dimension 20:gradland aired its final episode on Wednesday, bringing to a close one of the more unique and uplifting seasons of Dropout’s Actual Play program. Among the cast members who made their mark on Gradland this season were Jacob Wysocki (who played the soft, comforting presence of Kokomo) and Oscar Montoya (who played the storyteller’s Poppy persona). This is their second time at the D20 table, and I had a chance to sit down with them and learn about their experiences this season.
If you want to know a little more, check out Kimia’s interview with Dan and Vic here.
Panda: Tell me about the pre-production when you sign on. dimension 20 About the season and especially since it’s my second time playing in the D20, how it goes.
Jacob Wysocki: I get an email and they say, “Hey, you’re free at this time,” and we’re talking to these people, and it was a list of my closest friends. And I said, I don’t care what the premise is, I’m just going to hang out. Looks like a good hang. And they said, “We’re asking these people if Avails will work. Then you just, please, I hope it works. This is the most perfect list of people I’ve ever seen.”
Oscar Montoya: That’s exactly right. In other words, I was going to make it work no matter what. We asked if this was the greatest group of all time.
Oh, all sweet season.
Panda: And Kokomo is a very cute child. In episode 3, they seemed to be struggling with a moment of rejection, or perhaps the fear of being rejected. Can you talk about those emotional beats?
Jacob: I mean, who likes being dumped? I think it’s a very common, very human, everyday fear. It’s also a huge emotion in that you can reject yourself, others can reject you, and the universe itself can reject your good vibes. If the car does not start, it is a failure. You know, there are different levels of living life and trying to make it good and positive. All these tiny little beads feel like a moment of rejection of the good times spent in free space. It may not be a deep thing, but I think it’s something worth talking about because we’re all grappling with it. It affects us all. So why not lean back a little and find out what it’s like?
Panda: Poppy has a big moment in the same episode, finding a story that the people of Rotglob need to hear. It felt like a message to artists and creators. Was such character development done on the spur of the moment or was it planned?
Oscar: No, it wasn’t planned. I think the bones of Poppy Persona were very much built into what resonated with me in terms of the premise of Gradland. It’s both positive and “Mad Max-esque.” The first thing that came to my mind was Auntie Entity. That’s the character played by Tina Turner in the movie. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. To me, Auntie Entity was a drag queen. What resonated with me was the idea of a drag queen story hour and the fact that artists are trying to uplift their community and there are people who are suppressing it all, the status quo. Translating that to Poppy, I said, “Okay, let’s see if there’s any resistance happening.”
In my experience playing, identity is a big part of how you create a character, and what it means to be who you present and who you hide. Does this idea of who you are, your day to day, what you do define you? is that you? Creating and being justified in creating things to promote yourself or hide behind yourself.
“Navigating the world with how you see yourself is essential to Poppy Persona, a drag queen who embraces fantasy and brings it to life every day.”
But when it comes to that particular moment in episode 3, it wasn’t planned at all. It was through the cast and Brendan Lee Mulligan’s sick and twisted brain.
Panda: Oscar, you talked a little bit about how the setting influenced your character. Jacob, did you go through a similar process?
Jacob: I’ve been saying for me, it is mad maxand then there’s Gradland. When it came to character creation, I thought of Gradland first. I kept thinking about the roles and archetypes that could exist and the happy apocalypse, and I continued to work around this kind of babysitting, feeling like a child warden in the community. then i came back mad maxand often asked, how do you construct a mutated human being, or rather a mutated entity, that can fill it? Then it was like they met in the middle: a boy on a big round sofa. If everyone’s dusty and there’s sand everywhere, it might be nice to have someone really soft.
That’s all you need. And that idea of a soft guy slowly builds into a guy who might have been influenced by the wilderness with remnants of Beach Boys memorabilia and summer dreams of the beach.
Panda: This season has a special focus on emotional intelligence and mental health. How did you prepare to communicate these themes to your Dropout audience?
Oscar: I think Dropout’s audience is very emotionally intelligent. I think that’s the audience this work should reach. Wysocki had previously said something about his expectations of entering the Dome. D20 audiences are used to high-quality performances of actual play.
Jacob: They’re used to getting Lou Wilson specials, right?
Oscar: that’s right! And I looked around and said, oh my. There’s no Lou Wilson around here. Oh, oh. You have to step up. The magic I think is dimension 20 It’s about taking incredibly chaotic, ridiculous, stupid moments that people can relate to, and finding in that frivolity a nugget of absolute emotional resonance that people can respond to. that’s the magic dimension 20. it happened every season dimension 20. And this is no exception.
Jacob: I also feel that the best improvisers are also good actors. I know this group of people and I know everyone here is a good actor. So even if I have to deal with things that are a little more sensitive or ‘actor-y’ that no one will like, I don’t want to do that. That’s lame. Everyone will lean in and connect with you, becoming a scene partner who receives more tender emotions.
Oscar: Everyone is game for everything.
Panda: It’s been great this season to see something terrible happening and people making the most of it in parallel. Is there anything you want people to take away from Gradland?
Oscar: Listen, I’ll be incredibly honest. Gradan is happening now. I think there’s a lot of daydreaming in this post about what would happen if the world completely collapsed — baby? It’s happening today. So I think there’s a sense that this is the Gradland that you’ve decided to create for yourself. There is power in community, and it’s important to have a group of people you can lean on and build things with. Whether it’s your art, whether it’s activating people in the Senate and Congress, making phone calls. Do you know that by being together with weirdos you can make this chaotic and crazy world a better place to live in, a happier place to live in?
Jacob: It can be scary to think that you’re feeling strange, that you’re feeling heavy, and that you don’t want to burden others with it or say it somehow. Give it a try. It’ll be easier. It will be much easier than you think.
Oscar: I think people inherently have a desire to help. I think this is what makes us human. There’s a community out there for you. Trust that people are willing and willing to help, even if you feel like an island completely isolated from everyone.
Jacob: There are only 14 types of humans. We all gravitate towards people like us, right? We’re not, we’re not that amazingly unique as a species. Find someone like you.
Oscar: Find KoKoMo.
panda:I just want a KoKoMo stuffed animal. That would be my best friend.
Jacob: Just a full sofa.
panda: Please put me down as the kind of person who would buy it.
Oscar: Honestly, this is a call to action. Anyone reading this or listening to this is requesting Kokomo merchandise.
Jacob: Absolutely please. Ask to get a percentage.
Oscar: That part.
Images via Dropout and Dimension 20
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