“Stop!” she laughed, flopping down on the bench in Vic’s Kangaroo Café. “I get to interview you next!” Irene Sage found the interview process stressful, and when she sat back up and raked her blonde hair out of her face, she apologized, “I’ll try to do better.”

She set her face as if determined to be more serious, but that only lasted for another fifteen minutes or so before she cracked up laughing again. Interview anxiety aside though, this has been a good year for Sage, who released her ...