I actually hadn’t read Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard in quite a long time - so long, in fact, that I had hardly any memory of what it was about. I had a couple ideas while searching for a scene from a play to select. I first considered the most recent play I had read for my music class, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee. This realistic play, paints a dramaticized portrait of a torn, volatile marriage. It’s dramatic, exciting, tense, and an incredible piece of literature and performance. However, I rejected this idea upon further thought - how could I, a 20 year old student, attempt to portray a drunken, middle-aged woman or man? I suppose that’s what acting is about. The infeasibility of playing a role so utterly different from myself also became an issue when I considered several of the plays I’ve read recently, such as Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks and Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar. These reads, while fantastic, realistic, and heart-wrenching, centered around racial and social issues that I could not begin to comprehend or accurately portray. We talked extensively in class about what kinds of bodies are allowed to play certain roles. As a minority, especially in theater, I believe it’s important to consider these things while selecting roles.
For this reason, I was actually quite intrigued when Kami requested a scene partner for The Cherry Orchard. I immediately accepted. First, because I needed a scene partner. But I also accepted because this Chekhov play was so unknown to me, that I couldn’t begin to fall into a spiral of doubt and fear regarding whether or not I could feasibly play the character. Kami presented a list of scenes from which I could choose for us to record. After reading through the selections, I settled on one in which I could see a clear relationship between the characters, and a clear motive. I’m fascinated by the idea of exploring an isolated scene from a play without knowing the outer context. I’m excited to see what information and emotion I can pull from this single scene and character without worrying about the overall context of the show and world that I live in. To prepare for this scene, Kami and I read through the scene twice, blocked it, and watched a video recording of the scene online. Thanks, Kami, for inviting me to do this scene with you!
Please see Kami's blog for our scene together.