Creating Heart-Stomping Beats

Question: Stompers have diverse backgrounds, some primarily in dance, some in theater, others in drumming, like you. When did you start drumming?

Answer: I was like 3 years old when I had my first drum set, a toy drum set I got from my parents. It was just in me. I just felt it. I was always tapping on stuff. Then I went from just banging around to getting a marching drum when I was in the fourth grade, and I just kept going. I played in the high school band.

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Q: How did you get into Stomp?

A: I had a friend from Hawaii who lived in New York, and I decided I was just going to go there and dive in, to be a starving musician. After a year in New York, that’s when I got “Stomp.”

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Q: Had you seen “Stomp” before auditioning?

A: I had just seen it on TV, like on talk shows, but a friend of mine told me they were auditioning. They turned me away because they had enough people, but they interviewed me over the phone and said they were going to be auditioning for a tour.

Four months went by, and they called. I still hadn’t seen the show, so I bought a ticket to figure out what I was going to be getting into. I thought it was great. I really wanted to be in it. I was like, “This is for me. I really want this.”

It was such a percussive show, but it was bigger than that--it was theater, comedy and choreography, the whole deal--all this stuff I knew I could do if I tried.

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Q: What does your job as rehearsal director entail?

A: There’s a lot of room for improvisation in “Stomp.” We work off of each other’s actions and reactions, so the show can evolve from night to night, and from month to month. I try to keep it in line with what the directors originally wanted. I get everybody to work on things that are falling apart rhythmically.

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Q: You also give regular reports to Stomp founders Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, who are based in London, right?

A: Yes, I phone or e-mail them.

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Q: Do they fly over to see for themselves too?

A: They’ll come in and check up on it every now and then, and we have a lot of note sessions. Maybe they’ll say, “Not so goofy.” There’s comedy in “Stomp,” but they don’t want it to be a silly show.

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Q: How often does the company rehearse?

A: Every day, right before the show, for a half-hour or an hour. And every now and then, if we’re in a city for at least a week, we’ll do maybe one or two long rehearsals, just to fix those little glitches. It’s such a hard show--all that intricate percussion choreography is hard.

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Q: Do you have a solo or a specialty?

A: Everybody has a chance to compose their own solo.

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Q: What’s yours look like?

A: That’s a hard question to answer. It’s a percussive solo; my background is drumming, so I guess you could say the audience can tell. Everybody’s good at what they do, everybody has rhythm, but my background as a drummer comes out more in the show.

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Q: What’s the most challenging thing you do?

A: It’s not a specific number; it’s showing my personality to the audience. Coming from being a drummer behind the drum set, it was difficult to be on the stage exposed, and I was always getting notes from the directors saying I had to come out more and show more of my personality. I’m still working on that.

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Q: What is your personality like?

A: Do you have any harder questions? That’s like asking what’s the meaning of life. I’m kind of a shy person to begin with, so you try to figure out how that works in the [context of the] show. You can’t go out there and be a maniac, but whatever you’re thinking and feeling, you have to somehow relay that to the audience.

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Q: In the number “Claps,” you clap in various rhythm patterns for about five minutes, straight. Do your hands get red and sore each night?

A: Only at first. When you first get into Stomp, and you’re learning, and you have to do all these things you’ve never done before, your legs get tired and sore and your hands get blistery from using all the stuff we use. Those are real wooden poles and hammer handles. Nothing’s fake.

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Q: What’s the worst mistake you’ve made on stage?

A: I don’t know. We do make mistakes here and there, but when we do, we’re covered by seven other people. If you’re on the wrong number, your fellow performers can whisper to you, “It’s No. 3, not No. 4,” so it’s pretty cool. The audience never knows.

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Q: What’s the most fun part of the show?

A: Just being able to perform and play in such an awesome show. As a drummer, I’m going to pretty much love every part of it, but it’s helped me grow as a performer all the way around: the music, the acting, the dancing.

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Q: Is it exhausting, performing for 90 minutes without an intermission?

A: Yeah, it is, but it’s good exhausting. It feels good, like a workout.

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Q: What’s the most arduous aspect of life on the road?

A: It’s great to be in a new city and discover what it’s like, but it’s the everyday kinds of things that are difficult, like finding a good place to eat and getting around, not being able to jump in your own car and know what’s there. It’s fun when you first go on tour, but three years later, I wish I could just find a good place to eat. No more burgers and chicken sandwiches.

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Q: Why do audiences love “Stomp”? Is it our primal attachment to rhythm?

A: I would say yeah, and also, it’s unlike any other show where you sit there and watch the whole thing and come up with your opinion on how it was. With “Stomp,” you’re involved almost right away. The audience claps, not like applause, but they’re actually taught a part, and they’re expected to kind of be Stompers.

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Q: Where do you go from here, professionally?

A: I’m going to pick up where I left off on an actual drum set. For the past 3 1/2 years, I haven’t touched a drum set, though I’ve been banging away on everything but.

“Stomp” appears Tuesday through Sunday at Costa Mesa’s Orange County Performing Art Center. For ticket information, call (714) 556-2122.