To Love, Honor and Co-Star: Making Room for Two in Zoom

To Love, Honor and Co-Star: Making Room for Two in Zoom

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Last fall, actor Jason O’Connell agreed to star in a new production of “Talley’s Folly”, Lanford Wilson’s melancholy two-handed game, for the Syracuse Stage. The other hand? His wife, Kate Hamill. While filming the play in an empty auditorium, they spent much of the rehearsal time at home, at Zoom. So much for leaving your role at the stage door.

“There is no escape,” said O’Connell, mostly joking. “There is no time apart, there is no breath. There is no one to complain about my co-star. “

Since March, when the theater started popping up online, experienced producers have been looking for alternative solutions to the Zoom box and ways to generate the intimacy that only actors who share the same air space can provide. A friendly solution from Covid-19: hire cohabiting couples to perform face to face – on sofas, in bedrooms and on occasional closed stages – without interference from bars or time delays.

This explains how viewers saw two brothers from the Apple family – Barbara from Maryann Plunkett and Richard from Jay O. Sanders – quarantined in the latest Richard Nelson trilogy, with his West Village apartment replacing Barbara’s home in Rhinebeck. The cohabitation of actors also enabled an amazing scene in Sarah Gancher’s “Russian Troll Farm”. After running the piece on separate screens, disinformation workers Greg Keller and Danielle Slavick suddenly jumped into the same box and then onto the bed.

Some of these couples have worked together for decades; others almost never shared a tent. None of them could have predicted that they would turn their homes into theaters and assure their neighbors that the horrifying screams are just a matter of work.

The New York Times talked to six theater couples about acting together while living together. These are excerpts from the conversations.

HAMILL We know many people who have a professional / personal division, but we really don’t.

How has it been working at home?

HAMILL We are both workaholics. We had to adjust to a slightly different pace of life. Like, “Do we have a hobby?” After we finished our first Zoom rehearsal for “Talley’s Folly”, we turned off the camera and started crying because we had lost that part of our lives.

O’CONNELL It was very, very special, but also bittersweet.

HAMILL In a pandemic, as a couple, you get out of it, like, “Wow, this is really strong and great” or “Oh no. I’m glad we like each other. “

How did they meet At the National Theater Conservatory in Denver, Colorado. “Once, we talked in the library about death,” said Keller.

Pandemic project “Russian Troll Farm”

Did you work a lot together?

SLAVICK We did a lot of workshops and readings and stuff, but just another production together, Sheila Callaghan’s “That Pretty Pretty; or, The Rape Play. “

KELLER Nobody wanted to bring the passion that is our relationship to the stage.

How has it been working at home?

SLAVICK Exciting. But also scary. I was still breastfeeding during rehearsals and I was also pregnant, so I was very nauseous. Having people in your family life was kind of vulnerable. But you’re, like, my favorite actor. So, I just enjoyed the opportunity to talk to you and hear from you.

KELLER I’m blushing here.

SLAVICK There was a lot of equipment! He occupied our apartment.

KELLER A new couple with a child has moved. They heard us yelling at each other, she having fake orgasms.

SLAVICK In fact, I stopped them in the hall and said they didn’t need to call the police.

How did they meet In graduate school at the University of Illinois. “I will never forget to see you the first time,” said Dirden. “That gale force coming straight at me.”

Pandemic projects “New Math,” as part of the 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues; “Survival lessons”

Did you work a lot together?

DICKINSON The first show we did was “Angels in America”. Brandon was Belize and I was the angel.

DIRDEN We work together maybe every two years. It actually helps the relationship. We can’t be so mean to each other, because we will probably have to work together soon.

How has it been working at home?

DICKINSON The 24 Hour Plays came to us. I said to Brandon, “We are doing this. You will make one and I will make one. Because we have to do some art. “So we did and I said to them,” That was great. Brandon and I should do one together ‘”. Two weeks later, they said, “We want to accept this.” And I thought, “How are we going to school at home?” We said to our playwright: “You have to incorporate our son”. Which turned out to be fun. Although we almost killed ourselves for about five seconds.

DIRDEN Chase [their son] it was the best part of the process. He followed the direction very well.

How did they meet Friends set them up. “We had plans to see ‘Doubt’,” said Urie. “Very romantic.”

Pandemic projects “Nora Highland”, “Buyer & Cellar”, “Frankie and Will”

Did you work a lot together?

URIE Most recently, “Hamlet”, which we did in Washington, DC We also worked together on some film projects. Ryan and Halley Feiffer wrote “He’s a lot more famous than you”, which I directed.

SPAHN That’s when we learned to collaborate. We transformed our apartment into the production office.

How has it been working at home?

SPAHN Jeremy Wein does Play-PerView. He held out his hand. I had never heard of Zoom. I had a two-way street, “Nora Highland”. Michael and Tessa Thompson did this live online.

URIE There was no audience, but it felt like theater, because it was live.

SPAHN We talked about hunting for that feeling of nervousness on opening night.

URIE “Buyer & Cellar”, which we did in our living room, had just that. It was a great old comedy set up long before you. Ryan was the director of photography.

SPAHN After that, we did a short piece that Talene Monahon wrote, “Frankie and Will”. Our dog was there. And we have a cat, so we had to fight animals. This gave us something to put our manic energy, terrified and focused on the laser.

How did they meet During the production of “Shear Madness” in Fort Myers, Florida. “We had a first start date in New York City,” said Byrne.

Pandemic project “Singles in Agriculture”

Did you work a lot together?

BYRNE We never work together. I’m in the musical theater and Tim likes plays, films and TV. Our audition paths rarely cross.

How has it been working at home?

BYRNE Ken Kaissar and Amy Kaissar, the artistic directors of the Bristol Riverside Theater, were looking for couples of actors in quarantine. They contacted us by email and Ken found “Singles in agriculture”. We did a cold reading of Zoom and it was our pace, it was our energy. It felt right.

GOODWIN You can usually leave work at work. But the space in which we sleep is also our rehearsal space and our performance space. We have good lighting set up. But as soon as the rehearsal is over, we destroy everything.

BYRNE We literally open the blinds, open the windows and close the door to make it super cold in the room. Almost like starting over.

How did they meet On the set of “A Man Called Hawk”, a derivation of “Spenser: For Hire”. “Our first kiss was in the movie,” said Sanders.

Pandemic project The pandemic trilogy of The Apple Family Plays

Did you work a lot together?

SANDERS Numerous readings and workshops. And some little movie stuff.

PLUNKETT Because of the Rhinebeck panorama [Richard Nelson’s sequence of Rhinebeck-set plays], it seems that we are working together all the time. We enjoy working together.

How has it been working at home?

PLUNKETT With the Zoom executions, we sat side by side. It’s the ultimate in confidence and fun, knowing that I’m looking Jay in the eye, but I’m also looking the character in the eye. Shoulder to shoulder, captured in a tiny box, there is no room to pretend.

SANDERS I used to dream about it, when I was a young actor, to find someone who could be a partner, who could be on the same level. It is a very rare relationship that we are lucky to have. Thank you every day.

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