"Everywhere, At All Times": An Interview with Ariel (Kevin Tobias) by Quiana

Quiana!

Quiana was working on a scene from THE TEMPEST in a class at school. Who was she playing? None other than Ariel, Prospera's "tricksy spirit"!  Since she knew the character pretty well, she thought it would be interesting to hear more from the Young Company actor playing the same role: Kevin Tobias.

Kevin Tobias, the actor  playing
Ariel in CSC's Young  Company
production of THE TEMPEST.

Since you have experience in TV/Film and Theater, as an actor, which do you like best and why?

I love them both, but they are completely different.  I have an undergraduate degree in TV and Film, so I love the process of film making.  Film is very technical, and as an actor you have a completely different mindset.  A director can make these edits and technical adjustments that can make no sense, and an actor can mess up and ask for another take.  Film is not as glamorous as everyone thinks it is - ultimately it's a job, and sometimes you have work 12-to-14 hour shifts on set.  Theater is a collaborative effort and the execution is very different.  In theater you can't hide, so all of your flaws are out for everyone to see.  There is this thrill about being on stage; even with preparation, on opening night anything can happen!

As a Spirit or a “Super natural element” - do you have more creative freedom as an actor to shape and mold you character?  A male or female could play this character - so it really depends on the actor’s perspective/interpretation of the character.

Kevin as Ariel

Ariel is an interesting role!  In a scholarly sense, Ariel represents what Prospera wants and what she wishes she could be, but is not quite.  Caliban, on the other hand, is the part of her that she doesn’t like - the negative - so there’s this dark vs. light, man vs. self theme throughout the play. It is as if Prospera is enslaved by her evil thoughts and the relationship she has with Ariel helps her overcome that dark side, thus ultimately freeing her. Throughout the play the audience resonates with the compassion and respect Prospera has for Ariel. The biggest challenge for me is trying to figure out what it means to be a spirit.  Ariel is pretty snarky, sneaky and sarcastic which is clear when he says “what of my potent master… here I am.”  Even though Ariel responds to Prospera like this, he always comes back because there is this level of mutual respect. Ariel can shape shift, is everywhere and he is one with everything; he doesn’t have to try as hard as Caliban to gain Prospera’s respect. What I like about this production is that the technical stuff really helps me with my character. I can focus on delivering the lines while the visual/sound effects take care of the rest.  We also have a team of spirits which serve as one entity spirit - Ariel is the head, and the other spirits serve as the arms and legs. I think this is cool because it gives off the effect that Ariel is everywhere. The director wanted there to be a balance between mystical (magical) and demonic. He tried to move away from the typical fairy dream world and made the spirits more insect-like.

Is it new or hard for you as an actor to rely on and adapt to the technical/ special effects aspects of the production?

I’m excited because the set and design help me a lot! I don’t have to worry about making all these supernatural things happen, so I can focus more on the text and what I need/want from the scene. Therefore I can easily learn from the scenery and how what I’m doing affects the scene.  

Kevin and his fellow "Ariel Spirits" in one of the more magical moments of the show.

Did you want to play Ariel, or did the director say, “Here, try this character!”?

It was actually my first time reading this play so I wasn’t really familiar with the characters. When I first read through it I found it to be complicated, experimental and one of the most amazingly written plays. There is so much that goes on in the plot in the span of 3 hours, it’s insane! At the time of auditioning, I didn’t know who I wanted to play because I was taken aback by the complexity of the play.  Finally during call backs I played both Calaban (who has beautiful and humble speeches) and Ariel (who was strange, and I didn’t understand at all). I wasn’t sure about Ariel until I realized that the relationship he has with Prospera was key in the play. It is interesting to see Prospera through Ariel’s eyes. 

Where does the Tempest land on your list of William Shakespeare plays?  Is it your favorite?
I'm not sure - that's a really great question.  My favorite Shakespeare characters are from some of his worst or unusual plays like Richard the II and Henry the 6th.  I don't have a favorite play.  If a play is done well then it can be great and amazing to watch.

Kevin with fellow actor Greg Nussen (Caliban)
putting on makeup for the performance.

You mentioned earlier that this is your first time reading/ really digging through the Tempest - was it hard understanding your character?

Yes, it was difficult reading it for the first time; I felt completely lost. It only comes through once you start embodying the text of the play and the words of Shakespeare. When you go through it, allowing that to change and affect you, it helps you unmask the true meaning of the play and the purpose of the character. You realize this word is here because of this and a certain motion/ gesture gives the audience insight on the characters intentions.  You can become the character once you allow the text to fully live in your body. For example, two people can play Hamlet - they can say the same words and the end result will still be different, because each actor embodies and interprets the character a different way. If I ever get lost, I go back to the text, because Shakespeare lays it all out for you in the text. He was a genius with language! In this production I have been given a gift where I can step in with these elements and music layered with spirits and my character becomes whole. 

In the play Prospero is originally a man. Do you think the relationship between Ariel and Prospero changes when the character is played by a woman (Prospera)?

Yes - actually, in the scene where Ariel convinces Prospera to forgive everyone, he appeals to her motherly side. A mother-daughter relationship is more nurturing and intimate than a father-daughter relationship, which tends to be more controlling. The part where she is giving away her daughter is very interesting because Prospera - the actress in the play, Ito Aghayere - is not old.  If a man where playing the role of Prospero, that moment would be a lot different because he is an old, strict and controlling man.

Walking into this play, what took you off guard, in regard to the characters and the direction they wanted to go in? What made it so different from anything you’ve seen from a William Shakespeare play?

The greatest challenge is that I don’t have as much text, but I am on stage throughout most of the play. Ariel has to be everywhere, at all times, so I have to focus on how to always be present and conscience of my movements. For some scenes I am sitting at rest, but I have to always focus on what is going on in the scene and react to what’s going on in the scene without saying anything.  Shakespeare's plays are also very intimidating because you have to get everything right - if one person messes up a word you can hear it! Shakespeare has a certain rhythm in his text, so if a person misses a line or word, it sounds like a train is derailing.  Even though Ariel doesn’t have a lot to say, he has spontaneous lines, where he has to jump into a scene and deliver a line. So my greatest challenge is learning how to always be present and be ready to jump in at any given moment.

Becoming Miranda: An Interview with Actress Sheyenne Javonne Brown (by Dyandra and Loylia)

Two interviews for the price of one! Both Dyandra and Loylia sat down with Sheyenne and spoke to her about her playing Miranda in THE TEMPEST. Both girls found that while Miranda may traditionally be played as a sheltered and perhaps vulnerable character, this actress had different ideas for her! 

First up, DYANDRA:

I had the chance to sit down with the lovely Sheyenne Javonne Brown before a recent rehearsal for THE TEMPEST. Sheyenne plays Miranda. I was initially scared to interview her, but that was put to ease as I saw how calm, down to earth and nice she is. I also learned that she is a Bronx native and got to meet her adorable newborn son.

CSC NextGen 
member, Dyandra

I asked her about if and how her background in teaching helps her understand Shakespeare better.  She says that she doesn't know if it helps her understanding, but it did help her take more risks. (Since as a teacher, she says she has a script, and she does role-plays and creative projects.)

I was curious as to what some of her challenges were in trying to become Miranda. She told me that they were still in the beginning processes. But she is trying to resist the wide-eyed teenage girl stereotype because she personally feels Miranda as a character is smarter than that, and does not want her to be portrayed as solely that kind of girl.

Sheyenne Javonne Brown, the actress playing

Miranda in the Young Company's 

production of THE TEMPEST.

I wanted to know if knowing the other characters helped her play Miranda better. She answered yes. She creates her backstory based on how she interacts around other characters. She explained to me that in her backstory, since her mother Prospera is a duchess and knows power, she teaches Miranda to be more of a feminist. She also talks about how Miranda will see how she feels about Ferdinand suggesting that he’s been with a lot of women! 

I talked to her about how she is going to play Miranda different from other productions of THE TEMPEST. She told me that she is playing her a bit more sassier.  She’s playing her as very powerful and intelligent. She feels as though in other productions she is played as naive. Sheyenne feels like she is a boss and very direct.  She knows what she wants.

Lastly I asked Sheyenne what she liked and disliked about Shakespeare. She likes that there are certain women characters who are strong but ok with vulnerability. She says that she even worked on a monologue for a whole year because she loved it that much. She says that she doesn’t really dislike anything. But she doesn’t really enjoy the scanning and antithesis because she’s never really that confident in those things!

Next up, LOYLIA:

CSC NextGen 
Member, Loylia

Getting the opportunity to observe several of the actors practice memorizing their lines and plan out scenes has given me the chance to take in a few tips and ideas about ways that I could also practice for a production. During the observation, I noticed the actors taking their time to read their lines. That way the true meaning of what’s being said captures the audience's attention, and gives them a clearer understanding of why they're saying what they’re saying.

Sheyenne, as Miranda (left) with fellow cast members

Ethan Nguyen, as Ferdinand and

Ito Aghayere as Prospera (back right).

After the observation, I had the chance to interview Sheyenne, who plays Miranda in the production. Miranda is a gentle and compassionate character who doesn’t have that much exposure to the world, being that her father, Prospero, and his slave, Caliban, are the only two men she’s seen in her lifetime. Because of this, Miranda is pretty much unaware of the danger that may surround her and it causes me to personally believe that she’s extremely vulnerable.

Finding out in the interview that Sheyenne is a mother, I asked her how she manages to make time for rehearsals and practice and her response was that she just does it. It’s complicated at times but if you really want to do something, you commit and just do it. 

I also asked what it’s like for her to play a role such as Miranda and if she notices any similarities or differences between them. Her response was pretty much that any role would have been difficult; that Miranda is different from Sheyenne but you just have to learn to become the character and play with it a little. Take risks.

An interview with Caliban (Greg Nussen) by Carla

NextGen members have been going behind the scenes and interviewing actors in CSC's production of The Tempest.  Carla thought it would be cool to interview Greg Nussen, the actor playing the "monster", Caliban. 

CSC NextGen
member, Carla!

I was watching the rehearsal for The Tempest.  Prospero (who interestingly in this case was a woman, "Prospera") called for the monster to appear. There was Caliban, who entered the scene screaming with anger, while chains held him back from ravaging his master.  I watching in awe of the sudden burst of energy that entered the stage. I thought to myself, “Wow, he’s kind of scary. Do I really have to interview him?” But the actor, Greg, who played Caliban came to greet me and he looked a lot friendlier with a smile. I then began the interview with ease.

Greg Nussen, the actor playing Caliban
in CSC's Young Company production
of THE TEMPEST.

I asked Greg about his first acting experience.
He told me he played as the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz when he was only seven years old. Greg has been acting for so long, that it was the only job for him.

I asked how he felt about being on stage as a profesional.
Personally, I know getting on stage with people glaring at me can be incredibly nerve-racking. Greg said that the adrenaline pushes him and allows him to delve into character.

I asked him how playing Caliban compared to the scarecrow. 

He mentioned how they both have a longing for something which created a feeling of absence and pity. The scarecrow wanted a brain while Caliban wanted ownership of the island. We were talking so in depth of this topic that we realized the scarecrow and Caliban were both repressed by sticks; the scarecrow is originally can’t move since he attached to stick that was planted firmly on the ground while Prospera’s magic stick gives her the power to control Caliban. It was fun to make these connections. I also learned how Greg portrays his character. Caliban is known as a character with a monstrous size and Greg is normal-sized. He used his features to show Caliban as a "tempestuous" child (did you get the pun?) instead of a hideous monster.

Greg, as Caliban (right) with fellow cast members
Sophie Amoss, as Trinculo (far left) and
Adam Petchel, as Stephano.

“If you were a girl, what do you think Caliban’s feminine name would be?” 
I remember he looked confused, but laughed nonetheless. He could only think of leaving it as "Caliban".  I offered to change the name to "Calibana", and I think he agreed with me. After the interview, I thought that I could possibly change people's names for a living.