"I'm Enough" - an interview with actress Ito Aghayere, playing Hecate in MACBETH

ITO, ITO, ITO

I don't know what initially makes her so unapproachable to me, but she was. Before we sat down and she started speaking, I was scared to talk to her. I had a "game plan" that was simple and to the point.

This article was written
by Christina, a member
 of CSC NextGen.

No jokes, no laughing. Boy, was I wrong.

 "I act because it's a chance to be honest," she says so simply. As I talk to Ito I just remember how this was nothing like I expected. She was so honest and out there. There's no way to describe how unexpected our conversation was. "That moment before you get there,"  is her answer to the question of what's her favorite part of acting, "...Getting there. Doing what you want. Getting where you really want to be. That second before everything falls into place."

One role she would love to play that she hasn't yet is Harriet Tubman. Then she blows me away by saying something you don't really think about when you think about her. In a nutshell, Harriet Tubman started it all. She was the first African American women to do something huge, like the Underground Railroad, that really helped other African Americans. 

Then I asked her what was a role she really wanted but never got to play. As she answers I could see the passion in her eyes about a play called "The Suit" The part she wanted was 'the woman' (what a name for a character, I know.)

Ito at the opening night reception.

Then I just had to ask her about Macbeth, and how she felt about Shakespeare in general. Her first thoughts are as follows: "I thought it was for white people." But since then her views have changed. She praises the writing, and speaks about how his character are real, how he writes about people. Race and culture doesn't really matter, its just about the story line. She added that, "Shakespeare done conventionally is death." Her favorite play by him is HAMLET.


"What do you think about Macbeth? Because I hate him." I laughed. I can't stress how much this interview went nothing like I planned. She just wants me to quotes lines that I thought I would never hear her say. "Macbeth is... Saddam Hussein, the gang member, every bad person in the real world… but he's human." This is so true. He is the the backstabber, the fake friend, the gossip, the murderer. "I feel for him. With everything he goes thorough I feel for him as well… but that doesn't make me hate him less."

Her Role of Hecate is so odd. But in my eyes, so her. Even before I got to really talk to her and not fear from the side lines, I could tell. I asked her how she becomes the character Hecate. "First get rid of the 'witch' …I like to think about her as if she worked in finance… she would be a direct manger… she would set them straight." That IS what Hecate does, she sets the other witches straight.

Ito (Hecate in MACBETH) in rehearsal. Lauren (witch)
acts along with her in this scene.

I saw MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at Classic Stage Company (which Ito also starred in, as Beatrice) and I saw one of her rehearsals for MACBETH. She always play roles where the character has a strong will and/or stands out a lot in my perspective. I asked her: is that the type of role you go for most of the time, or do the roles match your personality? She answers, "How to fill a role is 50% you and 50% character, meaning every role will be different". Depending on the way YOU, and the director, see the character, it will be different. What you bring to a character will be based off of you. "I have fun with them," she says.

Then I got a little personal. I asked her what her passions are. She said producing, business development, and marketing. She has to be great off that alone. But then she has a passion for her church, Liberty Church, she puts a lot of work into it. She also sings. But the thing that stands out the most to me is that she collects "jars of things". She loves to make time capsules. One of the projects she did made me actually start one! You take a jar and in it you put slips of paper with good things that happened on it over the year. You write down things that made you happy, memories, anything. And at the end of the year, you go back and read them, it's a cool way to relive those special moments.

What's the scariest part of an audition? "Getting past the fear of not getting the job."

What is the best/worst part of being an actor? She says the best would be being exhausted, being spent, knowing you put your all into everything you did for the show. And the worst would be juggling. 

We ended the interview with a question I love to ask everyone. It's my favorite question because it makes you look back on you, on what you wish you did differently. The question is: what is it you know now that you wish you knew when you started?  "I'm enough."

Let me tell you, Ito, you are. You are a beast. You go on that stage and people remember you. You are what I want to be.