Full Transcript
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson. Today in the studio we have Bree Klauser and she’s an actor. She played Matal on the TV series from Apple TV+ See. That’s S-E-E. We actually have two podcasts. After episode four came out, we recorded her excitement as she was getting together with a bunch of friends to watch episode four. I had already watched it. She hadn’t watched it yet. It’s going to be fun and exciting for her and for all of her friends. With the change of events that had happened to us now, I caught up with Bree again and we recorded another podcast and that’ll be coming out real soon.
Jeff Thompson:
But right now, let’s go back to the excitement of episode four coming out and what it was like to be legally blind and acting in a series where everybody is blind. Kind of a neat twist. We’re going to have Bree lead us into it with a little update from New York City. She’s a heck of a singer.
Bree Klauser:
I’m waiting for the day you come to me. I’m waiting for my true love’s melody. So baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, come my way.
Jeff Thompson:
Bree, what’s really interesting is you came from the TV series See where over a certain period of time people adjusted to a whole new different way of life. Here we are today during our lockdown that we’re adjusting to a new normality. When See started, you had to do this what you called world-building. In a way, it kind of parallels what’s going on today.
Bree Klauser:
I think this is a really interesting time to watch a show like See. Not to make you feel like, “Oh, we’re going to be living in a post-apocalyptic world,” but to think that this is not sheer fantasy. This is science-fiction in a sense that something could happen and alter the course of humanity. When you think about it, I mean, I do believe strongly that there’s going to a cure and things will go back to normal eventually. I don’t think it’s going to happen in three weeks, no, absolutely not, especially here in the East Coast, but we’re still going to be changed as a country and as a civilization.
Jeff Thompson:
It might be a new normal.
Bree Klauser:
Yeah. Even if we completely adapt and the vaccine completely eradicates whatever this thing, we’re still going to be changed from the experience, just like our grandparents and great-grandparents were changed from living through World War II, or living through the Cold War or the Holocaust or the Spanish Flu. It is a defining event of our generation. I know a lot of people say that 9/11 was a defining event of the millennial generation. I was very young when that happened. I wasn’t living inside New York City, but I was very close, but I knew how much it affected everyone. It just became part of my normal, especially if you’re growing up and you’re seeing this happening. It becomes part of the normal.
Bree Klauser:
But I feel like when it happens, when something traumatic like this and drastic happens when you are adult or you are coming-of-age, then there’s this paradigm shift and then you and every one of your peers in your generation, you have to say, “Okay, now how do we adjust?”
Jeff Thompson:
A stark realization of the seriousness of everything that’s happening is when doctors become gods when they have to decide on who gets the machines, the devices, and which nurses get the equipment and what services they can provide to someone who may have other health conditions that compromise their ability to handle the virus, or if you’re a senior and they start putting value on youth. That was really tough to wrap my brain around that we’ve reached that point.
Bree Klauser:
It’s terrifying too. I have a friend. I need to give her a call. I mean, I hope she is safe right now. She’s young, but she’s at risk and she just found out that she was positive for COVID-19. Because she was staying with her family, she didn’t want to affect her family anymore, so she decided to sleep in her car.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh my gosh.
Bree Klauser:
Yeah. I guess because she was still healthy enough to not be hospitalized, I guess they don’t have space to put her up, so she has to have the choice of infecting the people she loves or sleeping in her car and making herself uncomfortable and potentially at more risk. This is crazy, and that there are people who are laid-off from work and they have to worry that, “Okay, when my savings are out, do I choose food, healthcare, bills? What do I prioritize?”
Jeff Thompson:
Some of my friends are talking about anxiety attacks. I don’t think I get them, or I don’t know what they are. I find myself walking around pacing sometimes in my mind and I’m just not getting much done, but I’m just concerned about everything that’s going on, and you turn on the news. By the way, I love your governor, Andrew Cuomo.
Bree Klauser:
A lot of ladies do.
Jeff Thompson:
Really?
Bree Klauser:
Have you heard the term CuomoSexual?
Jeff Thompson:
No.
Bree Klauser:
Yeah. I heard Stephen Colbert use it. I’m like, “I like that.”
Jeff Thompson:
CuomoSexual.
Bree Klauser:
What he’s doing is really touching a lot of people. He’s this heart throb for the ladies and now some men are like, “I might be a little CuomoSexual.”
Jeff Thompson:
I’ll have to think that over, but now is the time to maintain your lockdown and stay your social distancing of six feet and wear a mask is highly suggested, and call your friends. Call your family.
Bree Klauser:
You got to keep in touch with people and you got to feed your soul in that way and tell people that, “I’m here. I’m alive. I’m safe.” Cling to your loved ones at this difficult time and binge watch some world-building TV. Check out See on Apple TV+.
Movie Scenes:
The moment has come.
Bree Klauser:
Blindness is not a skillset. It’s not this cool acting challenge. It is lived experience.
Movie Scenes:
Centuries from now, almost all humans have lost the ability to see. Matal, proceed. What is their intention? I feel savage intent in the air. Savage and soon.
Bree Klauser:
Alfre Woodard, she’s one of the nicest people you will ever meet. She said, “You don’t get paid to act. You get paid to wait,” and that is basically how it is in film and television. You say you don’t a responsibility of ruining me. My teacher, his name is Francisco Casanova, he set me up for life. I’m really grateful for that, and I miss him. I miss him dearly. I ain’t thinking about repercussions. My heart is full letting it rush in. If you want to learn how to belt, you got to learn from an operatic tenor. You got to sing from your balls basically. Honey, you can wreck my home anytime of day, anytime you call me. Call me senseless.
Jeff Thompson:
Please welcome Bree Klauser, singer, actor, voice artist who happens to be legally blind and a self-proclaimed cartoon junkie.
Bree Klauser:
Because I was all out in the open and people were aware of what needs and any accommodations that I needed, I didn’t have to do that extra layer of basically acting on top of acting.
Movie Scenes:
[inaudible 00:08:29]
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson. Today in the studio we have Bree Klauser. She’s an actor from New York, and she played Matal in the Apple TV+ series See. How are you doing, Bree?
Bree Klauser:
I’m doing great, Jeffrey. How are you doing today?
Jeff Thompson:
I’m doing good. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to come on the Blind Abilities and talk about your experiences, your journey through blindness, and other fun stuff.
Bree Klauser:
Awesome.
Jeff Thompson:
I’m projecting for that it will be fun stuff.
Bree Klauser:
It’s all fun stuff. I really, really enjoyed working on this project. I was primarily a theater actor before being cast in See. I earned by BFA in acting from Brooklyn College. I grew up right outside of New York City and have been for about… I think I’m going on my tenth year in New York. Up until then, it was theater and I also was a musician. I had my own music project called Bree and the Whatevers, which I pursued for a couple of years until recently going full throttle on acting. I heard through a couple of people in the community that work with actors with disabilities that they were looking for low vision actors for this series. I pre-screened. There was never any in-person audition for this.
Bree Klauser:
It was just all like videotapes. Not videotapes. It was all self-tape is what you call it.
Jeff Thompson:
You almost dated yourself there.
Bree Klauser:
I know, right? Videotapes. It was all LaserDiscs. No.
Jeff Thompson:
There you go.
Bree Klauser:
I’ve actually never even seen a LaserDisc.
Jeff Thompson:
That goes way back.
Bree Klauser:
Yeah. I only know about them from the… Have you watched The Regular Show?
Jeff Thompson:
No, I haven’t.
Bree Klauser:
It was a cartoon on Cartoon Network. I’m a big dork, so I just watch a bunch of cartoons. Anyway, I self-taped for the role. I pre-screened and then they had me make another video for the role of Matal, and I found out a month later, like a week before my birthday, that they wanted me for the show. It was fantastic.
Jeff Thompson:
Well, happy birthday.
Bree Klauser:
It was a happy birthday. Yes, it was. I went out there to Vancouver in British Columbia for let’s say for pretty much the whole fall of 2018 and winter of 2019 working on episodes one through four, which is where you can see my character Matal with Jason Momoa’s tribe, the Alkenny. She is one of Baba Voss’… It’s Jason’s character. She’s one of his tactical advisors in their tribe of warriors. When we’re on the battlefield, she’s not necessarily one of the grunts getting up and dirty, but she’s there as a tactician to use her ability as a presage, which is one who has an extra sensory awareness of emotion and intention in the air. Almost like an empath.
Bree Klauser:
I like to say for other fellow nerds out there, if you’re a Star Trek: The Next Generation Fan, she’s like Deanna Troi. Do you know what I’m talking about, Jeff?
Jeff Thompson:
Oh yeah.
Bree Klauser:
She has this very similar… Actually I would say it’s very similar to her because Deanna Troi was half-Betazoid, so she wasn’t necessarily telepathic, but she was able to sense emotion and intention and feeling. When I read the character, that was like my shorthand. I’m like, “Oh, she’s Troi. Okay. There you go.”
Jeff Thompson:
There you go.
Bree Klauser:
Even Matal’s hairstyle in episode one… My hairstylist Jayla Wallace. She’s fantastic. She’s an artist. She’s like a sculptor with hair. I told her about my whole thing about like Matal and she’s like, “Oh yeah. She’s like Deanna Troi.” She gave me a little bit of like a Troi mullet, which is really great.
Jeff Thompson:
That’s a great scene when you were with Baba and she calls upon you and you’re just like gazing out into the… Well, wherever you’re gazing into and you just give that report. That was an awesome moment.
Movie Scenes:
Matal, presage, what is their intention? I feel savage intent in the air. Savage and soon.
Bree Klauser:
I would like to say what she does, it’s like this little reach with her hand and her staff. It’s literally feeling the wind shift and that’s how she feels it because she’s obviously not looking at anything. In the Alkenny tribe because the convention of sight has been gone for hundreds of years, I know us as low vision people, we still make eye contact because it’s something that we’re kind of brought up with, but these people like eye contact and like looking at people when you talk to them is like the way of the dodo. A lot of what we do in the tribe is lead with an ear or with a body part to convey that we’re listening or communicating with someone.
Jeff Thompson:
Being visually impaired, what was it like to work with a whole group of people, a bunch of other actors, who are portraying that they’re blind?
Bree Klauser:
Well, I felt that everyone treated the subject matter very respectfully. First of all, there was no like egos on the show. Everyone was really cool from like the biggest stars to the crew, to the background, to costars, guest stars. No one ever treated it like, oh, some kind of cool acting challenge because what I and the other low vision actors on the show… Joe Strechay, as the blindness consultant, what we try to instill in all the creative’s minds is blindness is not a skillset. It’s not this cool acting challenge. It is lived experience. I think everyone understood that and respected that. It was more an imagination of what is a world without sight rather than what it is like to be blind.
Bree Klauser:
Everyone went through this extension movement training, which usually you wouldn’t do on a TV series because usually you get cast, you get contract and go on set, and then you go home. But we flew out to BC just to do this movement training not just for the sighted actors to learn how to operate without sight or lose their other senses, but to learn how each tribe, each group of people move. The Alkenny, they had a particular way of walking that was different than the Payan. I don’t know if you noticed. Besides Jason Momoa’s character, we’re all kind of small compared to the Payan.
Jeff Thompson:
That makes him look much bigger, huh?
Bree Klauser:
I know. I know. It does. It does. It makes sense because he’s not… As we find out, he’s from somewhere else. He and Maghra are outsiders who were welcomed into the tribe as we learned. Spoiler.
Jeff Thompson:
He was a slaver.
Bree Klauser:
Yeah. Oh, well, that’s a big spoiler, but okay. Yes. They are outsider. But the Payan, if you see those soldiers and those warriors, they’re like huge. The Alkenny because they’re living right off the land, we’re kind of a little bit more lower to the ground and we’re always kind of holding… A little bit hunched over holding our core. We did all this extensive movement training to just embody this other world, opposed to being like, okay, they’re blind, go. I think a lot of other shows on TV could have used as much forethought as what went into See. See has just that extra layer because it is a fantasy futuristic world.
Jeff Thompson:
What was it like every day when you woke up when you’re there to get ready when you’re going to be shot? Not shot, but on set?
Bree Klauser:
Yeah, no, I know what you mean. It was unreal. It was like living a dream. Getting up really, really, really early, which I knew, but I didn’t really know. When you do theater, you’re on like nine hours. But when you do film, you’re like… I think my earliest call time was like 2:30 in the morning. Sometimes it’s like hours before you even go on set. This show, as you see, the costumes and the hair and makeup, very extensive. I had a full head of hair extensions. The detail on the show… A lot of people I see them complain like, “Why are they all wearing feathers and beads if they can’t see?” I’m like, well, you can still feel those feathers and beads.
Bree Klauser:
Wouldn’t you think that is maybe very useful in attracting a mate? Something like that.
Jeff Thompson:
There you go.
Bree Klauser:
Exactly. I know through Matal, she has this like leather rope through her hair in both episode one and then we see her later. It’s like rope through her braids. Just to do hair was like an hour and 15. Make up was another half hour. The costume department like to tell that it was the show of many ties. Everything was like fastened on because it’s like there’s no zippers and buckles, so you can’t… It was never easy as just like putting on your pants and going on set. Usually had to be tied up into things and then depending on how many layers… We had to wear so many layers because they’re not going to risk an actor getting frostbite if we’re going on a cold set or we walk into rivers.
Bree Klauser:
I remember there was like one day we were waiting to shoot and they’re like, “Okay. We’re going to give you wet gear.” I’m like okay. It was like, “Oh, we’re going to give you another pair of wet socks to wear over that because we’re going in the river.” Then you get that on. Then you come back another 10 minutes and they say, “Oh, we’re going to put plastic bags over your feet.” They would come with the wet socks and your wet gear and then 15 minutes later they’d be like, “Oh no. We’re going to put plastic bags over your feet.” It’s a whole lot of prep before you even step on set or even get on camera and say anything.
Jeff Thompson:
All that and they’re just going to use a snippet of it or whatever. Who knows?
Bree Klauser:
Exactly. You could do a 10 hour day for three scenes. I think Alfre Woodard, who… Oh my god. She is a goddess. She’s one of the nicest people you will ever meet and she is just a legend. I felt like I got to learn from her every day.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh, that’s great.
Bree Klauser:
One of the things that she said is, “You don’t get paid to act. You get paid to wait,” and that is basically how it is in film and television. It’s just a hurry up and wait game. But then when it’s time to go, you got to go and you got to be on and hit your mark and all that. I did about 90% of my own stunts.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh really?
Bree Klauser:
I did. I was insistent from the moment. I said, “Listen, just because I’m visually impaired, I don’t want you guys treating me with kid gloves. This is an opportunity for me as an actor to have this type of experience.” I had the best stunt girl. It’s so fun having a stunt double because it’s like what is an athletic version of me going to look like? She really looks a lot like me. Like a lot. We could be sisters.
Jeff Thompson:
Really?
Bree Klauser:
Tally Rodin. We did what we like warrior camp, which means we went to this type of spa in… I know, it was a spot, but what it is like it’s cold weather baths outside in the mountains in Whistler in British Columbia. British Columbia isn’t as cold as like maybe the rest of Canada or even Minnesota.
Jeff Thompson:
Well, you get the winds out of the ocean that are warmer.
Bree Klauser:
Yeah. The West Coast in general is more mild, but up in the mountains in Whistler, which we were staying pretty close to, we went to like this outdoor spa called The Scandinave, and we would practice doing cold water plunging, like full body because the water… The river that we hang out on in the episode titled The River, we spent hours on that raft. It was just like you got to pee? No. You’re on that raft. Pee now.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh yeah.
Bree Klauser:
Especially for days that we all had to wetsuits and drysuits if you’re going in the water, which is a really uncomfortable experience. It’s not something you want to do every day.
Jeff Thompson:
You went in the river.
Bree Klauser:
I guess I could say that, yes. Without spoiling anything, yes, I went in that river.
Jeff Thompson:
Just watch The River.
Bree Klauser:
Yes. I went in that river. What they do, spoil the movie magic, is it’s what they called a line stunt. They have a rope that pulls you, opposed to like a scary grappling hook. It’s just kind of a rope that’s attached to you and then they yank you into the water.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh wow.
Bree Klauser:
I did that part and I floated away. To the rest, it was a big deal for the producers and the directors to let one of their main team do that. I was like very grateful that they trusted me. It was an emotional day definitely, but it was also a really exciting and fun day.
Jeff Thompson:
It sounds like you had a lot of downtime where you got to hang out with all the others, cast and crew.
Bree Klauser:
A really fun group and really got to know each other and really got to talk and share our life experience. As one of the low vision actors, I would have people often check in with me and say, “Oh, well, as somebody who is legally blind, how would you approach this?” Often I will have to qualify it with, well, I do have usable sight, so this is a little bit different, but what I would do is XY and Z. I went to a summer camp when I was growing up on Long Island. They called it Camp Helen Keller, which I think is a problematic name. I think it’s because it was run by Helen Keller Services and it was all blind and visually impaired children.
Bree Klauser:
I’ve known people who are near totally blind or totally blind. Actually for many years my booking manager for my band, he is totally blind. His name is TJ Olson. I think he had to have his eyes surgically removed pretty much near birth because of like complications. I see the way he operates and do things. When people ask me questions about how would you do this without sight, I think of someone like him. Even though I don’t have maybe the most accurate experience of what it’s like to be totally blind, I probably have more of an experience than the average person because I’m immersed in the blindness community. I’ve worked for organizations also like…
Bree Klauser:
They no longer exist, but there was a nonprofit in New York called Visionary Media, which was a music studio that provided resources and employment opportunities for blind and visually impaired musicians. That was kind of my first awakening of like accepting my disability and that for many years I hid the fact that I was visually impaired, legally blind, whatever you want to call it, because I didn’t want any negative reactions or different treatment, especially in the entertainment industry.
Jeff Thompson:
That comes after time the accepting of it is really opening up some freedoms because then you can just let go and just be you.
Bree Klauser:
That’s what’s so amazing about working on the show because I’ve done jobs where I didn’t tell them that I was visually impaired. If an issue came up where I had trouble seeing something, I would have to qualify and be like, “Oh, just shitty eyesight,” and they’d be like, “Where’s your glasses?” But in this show, because that was all out in the open and people are aware of what needs and any accommodations that I needed, I didn’t have to do that extra layer of basically acting on top of acting. I just got to focus on creating my character, which is amazing.
Bree Klauser:
I think this show has now given me the confidence to fully come out about my disability and identify as a person with a visual disability to the point so that now I even put it on top of my resume so I don’t get the question when I go to casting directors of being like, “Oh, let’s work on your focus. I noticed that your pupils are moving.” It’s just like, look at the paper and focus on my work.
Jeff Thompson:
You just can’t drive. You got 20 something?
Bree Klauser:
Without correction, I’m 2800. With correction, I’m like 2250. I have a full achromatopsia, which is a retina disease that affects one in 30,000. It’s genetically linked. Even though my parents don’t have it, they have matching recessive genes. The doctor thought they were related, which is weird. They had a one in four chance of having a child that expressed that gene, and both me and my older brother have it.
Jeff Thompson:
They should play their lottery.
Bree Klauser:
I know, right? I’ve used that line before, definitely. Full achromatopsia encompasses full achromat, so I do not see any color. Although does it feel like black and white? No. I would say it’s a pretty… For me, it feels like a pretty vibrant gray scale. A costumer designer actually on See, Trisha Summerville, she said, “Well, you can clearly see tone because you can differentiate between difficult hues, but you don’t see color.” That took me all this years to figure that out. I also am photophobic, so I wear tinted contact lenses. You can’t see it in See because we all have the lovely CGI cataracts, which is so bizarre to see, because one of the things that people identify me by is that I have these super dark…
Bree Klauser:
I have brown eyes, but my contacts, they cover my pupil and my entire iris. It just looks like I have really, really dark brown eyes.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh wow.
Bree Klauser:
I’m very near-sighted. That’s the whole 2250 thing. I have a visible nystagmus in both eyes as well. I guess it has to do with the depth perception. It never says it when you look it up, but I do have really poor depth perception and I know this because I kind of see things one eye at a time. More often it’s not stereoscopic. Depending on the situation or where I’m looking, I’ll favor one eye more than the other. Today is a left eye day for some reason I’ve noticed, which is weird.
Jeff Thompson:
What kind of accommodations did you request?
Bree Klauser:
Obviously I needed large print. Sometimes those call sheets are not always the greatest, but as long as they provided a digital copy, I would be able to blow it up. That usually does the trick for me if I have these scripts digitally. I can put it on my iPad and make it larger. I am a Mac user. This is not an endorsement for Apple. I just find it easier, I would say. Since I’ve been in college, I’ve only used like MacBook Pros and iOS as I find that their whole like zooming in and making the cursor larger and all that is much more accessible. I feel like with programs like ZoomText, there’s not enough nuance and that it’s either this magnified or this magnified and there’s no in between.
Bree Klauser:
For me, that’s very uncomfortable because certain things I need bigger and certain things might, no, I just need to see the whole screen in order to get a picture of it. Another thing that I need is an accommodation on set. It’s what they call a sausage marker, which is a really funny name.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah.
Bree Klauser:
For what basically is a little round bean bag that you would use to find your mark because sometimes… Especially when you’re shooting outside, it can be very difficult because everything is just like leaves and dirt and stuff. It’s hard to see a little black T on the ground. When you find your mark, you can’t look at it. I think almost the sausage marker is better for anyone because then it’s just you kick it and you know you’re in the right spot. You don’t have to worry about finding your mark. You’re literally feeling your mark. I think that is something I’m going to ask for like forever. That wasn’t even something I had to ask for. They’re like, “Oh, you have trouble finding it?”
Bree Klauser:
I’m like yeah, and they’re like, “You want to use the sausage marker?” I’m like, “A what? What did you just say?” I’m like, “Yes, sausage marker. Love it. Love it. Yeah.” Other accommodations, Joe was there to really not only help the sighted actors learn how to act without sight and learn how to not rely on their sight, but I felt like he was also there as an advocate for us, if there was anything. We felt that was ablest in script, or if something wasn’t very accurate in the world of portraying blindness, we would speak up. There was one particular day and we were shooting episode four actually. We are hauling us down a very steep incline. As you know, we’re leaving the village running from the Witchfinders.
Bree Klauser:
The tallest were one of the ones that leave with them. We’re going very, very fast. Someone had told me to pick up the pace and I said, “Well, I’m not going to lie, even if they’re running for their lives, first of all, they have never trekked this way before. They don’t know what’s ahead of them. We’re going down the steep incline. Even if they’re running for their lives, if they have no sight at all, there would be some caution in their movement.” Anders, who was the… I don’t know what his last name is. He’s the director on episode four. If you look up, we’ll put that in the post notes. Anders, who’s Scandinavian, such a character, he was just like, “I love that. You inspire me.”
Bree Klauser:
He took my criticism as creative input and adjusted the scene to the truth of that reality of they’re blind and they’ve never gotten in this director before. They’re not going to just speed into the wind and fall down the mountain because that’s what will happen.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah, we can’t spoil it.
Movie Scenes:
Baba carries his bear skin pack and leads Maghra down a slope. Matal? Matal and the others follow in his direction. What is she doing? The twins spot Bow Lion. Well. I’m coming with you. Come with me. Follow.
Bree Klauser:
They really did listen as far as our input of creating this world with no sight.
Jeff Thompson:
Another unique thing, you said this was like hundreds of years after…
Bree Klauser:
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Everyone in the world keeps wanting to talk to me.
Jeff Thompson:
Well, yeah.
Bree Klauser:
Yeah, I swear. I’m usually not this popular.
Jeff Thompson:
Today you are.
Bree Klauser:
I am. There’s just something about today. Maybe everyone just watched the episode and is like, “Oh my god.”
Jeff Thompson:
I like a few things that they’ve built into the series. It’s almost like Braille ropes, the knots and the ropes and the strings.
Bree Klauser:
The writing system.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah. When they found the bottle with the note inside it, the string with the knots in it, it was a plastic bottle. Even after hundreds of years, plastic bottles still exist.
Bree Klauser:
Yup. Not biodegradable. It’s our little stance on global warming and environmentalism.
Jeff Thompson:
You have quite the experience in fine arts. You graduated with a bachelor’s of fine arts. You sang opera?
Bree Klauser:
I studied opera. I say this with great sadness, my teacher and mentor for eight years just passed away last month. Actually I was in Los Angeles promoting the show when I found out. I found out through a friend who had also studied with him. He was like, “I didn’t want you to find out on Facebook, but Francisco had passed away.” My teacher, his name was Francisco Casanova, he used to understudy for Pavarotti at Met. He has sung all over the world. I met him through an ex-boyfriend of mine, the only thing I’m grateful for that ex for. I studied with him from time I was 18 until… For many, many years.
Bree Klauser:
He basically was not only just a teacher who made my voice stronger because in college I was struggling with some vocal problems because… I’ve been singing and acting since I was a child, doing movie theater and going on auditions. I even had like a child manager that didn’t work out and all that. In development, I harmed my instrument and he needed to heal me. He told me to not talk for 10 days, and so I did that. I even had to tell my college professors. I was like, “Listen, I need to do this. This man is a master. I’m going to listen to him,” because I studied with Francisco outside of school because I got to be acting. I didn’t go for musical theater, but I knew I still wanted to be a singer and sing.
Bree Klauser:
My brother was pursuing opera and I knew that classical technique is the only way to have a voice that is going to last you a lifetime. I did that, and lo and behold, it healed whatever damage that was done so that I was able to build my technique. I’m just so grateful for him. Because not only did he cure my voice and make it stronger than it’s ever been, but he was also like an uncle to me. He was a spiritual mentor and guided me through some of the toughest times in my life. He always believed in me. I’m sad that… Oh, I’m going to get emotional. I’m sad that he couldn’t see this day, but he knew it was happening. He was there when he knew that I got the part and he knew that I was going to Canada.
Bree Klauser:
I hadn’t seen him in a couple months. Nobody knew he was sick. He had cancer and he was very secretive about it, but I’m glad that he got to live to see me to a point where I began to achieve some success because he knew how hard I worked in everything. He always encouraged me to never give up. He said that I had a talent that I needed to use in whatever way possible. He agreed. It’s like whether it is singing or acting or voiceover, you have a gift and you can’t deny that God given gift.
Jeff Thompson:
Well, it’s a very strong voice in your The Homewrecker with Bree and the Whatevers.
Bree Klauser:
It’s your ways around me. And take away my emptiness. Honey, you can wreck home anytime of day, anytime you call me. I’m one of his only non… I think after me he started taking some other pop singers. If you want to learn how to belt, you’ve got to learn from an operatic tenor because you got to sing from your balls basically. Honey, you can wreck home anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime of day, anytime you call me. Calling me crazy. Even though I sing soul and jazz and pop and rock, it’s all the same baseline technique and that I attribute to him.
Bree Klauser:
It’s like, what am I going to do now? But I feel like he’s set me up good. I think he set me up for life. I’m really grateful for that. I miss him. I miss him dearly.
Jeff Thompson:
I really like the way that song goes into kind of a retro vintage sound from yesteryear. I mean, not as far back as LaserDisc. No, it is further back.
Bree Klauser:
No, it’s further back. We’re talking about ’45 and record players. Definitely. It is definitely Motown inspired. I’m very inspired by Motown. I’m also very inspired artists like Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings who are also gone. All my favorite people are dead. I don’t know. These great artists that have kind of brought the soul back into the modern lexicon. I want to do the same thing. Me and my partner along with producer Scott Hollingsworth, who is he’s work extensively with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, we put that EP together, this four song EP.
Bree Klauser:
It’s titled Homewrecker and Homewrecker is the title track with a music video and there’s also three other songs that are also very I would say pretty consistently in the throwback elk. Some songs are a little bit more RNB. Some songs maybe a little rock a little harder. There’s this one track Casually it’s called and I feel like it sits a little bit more in that world of not trip hop, although I’m very inspired by trip hop. Big fan of Portishead. I’ve had people compare the work to her and that group. Sometimes a little bit RNB, Erykah Badu, that kind of feel. You never wanted to be molding. You never wanted to me to find fantasy. You never wanted to be all you are to me, you are only wanted this casually.
Bree Klauser:
I put that album out in 2017 and that was after a couple years of gigging and touring around New York and Philadelphia and Northeast. I played with my brother for a little while. He is a really prolific guitarist who now fronts a couple of his own projects in Philadelphia. He’s also has achromatopsia as well. Blind kids ruling the world.
Jeff Thompson:
Bree, what advice would you give to someone who may have visual impairments, low vision, and they haven’t came out yet, they’re holding back, what advice would you give to them as they move throughout their journey?
Bree Klauser:
Definitely finding a supportive community helps. I didn’t feel like I could come out about it until I saw that there were other… Not even just people who are blind, but other disabled artists who are doing this and making this happen. Finding people who know your struggle and you can talk about your insecurities. Because someone who is completely sighted, they don’t know what it’s like. They can maybe empathize or sympathize, but they really can’t know what it’s like. Whatever they think it is, they’re always going to miss the mark. We talk a lot about transitioning into the professional realm of high school to college.
Bree Klauser:
I know when I was doing that and I made a decision to go to school for the arts, my parents have always been supportive of it, especially my mother. My mother has always been really supportive of both me and my brother in our creative pursuits. My dad is now supportive of me now that I’m successful. I love him. But within reason. They weren’t going to let me go to a $70,000 school for something that I would be paying back in student loans for the rest of my life. Unless I was going to be a doctor or a lawyer, they weren’t going to let me do that. When I made the decision, I had to work within my means. I had to see where I can get a scholarship or anything.
Bree Klauser:
As someone with a disability and especially someone who is blind and visually impaired, unfortunately the world sees us as… It’s some people’s biggest fears losing their sight, which makes no sense to me at all. Unfortunately you’re always going to be working doubling hard at everything. Perfect example, when I get a script for something for an audition. Another actor can look at the lines and a gist of them and then go in there with the paper in their hand and look at it. For me, I have to type out my script large so I have it just in case I need, and then I have to do as much as I can to fully memorize.
Bree Klauser:
That could be within only a 24 hour period I have to do that, on top of anything else I have to do in my day. It’s always going to be that double overtime, triple time work. As long as you accept that that is the reality and that you’re doing this because you’re passionate about what you’re trying to achieve, then nothing can stop you.
Jeff Thompson:
That’s great advice.
Bree Klauser:
The Commission for the Blind was very, very helpful. I would say the thing that they do the best is transitioning high school to college students. I think that’s where they’re the strongest, and just don’t let anyone talk you out of your dreams. People have tried to talk me out of my dreams, but luckily enough, I’m just too stubborn. That worked to my advantage, especially when… Really depending on your upbringing. For me, my parents never treated me like a disabled child, so I never let anyone else treat me and talk to me like that.
Bree Klauser:
I know a lot from mentoring younger people who are visually impaired when I was in Visionary Media or speaking at the Lighthouse, I see a way that young blind people and low vision people are handled with kid gloves. Because of that, there’s this fear to go out on a limb it seems. It’s only maybe like one in 10 people I meet have that fearlessness of, I know my physical limitations, but I also can do all of this. It goes back to just surrounding yourself with people who are really like can doers and a support group because a lot of people are going to tell you no and a lot of people are going to tell you that you’re never going to be enough or this is always going to be an obstacle. You have to just take that with a grain of salt.
Jeff Thompson:
You should get your own Hakka going for-
Bree Klauser:
Yeah, for sure.
Jeff Thompson:
…little self-esteem things when you accomplish something. Just blowing that horn.
Bree Klauser:
Yeah, that’s fun.
Jeff Thompson:
That’s quite riveting in the trailer there when it blows… That’s not a spoiler. The trailer is not a spoiler, when they blow that horn. It just grabs you. What do you call it? Earth-shattering or something?
Bree Klauser:
Yeah. These sounds come out of you and it’s like, where did that come from? It unearths the beast deep in your lines.
Jeff Thompson:
Well, Bree, I want to thank you so much for coming on to Blind Abilities and sharing this. It’s quite exciting. It’s quite exciting for you to… I can tell your excitement in it when you got that notice you’re going to go out there and get all that experience.
Bree Klauser:
I hope this show is just the beginning of that because I know some people complain that it’s not enough for representation. It’s not this. You still have all these sighted people playing blind characters. You have to realize that this is a huge first step. That’s what this is.
Jeff Thompson:
It is.
Bree Klauser:
I have another project coming out in 2020 for those who love audiobooks and podcasts. I’m doing a project, a new original series with Audible. I can’t say the title of it, but I can look out for it in early 2020.
Jeff Thompson:
We will and we’ll get you back on when we can talk about that.
Bree Klauser:
Absolutely.
Jeff Thompson:
Bree Klauser, how can people find your website and find out more about you?
Bree Klauser:
Follow me on social media. I’m on Instagram @BreeKlauser. That’s B-R-E-E-K-L-A-U-S-E-R. You can find updates from my life and my career at BreeKlauser.com. If you want to listen to Bree and the Whatevers, the Homewrecker EP and other music by me, is available on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, pretty much anywhere. Bree and the Whatevers. All spelt out. The album is Homewrecker.
Jeff Thompson:
I like how you said that, Whatevers.
Bree Klauser:
Bree and the Whatevers. Yes.
Jeff Thompson:
Good stuff. Well, Bree, thank you very much. Good luck with your friends all coming over to watch episode four.
Bree Klauser:
Yeah. I’m excited.
Jeff Thompson:
All right.
Bree Klauser:
Thanks for making the time, man.
Movie Scenes:
I have to keep you safe. The moment has come. It’s astonishing how the smallest moment can change an entire world.
[Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.
Jeff Thompson:
For more podcasts with the blindness perspective:
Check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com On Twitter @BlindAbilities
Download our app from the App store:
‘Blind Abilities’; that’s two words.
Or send us an e-mail at:
info@blindabilities.com Thanks for listening.
send us an email at info@blindabilities.com.
Thanks for listening.
Contact Your State Services
If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.
To find your State Services in your State you can go to www.AFB.org and search the directory for your agency.
Contact:
Thank you for listening!
You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities
On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com
Send us an email
Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Storeand Google Play Store.
Check out the Blind Abilities Communityon Facebook, the Blind Abilities Page, the Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Assistive Technology Community for the Blind and Visually Impaired. and the Facebook group That Blind Tech Show.