Excerpt from Dayton.com
Participants in a six-week Vermont community center acting class dig deep with unconventional sensibilities in Annie Baker’s offbeat, 2009 Obie award-winning off-Broadway comedy “Circle Mirror Transformation,” continuing through Dec. 5 in the black box, downstairs Herbst Theatre at Wright State University.
Meticulously taught by the persistent yet tactful Marty (an excellently mature Mady McCabe inhabiting the role with great physicality), the class consists of a slightly eccentric bunch: Schultz (Branden Fisher), a recently divorced carpenter; Lauren (Andrea Gutierrez), a timid high schooler junior; Theresa (Annika Whetstone), a former actress; and Marty’s husband, James (Mikey Fried).
Instead of distributing a few familiar monologues from Shakespeare, Chekhov, Miller or Williams to dissect and recite, Marty carves her own path emphasizing a peculiar series of physical, vocal and memorization exercises. In her estimation, it’s more important to grasp the art of embodying a role, to completely become in tune with a character or assignment even when the task becomes frustrating.
Lauren: “What is the point of all this?”
Marty: “The point is to be totally present – not second-guess yourself”
These unique exercises, including role-playing, ultimately forces each classmate to go beyond the surface into a more expansive comprehension of language, subtext and symmetry. In fact, an odd game of emotional gibberish between Theresa and James evolves into a surprisingly thoughtful display of open and honest communication.
