An IU MFA student portrays her most challenging character yet in 'The Seagull'
Allison Moody is no stranger to the stage, but her upcoming role in The Seagull brings a challenge to the actress.
A third-year Master of Fine Arts student at Indiana University Bloomington, Moody portrays the leading character Arkadina in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, which opens Feb. 22 at the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center in Bloomington.
After an aging Russian star and her companion depart to her country estate, romances of attraction collide with a comedy of love, betrayal and money in The Seagull. Third-year MFA student Erik Friedman directs the play.
Allison Moody (right) plays Arkadina in the IU Theatre and Drama production of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull."
A native of Stilwell, Kan., Moody received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Drake University. Moody has appeared in the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center as Mistress Overdone in Measure for Measure, Viola in Twelfth Night, Maura in Reel, Meg in The Birthday Party, Liz Morden in Our Country's Good and Dr. Charlotte in Falsettos. This past summer, she appeared at the Brown County Playhouse as Rhetta Cupp in Pump Boys and Dinettes and Diana in Lend Me a Tenor, as well as in IU's Premiere Musicals as Irene in the The Sixth Borough.
Moody's regional credits include Defying Gravity and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well at Brown Couch Theatre Company in Chicago. At the Minnesota Repertory Theater, she played Aldonza in a production of Man of La Mancha and Cecily in The Odd Couple.
Moody has trained at the Improv Olympic, The Audition Studio in Chicago and at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She is the recipient of the Charles Aidman Scholarship and 2007 winner of the NSAL Chapter Career Award and NSAL Albright Merit Award.
Moody sat down with Live at IU to discuss her portrayal of Arkadina and her future goals as an actress.
LIVE AT IU: How is this role different than roles you've played in the past?
MOODY: Arkadina is by far the most complicated woman I have yet to play and because of that, she is my biggest challenge. Because The Seagull is produced so often and loved by many people, a lot of the audience will come to the show with strong opinions about whom they think she is, her motivations and how she should be played. So many reviews and critical analyses say she is the ultimate spiteful, unloving, selfish mother. My challenge will be to try to show the audience something different in Arkadina that perhaps they've never seen before while still remaining true to the character that Chekhov wrote.
LIU: What do you do to physically or mentally prepare yourself for the role?
MOODY: For every role, I do a lot of research into the world of the character and the playwright to try to get a sense of what it's like to live in that time and place. For The Seagull, I am reading a lot about the Russian theatre of the late 19th century, the Moscow Art Theatre and studying the plays and letters of Anton Chekhov. I also like to find pictures of past productions and read reviews as well. The pictures can be great inspiration and the reviews can clue me in to some of the challenges that other actors have had or what audience members seem to get out of the play. I search for as many different bits of info that I can find because you never know what might spark the imagination and get the creative juices flowing.
Physically, I always like to start my characterizations with the body of the character. I try to create a distinct physicality for each role, a certain walk or posture or a particular gesture. I think that by finding the body and the movements of a character, it helps me to easily get into character and stay in character because muscle memory is very powerful emotionally and imaginatively, especially when the physicality may be very different from your own. So once I mold my body into the character's, I can't help but think and feel like the character. For The Seagull a lot of my movement is dictated by the corset I'm wearing so it's fun to explore how women had to carry themselves and how different that is from us today, all because of that one garment.
LIU: What is the key to understanding your character?
MOODY: I'm not sure there is just one key that unlocks it, but I do think it's very easy for actors to get caught up in how they view a character and then they let that opinion influence the characterization with just a general wash of an idea. For instance, I, as Allison, may think that Arkadina is a raging bitch and completely self-centered, and if I use that to create a character, all you as the audience member will see is the stereotypical self-centered bitch and not a living, breathing human being. So my job, then, is to empathize with her and look at the events of the play through her eyes and ask myself a bunch of questions. What does she want from the other characters and how does that make her behave? When have I been in similar situations and/or felt something like what she is feeling? How would I act in these situations? From that, I begin to understand why she does the things she does and believe that I, as Arkadina, am justified in doing these things. I have found that, in creating a character this way, the audience gets to see a fully fleshed-out human being living through the gamut of human emotions. And then they can decide for themselves who and what Arkadina is, and I haven't made those decisions for them.
LIU: What was the most challenging role you've ever portrayed?
MOODY: Well, Ms. Arkadina definitely ranks up there, but I think (and this may sound very pretentious and actor-y) that if you are a skilled actor -- notice I didn't say the most gifted -- who truly cares about the craft and art of acting and story telling, then you will find a challenge in every role you play. I have had several roles here at IU and at the Brown County Playhouse that certainly weren't the largest roles, but from them, I learned just as much as I did from Viola in Twelfth Night and am learning from Arkadina.
LIU: What are some of your plans for the future? Goals?
MOODY: I have been auditioning for several regional theatres in the Midwest and I'm looking at several internship/teaching positions as well. But I hope to be in NYC by the end of 2009 and just audition for anything and everything that they'll let me and try to become a working actor. And hopefully, someday, my travels will lead me back to IU as a guest artist. I would love the opportunity to give back to the community that has supported me for the last three years and taught me so much.
Ticket information
The Seagull opens Feb. 22, with additional performances Feb. 23 and Feb. 26 through March 1. All performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre in the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center on the corner of Seventh Street and Jordan Aveune in Bloomington. There will be an additional 2 p.m. matinee on March 1. Ticket prices are $16 for adults and $13 for students and seniors (discounts Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday matinee only). Student rush tickets are available on the day of every performance for $10 in cash with a valid student ID. Group prices are available. For ticket information, call 812-855-1103 and ask for information about Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center tickets. To purchase tickets by phone, call Ticketmaster at 812-333-9955 or visit http://www.theatre.indiana.edu.
