This semester I was lucky enough to be part of the production of "Passengers" by Sam Bobrick.  I was even more blessed to play two very different roles which was a tremendous help in exploring my range of acting abilities.  This was a brilliant play full of some of the darkest comedy, but also had some very deep morals to it's stories.  One of my roles was Marsha, and elderly, crazy, violent woman, who felt her heart was in the right place.  I had so much fun wearing an dumpy dress, and putting on a grey wig that was actually worn by my director when she performed on Broadway.   My second role was Mrs. Evans who was middle aged woman mourning her husbands death that occured from an accident while watching a circus act.  This play that was directed by Shezwae Powell a former Broadway and West End actress.  She is an amzing women, and I feel like I hit the acting lottery in getting to work with her.  As students we were asking to write a personal essay on what we learned from this experience.  I have pasted it below.  I am not the best writer, and I got a little carried away.  I grew so much as an actor during this production, and would love to share some my own personal techniques that I acquired while being a part of this play  in regards to my craft.  There are also a few spoiler alerts if you are not familiar with the play.  Parts of this essay might also be a little confusing because they refer to a few inside jokes with our cast.

Enjoy!

 

 

Bryn Berg

May 5, 2012

THA-201 Section 3284

Personal Essay

 

“A Much Better Role”

            The night of January 18th, 2012 I was given some of the most exciting news of my life.  I was informed that I was going to be part of the cast of “Passengers”.  I was even awarded the role of Mrs. Evans which I was so hoping to play.  A little over a week later on the first day of rehearsal I was even more surprised to find I was not only playing Mrs. Evans, but also the role of Marsha.  I felt I had struck the acting lottery, but was a little worried.  Even though I had been studying theater and acting for the past two semesters I had not been in a play since sixth grade.  I knew I had my work cut out for me.

            For some reason my choices on how I played Mrs. Evans came very naturally.  There was so much of her story I could relate to in my own life.  Ironically I had told my recent ex-boyfriend at the time that dating him was like being stuck in a fun house (not so far off from the circus) due to the fact that he had been untruthful to me about so many things, and had so much drama going on.  I was pretty much humiliated like Mrs. Evans was when she was given the bracelet that was meant for Harry’s mistress.  I discovered through a lot of snooping around on facebook that my former boyfriend had a girlfriend in another state.  He was even low enough to ask me to take the airport to see her.  He of course told me he was going to see his family. 

            This scene also reminded me so much of a death that occurred in my family back in 1995.  Sadly our loved one that passed away was a good hearted soul, but was involved in a few questionable business dealings we were not aware of.  This all came out right after this individuals death, and I watched his poor wife not only deal with losing her husband, but also learn some terrible truths of the man she loved.  She had always been a very reserved, kind hearted, conservative, and very proper woman.  After her better half left this world I watched her change and evolve over the years.  I think she felt that she had to be the perfect wife, and convert to a religion she really didn’t completely have faith in.  This woman developed into the true person she had always been.  The transformation was beautiful, she turned out to be a fun, smart, full of life woman with a little bit of naughty streak.  I patterned  Mrs. Evan’s character after this lovely lady, and also channeled in the recent experiences with my ex-boyfriend. 

            I felt that what was vital in ensuring this scene stayed true to the brilliant comedy behind it was that Mrs. Evans was not over acted.  I remembered in the comedy “The Naked Gun” for Priscilla Presley’s part she was very subtle in her role even though her character was involved in some of the most preposterous and silly events one could ever imagine.  I feel that, because she made these choices while staring in this movie it complimented the film so well. It was hysterical that she was this classy reserved lady that almost seemed oblivious to the fact her boss was a criminal, and that she was having an affair with Leslie Neilson’s character (Frank  Drebin) who was pretty much a total ding dong police officer. 

            As the performance came closer I remembered something that I had learned about Sean Penn (one of my favorite actors of all time) when writing a paper on him last semester.  He had had said that when he plays a role he simply focuses on the hidden truths of any character he plays.  I had acquired so much knowledge over the past few semesters on acting, and I was trying to incorporate everything I learned into both Marsha and Mrs. Evans.  It was way too much for me, and impossible for me to do.  It suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t have to do this, and this was the reason why I was struggling with my craft.  It has always been said there is no right or wrong way when it comes to performing.  I made the risky choice to go through everything that had been taught to me by my acting professors, and pick out what I felt was most important to always keep in mind while on stage.  I went back to basics, and chose three things to zone in on.  In my introduction to theater class the professor stressed over and over again “have fun with your part no matter what you are playing, because if you’re not having a good time on stage neither will your audience.”  Second I took into account what was mentioned to me many times last semester in my acting for commercials and television course which that acting is “listening and reacting”.  I feel this is what acting is in a nutshell, because this is how all of us as humans interact and communicate with each other.  My third decision was a huge gamble, but I do feel it paid off for me in developing Mrs. Evans and Marsha for the production.  I decided that I had to find my own original way of playing a character like Sean Penn has.  I really pondered why I have always loved acting so much, and why certain performances of actors had stuck out and some didn’t.  The answer actually came to me very quickly.  When I perform I want to be able to deliver my lines and mannerisms in a way that will make the viewer stop dead in their tracks and be able to put themselves in the scene, feel what it would be like to be in the situation if it occurred their own life, and walk away possibly having a whole new perception on their personal beliefs, learning to not be so harsh on themselves, reconciling with someone over a silly disagreement, the list can go on and on.  I found that this is what made certain performances so memorable to me.  I made up my mind that this was going to be my Sean Penn style of acting.  I never forgot my who’s, when’s, or why’s though, and kept them very accessible as well as the stories I had created for my parts. Once I started going this route everything just became so much easier, and Marsha and Mrs. Evans just took on lives of their own as well as their character quirks. 

            I pretty much had Mrs. Evans summed up, but because of my new choices I wanted to convey to any women or man watching the play that we as people should never let someone who has hurt and humiliated us dictate our self-worth or self-esteem.  Life is too short and precious to waste and pine away and cry over an individual who has wronged us, and there is no situation in life we can’t turn around no matter how bad it seems at the time.  I know this from many personal experiences in my own life. The dialogue between Mr. Wade was between Mrs. Wade was hysterical, but it has always been said that behind a good comedy there is truth.  Through all of the ups and downs I have been through during my life I have found a way to laugh at whatever is going on no matter how morbid the circumstance may have been.  Throwing the urn away during every performance was pure liberation for me because I was also tossing remnants of bad relationship, and in a silent way having the last word.   I so hope I projected this energy and my own personal morals to this story to our audiences.

            My last minute choices also helped me give birth to a new Marsha.  I’m not proud to admit this, but I have been around people with mental issues for most of my life.  There are members of my immediate and extended family that have bi-polar disorder, depression, manic depression, and problems with substance abuse.  Because of this I have a lot more patience with people that are a little off their rockers, and sympathetic towards them because I know that under their illness most of the time there is a beautiful person.  Sadly, they just can’t help it when their brain chemistry is off.  I also feel individuals may behave in certain ways or have strange quirks to protect themselves from past traumatic events.   There is no way around it.  When a person displays behavior as a result from a mental illness it is going to be funny a lot of the time because it is out of the norm.   One of my family members actually laughs at themselves and their bizarre actions after they have balanced out after a manic episode.  That is they have learned to cope.  I chose to bring all of what I have mentioned above into Marsha’s character.  I wanted it to be known that Marsha was a wacko, but she really thought her heart was in the right place, and that well she was creating a much better world.  However, if she was given some professional help everyone would see the normal and amazing woman she most likely is.  I wanted her character to be funny because I have witnessed by watching family members that there is a lot of humor involved when being treated for a mental condition.  I also saw Marsha as a woman in her late seventies, and tried to make this believable by hunching over to make myself appear shorter, and grabbing my back like I was in pain after hitting Ernest. I also remembered a crazy person that I saw when I was stuck in a hospital emergency room on Friday night a few years back.  Two police officers handcuffed him to a wheelchair and stuck him the corner.  He kept making this crazy smile with his mouth open.  I patterned my crazy smile after this man.

            Before each performance I would go through all of my lines, and rehearse with my cast mates as well if there was time.  I also got into the habit of reading through all of my lines for an hour each day a month before the performances started even though I knew them down pat.  When the production would start I would get in my own zone and read through the scripts again.  I would also have Seferino say random things to me that would push my buttons.  That got me really pumped up to go on stage and not be mad at him, but his character.  I also would pace back and forth quietly with my crazy face on and swing my purse around while thinking of the Wicked Witch of the West theme song from Wizard of Oz.  Myself, Sefarino, and Callie also had a ritual we did right before going on stage. We would stand in a circle and touch hands to make sure we were all in sync with each other since there was so much blocking.  As I would wait behind the curtain to go stage I would literally make myself believe that this scene was real, and I was dying to jump in. 

            For Mrs. Evans I did not have much time between scenes.  I would change quickly, and literally block out everything and anything going on around me.  I would look at the cut up pieces of my ex’s sweatshirt so I would not forget what I was going to be throwing out at the end of the scene.  The two characters I played were very different extremes so I would also stop, take many deep breathes and picture the disposition of my prim and proper grandmother.  Next I had eye drops that I would insert to make me remember how many tears Mrs. Evans must have cried.  I also had a mental timeline where I would picture the entire messy service that took place with the clown in her husband’s casket.  As creepy as it sounds I also envisioned Harry’s body being cremated, so that I wouldn’t forget how horrifying it would be to not see your better half one more time in the flesh.  It was also very important for me to touch base with James right before the scene started so the connection between our characters was established. 

            I could go on and on forever about how much I learned and feel I have grown as not only as an actor during this play, but also as a person.  There is one thing I would like to bring up that I wish I had done differently.  After the play was over I had a deep conversation with Callie about how she viewed our scene together, and what she felt the moral of the story was.  She brought up some vital points that I had missed, and feel if I had known her take on the scene my performance would have been a lot more heartfelt.  Going forward I will always take the time to sit down with any other actors I am working with, and listen to how they see the plot of any story as well as the characters.  To me one of the lessons “Passengers” teaches us is that everyone views life and its meaning very differently, and we as humans get so caught up in our own day to day craziness that we often forget this.  What’s important to one person might be completely irrelevant to another.  I will take this message I acquired from the play, and always remember that in of my future roles it very important to take the time to listen to how other actors I am working with see the story and characters through their own eyes because their views could be polar opposite from mine.  And hopefully by using this new found tool I can at least create a much better role than can maybe influence the audience to contribute in making “a much better world”.