May 5, 2024

Living the dream with Bronx based actor and teaching artist Amelia Huckel-bauer

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Join us on a journey through the heart of New York's performing arts scene with Amelia Huckel-bauer, an actor and teaching artist who embodies the spirit of the city. In this episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, Amelia shares insights into her latest production 'All She Cares About is the Yankees,' her passion for method acting, and how her experiences have shaped her mental health journey. Whether you're a Yankees fan, a theater enthusiast, or someone interested in the resilience of the human spirit, this episode is a home run!

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> Speaker A>Welcome, um, to the living the dream podcast with curveball. Um, if you believe you can achieve chee chee.

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> Speaker A>Welcome to the living a dream with curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today I am joined by actor and teaching artist.

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> Speaker A>She is based out of the bronx, amelia huckabow. She is here to talk about her show that, uh, she's participating in. All she cares about is the Yankees, and we're going to be talking to her about that and everything that she's up to and anything else she wants to talk about. So, amelia, thank you so much for joining me today.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Thank you so much for having me, curtis. I'm really excited to be here and to speak with your audience.

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> Speaker A>Just start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Sure. I think you did cover the basics. I am an actor and a teaching artist. I live in the bronx with my bronx, uh, native husband, who is a Yankees fan. Um, and I'm a Yankees fan as well. And as you mentioned, the show I'm producing and acting in right now is called all she cares about is the Yankees. It's written by John Ford noonan, but we'll get. We'll get more to that.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, I'm an actor and a teaching artist. I have two young kids, an eight year old and a four year old. I have twin stepchildren, a boy and a girl, who are 31 years old. And I even have a, um, grandchild from my stepson. Um, and I grew up in New England. I grew up half in Rhode island and half in Maine. And I moved to New York 24 years ago to go to NYU. Um, I went to Tisch NYU to study acting. And then I got my master's in educational theater at steinhardt NYU.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, so I'm, uh, like a sort of ride or die New York city girl. I love the city, and I now love living in the Bronx, although it's not where I expected to end up.

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> Speaker A>How was that earthquake that you guys had on yesterday?

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>You know, it's funny, I, uh, posted on social media a little, um, quote from the chorus line song, nothing.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>I felt nothing, um, because I didn't feel anything, but obviously. Ah, well, my husband texted me first and said, did you feel something?

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Because he's a teacher. He's a public school teacher, and people in his school did feel it. He didn't. I was home with my kids, um, and we were on our way to the Bronx zoo, and I was curious for a second if the earthquake would maybe have affected the animals and, you know, would they be all hiding or something? If we went to the zoo, would we not be able to see them? But, um, I didn't feel anything, and we went to the zoo, and I asked the keepers, and they said the animals didn't seem to notice, which was sort of surprising to me because I know the human made a big deal out of it, but I guess that's how we do things, us humans.

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> Speaker A>Everything worked out for you. So you say that you are a teaching artist. So tell us what you teach.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Yes, so I teach, um, mainly I teach acting. I teach at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in Union Square in New York. Um, I teach method acting. And then there I also teach acting for film. Um, I also work with, ah, a theater company as an actor and teaching artist. That company is called Emit, and we do immersive Shakespeare in schools, which is one of my very favorite things to do. So we go into a school and we do a Shakespeare play, but the students walk around and speak with the characters and really get immersed in the world. Um, so that work is sort of actor and teaching artist at the same time, because we encourage the students to ask questions and really learn about the play, but also just learn about the world around them.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, right now I'm directing a musical at a, um, middle school in the Bronx, Bronx charter School for the Arts. My daughter goes to the elementary part of Bronx charter school for the Arts. So I'm directing a musical now. Um, and then I sort of. I actually teach at New York Botanical Garden.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>I teach public speaking there, which is a wonderful job because it's a beautiful location, of course, to get to go to the botanical garden.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>And, um, and I teach horticulture students there, which is a really interesting experience for me because it's not sort of my usual day to day. Usually I'm surrounded by actors and theater makers, and at botanical garden, I get to go be surrounded by horticulturalists and plants, and it's a fun, different experience for me. Um, and then I just teach workshops, mostly theater acting.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Occasionally using theater or acting to learn about maybe social studies or something like that. But usually I just teach things about acting.

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> Speaker A>Okay, well, tell us about the show that you're a part of. All she cares about it, uh, is the Yankees. Tell us about it and how it came about, why you decided to be, uh, a part of it.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Sure. Um, this is a little bit of a long answer, so I don't know. I'll try to go in parts.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, I first found this show. Um, I was auditioning to be part of a theater company, and this was before COVID It was, um, I think it was maybe 2018. And, um, the audition process itself was very interesting. And I did a Tennessee Williams monologue for the first round of auditions. And when I was done with that, um, the gentleman said to me, I want you to come back, and I want you to find a piece that speaks to your soul and makes you fall flat on your face. And he said, I don't care what gender the character is. I don't care if they're human, as long as it's something that speaks to you. I don't care how old they are.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>And for an actor, that is a very freeing, um, but also confusing thing to hear, because we're very used to, um, finding audition material that fits our type. Um, in a way, we're used to sort of pigeonholing ourselves. So to be given the freedom to go find a monologue that is anything was, um, overwhelming and exciting and terrifying. But I started to just sort of think about, like, if I didn't have any limits, what would I play?

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>And I, um, sort of went and looked at some of the more famous, you know, male characters. I looked at, like, long days journey into just, like, everything that just, just the most famous sort of characters that I will never play. Um, and. But nothing really fit. I sort of went to my, uh, to my friends and family and asked for ideas and suggestions. But then finally I ended up at Shakespeare and company, which is. I'm sorry, no, not Shakespeare and co. I ended up at the drama bookshop, um, which is a wonderful bookstore that many New York actors go to to find, uh, scripts. So I ended up there, and I just started taking books off the shelf and looking, looking through monologue books, which is sometimes hard to find monologues that way because often they're monologues that are done too much. But I found a monologue from this play in there, and I loved it right away. So from there, I found the whole play and I read it and I thought, this is so bizarre, but I love it. Um, I used the monologue for my next round of auditions, and I made it into that theater company, and it was a wonderful experience auditioning with, with the monologue. Um, and then a little while after that, I took the monologue to my own acting class at Strasbourg, um, with a teacher I've had for a long, long time. And he said, wow, it's a weird piece, but you should just do the whole play. And, uh, this teacher of mine is somebody I've known since I was 17 years old. And I thought to myself, well, if Geoffrey Horne says I can do the whole play, then I probably can, which is not something that had crossed my mind before he said that.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>But then I started to think about it, and I realized that it was something I wanted to do. Um, I think at that time, I was pregnant with my second child, so I knew that it would have to wait a little bit, but also I knew it would be a huge project. Um, but I started thinking about it and started thinking about how I might like to go about it. And then COVID hit, um. And so, in a way, I had more time to think. But it was interesting because the play is about a woman who is unable to leave her apartment. It's in the play. It's unclear why.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>It's never made exactly clear, but she. The description of the play that is in the published play says that she's agoraphobic. I don't know if in today's terms or definition of agoraphobia, she truly is agoraphobic, but the idea is she can't get out, uh, of the apartment. And then it sort of struck me that while we were all stuck inside during COVID that an audience might relate to this idea much more than ever before. So it started to sound like a better idea to do the show. Um, and at some point during COVID um, I put out a listing on playbill for a director. And I was incredibly fortunate to get back some just wonderful submissions. And I went through the process of finding a director.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>I finally landed on, um, a man named Jonathan Libbon, who, um, also happens to be a baseball player himself. And he actually works for major league Baseball right now.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, and, uh, he's a member of actors studio and the director's wing and, um, playwright wing. And he, um, just brings an amazing wealth of knowledge to the play, because even though I'm a baseball fan, I just don't. I don't have the history or, you know, the knowledge, um, even of most yankee fans.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Honestly, I really didn't start watching baseball till I was in my twenties. So, um, that was an amazing fit.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>And then I asked one of my very good friends, who is an act, an actress and a choreographer and a dancer and a teacher and a scientist, um, to join me, because I knew that I just needed so much help, and I needed people who I really trusted. So I asked my friend Tatiana Kat if she would just help me produce the play. And she agreed right away. And then we started on. We started on the journey.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, so that's sort of how it started.

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> Speaker A>Okay.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Yeah, go ahead.

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> Speaker A>Well, who would enjoy the show? You know, what kind of audience?

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Yeah, I think that one of the things I love about this show is it has so many sort of themes and facets of intrigue, so we kind of break it down into three or four pieces. I think anyone who loves baseball or anyone who is a Yankees fan will love the show. It takes place in the 1980s. So, um, and the main character, her name is. Her nickname is Spanky, so we call her Spanky. And she is obsessed with the Yankees. She's a die hard fan. She also has an incredible mind for statistics. And, uh, we talk a lot in rehearsal about how if Spanky had been alive today, she might have been one of the first female managers of a baseball team. Cause she really was before her time in the way she looks at baseball. But she also was obsessed with Billy Martin, who was a, uh, very interesting Yankees manager, and, uh, he managed the Yankees off and on. I know you're a baseball fan as well, right, Curtis?

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> Speaker A>Yes, I am. The Atlanta Braves on my team.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Yeah, that's what I thought. So, um, I don't know if you remember Billy Martin being a Yankees manager, but he was a manager off and on. And so we set the play specifically 1983, which is a time when he was managing. Um, Ed Spanky is obsessed with him, and she has a half life size doll of Billy Martin. Um, and during the show, she's in, she's in real time watching a game off and on that she turns on and off, depending on how upset she gets with the Yankees or how upset she gets with Billy, she'll turn off the tv and do some other things. So I think anybody who's a Yankees fan, and especially anyone who was alive in the eighties and who would remember those players and who would remember Billy Martin will love the show. Um, I think anyone who loves New York City will love the show. Um, it takes place in the West Village. There's some references to the West Village during that time. And to me, it just has that kind of gritty feeling of sort the old school New York that I think I moved to New York at sort of the tail end of.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>I moved to New York in 2000. So sort of the pre 911 New York, um, that we lost a little bit of. And then we lost sort of a lot of, uh, during COVID So it's, um. To me, it's a little bit of a love song for old school New York and the West Village in particular. I also think anyone who has struggled with, um, mental health and also particularly anxiety, um, will find it interesting. I've also had audience members tell me that it's very hard to watch if you're maybe someone who has a loved one who struggled with anxiety or mental health. Um, so I think it kind of depends what part of, uh, your journey you're on. For me, it's been a healing show to work on. Um, but it certainly reminds me of times in my life where I was not maybe as much in the healing vein as I am currently.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, but I think that people find it interesting to just sort of try and figure out what is going on with her because it's never made clear, we never really know what's going on with her. And I think it's fascinating from that standpoint. Um, and then I think just theater people will like it. It's a really interesting show. It's unlike anything I've ever seen or read or been in. We talk a lot about in rehearsal, about how we feel like we could work on this show forever and, like, never really quite figure it out.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>We're always trying to, um, add things and change things just in terms of the way that we tell the story with the words that are on the page. And, uh, we wish that John Ford Noonan was still alive because we would like to ask him some questions.

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> Speaker A>Okay, so tell us about your mental health journey, uh, if you want to talk about it as much as you want to go into.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Sure. I mean, I, um, moved, like, when I moved to New York, I was 18 and I went to NYU. And, um, I think that 911 had a, ah, huge impact on me. I lived, uh, in an Nyu dorm on water street. And we were home when the planes hit and we had to evacuate. And it was just my second year in New York. I was very fortunate to, um, my freshman year at college, uh, all three of my suitemates were born and raised in New York, and two of them were my best friends and two of them still are my best friends. So I was fortunate in the fact that I had somewhere to go. A lot of kids at the time didn't have anywhere to go if they didn't happen to have really good friends who lived in New York City, like, whose parents had apartments or homes close by. A lot of kids didn't really have a place to go, so I was lucky that we had a place to stay. Um, but we, uh, nyu put us up in a hotel in Times Square for a few weeks. Um, and then once we were allowed to go back to our dorms on Water street, it was a very strange time in New York, and I spent a lot of time alone during that time, and it was scary. Um, and that just affected me a lot. And I have some, um, PTSD from just from the day itself, but then also the months afterwards. Um, so, I mean, sort of. Long story short, I self medicated a lot. And then, um, in my late twenties, I got sober. I've been sober for over a decade. My husband is sober as well, which is a huge help.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, and I also. I've been really fortunate that I was a health coach with noom for two years during COVID And, um, even just having the opportunity to sort of coach others and hear their stories continues to help me, because, um. I mean, I still have a lot of anxiety.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>I personally feel like I've found a way to, um. Like, I sort of feel like anxiety is my superpower now.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, and it's not something that really bothers me. I sort of have ways to manage it or put it aside, but I think it's also. It sort of helps me be super productive. Um, a lot of people say to me, like, well, how are you a mom and a teaching artist, and you're producing this show? And it's sort of because my brain is always going, um, and I know how to, like, take a break when I need to, but, um, at the same time, I'm able to be productive, and I get a lot done, and it. And it feels like a good thing. It doesn't feel like it's, um, you know, something that I have to do. But, um. I don't know if that. If that answers your question, but, um, it does.

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> Speaker A>Uh.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Yeah.

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> Speaker A>Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that people need to know about.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Well, I think, I mean, this is the big one. So the name of the show is, all she cares about is the Yankees.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>It is written by John Ford Noonan, who was a, uh, well known playwright in the eighties. Um, and we will be performing this run at the Andrew Friedman home in the Bronx on Grand Concourse, which is pretty close to Yankee Stadium. Um, we are on the Bronx week calendar. The Bronx week is two weeks of, um, art celebration and festivals and performances, gallery, uh, openings in the Bronx. And so we will be, um, on their calendar. So our show is running May 16, 17th, and 18th.

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00

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00 performance. Um, and it's hopefully going to be, you know, it's going to be a fun show, and the Bronx will be particularly, um, extra alive and vibrant during those two weeks. So I think it's a great opportunity to come up to the Bronx. A lot of people, uh, you know, don't necessarily visit the Bronx when they visit New York City, which is part of the reason why we wanted to do a run in the Bronx. Also, obviously, the show lends itself to being near Yankee Stadium.

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Um, but we don't have a ton of theater in the Bronx, and we, uh.

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I really felt it was important to me to do a run of the show, um, in my, in my home borough for many reasons. Um, one of the reasons being that I just want my neighbors to be able to come to the show. I have a lot of elderly neighbors and a lot of us in the Bronx, um, going into the city for everything is wonderful, but it's also hard when you're busy. So I wanted to have a run in the Bronx where it was just more accessible to my own neighbors. Um, so that's the big show, and it takes up a huge portion of my brain and my life.

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So I think that that is, um, the one that I really wanted to talk about. I would say also, if people are looking for interesting theater, uh, the immersive company that I work with, emit. Emit. We do, um, immersive, educational, interactive theater. That's a great company to check out if you're looking for kids entertainment or entertainment to bring into schools.

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> Speaker A>Well, so everybody can keep up with everything that you're up to. Throw out your contact information.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Sure. So you can follow me, um, on Instagram. The play itself, the. The handle is Yankees play, and that's really the easiest one to follow. Um, I have a website, ameliahuckelbauer.com.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>You can always contact me there as well. But the Yankees play, um, Instagram page, uh, is probably the easiest way to follow what's going on, um, and just see what we're up to.

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> Speaker A>We'll close us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on, or just any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, I don't know. I mean, one thing I think a lot about with this play that I find, um, interesting is. So I teach method acting and sense memory specifically, which is something that Lee Strasberg a method that Lee Strasberg honed and shared with the world.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>And, um, part of something I think about is that even though spanky is, you know, she's a 39 year old white woman from Minnesota. Um, and she's very different from, I think, hopefully, a lot of people in my audience and just a lot of people in America. But the way that I look at storytelling and the way that I look at acting is that, like, in the details is where we're all similar. And I like to find ways where maybe Spanky is doing something on stage that's really specific to her, but it helps someone else think, oh, my gosh, yes, I do that, too. And then they think, like, oh, wow, well, if she does that and I do that, then there's something similar there. And I just like that idea of bringing people together in the details of what we do as humans and who we are as humans.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Um, so that's one of the reasons why I love this show, because it's just me on stage with some yankee dolls. Um, but I hope that it gives a bigger look at all of us and the things that we do and the ways that we survive and struggle and find, um, our resilience.

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> Speaker A>All right, ladies and gentlemen, ameliahbauer.com Yankees play. Be sure to check out the show. If you're in the Bronx, go check it out.

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> Speaker A>Follow rate review share this episode to as many people as possible. If you have any guests or suggestion topics, see Jackson 10 two. Net is the place to send them. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Amelia, thank you for joining us.

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> Amelia Huckel-Bauer>Thank you so much for having me on. Curtis. Thank you.

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> Speaker A>For more information on the living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurvefall.com.

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> Speaker A>Until next time, stay focused on living the dream. Dream.