As mentioned in an earlier post I was lucky enough this semester to part of the production "Passengers".  I was even blessed to play two very different parts (Mrs. Evans and Marsha) that allowed me to test my different ranges of acting.  I have chosen to obtain my theater and acting training through college because I feel that it is important to obtain a well rounded education to help one further develop their craft.  We were required to write a character analysis of the roles we were playing.  Below is how I veiw on Marsha, and what her story could have been before the scene started. I had a BLAST playing a crazy elderly woman.

Bryn Berg

THA-201

Character Biography

February 10, 2012

 

Character Biography for Marsha

 

 

            My name is Marsha. I was born in the middle of nowhere Kansas on August 18, 1945 where I lived until the age of seventeen.  My father was factory worker, and my mother was a homemaker.  Mom came from a very remote farming area, and never learned to read or write.  She always tried her best though, and managed to raise us six kids pretty much on her own.  Pa wasn’t home much.  He claims he was working round the clock to bring home the bacon, which we didn’t see much of.  I think most of his income was being invested into a whiskey fund down at Bonzo’s Tavern, and on the women at the local brothel called “Marsha’s Place”.  Some say I may have been named after the madam who ran this establishment.  I never really wanted to investigate the rumors any further.  

            I was the youngest of my six brothers and sisters.  My three older brothers all ended up prison for one reason or another, and my two other sisters took the first ticket out of our shabby three-room shack and got married.  Mom passed away right after my seventeenth birthday.  She was tired, and her poor heart was broken from what had become of my brothers, and my fathers many infidelities.  Before mom passed away she gave me a small stash of money she had hidden from Pa.  I took it, and went to go live with one of my sisters Topeka, Kansas.  I never finished high school so I was only able to find work as a live in housekeeper for a wealthy up and coming politician and his wife.  It was a horrible job, but it got me out of my sister’s apartment, and a roof over my head.  Charles, the wealthy politician took pity on me, as his wife was always after me about this and that.  We would talk for hours in his office while his spouse was out shopping or at phony social meeting.  Charles eventually admitted that he was forced into his marriage by his family for appearances, and did not love her.  I was stupid enough to fall for his sweet-talking, and we began an affair.  He was the first man who made me feel special.  I had an awkward bony body, and stood 5’11”.  I also had (and still have) crocked teeth, pasty white skin, and thin wispy poop brown colored hair.   After getting picked on and being called a walking dead girl in high school I was starved for a man to think I was actually pretty, and had something to offer.   Shortly after my affair with Charles began Al was conceived.  I was so excited, and ignorant enough to think that Charles was going to leave his wife.  I thought we would run away together, and live happily ever after.  When I told Charles about the baby he became outraged, and swore it couldn’t be his offspring, but I told him he was the only man I had ever been intimate with.  He then just turned cold and said “we will end this situation right away by a simple procedure”.  I knew all too well what this meant.  I refused to go with his plan.  Charles became even more angry, and stormed out of his office.

            That night Charles and his wife left for some fancy pants charity event.  I will never be proud of my next course of actions, but I did them all for the baby I was carrying inside of me.  I was not going to let this poor soul grow up in filth, poverty, and instability like I did.  And most importantly I would make sure he had the chance to grow up a decent man that was nothing like my father or Charles.  I felt my mission and purpose in life now was raising Al.  Somehow I just knew he was boy.  I then preceded upstairs to the bedroom that belonged to Charles and his wife, and I cleaned out the jewelry box.  Next I took a suitcase and filled it with as much sliver from the kitchen as I could, as well as some other valuable antiques.  I then walked out the front door, and never looked back.  I knew Charles wouldn’t press charges.  I could have exposed the biggest scandal ever that would destroy him. 

            I ended up in Boston, Massachusetts.  I was able to sell everything I took from my former employers a little at a time so no one ever became suspicious.  It was enough money for Al and I to live comfortably, and for me to send him to the best schools.  I also put away extra money from cleaning houses while Al was at school for his future.  I never really had any interest in fussing with men anymore after Charles. Al was the only man in my life I cared about.  All I told Al about his father is that he ran off which wasn’t far from the truth.  About twenty years ago Al’s father was up to be a senator, but was disowned by his supporters after a tape recorded phone sex conversation with a prostitute began to circulate as well as photo of Charles dressed up in women’s clothing handcuffed to the handle of a refrigerator.  It would break my heart if Al ever knew the truth about his father. 

            Al had always wanted to become a police officer since he was a little boy, and I promised him I would make it happen.  After he graduated from high school I put him through the academy.  Shortly after becoming a police officer Al met his wife Audrey.  She was trying to break up a fight in a local pub where she worked before the cops showed up.  Al was one of the police officers who responded to the call.  I liked Audrey immediately.  She wants the world to be a better place, and for people to be more humble and compassionate.  She is not afraid to stand up for her beliefs or do what it takes to change people.  I still feel guilty for my horrible sin of theft even though it was done for love, and to give my son the best.  I want to join in on her quest to make up for my past transgression.

            Al was transferred to the Midwest a few years back.  I joined him and Audrey shortly there after.  I have a modest savings to live on, but I still like to stay busy.  I try to volunteer whenever I can, and work part time at the local bus station.  Audrey likes to come by and observe people at the bus station that she feels are selfish and uncaring.  We have come up with plan where we blindside these types of people.  Even Al has teamed up with us.  Audrey will lie down on the floor, and see if our targeted victim will respond, and make sure she is okay.  If they ignore her we will make them regret it big time!

            Take today for example.  It was pretty typical weekday at the bus station around twilight.  It was pretty brisk day, as we are just getting into the beginning stages of spring.  I was going about my business cleaning off some tables in the station when I saw Audrey had already gotten started on a gentlemen without me.  I jumped in as soon as I saw the two of them involved in a confrontation.  Once I found out this man who we later found out goes by Ernest Runningbear did not come to my lovely daughter in laws aid I became furious!  She was lying on the ground, and could have been seriously ill.  We both made it our mission to literally whack some sense into him.  Al even joined in, and also let him know what an inhumane creep he was.  It took a lot of persistence, but the three of us were able to change him into a new person, and an individual who actually cares and feels. 

Funny to think if someone actually witnessed our transformation on Ernest they may have felt as though they were watching a scene in a play or movie.  There were a few valleys and peaks.  When I first walked into the situation Audrey and Ernest are having a very heated argument about him ignoring her lying on the floor.  When I came in I pretended to not have any clue what is going on, and then I sneak up and let Mr. Runningbear have it, and smack him.  I even restrained him with my own two arms.  Things were pretty wild at this point, but seemed to cool down for a minute when Al entered the picture.  Silly Ernest thinks he is going to get off easy because Al is a cop.  Everything exploded when Al told Ernest his relations to Audrey and myself.  After a brutal intervention from the three of us Ernest changes his whole attitude on life, and is a  brand spanking new man that will from now on be an unselfish person. Ernest’s personality transformation was like a beat change in one of those crazy songs that starts out really slow, then becomes fast like Don McLean's American Pie.  Well, the three of us can’t take credit for writing the book of love, but we can say we are making a better world one person at a time.