As I’m writing this evaluation I see my Our Town script on my desk to my left. The script is bent and the ends are all twisted up, it looks like some pages may start falling out and I can see the tape that I put on to keep the cover from falling off; I also see all of my lines still brightly (orange) highlighted with notes and blocking written all over it. I see notes that say: “I LOVE my children… sadness, desire, longing, not bitter…., fascination!”
Looking back on all the things and thoughts that I went through in this process makes me realize how much energy and devotion it took produce the best character that I could. I really like my character. I really love who she (I) became. She was full of life even though she had to suppress it. She lived each day as she knew how. It was a fascinating process to go through, and in the end I am so happy with who Myrtle Webb turned out to be.
One of the things that I reflect upon with much affection is the relationships that I shared with each character. I think that was one of my strongest aspects to my character. I love how whenever Karen (Mrs. Gibbs) and I were waiting on our stairways for our first entrance we always blew each other kisses for good luck. It’s the small things, and details like that that really show how we interacted. I really felt like Karen was my great friend and neighbor. We would joke around just like neighbors would.
One of the strongest relationships was with my children, of course. Being a mother to these wonderful people really formed a strong bond between myself and Cassie (Emily) and Charlie (Wally). When ever one of them was sick, or seemed stressed, I felt my self gravitating toward them to try and make them feel better. A mother and child relationship is so incredibly strong, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Paul (Mr. Webb) and I also shared such a loving relationship; not just because we had to play husband and wife but also that we really loved the company of one another and being in a marriage seemed to come naturally. I would find myself yelling “Charles!” constantly and putting on my wife cap on very often. We shared so many great moments together.
Some things that I could have worked better was probably connecting with my research of the play. I know I went through preliminary research to explore my personal action in the kitchen. I researched a lot about how to work things and what things I would be doing. But I don’t think I researched enough about the other aspects in a 1900 life. My life would include other things other than just what I was making for breakfast that day (granted that was all that was really seen in the play- so that’s why I focused more on that). I don’t necessarily know how I could have researched more about being a mother, but I probably should have. I wanted to form my relationships with my children, not read about how to be a mother; so I just focused on being with them and hanging out with them.
I learned a lot about research and attention to detail in this show. Doing the personal action was a really big task and I will admit- I was very scared of it at the very beginning. I had always had trouble with “miming” things in the past- but I was still looking forward to the challenge. I’m so glad I had someone that was going through the same thing as me- I’m glad Karen and I went through it together. There was so much detail and precision required and it forced to me to really focus and not phone it in.
I also learned a lot about working with a really big cast. I really wanted to make sure I had some sort of relationship with everyone, I didn’t matter if I had multiple scenes, one scene or no scenes at, I still wanted to make a connection with them. I thought it was very important. I really learned that the show really is about all the people in the town, we may only see snippets of some peoples lives, but without one person the town wouldn’t work. If Howie wasn’t there no one would get there milk, and we needed the Crowell boys to deliver the paper. We really did form a community and I think that was really important to the success of the show.
One smaller thing that I thought about quite a bit about was… crying. I’ve been able to “cry on command” rather easily, but the funeral scene really struck me. I learned that it doesn’t matter how many tears I produce- its what’s behind the tear that matters the most. I really wanted the audience to feel my emotion at that moment in the play. And even when I think about that scene now I feel a little choked up. I remember every night looking down on that empty stage and actually seeing my daughters grave. I remember not even being able to sing “Blest be the tie that binds” because I couldn’t even imagine singing. People from the audience couldn’t even see me but I had my emotions running full force.
Gregg talked a lot about “what makes this day different than the day before.” That sentence ran through my head a lot in the show. Every time a new act or scene started that always popped in my head and it really helped place myself in the scene. I had always taken this advice rather lightly- and just been like, well Gregg just wants to make sure I’m thinking. But it really does help with the process and understanding why my character gets out of bed in morning.
Overall, I’m really happy with the show and the character that I created. There may have been times when I could have delved a little deeper into research, but what I mainly focused on was forming my character through relationships and communication rather than reading. I felt like I jumped into her shoes, and corset and created the best Mrs. Webb that I could.
