Q. What is “Avenue Q” about?

A. It’s kind of like “Sesame Street” for adults. It takes the same premise of “Sesame Street”. You have puppet characters and human characters interacting. Instead of “Sesame Street” teaching lessons to kids about letters and numbers and how to get along, this [musical] does it on how to become an adult. They’re dealing with issues such as how to sustain a relationship; what do you do after college; how do you get a job…things most people deal with.

Q. Is this something FCC students will be able to relate with?

A. The reason we chose the show is because it will have a broad audience appeal. It’s not going to just relate to 18 year-old students at Fresno City College it’s much broader…it’s just a fun show. It’s a gimmick in a way.

Q. Why did you decide to go with “Avenue Q”?

A.It relates to younger audiences. The shows at Fresno City are not done at other places in town…our philosophy is to do other shows that aren’t normally done.

Q. How challenging has it been been to put on this musical?

A. There’s music to it, so you have to work with the musical director. There’s dance to it, so you have to work with the choreographer. At some level, it becomes complicated to manage so many people. We have great actors that happen to be great singers. When you have a great group of people who are connected… they inspire each other.

Q. More people are involved, so who is helping out?

A. We have the music department who is heavily involved in it. You have to have a band so a band was put together. The vocal music director, a choreographer, the band director is Mike Dana. Those are people we don’t typically work with. The typical show [involves] a set designer, lighting designer, sound designer and the director and the performers. But now we add into that.

Q. Are there certain expectations of the end result?

A. Besides it being a good show? We chose the show because it has an appeal, a broad appeal. When you see this show [audience will think] my peers are doing that! But you want to go for the experience.

Q. How long has everyone been preparing?

A. We have a five week rehearsal period. Six with the dress rehearsal.

Q. How did you pick the cast members?

A. We do open auditions with the emphasis of casting students. Everyone in the cast is a form of a student, whether you’re full-time or taking one class and it’s open to the community. We open to the community so we have people working who have been [actors] for a long time.

Q. How did you know you were picking the right person [for the part]?

A. You don’t. You try to do the best you can. You’re going to see, can they act? Do they physically fit the type you’re looking for? You read them into parts, you talk to them…then you just [have] to go with your gut! Sometimes you do make mistakes but you just have to go on.

Q. What message do you want the audience to walk away with?

A. The message of the show is life is hard but you have to make choices that aren’t easy to make. They aren’t always easy but everything is going to be ok.