“There’s a bit of each Peanut in us.” ~Pigpen, AKA Alexander Kilian
The cast of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” from Taproot Theatre is here and discussing their roles and experiences in this wonderful show. Find out about the sensory-friendly performances, which are designed to be more comfortable for those with sensory sensitivities. Oh the memories, hope and love that “A Charlie Brown Christmas” production brings. Join me in getting the behind the scenes scoop from this wonderful cast of characters!
- Special Guests:
Lucy (AKA Karin Terry) | Snoopy (AKA Keola Kapulani Holt) | Pigpen (AKA Alexander Kilian) | Taproot Theatre Website
Catch hope & encouragement with Erica on weekday mornings from 5:00 AM – 10:00 AM, and Sundays from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Erica:
We’ve got the cast of a Charlie Brown Christmas from Taproot Theatre in the house. Welcome you guys.
Karin Terry | Lucy:
Hi.
Erica:
Let’s take a second and introduce yourselves, starting with Snoopy. Right?
Keola Kapulani Holt | Snoopy:
Hi. Yeah. My name is Keola Kapulani Holt, and I play Snoopy.
Erica:
I’m so excited.
Karin Terry | Lucy:
I am Karin Terry. I play Lucy.
Erica:
Fantastic.
Alexander Kilian | Pigpen:
And I’m Alexander Kilian. I play Pigpen.
Erica:
Okay, that is just so fun. I want to start with Snoopy, because I think Snoopy brings so much joy to all of us around the holidays. You do the Snoopy dance. How do you prep for that?
Keola Kapulani Holt | Snoopy:
Well, it’s a lot of cardio. First of all.
Karin Terry | Lucy:
They’re so good at it. It’s incredible. Yes, okay.
Keola Kapulani Holt | Snoopy:
It’s really fun. I just feel like just letting go of those inner child kind of things, that you usually kind of suppress and just getting the wiggles out. That’s mostly, that’s all Snoopy’s doing. He doesn’t have any lines or anything, so he is got to communicate somehow and it’s all…
Erica:
But you bring so much joy, don’t you, to the people in the audience?
Keola Kapulani Holt | Snoopy:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s been really, really well received. The kids love Snoopy. There are some times when Snoopy’s running around doing things that he probably shouldn’t, and the kids are like, Snoopy!
Erica:
So delightful. Okay, you play Lucy, who, I mean, look, she can be a little prickly sometimes.
Karin Terry | Lucy:
Sometimes!
Erica:
We love Lucy. So, what have you learned about yourself by playing a prickly sort of a character?
Karin Terry | Lucy:
Okay, so we kind of talked with our director a little bit about some of the lines that some of these kids say are not very nice, and we go like, oh gosh, that’s so hard as an adult person to go, “Charlie Brown, you’re a blockhead.” And so we’ve kind of been thinking about how kids will just say really honest things, and they don’t necessarily mean them to be mean. They’re just speaking straight from their truth and being like, yeah, what if you didn’t mess up this time? And to us as adults, we think, “Oh no.” And to them, I sugarcoat things a lot. So she just goes straight to it. She asks for what she wants. She’s so smart. She tries to outsmart everyone and trick them into what she wants to do and
Erica:
Exactly. And it’s that filter free feeling. Right? So, I just visited my nephew in the Carolinas and we were at a dinner for quite some time, and he just looked at his daddy and said, we’ve been here for forty hundred minutes, daddy. And all of us at the table we’re kind of like thinking, yeah, no filter. But it’s a good feeling. I love that. Okay, so Pigpen. Alright. First question I have to ask you is, are you a messy person in real life?
Alexander Kilian | Pigpen:
I think, yeah, mentally a bit of a messy person and it translates into the physical form of Pigpen. But yeah, no, it’s not too far of a casting difference. Yeah.
Erica:
How do you create what we see in the beloved cartoons, the dirt cloud around him? How do you create that on the stage?
Alexander Kilian | Pigpen:
Right. I wish we had the dirt cloud. It’s mostly just my dirty energy and then just a lot of makeup, all over the place, just charcoal everywhere.
Erica:
Okay. That’s really fun. Snoopy, I want to come back to you. I want to ask each of you how you feel about participating in the sensory friendly performances, because it just touches my heart. So Snoopy, let’s start with you.
Keola Kapulani Holt | Snoopy:
Yeah. It’s so exciting. As a person who’s pretty sensory sensitive, myself. I was so excited to hear that Taproot was introducing sensory performances, especially for a show like this. The Isaac Studio is a great venue, but it can feel a little crowded sometimes. So one of the things that we do for the sensory performances is we limit the capacity. So it’s like 75% capacity, which just gives people a little bit more room to breathe and wiggle. They can bring their own headphones, fidget toys, whatever they need to get through this short performance. And the lights are brought up a little bit more. The sound is brought down a little bit more. So, it’s just a very stable kind of controlled environment, and it feels really good. Like myself, if I were an audience member, I would be thrilled.
Erica:
That’s beautiful. Lucy, when you look out, I’m sorry, I have to call you by your character name.
Karin Terry | Lucy:
Please. I love it. That’s so fun.
Erica:
When you look out at the audience during one of these performances, what’s going through your heart?
Karin Terry | Lucy:
Oh man. Part of me is I can’t help but listen to what the little kids are saying because it’s just so genuine and so sweet. And sometimes we just kind of shoot each other the tiniest little glances of, “Wasn’t that the cutest thing you ever heard?” And so, I’m definitely thinking a lot about that. I was a kid that grew up doing a lot of theater, and if I had seen a performance meant for people my age and, I would’ve gone, that’s what I’m going to do.
Erica:
Yes, absolutely.
Karin Terry | Lucy:
And so would’ve been so inspired as a little kid. So I think a lot about them, maybe this being their first show or already loving theater and what that might do for them in the future.
Erica:
Absolutely. Pigpen, your character is a little bit different than the other kids that are portrayed. I mean, Charlie Brown too, let’s face it, right? I mean, all of us have a little Charlie Brown in us. So, what goes through your mind and heart as you’re portraying Pigpen?
Alexander Kilian | Pigpen:
Yeah, I feel like Pigpen, he’s sort of that aloof little character. He kind of just does his own thing. So I think there’s a little bit of freeing joy in that, of just kind of following the group and seeing where it goes. And I think that’s kind of the beauty of the Peanuts characters is we all watched it when we were growing up, and there’s a bit of each peanut in each of us. So, it’s easy for an audience to connect to that. And especially as a little kid, you’re like, that’s me too. That’s me too. So, it’s very sweet. Yeah. So that’s the joy of Pigpen. But in general, all of them.
Erica:
And there’s something about right now, Snoopy, the world is very broken. We need hope more than ever. And a Charlie Brown Christmas is all about hope, but it also hits on the imperfections, the chaos, the commercialism. And I don’t know what it is for me, and I wonder if it does this you, it sort of grounds you in what the reason for the season is, the hope, the love. So, I’m wondering, what do you appreciate about a Charlie Brown Christmas?
Keola Kapulani Holt | Snoopy:
Oh man, so much. I mean, with Snoopy in particular, I feel like he is the only one of these characters that really gets to, I don’t know, just the most genuine expressions of frustration and confusion and overwhelm, but expresses those and then moves on to the next thing so quickly, because his friends and his family are there to bring him out of that, I don’t know, funk.
Erica:
Yes, exactly.
Keola Kapulani Holt | Snoopy:
Yeah.
Erica:
We all get in funks,
Keola Kapulani Holt | Snoopy:
Especially during the holidays. It can be super stressful, but it’s really nice to be able to access that kind of support.
Erica:
Absolutely. How about you, Lucy? What do you feel when you watch the story on your TV and you’re not necessarily portraying it? What’s that feeling in your heart?
Karin Terry | Lucy:
Oh man. A lot of nostalgia.
Erica:
Yes. Amen. Yep.
Karin Terry | Lucy:
I remember so many times of watching it and that it’s so nice to have a little bit of a tradition. I don’t have a ton of traditions in my family. We tend to just do something new every year, but things like the Charlie Brown Christmas, there’s something that pop up every single year and there’s something so simple about it and so still. And it’s really nice after all the little dance breaks and everything that we get to the middle part where we hear the true name of Christmas and you just get to [sighs] breathe and just sit in that and just enjoy stillness of that part of the season.
Erica:
When Linus drops the blanket, it really is a mic drop, isn’t it? For all of us. It’s like, okay, this is it. This is what we all need to be thinking about right now. So Pigpen, that last scene, right, when they’re all singing around the Christmas tree and their mouse are os, do you guys do that in the show, by the way?
Karin Terry | Lucy:
Oh, yes. Turn your mouth.
Erica:
What are you feeling in those moments when you say that?
Alexander Kilian | Pigpen:
Yeah, I think there’s just kind what you were saying earlier, there’s so much joy in the show. There’s so much nostalgia in the show, but I think the beauty of it is, as an adult, you more feel the Charlie Brown’ness. The depression or the sadness that’s just a part of the holidays. And then the little kid part of you is the just unbridled joy. And so I think as Alex playing Pigpen, you feel the connection to both adult and kid. So, it’s very sweet.
Erica:
It’s beautiful. Well, I want to thank all of you for coming today. The cast of a Charlie Brown Christmas from Taproot Theater. You can get your tickets@taproottheatre.org. Thank you guys. Merry Christmas!
All:
Merry Christmas! Thank you.
Keola Kapulani Holt | Snoopy:
Thanks!
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