Jeremy and Laura Wood
@LauraFloydWood and husband Jeremy on their front steps.
-Theatre-
Jeremy and Laura are people who I consider to be Atlanta Theatre staples. They have performed all over and were performing non-stop when I moved to town. They were both teachers this past school year and now have a two-year-old son, so theatre hasn’t been their top priority, necessarily. The newbies in town might not know them, but those of us who have seen them perform sure do.
Laura is high risk and told me that I was the first person she had seen outside her household (that wasn’t her parents) in nearly three months.
Luckily, I live right down the road from their home and convinced them to come sit with me on their front step while the baby was asleep.
Interviewed 5.20.20
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Casey: So, how are you holding up?
Laura: It's just been really busy and crazy, and I am really grateful to my school because they responded really quickly with a plan to get everybody on board. This is my 10th year at (Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School), and I have worked harder since March 15th than I've ever worked — not because I haven't worked hard, but just getting the lessons into something virtual and still being meaningful and then replying to all the kids every week.
Jeremy: Individually.
Laura: It's been a real gift to be able to connect with them in that way, but it has been really overwhelming and all-consuming. And then, with a two year-old running around, screentime limits are out the window! But I think he's at the perfect age. He's just enjoyed being home with us. It's been really neat to have this time with him, and I'm just really grateful to still have a job. I love my school and I always have, and they've been great throughout this.
Casey: Jeremy?
Jeremy: This has not affected me, negatively, as much as I think has most people. I've been teaching high school theater, and our requirements have been much more lax because our students are graduating. They're trying to get through these crazy classes, and they're doing it from a distance. So our administration was like, "Look. Can you just send them something that will keep them occupied, artistically, in a positive way? Not a requirement so much as a helpful, meaningful distraction?" So that's what we did, and we had some fun doing it. But for me, it's just been an opportunity to stay home with Michael. I never -- that would not have been the case for us. I got to spend the last two months at home with him where otherwise I wouldn't have. That's two months that I just got gifted. Going into the summer, it's gonna be a little crazy, I think, because we've already spent two months at home. Now we're staring at another two months. I think I'm stir crazy. I've always got to have something to do. And that's really been the only struggle for me; boredom. What is the phrase? "Idle hands are the devil's workshop?" When you've got nothing to apply yourself to, you just kind of waste away. So it's a minor inconvenience for me. I hate to say it, but I feel like I'm going through something like survivor's guilt. This has not been detrimental for me, in that sense.
Casey: Sure. So, y'all have been pretty busy with school and crafts. You're doing some big home improvement.
Laura: Yeah, I'm a DIY person now.
Casey: Yes. What else? Obviously, you've been working, which is a wonderful thing. And you obviously have a two year-old, so there's not much time for any sort of extracurricular activities.
Laura: Right.
Casey: But what have you found yourself doing in your downtime? Are there any new rituals? Are there any new sacred spaces, especially in a home with a two year-old? Are there any sort of special things that you have set up for yourselves to kind of maintain sanity?
Laura: Well I think, thus far, what's been nice for me is I have had some sense of a routine. And that's ending this week. I'm a news junkie and, especially at the beginning of this, I was kind of overcome with worry and with fear, and that routine of knowing that I have to get my lessons done and I have to show up for this morning meeting and I have to be present for this, was somewhat of a helpful distraction for me. And I've been so ready to have less to do, but now this week, as it's ending, I'm kind of like, "And what am I going to do with all this time?" I have started walking more and doing things intentionally by myself more than, I would say than I even did before Michael was born. Even though it's been really busy, there's this excess of other time that would have been spent driving or being somewhere and doing something. It's been helpful to become more thoughtful and try to be grateful for the blessings. And, like Jeremy was saying, this gift of time with Michael. This is a terrible situation for the world and it's been really scary for a lot of people, but in it, trying to find those moments to be grateful for. What did I say to him the other night? "We'll never get to have another time like this forced on us again."
Jeremy: Oh, no.
Casey: I hope not.
Laura: Yeah. So just trying to take it as it comes, and stay positive while doing everything you can do to protect yourself and the people around you.
Casey: Now, do you want to talk about how your high risk?
Laura: Yes. I was in the hospital twice with severe cases of pneumonia in 2019 and 2018. We had an in-training event at school on March 13th. And then on March 16th, I got a call from two of my doctors and they said, "You can't go anywhere. You need to stay home because of your situation with recurrent pneumonia." So that obviously scared me, that my doctors were reaching out to me personally, but it also made me love my doctors. They're thinking about me. But I said to Jeremy early on, "I don't worry about suffering, myself. I don't want to watch anybody around me, that's important to me, suffer." Our child was five weeks early and that was really, really scary. And then he had a severe reaction to nuts last winter, and that was really scary. There's nothing worse than watching someone you love faced with something scary or dangerous. And the thought of seeing our parents or our child, who are in an older group or a younger group and you feel like are defenseless, going through something. It's just really overwhelming to think about. And I'm already hyper-vigilant, hyper-careful, but those experiences in those situations have just caused me to...
Casey: Take it seriously. For sure. So you haven't been anywhere?
Laura: No. I've been to my parents house and I have been to school one time, in an empty building with one other person to record something. And I wore gloves and a mask and didn't touch anything. But no, my last outing -- I actually did go to Trader Joe's on the 15th, which was a Sunday.
Casey: Of March?
Laura: Yes. To pick up something for my parents. And otherwise, Jeremy has been going to all the stores and picking up all the prescriptions.
Jeremy: It's given me a good opportunity to go somewhere and do something and feel helpful.
Laura: Yes. So he's been the...
Jeremy: Gopher?
Laura: Contact with the world person. And Michael and I have been here or in the car or, starting in the basement at my parent's house because we wanted to stay even that isolated from them. And then after they had been inside for so long, we re-established some contact.
Casey: How do you feel, Jeremy, about being able to go out, but having Laura and Michael here at the house?
Jeremy: Well, it is a little scary to know that they are in a high-risk situation. But I often have to remind myself that the mask and the precautions are not for me. It's easy to forget about something when it doesn't directly affect you, but then you have to think, "These actions aren't for me. They're for somebody else." It puts a new perspective on why it is you're doing what you're doing. And these kinds of precautions are not something many of us are accustomed to doing. Unless you live with somebody who has always been high risk, for one thing or another, and you're constantly vigilant about their health for a number of other reasons. But now everybody's in that category and it's a brand new consideration. One of the things that I have appreciated is, I feel like most of the people around me have been less aggressive in their mentality about this because there is such a learning curve for everyone. I don't feel like there's been that sense of hostile judgment in our circle, which has been really nice.
Casey: When you say hostile judgment? You mean like people aren't judging you for wearing your masks and taking precautions or ...
Jeremy: This whole situation has been filled with so many unknown unknowns and changing information. I won't name any names, but I had somebody who was giving me grief, four or five weeks ago, about how, "The seasonal flu kills more people!" And they were really smug about it. And then a couple of weeks later, they have completely changed their tune and are super smug all over again. And I'm like, "Why don't you just pump the brakes on the smugness?"
Laura: It's amazing how quickly people have to go and scrub their Facebook accounts as new information becomes available.
Casey: Yeah.
Jeremy: That post magically disappeared. And I was like, "I remember. I remember." This is hard enough without having to deal with everybody's -- I mean, I have no idea what it what it's like to live in the kind of world where -- like the pregnant moms' world; everybody's got an opinion and there are a million opinions and they're all right.
Laura: Yeah. Get Ready.
Jeremy: They're all right. And everybody's super judgey about their opinion. I feel like the whole world adopted that position. And this whole thing is exhausting enough without having to deal with everybody's factually-based opinion that they picked up 10 minutes ago.
Casey: Yeah, just follow the guidelines, I don't need to hear about your million other opinions about this thing. I mean, I'm asking everyone their opinions.
Jeremy: Yeah, but you're asking.
Laura: But you're interested.
Casey: Yeah, I'm asking. I'm not telling you what mine is. Whoo! Man, you're not wrong. So is there anything, and this isn't meant to be heavy, this is meant to be kind of light, is there anything, I think especially Laura, that you miss from the outside world or in general from the world before Covid?
Laura: Yeah, I really miss lunch at Holy Innocents. And one, because it's like a cruise ship; there's a salad bar, a hot bar, a sandwich bar. I never have to chop my own vegetables because I can get my fill there. But I work with my friends, and I really miss my friends. I miss my students, and being able to go there and be there and leave it there. But I have gotten to reconnect with a lot of my other friends. My best friend since I was six years old lives in Wales now. Her husband's an emergency doctor there. And I've been able to Zoom with her once or twice a week. And my girlfriends from high school, and that's been a real gift. But I do miss my friends and I really miss the theatre community. It was odd. I had just had Michael before, and I feel like everybody is where I have been for the last two years now.
Casey: Yeah. On pause, kind of?
Laura: Yeah. So that's not good. And it doesn't make me feel good, but it makes me feel really in solidarity with everybody. I wouldn't trade these past few years for anything but I miss working and I love working and I love that energy. I really feel for everybody right now that is missing that and wanting that. And we have to pivot and figure out a way to get there as soon as we can in a way that's safe, because artists need it and the world needs it. There's nothing like a communal theater experience. That's what I've been saying to my students over these past few days when we've been having online performances. "These are fun and this is a neat thing, but nothing can replace what we have in person together." That also feeds into figuring out, since you can't replace it, don't try and duplicate it. You've got to try and do something. You've got to pivot and do something different and do something new. And wait. And watch.
Casey: Jeremy, I don't know if you were working on this too Laura, but I know, Jeremy, you had a project coming to GET. How do you feel about -- I'm assuming it's been postponed?
Jeremy: It's still on the calendar and we're moving ahead as though we're still doing it. As of right now, nothing has said that we should change our plans. Chris Damiano is working on it with me, and he was like, "The moment that we let it go and say that's probably not going to happen, a week later they're gonna say everything's open. And, on the flip side, if we spent every moment from now until halfway through June on nothing but this play or this production, July would roll around and they'd go, 'You know what? Keep everything closed.'" So we're just trying to move forward slowly and not put all of our eggs in one basket. But playing with this music, The Beach Boys show, has been so much fun and it has been an artistic outlet to be able to look forward to and say, "This is coming. This is coming. Isn't this exciting?" But yeah, as of right now, it's still happening. We're moving forward.
Casey: Excellent. When is it supposed to be?
Jeremy: It goes up in July. As a matter of fact, I was looking at the dates today. Final date is July the 26th, which is a Sunday. So it'll probably be either the 16th or the 9th, those Thursdays. But it's July.
Casey: OK. Well, if you're optimistic then I'm optimistic now about AMTF. Maybe it'll happen. Probably not. But maybe it will.
Jeremy: When is it supposed to be?
Casey: August 3rd and 4th, and 10th and 11th. So it's the first Mondays and Tuesdays. It could. It's totally possible.
Laura: Could you do it outside?
Casey: We would have to figure out a venue because we get T.O. for free. And they help us by selling all our tickets, as well. There's a lot of structure in that. But Jeff and I literally just talked about that today. So you're one of the first couples I've talked to with a young child. What do you think you will tell Michael about this time? He might be too young to remember it in-depth. Have you thought about how you would explain it if he ever asked you? Or if he comes home from school and he's like, "Hey. Today we learned about the 2020 Coronavirus. I was alive, but I don't remember that. What's that about?" Have you thought about how you may talk to him about it or how it may affect him?
Jeremy: I saw this great set of pictures today. There were pictures side by side and one said, "What's actually happening: bingeing Netflix," and the other said "How I'm gonna tell my kid," and it's Will Smith walking alone down this road in "I Am Legend," like, "The whole world came to an end and it was me, alone fighting the evil forces." I think there'll probably be some kind of some element of exaggeration. Something is gonna get exaggerated to be worse than it really was, but on the other hand, I almost can't imagine any part of this that we also won't look back on with some kind of rose-colored glasses and think of it in softer terms than it really was. Most of all I think we'll -- one of the first things that we did was, a family that I know...
Laura: Jeremy did this. I had no part in this DIY.
Jeremy: There's a brand new double-decker slide and swing set play area out in the back that a family donated to me. I put that up with the help of my neighbor over a couple of days, and, man, he will open his eyes, roll over and go, "Play house?" That has been his biggest thing since this whole thing happened. He's always dying to go out and play at the playhouse.
Laura: I spent the first two years of his life constantly worried, "Is he getting enough stimulation? We have to go here. We have to do this activity. We have to do this thing. Let's go to this." And he is perfectly satisfied with his toys here. And then when we started going back to my parent's house, it's like the biggest event ever. So, like I said, if there could be a perfect age for this to happen in someone's life, this is the age.
Jeremy: We were fortunate that way.
Laura: He is old enough where he's engaging and wants to be engaged. His preschool class would Zoom twice a week for 30 minutes. Which, two year-olds on Zoom? You haven't lived, yet.
Casey: I'm sure that is quite the entertainment.
Laura: Yes. He would be getting really into it about the time it was time to say goodbye, and then it was epic meltdown. Like, *crying voice* "Miss Tracy! Miss Rebecca!"
Jeremy: You had to trick him into participating, but once he was ready to participate, it was almost over.
Laura: Yeah. We had moved him to Temple Sinai, which is right behind Holy Innocents in January, and that was a wonderful thing. They were so welcoming and loving to him, and they've been so great throughout this process. He's missed his teachers and his friends, but gotten to see them twice a week on Zoom.
Casey: I can't even imagine what a preschool class on Zoom is like.
Jeremy: It's kind of nuts.
Laura: It's everything you would hope for and more.
Casey: Mostly parents with alcohol and little kids running around.
Jeremy: I'm sure it's hidden.
Casey: I'm sure it's...nice. Oh, right, religious preschools, got it. So, kind of in summation, as you were kind of talking about, I think you're right. There will be a lot of rose-colored glasses looking back on this. Hence, this; to try to, for my own sake and for everybody that I talk to, to not have to do that, but also not to get away with doing the "I Am Legend" version of this story, either. What do you think, and I know it's a weird time to ask this question because it feels like we're in the middle or at the beginning, but say we were at the end, what do you think you would want to take away from this experience? Or what do you think you would want to move forward with into a post-Covid world? Is there anything you've learned about yourself or your family structure or the world in general that you think will change how you go forward? It's a big one.
Laura: I was talking to my mom about this pretty early on. She's always the encourager and I'm always ready to give up in despair. I need to start encouraging her more. But I said to her, "I'm just sorry I was ever worried or upset about anything!" I hope that, I personally, I can't speak for anybody else, I hope that I will do a better job of not taking things for granted going forward and being really thankful for the stability that we do have and the things that we can be sure of and the things that we have, right in that moment. Because some of the things I was worried about and upset about before this just seem really, really small now.
Casey: What's the smallest thing you think you were worried about before that you don't think you'll be worried about going forward? You've got to answer this question, too, Jeremy, so think about it.
Laura: I hate to say money, but you always think, "Oh, if this happened, it would be the worst thing in the world." And then suddenly when we're faced with such an uncertain time, those things that seemed like it would be the worst thing in the world, like losing a job or a house or a possession, that's not the worst thing in the world. And I hope I'll be better at knowing that and believing that without having to be reminded of it with a circumstance like this. Because the world will go on. And heal itself, if we're lucky.
Casey: I feel that. Jeremy?
Jeremy: I'm thinking in terms of Bug Out Bags, now. Like this all happened in the very beginning. People were like, "Ah, don't worry about it." This is "The flu is worse," you know? And the next day it was like, "Stay home. Don't. And oh, by the way, there's no toilet paper. Oh, by the way, everything that you see has to be scoured. And there's nothing left on the shelf in your local grocery store to scour it with. Good luck." So on that side, I can't help but start thinking, "Maybe we should be looking a little further out with just a little bit more caution." Because this blindsided everybody. On the other hand, with a little bit more optimistic view of what happened, I feel like most of us are really well-positioned in our community or in our families to support one another. Even though we don't get to see our family a whole lot, we have family who is there for us if we need them. That's just not the case everywhere. That's not the case in other neighborhoods. That's not the case in other communities. Was it a week after we got shut down? It couldn't -- There was an Artist Relief Fund created, and everybody jumped in all of a sudden; people who had the ability to help were creating ways to help and people who needed help, folks were finding ways to go out of their way to help them. Artists aren't the richest group of people on the planet, but man, when they needed each other... No sooner was that need there, than it was filled. And I think, for all of the many differences and opinions and approaches that people have for this, I think we should be able to look around at our friends and our community and go, "We were here for one another." That's reassuring.
Laura: It's overdone, but there's that Mr. Rogers quote saying, "Look for the helpers." There's so much darkness and bad to see and things to be upset about, but then look for the helpers and you'll feel better.
Casey: You're so right. I love that. Y'all, You did it.
