One of the most influential works in early film was the seminal silent movie The Great Train Robbery. Now, a fledgling group in the proud tradition of digital theater that spans the hugely successful MMO Final Fantasy 14 is adapting that legendary film for the stage in the virtual age.
Game Rant spoke with the writer-director duo of Doc Laladay and Penelope “Penny” Lane about the upcoming Final Fantasy 14 production. The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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Adapting a Cinema Classic
Q: Can you introduce yourselves?
Penny: I’m Penelope Lane, but most people know me as “Penny.” I’m from the Crystal Data center on the Coeurl Server. My favorite content in FF14 is fun! My most treasured project is my band The Drama Club (TDC). We have five active members that have become like a family. TDC hosts public “open mics” on the first and third Mondays of the month called Mellow Mondays Open Mic where multiple bands show up and have a great time sharing chill music. I am a founding member and the deputy director of Whisperleaf Record Company, an RP record company created to help the bards in the community learn how to edit their music, make valuable connections, and support each other.
I met Doc Laladay through the bard scene, and I’ve played at The Huckleberry Saloon many times. I also have a venue called “Penny’s Pizzazz” that’s been described as “The Chuck E. Cheese of Eorzea.” It’s a wholesome mix of everything great about childhood like birthdays, creepy animal suits, and goofy RP, while we feature one band each opening as our special guest. Let’s just say that I like to stay busy in Final Fantasy 14!
Doc: Hello! I’m Doc Laladay, Doc for short! I have blue hair, a mustache, a goatee, and am usually spotted wearing a cowboy hat. Since summer 2022, I’ve been running The Huckleberry Saloon, a safe-for-work light RP bard venue with a wild west theme on Diabolos open on Tuesday nights. We have been active for a while now. I’m the boisterous and happy proprietor, but it’s the amazing crew, people like Cinnamon Button and others, that make the venue possible.
In addition to being involved with the weekly venue, I’m quite a bit like Penny in that I feel like I always want to stay busy. I’ve helped plan events like Halalaween 2024, which raised over $1,600 for The Starlight Children’s Foundation; am on the planning committee for Mogstock, which is a summer weekend festival tapping into the spirit of Woodstock; and have helped with lots of other events too like the Dancefest we just had February 22, which showcased members of FF14‘s macrodance community. We also just held a Valentine’s event at The Galactic Circus, a jump puzzle-themed Free Company. Event planning has become a passion and a bit of an addiction for me. I’m very much interested in trying to spotlight the amazing talent so many players have. Whether it is roleplay, bards, DJs, macrodance, performing arts, or anything else, the depth of talent the FF14 social community has is really incredible.
Q: How did you both get into virtual theater?
Penny: I was in Drama through my secondary education, and I’ve always had a love for the theater. I’ve been a part of and have seen a number of productions. This has always been a passion. Before the pizza venue, I floated the idea of opening a theater venue. It was too much work for a regular premier, so I had to move on. It was when I was in the first planning phase for the theater that Doc suggested this idea for The Great Train Robbery in the Spring. Things have really taken off from there! I haven’t been involved in much theater in FF14, so this has become a learning process. I am so excited to dig right in over the next few months. I want to bring some new ideas and continue drawing inspiration from the community.
Doc: This is actually my first foray into digital theater, but I have been around the roleplaying community in the game for a while. I’ve had the opportunity to work on many events, but an in-game play is a new first for me, which is really exciting! I have spent some time attending performances put on by some of the different production companies in FF14 and have really enjoyed being a part of the audience. My actual theater experience is pretty limited and concluded after playing the lead role in Death of a Salesman when I was a senior in High School and tinkering with creative writing. We’re very much leaning on Penny’s theater background for the directing of the play. She has some super fun ideas!
Q: Why adapt The Great Train Robbery?
Doc: When Penny brought up the idea of a theater company, The Great Train Robbery was the immediate thought that came to mind for me. As a lalafell cowboy and owner of a RP saloon, it felt so on-theme for The Huckleberry.
Wyatt Earp and other luminaries from the old west were still alive when it was filmed in 1903. The Great Train Robbery also had an enormous influence on cinema for its time. It directly inspired the closing scene from Goodfellas. It’s only a little over ten minutes of run-time for a film, but there’s so much to love about it! Also, being a silent film, it presents an opportunity to explore key questions through a play. For example, The Great Train Robbery begins with the robbers holding up the telegraph operator. But what happened before that? Without any spoilers, the first act of the play explores questions as to motivation. Why are the robbers doing this? What is their motivation? How do they plan to do this and get away with it? What is motivating these people to do this that goes beyond just wanting an easy payday? Who are these people who are willing to risk it all to rob a train? We hope to be as respectful of the original as we can, but we will definitely be taking considerable creative liberties in exploring things like this in the play.
Q: How much did you look into the history behind The Great Train Robbery?
Doc: I would say that I have gone down a little internet rabbit hole, yes. The film’s inspiration primarily comes from a play of the same name written in 1896 by Scott Marble–our version is an entirely different narrative. You can actually still find the 1896 play for about $10 on Amazon, I believe. A Daring Daylight Burglary by Frank Mottershaw, a British silent film, was also an influence. Learning and discovering more about the film as we go is a lot of fun.
Q: Did Dawntrail inspire your adaptation of The Great Train Robbery?
Doc: To be very honest with you, it did not. I love, so very much, what Dawntrail has done with old west inspirations, but the reimagining of The Great Train Robbery as a play in Eorzea was an idea born out of a love for the old west that preceded Dawntrail. The Huckleberry actually had a train station venue on Diabolos that was pretty active before the expansion’s release! We hope to bring that train station venue back in late March, in fact, but it has improved and grown from a medium to a large. Cinnamon Button is doing the design for it, I believe!
Expanding the Final Fantasy 14 Theater Experience
Q: Doc mentioned you had some fun ideas, Penny?
Penny: We’re still pitching some ideas and coming up with things constantly, but we’re looking at adding more theater magic into the play such as set changes, audience participation, and even using the band to enhance the action sequences.
For the cast, we’re really pushing to make this feel more real for them. We have a full schedule of workshops, rehearsals, character development, and costume design.
Q: So, the performance is more than just actors. It’s got an original score, a VIP program, and more. You’re also working with some big names in the community like Ley Lines. How did this all come together?
Penny: Doc is the one with all of the connections! We wanted it to feel real and be a fun opportunity for people in the community to show off their talents. I helped enlist Dizzy Shasha–my bandmate in The Drama Club–to write an original theme, and it’s taking off from there to be a full score. K’arleen Winters, another musician with the band The OMNI, will be playing some original music as well during our intermission. Set design will be by Lexa Frost. Her venue is House of Seoul, and she’s in the band Gorilla Fist. She has a real talent for housing design.
Doc: I agree with Penny! Whether it’s our set designer, musicians, actors, VIP hosts, or others, a huge driver behind this production is creating an event that is both fun and a showcase of player talent. In terms of how it all came together, Penny and I have been brainstorming about things we could add to the production little by little over the past few months.
Q: What are you looking for from auditions?
Penny: We’re looking for anyone with enthusiasm for the play! They can be skilled at RP or new to it. The people who have more RP experience have a little bit of an edge in getting leading roles, but we want to include as many people who want to be involved as we can. We have up to 32 available roles spanning two openings! Our first evening will be the premiere with the cast, and our second evening will be for the understudies/extras.
During auditions, we give each person who auditions an RP prompt and then see what they can do with it. We expect some ad hoc and improv during the play, and the best way to see what happens is to keep our prompts secret until the night of the audition.
Oh, and we have a schedule full of workshops for anyone who wants help after they are cast!
Doc: We have one Sunday, February 23, from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm Eastern.
Q: Are there other ways people can get involved?
Doc: Yes, a few!
We hope to raise at least 200 million gil through VIP tickets and donations. There will be 10 VIP tickets per night, at 10 million gil each. We have some fun and interactive ideas for our VIPs, sort of like being a part of the show type-thing at a murder mystery dinner theater? But no spoilers! We plan to retain 20% of all VIP ticket sales and gil donations to reimburse ourselves and the designer for the cost of furnishings and things like advertising. The rest of the gil will be shared with the cast and crew with specific amounts determined later. If you’d like to be a VIP or a donor to help fund the event, please reach out to doclaladay on Discord.
We’ll also be looking for event staff who may be positioned outside of the property or inside during the production. Ushers, security, and perhaps some RP catering groups. More generally, I would encourage players to become more involved with attending performing arts events put on by groups in FF14 that are dedicated to digital theater. This is our first attempt at a production, but some places regularly put on performances, like Scarletta Vendetta’s mystery shows with Aether Entertainer or the Cirque Free Company based out of Mateus, which puts on full productions once a month. I try to make as many Cirque performances as I can. I love what they are doing there.
Q: You really geared this performance toward the roleplaying community, I understand?
Doc: Definitely! While there is some scene-setting narration and scripted dialogue to move the plot, there are also one or two ad hoc roleplay prompts for each scene. We want to encourage creative liberty for the roleplayers to develop their characters and some things that happen in the scenes themselves. The prompts range in time from the shortest being two minutes to the longest being almost ten.
Penny: Geared to RPers but definitely not limited to. I’m looking forward to helping out newcomers to RP as well. I hope everyone can find a lot of value from the production.
Keeping Active in Final Fantasy 14
Q: What have been your experiences with the roleplaying community lately?
Penny: I don’t have much experience in the wider RP community, but I feel like the social side of the bard community is thriving right now.
Doc: In my opinion, the roleplay community is vital to FF14, especially during lulls in content. For me, it feels very much like an open door? As some roleplay spaces may discontinue or close, new ones open up. I can think of three off-hand that were recently opened by friends, heavy RP places. I know of a few places that appear to be struggling a little, but others are thriving. I think like many communities there may be ups and downs, but the overall state of roleplaying in FF14 is robust and healthy.
Q: How has 7.1 been for you both?
Doc: As a casual player when it comes to content, I have been having a ball with the sidequests like the new Hildibrand Adventures–my favorite storyline in the game. I actually just finished Nitowikwe’s custom deliveries yesterday and love the final reward you get from it. A very yeehaw kind of reward. The new mounts are fun too, but I have an addiction to collecting minions and emotes and love the new ones from 7.1. Personally, I very much enjoyed the story of Dawntrail and plow through MSQ the second more of it comes out. I like what they seem to be setting up for future updates with the overall journey and adventure.
Penny: I haven’t done any content in earnest for years. I know this isn’t a popular take, but I’ve found that my investment in the social content of FF14 is more valuable to me. You could say that my content is the community. I’m more casual than casual.
Q: Is there anything in 7.2 you’re looking forward to, either personally or for the play?
Doc: 100% the Cosmic Exploration! I have been looking forward to that for a while. I’m a huge sci-fi nerd and am excited to build a base in space! Cosmic Exploration will probably be where I spend most of my time when playing content in 7.2.
Penny: Not for the play, but personally I want to know if they are finally releasing the larger house layouts for small homes. If so, I’ll be looking forward to that!
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
Penny: I hope that people will come to see our production! We’re putting a lot of time and love into this project, and I’m really excited to share it with the community in May!
Doc: The showings are May 10 and 11, 7 pm to 10 pm Eastern, and will be streamed by Aethercon.
[END]
- Released
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August 27, 2013
- ESRB
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T for Teen – Language, Mild Blood, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence