What character(s) are you playing?

The world of this play is created by the lives and stories of the community in our unnamed Vermont quarry town. Among others, I'm playing Jackson and Ken. Jackson is the town mayor's high school aged son who has lived a privileged life and subsequently has a sense of youthful invincibility. His jocular, untouchable attitude gets rocked as a result of an unintentionally poor decision. Ken is a forensic bone "spessiali-tist" who is called upon to investigate a discovery in the quarry and ends up discovering something far more personal in the process.

What do you think this play is about?

The play has universal themes that Ruth elaborated on in her blog post, but I might add that the quarry itself serves as a physical metaphor for the characters in this play. Like the layered blocks of marble hewn from a rock mass; chiseled, sawed, chipped, slabbed, and sized; these characters are living stones enduring hardship, setback, and sacrifice. Suffering is a necessary means to a polished end.

What excites you about working on THE QUARRY?

I'm excited to be integrating Randal's musical underscore into my character work as an actor. There is an organic, informative dialogue between his live music and the acting ensemble that influences both in a theatrically orchestral way.

What do you think will be the most challenging thing you have to tackle in the creation of this play?

The challenge and joy for me in this piece is in giving a grounded and truthful life to those characters I'm playing who may not sit as comfortably in my archetypal character range. It will be a messy exploration full of self-doubt and head-banging moments. I'm thrilled to jump in and untangle the mess!

What would you like the audience to be talking about after the show?

The storytelling form that Greg has created makes the audience an integral witness and participant in this play. I would like to hear the audience was engaged and took the journey with us, that they were able to hook in to the story because they recognized part of themselves in one of the characters or because they recognized the town as part of their own experience.

What character(s) are you playing?

I play four quite different characters: Sammy (Jean's husband), Paul (a hands-on person), a bystander, and the town's mayor (and father to problematic son).

Sammy's the biggest challenge, because his relationship with Jean is, as one would expect in any relationship, complicated. He love(d) her, and need(ed) her, but he seems pretty dependent on her and also, at all costs, on not rocking the boat. Their relationship seems full of warmth and good feeling, but underneath, sacrifices they both make also seem to eat away at each other a bit. He needs to please; he also annoys.

Paul's a working man, confident in his skills, practical in his concerns, caring for his family, fairly grounded, not unduly preoccupied with anything beyond his own needs.

The bystander cameo is fun because we meet him when there's no compelling need for him to be responsible. We all have opinions, right?

And the mayor: Not quite up to the job, trying hard to skate over that thin ice, hoping no one notices. Both the bystander and the mayor present opportunities to play a little fast and loose, since their faults seem more obvious and evident.

What excites you about working on THE QUARRY?
It's a treat to be involved in new works that are still somewhat, at least, in flux. It's especially enjoyable when, as in this case, the play is full of really good dialogue that "fits" the characters so thoroughly and provides an invitation to delve more deeply into why folks do and say what they do. Then, there's the addition (or fundamental substrate) of the music. The music and script leverage each other, providing additional opportunities to play off as well as play with each other. I'm looking forward to better understanding the relationship between the characters and the music that comes in around them. Playing four different folks also presents some challenge to develop "handles" on how they present themselves to the world physically, vocally, emotionally.

What do you think will be the most challenging thing you have to tackle in the creation of this play?
Sammy's character seems to me to be the one that will reveal itself the most during rehearsal. Finding the truth of why he does and says what he does - or does not, and how this colors the relationship between his needs and Jean's seems the most complex. It will be important to continue exploring why he does what he does, and, in particular, to understand the downside of his choices. And there's the need to delineate those "handles" for the differing characters.

What do you think this play is about?
I think The Quarry is about the sacrifices, compromises, and mutual understandings - spoken and unspoken - that underlie relationships. Forgiveness comes into play, not only of others, but of oneself, and the play is also talking about the need to know ourselves.

What would you like the audience to be talking about after the show?
I'm imagining that the conversation might touch on the sacrifices we make (willing or less willing), the boundaries with which we protect ourselves, and where those intersections occur in relationships.

What excites you about working on THE QUARRY?

I've never worked directly with the playwright or a composer of a piece before. It's exciting and intrinsically valuable to be able to have an active part in the development of the play and the score. Both Greg and Randal have done an amazing job with the dialogue and the music for the show, and they're very open and receptive to ideas and connections that we've made while working on the script. The combination of these two elements is a beautiful and innovative idea, and both are very rich mediums to be working in. In dance so much of the expression of the physical story is tied into the music. Here, the music is its own character that augments each of the scenes fluidly.

What do you think will be the most challenging thing you have to tackle in the creation of this play?

Since this is a new work, we as actors have a great deal of responsibility and effect on both the final outcome of characters, and to the creation of their world. A big challenge for me will be to infuse the people that I have with their senses of place and purpose in this world, in a way that does the piece justice and helps to bring an entire town and history to life with just a few characters. The other big challenge is that most of these scenes take place through the medium of a phone call. I love this aspect of the writing. It will be interesting to develop a full scene with a partner while sharing the space on stage, where you don't ever look at them but have to maintain an interesting and tangible connection with them.

What characters are you playing?

I have the honor of playing the following characters:

Clara: The daughter of Jean and Sammy. She has a tense and estranged relationship with both her mother and the quarry she grew up next to, but still has hope that she and Jean can reconcile their differences and salvage what's left of their family.

Leah: A local teenager who's dating the Mayor's son, Jackson. She embodies the youthful essence of the town, and gives them a common cause to rally around. She has a close relationship with Molly and has always looked out for her. She's playful, sweet and innocent.

Molly: Leah's younger sister, who's competitive, driven and loves sports. She idolizes her big sister and doesn't really think Jackson was her sister's best dating choice, but she does like that it makes Leah happy.

Miriam: Grew up in the small town, but studied Anthropology in England to get out of the "little pond" and see the world. Now that she's back, she has to find a balance between her perception of her worldly self and her small town self, much to her chagrin.

Crazy Wanda: Travelled much of the United States following various groups and commune-organized movements. She has always had a great draw to and fascination with mysticism and the occult. Much of her waking-life is centered in the ethereal, rather than grounded in the present moment, and because of that she's always been a bit of the spooky Boo Radley of the town.

What's THE QUARRY about?

There isn't any one specific theme or moral in this story, there are many. I think it will appeal not only to Vermonters (who will share a special connection to it), but to anyone who sees it regardless of whether they've lived in a small town or not. The common ties of difficult familial relationships, community, tragedy, mystery, working class folks, spirituality, mystical forces at work and the ability to find beauty where others might not are some of the layers that are uncovered and surface in The Quarry. All of these characters are people you've met, grown up with and known for years.

What would you like the audience to be talking about after the show?

There really is something in here for everyone from every walk of life and every set of earned experiences. Between the writing, the music, the conceptual design of the set, the lighting, the director's vision and the actors, this piece really is like a coral reef. All of the parts feed into each other and are dependent on each other to create a rich, full vision of life the way it really is, the way that it could be, the way that it might be on parallel planes and the way it's always been. I'd love for people to talk about not only the things they connected to (almost like coming home) and the stimulating connections that they were inspired by in regard to literature, mysticism, spirituality, sociology, anthropology and archeology.

What character are you playing and what is she like?

Jean the narrator of The Quarry, is witty, tart, sardonic, quick, and has a very clear sense of how things should be in her small town in Vermont. She is also heart-broken after the death of her beloved husband, which has sent her reeling, and left her feeling unmoored, even three years later. There's regret, for the way she may have kept her husband from living a fulfilling life, for her estrangement from her only daughter, and by telling her story she hopes to explain her side of things. In relating the story of her life, she reveals how alone she has always been. Is this by choice? Is she lonely? She would like you to think not. And she definitely does not want you to know how afraid she is.

The last show you worked on with Vermont Stage was The Clean House... are you glad to be back?

I am thrilled to be back in a Vermont Stage production! Working with Cristina is a privilege, and with the great cast she has brought together and the support of the excellent designers and back stage folk, it will be a wonderful journey. The most exciting element is the opportunity to work on a new play with two talented artists. Greg's play is so beautifully written, the words jump off the page and into my mouth. Randal's music is marvelous - sensitive and quiet, funny and sad, and I look forward to figuring out how the music and the words meld together into a whole.

What do you think will be the most challenging thing you have to tackle in the creation of this play?

The Quarry is basically Jean's story. It is long and has many chapters. The challenge will be to weave those chapters together, so that each has its own arc, and yet together they make a whole. Jean has a wonderful line: "I believe our lives have one main story. Lots of side stories, sure, but one main one. " Finding the thread that weaves those side stories together with momentum, shades of feeling, hot and cold, and yet not revealing too much of the mystery until it is time, will be the challenge, the adventure that we are about to embark upon together.

What do you think this play is about?

Like all good plays, it is about life, how we live it, the mistakes we make, and ultimately, after facing our fears, redemption. The play may be set in Vermont, but the themes are universal. The characters are all so real, flawed, yet sweet and we want to love them.

What would you like the audience to be talking about after the show?

I hope the audience will be moved, awed by the beauty of the words and music, amazed at the production. They will want to discuss the mystery of The Quarry. They will laugh remembering some of the humor, and will talk to all their friends, urging them to come to see the show!