As of February 11th, 2010, I, Miss Sarah Suzuki can officially call myself a "professional actress". It feels kinda good too. No more (well at least for the time being) school productions, I finally worked with an actual theater production company, Heads Up Productions. Heads Up Productions is the dream child of my friend and once fellow castmate, Ben Rexroad. It is a fledgling company that is sure to do amazing things in the future, feel free to take a look or get more info about the company on twitter at Heads UP Productions.
The show was an amazing experience. Directed by my friend, mentor and veteran actress, India Burton, the production has been one of the best theatrical experiences I have had thus far. The play, For Colored Girls Who have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enough, was written by activist and playwright Ntozake Shange and his her best known play to date. The play is actually a choreopoem, with 20 different scenes that tells the stories of seven women from various cities. The poems a hard-hitting, dealing with issues of love, racism, self-hate, abortion, and abuse.
I think it is the subject matter of the play, that makes it so enticing and at the same time, so difficult to understand. People clapped and enjoyed themselves; but never seemed to truly understand the pieces as they don't flow together like a plot(found in most storyline based plays). We've had a mixed audience the 3 nights we've performed the play, with black and white patrons. As expected the black and female members of the audience were more responsive to the subject matter; as the could more readily identify with the issues. But considering the fact that we garnered standing ovations 2 out of the 3 nights(with one performance left to go), I think we sufficiently entertained our entire crowd.
Looking back, I'd have to say the process of bringing it all together was quite daunting. I had to go through a lot of "ups and downs" to bring Lady in Green (my character) to life. From long rehearsals, to cattiness between the all-female cast, to constantly having to reschedule my hours at my job (dwindling them and my pay check down to almost nothing at all)...No one ever said theater was an easy business. But I'd go through it all again to see the huge grin plastered all over my mom's face after the curtain closed for our 3rd performance. Before that Saturday evening, she hadn't seen me perform in anything for at least a year. I was ecstatic, that my talent still brings her such happiness.
I definitely took a lot away from the experience. I am more behaved, I take better direction and I've learned how to deal with the madness of "tech week"(aka the week of hell right before opening night). I've meet incredible talents, not only my fellow actresses but lighting designers, choreographers, sound engineers, costume designers and the list goes on. I am truly blessed to have been offered a role in the cast. Not so secretly, I have hope that we will be able to take the show to another venue where we can bring the tales of seven colored girls to life for even more audiences.
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