Guy
Adkins Kate
Fry 
Associate Producer Alyssa Volker sat down with Guy Adkins and Kate Fry before rehearsals began and had a conversation about Storytelling.
Alyssa: Everyone has a favorite story from childhood that they remember. Can you tell me what your favorite story was as a child?
Guy: The Velveteen Rabbit. My sister gave it to me as a kid and I've always loved it. My first play was the same story. I played the Velveteen Rabbit in the Park in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
Kate: I had several, and it's hard to think of the best one just off the top of my head. I remember loving Goodnight Moon, primarily because of the illustrations.
Alyssa: When do you think you began to tell stories?
Guy: I was never much of an original storyteller but I've always acted out other people's stories. The same sister gave me Free to Be You and Me when I was little and I memorized the whole thing and performed it at family gatherings. That collection of stories and songs had a huge influence on me as a child—it made me who I am—hence the title.
Kate: When I was little, primarily from about age 6 to age 10, I wrote a ton of stories. I would use a notebook, or I would get together a bunch of blank white paper, fold it in half, staple it, and try to fill it with a story. They were pretty bizarre, with such innovative titles as The Mouse Book and The Book of the Girl.
Alyssa:
Are actors always storytellers? Kate: Hmmm... No.
Guy: Well, they should be. I think that good actors are. When you focus on what it is you're trying to share, that's when the story gets told in the best way.
Alyssa: How is the kind of storytelling you and the company will be doing in The Romance Cycle different from the story telling of any other performance?
Kate: Unlike films, or live stage plays with elaborate scenery, we will be extremely reliant on the power of imagination, both in our own preparation as well as the audience's imagination. It is still a play, there will obviously be actors to watch and events and images that we will try to create in our staging. But the primary focus will be elsewhere—on the language, on the behavior, on the essence of these stories and characters.
Guy: I guess that the idea that we are first and foremost storytellers—as opposed to characters in the story—makes this unique. Yes, I'm playing Pericles, but my first role is storyteller. It's a very different way of approaching a character. I think it takes the pressure off a bit. We're given permission to go in and out of character and even encouraged to prepare from the outside in.” It seems like it will take a different kind of energy or focus. Involving the audience to the highest degree. “Sharing” is the word that comes to mind. Another thing actors tend to forget.
Alyssa: What are some of the
tools you will use to tell the stories of The Romance Cycle? Guy: Well, the soliloquies obviously are meant to be directly addressed to the audience already. Using the actors to create scenery, sound effects, make music and lots of shared narration. We're taking the character of Gower, a sort of one-man chorus," and dividing it up amongst the company.
Kate: I'm visualizing an event that is very much about the ensemble, about people working together as a group—not as some hierarchical mish-mosh of leads, supporting roles, and spear-carriers. And since we won't have a great deal to rely on in the way of "realistic" scenery, we will be very dependent on our voices, bodies, senses of humor, and collective imaginations. Because of this environment, I think there will be very much of a "let's try anything and see what we come up with that works" approach.
Alyssa: What excites you about The Romance Cycle in particular?
Guy: All of the above. I've had a great time in the past with ensemble pieces and Shakespeare usually isn't conducive to that kind of process because there are leading and supporting characters and tons of smaller roles. However, the way in which we’re approaching these plays, we all carry the same amount of weight. There is a huge responsibility in "carrying" a show, and sharing that responsibility with a group of amazing actors (and friends) in such a loose, unconventional way is really exciting.
Kate: The ensemble. It is a dynamite group of actors, many of whom I've worked with before and know to be very hardworking, creative, and passionate about their jobs. Rehearsals are bound to be exciting, fun and provocative.
Top: Guy Adkins, Charlie Newell and McKinley Carter. Bottom: Kate Fry and Lance Stuart Baker. Photos by Michael Brosilow.