After 20 years apart, a woman tracks down her ex-husband, a poet living in a grungy trailer in the Colorado mountains. Their raw, funny, heartbreaking reunion unfolds in a new play called "Annapurna" by Sharr White, currently running at Theaterworks in Hartford.
"Your job is to put yourself in the story. Wherever that journey takes you is where it takes you, and the audience affects that journey."
Debra Jo Rupp
The show has two actors: Debra Jo Rupp and Vasili Bogazianos. They came into WNPR's studio to talk about working together on the piece.
Vasili Bogazianos: We didn’t know each other beforehand, but we had a lot of mutual friends. We were just lucky because when we met, I think there was an instant connection, and we both respect each other’s work. It’s a shared experience, and I think without that connection, I don’t know that the play could work as well as it does. I like to think that we’re believable as a couple, both in our attitudes, and the way that we look -- that we look like we could be a couple, and it's just been a great experience for me. I couldn’t ask for better.
Debra Jo Rupp: I feel the same.
WNPR's Diane Orson: I had this image when I was watching you of that "trust fall" game when someone falls, and has to rely on the other partner to catch them.
VB: Well, that’s a good analogy, really. That’s true about any play you do, but with a two-hander, if you don’t have somebody to catch you, you’re doomed. I mean, it’s the two of you against the world
DJR: We made a pact very early on that we would never do a perfect show, which kind of takes the onus off of us. Lines are dropped, and things happen during the course of the show that we just deal with as we go along. As Vasili said, there is a great deal of respect between the two of us, which for me, when people talk about chemistry between actors, I think chemistry is respect. The more respect you have for the person you work with, the more chemistry you have with them. I think it shows with this play.
The play unfolds slowly over time. The characters seem to dance around. You have a sense that there’s something out there that’s going to reveal itself at some point, and eventually it does. When it does, it's very powerful, and the characters seem to be grappling with grief, and love, and anger, and all these emotions. I know you’re professionals; this is your job -- but how do you tap into that deep well over and over again?
VB: Well, I know this is a cliché, but I don’t know if I can really describe it. Part of it I don’t want to describe, because sometimes if you go there, you become self-conscious about it. If you’re self-conscious about it, it just removes a certain level of believability, if that makes any sense.
DJR: I think that foremost as an actor, you’re a storyteller. Your job is to put yourself in the story, so it's not that difficult. It’s never the same, but you start the show where the show starts, where the story starts. Then you live through the journey of that show. Wherever that journey takes you is where it takes you, and the audience affects that journey. It's different every night because of the audience, too, and the way they respond.
Debra Jo, it was so refreshing, and for me very affecting to see a play centered on characters who were not young ingénues. They’re middle-aged; they’re trying to come to grips with the journey of their life, really, and it’s a great woman’s role. Can you talk about that?
DJR: When Rob [Ruggiero] called me to talk about [a different] play, I loved that play, and I’m not a great play reader. I’m like yeah, okay, send me the play. Then I have to beat myself over the head to read it.
This one, I started reading, and I don’t think I put it down until it was done. I think I read it in half an hour. I’ve been fortunate in the last three years -- these roles are coming to me. You know, I had a bit of a hard time coming back from Hollywood, because I was a Hollywood actress then, and I have to re-break into theater at the very young age of over 50. So this was completely and purely a gift.
I think the play seems to hit everybody. Everyone has some connection to this play, and the woman – she’s strong, and she’s funny. I just like who she is. I really like her.
