Project Empty Space interviewed Free to Be … You and Me‘s Grandma and little Billy (also known as Reva Fox and Gracie Liebenstein) for this interview – check it out, if you think you can handle the adorableness!
When was the first time you heard about Free To Be and what did you think?
REVA: I was little, maybe 7 when I first heard it. My mom was a theatre professor and was really into it. I had the album and the book. I LOVED it! My favorites were Atalanta (the concept that she could choose to NOT get married was huge to me!) and William’s Doll. I related to William’s Doll because when I was in Kindergarten, I REALLY wanted to play with these huge wooden blocks we had in the classroom, but my teacher told me those were for the boys to play with and I had to go play house with the other girls. Every day I would try to play with the blocks and every day I would get sent over to play house with the girls!
GRACE: I heard about Free To Be last season – I just saw bits and pieces about it on promotional material. I wasn’t sure how interested in it I’d be; being born post-1990, I don’t feel a lot of the seventies nostalgia a lot of people do.
Is your character anything like you?
GRACE: An eight-year-old boy? Of course! A fondness for dinosaurs, snarky comments, and a good dance number – Billy and I are one and the same (plus or minus a couple curves).
REVA: Um… sort of. She’s got my sense of humor and love of family. But I’ve sort of modeled her on my own mom so she’s probably more like me…in 30 years!
Tell me about one thing you learned in this rehearsal process.
REVA: This rehearsal process has been really fun. It’s been very collaborative but very focused since it was such a short process. We have really been able to build off of each other and we’ve all added our personal quirkiness to the show, I think.
GRACE: I learned that there’s free ice cream when it snows! All you have to do is put milk and sugar in, and eat it.
Who do you think should be in the Free To Be audience?
REVA: I think the audience will have a lot of my contemporaries bringing their children to see these songs and sketches that we’ve grown up loving. I know my kids are coming!… in fact, my kids can sing most of the songs by now!
GRACE: I think this show is more than suitable for kids who like bright and shiny things and who don’t mind a bit of creepy multi-media. It’s also good for parents and any other grownups with a fondness for 70s nostalgia. Also, my mom. I promise I wear clothes and don’t kill anyone this time!
In 30 years, will Free to Be still be relevant?
REVA: I don’t know if it will still be relevant in 30 years. I think it served a specific purpose in its time and that, in part because of these ideas, the world has changed. In fact, Grace and I were talking about [the sketch] William’s Doll and she said she didn’t really get it. And I said the reason she doesn’t get William’s Doll… is because of William’s Doll. The world changed and she didn’t have the experience of having a teacher tell her she couldn’t play with “boy” toys. So the song doesn’t resonate with her the same way it did with me. And that is a really good thing. I have a young son and a daughter and they play with whatever interests them. They don’t have a sense of something being a “girl” toy or a “boy” toy. I think that’s amazing!
GRACE: I can only hope that in 30 years, we won’t need to teach these lessons about gender roles and equality to kids of the world – they’ll already know them.
What’s your favorite drink?
REVA: Um… Ice Tea? Well, that’s a daytime drink you know… My favorite cocktail changes a lot. I currently love a Caipirinha. It’s a Brazillian rum cocktail and sometimes it comes with a rock candy stick in it. Alchohol AND candy? Yes, please!
GRACE: Virgin Sunrise with a Cransplash! Sprite, cranberry juice, grenadine, and orange juice on ice. (I always make it with three cherries for good luck, or five cherries for dinner.)
Singin’, glad to have a friend like you
Fair and fun and skippin’ free
Glad to have a friend like you
And glad to just be me
Project Empty Space 