How the Light Gets In

This was a staged reading of a play by Claire Willett, presented as part of the Fertile Ground festival in January 2010.  I played Father Pascal, a Catholic priest and Benedictine monk.  In my long trek back to the stage, I consider this project to be a key milestone.  It was the first time I had played a character in a scripted play with multiple performances since I was in college.  And even though we were carrying scripts, we still had blocking to learn, and I really had to work on my character.  It took a lot of digging to figure out where I would stand in relationship with a character who is a priest and a monk.  What made the character finally click for me was some insight I found in a text about Michael Chekhov acting technique.  There was a chapter that discussed the concept of the "archetype", and that sent me looking for an archetype that would fit Father Pascal.  I read through the script and made a list of the actions he takes, then I started asking "who would do these things?"  The answer that made sense to me was "a shepherd", and that answer unlocked all of the scenes for me.  Of course, there was still the reality of doing the performances to deal with.  It was harder than I had remembered from my college days to keep my energy up from one night to the next.  However, the five performances went well, and we received many positive comments.

Pictured above are Jennifer Rowe as Molly, Brian Burger as Brother Leo, me as Father Pascal, and Rod Charrel as Abbot George.