Three Roles, One Actor
Contributed by Daniel Goodman
Today starts the last week before tech. week for Estranged Identity! Wow, time flies! Before I begin, I must say how much I admire Trueheart Productions. This truly is the most heartfelt production I’ve ever performed in.
I’m Daniel Goodman, a 25-year-old actor from Birmingham, Alabama, and I’m playing Caleb and the demon Revenge. As the play begins, we see young Caleb and his lover Anne meet in secret outside in the middle of the night. Even though they’ve been in love since they were kids, their love is forbidden because Anne was recently married off to an established older man. She’s written him a letter to end their relationship, and in the letter, she discloses a secret that will haunt him and his family beyond his death. We fast forward 40 years later (and 4 minutes of speedily applying aging make-up and a gray beard), and on his death-bed, Caleb’s secret letter is discovered by his oldest son. Then, after Caleb’s death, I’m going to quickly change again and wash off the aging make-up to apply evil, demented make-up to become the demon Revenge who possesses Mary Magdalene! What an amazing challenge!?
The most challenging scene for me is the scene in which I die at the feet of my son Jaden, played by the incredible Bryce Barclay. We sing a heart-wrenching duet about what it’s like to feel like an outcast. The dissonant harmonies subtly reflect the struggles we have communicating with one another. Tiffany is SO SMART! And she’s done a good job of making us smart singers too! There were some notes in there that were so hard to find, but she’s drilled them into our heads, and it’s going to sound fantastic. Praise is also due to Mr. Barclay and Mrs. Harris who are helping me to understand what it feels like to live with such an incriminating secret for 40 years. And they’re helping me imagine what a father/son relationship would be like from the opposite perspective. AND on top of all of that, they’re helping me understand what it should feel like in my body to be old and very near death. I’ve still got a lot of work to do on this scene, but it’ll get there because two weeks in the theatre world may as well be 40 years outside of it.
And when I’m not busy rehearsing my death, I get to have a riot with all of the demons–quite literally sometimes. We’re having a really good time learning the dance and fight choreography, but you’ll never know that as an audience member because we’re going to look extremely demented…because we’re demons…get it!? HAHA! But seriously, Lorianne’s choreography is chilling. Also, the movement work that we’ve done with her and Mrs. Harris for the scenes has been such fun work, but again, it’s not going to look pretty. You’re going to be utterly creeped out, and you’re going to love it! My character, Revenge, is seriously dangerous because he won’t stop until blood is spilled. Even that is mere fuel for the desire for more blood. He’s employed as the perfect weapon for Deception who wants to see Mary ruined. He’s unworldly, inhuman, even serpentine. He slithers into Mary’s thoughts so that he can drive her to do the unthinkable.
And tonight we run through the whole show, so I’ve got lots of work to do between now and then! I hope to see you from the stage!
