All Aboard Again for Interactive Play Overheard on a Train

Ever been commuting and made up stories about your fellow travelers to break the boredom? That’s why Rebecca Maag created innovative interactive play Overheard on a Train. “It brings a brightness to something that can be quiet and isolating,” she says.

The project doesn’t have a set time for curtain up. Instead, it runs to a very precise timetable: that of Austin’s Red Line commuter rail. Passengers embark at the Downtown station, and once the train is in motion, each party of four will do a literal table read of a script given to them by the Conductor (Maag). Act One takes place on the way to Crestview Station; then, after an intermission at Vigilante Gastropub & Games, the guests/actors perform Act Two on their way back Downtown.

“Public transportation these days is a lot of people buried in their phones, being silent, and [when] I bring groups to do this event we are laughing and having a good time and creating this light spectacle that other people see and are curious about,” Maag says.

This is the second season of Overheard, as Maag debuted the rolling interactive show in 2024 as an experiment in both theatre and encouraging people to use public transport.

Audiences loved the experience, but Maag got an unexpected extra boost from South by Southwest when Overheard on a Train was selected as one of the five finalists in the Urban Experience category at this year’s Innovation Awards. Maag expresses a little surprise that she was even selected, as “the awards are a celebration of innovation that skews towards tech, but I threw my hat in the ring.” In her application, she described how the play “[brings] people onto public transport with something fun and delightful, something unexpected, and [combines] storytelling with promoting public transportation and civic engagement.”

After the proposal was selected, she was able to present it as part of the Innovation Awards Finalist Showcase, where she explained it to the judges and attendees. “Some people would get it right away,” she says, “but I had several conversations where people didn’t quite understand what I was saying and they would ask, ‘But is it an app?’

‘No, it’s not.’

‘So is it digital? Is it a simulated train?’

‘No, we’re on the train in real life.’”

Plus, she adds, “Everyone from Europe needed to take the time to tell me how much American public transportation needs to improve.”

Maag’s doing her bit by making the train more entertaining, but also by giving people a reason to ride the rails. “Last year,” she says, “the vast majority of guests had never been on the Red Line at all, and it matters to me that I’m making this fun opportunity that is helping people engage with their public transportation system – which we need as much enthusiasm about as we can get.”

Her hope is to create repeat Red Line riders, but she’s also managed to gather her first repeat performers. A party from 2024 is coming back this coming weekend for a whole new experience.

In the inaugural year, Maag offered guests the choice of two scripts with a very Austin tinge: "The Band" and "The Bachelorette Party." This year, she workshopped several scenarios with other writers after the last run of Overheard, and two more came to the fore.

The first is “The Bank Robbers,” in which the travelers plan a heist, and so far this season it has been the most popular of any scripts. ”I guess we’ve got a lot of criminally minded guests on the train,” says Maag.

The second is a new twist for Overheard. “People told me last year, ‘My kids would love this,’” Maag says. While all the scripts are written for all ages (the performances are, after all, happening in a public space), “The Middle Schoolers” is directly aimed at younger audiences and families. “It tells the story of four kids who are on the way to a science fair, but the night before something unusual happened with their science project,” she explains

It’s not just for kids, however. “The script is written so that any person of any age can read those parts, and I so far have had families participating, so it’s children and their parents and they’re all playing the role of middle schoolers.”

Throughout all this, she’s found a great partner in CapMetro, and not just because the transit agency let her use their working trains for her performances. This season, they've also promoted the show through their own social media. Plus, after playing the Conductor for so long, she's starting to feel like part of the team.

“A couple of staffers on the train recognize me, so that’s been fun.”

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Overheard on a Train runs April 12, April 26, and May 10 at 2:15pm and 4:45pm. Tickets, which grant access to the train and one complimentary drink at Vigilante Gastropub & Games, are available now at cheerfulsecrets.com/train.