Original promotional poster for Garden Girl with my niece, Charlotte Kohn, as the Garden Girl. We had to turn a poster into Fringe before we cast the role of Lily.
Ross Hendler (above) and Joelle Kohn (below) created these fantastic Playbills for our audience. It was incredible that they even had time to do this and they looked fantastic!
Garden Girl
A Rock Musical
Press Release Garden Girl is a 50 minute whimsical, comedic rock musical performed at the award winning San Diego Fringe Festival for 5 sold out performances starting June 23rd, 2016.
Story: Lily, an innocent farm girl, is oppressed by her mother whose intention is to protect her and keep her safe. Lily's only friends are her talking vegetables, until one day a weed pops up in the garden and convinces her to escape the farm. On her adventure she meets three people that will change her life forever.
Music: Original music & lyrics by Julianne Eggold. Music collaborators: Angelo Moore of Fishbone, Warren Fitzgerald of Oingo Boingo, Tenacious D, The Vandals.
About the Artist or Company
Writer/Director Julianne Eggold has several film, TV & theatre credits including writing, directing and songwriting for the Emmy nominated TV show, "The Aquabats Super Show!" (creators of Yo Gabba Gabba).
San Diego International Fringe Festival is a project of Contact Arts, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 2003 along with Actors Alliance of San Diego with the purpose building a network of creativity & communication. Contact Arts & AASD aim to connect ideas with social action through progressive performance & community engaged projects.
@GardenGirlRock #gardengirlrockopera #gardengirlmusica
Lily (Kylie Acuna) sits with her mother, Francis (Giggi Campbell), and gets lost in her favorite book about Lake Blue, a lake she hopes to see someday if she can ever escape the farm and the tight grasp of her mother.
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/events/2016/jul/01/sd-fringe-festival-garden-girl/
BACKSTORY
Garden Girl was a baby I had in my brain for a long time. I wanted to mix my love & passion for the energy of live theatre with my love of songwriting, live music, creative writing, complicated dynamics of family & the spirit to overcome, and, of course, Jim Henson inspired puppetry. Mix that all together into a creative soup and you get Garden Girl. What I had no clue about was… how would it all come together? This was in my brain, then made it to the page, then the songs slowly made it to recordings, and this all happened with the help of friends (J. Roldan, R. Hendler, W. Fitzgerald ) over several years. One day I went to a psychic medium in San Diego. I gave my usual “wallowings”, which were the terrible words I’ve said a million times before, “I don’t know what to do next.” I rattled off my creative projects I’ve been wanting to do, “an album of songs”, “maybe some acting”, “do I write a tv show with so-and-so”, “or “do I birth this rock musical called Garden Girl, even though there’s no money in theatre and I have no clue how I’d pull it together? But I really love it and it makes me feel inspired”. The psychic said, “None of those ideas would be wrong, but doing Garden Girl would be important in the way of seeing your vision, from inception to completion, come to life. It will be an important life lesson for you”. She gave me the tiny shred of hope by saying, “It will all come together, whether you believe that or not”.
What that psychic said allowed the tiniest crack of sunlight into my often abusive, cynical brain. The wall of doubt that keeps me from growing as an artist. But with that little crack of light, I called up my friend Matt Thompson who was a writer/actor/director of theatre in San Diego. I mentioned my idea. He said, “You should enter your rock musical into the San Diego Fringe Festival. Why the hell not?” I told him all of the reasons why that would be impossible. “I’m working on a TV show full-time in LA!” “I don’t know any crew I could bring together in San Diego to help!” “I don’t know any actors in San Diego!” etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc. Matt: “Yeeeah, well. Just enter it into the Fringe Festival anyway. You can worry about the rest later.” So I did. It got accepted. And the panic began. But the funny thing is that panic can sometimes be a great motivator. It lights a fire. Being an artist, ‘aint nothin’ like a little panic and a deadline. A sense of, “Oh shit! I have to pull this together!.” The greatest lesson in this endeavor was… it always seems to come together… but not without the help of others. I’m used to doing a lot of artistic projects in solitude, in the disbelief than anyone else will ever care. What I found is that people are incredible, and if you start the ball rolling, often others are excited to roll that ball with you. I’m not sure anyone will ever read this so I mine as well make it a long and detailed account of how my epiphany from this Garden Girl experience will last a lifetime in that I now know I am NEVER alone in what I do.
My dear friend, Jesus Roldan, was the very first one that listened to all of my Garden Girl scratch songs (which are to the right here and are still scratch songs. He read my first draft of Garden Girl. He loved it (whether he really did or not) and gave me 1,000% encouragement to finish it. My mom, Joyce Carter, listened to some songs and read the script and said, “Go for it!” So did my sister, Joelle Kohn. I started dating Warren Fitzgerald and shelved Garden Girl. Years into our relationship I really felt a calling to look at this project again and pulled back out Garden Girl. I asked if he could help to make the songs cooler, as he was an actual paid musician (he was in Oingo Boing and writes all the Vandals songs for chrissakes!) and was kick ass at songwriting & Protools and all. He helped to make a few of the songs sound more beefed out and rich, adding sound effects and various instruments. Thanks Warren. Then I shelved the project due to life and me, and a few years later pulled Garden Girl back out. I asked my friend Bobby Gorofalo to lay vocals down a guitar track on “I Am Jack”. Ross Hendler mixed and mastered my song, “China Doll”. I called my friend, Angelo Moore (frontman of Fishbone) and he took my “Stomp Up Your Voice” song where the main young girl in the story, Lily, meets and old blind Eddie who teaches her to sing out loud and use her voice! Angelo took this song to a new level, recording vocals and multiple saxophone tracks. This song is one of my favorites. Now some of my songs had shape. The story was taking shape, too. So it got accepted into the festival and all of my doubts of how would I EVER get this thing off of the ground started to fall away as I was seeing that others would help get this off the ground with me. Thank you to the people who were there willingly saying YES!
I was working 12-14 hour days in LA on a TV show and driving down to San Diego on the weekends to rehearse with the cast and crew of Garden Girl. I was tired, but it’s amazing how the energy would come back working on Garden Girl. I was playing the role of director. Ross Hendler was my first savior as he came on as Producer. Unpaid, but supported the vision. Ross helped me to bring in Zak Najor, killer drummer of Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (and formerly of the legendary San Diego band, Greyboy AllStars). Zak read for the part of Eddie, the old blind man that helps Lily on her journey. Zak ultimately couldn’t commit to the show, but brought on Kory Gillis. Kory sang like an angelic powerhouse and nailed the role of Eddie. Brought down the house each night with the song, “Stomp Up Your Voice”. He literally has a singing voice that is out of this universe and we all must buy his music because he is out there doing it today, working as a singer/performer in San Diego. So… hire him! He’s freaking incredible (San Diego reader wrote him up below). And he came with a smile and laughter every time we got together for rehearsals and shows. You just want to hug him constantly, he’s that kind of guy.
Opening night! One of the happiest nights of my life!
Abelardo Rodriguez (Jack) and Giggi Campbell’s neices, Charlotte and Virginia, pictured in back.
“CONT.
The heavens shined down when we placed an add on a San Diego acting website, Actor’s Access, for a young girl to play the lead role, Lily. Kylie Acuna showed up to the audition and we were blown away. She came in with her Kylie confidence and strength, but immediately was able to transform into the character of the vulnerable, somewhat lost Lily. And she BROUGHT IT to the role each and every night. During the rehearsal process, I was constantly changing and rewriting and throwing new dialogue her way, and she memorized it right away. able to pivot on a dime. An amazing and rare quality in an actress. I can’t say enough to highlight the true talent in Kylie. She is an absolute professional in her ability to show up on time (thank you Jill Lawson for your super support in driving!), have her lines memorized, and absolutely bring her depth of spirit to each performance.. She put her all into the rehearsals and the actual performance nights equally. Kylie was loved by the audience in her ability to win them over with her kindness and vulnerability in the role. Couple this with the strength of her singing ability and you’ve got a genuine star. People could not stop asking me “where did I find her?” Remember the little people, Kylie :)
Amanda R. filled the crucial role of lead choreographer and dancer, and was able to shore up some beautiful scenes, especially with the “women in the woods”. Under red light and the song, China Doll, among some lovely Tim Burton gnarled trees in the background, Amanda, her sister Alexa, Lily, and the fabulous leading lady in the scene, Kat Fulton (playing our succubus, Sarina), danced a sensual, sexy, dynamic scene that brought Lily in touch with her feminine power. Our amazing Sarina (Kat) was new to acting, but not to performing as she is an incredible guitar player, singer and musician that performs often in her profession as a musical therapist. My dear forever friend, Matt Cross, had introduced me to his lovely girlfriend (now wife), Kat, who expressed interest in being a part of Garden Girl. They both had originally read for roles at the first table read and it was clear we wanted Kat somewhere, somehow! She was brilliant and is pictured above as the seductress luring Lily to abandon her apprehension and to get in touch with her feminine power! Kat shined in her sensual, powerful role, and ended up playing live guitar throughout the entire musical. She is a triple threat kind of woman in acting, musicianship and the most infectious enthusiasm I’ve seen. She always showed up in time with laughter and smiles ready to work. A joy to all and we couldn’t wait to hang around her!
Now who to play the boy who teaches Lily how to follow her dreams? The one that allows Lily to feel those little butterflies in her stomach for the very first time. The wannabe rock star that can’t wait to book out of his podunk farm town (where Garden Girl takes place) and play his rock-n-roll guitar to millions in the big city? Amanda lets us know that she has a cousin, Abelardo Rodriguez, that hasn’t acted but is a great opera singer. Well… we brought him in and the secret was he could act. And he played a beautiful, funny and TOTALLY charming Jack. The audience fell in love with him every time.
I lived in Seal Beach for 7 years on 17th Street with Warren, and on that street a few houses down was a women that I would first know as a crazy, hugely spirited, kind hearted and hilarious friend, Jennifer “Giggi” Campbell-Martin. She revealed to me that she was an actress and a light bulb went on. She’d be perfect for the mother role. I asked her if she’d be interested in playing Francis, a leading role and an important one, as she would be the very complicated mother to our young ingenue, Lily...which meant it required an ability to handle some complicated acting. She accepted the challenge…and she accepted the drive from Seal Beach to San Diego to rehearse every weekend for 6 weeks! She’s a busy lady, she had to drive far for no money (God bless her), but the stars aligned and she made every rehearsal and was absolutely brilliant as Francis. The “complicated acting” was a challenge she rose to with seeming ease. That’s a testimony to her talent. Her voice, her acting, and her incredibly professional yet fun spirit had us all uplifted every time she was in the room. She was a true acting powerhouse, able to transform herself from a fun and affable Francis who genuinely cares for daughter, into a terrifying, abusive mother who we all hated and wanted to save Lily from. A testimony to the advance acting of Miss Giggi Campbell.
”
Lily (Kylie Acuna) finally singing out loud at the urging of Eddie (Kori Gillis) when they do their song and dance of Eddie telling Lily to “Stomp Up Her Voice”.
“The songs below that I created for Garden Girl are mostly in unfinished form. They served as guides to the actors and musicians who brought the songs to life in their own way. Kat Fulton (Sarina) played her acoustic guitar live on stage and sang “Finally Free” along with the rest of the actors. Ross reworked the Cage song into an amalgam of a few of thee songs mixed with sound design and noise. Everyone made the songs into their own, and made them so much better, in my opinion.
(*a couple of the songs here didn’t make it into the final performance due to time limitations). ”
PLAY VIDEO:
PHOTO: Very 1st table read for Garden Girl, the rock musical. (left to right: Julianne Eggold, Giggi Campbell, Kylie Acuna). MANY thanks to Luke of Rosewood 5
All puppets of Garden Girl created by Nate Hernandez
“We needed people to operate the puppets! I put out ads to local San Diego puppeteers, to no avail. I hit up by buddy, Nathan D., who was an actual Jim Henson puppeteer I met working on The Muppet Movie. He ended up taking a gig up north so we lost him. Who would be a brilliant, capable puppeteer who also knew how to act, could pull a big role off and was hilarious? I remembered my acting days at The Stella Adler conservatory in New York and immediately called up my pal Emanuel Todorov. He was an incredible, stand out actor at the conservatory and was hilarious. He was willing to drive from Pasadena to San Diego and take on the lead puppet role of Weed, a dandelion weed that popped up in Lily’s garden. This role was crucial in that the Dandelion was the Jiminy Cricket to Lily, and prompted her to break free of her oppressive mother and meet the three people away from the cage of her house that would help her to break free of her home and mother. Emmanuel was crazy, hilarious, and improved half of his lines like a champ. Every night was different and people absolutely loved him! Plus, he put on an adorable English accent with quippy terms like “oh, soggy biscuits” that cracked us all up.
Kory Gillis had a prior commitment and couldn’t make one of the performances, so we were so dang graced with the talent of Bob Kanish who played Old Blind Eddie. He absolutely killed it and brought the house down. He has the innate ability to learn lines in a day. I couldn’t believe it! And he is actually blind in real life and was able to master the stage and space as if he had done that role a million times before. His magical voice and talent was remembered by all even though it was a brief run. He still continues to inspire me today with his uplifting attitude about living life to the best of your abilities squeezing out every ounce of joy! ”
Most of the Garden Girl cast after a great opening night at the Irish Pub behind the theatre!
Kat Fulton, Giggi Campbell, Julianne Eggold, Abelardo Rodriguez, Kori Gillis, Emmanual Todorov!
Ross asked his dear friend, Sara Bridgman, if she could lend her talents as our head costume designer and so thankful that she said yes. She was there on time at every rehearsal and performance with enthusiasm and ideas and she had some KILLER ideas. I loved her ability to see the characters and get a vibe off of the mood, then base her costuming ideas off of that. Color, lights, skin tone, vibe and personality. She had this uncanny ability to see all of that and bring the characters to life through her costuming magic. This is a skill that I do not possess and am amazed when others can… and she did and we thank her immensely for it!
We lost a dear member, Cindy Scala, who was our makeup/hair artist and shared in leading the choreography and was a dancer at the start. She was there at every rehearsal with a smiling face and great spirit and was so very helpful to the entire production. We were all sad to see her go, but were so grateful for her help and contributions to the show! She was missed.
“Kat Fulton as Sarina in costume, with Kylie Acuna as Lily and Emmanuel Todorov
puppeteering as the Weed, drumming up an audience around the streets of
downtown San Diego.”
Emmanuel, Amanda & I jumped into a tiny puppet box and all worked the additional singing vegetable puppets each performance night. How 6’4” Emmanuel and 6’1” me and 5’7” Amanda fit in a 4’x4’ box is still a miracle I have yet to “unpack”, but we did it.
My mom, Joyce Carter, helped me to design and make the puppet box, signs, and little seed bags for the audience to take home to plant in their gardens. Her help was something only a mom could do, infused with love. And she flew all the way out from Idaho to do this and see the show. Love you, mama! My sister, Joelle Kohn, helped immensely by calling and writing local new channels to promote the shows and she made endless press releases and flyers. My sister and mom were there every step of the way supporting Garden Girl and for that I am forever grateful. Ross Hendler made the Playbills. Joyce Hendler let some of the out-of-town actors stay at her house in San Diego. Barbara Whittman, a dear friend and an LA producer of over 100 plays, helped with guidance on press release contacts and reading the script and giving initial feedback. She has been instrumental in wanting to help take Garden Girl to the next level and get a full theatrical run. Bless you, Barbara! Lyle Workman, composer of most every Judd Apatow film, consulted me in how to go about writing the songs and helping to get arrangers. Thank you for you guidance, Lyle!
And then…drum roll…the show opened, and the actors were fabulous, and the people behind the scenes were fantastic. Garden Girl sold out each night of the 5 night run and we even had to, unfortunately, turn people away. Our friends and family came out and supported us. My family, Jim Eggold & Karen Benick drove out from Orange County. My Aunt, Mary Mills, and her sister Meredith supported us. My friends Catalina, Scott Baron (who read the script and contributed a lot of ideas for the Lake Blue scenes), Patrick Thompson, Luke Brookshire, drove up from LA to see the show. Chris Martin, Debbie Fawcett, Dana Chaffee, Brenda & Frank drove down from Seal Beach to support. My brother-in-law, David Kohn and his parents Mark & Teri came in support, along with my nieces and nephews, Toby, Elliot & Charlotte Kohn (Charlotte was the OG Garden Girl on all the flyers, btw). Barbara & Jim Cole, Brock Brown & family, Joyce Hendler, and SO many more people that came to support Garden Girl. We all thank you!
AND THIS is why I wanted to say, through this epic blog, that the original idea of Garden Girl may have come from my brain… but it took each and every one of these amazing and incredibly talented people to bring it to life. And NOBODY EVEN GOT PAID! Each and every one of these people did it for the love of art. For the joy of working together in a creation that we all brought to life, brought all of your incredible talents to, and completed together. And for this, that psychic medium was absolutely right. I would learn a life lesson if I decided to do Garden Girl as my next artistic project. And that lesson is that I can’t do it alone. Garden Girl was a success ONLY because because of each and every one of the above mentioned people, (and because of the people I likely forgot to mention), brought their heart and soul to Garden Garden.
We did this together and we made Garden Girl, and it was AWESOME!
Thank you to all that were a part of it.
““Shine, shine, everybody shine. Everybody’s fine. Everybody let your light shine. We will shine. Just break the cage and you are free”.
Garden Girl”