CONNECTING TO UNCERTAINTY: AN INTERVIEW WITH ZYRECE MONTGOMERY, ENSEMBLE MEMBER
BACK FOR MORE
It’s cool to come back after being a part of Trouble in Mind. I came to this company for the process. I became an ensemble member for the process.
Initially I thought the amount of time was scary, but once you’re in it, it’s really not that much. On the outside you see THREE or FOUR MONTHS and that feels like so much, but when you are in it and rehearsals are only 3 or 4 hours every two weeks it’s just - well, it’s a lot easier than I thought it would be.
What I love most is getting the extra time to unpack the script and the story, and getting to do so with a group of people that you really get to connect with. I feel that’s been true of both shows: there’s this deeper connection in the script, the story, the characters, the cast. I cherish that.
I love the process of learning new tools and having this new language built with these people all around you.
I had to miss the day we did Imaginary Body, but that’s a tool I took to immediately from Trouble in Mind. Honestly, I’ve used it in all my work since. I love the specificity it brings and how it connects a person to their character. In general, it’s a tool where you sculpt out the character’s body, their posture, their walk, and a lot of other stuff, and it makes you get really specific how you move through the space as this entirely different human being. It’s also something I’ve used in my classes - sometimes I think the best way to see if you know a tool or a technique is to try to teach it. At first, I was a little nervous thinking: “oh wait, do I know this?” but the second I got up on my feet, I knew I had it.
In finding my imaginary body for Shelley, I’ve asked for a cross or a crucifix to work with because I think she “fiddles” when she’s deep in thought: she feels this constant nagging uncertainty of the situation, of herself in relation to a higher power, of herself in relation to other people - it’s something of comfort she tries to hold onto. Natalie pointed out some great options like: when does the cross stay tucked into my shirt, when does it stay out, is it always in reach? Little details like that can add up and inform how the body moves or how a character physically holds their power. I’m glad to have time to play with this group of people.
WORKING ON GRAND CONCOURSE
In the play, Shelley has these monologues - well, they’re prayers - that capture her in these vulnerable moments, and so we (Craig and I) were working, figuring out what’s going on there.
The things that come to mind most with Shelley is that she is losing so much. She’s lost her ability to communicate or connect fully with God, she’s lost her drive and mission, she’s losing faith in people, she’s losing ties to her family, and some other things that I’ll omit for sake of spoilers. She isn’t losing her faith - that feels clear as we’re working - but all the ways she knew how to operate in faith seem to be escaping her. Coping and finding strength through all of that loss is hard, and I think that’s a lot of what this play is. What are the levels to handling that?
We focused a lot on the polarity to steer some of our physical work.
We looked at these parts of the play as if they were conversations and figured out what drives them, what parts are ritualistic vs. what parts can she just let go.
There’s also this polarity where there are times when she’s looking for forgiveness from God while constantly being asked to forgive the people around her - both are so difficult and both pull at her.
She also makes a point of saying she’s an intellectual (and comes from a family of intellectuals), and yet, so much of her work is manual labor that feels mundane to her.
Then we looked for a psychological gesture (PG)for each monologue - something I can do in my body that grounds the monologue and helps focus what it’s about. For the first monologue, we tried a few different things around the feeling of BEING STUCK… actually right now, I don’t remember what we went with, but I know BEING STUCK got me there. It’s exactly right for Shelley at the beginning of the show. The next monologue was definitely OPEN (one of the 11 PGs) and another was CLOSED (another PG). The polarity there just made so much sense. Being OPEN is a scary kind of honesty, and being CLOSED made sense as the fear taking hold. And I know we end with EMBRACE (also a PG). Just having those really helps me know how this story - how Shelley - progresses over the course of the play.