Ashley’s ashen face wore fear blended with concern. Her eyes darted back and forth surveying my facial expression– what was she looking for? I wondered.
“Are you ok?” she asked me.
The scratchiness in her dusky voice seemed more pronounced than usual.
“Ummmmmm, yes. I am fine?” My words held a question, reflecting my curiosity surrounding her question to me.
She paused and inhaled. “Did Brandon
really hit you tonight?”
Brandon, also known as “The Steward” has the luxurious task of murdering me- as “Jack’s Mother” every night in our production of “Into the Woods.” Besides being known as “The Steward”, Brandon
is also known as Ashley’s boyfriend.
“Yesssssssssssssssss” I answered.
A painful sound resonated from Ashley as she sucked in a large quantity of air. This worry filled gulp of oxygen seemed to consume her.
I continued to speak. “I want him to hit me – we practice it – it really doesn’t hurt me.”
The air tumbled from within my dear fellow cast mate as she seemed to push relief into her heart. “Thank God! When I saw you go down tonight I got so scared, I didn’t know, I…. I…. I”
I laughed. “Now that’s what I call good acting.”
Brandon and I have created an interesting collaboration on stage by maintaining a healthy, vibrant shared intention. We remind each other before each performance we are “going for the gasp.”
Our desire is to hear the audience audibly gasp when he hits me over the head with his staff. We know if we have done that – if we get the gasp – we have done our job effectively.
We get together after performances and either share a happy high five if we get the gasp or we ask one another, “What went wrong?” and review the scene if we don’t get the gasp.
Florinda, also known as Kelly Sorrow, joined our conversation backstage and remarked, “You guys get the gasp a lot!”
We get “the gasp” consistently for several reasons.
Brandon
often leaves the theater saying something like, “Eh, I’ll murder you tomorrow!” or “Watch out or I’ll hit you!”
I might hiss under my breath upon seeing him for the first time of the day, “Murderer!”
We definitely enjoy each other’s company and enjoy making the other be a rousing success.
Then again, I am able to rest while he and Andrew drag my “dead” body across the stage following “the gasp”.
This particular performance happened on closing night for “Into the Woods” at Spotlight. Many of my cast mates were concerned about me that night. I think it was the tears streaming down my face as I begged The Baker (Andrew Hupp) and The Baker’s Wife (Veronica Stichfield) to please take care of my son – but that wasn’t because the Steward (Brandon Rodriguez) hit me, it was because I was near death and wanted to be sure my son, Jack, (Paul Sosa) was safe.
My favorite version of that scene was one night when I actually felt my life dripping from my feet – and I saw Jack/Paul’s face in front of me (he had given me baby and child pictures which I used as character building) and I heard “my husband” telling me it was ok to leave – it was in that moment that my character realized “my husband” had actually died somewhere out there in the woods years ago, he didn’t run off with some other woman as I had always assumed…..
(To you non-actors out there, this might sound surreal.. and yes, it may be surreal – and it is also magical, for me, on an entirely different level.)
Reviewing these memories creates another brand of magic. Lush, wistful, celebratory. Yes.
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