Olivia McNorrill and Clint McGuire

[00:10] CLINT MCGUIRE: Hi, there. My name is Clint McGuire. I am 56 years old. I live in Conyers, Georgia, and I'm speaking today with Olivia McNorrill a friend of mine for 35 years. My goodness.

[00:26] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yes. And I'm Olivia McNorrill I am 54 years old. I live in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and I have known Clint since I was 17 years old. So. For a very long time.

[00:39] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah, long time. All right, so, olivia, welcome.

[00:46] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Thank you.

[00:47] CLINT MCGUIRE: This is. I'm just so glad to talk to you. It's been a while, and I think today is going to be. It's going to be a really good conversation, I think.

[00:59] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: So I'm looking forward to it. Thank you.

[01:02] CLINT MCGUIRE: Sure. All right, so let's go ahead, and let's start with the first question here. And this is kind of like my. My basic jumping into the water, you know, toes in the water kind of question here. What kind of a. Like, what's your family history with? Like, the arts, particularly theater. Like, did you have grandparents who were theatrically inclined or somebody who was just a good musician, great dancers, artists? What's in your genes?

[01:40] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Well, actually, my. My grandparents were mill workers on one side of the family, and on the other side of the family was a barber and a farmer. So not a lot of time before theaters, so to speak. But there was a lot of storytelling. And when I say storytelling, I'm talking, like, full theatric, acting it out sometimes kind of story. So it was really a lot of fun growing up with my. My aunts and uncles. But when I was young, my mother started buying tickets to the heart fun show in Aiken, and at that time, they would do big Broadway productions like Oliver, hello, Dolly, my fair lady, to name a few. And that's really what hooked me into theater, like, especially hello, Dolly, when she's a coming down the gangplank. And it was a dinner theater, and it was right down the middle of all the tables, and she's, you know, just singing their song and belting it out. And I was like, I so want to be on stage. Like, I even, um, I even in high school, I signed up to serve the dinners just so I could watch the shows as much as possible. So that kind of started it for me. So more of an appreciation for it as opposed to actually doing it. But of my cousins, I have one that is a professional actress in California right now who's done some. Yeah, so, I mean, the cousins kind of got into it more than the aunts and uncles or the grandparents.

[03:21] CLINT MCGUIRE: Awesome. Nice. All right, so the heart show was kind of like your gateway into the theater world. That's cool. I like that. Now, when you were in high school, did you do any theater in school or any.

[03:39] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: I did. I did. I auditioned a couple of times, but I only made it into the chorus for one show, and I was trying to think of what that was, because I. But I honestly cannot remember the name. I'll think of it, but maybe two or three days from now. But I was in the chorus. I didn't have a really big part, but it was a lot of it was fun. I ended up doing more chorus in high school because where I went at South Aiken High School, that's really kind of all they had. And the theater department was like, maybe one show. It really wasn't active. I took some of their drama classes as an elective, hoping that maybe it would springboard into more, but it was just all too new at that time, I think, and there was really nobody to. To really lead it. So it was really just that one show.

[04:33] CLINT MCGUIRE: Okay.

[04:33] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yeah.

[04:34] CLINT MCGUIRE: So you graduated from high school, you came to USC. Aiken was USDA, like, your first choice as far as college?

[04:52] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Actually, no. I wanted to go to the main campus in Columbia. That was my first choice, but I had two older brothers that were career college students, and being the baby, that's all we had, you know? So they were like, you're going to go to USC, Aiken, and you're going to be happy about it. And I was like, whatever. But I was like, okay, well, I'll go for two years. And my goal was to go on to Columbia, but something changed all that, so I'm sure you have to ask what that is.

[05:23] CLINT MCGUIRE: I'm about to. Now, originally, what was your plan? Originally, like, what was your major going to be?

[05:31] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Okay, so. Okay, so this is really an interesting story that, I don't know many people know about me, but I really did not want to go to college. I had actually applied and got accepted into a school in Florida that would train you how to do hospitality, and I wanted to work on a cruise ship, so I made it into it. They actually interviewed me over the phone. I never told my parents. Then they came and did an interview with my parents, and that's when they found out about it. So, needless to say, that didn't happen. My dad said to me, he goes, if you get a four year degree and you still want to do it, fine. And so it didn't. It ended up not happening. But part of me was like, that really would have been fun. I just left high school knowing that I really wasn't ready. So when I started college, I signed on for business management because what else? What else were you going to do? I didn't know what else to do because I, at the time, there really wasn't at USC Aiken. There wasn't like a hospitality degree that I know you could have gotten at other schools. So I was just kind of stuck. And I was like, well, maybe business management might be it. But after taking micro economics, I realized that I was not going to cut out for it at that point in my life. So I changed to psychology. So that was my other venue or direction.

[07:11] CLINT MCGUIRE: All right, so you were like, what, freshman, sophomore when you first kind of got interested in the theater?

[07:20] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yeah. So I am taking a psychology class, thinking more about going into psychology. I found it very interesting, was very curious about learning more about people and how they think and more specifically to the individual as opposed to sociology, where it was group studies and things like that. I was taking a core course in Spanish and just happened to be sitting behind Stormy Borman. And he. Well, let me backtrack because I think when I was, I think it was my freshman year was they did barefoot foot in the park.

[08:01] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah, I think so.

[08:04] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Okay. So I went with a friend of mine to go see it and was really blown away. I was, did not have any high expectations at all. Really enjoyed the production. And so that next fall, which is my sophomore year, stormy turned around and said, hey, we're doing an audition for children's theater production. You ought to come. And I was like, whatever. Like, I'm not, you know, like I just said, I kind of had moved on from all that. I thought, right. Well, a good friend of mine wanted to audition because her boyfriend was into theater and she tagged me along with her. And stormy was there and told me I was going to audition. So I filled out the form and I was like, what do I have to lose? And I nailed the role of the stepmother in Cinderella.

[08:55] CLINT MCGUIRE: Wow.

[08:56] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yeah. It was like, it was like so freaking cool. Because up until then, I was always not. I was never cast or I was in the chorus or I was in the background. I never really had that big role. And then there I was as the stepmom, which is pretty pivotal. So I thought, yeah. And I tell you what. It, it really, I never left the theater after that, ever. That. That was it. I was in.

[09:24] CLINT MCGUIRE: So that's, that's pretty cool. Yeah. It's amazing how that happens. Like, your, your story is so, like parallel to mine, in a way. And hopefully one day you'll get to hear them.

[09:38] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yeah.

[09:39] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah, I would love to, but, um, so story was the first student from the program, youre a that you can remember meeting. Tell me, like, your first impressions on meeting, like, Jack or Carrie.

[09:56] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Like, oh, okay. So, my first impression of Jack was, like, I was really scared of him. Like, I didn't know. Cause he was really. Remember how super skinny he was back in the day and really tiny guy, but he had a little temper on him, and I. And you just didn't really know. But he had a heart of gold, and you could tell that. So I was little at my first impression. Now we're talking about very first impression. I really wasn't sure what to make of him, but the more I got to know him, the more I knew how invested he was in the department and in the students in that department, and I really respected that. Carrie. Well, after Cinderella, there was only two shows that season, and the other one I worked backstage on the witch. The witch? Let me see if I. No. What? What is it?

[10:56] CLINT MCGUIRE: Cat princess maybe?

[10:58] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: No, no. I just remember making a hut. A witch's hut. And it was the scariest thing I ever did. But I stayed, and I worked backstage because I couldn't audition because of a conflict with a course that I was taking and worked backstage with Carrie. And that's when I really got to know Carrie. Cause in the first show, I was on stage. He's in the background. I didn't really get to know him, but the very next show, I was on the backstage working with him, and that was when he got married. And I ended up staying to finish so he could get married. It was, like, really weird. I was like, well, that didn't plan out very well for him, you know, thinking back as an adult, like, he was getting married, and he was working on a set that day, and I'm like, you gotta go, you know? So I remember staying in, and I had never been in the Etheridge center after dark before in my life.

[11:53] CLINT MCGUIRE: Right.

[11:53] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: It is a very scary place. A theater at night when everything is off is so super scary. And I remember getting, like, so freaked out that night. But it all went well. I wish I could remember the name of the show. I don't have it on any of my resumes because I think it was kind of pre. I didn't really. I don't think I was even listed in the program. I just kept showing up and helping.

[12:17] CLINT MCGUIRE: Okay.

[12:18] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yeah, because you kind of get crazy like that, you know?

[12:22] CLINT MCGUIRE: Sure. Sure. Let's see. So Cinderella was your first show? Yes. And, like, I. But I'm assuming that that was on the main stage. Yeah. So was it. Was it kind of intimidating standing, getting out there in front of, like, all those school kids in the. In theater that first time, or, you.

[12:51] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Know, it really wasn't scary. It was more energizing. I think the weird part was because I've always had a connection with kids.

[13:00] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah.

[13:00] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: And I'm playing the stepmother, and then Jack would always have us at the end of the production. We would go out and kind of form a little line so the kids could see the characters as they're leaving. And the kids were afraid of me. Like, legit scared of me. And I was like, no, I'm just like, like, hey, it's me. You know, like, whatever. But it was the fact that, that they were so bought into the characters, and I think it kind of helped me kind of see. Oh, yeah. Like, you totally buy in when it's done well, that the character is the character. You know what I'm saying? And so when you see the person and they're just being a person, you're like, sometimes it's hard to separate because you. You've bought into it so much. But I found it very. It was invigorating, and it was exciting to hear the students, you know, after weeks of rehearsal, and then the students are responding and sometimes responding to that little thing you added that nobody else, you know, they're like, you know, they kind of gasp and you're like, oh, they get it. They get. They're getting it. They're in it, you know? So it was just really exciting. And I think that's probably what hooked me the most, where I loved being on stage, and I loved the whole process of walking in, and it's a blank canvas. You build a set, you're working for hours on blocking and. And dialogue and interaction, and lights are added, the costumes are added, and then you're put in front of the audience, and it's like. It's like the cherry on top. It's like. It's like. It brings it all together, and. And that's what put me into orbit, really. Was. Was that part of it?

[14:44] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah.

[14:45] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yeah.

[14:46] CLINT MCGUIRE: Oh, yeah. So just kind of. Kind of thinking about all that myself here. So you had that, that first year, you were. You were in one show, you were backstage for another. Were you involved in, like, the first summer rep that they did with oldest living graduate?

[15:09] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yes. Yes, I was. Muriel. Was I Muriel? No, I wasn't. Muriel, hold on. I got, let me, let me check back in my memory for a living graduate. I was in the production crew for that, but I was also Maureen Kincaid. So I was on stage. So I was like the, I think she's like the daughter in law. And so that was kind of fun. That was a lot of fun because Stormy's in the wheelchair and some, but there's one part that I have to kind of jump over the back to grab something from him. And so there's a lot of, you know, physical comedy that was, that was added into it. That made it just hysterical. And of course, Stormy, I thought Jade nailed that part. He was nice.

[15:56] CLINT MCGUIRE: Now, how long did it take you to finally decide to take theater classes?

[16:07] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Like, well, okay. So I knew really within that first or that semester of my sophomore year that I was going to do theater. Like I knew it. But at the time, USC, Aiken didn't have a full theater degree. So I was like, I can't get a degree in it, but this is what I want. So I was the first student to apply for a bis degree at University of South Carolina Aiken. So I, I had to write a letter that, to explain why I thought psychology and theater went together. And the basic premises is, you know, when you're in psychology, you really try to understand the person. And when you're performing, you're really trying to understand the person. So in all honesty, I thought it went well together. And apparently they thought so too, because I, that's what my degree then. So.

[17:02] CLINT MCGUIRE: All right. Nice.

[17:04] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Um, so they said I was the first. Maybe I'm not. Maybe they were. But, but I remember being told I was the first one, so, or maybe the first one for psychology theater, so.

[17:13] CLINT MCGUIRE: Okay, well, and in any, in any case, you were a pioneer in, in.

[17:19] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: The blazing the trail.

[17:21] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah. Um, so what was, what was your favorite show that you did while you were, you knew I was going to ask that question.

[17:31] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: I know. I know. And it's so hard. It's so hard. All right, so one of the top five, if you want, I'm going to have to list a couple for different lineup for different reasons. On stage performing. My favorite show was Muriel Tate and Plaza suite. I thought she was the best. I loved that role. I loved, I loved being on stage with Brian. He was so much fun. But I was so nervous. We would go over lines during act one because he broke up. Act one, there were two different actors. Act two, there were two different actors. And act three, there were different actors. So there was a total of six. Whereas in the original, there were just two actors for each. Each part, they just played the different parts. So we would go over the lines in act one just to be ready for act two. And I was always. Because there was nobody else to help me. It was just the two of us. So it was a little scary, you know, like, there's nobody else to feed off of. If one of us dropped, I just. But it was a great way for us to build a really good relationship between the two of us, because it was. It was. There was history between those characters, but it was also awkward. So I. It just really went, I thought, really well. Another fun one that I enjoyed performing in was the importance of being earnest. I love that show. I love that show. I don't think that I personally did it justice, but I loved playing opposite of Brenda. I loved playing opposite of Brendan. I just. It was so much fun playing with her. But looking back, I just kind of go, I wish I'd done. You know, hindsight's always 2020, but. But another cool thing that I got to do at USC, Aiken, which is why I stayed, was because Jack and Carrie really gave everybody in that theater department every opportunity that they wanted to explore every. Every position that encompasses putting a show on stage. And I got to direct. And I look back, I was looking over my. My list of shows that I directed. The toys takeover, Christmas, puss in boots, beauty and the Beast, the velveteen rabbit, the legend of Sleepy Hollow. I had some good shows. I mean, like, how do I pick a best? And I'm like, the toys takeover. Christmas was my first one. That was just such a fun show. I had people roller skating on stage because they were trains, and it was like. It was like. Just. It was insane. It was so insane. And. But my. The sweetest one, and I still have my director's gift from. This was the velveteen rabbit. And that was. That was Brenda again.

[20:34] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah.

[20:34] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Brenda was my velveteen. And just the way that we played that out, it was just so fun, and. And I got a velveteen rabbit as a gift, and it goes under my tree every Christmas, so. Oh, nice. Yes. All these years later, but it's. But it's hard, because every show that we did, there's always something that you take away from it that makes it special.

[20:57] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah.

[20:57] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: And there was really not one that I could look at and say that I didn't enjoy. Now, backstage, it was my favorite one, and it was the worst one. It was Godspell. I was about to ask Godspell so Holly and I were the lighting crew for that, and at the time, we didn't have a really good board to run the lights that Brian wanted, and so I was on the side stage, and holly's in the light booth, and we had to coordinate. It was impossible. It was so impossible, like, because you just can't watch each other's hands and you can't guide it. So we ended up. So it was a bit of a nightmare through that, and I went home crying and not being able to sleep at night because I was just so upset that I couldn't perform and do it at the level that they were wanting. Cause it was such a good show, you know, and I knew that the lights were so important, and I just felt like I'd let the whole cast down and the crew down. And then Holly and I came up with the idea, and I honestly don't remember who it was, but whoever it was, it was brilliant. But we decided to sing and count our way through it. So we came up with our own oral choreography, if you will. Like, we beseech the 1234, you know, like, we have this whole thing going, and it worked. It absolutely worked. And that was what pulled the whole thing together. But it was a lot of crying to get us to that point. So in that respect, it was the hardest show I think we did, but it was the most rewarding, too. So, you know, it's like that problem solving. And I think with theater, when you're. When you're in the midst of going from point a to point b, which is, you know, doing the casting call to actually performing, there's a lot that happens along the way, and I think some of the most ingenious things are that come up during those times because you're under pressure and you have to figure it out. So, I mean, even if somebody doesn't major in theater, in my opinion, I think you got to do it because you just have to experience it, and you got to know that rubber meets the road, what are you going to do? You know? And it might be throwing paint on as the sets turning around, but, hey, you're going to make it happen. And it's just that whole problem solving, because, you know, in any career that you do, you're. You're faced with some really daunting task, and how do you get to point b?

[23:36] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah.

[23:37] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: And coming up with a clever way to make it happen.

[23:40] CLINT MCGUIRE: So, yeah, I just have to add here, like, one of the things that I can remember, like, throughout our time together in the program, was like, how committed you were as well in all your roles, but especially as an actress. Like, during Plaza suite, you had that New Jersey accent, and you would not drop it for anything.

[24:08] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: You could fly New Jersey. It's still there. I'm telling you, I worked on that accent for a long time, and she comes out of when I need her. So, yeah, she's still there.

[24:19] CLINT MCGUIRE: Nice.

[24:21] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Well, thank you for that. Thank you.

[24:26] CLINT MCGUIRE: All right, so who are some of the people that stick out when you think of your time at USCA? You mentioned a couple here and there.

[24:34] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Like, gosh, you know, I guess it's just a long laundry list, actually. Probably. But I. But you and Brenda, Stormy, Ken, Brian, Greg, Bonnie, Susan, those are the ones that I kind of all we started with. I mean, like, Susan and Stormy were in that initial production of Cinderella. And I never forget Susan coming out, going, stomp those trumpets, and she was so loud, like she was the queen. She was like, she could have, we should have done Alice in Wonderland, and she could have been the queen of hearts. She really. She could have done it. But, yeah, so those are the ones that kind of stand out. But then you've got Cliff and I, gosh, I don't want to forget anybody while we're under the gun here or hurt anybody's feelings, but Sam, was it Ansley? Gosh, I know. It's like all of a sudden, I'm trying to think it through, and I meant losing names. Holly, of course I didn't forget. I didn't mention Holly. Holly as well. Casey. Casey and Casey, the two caseies. Lee McNeely is another one. Gosh, there were so many. It's tough. It's tough. And then Carrie Ann and McLaughlin can't forget. McLaughlin. McLaughlin.

[26:14] CLINT MCGUIRE: Oh, yeah.

[26:14] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: You know, so my whole, my whole entire time, because even after I graduated, Jack had me come back and direct, so. And I'm telling you, it's just a special group of people. It really was. You know, I think the sad thing is, is that we all an. How could I forget? Ombre, you know, like, it's like, as I keep talking, flashes of faces keep popping into my mind. But. But it really was a very eclectic group of people who went on to do some amazing things in different areas and not all in theater.

[26:56] CLINT MCGUIRE: Right.

[26:56] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Which has just been exciting to see. So, um, I've just been really proud of. I'm proud to say that I, you know, I'm part of that group, so. University theater players.

[27:05] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah. All right, now refresh my memory. Was, was, you can't take it with you. Like your last on stage performance with. No. What was it? What was it?

[27:22] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Our town. Wait, no, no, no, no, no. Olivia, it was two by two.

[27:30] CLINT MCGUIRE: I was about. Yeah, that's why when I say our.

[27:33] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Town, our town was a fun one, too, though. But it was two by two, and I was pregnant at the time, so I was up there singing and dancing and doing all this stuff on a huge arc and was pregnant, so. Yeah. And we went on. We went to the conference with that. With that show. Broke it down and traveled. I remember that. But I was. I'd already actually graduated, so I was the community member that got to come on the board. That was. That was a real treat. But that was my last official on stage. And then the legend of sleepy Hollow, I directed post graduation, too, so. Yeah. Yeah, it was a sweet. That was a good show. That was a good show. And I was with Brian again. Brian.

[28:19] CLINT MCGUIRE: Brian.

[28:20] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Brian was my. Was my husband. I was Leah. He was one of Noah's. Noah's are the.

[28:27] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah, one of the sons.

[28:29] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yeah, one of the sons.

[28:31] CLINT MCGUIRE: So. So you graduated and our. For a while, you were with the Aiken Arts council.

[28:41] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Right now I was with the Aiken center for the Arts, and so I was executive director there. I also. Prior to that, we lived in Florence, and I joined the Florence little Theater company, and I acted on stage with them backstage and also directed with them. So I also met somebody and we started a children's theater company. And we would do. Because craft fairs were the big thing back in the nineties, and we did kidding around theater company, and we would just take a kind of, like a cedar chest full of costumes, and we had. Of course, we had a script that we were doing, but we had all of our props in the chest and we just. That kind of stuff. So it was. It was fun. I did that. And then I also taught drama at Redcliff elementary for a year under an arts infusion grant with the Augusta Arts Council. So that was a real big treat and would have probably still been in that position today if we didn't get moved to Florence. I mean, that's what kind of kept me from. And when I came back, the girl that took my job was still there. So I was, like, missed my chance to get back into it. But that's when I went to the arts center and was really working with artists and helping artists find an outlet community wide and did first night. That was a program that was started nationwide that we brought to Aiken, which had different kind of performances on New Year's Eve. So we worked on that, and then, you know, I guess once I started having children, it got a little harder. But I did stay involved with theater at our church. I did numerous productions from 1997 until we left in 2003. When we moved to Spartanburg. This was still an Aiken at Millbrook, but I did their living, the triple living, Christmas trees, and I was over all the drama that was out in front and came up with all the ideas of what was going to happen during the song and helped with all the costumes and arranging all the actors. And it was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. So, really, from October till that was over, I didn't have much of a life when I came to Spartanburg. I started helping with the youth and the children's programs at the church that we attended, and then went to a church called Spartanburg Community Church, which is now milestones, which is still there. But I did their theater program. I was back on stage myself for the first time, and I played a hippie character named Sam, and I had, like, a reoccurring role, different stuff, and that was a lot of fun. But then I decided to go as my kids were getting older. My son was about four, and even before we left Aiken, I wanted to go into teaching. I wanted to get certified to go back into schools, and hopefully maybe do drama or theater. But because those positions are so few, I decided that I would probably just go as an educator. And so I got. When we moved to. When we were in Aiken, I was going to have to go to Columbia, and that was going to be a real challenge with three young children. So when we moved to Spartanburg, Converse College had what's called an mat program, which is a masters of arts in teaching, meaning that I could get my initial certification at the master's level because I already had my undergrad. So I did that, and now I perform every day in a classroom, and it's exclusive, and usually anywhere between 18 to 25 kids see me at a time. But, yeah, I'm on all day long and doing what I have to do to keep them engaged and on task and behaving, whatever. Whatever else. So there's a lot of. A lot of tricks up my sleeve, but, yeah, so, not. Not as much theater now, but I am performing. I enjoy the performances. So I have season tickets to the Broadway series at the Peace center, and I just love it as much as I can. I go. So I'll go to. I do go to the Peace center. I support the Chapman cultural center here in Spartanburg, as much as I can, and maybe one day I'll be back.

[33:18] CLINT MCGUIRE: Okay. All right, so that's pretty awesome. You're using your skills in the classroom, which is definitely a place that, if there's any place where kids. Where kids need inspiration, I think that's the place to do it, for sure.

[33:39] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Well, you know, and I'm kind of competing with video games, you know, like, you know, so I gotta be. I gotta be quick, you know? So they do keep me on my toes, and I tried to. I try to keep them on their toes, too, so, yeah, it does come. I just, you know, kind of. It's kind of good to have all that tucked away, so maybe all that. Children's theater back in the day was not for naught, right?

[34:00] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah. The old man knew what he was doing when he.

[34:05] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: I know, I know. It was a great way to bring kids in and get kids exposed to theater at a young age and. And give all of us an opportunity to work in a different kind of medium, I guess, or genre of theater. So it was. It was all good. It was win win.

[34:22] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah. So have your kids, like, show. Have they shown, like, interest in theater or, like, performing or at least watching or anything like that?

[34:32] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Yeah. So that's interesting that you asked that question. Question. So, my oldest, who will be 28 this year, hard to believe it's been 28 years since I did two by two. Yeah, because. Yeah, chew on that for a little bit. So she is. She's got a Broadway voice, and really, honestly, could do Broadway, but she. She's a performer. Like, she did color guard in high school and was just amazing because the. The whole performance that she did, she just. You just gravitated to her. She's more of a singer, though. Singer performer. My middle daughter, Morgan, who got married in 2020, she's a singer. So her performance or her ability to perform is through music. And a totally different singer from her sister. She's more of a concert singer, whereas Victoria is more, you know, it's just a whole different sound. And then you get to my little man Allen, who just turned 23 this last week. He. Even as early as five years old, his teachers were putting him in the programs with speaking parts. And so he has played Lewis and Clark. He's played the Candyman kid. He's played all these different roles as he went up through school. Every. It seemed like every year, he was one of the lead roles in every show, and he's the one that's done the actual stage stuff, like. Like, his mom. So he went to Watford College and ended up auditioning for some parts and got to play in a modern version of Pride and Prejudice and another stage performance with only five other actors, which was kind of like our experimental theater. That he did a great job and is dating a girl who's a theater major. So, yeah, so he's in it, I think. I think he's got the little bit of the bug. He loves D and D, and he loves writing the stories for D and D. So he really, honestly could be the next Tolkien. The way that he writes, he's just amazing. I think all of my kids are amazing as a parent. I think we all do. But they just have such unique niches about themselves and how they express themselves artistically. And Victoria's a writer as well. Morgan's a writer and Alan's a writer. But they're all different writers. They all sing and they're all different kinds of different singers and they're all performing in some way. It's just. It's really cool to see. And it's exciting.

[37:30] CLINT MCGUIRE: So awesome. The circle of life continues.

[37:35] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: That's right. That's right. Maybe they'll make it where mom didn't, but maybe they will.

[37:40] CLINT MCGUIRE: Maybe. Yeah. So. So looking back on your time at Yoseakin, what is one? Just, like, if you had to go and say, this was one memory that just encapsulated my entire experience, what would that be?

[38:01] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Gosh, that's a hard question. I don't know how to answer that with one. We don't have enough time, I guess when you said that, the one thing that popped into my mind was grease and the car coming out on stage and just all of us being out there because it was a huge cast and it was a lot of fun to me, like, being able to take a blank stage and turn it into what we turned it into and just having a good time doing it. I don't remember a lot of arguments among the people in the. In the group. I don't remember. I don't remember a lot of animosity or. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I really felt like it was a very harmonious group and everybody really respected everybody.

[38:56] CLINT MCGUIRE: Yeah.

[38:57] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: And so I guess. I guess that finale on Greece just kind of. I guess when I think about my time at USC, Aiken, that's what I remember.

[39:08] CLINT MCGUIRE: Okay, nice. That's a good memory. I like that. All right, so. All right, one last question here for you. So let's say that you get a hold of a time machine of some kind, like DeLorean Tardis, you know, whatever. You know, the phone booth from Bill and Ted's excellent adventure, whatever it is. You are given the opportunity to get into the time machine, go back to when you were 1718 years old, give yourself a five word message and leave. What would that five word message be?

[39:49] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Well, more than five words. But don't be afraid to go for it. Invest in yourself. You're worth it. Don't be afraid to go for it. That's what I would say.

[40:02] CLINT MCGUIRE: All right. Okay. That's a good one. All right. So. Well, Olivia McNorrill I want to thank you for taking time and talking and sharing your story. Man, we got it. We got to, like, keep in touch and keep going more often for this.

[40:27] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: I know.

[40:30] CLINT MCGUIRE: I miss seeing you and hearing you and just, like, talking to you about stuff.

[40:34] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: I know, I know. It's nice. I mean, I keep up with you guys on Facebook and Instagram. It's not always the same as being in person. So we do need another reunion, is jackdaw.

[40:45] CLINT MCGUIRE: I've actually been thinking about bringing that up to him next time I talk to him, which is tomorrow.

[40:54] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Well, hopefully he says yes. I think I'd be in on that. I would love to do that, but it's been a wonderful, wonderful time. I was so nervous about this, but you made it so easy. So thank you.

[41:09] CLINT MCGUIRE: Thank you. And we will talk to you down the road very soon, I hope.

[41:17] OLIVIA MCNORRILL: Okay. I guess what's next? I guess this will just be archived.