One final chance to see this staged reading: Friday, February 13 at 7:30 at the Berkshire Museum as part of the 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival. Click here for more information.

Massachusetts was slowed to a crawl by heavy snow for a third Monday in a row at the first of our three stops on the WAM Theatre “mini-tour” of the enhanced staged reading of Emilie: La Marquise de Chatalet Defends her Life Tonight by Lauren Gunderson. Tuesday dawned sunny and comparably warm on the Williams College campus, and a goodly crowd assembled in the Adams Memorial Theatre at the ’62 Center  for Music and Dance for the reading – a first time for this cast performing together – and talk-back led by Professor of Computer Science Andrea Danyluk.

The weather was more cooperative as the cast and crew traveled over the Taconics to the Performing Arts Center at the University at Albany, before coming back home to the Berkshire Museum for a final turn as a part of the 10X10 Festival in Pittsfield. We caught up with Kim Stauffer, who originated the leading role of Emilie in WAM’s acclaimed full staging of the play in 2013, and Timothy Carter, the lone newcomer to the cast for these readings, who has taken over the key male role of Voltaire, Emilie’s lover for fifteen years.

Kim Stauffer: When Kristen first told me about this chance to revisit Emilie…, I was thrilled on many levels: as a cast we found such joy in being together exploring this play, so the thought of gathering again to see what else could be mined was a gift. During this quick rehearsal process we laughed a lot, and felt comfortable taking pretty huge creative risks.

Timothy Carter: It’s been a lot of fun to dive into this role. I was comfortable working with Kristen since she had directed me last summer when I played the lead in Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale at the Adirondack Theatre Festival. She always seems to choose good people to work with, and the cast has been super friendly and welcoming to me as the solo newcomer.

Kim: Timothy has done an astounding job of jumping in fearlessly as the new addition to the cast and making really bold choices.  He is such a brave soul to take on this task in such a short amount of time!  Our scenes together are definitely reshaping the way I am approaching Emilie. It keeps me present and on my toes and gives me the chance to approach that relationship almost as if for the first time.

Timothy: I had never heard of Emilie… or of Gunderson’s work until this opportunity came along, but I love the play. It is fun and brisk and full of wit. I don’t know what it says about me but I tend to be cast in roles which are bipolar and vacillate between boyish petulance and solid maturity. Voltaire can be really small and nasty in what he does to Emilie, and he can also be a sweet and giving partner to her.

Kim: Personally, I was also eager to step into Emilie’s shoes again after some time away. She says in the script, “I’m not done!” and I feel the same way about the unending discoveries I am making with her as a character – and with the script itself. There are so many moments that I am exploring on new levels. The work on a character is never done.  Over a year has gone by, and I am a different person, so the lense through which I explore her is different as well. Of course there are core elements that hold strong, but I can’t help but learn new things.

Van Ginhoven has retained the visual side of the 2013 production with images from that staging, along with the various mathematical equations Emilie ponders projected on a large screen over the center of the stage. Stauffer as Emilie is isolated stage right, while the rest of the cast flank the other side of the stage. Sometimes they deliver their lines from their stands, but quite often characters come downstage to interact directly with Emilie, giving the reading movement and shape. The original sound design is being used, which works wonders in evoking the atmosphere of the original production. Audience members at Williams were entranced with the look of the reading and found it just as captivating as the fully-staged production.

Kim: It’s been such a rich journey to be able to revisit this story, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of telling it again.

Kristen van Ginhoven: This story, and our production of it, is so dear to our hearts. We all hope this is just the beginning of a second act for it all……stay tuned!