“Our Town” Cast Members Talk About the Play
Brittani Hevalow and Whitney Threatt
October 11, 2012 • 92 views
Filed under News, Recent Stories
Theatre’s fall production of “Our Town” depicts the family life and experiences of two teenagers in the small town of Grovers Corners in the early twentieth century. We talked to cast members freshman Catie Williams, sophomore Destinie Walker and senior Sarah McDonald.
The Rider: Opening night is right around the corner, how confident are you with your performances?
CW- “So far it’s going pretty well, I’m pretty confident about it.”
SM- “Personally, I’m a bit nervous about the time frame, but I’m confident that most of our actors are going to be like ‘Yes!’ ‘Awesome!’ and not even be nervous. I’m looking forward to that.”
The Rider: Who is your character? Is it the one you wanted?
CW- “I did get the one I wanted. My name in the play is Emily, and that’s the lead. I am a young girl, and I have a relationship with my next-door neighbor, George.”
SM- “I’m Mrs. Gibbs. This is the first time I’ve ever played a mother, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how I turn out to the audience. I went out for Emily, honestly, but Catie did a fantastic job, and I’m really happy with the role that I got. ”
DW- “I play Professor Willard. I didn’t really read the play, so I didn’t know what role I was auditioning for, but I like the role I got because I got to learn a bunch of new words.”
The Rider: Is it hard to portray your character?
CW- “Because [she’s] a teenage girl, it’s pretty simple. The only thing that I had to adjust to was the time period.”
SM- “Personally, I’m finding it a little difficult to portray this character just because it’s the first time that I’ve played a mother, and I’ve always played roles that are younger girls. It’s different to learn how to walk and speak like an older lady. I have a family, and I really like how I’m working on it right now. I think it’ll be pretty solid.”
DW- “For me it was difficult. I have to change my vocabulary and how I pronounce things. It made it a lot more complicated than I thought it would be, but I’ve learned all the words now I just have to get it to flow with the big words.”
The Rider: What’s something people might not know about this production or theater in general?
DW- “The audience knows throughout the whole play that they’re watching a play, so that’s different.”
SM- “We’re expecting a lot out of our audience just because there’s a lot of objects in this play that aren’t there. There’s nothing tangible that the audience can actually visualize, so it’s gonna require a lot of suspension of disbelief and imagination that the audience is gonna have to have ready.”
The Rider: What is it like to work without props?
CW- “I think it’s going to be a different view for the audience, but most of us are used to pantomiming. It’s just hard because if we have books in our hands, and we set them down then that’s where they are for the rest of the show.”
SM- “The pantomiming thing is difficult for me now just because I cook an entire meal and I have to write that down with the lines that I’m going on within the background so that I know what I’m doing at this line. It [has] gotten better now that we don’t have our books in our hands, but it’s still difficult because I do need to remember everything I did at this certain point because I do it again later.”
DW- “I’ve never really done an actual show with pantomime, so it’s all new. I think it’s gonna be a challenge, but I’m ready for it.”
