EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN opens in ONE WEEK with Wax Wings Productions over at The Inner Sanctum, a gallery space in Dudley Square, and I can't be more excited. Melissa deJesus who will be playing the mysterious Johanna, began working on this play last summer when she workshopped it with Interim Writers on their Woods Retreat. Wax Wings reached out to Melissa with some questions about playing Johanna. Here are her answers: WW: What's it like playing a character that you've been living with for over a year of development? How is it different from other roles? MdJ: Mostly actors accept that their relationship with a playwright is one-way: the playwright provides text and the actor interprets. It's been so empowering to work on a character who is in progress. It's been a very long conversation, both literally, sitting on a picnic bench in the woods with Cassie talking about Johanna, as well as figuratively, in rehearsals as I push Johanna on the page and the text pushes back in the form of your shifting a line here or modifying the flow of a scene there. It's awesomely weird and scary. I cannot recommend highly enough that every actor work with a playwright this way. It's a way to discover yourself as a performer but even more to discover how a text works: you get to see the strings that bind a play together and watch the work a playwright does to allow you to pull on those strings when you're performing it. WW: There is a lot of mystery surrounding Johanna, without giving too much away, how has it been in rehearsal working on a character who has an agenda? MdJ: It's fabulous. Johanna is my favorite kind of character in that she is both hero and villain, depending on how you look at the story. Even she has moments of seeing herself as both. Of course, actors always work not just lines and actions but whatever is going on subtextually. Christopher has done a spectacular job in rehearsals of keeping track with us of all of our various complicated threads throughout the play, and giving us the space and guidance to explore and expose the audience to our characters' agendas. Johanna's subtext is wild (additional thoughts redacted to avoid spoilers) and it makes playing her challenging in all the right ways. And eventually, when I get it right, it's fun as hell. WW: Do you relate to Johanna in any way? MdJ: Of course! You always want to find some part of yourself as an entry point to understand a character. In some ways I feel like I could have been Johanna in another life, given different circumstances. I love that she advocates for herself and her choices, and the script lets her fail or succeed in her own way. Beyond that, she's funny, she's tough, she calls people on their shit, and she has great taste in food. What's not to love? Maybe she's all wrong and she fucks everything up sometimes, but I even think that's great. It's no fun being right all the time. She goes for what she wants and I respect that. Don't get me wrong, it's absolutely a relief some days to leave rehearsal and go home to being me, but she's a fascinating character to step into for a few hours at a time. WW: Johanna clearly has a mission with her art, do you, Melissa, have a mission or greater goal with your work in publishing or in acting? MdJ: I love this question because I absolutely do have a sense of purpose in my work: that is, improving representations of women and people of color. Lots of horrible things happen in the world, and for me, part of the solution lies in the fundamentally empathetic nature of storytelling. Whether on stage or in a book, fiction helps us to experience a world outside of ourselves, to see the world through eyes other than our own. Rote, stereotype-laden representations damage our ability to empathize. But fresh, complex representations can help us transcend divisive assumptions, like those tied to race or gender. The best stories let us see ourselves and each other more clearly. Sharing and supporting those stories is the fire that keeps me going. Stay tuned for more updates on EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN! EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN opens August 6th and runs until August 15th at The Inner Sanctum in Dudley Square, MA. For more info and tickets visit www.waxwingsproductions.com
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A little over a week away from opening my newest play EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN with Wax Wings Productions over at The Inner Sanctum, a gallery space in Dudley Square, and I can't be more excited. Victor Shopov who will be playing Turner, actually began working on this play in April 2013 when we did a round table reading with Argos Productions here in Boston. We then met every couple of months as I worked on the script to talk more about what makes Turner tick and where his heart is hiding. Wax Wings reached out to Victor with some questions about playing Turner. Here are his answers: WW: You are well known for taking on a handful of challenging characters in a theatre season, what is different about working on Turner and a new play? How has your time in the development process effected your journey with the character? VS: ESDO is definitely different experience for me in that there has been a really nice ongoing collaboration among everyone in the room with respect to discovering who these characters really are. Rather than working on a locked script, we've been able to adjust Turner's voice and path along the way with a little help from our very open-minded playwright and director. It's been refreshing to be able to play around with what is in many ways a blank canvas (yes, that pun was entirely intended) and discover layer upon layer about what makes Turner Street tick. I cannot wait to see where we wind up in a few weeks. WW: This play won't give you much breaks, how has it been in rehearsal playing a character who rarely leaves the stage and is in a constant triangle with the other two players? VS: This role is definitely a physical and emotional challenge and there isn't a whole lot of downtime to recover, so it is going to be a sprint rather than a marathon for sure. I could not have asked for two better people with whom to share the stage -- Mike and Melissa have been amazing partners in this process and it is going to make the triangular dynamics a lot of fun to experience (and I hope just as much fun to watch). As demanding as the role is, and as dark as things can get, I am having a tremendous amount of fun, so that will make the wild ride entirely worth it. WW: How do you relate to Turner's struggle? VS: Turner has always struck me as someone trying to make sense out of the world, both in terms of the big-picture as well as his own microscopic place in it. He is sorting through a lot of pieces of history -- not all of them positive -- and doing his best to keep them under control, rather than letting them control him (with varying degrees of success). I think that is an innate part of human nature and something we all relate to, and without going into too may specifics, I can definitely appreciate some of the particulars of Turner's own unique path. WW: If you could give Turner a piece of advice, what would it be? (no spoilers!) VS: You cannot run from the past, but you can embrace it, learn from it, and let it shape who you are in the future. Unfortunately, that is all much easier said than done. The past can be a pretty painful and awful place, and sometimes it seems far easier to simply bury the memories or dismiss them as unimportant or lacking in influence. In the end, though, we are the sum of our experiences, and denying that piece of ourselves is a formula for self-destruction. All that said, I would tell Turner to turn around and face the parts of himself he'd just as soon forget, rather than continuing to pretend that they aren't always just a few steps behind him, no matter how quickly he runs. More about Victor here at http://www.victorshopov.com/ Stay tuned for another interview from Melissa deJesus! EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN opens August 6th and runs until August 15th at The Inner Sanctum in Dudley Square, MA. For more info and tickets visit www.waxwingsproductions.com Because I'm a huge dork, I've made another rehearsal video compilation video of the first three weeks of rehearsal for EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN.
"ESDO" Runs August 6th-15th at The Inner Sanctum in Boston with Wax Wings Productions. Featuring: Victor Shopov as Turner, Michael Underhill as Palmer, and Melissa deJesus as Johanna. And for your listening pleasure, the classic styling of Eric Carmen from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. Tickets to ESDO here! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1710912 More info about the production on the Facebook Event here More about the play here. Just two weeks away from opening my newest play EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN with Wax Wings Productions over at The Inner Sanctum, a gallery space in Dudley Square, which will host this play as it's first theatrical production! This developmental production has been a long time coming, as I've actually been working on this play with actor Michael James Underhill for nearly four years! It began as a short story, then a short play, and then the script has changed significantly 15 times in the past four years. I am so thankful to Michael for all of his help and his voice in developing the character Palmer. Wax Wings reached out to Michael with some questions about playing Palmer, and I'd love to share them with you: WW: What's it like working on a character, Palmer, for 4 years of development? How has he grown, changed, how have you influenced that? MJU: It has been quite a trip, to say the least. As the play has grown and expanded, we have had the unique chance to really delve into this pivotal evening in these brother's lives. What were the circumstances that led to nearly a decade of not seeing each other, and what were the inciting incidents that finally forced them into the same room? Working with Cassie as a playwright has been incredible during this process because she is very interested in collaborating on the play and tinkering and finding the right fit for the play. Some changes were logistical, as simple as how do we get someone out of the living room - and some were sweeping dramaturgical changes such as the reasons and revelation for Palmer's arrival in New York City. The biggest change for Palmer that I feel like I have had some influence with would be the evolution of what Palmer knows and what he doesn't know. The slowly leaking reveal of information as currently constructed gives Palmer a clearer descent into rock bottom despair. WW: What is it like rehearsing while wearing an eye patch? MJU: Hard! A lot harder than I imagined it would be as well! But, the longer I wear it, the more I get used to it - and the more I learn how to handle the deficiencies that it presents. There is a little something about Palmer not being able to see the 'whole picture' that we have always talked about, but being presented with it in an immediate context has been a constant reminder to how Palmer has become who he is as he comes to see his brother, Turner. WW: Do you relate to Palmer in any way? MJU: Palmer craves approval and attention - and as an actor, I could say I relate! But seriously, Palmer has been dealt a rough hand from an early age and really has not had anyone to lean on. I was much luckier than that, and have had an incredible support system my entire life. However, I do think that Palmer and I both try our best to mitigate any grief with humor. As he says in the play - 'When you look like this, you kind of have to be (funny)'. WW: If you could give Palmer a piece of advice, what would it be? MJU: If I had a piece of advice for Palmer, I think it would be first things first - get some help man! An addiction to prescription drugs is not going to end up good for you. And as an added bonus - it's very likely that you will be able to find some people who you have a shared experience with and can feel safe opening up to. These are very likely people who you will be able to lean on in the future. More about Michael here at http://www.michaeljamesunderhill.com/ Stay tuned for more interviews from Victor Shopov and Melissa deJesus! EYES SHUT. DOOR OPEN opens August 6th and runs until August 15th at The Inner Sanctum in Dudley Square, MA. For more info and tickets visit www.waxwingsproductions.com |
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