September 21, 2021
Wilma Co-Artistic Director and Minor Character Co-Creator Morgan Green says one idea at the heart of the play is that “everyone has multiple selves inside of themselves.”
Minor Character is a fun remix of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya; six translations of Chekhov’s masterwork are kaleidoscopically knit together to make a highly entertaining new play. The actors each play multiple parts, often playing different versions of the same character.
During rehearsals, the creative team was asked about Morgan’s quote, and what the idea of “multiple selves inside of themselves” means to them.
This is what acting is all about. Holding the prism of our souls to the light and discovering what each fractal says about ourselves and the world around us.
Performer Justin Jain
Especially during the pandemic, myself and many people that I know have been entertaining ideas of different lives and different choices. What if I quit theater? What would I do? What would that look like? Who would I be? That sense of a fractured, possible other self is both frightening and compelling.
Performer Ross Beschler
This idea is at the center of my craft as an actor. I couldn’t do what I do if I didn’t recognize that I have some options in terms of who I am on a given day, in a given circumstance, or stage of life, and that I can access that multiplicity in the roles I play.
Performer Suli Holum
I feel I am always re-inventing myself. Perhaps there is something to the idea of multiple selves inside ourselves? Some or someones are constantly trying to be heard and seen.
Video Designer Leslie Rivera
As a queer man, I’ve spent much of my life putting forth various selves as I negotiated the balance between safety and authenticity (and even finding what my own authenticity is/means!). I think the fact that humans are so multifaceted is what makes us so beautiful and intriguing and even sometimes scary. What better way to reveal and investigate this aspect of human nature than to theatricalize it?
Assistant Director/Movement Director Jarod Hanson
I feel we can all relate to this. We all present the person we need to be in any given situation.
Lighting Designer J. Dominic Chacon
