about maybe doing a podcast along the lines of health and wellness or, you know, health, happiness and the pursuit of freedom. I have no idea what that would look like, but I'm just thinking about ways that I can help other people because I kind of wish that somebody had shaken me and said, you know, you gotta take this really seriously.
[00:29:18] Speaker A: Talking about it in public, like, this is the first step. Right. One of the steps, anyway.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Get the word out.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: I think everybody's either directly or impacted by some form of cancer at some point in their lives.
So it really does hit everybody in one way or another.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: I agree. That's right. And you just want to make sure that you're not, you know, that you're on the better side of that care.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: We're so glad that you are recovering.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:29:42] Speaker A: And active and involved with the Friends. I'm sure it gives you inspiration and a little bit of respite, too, from some of the heavy issues.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: Yes, yes, I am definitely. I'm in good shape now, so very thankful.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: Excellent. Great. Thank you both. It's been great to break the news about the new season for the Friends of the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater. Yeah, thank you, Joe.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: We always love coming here. Thanks for having us.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Oh, we love having you both. And you'll be back too, for sure. Absolutely. Friendsofrga. Org Main website again to go to, and again through social media as well. And thank you for watching us here on AM Quincy. I'm Joe Catalano and we'll see you next time.
