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Curiocity: Q&A With The Ladies Of '2 Sugars, Room For Cream'

Think of the conversations that occur over a cup o' Joe. There's good news, there's bad news -- and yes, plenty of hilarious, did-she-just-say-that news.

It was only a matter of time before someone turned this common conversation starter into a live production.

The show "2 Sugars, Room for Cream" is all about these moments. Directed by Peter Moore, the show stars writers Shanan Custer, a veteran of the Brave New Workshop, and Carolyn Pool, an Ivey-Award winning actress.

We chatted with them to find out more about this quirky show.

Q: Tell us a little about the show.

Shanan: Well, we market it as "Scenes from Life. Stuff we think is funny."
Carolyn: And that's pretty much what it is. It's a lot like sitting and having coffee with us.
Shanan: And there's music.

Q: The idea of conversations over a cup of coffee is something everyone can relate to. Where did you draw your inspiration from for the different scenes?

Shanan: I always write from what I know -- isn't that the saying, "write what you know?"
Carolyn: I write about things that upset me, things I want to change in society. And unicorns.
Shanan: I wish there were unicorns in our show!
Carolyn: Me too.
Shanan: But, yes, I agree. It's all about what is around us.

Q: Tell me a little about your guys' history together – how did you begin your journey to this point?

Shanan: We met and it was Carolyn who said, "We should do a Fringe show!" and the rest is history.
Carolyn: There may have been some wine involved.
Shanan: Always. But we really had admired each other from afar and it was a great opportunity to come together and see what would happen.
Carolyn: We both realized that we had a lot to say.

Q: When you take an idea from improv to a show – how does that work? Do you write everything down, test it out? Keep trying different things?

Carolyn: We write things down all the time.
Shanan: Yeah, one of us would write something and then we read it and improvise around that for awhile.
Carolyn: It's a great way to work because we can work on our own or together and still keep ideas moving. Also, we could drink wine while we were doing this.
Shanan: Well, yeah.

Q: How has the show changed since you first launched it?

Shanan: Quite a lot, actually.
Carolyn: It's longer -- thanks to the folks at Fresh Ink at Illusion Theatre who supported us as we wrote new material.
Shanan: There's more music and we've had a chance to revisit certain scenes that we felt had more to them and have performed them at other events so we've learned a lot that way, too.
Carolyn: You said that really well.
Shanan: Thanks.

Q: What's one thing you want audiences to know before they come see this show?

Carolyn: Theater should be fun and engaging and we want you to have fun.
Shanan: Yes! That's good. Also, coffee is wonderful.
Carolyn: And important.
Shanan: Yes.
Carolyn: Wine is good, too.
Shanan: Well, yeah.

"2 Sugars, Room for Cream" opens Oct. 11 at the New Century Theatre. For tickets and more information, click here.

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