In traditional theater performances, it is considered inappropriate to shout at a performer. In the play “Inside Private Lives,” such audience engagement is encouraged.
Creator and producer Kristin Stone dares to blur reality and performance in “Lives,” a play that allows the audience to converse with the characters and role-play along with the actors. The play has received international attention.
“What if (the actors) could actually talk to you? What if they are actually on stage putting them in the moment with you? It would be so much more fulfilling from a creative standpoint as a performer. You then are truly working in the moment,” Stone said.
This “reality theater” performance, which opened at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena last weekend, consists of six scenes, each featuring a different person from the 20th century. The character list includes King Edward VIII and the transgendered Christine Jorgensen, played by Stone.
“We look for a character who had a colorful life, or they have been involved in some kind of controversy,” said Lee Michael Cohn, the director. “And there needs to be certain strength, certain courage in terms of standing up for what they believe in.”
From the very beginning of the play, audience members are encouraged to ask questions and address the performers, and the audience is also given different roles per scene.
One scene features Billy Carter on the eve of the re-election of Jimmy Carter, addressing the audience members as if they are part of Jimmy’s re-election campaign.
Fifteen minutes later, audience members are presented with Bobby Sands, the first of the Irish Republican Army hunger strikers to die in the 1980s. In previous shows, some audience members were brought to tears by his moving cause, and one even offered him food.
When movie producer Julia Phillips, the first woman to win an Oscar for best picture, took the stage, “she (was) absolutely on fire,” Cohn said. “She argues (with the audience), curses at them and puts them in their place.”
“We have audience members get so heated that they’ll yell back and forth amongst themselves,” Stone said. “The actor sometimes referees when the audience gets so engaged.”
Since the characters are not necessarily iconic or household names, performers provide background information at the onset of each scene.
Even when “Lives” was performed in Edinburgh, Scotland, for the International Film Festival, Stone said the audiences’ unfamiliarity with the characters did not matter.
“As many times as we’ve performed ““ in Los Angeles and New York and Edinburgh ““ the audience embraces the idea. They love to pretend they’re these other characters back in time,” she said.
The commonality between the characters is their strength of conviction and involvement in controversy. And none of the characters are living, which Stone said is “because there’s something really magical about being able to go back and talk to these people who no one will have a chance to interview again.”
“It’s a play that just keeps evolving,” said Cohn. “I’ve been a director for 20 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
In order to rehearse in preparation for the audience interaction, the actors first familiarize themselves with their characters through several months of research, listening to audio tapes and watching video to learn their characters’ viewpoints, mannerisms and dispositions.
Though the actors research their character and brainstorm likely questions, the performance’s success still rides on the actors’ improvisation skills.
“Every night there will be questions that are unexpected. You can rehearse so far, but after that you just kind of have to go with your gut,” Cohn said.
At the play’s opening night in Hollywood in 2005 when there were only three characters, Stone was unsure if viewers would understand their role in the play.
“We thought, “˜Oh gosh, I hope they talk. … And we heard the audience speak right away with our first character. And it was like, “˜Oh, they get it!'” she said.
With the final curtain call, some audience members even begged the actors to remain on stage so they could ask more questions.
Many viewers see the show multiple times, some even researching the characters and returning to the next show more prepared.
In traditional theater, actors usually try to avoid surprises when performing, but with “Lives” it is quite the opposite: The unpredictability of the audience factor is part of the fun.
“It’s such a high for the actors. And I think that’s why all our actors are returning for our Los Angeles engagement,” said Stone. “Because once you’ve had that experience of talking to the audience, it’s kind of hard to go back to just applause.”