Like mother, like daughter
Amy Hill’s ‘Reunion’ combines old traditions, different
lifestyles
By Jennifer Richmond
Daily Bruin Staff
Sitting by a window at the Beverly Center’s California Pizza
Kitchen (CPK), Amy Hill looks nothing like the gray-haired
grandmother she plays on either ABC’s "All American Girl" or the
character in her one-woman show "Reunion."
The character just happens to be her mother.
Hill’s hair is long and dark. She wears pink lipstick and a
black gingham shirt. And she has no accent whatsoever.
But as soon as she gives an example of the way she talks in her
new show "Reunion," the resemblance between the actress and her
character is uncanny.
She’s just as boisterous. She believes in having a good time and
she doesn’t mind talking  even if it has nothing to do with
her show.
"Isn’t the food here great? I love coming here," the actress
says over her salad. "You know, I used to just hang out (at the
Beverly Center) all the time. It was great because my apartment had
no air conditioning. So, I’d come, see a movie, hang out."
But Hill isn’t at CPK just to "hang out" and eat. She’s really
here to talk about her show "Reunion." A show about her mother, her
mother’s trip from Japan and how the Japanese-American actress has
learned to accept her mother’s eccentricities.
"I saw my mother in a very superficial way growing up and I
think probably all of us tend to do that with our parents. Well
maybe not, but I did," the actress says. "I just saw my mother as
this kind of goofy, heavily accented foreigner. She was my mother,
and I loved her, but until I started writing my autobiographical
pieces, I didn’t really understand all the different parts of my
mother, all the different elements that made up who she is."
One of those elements was her mother’s accent. She never
understood why no one else seemed not to notice it. But Hill could
never escape the twisted sounds. But this accent is the main
element that brought her closer to her mother and closer to
understanding the wonderful woman she is.
"Initially (the project) was really hard because my mother had
this special syntax and she has that accent. Until I was
comfortable with being who she was, I was really resentful of
having to talk like that," Hill explains. "And now that I’m sort of
feeling like I am her, (speaking with the accent) has become really
natural."
But it wasn’t always so easy. Hill says it took her a long time
to become used to the accent so that it was almost second
nature.
"You know, when you’re learning a new language, it just feels so
foreign in your mouth, and your mouth is moving in different ways
and it just feels like it’s catching in your throat as you’re doing
it. In the beginning you just get so frustrated because it doesn’t
come out smooth and it’s just like ‘I want to speak English!,’"
Hill says with exaggerated frustration.
"But now it’s starting to feel natural."
It’s starting to feel so natural, in fact, that she’s totally
become her mother; all the way down to the little innuendos she
uses. It’s gotten to the point where she ad libs at times and
sticks in lines that she knows her mother would use on a regular
basis. To combat this, Hill sticks very close to the script when
she begins the rehearsal process.
"Because I know my mother so well, I tend to ad lib too much,"
says Hill. "So, in the beginning I try to stick to the script
because I want to make sure I get the point across that I wanted to
get across."
While she does stick pretty close to the lines, sometimes her
mother naturally creeps in any way. "Today, Anne, my director, was
saying ‘I’m going to call you on every time you say then’ because I
have a tendency, as my mother does, to say ‘Then, and then, then,’"
the actress says with a strong Japanese accent. "I mean, I could
say it about 150 million times during the show. It’s a good word,
but it’s not good to be using it all the time," she says with a
chuckle.
"So, in the beginning, I try to be clean and then if I ad lib
later I hope I only add the necessary stuff. Good lines, not
garbage. Stuff that adds information and gives it a twist. Anything
else just makes it stupid," Hill says laughing.
The play is anything but stupid. Friends have told Hill they
really liked the show and even her mother only had one complaint
about the play she calls "The Mrs. Hill Show."
"All she said was that the show was too short and that it was
impossible for me to do her story in one hour, so I’ve made it an
hour and a half," Hill explains.
"Yesterday she called and said ‘You start Mrs. Hill Show?’" the
actress says reverting back to her mother’s accent.
"No mom. It opens next week."
The show actually opened Friday. And while Hill was excited
about putting the show on, she was more nervous about it and how
audiences would react.
"I think it’s my childhood fear that people aren’t going to
accept my mother. I’m afraid they’re either going to laugh at her
or not understand her, not just language-wise but as a person. So,
I’m not really concerned about the play being good or bad, I think
I’m just being more protective of my mother.
"But I think that’s one of the reasons I’m doing it," Hill
continues. "By doing (the show), I’m walking into my fear. I mean,
if I had taken away the accent and taken away some of the things
that embarrass me about her as a child, I think that would be much
safer. But in many ways I feel as though we all need to stand up
and just say ‘this is who I am and I’m not ashamed of who I
am.’
"So, I guess in some ways, that’s what I’m doing here."
STAGE: "Reunion." Written by and starring Amy Hill. Directed by
Anne Etue. Running through May 14 at Theatre Geo. Shows Friday
through Sunday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. TIX: $20. For more
info call: (213) 660 TKTS.