​[opening music]
HADEEL 00:10
Okay. Hi everyone. Welcome to the second episode of the VeraTalk podcast. Veracity is a student led initiative that aims to encourage young artists to spread and flourish in their desired fields. I'm your host, Hadeel and today I am joined by our special guests Malak Askar and Kenzy Sherbiny In this episode, we're going to be talking about their future theater’s play ask no omen Could you guys give a brief introduction to everyone listening about who you are and what your roles were in the play?
MALAK 00:38
Of course. Hi, I'm Malak Askar. I'm the script writer for Ask no Omen and I played the role of Viola Lockhart. Aside from that, I mainly created Ask no Omen, as well as Kenzy.
KENZY 00:50
Kenzy Sherbiny I directed the play and I played the role of Juno Mayflower.
HADEEL 00:55
So have you guys always been fans of theater?
MALAK 01:02
Yes, definitely. Like, ever since I was maybe ten or so, I've always been really into musicals and stuff like that. Up until around 10th grade, I couldn't really see myself acting in one.
KENZY 01:10
Recently I was a bigger fan of films and such. I still am, but I've gotten quite fond of theater also around the same time Malak did, which is 10th grade, and we have been acting alongside each other ever since. So, yeah, just the journey has been really great.
HADEEL 01:29
Do you guys have any favorite plays?
MALAK 01:32
Very hard question. I would say my favorite play of all time is 12th night Shakespeare musical, only 21 Jump street for me.
KENZY 01:37
I don't really watch a lot of musicals, but I did get into Hamilton recently. Also because of Malak My favorite play of all time is Raya we Skina.
HADEEL 01:49
Oh, that's so cool. The only Hamilton I know is the one on Spotify, the new one. Did any of these plays or anything about them inspire you guys with your own process for Ask no Omen?
KENZY 02:01
Wouldn't say so, like, not really. Ask no Omen was kind of just based on people we know and kind of like, just we exaggerated them or we did the complete opposite, or just random characters that were in the dramas. We took school and we just kind of combined that and we took the dynamics of just random people from our school or like friends, and we kind of thought them out. And then Ask no Omen happened.
HADEEL 02:30
Oh. So it was more based on situations in your lives, I think that's really nice. So, I'm going to start with some specific questions for each of you. First of all, our listeners haven't seen the play. Could you give like a brief idea about the story?
MALAK 02:48
Yeah, of course, Ask no Omen. It's juggling a few main plots, but the main girl named Juno Mayflower she's the king's advisor. In the opening scene, she discovers her father poisoned her mother, and she seeks to find out why this happened. She goes through her mother's letters and discovers she was actually a part of a revolution against the king. The king, Altair and the queen Minerva have children, Vivian and Viola. During this time, you kind of see as well how there's a lot of tension within the royal family itself. And slowly, as Juno tries to discover what happened and why her mother died and why her mother was killed, she discovers that the revolution is led by this mysterious figure called Ajax. And, as well as his friend Iris, she finds out that Ajax is actually the king's dead older brother, who the king tried to kill to take the throne from him. Ten years plot itself. You kind of see how this repeats with the king's daughters. The cycle of. The cycle kind of just repeats with Vivian and Viola who are sisters, and they seem like they're getting along at first and then more deeply rooted than that. And eventually viola poisons and kills her because of the king's decision to make them rule together as, like, joint queens And that's kind of the catalyst in the story, that leads to discover the other events. The important character is also Dimitri, the royal guard, who ends up being the one to kill Altair at the very end of the play under his orders.
HADEEL 04:20
Wow. I really love the way it all just cycles back. And parallel between the king and the sisters. Now, I have a question for Kenzy: How did you organize rehearsals and how did they go?
KENZY 04:30
So I would make weekly schedules because we had a really, really big cast. I think we were like eleven people. And that just like the actresses, not without, like, the tech people who manage the music and such. I would make weekly plans of, like, which scenes we were going to finish and how to follow the set up. And mainly, like, there were very, very few days where the entire cast was actually there. So each day it would be like, maybe like five actresses, but we would really, really focus on what we were doing. And initially I started mapping out how I wanted to manage. This was like January, and I would just write down everything, even the set pieces I wanted to see. And because I'm someone who really visualizes everything, I really imagined how each person was going to look and Malak obviously had thought of how each character was going to look. But mainly, like, managing rehearsals, it was very focused on each person. Each scene really took time and we had this sort of activity where each person was supposed to make a playlist for their characters. So they kind of would have these songs to play out so they would remind themselves of who these characters are. Many other activities of that sort. And everything was very organized and, yeah, I really cared a lot about those. And the actors really cared about those schedules. Like, they would ask for them and just having them, they made everything work out very, very well.
HADEEL 05:58
That all sounds like it took so much effort. I'm sure you guys must be very proud of the results.
KENZY 06:03
We very much are. The entire show was great and we had so much support, even from our school, and we worked and we cared so much for it. And me and Malak are very passionate. And our actresses really pushed us further, even more passionate about it because they actually, like, genuinely cared about those problems that they faced. And, just about the whole thing. Everyone went into it actually caring. So that was really beautiful.
HADEEL 06:33
It's really beautiful, that passion. Exactly what we're trying to encourage. I want you each to tell me what you found to be the toughest part about the process.
MALAK 06:43
This part of the process was definitely for me, as the writer, to kind of actually visualize how it would come to life. Because unlike Kenzy I cannot visualize things in their brain. To me, everything has always been text in my brain. And if something does not exist visually before, I have to imagine it. So for me, it is hard to kind of see how my vision is actually coming together and also describe how things look to me, I would say this is more of, like an internal hardest thing. But on paper the hardest thing was definitely, definitely management and stress management. We were a pretty small team. We did most of everything ourselves. We went out to buy the supplies for the props. We created the props really, like, a team of people to build things with us and stuff. We were just the cast who kind of did everything as well as, like, things like managing ticket sales and stuff. We were also on the side. So it was wanting, being so passionate about this, prompting it to come to life so bad, but at the same time, kind of facing a lot of obstacles sort of monetarily and management wise, this was definitely the hardest part for me.
KENZY 07:51
This part was kind of on the other end of the spectrum. And when we first started out with the play, I couldn't hear those voices. I couldn't. The girls gave me that tone that I wanted. And whenever I would read, I couldn't hear the actresses voices. It didn't click with me at first, but going in they really helped with that. And also, I would say I'm very much a perfectionist when it comes to directing. And so I was scared it wouldn't come off how I would want it. So I know that it was probably hard for the actresses at first, and I was scared going in also that maybe when I direct, people aren't going to listen to me because this has always been a problem that, like, people don't necessarily take me seriously, and they end up doing what they think is right, which is good for an actor to have their own twist. All of our actresses kind of did that. They definitely added themselves to it alongside what Malak wrote and alongside how I directed it. But I would say by the end of it, I realized that the actresses would really hear me out and would take the orders, and they would actually, I had to say, actually want to hear more. And the way I would choreograph everything, and I would say by the end of it, getting to read the script and hearing those actresses voices in those tones. And to this day, if I ever go back to the script, I will want that specific actress and not someone else, or not from the beginning, because they perfected it so well, and I was really proud. Again, I'm just very glad for the team we had.
HADEEL 09:20
Okay, those were very lovely perspectives to hear, but let's try to now talk about other side. What were your favorite parts about the play?
MALAK 09:29
Obviously, every production has its problems, and it has its fights and all that, but fine. That's literally any theater production ever. It's just the fact that everyone, like, there were very unexpected friendships happened, and honestly, just the vibe of working with everyone, from taking little to working for a long hour, staying until, like, 06:00 p.m. or so to work on set. I remember during this time, we still had lights out, and we would stay in school working on the props until the lights literally went out on us and we had to leave. It was just a very energetic vibe, very much being surrounded by all these very passionate people. It's something that's really beautiful, and it's something you can't really get outside of setbase.
KENZY 10:09
One of my favorite parts was that the entire cast and everyone working were all women or younger, even. Our school is, like, led by women, the administration and everything. So that was very empowering, and it was very nice to have our voices actually heard by the administration. Everyone actually cared for what we had to say, and it was very well thought out. And now that actually cared about what they were doing, and it was their play another school activity. And, ah, they wanted something out of it. And knowing that girls now, the juniors want to continue to do school plays and write and act was what really, really pushed me, and knowing that when I leave the school, since we are seniors now, and I will be leaving, knowing that I will have left something for these girls for that we didn't really have, like before 10th grade, we didn't have any like, sort of like drama club or anything like that. So we mainly were the ones who started, obviously, alongside many other, again, beautiful and strong young women. And just, I was just very happy to have the entire thing be led by people who are passionate and who are aware of the privilege that they have and use it wisely. They didn't ignore it, and they did still work hard for the place that they had.
HADEEL 11:36
I love that both of your pieces were just so beautiful and moving and I really agree that a community that supports and understands you, can really make a huge difference, especially the lane of like, arts and creative activities.
MALAK 11:45
Definitely, I agree. Honestly, this cast and having an understanding team overall is one of the most important parts of any smooth production.
HADEEL 11:53
My next question is for Malak. Could you tell how the screenwriting process went for you?
MALAK 11:59
Definitely I can. Oh, my God, where do I even begin? Okay. For me, the writing process started with this one sheet of paper. It has like, just, and I was just throwing ideas onto the page. And I was just thinking, because as Kenzy mentioned, play was mainly based off dynamics we saw in the people. So I was writing it based off these dynamics. I was thinking about the person who's this type, like, this personality and this personality, I think they really get along where, wow, I really want this type of person to get out of their shell and stuff. And we were just like, I was just really just throwing thoughts onto a piece of paper. And then I called Kenzy and we expanded that mind map and that's how the skeleton of it, I guess, came to be. And then for the actual writing process, I wrote Ask no Omen in three days. So I wrote it in three days. This was me going a little insane, but I was honestly, as I continued writing, that sort of took on a life of their own, really. They developed outside of my control as the writer. I could definitely see them more and feel them more the more I wrote them. something that also really helped with this, and I do this with almost anything I write. I made Pinterest boards for the characters. A lot of just thinking and just imagining what these characters would be like, but the actual writing process itself kind of extended way into rehearsal time. Like, we did have the script, the one I wrote in the three days, the very beginning. It was a full script that was ready when we started acting. Some scenes were missing something, or we wanted to add something or change something. And at first, actually, we had a completely different final scene. And we changed it, I think. Yeah, we changed it around two weeks before the play, just because I wanted something that felt more hard hitting. And it was. That voice in the writing process had a mind of its own. The characters, their own. I'm really just a vessel. So, obviously, the writing process, for me, was a little stressful, a little messy, but it was perfect. And I think it led to exactly what I wanted to be at the very end.
HADEEL 13:51
Wow. Okay. And, like, don't worry at all about the going crazy with the 50 pages bit. Like, I can tell you all writers are a bit crazy, so that's totally fine.
MALAK 14:01
Definitely. I think you kind of have to be a little bit crazy to be a writer.
HADEEL 14:05
It definitely does take a certain bit of, like, madness. Okay, so what message do you guys want to send to the audience with your play?
MALAK 14:14
Okay. For me, Ask No Omen is just about the character's morality before anything else. Because I can't tell you, there's a character that's 100% good. There's characters that are 100% bad. I'm someone who definitely has its own characters that need their morals and ideals. And I think that some stories work really well with characters aren’t either 100% good or 100% evil. You can play around with the characters' moralities. And I think this is most highlighted. Like, this idea of morality is most highlighted in Dimitri's character. He's the royal guard. His morality kind of goes through a chain plot itself. It goes from, I'm not gonna do anything about this. Even I know royal family is corrupt because, like, it's none of my business. And then it kind of shifts. But that's not because the corruption has changed, but it's because his own mindset and his own view of and what's right and what's wrong has changed.
KENZY 15:00
Ask No Omen was important as a production, not as just the plot or just the characters, the whole thing itself. And I wanted to prove that, you know, an all female production could really be that successful. And, ah, to pass it down onto the younger actors, knowing that I was very privileged, and knowing that I'm very known amongst students and teachers as, ah, someone who directs and acts and such. So, like, I wanted to pass that on to them and I. I knew that if I was in this, you know, it would be more highlighted and people are going to notice it more that I wanted to bring. Those actresses that I know are very, very talented and again, very passionate about what they do. So it was important in that sense, if I work really hard on something, it would actually be good. I've worked very hard on other production, and just other things, academics, anything. I work very hard on them. And it's not always that I get what I think I deserve or, you know, my hard work, but I still work hard regardless, Ask No Omen proved to me that, you know, I can work hard and still get what I deserve. And at the end, the production was, you know, I was told things that happened within the production, but they were, like, so little, and it maybe even made it better and we didn't have any issues. And I remember, like, that day, I was just crying in the wings backstage because, like, that's something that I've worked hard on. Actually it came out very fruitful and just beautiful. And I knew that I had done my job, this sort of legacy onto these, you know, that they can now do another play and make another production, and they will be the ones highlighted. Even then they will have other actresses and it would just continue being passed down.
HADEEL 16:41
Those answers were like, wow, I really loved how each of yours connects to, like, your own roles and play, like, Kenzy You had your view, the people you were working with and Malak about the characters. That reflection was, like, really beautiful. I love it. Okay, so my next question is for Kenzy How did you guys work on the costumes and set
KENZY 17:06
As I said before, we had the costumes planned out from the beginning, and we sort of had each character so Juno, she would wear more blue and such. And Ajax was. Ajax and Iris were more like black and purple. And then Altair was like, like fake royalty, like, overdone Bold and red. And, you know, we had imagined him like that. The costumes were mainly. And we have done this before in production. It's just stuff that or stuff from, you know, everyone was borrowing clothes from each other or we took clothes from the people in our family. And, Malak worked very hard on that. We had, I think, for Vivian and viola and just a lot of the characters. So a lot of it was just, like, very, like, randomly. But the costumes were very beautiful in the end. We had a lot of costume changes. I think I had three personally, and it was very fast and the scenes were short, so, like, having to change was crazy. And we actually didn't rehearse, changing at all. But it was very fun.
HADEEL 18:09
Oh, I totally like that. I really like the way you had, like, this fake ruler, the king dressed in all bold and extreme colors. I feel like that's like, I really like the symbolization in that, do you have anything you didn't appreciate enough in the play or something you want to highlight that didn't get as much attention as, ah, you think it should have?
MALAK 18:30
Okay. I would say there's so many parts that kind of overshadow during the play Because of, like, the way bigger scene, like, the final scene and all that. But I would say the part relationship between Jason and Juno, of my favorite parts of the entire play, way the relationship just flipped from, they're good, but then they're not, but then they're good, but then they're not And it's just a, kind of, like, push and pull type thing. And I think it's very realistic for actual siblings, especially considering how Jason and Juno became siblings, because they're step siblings and all that. Okay. We had this sort of interactive type of thing. It was actually Kenzy’s idea. It was very cool. We had our organizers who were downstairs in the audience, right? They were giving random people letters, and at the very end of the final scene, Altair gets stabbed and Dimitri goes, all hail King Ajax. And people in the audience repeated back, all hail King Ajax. It was honestly just very cool. It was a beautiful way to end the play. Right before Ajax's final speech. It was so. I literally got chills, like, hearing it backstage. And honestly, it was a part that was, like, an absolute favorite of mine. But I think it was very.
KENZY 19:38
I'm gonna bounce off of what Malak said. That last part was very important to me because, like I said, the final scene. I'm just gonna talk about the final scene because I want to. But the final scene took so much time alone. It took its own week. Also, The play was done in, in like, a month, so that's very underappreciated. But the final scene was important. It originally wasn't written at all. Me and Malak were on call, and we thought of every possibility for the final scene. There is, like, the Ask No omen final scene in, like, a billion ways, just off of that line. We thought, like, what if Iris kills Altair? Or what if Altair is the one that, like, you know, what if it's the last man standing? We kept thinking of possibilities until we came out with our final one, the all hail king ajax bit that I thought of when we would do the scene, and each time it would end on all hail King Ajax. For me in my brain, and I remember when I would, like, tell them, like, the scene is over. I'd just be like, all hail King Ajax. So it just became so natural, and I would just imagine, like, the audience is gonna yell back, but, like, how would the audience know? So we had to let them know. At first, Malak wasn't convinced that people would say it, and it would be coordinated, like, perfectly at the same time, and it would just be random. And we did it for the show, and then people said it, and so many people said it was so loud, just how I imagined it. I was going backstage again. I was hugging people, crying. Melted my makeup off. It was beautiful. So the final scene was so, so, so important to me. Like, super important to me. Something I feel that was underappreciated was our marketing. We spent so much time on our marketing, and I'm someone who does, like, most of the graphic design and all of that. It was so hard. We started working on Ask No Omen like, late December, like, just writing, and I had the posts in my mind in, like, early January, and any time there would be, like, a TikTok trend, write it down, and I would be like, the characters are gonna do this. And then into the play, when we started rehearsals, all, like, because of what I had, and I would show the, you know, the actresses that the actresses started coming up with, like, ideas, and there's so much stuff that we, to this day, did not post, and there's stuff that we did not even get to film because of how many, like, how much ideas we had. I would say with, like, the graphic design, we had like, a specific color palette, and I thought it would make things easy because, like, to post stuff, and, you know, I think the color palette is very unique, and also the posters. I did the posters, so it's really great to see everything and the posters and they just look so good. I'm just proud of myself.
HADEEL 22:14
'm hearing a lot of stuff about that final scene, and I'm totally hyped up to watch it. Now. I do have another question. You guys mentioned siblings a lot So I'm starting to think you guys have siblings, and were you inspired by those, like, relations, including them in the play?
MALAK 22:31
I have two older sisters. They're way older than me. I'm 17 For context. Yeah. So my sisters are definitely a huge part of my writing. Everything I write is about sibling dynamics, and I'm definitely inspired by my sisters because our dynamic is very different from a lot of people I know who are super close in age. I see their dynamic when they're just two years apart and with each of them and all that. So, honestly, that really inspired me, especially when writing Ask no Omen, the casual sibling rivalry that you see can manifest, as well as sort of being overprotective or too kind of coddly with their younger sibling. But at the same time, it's needed a lot of the time. And this, I think, was really represented with the living dynamic between Altair and Atticus, for sure. Altair and Atticus, they have a gap bigger than that of, say, Vivian and Viola, or Jason and Juno.
KENZY 23:26
Me, personally, I have a younger sister. She is six years old. Very big age gap. Ten years for me. I feel like a lot of younger siblings kind of get overshadowed by their older siblings because, like, the parents have just formed that bond and just care more. And I feel like that's evident with, you know, the dilemma Viola had and also the dynamic that Frederick and Jason had when Juno first started talking to Jason. revolution and what's happening and how my mother died and stuff. And, you know, Frederick was the one who killed her and her step siblings instantly. Jason just thought she was vain and, like, what would, you know? You're just a kid. You're just saying stuff. But at the end of the day, Jason did realize that she was correct, and he did initially join the revolution by the end of the play.
HADEEL 24:14
I have a younger brother, and this totally speaks to me, so I'm really glad you guys did that. I have another question, and it might seem like a bit of a basic or obvious question, but I'm sure your feelings go, like, a lot deeper. So I want to know how you guys felt on the opening nights.
KENZY 24:35
I was actually very anxious. I don't know what happened. I was crying, and then I came on stage and I just went on autopilot. I did not remember anything. I, like, forgot all the lines. I forgot everything. It was. It was so bad. And to this day, it's recorded. I have not watched it before. In Ask no Omen backstage, I was like, oh, no, that happens again. It's basically that 2.0. And then I. And they were, like, calming me down. I was like, no, it's gonna be fine. And I was like, no, but I worked so hard, and now it's just repeating, and I won't stop. I'm not gonna be able to stop it saying here. Thankfully, in the first scene, my character, her mother, discovered that her mother dies, so she's supposed to cry. So that was ok I had already been crying for like, the past 4 hours. So it would just, you know, it went from, like, watching it from the wings. I was like, wait, this is really good. Wait, so is my hard work paying off for the first time in my life, like, ever? And it was great. I was so happy for like, the second half of like, opening night. But the first half, I was, having some trouble.
MALAK 25:37
Our show started at six and up to like, 04:00 p.m. everything went wrong. But then it was really great. Everything was really awesome, honestly. And everyone did so well. And my favorite part of the day, honestly, of the entirety of the opening night was going out with the cast afterwards.
HADEEL 25:54
Okay, so this next question is for Malak. Did you face any writer's block? And if so, how did you deal with it?
MALAK 26:00
Definitely I did. I forgot about, like, three weeks or so to write Ask No Omen and I ended up writing it in the last three days of that deadline. I had to give myself a plan. So I went to my mom and I told her the entire plot and we kind of just worked on it together. And she helped me kind of figure a layout for what I wanted each scene to be writing, kind of headers for each scene I went out that night and while I was out, just added little points to each scene. So, like, here's what I want to have written in the scene and have the reader, like, the viewer understand from this scene and stuff. And, that really helped because I felt like I wasn't going into the Google Doc with just like a blank page to write words on. And honestly, it really helped because I find that dialogue is sort of my strong suit when it comes to writing. So having the, what I wanted the characters to say laid out was easy. Like, made it way easier to me because I could just write the dialogue and I didn't have to feel like, okay, wait, what? Am I going off track? No, I felt like, okay, I know exactly where I want this dialogue to lead, so I'm just gonna write it. And, that really helped, honestly, and made the writing process much smoother.
HADEEL 27:06
Okay. Wow, I like that. And I’m gonna be trying that in my own writing. I do face writer’s block a lot too. My next question. Kenzy, this is kind of a silly question, but I'm really curious. Did you enjoy getting to, like, yell let people cut and action and that.
KENZY 27:24
I would sometimes, but I actually wouldn't enjoy it because all of our cast is just like, they're like my kids. I wouldn't yell at them. I remember like there was very few times that I actually yelled. And I would yell at them before the scene. And then we do the scene and then after I just go back and I'd be like, I'm so sorry if I scared you because they would get scared because I barely yell. So when I would, it would be like very effective and scary. So. And they would be like, no, you should, you should yell more. You should be more controlling and stuff. You know, I would just feel bad. I couldn't be that controlling. I couldn't be that like scary to them. but again, that all came out on opening night. So yeah.
HADEEL 28:01
Oh, wow, that's like really sweet. Honestly, I feel like I enjoy playing director and just yelling action. Okay, I've got two more questions for the both of you. Would you guys ever consider like putting on another play?
MALAK 28:15
Because we're both in senior year right now, so obviously like we're national systems so we don't even see each other. Like, like today's the first time we've seen each other since the start of the year, 1 September or something. And but we would love to put on another production with each other. Definitely. I work with Kenzy really well. We kind of understand each other's visions. We really click. We kind of complete each other creatively because as we mentioned earlier in the interview, I can't visualize things at all. Kenzy’s a very visual person. All that working with each other is actually very fruitful. So yeah.
KENZY 28:47
I would love to work on other co productions, definitely. Especially because for me, I do want to major theater or in film. Thought of it for a while and I honestly think that maybe even after I would graduate, I would love to go back to the school and just direct something or make a act with like school and obviously like get to know them. Like it would just be really nice, just to go back to that community.
HADEEL 29:17
I'd definitely be there to watch if you guys ever end up putting on another play. Like save me the first ticket. Okay. Lastly, I want to know what advice you guys would give to anybody who wants to start their own play or who's in the process of making their own play.
MALAK 29:30
Oh my God, so many things. There are so many things I wish people would have told me. Advice I would give, manage everything, have a plan for everything. Before you even step foot into a rehearsal. Like, you need to have a plan and idea for everything, and you have backups for your backups. And it is so, so important to just have people you can trust working with you, especially. Especially when it comes to management. Because I, like, for example, for Ask No Omen I was the person managing tickets and stuff. Like, I was focused on that part, but the main person managing, like, the ticket buying was one of our friends. She. I remember she was the first person I called because I literally just trusted her so much. I knew she would be the perfect person to manage, like, money and, like, people would, obviously, because we're mostly online and stuff like that. And it was just so fruitful to work with someone you trust. So have it. Have people you trust on hand. More important than trustworthy actors is trustworthy organizers. People who are very responsible for these types of things, because these are difficult jobs. Not saying that being an actor isn't difficult, but these are, like, underappreciated difficult jobs. And have a plan for everything. Have backups for your backups. Make excel sheets, develop excel skills. Like, honestly, you just have to have an actual vision and a plan, and you have to realize that not everything is going to go how you want it to go. And every production has mistakes, and every production is going to have its fight, but you need to be able to learn how to conflict manage and be able to get through that.
KENZY 30:50
Honestly, just working with people that are trustworthy. Music is so important also, even if it's not like a musical sort of play, music is so important. We were very fortunate to have someone who knows about music, but I would honestly say the same things. Like, techies are so, so, so important for me. Like, I had with Ask No Omen, I had managed and written months before, like four months before that, or like five months before that. So that really helped. Again, the thing I said with, like, schedules, also, you should really, really know what your budget is. That is so important. And we thankfully had a really great ticket system that worked wonderfully. So that was, like, so, so important. And it just, like, you need to have people that support you, not just, like, within the play, but just people from, say, like, the school you're at, like, the administration. That is so important. And that helped us so much.
HADEEL 31:40
All right, if we have any listeners who want to start their own plays, there you have it. Advice from the professionals themselves. This wraps up our episode for today. It was really fun talking to you guys, and I really enjoyed this conversation.
MALAK 31:54
It was really fun talking to you. This was so amazing. This is such. I'm so happy to be given this opportunity.
KENZY 31:59
This was very fun.
HADEEL 32:01
We're, like, really happy to have you guys.
MALAK 32:03
So happy to be here. I live, laugh, love Veracity.
KENZY 32:12
The most fun interview. This is, like, maybe my third interview I've ever done. This was super, super fun.
HADEEL 32:20
And that marks the end of today's episode. Thank you all for joining us, and stay tuned for more to come. And make sure to follow us on our instagram @veracityofart for all of our updates, especially since we've got a lot in store. Okay, bye.
[closing music]