What Most Excites You About This Production?
There were many reasons I was thrilled to b offered the role of Sylvia in this production. It's exhilarating when an actor is given the opportunity to work with a company/director they love and actors they enjoy and respect, on a riveting new play set in their hometown. Feels like a perfect storm in the best sense of that term.
What Is The Greatest Challenge You Face With This Role?
Painting Sylvia's vulnerability with her confidence, her sensitivities with her edge, and her compassion with her survival instinct must be done with a narrow brush. Our natural tendency is to dislike someone if they've make choices that hurt others; The challenge is to expose the mentality and circumstances that informed those decisions. I'm fascinated with getting to the heart of what motivates people to do what they do, how easily one decision could have been a different one, and how the smallest choices we make every day end up shaping our lives in drastic and sometimes devastating ways.
Painting Sylvia's vulnerability with her confidence, her sensitivities with her edge, and her compassion with her survival instinct must be done with a narrow brush. Our natural tendency is to dislike someone if they've make choices that hurt others; The challenge is to expose the mentality and circumstances that informed those decisions. I'm fascinated with getting to the heart of what motivates people to do what they do, how easily one decision could have been a different one, and how the smallest choices we make every day end up shaping our lives in drastic and sometimes devastating ways.
What Kind Of Research Are You Doing To Prepare?
Knowing your character means walking in her shoes, having a foundational grasp of her life and the life experiences that shaped her. For instance: What would it have been like to grow up at a Catholic orphanage in the early 40s? How did she fit in to the world as a single female janitor in the 50s? Having an understanding of the time, reading the books she read, and discovering what kind of person she must have been to rely on herself for all those years has informed my process immensely.
Knowing your character means walking in her shoes, having a foundational grasp of her life and the life experiences that shaped her. For instance: What would it have been like to grow up at a Catholic orphanage in the early 40s? How did she fit in to the world as a single female janitor in the 50s? Having an understanding of the time, reading the books she read, and discovering what kind of person she must have been to rely on herself for all those years has informed my process immensely.
What Have Been Some of Your Favorite Previous Roles?
Prior to moving to Seattle I was an Artist in Residence with Insurrection Theater Company in Phoenix, AZ whose focus was alternative new works. Two of my favorite roles with them were Angela (Goth, Astrophysicist, Lesbian, Vampire) in VAMP and
Artemis (polygamist) in MAN ON DOG. Both characters were kind, smart, women with complicated secrets. I enjoy playing characters who aren't decidedly "good" or "bad". Black and White is boring, let's see some Gray in there!
Prior to moving to Seattle I was an Artist in Residence with Insurrection Theater Company in Phoenix, AZ whose focus was alternative new works. Two of my favorite roles with them were Angela (Goth, Astrophysicist, Lesbian, Vampire) in VAMP and
Artemis (polygamist) in MAN ON DOG. Both characters were kind, smart, women with complicated secrets. I enjoy playing characters who aren't decidedly "good" or "bad". Black and White is boring, let's see some Gray in there!
Since This Play Is About Unearthing Secrets - What Secret About Yourself Would You be Willing to Share?
This play's secrets are dark enough that even if we had things in common I certainly wouldn't admit to them. I will say that when I was in elementary school I convinced my younger brother Peter that he should jump off the roof of our 1 story house using a department store shopping bag as a parachute. He tried, it didn't work. I then emphatically explained that he hadn't held the bag open enough and should give it another go. Amazingly he did, but this time he hurt his ankle upon impact. I felt the sting of well deserved guilt and opted to make it up to him by attempting the inadequate parachute roof jump myself. It was an interesting moment in life, climbing the tree to the roof, walking across the roof, looking down, knowing it would hurt, knowing I deserved the intentionally inflicted pain. I jumped, the parachute bag was useless, it hurt. I remember my mother coming outside and seeing us writhing in pain on the lawn with the shopping bag conspicuously in view. I don't recall if she pieced it together.
This play's secrets are dark enough that even if we had things in common I certainly wouldn't admit to them. I will say that when I was in elementary school I convinced my younger brother Peter that he should jump off the roof of our 1 story house using a department store shopping bag as a parachute. He tried, it didn't work. I then emphatically explained that he hadn't held the bag open enough and should give it another go. Amazingly he did, but this time he hurt his ankle upon impact. I felt the sting of well deserved guilt and opted to make it up to him by attempting the inadequate parachute roof jump myself. It was an interesting moment in life, climbing the tree to the roof, walking across the roof, looking down, knowing it would hurt, knowing I deserved the intentionally inflicted pain. I jumped, the parachute bag was useless, it hurt. I remember my mother coming outside and seeing us writhing in pain on the lawn with the shopping bag conspicuously in view. I don't recall if she pieced it together.
What Do You Hope Audiences Take From This Production?
My hope is that this play illustrates the light and dark that exists within all of us - without that recognition, you can never really choose love instead.
My hope is that this play illustrates the light and dark that exists within all of us - without that recognition, you can never really choose love instead.
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