Freshman Actor Leads in her Second University Performance
By: Angelina Capots
Radford University’s Department of Theatre and Cinema put on a week-long production of Arlene Hutton’s “Gulf View Drive” last February. The Tartan met with Charlotte Hall, the woman who portrayed the lead, May Brummett. Hall is a freshman in her second semester and is a major with an acting focus within the department. This is Hall’s second role, as she was cast last fall semester in the theatre for the young audience’s production of “Lily and the Magic Stones” by Benjamin Tyler Roberts and Sam Roberts.
Hall reflected on her time after the cast list had come out and how she instantly got to work.
She said the play was “very different. I had a lot of work to do. Yeah, the children’s show was a lot of work, too, of course. But it was also on the main stage (unlike this show, which was held in the black box theatre), which is a lot bigger, and for a completely different audience.”
For Hall, this role was a major turn from her previous roles. May Brummett, a school teacher forced to adapt to an ever-changing home and marriage, was a character who had more emotional depth than she had ever portrayed on stage before. To prepare for this task, Hall said she reread the script five times leading up to the audition night.
“At first, I didn’t like any of the characters. It took me a while to fully get through. But as we got closer to auditions, I reread it, each time keeping certain characters in mind, and my thoughts and ideas changed.”
She explained that, in doing this, her notes helped her focus on the roles she had been called back for, including May. After being cast, she took the time to read the two plays that come before Gulf View in the trilogy, which are “Last Train to Nibroc” and “See Rock City”. She also shared that in preparation, she did a deep character analysis and watched a recording of a production of Gulf View Drive. She felt this really helped her honor the character and informed her choices as May on stage.
When moving on to the rehearsal part of the process, Hall felt incredibly grateful to be working with a cast and director who are upperclassmen. The cast consisted of two seniors, Brandon Smith and Angelina Capots, juniors Gwendolynne Arnold, and Kathryn Pendleton and the play was directed by junior Mazie Wakefield.
Brandon Smith, Charlotte Hall, Kathryn Pendleton, and Angelina Capots in Gulf View Drive
She felt incredibly supported by her peers and appreciated the knowledge they would share as well as the encouragement.
“I think being cast with upperclassmen and then having the show directed by Mazie, who is my friend too, kind of pushed me to do a lot of the work too because…I wanted the show to be great for everybody. For some of them, this is their last show. I wanted it to be good.”
May is an incredibly complex and emotionally charged character, one who Hall portrayed with a lot of resilience. She shared with me, “I did feel a certain amount of pressure at first…Mazie worked with me a lot to get me to the place where I needed to be. At first, I didn’t really understand her…Then I really got to understand her… of course, with the time period and her being 34, there are differences, but I also feel that May and I have a lot of similarities.”
Hall concluded by discussing college life as she’s been performing and working in shops. She expressed extreme gratitude and love for her peers and the experience she gained.
“This has definitely been one of the most impactful shows I’ve ever been allowed to work on for so many reasons, just getting to know the characters and their complex relationships, how they would have felt during that time period in the 50s, which is so different from where we are now, and how to best bring that to life. I’ve never performed in the studio theatre so closely, I feel like I have been supported by this entire cast. And I’m really happy because I mean, they’re upperclassmen, so they’ve had more experience, and I’ve learned so much. Everyone has been so supportive and so helpful.”
Hall is excited to continue her studies and continue to participate in more productions following this semester. Hall encouraged the student body to come out and see “Little Shop of Horrors”, a musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, from March 31st through April 5th.
