Internal Dialogue

Today was a lovely day. I got to meet up with one of my best friends Catherine. We do this periodically, and I must say not enough. We were chatting about Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice, theater, and our idiosyncrasies in our local Barnes and Noble (our go-to location). Then we stumbled upon a marvelous idea.

As individuals, Catherine and I are both pretty intense people, so naturally, together we are a force to be reckoned with in all senses.  We had a wonderful opportunity to perform with each other in a show called Lettice and Lovage. (Yes, we are theatre people if that explains anything at all about our intense demeanors and extreme emotions.) We know how to work with one another. We know what makes the other person tick. We know each other’s strengths.

Cat is very gifted in the verbal department. She is very vocal. She can create very interesting characters through different accents, inflections, articulations, tones, and intonations. Her characters are always very strong through her voice alone. Oh, how I envy her verbal strength.

My strength, on the other hand, lies within the nonverbal department. I wear my emotions on my sleeve, and a person will know exactly what I am thinking just by looking at me. I am very expressive without speaking. My whole life I have received comments on my facial expressions and body language. I am the girl of 10,000 faces.

An extremely talented actor is naturally gifted in both of these departments. An actor needs both of these tools, voice and body, to perform.

So we started thinking of a way we could combine both of our strengths. “What if,” we thought, “we could maximize both those strengths in one character?” So, thus our idea unfolds: a play all about internal dialogue.
I, Kathleen, would be the only person on stage, and my character would be having an internal dialogue with herself. Here is the catch. I do not speak; I am on stage, and my nonverbals are my only tool. Cat would be off stage with a microphone and would be my voice. Her voice alone, would be her only tool. We would have to work together as one character. I would be reacting to Cat’s verbals through my own nonverbals.

Now let me give you a little scoop on actors. We like to be heard and seen. 

Any actor can tell you that they have at least once went through a script and counted how many lines they had. We want to be heard. When we speak, we are the center of attention.

We also like to be seen. I mean, hello, that is why we are on stage. We want people to see us.

So Catherine and I would both have to give up something that is crucial in establishing identity for actors. We give up one crucial tool to focus on our specific strength, and in doing that, we must work together to make a complete character.  Challenging? Yes. We’re excited.

Our goal in this is to bring to light the necessity of both tools. It will also be a very humbling experience because we both have to give up one tool that is crucial to the ego of an actor. I will have no lines. Painful. Cat will not be seen. Painful. However, together we will be seen and heard. Together we are one character.

We are currently working on the script.

Coming soon! (As in maybe next year, or maybe 10 years from now)