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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT APRIL 11, 2024
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INTIMATE ACTS Summer Dawn Wallace helps Asolo Rep create a safe space for actors to get physical. MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
A
s the characters Esther and George embrace and caress each other on their
wedding night in 1906 in Asolo Repertory Theatre’s production of Lynn Nottage’s “Intimate Apparel,” you can feel the audience collectively holding its breath. What’s going to happen next? Thanks to the internet, viewers from 9 to 90 have millions of scenes of nudity and sex at their fingertips. Scenes of intimate human behavior that once might have been shocking have become run of the mill, even on mainstream channels like Netflix. That’s not the case in the theater. It’s still a big deal for actors (especially celebrities) to take off their clothes and engage in real or pretend sexual behavior. Nudity and intimacy pack a bigger punch on the stage than on a small screen. But who decides what actions players will take to express their ardor or their lack of interest? That’s a question not easily answered. Historically, a playwright would insert stage directions such as “kisses her” or “grabs him” into the play. Or a director might instruct his actors how they are supposed to behave. In other cases, it’s left to the actors to map out the intimate action on their own. But a change has happened in these power dynamics in the wake of the #MeToo movement. There’s also been greater concern about physical contact between actors in response to pandemic precautions beginning in March 2020. Actors are gaining what is called “agency,” control over how their bodies are handled and how they touch someone else. Enter the intimacy coordinator. “This is a new role for the theater,” says Summer Dawn Wallace, artistic director of Sarasota’s blackbox Urbanite Theatre and intimacy coordinator for the Asolo Rep, Florida’s largest Actors Equity theater. “Coming out of COVID, there was an attempt to establish best practices. Theater started examining the power dynamics of putting a play together,” she continues. As a result, a new role was defined. “The titles are intimacy choreogra-
Summer Dawn Wallace is artistic director of Urbanite Theatre.
“This is a new role for the theater. Coming out of COVID, there was an attempt to establish best practices.” Image courtesy of Sorcha Augustine
— Summer Dawn Wallace
Maxine Hadley and Brooke Turner star in Asolo Repertory Theatre’s “Dial M for Murder.”
Image courtesy of Frank Atura
SEE INTIMATE, PAGE 2
John Leggett and Caitlin Rose in FSU/Asolo Conservatory’s production of “Miss Julie.”