Today we’d like to introduce you to Joanie Garner-DiPrizio.
Hi Joanie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I suppose my story, and the story of the Sea Cats, begins the way all good stories do:
Once upon a time … I traveled from my home near New Orleans to a town called Natchitoches (home of Steel Magnolias!) and to Northwestern State University. There I majored in musical theatre and dance—continuing the lessons of my youth—and prepared to embark on a journey which would take me around the country performing, directing, and choreographing professionally for over twenty years. And what exciting years they were! I worked in multiple regional theatres and on professional stages in Louisiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky, and others. I studied dance under Bob Fosse’s personal assistant, trained with Dance Masters of America, and ran my own dance and theatre school for almost a decade.
In Florida (the place which seemed to always call me to come back home) I formed wonderful memories with both Disney and Universal Studios, was the resident choreographer for the Central Florida Lyric Opera and several entertainment companies, and proudly helped to create and perform in The Three Musketeers: Voyage Home and Pirate’s Dinner Adventure: Rise of the Sea Dragon at Pirate’s Town in Orlando. I was also the assistant director for Musketeers and the Music & Movement Director for both shows at that venue, as well as choreographer for other in-house productions there such as the Pirate’s Town Cabaret. After Hurricane Irma, I made a brief exodus to Louisiana for some theatrical opportunities, including crafting the first ever Halloween stage show/event for New Orleans City Park, before making a final—post-pandemic—return to the Central Florida area.
It’s been a busy year since my family’s been back. I’m at Universal again working some magic at the Wizarding World, and on the home front I’ve been working a different sort of magic with the creation of my new LLC: Storytailors Events & Entertainment—a company specializing in creating custom entertainment experiences.
Our first major project was 2021’s Central Florida Witches Ball. Partnered with Tea & Tarot Emporium—a wonderful, witchy, local production company—we designed the ball to be a full-stage musical production amidst a backdrop of vendors, food, drink, and the like. The first year was a great success, so much so that for 2022 I can happily report we will be partnering with Spooky Empire and holding the Ball and performance at the Orlando Convention Center. If you don’t know, Spooky Empire is Florida’s premiere horror convention and has been delivering the best sights, sounds, and screams to Halloween lovers since 2003. They are a rock n roll, horror, Halloween, tattoo, and film festival all rolled into one monstrous event, and we are super excited to be joining them during the October 21-23 run to provide some exciting live entertainment.
Our second project was the Sea Cats, and they—without question—are a passion project for me. After all, having been a professional pirate for many years (kinda, sorta, literally), I saw time and time again as females were relegated to being just the “maidens-in-distress”. But when I worked on Musketeers and Rise of the Sea Dragon, I was able to help craft strong, powerful female characters, every bit as capable as their male contemporaries—often more so. After I moved on from the venue, I longed to find a way to get that kind of representation on stage again, but under my own terms. So, after creating Storytailors, the Sea Cats seemed like the first perfect experience: a female-driven group of pirates and cutthroats set to sing shanties, swap stories, sling steel, and more. And tailored for stage performances, business and private events, parties, conventions, and the like.
Women are powerful. And skilled. And fun. And zany.
So am I.
So are the Sea Cats.
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?
The struggles? I’ve always preferred to think of them as just part of the “adventure” … that makes them more recognizable for what they really are: hoops. Hoops that have to be jumped through to get to the next part of the journey.
Sometimes the hoops are large and shared with the rest of the world. Catastrophic events like the pandemic, the 9/11 attacks on our country, and natural disasters like Hurricanes Katrina and Irma resulted in a terrible loss of life, and, certainly, nothing is comparable to mourning loved ones suddenly gone. But the long-lasting, ripple effects of those events—the devasting blow to the economy and infrastructure—turned many people’s worlds on end … ours included. Each time the entertainment industry faltered, so too did any stability we had. Many times, I found myself uprooting my family to search for a new home.
Sometimes the hoops are personal. That makes them no less devastating, of course, and probably more relatable. Like our family car dying while traveling through the Ozark Mountains, beginning a several-year period of working where we weren’t really wanted. Working other places and having to learn the hard lesson of not caring more for the company’s success than the owners do. Failed personal business ventures.
Sometimes the hoops are small… mostly mundane … but can be some of the most exhausting. Like dealing with a business in its infancy and learning the rules and regulations for an LLC in this new pandemic world. Navigating the accountants and attorneys. Teaching myself WordPress to build a website. Thank goodness for YouTube “How to …” videos!
And sometimes the hoops are just the challenges of the moment … and, maybe, these are the satisfying ones. Pirates are such an important and engaging part of Florida’s and America’s history, and the epic songs and stories are inspiring, but the challenge is to present them in a new way for a new world of social media and social distancing and hybrid staging. I think the Sea Cats are up to the challenge though.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Storytailors Events & Entertainment specializes in creating custom entertainment experiences. We pride ourselves on writing out-of-the-ordinary fantastical stories and characters. We love catering those stories to the events individually. On the whole, I am a dreamer and geek and I surround myself with dreamers and geeks, all driven by a passion for adventure-filled, immersive, events.
With The Central Florida Witches Ball, we’ve built not just a show with song, dance, aerial arts, stage combat, and magic, but a cast of characters that have lived on past the initial performance into a subculture of meet-n-greet tea parties, a perpetual social media presence, blog posts, and podcast appearances. Guests at last year’s ball are already eager to meet the witches again at Spooky Empire this October.
By extension, the Sea Cats bring that customization to the stage or event in a piratical fashion. These are powerful female characters—with each actor having a hand in personalizing their pirate—bringing song, stories, and swordplay to life. There are male pirates among the Cats, too, as well some non-binary crew members, with a unifying aspect of having some good, old, swashbuckling fun. We’ve only just begun, but hope to become a “one-stop shop for all your pirate needs”!
The irony isn’t lost on me that I spend so much time creating fantastical creatures, only to often be compared to one myself—a vampire. And not just because I’m a pale, Irish lass … but more so because I keep such late hours. Well, I’m proud of that drive that keeps me up at night, the resilience and ability to create and adapt and transform a script to reach an intended audience. I’m proud to have learned that story is the most important part of what we do. I’m proud of the sets and props and costumes we produce because I’m especially proud that we’ve learned to recognize how the details of a project are everything. And I feel blessed with the ability to find and put the right people in the right roles to bring an amazing production together.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I have been honored to encounter so many brilliant artists, advisors, mentors, and friends on this journey. And I am delighted to have the most amazing creative team surrounding me now—organized, talented, and passionate. I also literally have a group of performers that I refer to as my Muses: they inspire me to create and to improve my creations, and together we make magic happen on the stage.
Really, though, it all really started with my parents. My dad inspired me to constantly choose adventure over anything basic. He was a national billboard-charted recording artist in the 1950s, cutting records and traveling the performance circuit with Elvis, Ricky Nelson, The Big Bopper, and others. He passed that love of music—that spark—onto me. And my mother? Well, among so much else, my mother was actually a go-go dancer in a cage in the 1960s… so there’s little doubt where I got my spunk and wiggle and love of all things dance. They both always encouraged me to live my dreams and never settle for less.
Contact Info:
- Website: theseacats.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theseacats/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSeaCatsYoHo
Image Credits
Scott Dentinger
Josh Solomon
