Pre-Show Ponders: Interview with Ella Frederickson and Lav Raman

Ella Frederickson and Lav Raman are currently starring as Emma Nolan and Alyssa Greene (respectively) in the Theatre Raleigh production of The Prom. In this next Pre-Show Ponders interview, we chatted about their audition process, creating the show, their friendship, and what it means to be part of such a joyful, hopeful production. The following interview contains plot spoilers for The Prom. Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background. 

Ella Frederickson: Well, I'm 20 and I grew up here in Raleigh. I go to school over in Greensboro at UNCG. I'm a part of their musical theater program. Theater has been a part of my life ever since I was 11, but I was kind of snobby. I didn't do musicals for a long time. I was like "I'm strictly an actor," and all that. But yeah, theatre and music and writing have been a part of my life for a while. I like to travel when I can, and travel up to Pittsburgh, which is actually where Lav lives. Amazing!

Lav Raman: I'm from Pittsburgh - I grew up there. I go to Penn State, and I'm part of their musical theater program. I'm also 20, and theater has always been part of my life.

It's really cool that you guys are students and this is how you get to spend your summer. Can you talk about that? 

EF: Gosh, it's such a cool way to still be involved. In school, you have to juggle the classes and a show, and then if you want to work, you work. But I feel like doing a contract over the summer is really nice because it's a little part of your summer, but you do so much in such little time. I feel like I've lived a million lives so far and the show hasn't even opened. It's been super fun. 

Frederickson (left) and Raman

LR: I love it. I'm not from here, but this is my second summer doing summer contracts. I got to do two last summer and two this summer, and I love it. I love getting to travel to new places and meet new people and live a million different lives and learn new things. School is great, but it's hard to really immerse yourself in it when you're with the same people and you're doing it while balancing 800 things. I think you learn a lot in that environment, but you also learn a lot when you get to just do The Prom and your whole life is The Prom. 

EF: That's such a good point. School is awesome, and I've learned so much. I feel like the training aspect of it is great, but being in the environment is really where it's at. You learn so much and you just meet the coolest people who've done a million things and you're like, "Wow, I feel so lucky to work with these people." It's really nice. 

How does a summer contract work? Did you seek them out or did they seek you out? Can you talk me through that process? 

EF: Summer stock is kind of what you're expected to do as a musical theater student. I really wanted to stay close to home and represent the nice theaters we have in Raleigh. Theatre Raleigh has done amazing shows so I immediately look to them. I saw they were doing this show and I love The Prom and I love the story, and I sent in my headshot and resume and they were like, "Come on in. Let's do it."

LR: I wasn't too set on staying close to home. I like the idea of being in new places and meeting new people — I just think that it's fun. But for my summer stock audition process, I kind of just submitted anywhere and everywhere. I like the idea of probability - the more I submit for, the better chances I have. I knew going into the summer that I really really wanted to do The Prom because a lot of companies are putting it on this summer. It is a really beautiful and important story. I see myself in Alyssa, and I really liked the idea of doing a role I'm connected with - I haven't done that before. So I submitted to a bunch of places, specifically a bunch of places doing The Prom. I heard great things about Theatre Raleigh so I was like "I'm gonna come here."

EF: What was crazy about Lav is that when she was in her audition, they were like "You came all the way from Pittsburgh?!" She was like "Yeah!" So that showed a lot. 

You said you see a lot of yourself in Alyssa. Can you talk about that and what the similarities are? 

LR: I think Alyssa is battling a lot of different sides of herself. I think she has pressure from her mom to be perfect, to be a star student, to be a cheerleader. I don't relate to the cheerleader part, but everything else. I think that growing up — not necessarily from my parents, but more just from myself and some pressures externally — I think I put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect and to do everything and to be this star student that everyone else thought was perfect and incredible and could do everything perfectly. I also went through a similar journey in high school of figuring out what I really wanted to focus on, who I was, and who I wanted to organically represent as a person instead of just wanting to put out this perfect image. I think it's a really beautiful coming out story. That wasn’t necessarily my high school experience, but I still think that high school into college has been a similar journey for me of "Who am I? Who do I want to represent? How do I want other people to see me? Do I care how other people see me? What does it mean for me to really live as myself and do the things I want to do and love who I want and not let other people define that for me?" 

I'll ask you the same question, Ella. How have you been able to relate to Emma?

EF: Emma's super cool, and I haven't felt cool until recently. High school is the worst, and looking back on my experience and comparing it to hers, I definitely had it easy, but gosh, she's so sure of herself, which is awesome. And I feel so happy to be able to lean into that side of myself. Because I've only recently felt like "Yeah, I kind of know what I'm doing. I've kind of got a grip on life." But she is just so sure of herself and she is unapologetic about it, which is really great, but never what I would have done. I totally would apologize for being myself. But we're both super creative, which I really like. Getting into the whole audition process, I was talking with Tim about her music. It was so awesome because I write and perform my own music, and I like to think that she does too. So that was really cool and special, getting to flesh out that side of her. Defining who you are as a person at such a young age is so daunting, especially when you're under a microscopic lens, so I think just being unapologetic about it is so cool. So yeah, I feel like I'm cool like her! 

It seems like there are quite a few students in the show? 

EF: It's quite a handful! There's a good number of young people in this show, which is awesome, because I love seeing young people playing young people. It just feels so much more organic, seeing young people being young like it's intended to be. And they're all awesome and in similar age ranges.

Has that made it easier for you Lav, coming into a new state and having basically these built-in friends? 

LR: Yeah, I think so!

EF: Lav and I get along so well! I'm really lucky. 

LR: Definitely. I feel like one of the best parts of the show is our chemistry. It's so easy to do the show with each other. A lot of the people around us say the love we show on stage feels very genuine, which makes me so happy. I love that we can present a genuine relationship that makes people joyful. 

EF: People call me an old soul, so I've always befriended older people and adults, which sounds so sad. But they're awesome and they are so kind to all of the younger cast members. They are just so invested.

LR: They're so wise. I get to live with Josh and DJ and I am so lucky. Josh is playing Barry and DJ's playing Trent. They're middle aged men and they have so much experience. We'll be chatting around the kitchen table and they'll name drop some famous person. But they're the best, and everyone in the cast, regardless of their age, is so lovely and has the best things to bring. 

I'm glad you guys brought that up. I was going to ask if you've done a lot of work with adults or if it's mostly been with your peers. I'm sure it is a very different environment being able to play off of their experience and their knowledge. 

EF: Being in school with everybody who's within a three-to-four year age range with you is awesome, and you're going through it and experiencing the same things. But I feel like working with people who've done the things and they're continuing to do things is just so eye-opening. It's a great example of professionalism and how to handle yourself in certain situations. We started tech just the other day, and we’ve watched Amy and Josh and DJ and Kate just hold themselves so poised. They're still so kind — we're all under a lot of stress and we're all tired and we're hungry and we don't want to do that number again. But they're awesome examples of how to be a professional working in the industry. 

LR: I got my contracts last summer and I was with people my age. This summer has definitely had a larger age range, but honestly, it's so inspiring. They have confidence and wisdom and talent, obviously. But aside from looking up to them, it also is really eye-opening to see how similar they are to us. I feel like we're in an age where I'm finally feeling like an adult, dealing with finances and living in a new place, and it's nice to see people who are doing the things that I want to be doing. They still have so much joy and that childhood fun.

What was the audition process like?

EF: It wasn't horrible. My parents live in Raleigh, so the whole weekend I was called to audition, I got to hang out with them, which was a double bonus. But initially, I sent in a headshot and resume and I listed my availability for their whole summer season- they had The Weight of Everything We Know and The Prom, but I really wanted to do The Prom. I think it was a three day process because it was the initial audition, then we had a dance callback, and then we were sent off. I think I heard back maybe the day after with the offer, which was crazy and I was so excited, oh my gosh! I had to go back to Greensboro for school and I was in my play script analysis class. I was looking at my email I was like "Ohhhhh gotta call my mom!" So that was really cool. It was the most fun audition I've done in a long time. Everyone was so awesome. I felt so at ease and relaxed, and it was more of a conversation and getting to know these people. It was really enjoyable. 

Were you guys auditioning for your specific roles? Or was it a general audition and they cast you as Emma?

Frederickson (left) and Raman

EF:  It was a general audition, so you came in and you sang your cut. As I was walking out of the room, they were like "Could you come back and sing for Emma and Alyssa in a couple hours?" And I was like "For sure." So it kind of morphed into a more specific audition.

LR: I don't remember a lot of specifics. I really just submitted and I got an email that I was called back for Alyssa, so I went down in person and sang and I got to meet everyone. I had a cold so honestly it was one of my worst auditions! 

EF: We actually danced together in our dance callback, and I blacked out that whole time because that was my first dance call since I broke my foot — I was out of the game for a little while. But I blacked out and I was like “I can't focus on anything but what's in front of me.” I remember walking away, but she was wearing the cutest freaking thing. You were in all pink, weren't you?

LR: It was a pink skirt. I was going for that girly high school look.

ER: When Lisette told me that we had danced together, I was like "Oh my God, the pink skirt!"

Can you walk me through the process of how you put the show together? Is this a full time thing, all day every day, or is it more of an evening process so people can work during the day? 

EF: You have a contract, and we have both equity and non-union people, so it changes things a little bit. Rehearsals are Monday and Saturday, 5:30 to 10:30, so not super horrible. It's super lenient for people who have day jobs, so that's awesome. We had two days in music rehearsals, we did the table read, and then we hit the ground running with staging and choreographing. I've never worked in this way before - I normally start from the top, go to the finish and go back and clean. But it's been a really collaborative process where we kind of jump around. We divide and conquer with Tim and Lisette, so it's been really cool. I've never been asked by a director what I think about the blocking, which has been super fun. I'd be like "You know, I actually don't feel inclined to go there," or "I don't see why I would sit down at this time." It's been super nice to have my own input on what's happening. We just started tech, so it's been a couple of days of that, and we just moved into costumes, and we opened on Wednesday, which is crazy!

LR: It's been a three week rehearsal process, which is pretty luxurious. It's been so collaborative. Everyone is really open to hearing what we feel is natural, what our impulses are, how we want to portray our characters and what's important to us in the story. There's a lot of golden age shows where you have to be a fantastical character, and I think this is really special because we get to be ourselves. We are able to bring so much of ourselves, like Ella says Emma is cool. But honestly, some people who play Emma play it is as not cool. But your Emma is cool! I love it. We can be ourselves and make our characters feel like part of us. 

EF: It's hard because The Prom was on Broadway and it's done it's tour, so I didn't want to fall in that rabbit hole of seeing Emma and Alyssa as one way. There's so many facets of these people, and you can tell they were written that way because when I looked at the script, I was like "Oh, I never would have taken that approach the way so and so did." It was really fun to read it for myself and meet Lav and get to see the chemistry and have it unfold. 

LR: That's the thing. We had the time to build it together.

EF: Three weeks is super luxurious, so we had that time to really flesh it out and talk about it. 

The Prom is such a joyous, hopeful production and has this beautiful message. What does it mean to you both to get to be a part of that and share that message of love and kindness?

EF: Man, it's so beautiful. I feel so lucky to work on it every day. It's just such an amazing representation of queer love and queer joy and getting to celebrate that, which I think is amazing. We go through things in The Prom, and it's real and we have struggles, but I think it focuses on what it's like to be in love with somebody of your choice and I think that's awesome. 

LR: It's so beautiful and joyful, and it's so real. It's based on a real story centered around a real couple and they're people who are in love with each other, regardless of their gender. I also think it shows facets of a lot of different queer experiences. You have the people from Broadway, like Barry, who really relates to Emma and they have a really special connection, even though his experience is so different. He is so confident in who he is and is able to inspire her, and then you have Emma's experience, which is so different from Alyssa's experience. And then you get to see the students who started out homophobic, and even Mrs. Greene, seeing how she copes. And Dana, who plays Mrs. Greene, oh my god, is fabulous. 

EF: She will make you cry. She makes me cry. 

LR: In the beginning, Alyssa does some questionable things, but the end is so healing. To have Dana, who I met three weeks ago, look at you in the show and be like "I accept you for you and love you," it feels like a warm hug. 

EF: All the parallels you can draw from every character's experience is crazy. When you brought up Barry, I was like "Oh, he relates to you and your mom," but he relates to me and being like unapologetically myself. 

Can you talk about the costumes and The Prom? They play such a huge role in creating these characters. 

EF: Yes, Malissa and Danielle are awesome. They are so wonderful, and they were honestly the first introduction I had to the process because I had a fitting for all of Emma's costumes before we even started rehearsing. Meeting them, I was a little nervous. I wanted to be involved in the process because I feel like Emma, as we've seen her, I haven't felt super connected to how she presents herself. So I wanted to be vocal but also respect their desires and wishes and creative visions. But they were so lovely. They asked that I bring in things, they asked my opinions, they asked things like how I would style a belt with certain pants, and I felt so taken care of. We put costumes together for the first time yesterday, which just adds a whole other layer. 

LR: At the beginning, a lot of my costumes are much more girly, reserved, then there’s the cheerleading outfit. It’s how my mom wants me to dress and how I need to be to fit in. It's been really fun to get to work with Malissa and Danielle, and we got to bring in some of our own clothing and collaborate with them on the vision. I think it's really fun throughout the show to see Alyssa come into her own and figure out what that looks like.

EF: We also found a way to communicate with each other through our clothes. Emma is super fun and very expressive, but also has to survive. So we made sure to stay mundane in certain ways, but in the little ways I could pop out and express myself, we did, like embroidering my jackets or decorating my bags in certain ways. We found these enamel pins - they're a sun and a moon. Lav, which is so funny, she wears gold jewelry and I wear silver jewelry, and I saw it was like “I want to give her this pin!” And so now we found little ways to put that pin on our costumes throughout the show, which I just love. It's super sweet. 

LR: We have little ways we communicate throughout the show - Emma and Alyssa’s thing is holding pinkies and the sun and the moon thing. It’s about little looks and finding genuine, not theatrical, things. It’s a real relationship - they’ve been dating for a year and a half. Undercover, but they’ve been dating for a year and a half. What would that look like? 

Can you talk about the dancing in the show? I know Emma and Alyssa don’t necessarily do a lot of dancing but the choreography is just so fun. 

EF: We don’t, unfortunately. But the choreography in the show is amazing. It's definitely ensemble based for sure. But we do get to dance at the final prom, which is so fun.

LR: It's honestly kind of nice that we're restricted - helps maintain the stamina! At the end, we get to wear these incredible costumes, we finally get to dance, and we finally get to be together and be happy. It’s so joyful. 

ER: It also feels like in a way, I’m really not allowed to dance with you. So it really does feel like I want to dance with you right now!

LR: We have moments throughout the show where we get to be together, but it still feels very “Who's going to see it, who's there?” The end is so healing and cathartic. 

What is one thing you cannot live without backstage? 

EF: Aquaphor! You can use it for everything! You can put it on your lips, or under my eyes when it gets dry. It's so healing! And essential oils. Aquaphor and essential oils. 

LR: Yarn and a hook- I crochet. 

The bag Raman crocheted for Frederickson

EF: She crochets everywhere. She made me a bag! It’s so awesome. 

LR: I crochet everywhere. I’m in the show a lot, but I definitely have some time in between scenes, especially during tech. I love to sit in the house while they're doing other numbers and crochet but also see what's happening. There’s something about sitting in the theater during tech with the lights - it’s so magical. 

EF: It’s so cute, and she pumps them out so fast. She takes commissions and she does such a good job. 

Do you have a favorite thing to crochet?

LR: I'm making a lot of bags right now. I also make little crop tops.

EF: It’s really impressive.

Do you have any pre-show or rehearsal rituals? 

EF: I can get carried away with superstition, so I try to steer clear of those since I stress myself out pretty easily. I spend a little bit of time with my mom or my sister throughout the day - which is hard when I'm at school, so I call my sister — and just talk. And they'll ask me “What are you excited about this time?” Just talking with my family is honestly really nice. And I love taking baths! I’m a bath girlie. I love soaking my worries away in the morning and then I'm ready for the day. 

LR: I like having a playlist for each show. Some people like to play music in the dressing room and everyone's jamming out, which is fun. But I'm very much an introvert and I need to get ready and just cancel out by listening to specific songs. I've got to do yoga. I’m a yoga girly. I love to go to hot yoga, which has been great with the 5:30 rehearsal, which means I wake up, I'm energized and ready to go. It's great. But even just having ten minutes to warm up my body and warm up my breath helps maintain vocal energy. 

Do you have a favorite behind-the-scenes fun fact about The Prom? 

EF: This one is a little silly. Josh (in the role of Barry) and I have a scene going into the finale of Act One where he's dressing Emma for the prom. It's a quick turnaround, so he gets back on stage before I do, but when he saw me in my dress for the first time yesterday — he was like “I’m gonna do this every time now” — he looked at me he was like”….ew.” So that was fun!

LR: I think the pins and pinky linking we talked about are my favorite. But besides that, I’m always in the same spot backstage, crocheting away.

Do you have a favorite song to sing or moment in the show that you get to be a part of?

EF: The whole show! I love the music for the show. It's pop-y enough but it’s not so pop-y where it's annoying, so just the right balance. But song I sing myself? I love singing “Unruly Heart,” especially with all the ensemble. It's so special, and the way we staged it, I get to see what's going on around me. It makes me so emotional every time and it's so beautiful. And I love singing with Lav. Anytime we sing together, it's so awesome.  But “Unruly Heart” is such a special song and I love saying those words.

LR: Honestly, like, six months ago, I was like “It’s everywhere. They're all doing The Prom. I want to do The Prom because I love the song ‘Alyssa Greene.’” Did I know anything else about the show? No. But I love the song. I think that's really where Alyssa finally is like “I'm gonna lay it all out on the table. This is the life that I have to live.”  It's so detailed, and it’s “this is me.” But I think my favorite moment is not singing, but – spoiler alert –  it’s when I finally come out to everyone and to my mom at the end of the show. I love being able to take all the power that I don't get to have throughout the entire show and finally take it and say “No, this is who I am. This is who I want. I don't want to hurt anyone, I literally just want to be me.” I think the struggle of an actor is finding ways to make the lines feel organic and normal, and I think I struggle with that sometimes. But I think that scene and those words feel so truthful and genuine. It just feels great.

The Prom runs at Theatre Raleigh through Sunday, August 13. Tickets can be purchased here. All photos courtesy of Ella Frederickson and Lav Raman.