Ahem. Hi. My name is Becca and I am playing Millicent, George Cuvier's assistant in the 1800s, in Voyeurs de Venus. Voyeurs marks my first occasion to work with Company One.
I must admit to being a titch sheepish composing the first Voyeurs blog post.
So far, my experience working on this show has been exceedingly positive. When I first read the play, my initial reactions were, "Blood! Boobs!", not necessarily in that order. I have to say that I am a huge sucker for stage gore. Knowing that the character I was auditioning for had occasion to get blood splattered it all over herself, stick surgeons tools into carcasses and play with the entrails only sweetened the deal. I was excited. Am. I can't wait. Occasionally we'll hear a direction referencing the location of the various buckets of blood around Cuvier's lab table. I celebrate inwardly at these moments. Buckets of blood! Yay.
Of course this play is about a hell of a lot more than tits and blood. It's about booty too.
Ha. I'm kidding. Kind of.
But seriously, folks, working on this production has pushed me in ways that I have never been pushed before as an actor. It is challenging as hell stepping into the skin of Millicent, into her world, allowing her to see the things that she sees, play a role in what she needs to be playing a role in and allow myself to experience these things as they happen. I find myself still struggling with that piece, giving myself permission to treat Saartjie the way she needs to be treated, the way that is true to the time and the circumstances. Damn, it's difficult.
I consistently find myself answering the question, "How does that feel?", after we've worked through a scene for a while with, "Awful. It doesn't feel good. But I think the more uncomfortable it is, the closer we are to where it needs to be."
The psychological/dream scenes are increasingly incredible to discover as well. I don't know that I've ever had the opportunity to explore the psychological side of a character before, as these nightmare dream sequences allow. One of my favorite directions so far: "Did you ever see that 'Black Hole Son' video? You know the part where their faces melt off? Yeah. Make those faces here." Melty faces. We get to make melty faces in one nightmare scene. Yay.
And the undercurrent for me through this whole experience so far is just a sense of honor. I feel honored to be working on this important and gritty and provocative piece, honored to have been exposed to it in the first place. I look around at all the creative and talented and professional actors and dancers, designers, writers, dramaturgs, dialect coaches, choreographers, stage managers and everyone involved and I'm just thrilled to be a part of it all, to be sharing the stage with them, to be dancing to "Brick House" with them. It's neat.
I can't wait to see how the show is going to evolve in the next week.
Or hell, even after tonight.
There are so so many directions for it to go.
It's exciting.
-Becca
-Becca
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