Making it a Tragedy: Behind the characters of Theatre Games

By Bridget Anderson, Theatre Games Dramaturge 

I sat down with three of the actors in the new play Theatre Games to learn a bit about their process, their relationships with their characters, and their thoughts on the material presented in this play. I had the pleasure of speaking with Glenn (Titus), Greg (Bill), and Alexis (Princess). 

The three actors, united with a common interest in theatre, cover a spectrum of experience and personalities.

• Alexis describes herself as “a strong and mature young woman” who also has “a bit of innocence” about her as well, traits she says she shares with Princess. Her passion for theatre is quickly evident upon spending more than a few minutes with her-she explained “I think everyone has their reason for existing on this planet, and I feel like acting is my purpose--to tell stories and make people feel less alone.”
• Greg, the oldest cast member, is a retired electrical engineer turned small business owner. He took up acting about six years ago when he and his wife signed up for acting classes as a date night. After a breakout role in a local production of The Odd Couple, “I started doing three or four shows a year…it’s been fun to do shows that I’ve known, but I’ve also gotten involved with some companies around here that do either new plays or plays that are more obscure, and I tend to enjoy those.” Greg assures me that he’s not in theatre for the money or the fame.
• Glenn is perhaps the most seasoned Shakespearean actor of the group: “I’ve done about 7 different Shakespeare shows and gotten really into digging into the Shakespeare text when it comes to a role. It’s a lot of fun.” Regarding his preparation for this (non-Shakespearean) play, Glenn says “I like to look at a text and see if there’s any specific rhythm that it can have to it.”

Each actor has developed a special relationship with the character they play.

• Glenn observes: “Titus seems to be a very big fan of silence…he spends a lot of time ignoring [the others] and focusing on the job at hand.” He’s found Titus to be a challenging role, since “definitely has a more seasoned feel to him, and I’m still quite young and don’t have much idea of my own self-identity. I think Titus has a very good idea of who he is,” adding that “Cigarettes are definitely a vice that we both have in common.” As part of his acting process, Glenn focuses his attention on breath and voice. “I’m doing [Titus] in my natural voice, but focusing on using my lower register. I think in Titus’s world any time you have to go into your higher register that’s a sign of weakness.”
• Alexis talks about Princess like she might describe a close friend: “I really, really like Princess. I have kind of a complicated relationship with her, because I find her to be very mature for her age but also she’s 16…she is a little naïve, but I also find that she has this really great strength and maturity…I’ve had a lot of fun playing with the different sides of her.”
• Greg draws some of his inspiration for the character of Bill from his own life. Like Bill, he has a daughter, and his real-life relationship gives identity and shape to his stage relationship.

Each actor takes a different approach to preparing for the show and finding their character.

• Glenn relies on “a lot of stretching and vocal warmups.”
• Greg complimented the director throughout the rehearsal process: “The rehearsal process for this show is kind of unlike other shows I’ve been in, and I attribute that to Jake [Thompson, the director]. The first couple sessions we didn’t even rehearse the show, we just did motivation exercises, basically comparing the play to other psychopathic movies and then looking into the dark recesses of your character’s mind to see what kind of evil motivations you might have, if any.”
• Alexis takes a creative approach to settling into her character—she creates Pinterest boards for inspiration. “I’m a very visual person.” She went on to observe, “This process has definitely been one of the more challenging ones for me. Some of the situations that Princess is put in are a little out of my comfort zone. Certain things are hard for me to level with. Listening to music helps a lot.” Her artists of choice include My Chemical Romance and Hailstorm. Overall, though, she says “a lot of my character just comes from rehearsal, spending time in that character.”

I asked each actor to reflect on the evil portrayed in the play.

• Glenn responded “I hate calling characters a psychopath or a sociopath-I think it’s dismissive. There’s always a reason people do bad things.” Regarding his character of Titus, Glenn says “I think [he] has the ability to become as bad as they come, but there are lines that Titus won’t cross.” I suggested that evil perhaps lies on a spectrum.
• Greg observed: “I think Romeo is a psychopath…for Bill it’s more of a grey area.” Again, his personal experience allows Greg to sympathize with Bill and understand the reasoning behind Bill’s choices.
• Alexis responded: “I would definitely agree that evil lies on a spectrum-things aren’t always cut and dry, sometimes there’s a grey area in between. I don’t see Princess as an evil character.” 

Finally, the actors each have a final reaction they hope to get from their audiences this weekend.

• For Alexis, it’s “a certain level of surprise, but I also hope that they have some catharsis ‘and all that jazz’ because even though the show doesn’t end like a neat little package, I just hope it makes them think…I hope it allows the audience time to stop and reflect on all that happened.”
• Greg is concerned that “the audience is going to enjoy the play as much as we actors are enjoying putting it on,” and miss the impact of the tragedy.
• Glenn’s response? “Messed up s#!t does happen!”