SLF Studio

There was no discernible part for me that I could find on the page when I first got the script; my character was mute so there was no dialogue.  He didn't even exist in the movie.  But Steve, the director, really had a vision for me in the play, and he convinced me to do it.  I asked him to walk me page-by-page through the script and explain what was going on, and then I saw the whole thing.  I loved working with Steve because he indulged my sense of exploration and he let my improvisational vision of character-building guide the piece, and so we developed very, very sweet character relationships because they came out of the improvisations.  The play's spine was built largely on the structure of my vision of the story, so our version was "presented" by this narrator character who is mute.  And so that was very interesting to me to have a story's narrative driven by a character who didn't speak.   We did the show almost as if it was a memory piece, so it had an infectious air of nostalgia about it while being decidedly absurdist.  And they brought in someone from Galludet to teach me because I had several songs that had to be performed in sign language.  Having to learn a new way to communicate fired something different in my brain and it allowed me to interact with the play more deeply.  We developed a script for Demosthenes so I could be fluent in the sign language, and all my moments had to be crafted out in advance so the dialogue person could teach me what I was saying.  But the movement was so perfectly lyrical for a musical; it was gorgeous.  It was the first time I experienced what it really feels like when you step aside and a character takes over.  That isn't just an actor cliche; a metaphysical thing really does happen when you're doing it right.