ActorQuest - Kristin Huffman Goes Inside 'Company' 22

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

SCENE TWENTY-TWO:  AND I FELT NOTHING

I didn't think this work could get any harder but it did when John Doyle asked me "not to do so much." I already had calmed down my acting as much as my personality would permit and still he wanted more... or less. Even though I greatly trust him it is very hard to jettison this hard learned, hard earned acting vocation. Increasingly, people encourage my comic tendencies when they comment on my timing or energy or quirkiness. Now he wants me to drop that persona to let "Sarah" speak.

It is ironic that I preach to my students that they should tone down their performances.   Just relax and let the words do the work, but it is a different story when it comes to my own Broadway debut. When I unconsciously began adding stuff back in to my role, John thought the problem may be my need to feel "interesting." Perhaps, he hinted, therapy would help. He said we all want to please an audience but if we approach acting with that objective – to make them laugh, to make a point, to please them – we may not communicate the role effectively and faithfully. It is a matter of "performing" rather than "being". I realize my tendency to please others actually gives them control of my life through my need for approval. 

It is a common problem with actors. Raul has had to work on this. Barbara has had to pull back. The entire cast has been challenged to use the previews as a training ground for this concept and for ourselves. We want to turn the audience from the typical expectation of flashy musical theater where they clap after every song into an audience that thinks, that internalizes and someday, acts on the experience. It is all so contrary to the usual musical theater ethos. So we don't encourage applause that interrupts the flow of the dialogue. We accomplish this acting style by just continuing our dialogue as if we were in a conversation with outers overhearing and occasionally laughing. Even our karate scene, performed in 'virtual' separated style, asks the audience to see this show differently. Some get it; some don't.

College kids seem to adore this show.  They love the feeling of it being "real".   They are drawn into the words and the story.  Some theatre aficionados who saw the original version of this Sondheim show are not as thrilled with our version. They respect the work, but they can't seem to get over the lack of "stuff".  John says that he considers it a major accomplishment that we actually gain and own the silence in the second half.  When, in musical theatre, do you ever feel good about silence? The second half is serious and powerful – and it also makes people uncomfortable.

This style of acting makes actors uncomfortable.  It's hard to submerge your ego because without a little bit of ego none of us would have the confidence to do all this!   It's hard to think of yourself as interesting without doing all the things that you have been told over the years make you interesting.  But tonight, when I did it his way I began to get more laughs. I tried not to hear them and to concentrate on speaking to the two men in my scene.   I delivered my lines by just standing in one spot and hardly moving. And the damn audience laughed!  They laughed when I was doing nothing!

Before the show started I actually had felt a bit discouraged and obstinate about doing my part this way.  You see, I trust John; I just don't trust myself.  So, I decided to do "nothing" as he asked just to show him that I am not as good without my "stuff."  I did nothing. They laughed. They clapped. Damn them.

John says he likens the audience to people in an art museum who suddenly see a great painting. They stand with their mouths open.  When I saw his Sweeney Todd last year, I sat there with my mouth open for the first act. John won a Tony for that show. Of course, you can't go for such an idea as making them drop their jaws. You just trust Sondheim's lines and lyrics. No tricks or funny faces. No embellishments. Just really meaning the lines and letting the words and music do the work.

So, were my years of training and apprenticeship wasted? Did I learn to project my voice in vain? Why did I ever try to learn any technique at all?  This new way precipitates an identity crises and so I called home to get my father's advice. He put it all in words that I could understand. He is very non judgmental and helps me get over myself and see the work at hand. Then he convinced me that the audience would feel that way too. Subconsciously they will feel honored that they have been invited to be part of the drama on a deeper level than simply being entertained. After all this struggle, I think I got it even though I almost had to put myself in a trance so as not to overdo everything. 

John said it was much better. When I began to rethink it all to put into words, he told me to leave it alone, not over intellectualize it and to just go.  He has faith that I can do it again.  I am still trying hard to believe that myself but it was a good start. Now, after all this excitement on the Broadway, I am going home... to do nothing.

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: Kristin Huffman, Keith Buterbaugh and John Doyle; John Doyle; Kristin Huffman, Keith Buterbaugh and John Doyle; John Doyle