2023-2024

I was originally a background character with no lines, but my director decided that I should take the role of a guard for one of the scenes since the previous person who played it had not shown up. I had one scene where I talked, and I had two lines. I was terrified that I would mess it up, and I did. However, I kept memorizing, and eventually, I had it clicked. I never thought that I would get a role with lines so soon, and I especially didn’t think that I would do it correctly, but I proved myself wrong and didn’t mess up my lines during any run of the show. This was the beginning of my being confident enough to try scary things and subvert my original expectations. 

I was cast as the bishop. The bishop wasn’t a recognizable character, nor did he have any backstory, so I wanted to figure out who he was before I could play him. I didn’t know anything about Lutheranism, so I started there. I looked up information online and combed through the Encyclopedia Britannica until I had a good understanding of what he stood for. I also found what Norwegian bishops would’ve worn back in the 1800s and their day-to-day life. I wrote all this down in my road map and finished fleshing out my character with a Uta Hagan analysis. This show gave me insight into the fact that even though we might not think that deeply of a side character, they still live lives and have dreams just like us. 

This was my first theatre production that wasn’t a musical. It made me rethink the way I approached theatre as a whole. There were so many little things that the audience was able to notice now that there weren’t a large number of actors onstage. Being in our black box space forced me to adapt to the new environment and connect to my role, Gillian. My character was in love with one of the other characters, and it was difficult at first to find that connection. Once I found it, my scenes were much more believable, and I could embody and feel my character. I thought of him as a real person instead of a fictional character.