Compiled by Jeremy van Meter
Courtesy of Paul Mobley
The actors currently onstage in our version of Pride’s Crossing are nowhere near turning the age of 100. Many of those same actors do, however, portray characters that are quite close to reaching that milestone. Statistics tell us that as time passes, we human beings are living longer and that our expectations of reaching the century mark should be higher. It’s a question that few of us truly stop to consider, “what if I live to be 100?” I’ve asked Pride’s Crossing cast members Hal Cropp, Ben Gorman, and Adrienne Sweeney to recount their own process of building a character in their 90’s. As a 47-year-old currently playing a man in his mid-90’s, I have also contributed.
Also—be sure to click the link at the bottom of this page for a portrait study of centenarians courtesy of Slate.com and photographer Paul Mobley. You will be pleasantly surprised!
Hal Cropp: One of the most amazing things I’ve discovered in bringing Wheels Wheelock to life is how much he hangs on to the events of his youth. While it doesn’t make me feel wonderful to say it out loud, Wheels has grown into someone who has hung on to the real and/or perceived slights in his relationship with his wife Pinky. He bristles whenever she reminisces about past loves, be they Chandler Coffin or Alfred Nightengale. I can only hope that, should I reach Wheels’ age, I am able to release whatever slights I might still be carrying and truly live in the moment.
Ben Gorman: As I tried to create my version of Pinky Wheelock, I found myself assuming postures and taking on affectations of which I can’t quite be sure the source! Am I “making them up” from whole cloth, or accessing memories of observations made over a lifetime of interacting with my fellow human beings? I do trust my instincts and ideas, so I can only hope they produce a veracity in performance that the audience can observe—once they get past the jarring fact that a man, without benefit of makeup and only suggestions of costume, is playing an old woman, that is! I’ve decided that Pinky has a sunny disposition and that she’s a very positive person. And her physicality—at about 90 years of age—includes a few basic characteristics: a very curved-forward spinal stoop (which is quite uncomfortable to portray for extended periods!), a sort of retracted left arm—bent at the elbow, hand to the chest. Overall, there is a slight delay in her reactions to events—not so much as to delay the pacing the director needed for the scenes Pinky is in, but enough to suggest the slower reactions of advanced age. And with her impish sense of humor (she does a striptease after all!), she’s a joy to play.
Adrienne Sweeney: The most notable part of this process for me has been meeting with women in their 90’s. The thing that I have come away with, the thing that has really hit me, is the need to let senior adults live their own lives and make their own decisions for as long as realistically possible; to not rob a person of their autonomy just because they hit a certain age. Every single person I have met and talked with is so unique—had their own lives and styles of being in the world. That’s the biggest thing I’ll take away from this process…to really embrace each and every person as the individual they are. Also—if I live to be 90 I am quite sure I’ll be as ornery, stubborn, fiercely loyal and loving as Mabel. I sure hope so!
Jeremy van Meter: My only living grandparent, Dorothy Van Meter, turned 94 this year. One of the characters I portray in Pride’s Crossing is Chandler Coffin. At the beginning of the play, his age is defined as a “few years older” than Mabel who is 90. I have chosen that age to be 94. Other than some mental fragility, my Granny Van Meter has no physical ailments. Through the creation of Chandler, I have made the full realization that reaching 100-years-old does not relegate one to one’s bed. My Chandler at 94, is only “slightly” older than the Chandler of 30-years ago—perhaps a bit slower and more stooped over. There is a vibrancy to him that, as I look forward to my own advancing life, I am planning on and hoping to embrace and cultivate.
If I Live To Be 100
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2016/09/08/paul_mobley_s_if_i_live_to_be_100_is_a_portrait_study_of_centenarians_around.html
Pride’s Crossing with its delightful and multi-layered characters is onstage now at the Commonweal through November 13. Please come and share some time with us!
This summer I had two of the greatest honors an artist could ask for; one was portraying Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir and the other was bringing my own child to a full length theatrical performance for the first time in his life.
At first, I was anxious about how Little Bear would react. He’s very outgoing and I was nervous he would talk too much during the show. We came with two of his friends, and they all insisted we sit in the front row. My stomach was in knots. Little Bear, however, was completely engaged. Did he wiggle around? Yup, and he even moved seats to crawl into my lap. He whispered into my ear fairly often, sometimes to ask a question about what he was seeing, but often to report who was a bad guy and who was a good guy. The big moment came right before the end of Act One. The Musketeers say the traditional “All For One”, and Sabine responds with “And One for All!” HOWEVER, in the pause between the men speaking and her response, Little Bear enthusiastically jumped right in and yelled “AND ONE FOR ALL!” Callie, who portrays Sabine, waited a moment, then finished the act by saying her line. The entire cast was on stage, holding their expressions as best they could, though their twinkling eyes clearly showed they were about to crack up at Little Bear’s expression of love for the Musketeers.
So we’ve had a fun summer at our house. Little Bear has also seen Souvenir and on occasion he would mention “that show where you are the funny singing lady, Mommy.” When we wrapped up our production recently, I realized this was probably the show I have had the hardest time saying goodbye to in my entire acting career. I think this was the first one that spoke so deeply to me because of how deeply it impacted our audiences, even younger children. Following one performance, I was given a homemade cookie baked by a young girl in the audience. She said to me, “well, you just did something really nice for me by putting on such a great show so I thought I’d do something nice for you.” I did not want those special times to end. But as Madame Flo says “If only the music could go on forever, Cosme. But of course it can’t. Of course it has to end.” And so it did, until I realized the music would go on, just in a way I never expected it to.
There are a few experiences that I have had in my life that can utterly change me; that can take me from where ever I am and put me in another world, another place, even another reality. A recent performance of the Mahler Symphony #5 by the Minnesota Orchestra was one of those moments.
And the thing is, I do feel different. I know that I won’t be the person I was when I went into Orchestra Hall ever again. As I drove home, I thought about my week: a microcosm of my life, and how remarkable it is. I spent the week working on a production of High School Musical, Jr. with a group of kids. Now, even Mahler can’t make High School Musical into a transformative piece of theatre, but what it did is showed me these amazing kids that I get to work with, and share with. And that WILL transcend High School Musical. And I thought of all my students I worked with this week, and how I love working with each of them. Of how delighted I am as each one discovers something new or reaches a new artistic level. And how fortunate I am that I can be part of that. And I thought of the production of Putnam County Spelling Bee last night, and how amazed I was at the skill and joy in those kids’ performance. (And even of the surprise joy that I felt knowing that I had friends that would actually try to put me onstage.)
And I think about what I get to do this weekend: to perform in a wonderful show about a woman who so believed in the transformative power of music that she performed against all odds, and won my character over by teaching him how to experience music—and the world—the way she did. She says in the last part of the show, “If only we could live in the music forever, Cosme. If only it would go on and on.”
