The birth of a fringe play
Andrea Karr sits in The Waiting Room eagerly anticipating her first play
WILLIAM O’DONNELL
It is definitely festival season in Winnipeg. At the Winnipeg Folk Festival, I caught up with a young playwright and actress, Andrea Karr, to talk about her upcoming show for the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Finding a crossed wire between festivals is an extremely common phenomenon in our fine river city, as is my experience. Such phenomena seem to allow for much informality in the business, it would seem, as we are both decked out in our light summer fatigues during our interview. Granted, my idea of light summer attire is shorts and a T-shirt, that aren’t black . . . but this is far away from the point.
Scantily dressed in hippy-esque gear or not, Karr is livid but concentrated about her major undertaking — a show she has written called The Waiting Room; “the painfully funny story of three siblings, all grown up, and coping with their mother’s terminal illness,” as her promotional material details.
The pain spoken of here is very personal for Karr. The story is loosely based on the events surrounding the death of her grandfather. Karr explained to me that, though she believes the seven signs of grieving (acceptance, anger, denial, depression, fear, guilt, shock; according to many self-help pamphlets, books and the like) to be a myth, she placed each of her grieving characters into a different stage, and played with the dynamics of that. The play “is very sad,” notes Karr, “The actors will get very emotional during rehearsal.” Karr feels that the actors’ expression of emotion is a testament to how well the cast is doing. Despite long rehearsals, “sometimes lasting all day” Karr notes, “they are very believable,” she boasts with motherly pride. None of her characters handle the idea of loss very well, according to Karr, especially her own. Yes, this play is so personal to her that she cast herself in it.
Karr has taken on most of the aspects of this production including costumes, props and publicity, along with her writing and acting. Karr proclaimed that she wanted “complete control” but was advised not to direct (perhaps the one thing she isn’t doing for this show). “You have to see what’s happening . . . and that’s why I got Andrew (Cecon) to direct.”
Karr is very satisfied with her choice in director. “He is really in tune with the script and comes up with ideas that are very different to my own, which is good.” Cecon and Karr butted heads a bit about her own character (named Rachael), whom she based a bit on herself, because Karr had a hard time going against her instincts — acting more immature than she normally would. Karr got past this initial reluctance and has embraced her own created character; despite the occasional “immaturity,” being “magnified in her paranoia,” and other traits now honed by her and Cecon.
All of this hard work and this is Karr’s first attempt at writing a play. The idea of writing a play came from an assignment for one of her theatre courses at the University of Manitoba. While she never submitted it as such, the seed had been planted that eventually turned into a personal goal that is coming into full fruition almost entirely by her own hands. After the Fringe Fest, Karr is not sure about what she plans to do with The Waiting Room, whether to show it again or rework it at all. “It depends on how it’s received I suppose,” Karr says, but with the promise that this won’t be her one and only attempt at writing.
Typical problems have arisen during the long pre-production, as expected for most shows, but each have been resolved by themselves and in a short amount of time. “(This show) is meant to be,” Karr states while looking radiantly positive about her whole experience (and not just from the hot summer sun we’re engulfed under); “I’m so proud of it.”
The Waiting Room, directed by Andrew Cecon, written by and featuring Andrea Karr, with Eric Blais, Jennette Heinrichs, Nicholas Palinka is playing in Venue 2, “MTC up the Alley.”
Be sure to catch this show as well as many other great shows (several of which feature other Black Hole and U of M alumnus) at this year’s festival.
