BWW Spotlight Series: Meet Lyndsay and Jeremy Palmer, a Talented Couple Who Have Done Over 20 Productions Together
By: Shari Barrett Apr. 13, 2020
With the current theatre world on hiatus, I have created a Spotlight Series on Broadway World which features interviews with some of the many talented artists who make our Los Angeles theatre community so exciting and vibrant thanks to their ongoing contribution to keeping the Arts alive in the City of the Angels. And just like all of us, I wondered how they are dealing with the abrupt end of productions in which they were involved.
This Spotlight focuses on Lyndsay and Jeremy Palmer who met in a theater as teenagers, reconnected in college, then married and have done over 20 productions together in Los Angeles and Denver. But now with the shutdown, everything is on hold for both of them regarding their future production plans.
Shari Barrett (SB): What would you like readers to know about your theatrical background?
Jeremy Palmer (Jeremy): Lyndsay first saw me on stage in a production of TREASURE ISLAND when she was 13 and I was 14. Then she recognized me when we met five years later in college. Since then, we got married and we've done over 20 productions together in LA and Denver. We most recently appeared onstage together in LITTLE WOMEN The Broadway Musical (pictured here as Amy March and John Brooke) at the Westchester Playhouse, which I co-produced with Rocky and Victoria Miller. And I appeared as Max Halliday in DIAL M FOR MURDER there, while Lyndsay has been featured in many of their musicals including playing Ariel in THE LITTLE MERMAID and Fastrada in PIPPIN which we co-produced together.
(SB): What production(s) were you involved with when word went out you needed to immediately postpone/cancel the show?
Lyndsay Palmer (Lyndsay): I was midway through NOISES OFF in Long Beach, which I luckily got to open but not finish.
(SB): How was the shutdown communicated with the cast and production team?
(Lyndsay): We were at the theatre Thursday night to do a private performance for a business group and were told it would be the final performance. Of course, we were all heartbroken, but glad we at least got to perform half the scheduled run.
(SB): Many other productions scheduled to open Mid-March were not as lucky. Do you know if plans are in place to present the rest of the performances at a future date, or is the cancellation permanent?
(Lyndsay): They do plan to remount the production in the fall and they invited the original cast to return if available.
(SB): What future productions on your schedule are also affected by the shutdown?
(Jeremy): Lyndsay was midway through the audition process for the musical FUN HOME at Kentwood Players, and I am scheduled to produce 9 TO 5 The Musical there this Christmas. But there is no way of knowing right now when either of those shows will go up as scheduled. It just depends on when the Playhouse can open for audiences again at which time the Board will decide when to present all the previously scheduled shows. So like everyone else, it's a waiting game for us right now.
(SB): How are the two of you keeping the Arts alive while at home by using social media or other online sites?
(Lyndsay): We have regular video chats with Kentwood people and have played Scattegories and other games with them and some of our theatre friends in Denver, too.
(SB): What thoughts would you like to share with the rest of the L.A. Theatre community while we are all leaving the Ghostlight on and promising to return back to the stage soon?
(Jeremy): The Arts have been around long enough to have lived through multiple plagues and pandemics and come through stronger than ever! People need the Arts to pull them through times like this.
(SB): Any other thoughts about how the current pandemic is affecting the two of you personally?
(Lyndsay): Jeremy has only one lung and has to be extra cautious about contamination. So thank you to everyone for being extra careful on behalf of those with pre-existing conditions like him. Please do what you can to #FlattenTheCurve by staying home and wearing a mask if you must go outdoors.
Photo captions (from top):
1. Lyndsay and Jeremy, Easter 2020
2. Jeremy and Lyndsay, backstage at the Westchester Playhouse during LITTLE WOMEN The Broadway Musical in which they appeared as John Brooke and Amy March.
3. Lyndsay in NOISES OFF at the Long Beach Playhouse
4. In the Westchester Playhouse lobby during PIPPIN in which Lyndsay appeared as Fastrada and Jeremy co-produced with Rocky and Victoria Miller for Kentwood Players
5. The March sisters in The Kentwood Players production of LITTLE WOMEN The Broadway Musical (from left): Lyndsay Palmer (Amy), Lauren Jennerjohn (Meg), Jackie Fiske (Jo), and Francesca Farina (Beth). Photo credit: Gloria Plunkett
6. Jeremy Palmer with Courtney Shaffer in the Kentwood Players production of DIAL M FOR MURDER. Photo credit: Shari Barrett
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