Thesis Show Runs the Gamut of Female Roles

From March 14-16, theatre majors Sumire Doi ’13 and Rachel Goodgal ’13 will be performing their senior acting thesis in the Hepburn Zoo.

The show, ambiguously titled 17 ½, will be a collection of scenes culled from several modern plays, designed to explore themes of regeneration and starting anew.

“We wanted to do things that were new and fresh, so all the scenes are contemporary,” Goodgal said. “The oldest [scene] is from the 70’s, and the majority were written in the 2000’s.”

Goodgal explained that the process of selecting individual scenes was far from straightforward.

“We spent months at first trying to find just one play,” Goodgal said. “It’s very hard to find plays that have two equal-sized females leads, not many other characters and minimal tech. So by the time we decided to go the scene route, we had read a ton of plays and had a lot of material to choose from.”

“But then plays we liked didn’t necessarily work as just a scene, so it was a big process choosing what to include,” Doi said. “We didn’t finalize the material until the end of [winter term].”
For both actors, the selection process was ultimately based upon exploring new roles.

“It became basically about what would be an acting challenge, what would help me stretch,” Goodgal said. “I think we are both pretty good at comedy and heightening characters, as we both played in As You Like It, so we have a little bit of that and then some stuff that is totally outside what either of us has ever done before.”

“One of my most challenging scenes is one where I play a disabled rape victim,” Doi said. “I was really interested in what it means to be a victim. I feel like all the women we have played are all strong, tough characters that are somehow sort of broken, or in between the broken stage and restarting stage, and this scene is very much in the broken stage.”

The result is a broad range of both genre and character, from the provocative comedy of David Ive’s Venus in Fur to the bittersweet When You Cure Me by Jack Thorne.

“Some are very silly and outright comedic, and that’s their goal, is comedy,” Goodgal said. “There’s others that are very dark, and then a few that are in between — dark subject matter done humorously or things that seem on the surface to be everyday but have more depth. “

Rather than having one director tackle the thematic smorgasbord, Doi and Goodgal have enlisted Stephen Mrowiec ’13, Jake Schwartzwald ’14 and Matt Ball ’14 to direct scenes individually. “It turned out perfectly,” Doi said. “They really know their strengths and their different styles have helped us bring out different strengths as actors.”

In addition to these collaborative scenes, which will also feature acting by Noah Berman ’13, Charlotte Michaelcheck ’15, John Cheesman ’16 and Alexander Burnett ’16, both Doi and Goodgal will be performing monologues in which they have directed one another.

“I’ve directed Rachel before, so it felt natural,” Doi said. “But because they’re monologues, it’s still an individual process. I wrote my own monologue for the project about being a fragmented third-culture kid, and it’s scary. I’m going to be vulnerable, because I’m still figuring out what it means to be ‘me’ on stage.”

Finding a common thread can be difficult for such a highly collaborative production, but Doi and Goodgal have a unifying philosophy. “We use the word ‘showcase,’ which I’m not sure I like because I don’t want the project to be just about me acting in it,” Doi said. “We were very much about the production, making this project something that’s enjoyable for the audience, something that is whole despite having all these fragments and different directors.”

“We’re obsessed with the audience.” Goodgal said. “Aside from our acting, we wanted to enhance the audience experience and needed some way to tie it together.”

The actors are keeping some of their vision a surprise for opening night, but they did divulge that the show will feature live music composed and performed by Mrig Mehra ’13 and Mac Stormont ’13 of “The Casual Ales,” a music group on campus.

With so much emphasis on the audience experience, 17 ½ promises to be an un-missable performance.

“The feeling we want people to have at the end is hope,” Goodgal said. “The evening is kind of a roller coaster ride. Though some scenes don’t end hopefully at all, we want to demonstrate it’s possible to start afresh, to revive and to regain strength.”