Orson Welles said that “acting is like sculpture. In other words, it’s what you take away from yourself to reveal the truth of what you are doing that makes a performance.” A good performance then, is “always entirely made up of the actor himself and entirely achieved by what he has left in the dressing room.”
I tend to think this approach to acting is correct, and I believe it has served me well. I’ve played roles that have required me to leave a lot in the dressing room and others that required me to reveal parts of me that don’t always see the stage.
Currently, I’m rehearsing for a role that has me leaving very little in the dressing room. I know the world of this character very, very well. It is a world and a life not so far from mine, and if this character were a real person there is a decent chance they would be someone I know, maybe even a friend.
Here’s a summary of the play that might give you an idea of why:
During the late shift at this rural diner, an inquisitive customer divines information far too close to home for the ex-pastor behind the counter. Two strangers wrestle with coincidences that urge them to choose between the familiarity of their own isolation or the risk of being loved.
The play in which I am bringing to life this ex-pastor is called Evergreen, and it is a sharply written play that is deeply human. The playwright, Krista Marushy, has put together a wonderful script that lives somewhere between mystery and romance, but at its heart, calls us into that risky space of connecting with another human being.
Evergreen opens the first weekend of February in The Backstage at the Remai Arts Centre.
Details and Tickets here - burntthicket.com/show/ever…
