Rising Stars: Meet Sarah Durnesque

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Durnesque.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Pick Your Poison Productions started during the pandemic. A friend, Ariel, and I wanted to collaborate on doing online shows to keep ourselves and our actor friends busy during a hard time while also, hopefully, providing some joy for our audience. We wanted to create shows that would bridge the digital gap between audience and actor in the era of Zoom theater, so we decided to add a game to the performance. The idea was that every time a cue word was said during the show, audience and actors alike would simultaneously do an action. For most folks, this action was to take a drink (because so many of us were doing that on our own anyway!), but some opted to do a workout or eat a snack while watching or participating in the performance. Unlike other Zoom theater productions, we also kept all of our actor’s screens up even when they were “off-stage” so that they could still be seen responding to the cue words and the performance. It was our hope that this would make both audience and actor feel more connected and give a sense of community. And it worked!

Pick Your Poison Production’s first show was “The Importance of Being / Drinking in Earnest.” It was SUCH a good time! And it’s still available for folks to enjoy on our YouTube channel. Over the next year, we put on five other shows in total; four were in the same model as our first and 1 was a virtual Pub Sing with music and comedy. It was such a joy to work on these shows – all performed for free with the option to tip – and while it wasn’t crazy money, it was also such a pleasure and privilege to pay performers at a time when there was not much performance work. We were growing such a kind and lovely community across the web and the world with one another and our audience. After our final virtual performance, “A Midsummer Night’s Drink,” we took about a nine months hiatus. Life had just come roaring back and everyone got busy trying to reintegrate as the world opened back up.

During this time, PYP became a solo endeavor and while trying to decide what PYP should do next, I rather accidentally found a neighborhood bar, The Roguelike Tavern, while out with friends one night. There was just an instant sense of community. They were also rigorous about checking vax cards as long as it was required, which offered an additional sense of safety alongside the general vibe of the bar. Their karaoke nights became a weekly opportunity for relief and relaxation. Since PYP’s virtual Pub Sing, I’d been looking for a place where I could try producing a live version in a real Pub.

Before moving out to LA, I used to work Renaissance Festivals professionally. Pub Sing was always this moment at the end of the day where it felt like folks were the most connected through humor and song. I know so many folks who love faire feel disconnected from that community during the months of the year when the faire isn’t in town. Since leaving the road, I’d wanted to find a way to fill that gap in the between time for faire patrons and use that formula of music and comedy to keep creating community. I wouldn’t learn this until later, but The Roguelike Tavern is owner John McCormick’s own love letter to creating community. All I knew at the time was that I liked the place, I liked the people, and I wanted to trying putting on a show.

I struck up a conversation with John and the KJ at the time, Mak, late one night. I learned then that the Roguelike had been designed as a blackbox bar with the goal of making it a location for theatrical and immersive events. John also told us that he had a dream of creating an immersive Dungeons & Dragons event. As a baby DM and a more seasoned producer, I said: “I can do that.”

Turns out he didn’t believe me. So when I went away and came back with an actual plan and a cast, he was surprised! My one request was that I also be allowed a date to produce a live Pub Sing. And thus, a collaboration between Pick Your Poison Productions and The Roguelike Tavern began. John also connected me with Daniel of Blackaxe Media to assist us with filming and streaming the shows so that we could continue connecting with our online audience and make shows available for folks who don’t live in or near Burbank.

This June was our three years anniversary as a company and one-year anniversary of collaboration with The Roguelike. The Roguelike Rumbles – our live and interactive D&D show as become our signature production and is such a rewarding collaboration with The Roguelike. We also continue to produce and perform Pick Your Poison’s Pub Sing at The Roguelike (with some featured performances at other venues). PYP is also continuing to expand our online shows with The RumbleVentures and other TTRPG offerings. I also very recently discovered another venue that’s bubbling inspiration for ways to return to PYP’s roots, but we’ll see if/how that comes to fruition!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think PYP is very much feeling some growing pains right now. There’s so much I want to do to help us grow, but I’m hitting my limits as a solo producer with a low budget. We’ve been very fortunate to have several of our events at the Roguelike sponsored, which lets me guarantee to pay for performers, our filming, and some of the other necessary costs though, so that’s been huge. We’re really making magic happen for what we’ve got, but I’d love to have the time and resources to take bigger next steps.

Tech has definitely also been a HUGE struggle as we work to improve the audio equipment we have, how it’s used in the space and the production quality of our streams. Every struggle is a step to growth though and we’re getting there, bit by bit. I can’t say enough good things about Danny with Blackaxe Media. He’s really worked wonders with creative filming in a space not designed for being filmed. Our last Roguelike Rumble streamed live for the first time! So folks at home could watch the game as it happened rather than a week or two later when I have time to edit and put it up online.

I’ve been learning a lot about the world of online streaming and have been working to up the production quality of what we produce as much as possible, but it’s definitely been a struggle as is the juggle of maintaining a day job and all the work that comes with producing, promoting, and improving our company and shows.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Pub Sing is just so special to me. I have some truly amazing bandmates – Beverlee Jean, D.W. McCann, Aven Gonzalez, and when we’re lucky, our fiddler Seth Hansen. We’ve developed a really fun repertoire of classic folk songs & tavern tunes alongside a variety of nerdy & modern twists on the former and a number of straight-up parodies and original songs as well. The audience for these shows have also been so willing to play – folks will come dressed up, they’ll write verses and sing along with us. Some nights the humor just gets so wild I’ll be quite literally crying with laughter. It’s everything I wanted when I dreamed of doing a Pub Sing outside of the Festival circuit. While I know of a similar production that coincidentally started around the same time as us in NYC, we are – as far as I’m aware – the only Pub Sing like this outside of RenFest. We’re growing such a lovely community through these shows as well. If you like Renaissance Festivals or just love raunchy, nerdy, musical comedy – Pub Sing is the place for you. You don’t have to sing with us, but it sure is a lot of fun when you do!

The Roguelike Rumbles, our D&D collaboration with The Roguelike, has very much become our signature show. It’s a 2 – 2 ½ hour interactive, Player vs Player, Tournament of Heroes. When you enter The Roguelike on a Rumble night, you’ve entered the world of Las Aasimas – a magical realm quite similar to our own, where heroes compete regularly against one another to determine a Champion! On these nights, the audience will choose which hero they want to root for and then provide rewards to keep them going! Each night starts with a quest for the audience, if they finish it, they get an Advantage Coin for the hero of their choosing to use during the game. Cocktails & mocktails bought at the bar also come with reward tokens to buy Health Potions and Lair Actions for their heroes. They can also offer direct support via tips which become Magic Items to play in the game.

We are, as far as I know, the only interactive D&D game like this in the world. And it was only possible through our collaboration here with the Roguelike. The players we’ve been able to have participated in these games just keep blowing me away. There’s such an amazing wealth of D&D players and immersive performers here in L.A. that have been so willing and eager to jump in and play these games. And the audience – we just have the most amazing, nerdy crowd ready to thunderously cheer these heroes on! When you get folks yelling for D&D like a football game, it’s just really something spectacular to be a part of.

We’ve also recently launched two adjacent projects: The RumbleVentures are online D&D game streams with heroes from The Roguelike Rumbles adventuring together and The Dungeon Descent is an in-person event at The Roguelike where our DMs will lead patrons through their own Roguelike Rumble games.

PYP recently guested at the Midsummer Scream Convention. We presented a TTRPG panel on “Monsters & Modules” as well as a live and interactive TTRPG game playing a variant of the Dread system, “Dreadful.” We’re currently planning a continuation of that game in an online format with the hope to bring back the in-person performance play at future events. I really think our ability to bring new twists to existing formats is a signature of our creative endeavors and I hope that continuing to bridge the gap between our live shows and digital streams will bring what we do to more people to invite them into our community.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
What has been central to keeping PYP going now that it’s left the strictly digital world though has been at the heart of it all along: community. I’m so grateful for the community that has continued to grow through both the performers participating in our shows and the audience that attends them. I moved out to L.A. with the intention of finding a way to be a part of or create productions that connect people and grow out of love and kindness. No matter how raunchy our Pub Sing humor gets or how gnarly the fantasy fights of The Roguelike Rumbles are, at the heart of it all is having fun and creating community with the folks around us. All of that is possible because of this location.

L.A. might be known for film and television, but there are so many other creative outlets alongside Hollywood. The immersive and interactive theater scene out here is so rich and I’m really grateful to be connected to it through other companies I’ve worked with and my friends. Finding a place like The Roguelike to root down and grow has been such an amazing opportunity. Not only is it a great spot with good food, great drinks, and even better people, but it also has FREE PARKING! There’s nothing I hate more about L.A. than the parking situation, so to be able to tell folks not to worry about the parking is such a boon.

Pricing:

• Our Fall Pub Sing will be Sunday, Sept. 24th, 7pm at The Roguelike. $10 per person with a 2 item minimum.
• The next Dungeon Descent is Wednesday, August 23rd at 8pm at the Roguelike. $35 per person for tables of 4-5 players with 2 item minimum. Reservations required by August 19th.
• The Roguelike Rumbles will return Wednesday, Sept. 13th, 8pm at The Roguelike. Free show with 2 item minimum.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/pickyourpoisonproductions
• Instagram: PickYourPoisonProductions
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PickYourPoisonProductions
• Twitter: PickYourPoisonP
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PickYourPoisonProductions
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@pickyourpoisonprods

Image Credits
Featured photo Photographer: Charly Charney Cohen All others: Jim Sabo