Actor vs Actor: Austinist Interviews Breanna Stogner and Kathleen Fletcher from Psycho Beach Party

Spy vs Spy, Bush vs Iraq France Gays Sensible People, mano y mano – and now, Actor vs Actor. Let’s admit it, people: the theatre is fueled by a thinly veiled passion for destroying your competition – rising to the top amidst the rubble of your fallen comrades. From the queeny designer, filled with vitriolic disdain for the company across town that “stole my fabulous chiffon idea for the most amazing nu wave adaptation of The Music Man that this world would have ever seen, honey” – to the high school student in Hurst, TX that poisoned her rival thespian’s Mountain Dew to secure the lead in the school play – these are people that win at all costs.

Cut to present. In an already tense theatrical climate, two companies are throwing gasoline on the fire. Prairie Oyster Productions and Arts on Real are both presenting two unrelated productions of the same show, at the same time (almost), in the same city (this one). Such an anomaly intrigued us, so we sat down with Breanna Stogner and Kathleen Fletcher -- the lead actresses in both these productions -- to get the inside scoop for you, dear reader. Always for you.

Note to reader: Breanna and Kathleen wrote "stage directions" to accompany this interview, and asked that we include them. We said yes – hence, all the stuff in parentheses.

(Breanna and Kathleen walk into the room freshly returned from their morning at the spa. Both looking stunning!)

Austinist: So you're playing the same part, in the same show, in the same city. Let's get down to it -- who'd win in a fight?

Breanna: I'm gonna kill you.
Kathleen: Not if I kill you first.

So, there’s competition?

B: Everyone keeps asking, but no. My first read thru goes up the last night of her show. Also, have you seen how different we look?

K: Further more, I think we'll bring different approaches to this character. Sure there will be similar elements, but it'll be too diverse for them to be compared.

B: And the scripts are a little different