by GWENN FRISS
Cape Cod Times
August 29, 2024
‘I would describe the acting as athletic:’ Director guides four actors through 150 roles
It might seem the simplest thing in the world for an actor to keel over, stop moving and die on stage. But, alas, it is not.
“What’s the best way to fall down and die? And do it safely over and over again? Because we have to care for the actors’ bodies when we are doing this play seven times a week,” said Kimberly Senior, director for “The 39 Steps” at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis from Aug. 28 through Sept. 7.
Interviewed by phone during a walking lunch break in New York City last week, Senior shared thoughts on preparing for “The 39 Steps” and helping audiences connect with the play based on John Buchan’s 1915 novel and the 1935 British spy Tlm directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
“I think the most important thing to land on is that it’s a comedy that always has a murder mystery in it,” Senior said. “It’s not played as broadly as a farce but it is at the pace of one.”
Four actors play more than 150 roles.
“I would describe the acting as … athletic,” Senior said, pausing to choose the word. “The actors change dialects, props … it’s well-written and it’s pretty clear when the actors change roles.”
In publicity materials for the show, Senior calls ‘The 39 Steps’ “the perfect intersection of ‘Three Stooges’-esque comedy, Tlm noir, and action movie … I can’t wait to share this thrilling piece with Cape audiences where hilarity and humanity exist side by side.”
How is “The 39 Steps” funny?
Senior said the show’s laughs come not from actors trying to be funny but from actors trying to seriously accomplish something while a series of events thwarts their efforts.
“This is like the art of clowning,” she said. “Clowns are not trying to be funny. Clowns are trying to tie a shoe. But there are circumstances that get in the way.”
What is the plot of ‘The 39 Steps’?
Senior said, “It starts out with an extremely handsome British man who invites this woman into his life and in the morning Tnds she has been stabbed.
“He sets out to clear his name and Tnd out what happened. Along the way, he Tnds purpose in his life and all of us can identify with that.”
Who is in ‘The 39 Steps’?
The cast list includes Kareem Bandealy, a Chicago actor who has been in more than 70 plays nationwide, as the central character Richard Hannay. Lori Vega, a veteran stage actress whose screen credits include “Pretty Little Liars,” “FBI” and “Bull,” plays the three mysterious women with whom Hannay is romantically involved.
The bulk of the 150 roles are distributed between playwright and storyteller Octavia Chavez-Richmond (“Free Guy,” “Knives Out,” “Who We Are Now”) and stage and screen actor Evan Zes (“FBI: Most Wanted,” “The Blacklist” and “Only Murders in the Building”) who made his Broadway debut last year in “The Kite Runner.”
How does director Kimberly Senior approach ‘The 39 Steps’?
“I was an actor for many years, for more than 20 years until 2004. For me, I’m most interested in human behavior and why people do the things we do.
“I have a lot of compassion for actors wearing somebody else’s clothes, saying somebody else’s words. Acting normal while an audience watches is not an easy thing to do.”
Senior so often asks the actors and herself, “What would a person do?” in any given situation that she used the phrase for a book she is publishing this fall.
“I’m very much a body learner. Body shapes show meaning. When I teach I say, ‘I’m not better than you. Not more creative, not smarter but faster. When I see a problem, I know how to fix it.’”
Do I have to know Alfred Hitchcock’s work to enjoy ‘The 39 Steps’?
“No, but for people who love Hitchcock, there are many Easter eggs ― references to other Hitchcock Tlms sprinkled throughout,” Senior said.
What is Senior’s professional background?
A freelance director, Senior most recently directed “Enough to Let the Light in” at The Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. “The 39 Steps” is her 200th production, she said, but the play is new to her, so she is learning it with the actors. She also directed the Broadway production of the 2013 Pulitzer Prizewinning “Disgraced” by Ayad Akhtar.
One last note: Senior’s last name came courtesy of Ellis Island where offcials could not spell her family’s Syrian surname. It’s been an interesting human observation, she said, to meet other Seniors with completely different ethnic backgrounds who got their last name the same way.
