Theatre Thursday- The Curious Savage

The Curious Savage by John Patrick was the last show that I performed at the Hale Center Theatre before I took a long hiatus from the theatre scene.  It was directed by Mark S.P. Turvin, who also happened to be a theatre critic in AZ at the time.  When I first read the script, I was immediately drawn to the character of Fairy May and I was lucky enough to have landed the role. J1 also got to be in the show as John Thomas. He was just in a short scene at the end and just had to look cute. He was brilliant.

J1 backstage

I got to wear several wigs and had some amazing costumes.  Originally, my hair was going to be messy/ratty and then we were going to try to make it look nice for the end scene, but my hair didn't allow that to be a possibility so we went with the wigs.  Fairy May was a resident at a mental facility.

The wigs and my makeup station

She was fun on the outside but had a lot of pain on the inside.  I found the book, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls by Mary Pipher to be insightful regarding Fairy May's psyche. When I played Ophelia, I had used this book for a reference into mental illnesses in young women and also the societal pressures that they face.

Actually, this show is a comedy. I promise. You can read the synopsis here. I again got to play with my dear friends, Jere, and Alaina. The lead in this show was played by Jacqueline Gaston, she was amazing.  The pictures I do have are mostly backstage and a few press shots. I don't have any of me as Fairy May. I had tried to track some down before I wrote this post but had no luck.

Jere

The set

Alaina

Theatre Thursday- Hale Centre Theater, AZ, The Hasty Heart

It seems serendipitous that with Friday being Veteran's day that the next show I did took place during WWII.

The show is The Hasty Heart by John Patrick.  If it sounds familiar, it is probably because it was one of the movies that Ronald Reagan played in before he became president.  Another fun fact is that James Earl Jones played one of the roles originally on Broadway.

It takes place in an Allied mobile surgery unit toward the end of the war and centers around a group of wounded soldiers from various countries.  The cast is predominantly male. In fact, there is only one woman in the show, my character Margaret, who is a nurse from England.  The unit is a peaceful and enjoyable place to be until a surly Scotsman is admitted.  Unbeknownst to him, he is only expected to live a couple weeks due to having only one barely functioning kidney.  All the other soldiers know about his condition and try their best to  make his last days as best as possible.  Of course, the nurse and the surly Scot fall in love. But the truth has to come out about his fate and conflict arises.

Publicity shot by D. Dietlein

The cast was so much fun.  It reminded me a bit of my childhood and growing up with five brothers, very entertaining and rambunctious.  The show is filled with the harmonies of many different accents and it was fun speaking with a British dialect. Eric who played the "Lachie" the Scotsman just nailed the accent and was great in the role, all the critics loved him.  The show was directed by Charlie L. and stage managed by our mother bear Siobhan.

Besides, the accent, Margaret was a challenging role.  She must try to remain detached and despite knowing what she knows about his condition and his inevitable death, she can't help falling for Lachie.  We had some  emotionally charged scenes that challenged me, but I like to think I did well. I received good reviews from the show.  Chris Page from the East Valley Tribune said I was:

A splendid actress and a crush-worthy cutie, Mathias is used to playing wooers to difficult men at the Hale, in both the comedy "The Man With the Pointed Toes" (which will come back to open the theater’s next season) and as Scrooge’s young flame in "A Christmas Carol."

Later the show won an Honorable Mention for Best Drama in the Tribune's Spotlight awards.  I also got an Honorable Mention for Best Dramatic Actress that year for my role in this play along with Man with The Pointed Toes.  Funny enough the woman who won the actual award was at the time married to the man who played Hamlet to my original Ophelia.  She made an incredible Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and I was honored just to be mentioned as being in her company for the award.

Here are some more backstage pictures from the show:

I forgot to mention that Eric was gone for a couple shows and we had Carson S. fill in.  I was his first stage kiss, if I remember correctly. He was so nervous but did a good job in the role. I remember overhearing some old ladies leaving that said they thought he did great and they wouldn't have known he was an understudy. He is the one in the black shirt.

I also just recalled that it was the first time I got to have a dressing room all to myself and so I put up a gold star on it just for fun.

Friends on Friday-Alaina

Alaina - Photo by Jessica Frieling

Alaina  is a powerhouse.  She can sing, she can dance, she can act, she is a mother, a hairdresser, a devoted wife, in other words AMAZING.  We met at the Hale Centre Theatre in Arizona where we were the only two girls in the show, Man With the Pointed Toes.  She later took over the role of Florence in that show in later years. We had a blast and did several other shows together including A Christmas Carol and A Curious Savage. She has performed all over the Valley of the Sun in AZ and audiences love her.  I love her too.  I think she is fabulous and I was excited to get to know her better. So on with the interview...

Alaina and me in A Christmas Carol

Me and Alaina
The first Charwoman and Laundress at Hale Centre Theatre's A Christmas Carol

N: Tell me about yourself

A: My name is Alaina B. Born in the Bronx, New York.
I was raised in the beautiful Catskill mountains in upstate New York.
I started acting at a very early age and was performing professionally by age 11.
I have been very happily married for 17 years and have 2 beautiful daughters and an amazing husband. all of whom still support my passion for acting.

Alaina's girls and hubby

N: What are you passionate about?

A: I am passionate about family and the arts; mainly singing and acting and musical theatre. I'm also passionate about the history of our great country. 

N: What was a defining moment in your life?

A: One defining moment was when I realized that anything is possible if you are true to who you are and your beliefs, and you work hard to achieve goals. and that it's not up to others to make us happy in this life; but up to ourselves and that you must never settle for less that what you believe you are worth.

And I think Noe is fabulous!

N: Aw, thanks.  Alright, here's a couple more questions...

If you could only choose acting or singing what would you choose and why?

A: I cannot choose between acting and singing as they are both one in the same to me.

N: That is why you are so great at both.  What was the most favorite role you have ever played?

A: My favorite role is Christine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Alaina as Christine
(She won an AriZoni award for this role:
Best Actress in a Major Role-Musical Non-Contracted)

N: What do your girls think of your acting? Do they want to get involved in the arts?

A: My girls are very supportive and proud of what I do. However, they don't seem to have an interest in acting but they do both play Cello and Violin and enjoy performing in their orchestras.

N: I think it is great that your family is supportive. Because you are an actress you get to answer the famous questions from the Actor's Studio:

What is your favorite word?

A: My favorite word is Dream.

N: What is your least favorite word?

A: Work

N: What turns you on?

A: An amazing actor.

N: What turns you off?

A: A terrible actor.

N:  What sound or noise do you love?

A: I love the sound of my daughters playing their instruments.

N: What sound or noise do you hate?

A: I hate the sound of dogs barking!

N: What is your favorite curse word?

A: Shit!

N: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

A:  Undercover cop.

N: What profession would you not want to do?

A: Defense attorney.

N: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

A: "I made coffee...I hope you brought a bobka" or "woohoo...let the party games begin"

N: Alaina you are too fun.  Thanks for letting me interview you and inspiring me to keep following my dreams.  Bravo for all your hard work both on stage and off.  Thanks for being my friend and interviewee!

Theatre Thursday- Hale Centre Theater -AZ- Pointed Toes

In the summer of 2003 I helped assist at the Conservatory, I met some amazing people.  I designed and made the costumes for their production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  It was an incredible summer filled with some very talented people who have gone on to do amazing things in the theatre community.

In the fall, one of my 'students', Chad K., called and told me that the leading lady in a show he was cast in, dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with another show.  He asked if I would be interested in auditioning.  I asked him what the show was about and a little about the character.

The show was called Man With the Pointed Toes by Lynn and Helen Root. He told me the show was about a cowboy who had suddenly found oil on a property that he had won in a card game.  He then meets a lady from NY and goes gaga for her.  He doesn't feel like he has enough 'culture' to win her and decides to hire a tutor to help educate him.  The lady from NY is a gold digger or oil digger as the case may be.  The schoolteacher he hires is a bit plain looking at first but has a heart of gold.  The cowboy and the schoolteacher start to have feelings for each other and hilarity ensues as they try to express their feelings and the ranch hands try to oust the NY gal out of the cowboy's life.  Basically, it is a romantic comedy about unrequited love. It was the AZ premiere of  Man With the Pointed Toes.

Headshot for the show

I said I was interested so I went down to audition.  As regular auditions had already occurred, there were just three of us there to audition for the schoolteacher role.  The director, Allan Dietlein, was there along with his son, Dave, who is the owner of the Hale Centre Theatre in AZ.  You can read about their amazing history here. They are gentlemen in every sense of the word.

Allan, Sandy, me and Dave on New Years 2004.

There were only cold readings with the leading man, no monologues.  It was kind of a weird audition because my competitors were in the room, if my memory serves me correctly. I threw myself into the character, one of the scenes we read was where the schoolteacher gets drunk/high on antidepressants and I just went with it, using my previous skills of acting drunk. It felt good to be acting again. We were then asked to wait in the hallway while they decided. Allan came out and said that they appreciated all of us coming to audition and that they decided to cast me in the role. I was really excited but had to contain my enthusiasm because the other auditionees were right there.

Me as Florence the school teacher/ tutor

I jumped right into rehearsals. It was a little weird coming into a cast that had already been working with each other for a bit.  I worked really hard on my characterization.  Alan's wife Sandy did the costumes for the show and is just an amazingly gracious woman.  Alaina B. played the lady from NY and she was just fabulous, we got to play in other shows later as well. We were the only women in the production and had a blast.

I wish I had a better picture but this is the only one my mom
was able to take of Alaina B. and Chad K.

The Hale Center Theatre is a theatre in the round, which means the audience is on all sides of the stage. Instead of looking up at the stage, they are seated stadium style on the four sides of the stage looking down or if you are on the front row, you are level with the actors on the stage. So, this was all new to me. The audience is very close and you have to not only act with your front side but your back side too.

View from the west.

View from the north.

The show was an instant success and we remounted it in their country theatre in Sandy, UT. We remounted it again in 2004 at Hale Centre Theatre.  Since I moved, they have done the show a couple more times, but with Alaina B. in the role I played and another actress in her original part.  The leading man was also recast for those later remounts.  It is a very entertaining show, it is a bit like My Fair Lady but with the teacher as a woman and the man as the one needing some refinement. So, I was not surprised it became an audience favorite.

Trying to look pretty and feeling like a failure.

Starting to fall in love

Feeling inadequate but trying to be encouraging.

It remains one of my favorite roles ever. I could play it a million times and not get sick of it.  The cast was just amazing and had great chemistry. The men who played the ranch hands were just brilliant comedic actors and made the show super fun.  I felt blessed to work with such amazing actors and was grateful to my former student for thinking of me for the role.

Chad, me, John J, John A, and Don C.

Chad and I along with my other Conservatory
friends in the background after a show.

This production was only the second show to perform in the newly built theatre. It is amazing that I am now a part of their incredible history. I wish I had some better pictures and a cast shot, but alas I do not.  This role led to some other great roles for this company but those will be highlighted in the coming weeks.