She's Just My Type

When I hear the phrase "typecast" I often think of it negatively. I associate it with an actor or actress who plays the same role over and over again, i.e. Michael Cera in the geeky, meek(y) high school would-be hero role. Now, there are different challenges involved when it comes to typecasting, for me I think it is the following: HOW do you make each role different? Just because you ARE typecast in a role doesn't mean that you have to play each role exactly the same.

This week, however, I've discovered a new appreciation for typecasting and a new challenge involved with approaching such a role. And this is a positive thing. On Monday, I started rehearsals for 11:11 Theatre Company's December show, Her Red Umbrella. If I were to type myself, I think that Cara is my "typecast" role. She's a 21 year old college student, intelligent, driven, likeable, with a girl next door thing about her. (I say type myself, because I haven't really played a role like this since I was in You Can't Take It With You in high school.) At rehearsal on Tuesday night my director asked me a few questions about Cara that made me realize that I was not differentiating between Cara and Erika saying the lines. Granted, it was the first time we had read the scene on our feet, but it still made me realize the importance of creating a character. When I originally accepted the role, I didn't know the challenge I was accepting and in the past week I am pleasantly surprised at this new segment of my acting career. Don't get me wrong, I didn't think this show would be easy (I'm done with accepting roles that won't advance me skill-wise), but after tackling Refuge this summer, I saw this in a very different category.

So this is my new challenge: how do you create a believable character from a character that shares so many of your interests and ideals? I'm ready to tackle this and excited as well. First step? Write her history. Second step? Create a new physicality for Cara. Third step? Unsure. I think things will naturally fall into place once I memorize my lines (I guess that's a step in there somewhere!) but chalk this one up to experience: every role is challenge, just not in the same way. And I'm excited about it. Stay tuned, there's more process to come.

Thoughts on 11:11's "Foreverendia"

Since I last wrote, I've had a wonderful theatrical experience. They say that performing and investing in new work is a financial risk for theatres. While this may be true when it comes to the numbers, I would challenge this notion by saying that the greatest risk lies in allowing the theatre to stagnate by reproducing the same plays over and over again.

This past friday I attended 11:11 Theatre Company's production of Foreverendia by Brian Tuttle. I knew nothing about this production going in, having been invited by a friend who was assistant directing and in the cast. I had no clue what I was about ot experience, but I found myself immersed in a world of imagination and heightened naturalism. Without going into details on the plot, I was lulled into watching this play from the perspective of a child by the freedom and complete abandon with which these actors played with their space and bodies. Often times, watching older actors portray children can be unbelievable or susceptible to stereotype, mechanical acting. But this cast, in collaboration with the playful text, played with such ease and lack of self-conciousness. They actually embodied that innocense and imagination that allows children to explore their imaginations with complete abandon. This ability to play so truthfully is something we often loss when we grow up, and try to reattain as actors. I rarely see that sort of success from adults playing adults, much less adults playing children! But maybe that's what we needed, a play written specifically from the imagination, reaching out to the depths of our inner children.

By the end of the play, I echoed the sentiment of some of the characters. I wanted to go back to Foreverendia, even though I hadn't been there literally. The magical country they establish in their imagination was infallible in a way only a child can concieve. What can I say? It's not often I miss being a kid. But I felt that way on friday night...

In summation, the best parts of the show:

1) The humor and imagination of the writing.
2) The specificity of physical choices and actions taken by the cast.
3) The composition and staging of the piece, particularly the assembly and dissassembly of the land of Foreverendia.
4) The sense of passion and fun the cast seemed to embody.

We need more plays like this.

Kenny