Friday, October 16, 2015

Erin Myers Interview

I sat down recently with Erin Myers, who is playing a lot of roles in All Girl Moby Dick, including two whales, Peter Coffin the innkeeper, Dr. Bunger, a minister and other things. We talked about All Girl Moby Dick and her roles in it.

Warwick: You're playing multiple roles, so if you could, I don't know, I guess pick one to talk about. Who they are or if you have any direct or indirect influences for the character?

Erin M.: That's an easy one. The minister, I was in the workshop and we did a lot of work on that, and I'm actually a minister's daughter so you're talking about influences I mean there you go. So that's fun to work on. I mean it's a really intense speech about accepting punishment which I think is hard to hear in some ways. But I really like just as a philosophical idea the notion that what if you consider your life in terms of, whether you believe in God or not, what God wants instead of what you want. It's just an interesting lens to look at a problem or your life through, not that you'd necessarily do that, but for me that kind of, I don't know, it's a really fascinating idea to me. I don't know that I believe it in all life or not, but as far as the speech goes it's just... nobody talks like that. Not even religious right Christians don't talk about not following their own will, they just assume that their own will coincides with Gods. So I just think it's kind of a really interesting speech.

W: What has been the most challenging part of the process for you? 

E: Um, I really really really want to do service to every character I play, you know? Just, everything strong, everything distinct, and everything... you know, not just cheap hackery. [laughs] That's been a frightening yet exciting challange.

W: What's the most rewarding?

E: When that works.

W: Nice. What aspect or scene in the show are you most excited for the audience to witness?

E: Oh man, It's hard to say at this point. I think this show, as a whole, once we get tech and everything, once it's up to speed, it's just going to be like a fist fight. Just boom boom boom. I mean I can't isolate one particular thing or moment from the show right now.

W: What attracted you to this project in the first place?

E: Especially when I was younger, and I've adjusted to it somewhat and become a better actor, but when I was younger I used to bitch about the limited kinds of roles available to women and it's something that I've given a lot of thought of and it drove me to get really interested in gender politics and philosophy and that kind of thing. And I also have a strong belief that an actor should be as plastic as possible and you should be able to turn into a whale or a hammer. To be able to transform into something else and to be whatever you need to.


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