A while back (time is meaningless) I met a lad named Neal Starbird. When I met Neal I thought the same thing that you probably did: "Fake name". Turns out, no.
As a playwright you’re always looking for actors who are not only good at what they do, but are good for what you are trying to do. Neal always had this ability to understand what I was going for as a writer, and even when I was completely off the mark, also had the ability to wait patiently while I figured that out for myself. Neal ended up becoming the Jimmy Stewart to my Hitchcock for a while, starring in several plays of mine, and even when playwriting would take me to other cities and other countries I always found myself missing Neal’s quiet and instinctual approach to acting.
Fast forward to The Pandemic, Neal had quit acting (because life as an actor is the worst) and I hadn’t written a play in years (for the same reason) and I called he and Julie about a weird idea about a diner that travels through space and time. Fast forward even more, and Neal has now gotten himself an Audioverse award for playing a Southern Baptist preacher trapped inside a radio.
Here’s one of my favorite Zebulon moments (51:52) : Effie and Zeb’s eulogy of a dead robot named Boofar:
The biggest strength of the show is having such great actors who are willing to jump in to whatever weirdness I have planned this time around, and I couldn’t be more grateful for Neal and this cast.
Congratulations Neal!
-Joe