ActorQuest - Kristin Huffman Goes Inside 'Company' 18

In November, Kristin Huffman made her Broadway debut as Sarah (flute, piccolo and sax) in John Doyle's production of Company.  The actress, with a new series of tales that go inside the making of Company from an actor's perspective, starting at the Cincinnati Playhouse and on to New York, continues her stories about a 15-year career that has led her to the door of the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

This is the eighteenth story about the "Making of Company."  If you haven't read the others, go back and do so and then rejoin us here!

SCENE EIGHTEEN: EXPERIMENTAL

Since we had already performed Company for three months in Cincinnati, I assumed we wouldn't be playing in any more cool "John Doyle experiments." Wrong!  Last week we were given a whole new set of trials more challenging than our first experience. Perhaps we had graduated to "John Doyle 201".

Once again we hit the "line" game and were told to stand wherever our characters related to a certain concept.  The first one was about age; stand on a spot that represented either 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 or 50 years of age. I stood in between 40 and 45.  John moved me over to the 45 year spot. To say that I resisted the older woman persona is an understatement but as I took my stand there I did begin to grow a bit of maturity for my ideas of Sarah.

The next line dance was for those who felt that their characters were the "strong ones in the relationship."  It was funny to see both members of the married couples standing in the same place on the line. Almost every one in the cast thought of themselves as the most controlling person in a relationship which probably came out of our real life personas.  After that we stood on the line if we felt we were "happy" in the relationship.  This one was more ambivalent. Usually one person in the couple felt fine, and the other did not. That too seems consistent with real life couples.  He also asked us to consider whether any of us had been married before. That made for a few interesting twists! Keith (Harry) stood on the line saying he had been married before which totally blew my mind! Or Sarah's. I think he did it just to irritate me. 

I know what you are saying: "Kristin, you have been playing these characters since January, don't you all know them well enough yet?"  Well, how long have you been married, or in a relationship?  Does anyone really know themselves so well that they don't need to dig a little deeper, clarify a few more things about life and what you want from it, sift through it all to find the real gold in the relationship? If real life relationships change and grow, then pretend ones need to do that as well.

Last week in rehearsal John helped me find a deeper, more 'hurt' spot for Sarah.   To say that he helped me link it to my real life would be an understatement because I ended upcrying through the entire song, "Sorry/Grateful".  This is the song my husband sings describing his feelings about marriage while I play the flute slowly walking the perimeter of the stage. As I listened to the words, "You're always sorry, you're always grateful, you're always wondering what might have been, then she walks in", I was overtaken by the truth of those feelings. Normally I would have been embarrassed for crying this much in front of everyone, but the cast seemed to become even more supportive to play their instruments more strongly to support my tearful meltdown. As I passed my cast mates sitting on their boxes around the perimeter, I saw sympathetic tears in other people's eyes as well.  Which only made me cry more.  The experience not only helped me connect with Sarah in a deeper way but with the cast as well. It served to release pent up frustrations and freed me to focus on things in my own relationships in a different way.  That little experiment was precious.

John, the "Actor Whisperer" always was at work to find the inner core of the real person playing the part in order to bring out the character in a way that is not superficial or put on in anyway. Sometimes it hurts for a bit, but tweezing apart the emotions does help you see the specimen more clearly.  And that was just one layer!

Today we did another exercise where we just picked up the pace on everything.  Still another exercise was to find the "wit" in everything.  When he says "wit" he means the sexy part of thinking, the part you feel in your head and not your gut.  It involves the idea that there are dimensions to your dialogue. It may be simply banter but underneath it is meant to get the attention - or the goat - of your partner. All of that is cerebral.  Layering that on top of the emotional core was a real challenge....but it added another aspect to all of our characters.

Since I have been trying to let go of the "pageant" side in my portrayal of Sarah,  I was pleasantly surprised when John asked us to do Side by Side as if we were the over the top version of our characters.  I asked if that meant I could really go for all those things that we had been taking out of my ideas about her and he said "Yes, Kristin, add in all that Miss Ohio/Miss America stuff!".  After that exercise John said "Kristin, I think that is the happiest you have been all week".  Miss Ohio I can do!   But then, for me, that was just another part to play.

Still working on Side by Side we tried a version where everything our partner did irritated the hell out of us.  That one was fun too because I kept having to be sure "Harry" was not sneaking drinks or checking out the other ladies at the party.  I got to "talk" with my flute a lot in ways that just an actor/singer could not do. I added a lot of lines with my flute to express what Sarah was just thinking.  Trills and sassy flute phrases say things like "Knock it off asshole" or "Put down that drink now!  Mr. Sondheim did not write those lines, but my flute insisted I say them to Harry anyway. There were many aspects of that experiment that I would like to keep in my performance.

Little bits and pieces of each exercise, each line game, finds its way in to the performances. I am quite sure that John doesn't even care if we emphasize this facet one night and then another facet on another night. He has created an atmosphere that encourages experimentation.  I don't even think he worries about the final product or even if there is a final product. He is satisfied if the actors find themselves as real people in a real story.

Being given that kind of freedom comes as a tremendous relief even though this show is very stylized and specific.  Our musical playing is very "spot on" and rehearsed but our own performances are not. They are based on our real lives, actions and emotions, which are always in flux.

How much truer could we possibly be to a story that talks specifically about relationships and their benefits and drawbacks, than to show the uncertain progression through them? To experiment with ideas and concepts that we can use in our real lives too.  And who better to lead us through the journey than John, a truly wonderful experimental alchemist?

Kristin's column sponsored by:  www.gardengate.unfranchise.com   "Visit us for cutting edge products in health care, nutrician, weight management, makeup, skin care, website solutions and much more!"  THE ONE STOP SHOPPING EXPERIENCE!

For more information also visit KristinHuffman.net.

Photos by Fred Rose: Amy and Matt; Bruce and real life wife, Karen; Kristin and saxophone; Heather and real life hubby, Ben; John and Mary-Mitchell