CURTAIN CALLS NAME Kate Burton
NAME Nael Nacer
ROLE Nikolayevna Arkadina
ROLE Semyon Semyonovich Medvedenko
HOMETOWN New York, New York
HOMETOWN Paris, France
MOST RECENT HUNTINGTON ROLE Miss Moffat in The Corn is Green
MOST RECENT HUNTINGTON ROLE Simon Stimson in Our Town
WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS WANT YOU TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? My father wanted me to be a writer and my mother was happy for me to be an actress only if it made me happy. MOST MEMORABLE ACTING EXPERIENCE FROM EARLY IN YOUR CAREER? One of my most memorable early acting experiences was playing Alice in Alice in Wonderland on Broadway directed by Eva LeGallienne. I was feeling a bit under the weather (aka hung over) when one of my co-actors suggested that what would make me feel better was Dr. Footlights (aka doing the show). He was right. That actor was playing the Doormouse and his name was...Nicholas Martin. We have been at each other’s side ever since! NAME Nancy E. Carroll ROLE Paulína Andreyevna HOMETOWN Born in Haverhill, Massachusetts and raised in Ohio MOST RECENT HUNTINGTON ROLE Alice Croll in Rapture, Blister, Burn WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS WANT YOU TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? I think my mother would have preferred I had chosen something more reliable, but my father told me when I was in my teens to follow my heart and live the life that fed my soul. MOST MEMORABLE ACTING EXPERIENCE FROM EARLY IN YOUR CAREER? Every job has taught me, informed me, scared me, and delighted me; they can bring joy, tears, and laughter. I look forward to each new role to see what challenge it presents.
would contain a secret message for her. She attended the premiere, and though she didn’t think much of the piece, she eagerly noted down the page and line number where the words, “If you ever want my life, come and take it,” were cited in Trigorin’s works. The joke concluded when Avilova found that the reference pointed to a sentence in one of her own stories: “It is not proper for young ladies to go to masked balls.” Lydia Mizinova (Lika to her friends) was a bodacious blonde, amateur opera singer, and frequent guest at the writer’s estate at Melikhovo. She and Chekhov exchanged hundreds of letters, alternately passionate and derisory. “You so turned my head that I can believe twice two is five,” he wrote to her. “What am I to say, poor thing,” she replied, “if it’s you who has so turned my head
WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS WANT YOU TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? I think my parents would have been delighted if I’d gone into the world of business. MOST MEMORABLE ACTING EXPERIENCE FROM EARLY IN YOUR CAREER? I’m still in the early years of my career, and I was lucky enough to be a part of Our Town at the Huntington. The play, the people, the music, the gasps, sobs, and sighs from the audience will vividly remain with me for a long, long time. NAME Morgan Ritchie ROLE Konstantin Gavrílovichi Treplev HOMETOWN New York, New York MOST RECENT HUNTINGTON ROLE Morgan Evans in The Corn Is Green WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS WANT YOU TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? I don’t think what I did was important to them as long as I was happy. I knew from a young age, though, that I wanted to be involved in theatre, it just seemed like such a fun and exciting place to be, as I saw it growing up. MOST MEMORABLE ACTING EXPERIENCE FROM EARLY IN YOUR CAREER? They’ve all been pretty memorable, honestly, but my first time at the Huntington (in The Corn is Green) was probably the most exciting. I got my Equity card, and felt, for the first time, like a “real” actor (whatever that means). It was a very important part of my development, and I know I’ll always feel a connection to the Huntington because of that. Visit huntingtontheatre.org/seagull for expanded interviews with the cast.
that I can actually believe you, and can even believe that you want to see me?” Lika attempted to coax Chekhov into a more committed relationship — “I’m burning the candle of my life at both ends. Come and help me burn it quickly” — but she was ultimately frustrated. Instead she took up with his friend Potapenko, a married novelist, though he abandoned her when she became pregnant. As an aspiring performer amongst the famous artists at Melikhovo, she has been taken as a prototype of Nina in The Seagull, and Nina’s tragic dalliance with Trigorin seems lifted directly from Lika’s affair with Potapenko — until one realizes that the true-life situation occurred years after its fictional prototype. Chekhov, it seems, understood his friends only too well. - SAM LASMAN
SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR AND EVENT LISTINGS HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG
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