Zan Berube‘s seamless shift from touring with Six, the Musical to playing Loraine Baines (Marty McFly’s mom) in the First National Tour of Back to the Future is a testament to her dedication and hustle of being an actor. From auditioning via self-tape while on tour with Six to flying out on off days for callbacks, it’s “every actors dream,” she said recently.
I talked with Zan recently about her role in the show and how she got the part, the technical wizardry that brings the production to life and how she maintains a routine while on tour. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For the full interview, watch the video above or check out our YouTube page.
Did you get a chance to see the show before you auditioned for it?
Zan Berube: I hadn’t. You know, I was touring on the road with Six, the Musical for two years when I was submitting for this role, and I did most of my auditions via tape, so I sent in… I think I sent in maybe three times, and then I finally got the opportunity to travel to New York City to meet John Randal, the Director, and most of the creative team and some of the original creators of Back to the Future themselves, and then they flew me in one more time to have a little work session and from there, the rest is history, and then when we started.
And then I continued being on the road with Six, so I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to see the show, but when we started rehearsals, I had nine days between contracts and I snuck in a showing of the Broadway production, and it was like a kid in the candy store. I just remember like the magic of the theater taking over me and being like, “Holy crud. I can’t believe I get to be a part of this like awesome story and bring like so much joy and laughter to the audiences every night.” I was truly like, “How are they doing this? How are they creating these iconic movie moments live on stage?” It was thrilling.
From the time you left Six until you started the show, it was nine days?
Zan Berube: Yeah. I had nine days in between to pack up all of my things on the road with that tour and get everything shipped home. Then I went home for like four days to repack my things, say hi to my family, which is very important to me, and then head to New York to live there for a month while I rehearse the show.
I love just being non-stop like that. That’s kind of the fun of it I think.
Zan Berube: It’s every actor’s dream, so I was very grateful.
Is there anything totally different between the movie and the show?
Zan Berube: There are a few differences. The main difference that I love to point out is the original music. There’s a lot of original music that sometimes isn’t as broadcast as the iconic Huey Lewis songs that we know and love, “Power of Love”, things like that, but yeah, some of the original music in the show is really amazing.
I saw a picture of you in character, you look totally different. Like, if you like walked right past me and I wouldn’t recognize you.
Zan Berube: You would never know. I leave the stage door and I’m incognito, I guess you could say.
I have three gorgeous wigs that are all styled after the original Lea Thompson, Loraine Baines that everyone knows and obviously loves because she’s incredible. So yeah, it’s a short brunette wig styled in three different ways to represent my character traveling through time.
You meet Loraine at the top of the show when she’s 47, she has three kids and she has a drinking problem, and the wig is manifested in a little bit of dismay, but it’s still gorgeous. They’re styled by Jake. He’s our wig supervisor. He’s incredible. And then the iconic ’50s wig is perfectly resemblant of the movie, and then she gets to go back in time, and she is reformed into a new 47-year-old type of woman, and it is stunning. Every time I put them on, I feel like a million bucks.
The show seems to have so many moving parts, technically. What do you think is the coolest part?
Zan Berube: Oh gosh. There are so many cool tech parts of the show. The LED wall is incredible, state of the art. Those projections and the LED designs that they have for the show are amazing. There’s a projection in the top of Act 2 that I just think is slapstick comedy, absolutely incredible. We also have a moving turntable that will move a lot of our sets and at the end of Act 1, it’s very cool. We call it ‘chaos.’ There’s a lot of things happening all at once and a lot of faith in technology has to happen to make all this happen. And then there’s something, the car, the car scenes you see in the movie do come to life on stage. So that’s all I’ll say about that. But those are some of my favorite parts.
I was in a show with a turntable once, and that sucker would break like once a week, and we’d just be sitting there waiting for it to turn back on.
Zan Berube: That’s the worst. Thankfully they have a pretty good system going, and I think because we do eight shows a week, it has to be very reliable and it has to travel, so it has to be sturdy. But, yeah, there are days where I’m like, “Ooh, gosh, for crossing my fingers.” But no, it’s been really good so far.
You said you were called into New York to have a work session. What did that entail? Working with the other actors who you might be paired up with?
Zan Berube: No. That is a chemistry read. I have been a part of those, those are awesome too. But for this one, it was just me and the director and basically, they had given me notes and I had taken those notes, but I think there was like this inkling that was like, “Let’s just bring her in one more time to work with her again.” So, I worked with the director. There was a reader in the room. The amazing casting office of Tara Rubin was there. And then everything I had done that day was taped and sent for final discussion for the UK team until they approved it.
Are you based in New York?
Zan Berube: Yeah. I’m based in New York, but I am from Boston, Massachusetts. So, I get a little bit of close proximity to go back and forth from home.
You were in Six. How was your time on that? I loved that show.
Zan Berube: Oh my gosh. It was amazing. I mean, what a beautiful trampoline to start me into this whole career. I graduated in 2020 from the University of Michigan, and then I had a year in New York City before I started Six and it was awesome. I mean, my cast was fantastic. Those women have stuck with me since and I hope they’ll stick with me for the rest of my life. The show is freaking awesome. I mean, 80 minutes of pure bliss, nonstop on your feet. Incredible songs, awesome storytelling. Like it’s a dream of my first show, so I couldn’t be more lucky.
You graduated in 2020. What was your year like before you got Six?
Zan Berube: Well, I’m sure you remember, but take us back. Don’t actually, don’t take us back to 2020. It was a scary time, my friend. I graduated into a field that virtually didn’t exist for like most of that year. I didn’t get to do a lot of the things that an actor usually does post-graduation, they showcase, they go to NYC, they meet representation, they start auditioning.
But I just went home and crossed my fingers that the industry would open up again. And then I was fortunate enough through my program to get represented. So, they would submit me for TV and film and we’d do it all virtually until I finally moved to the city and I started the grind. I started auditioning, I started nannying, I started catering. And I did the whole thing until I finally was in the final round for Six. And someone was on my side because they gave this fresh out of college girl an opportunity to tell a story on the big stage.
When I do a show, I feel like weeks into the run when I remember where everything is and where I need to go and where this is and that is. When you’re in a different theater almost every week, how in the heck do you find out the lay of the backstage land?
Zan Berube: I mean, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I forget what city I’m in and where the bathroom is backstage, how I get to my dressing room. It’s nice when we have these longer sit-downs because you become very acclimated, and you get to form a routine. Your traffic and your blocking backstage is just as important as your traffic and blocking onstage. Especially in a show like Back to the Future, because there are so many moving parts and there are so many things happening backstage that are dangerous if you don’t know where you’re going. So, the orientation process of it all is very important.
That first Tuesday in a new city, you can’t just like close your eyes or just nod or slack off. You actually do have to pay attention. Our company manager will make a speech and then our stage manager will make a speech. And that stage management speech is basically all about safety. What level the lights are at, where the spot ops are at, what you can expect on the lip of the stage. “It’s only a six-inch depth, so be careful when you run to the… There’s a net on the orchestra in the city. There isn’t a net on the orchestra in the city.” Things like that.
And sometimes our depths change on the stage. When our flies come in, maybe there’ll be more upstage or downstage. They’ll tell us what it’s like offstage. The calling desk will be on stage left this week instead of stage right.
And that first Tuesday is all about figuring it out and trusting the process. So usually once you have one show, it starts snowballing from there. But yeah, just gotta keep your eyes open.
You mentioned routine. If my routine gets screwed up and I’m talking about my daily routine, my day’s kind of messed up. How do you set a routine when you’re in a hotel room going from city to city to maintain some balance?
Zan Berube: You have to be flexible. You can’t be precious about it, because your space is constantly changing. Sometimes I have room for a yoga mat, sometimes I don’t. Know what’s important to you and know what you need to have yourself most prepared but know that sometimes you do need to change what that looks like. Sometimes you’ll have to get to the theater early because you won’t have space in your hotel room, or sometimes you need to move your humidifier because there’s no side table next to it. It’s really all about breathing and knowing that like, everything’s going to be okay, we’re all malleable and you can mostly get everything that you need done, even though it’s going to be a different space.
Back to the Future is currently playing at the San Diego Civic Theatre. For more info and tickets: Broadway San Diego
