Name: Rebecca Koon
Role in The Last Night of Ballyhoo: Beulah Levy (Boo)
Hometown: Spartanburg, SC
School/Training: M.A. Theatre, Acting/Directing USC – Columbia
Have you worked for Festival Stage of Winston-Salem before? Yes (Betty Meeks, THE FOREIGNER; Veda Love Powell, THE EXACT CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE; Sam, HATCHETMAN)
How are rehearsals going? Joan Samet came to talk with us about growing up Jewish in the south. It was fascinating hearing her talk about her own experience and how it paralleled a number of points explored in the script of BALLYHOO. If only as an exercise, I Iook forward to experimenting with channeling my impression of Joan into my work as Boo.
What is your favorite play? Among those I’ve done, I’ll say SHIRLEY VALENTINE. Among all plays I know, hard to pick one, but the one that has fascinated me most of late is one I’ve only read – 33 VARIATIONS. I find it original, theatrical, poetic, complex – in short, intriguing.
When did you first catch the acting bug? Rather late in life, compared to many: when I was in my mid 20’s. I was in the 7th grade before I saw my first play; a sophomore in college before I was in my first play and then it was as a musician, not an actress. I didn’t think about trying to work professionally as an actress until I was in grad school.
What is your dream role? The one I’ll write – if i ever get my ideas chrystalized on paper.
How do you memorize all of those lines? I’ve used a variety of ways over the years that differ based on the play in question and the amount of time I have in advance of rehearsals starting including listening while driving to an audio recording I’ve made, typing the lines then checking them against the text, running the lines with a friend. Certainly, blocking helps to cement the lines but the philosophical answer is: the words are the tip of the iceberg. Studying the play (alone and with the director and cast) in an attempt to uncover what you think the playwright is saying and why the sentences are worded as they are, how the text reveals each of the characters and their relationships, and just basically dissecting the material is a process that almost “gives you the words” through osmosis, practically.
If you could not do theatre, what would your career be? Something to do with foreign languages.
How do you like to spend your time off-stage? painting (walls, not canvases), clearing clutter, arts and crafts, walking dogs
What is the most recent book you have read? The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
What is your favorite part about being in High Point and Winston-Salem? Being employed, period. As an actor, unemployment is the norm.
What advice do you have for a young actor? Understand that the nature of the business is precarious. If you need security to feel at peace, acting might be a hard row to hoe. Keep your overhead low, your availability mobile. Using the tools available today in terms of technology, stay proactive in seeking auditions and maintaining communications with any and everyone related to the business. Read plays. Don’t wait for someone else to create your opportunity to work – create it yourself with friends. Go see productions and note what you like and what you don’t and why – then immulate what you respect and try to avoid what does’t strike you as strong. Pay attention in life to those around you as well as your own feelings and reactions. Observe and wonder. Take care of your instrument. Cultivate another or other skill sets with which you can earn money, preferrably skills that you can plug into and out of to accommodate auditions and time away to work as an actor. Explore markets – where you best fit and where you think there will be opportunities. I once heard Elizabeth Ashley dispense advice to a group of high school drama students saying, “If you can do anything else, do it” referring to work as an actor. I thought it rather neurotic an diva-like at the time. Thirty years later, I better understand why she might have said that. The best news I think is that the skills you hone studying or practicing the art of acting will serve you well no matter what walk in life you take because you’ll improve your effectiveness communicating, your ease in asserting yourself in groups large and small, your powers of observation and responsiveness – in short, you’ll expand your own humanity while enhansing your ability to “get what you want”.
Website Link: www.Rebeccakoon.com
Behind the Curtain 