The Collegian

Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Arts

Media Credit: Liz Essley Junior Kate Jones applies makeup to her face before getting into costume for the final rehearsals for "Hedda Gabler." Jones said she has wanted to play the role of Hedda for years. She's wearing the cast T-shirt with "She crazy" on the shirt's back. Her cast uses the phrase while warming up before each performance.

Media Credit: Liz Essley

Media Credit: Marieke van der Vaart

Junior Kate Jones didn't expect to major in theatre when she first came to Hillsdale College. Then, she scored a role in "Tartuffe," and realized she loved acting and could learn to do it well. She leads Cast B in performances of "Hedda Gabler" tonight and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.



Hillsdale Collegian: What about Hedda appeals to you and your acting style?

Kate Jones: I fell in love with Hedda the first time I read the play, about five years ago. People think there's something about her that just makes her a villain, a bitch - straight out. Reading the play, so much about her wasn't that at all. You see someone trapped and victimized by society and her personal situation. She's acting with total disregard for herself and others because she wants something romantic to come and sweep her off her feet.

It's a very realist play, and we don't do those here often. At a core level, it appeals to me. It's been a bumpy ride - playing a character this intense and emotional can trickle over into your real life.



HC: How do you relate Hedda to the other characters?

KJ: Ibsen is an absolute master of strained relationships. There's a lot of tension, and it's an adventure to explore that with other actors. Off-stage, we're friends and family and we enjoy each other. On it … sometimes we can hardly look at each other. It's interesting to see that unraveling and unfolding. We do exercises so we know how to be aware of each other, but we can't become too comfortable. It's this terrifying disconnect.



HC: Describe the cast, and how they've influenced your portrayal of Hedda.

KJ: I'm very fortunate in that I know everyone in the cast very well. We have a sense of how we all work and how professional we are, and how much fun we can have without overstepping that.

I think everyone has been working to bring their own personalities into it. This play is very easily broken down into stereotypes: the manipulative woman, the refined man. We made a conscious choice to not allow that. If you do, there's no dimension, intensity, interest, development.



HC: What do you want the audience to take away from the performance?

KJ: At least with Hedda, I hope they see a real person tortured by everything around her. Nothing she does in the play ever helps her. She's a villain, a victim, a heroine and a tragedy. I hope they walk away and say she's a complex character.

As for the show … it's like taking a great book you've read a hundred times, and lending it to a friend. You expect them to come back and have the deepest philosophical conversation. And they come say, "Oh, it's fine." You say, "Fine? Keep going!" I want them to talk about it. I want them to laugh out loud, cry out loud, be heartbroken. It would make my day, my semester, if they walked out needing to talk about it. Then I would be a happy camper.

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