Meet the Cast - Becca Petersen as Clara Johnson

By Kristen Leinbach, Dramaturg

When asked about writing The Light in the Piazza and about the relationships of the characters, Craig Lucas said the following

“Clara apprehends the world differently than her mother. [Margaret] goes through Italy with a guidebook. But the girl sees experiences, she sees the light in the piazza. She literally experiences the light as representative of her deepest feelings…That’s why the score has moments where words no longer suffice or are no longer important. It’s the feeling and light. Those things carry us. Human beings are just a conduit for love. I think Clara sees that. Love comes before her and after her.”

I asked Becca Petersen, portraying Clara Johnson, to share a little about her life as well as her experience getting to really know Clara.

“I am Becca Petersen from Carmel, Indiana. I am a senior studying Music Dance Theatre. I will be graduating in April with plans of moving to New York City! At BYU I have performed in PETER PAN as well as two years in the Young Ambassadors traveling to Southern Africa and China. These past two summers I have performed professionally at The Muny and Music Theatre of Wichita. Aside from musical theatre I love to go thrift shopping, take naps, eat out, and spend time with my friends and family.

Clara Johnson has always been one of my dream roles and I could not be more excited and grateful to have the opportunity to play her.

The Light in the Piazza follows Clara and her mother, Margaret, as they travel through Italy. Clara is a very youthful girl who lives life exactly in the moment. She is bright-eyed as she sees and experiences this new place for the first time. The plot is centered around relationships: Clara’s relationship with her mother and her new budding relationship with a Florentine boy, Fabrizio. I feel that I connect with Clara on many levels. I love to travel, explore, and see new places. Because of previous travel opportunities I have had I understand what it is like experiencing different cultures and having to figure out how you fit in. In the show many of the characters, including Clara, go through big life transitions. Currently I can relate as I am getting ready to graduate, preparing to move to NY, having family members and close friends get married, and trying to understand love and relationships of my own. All of these experiences can be scary but can also be incredible if we let ourselves learn, grow, and live in them. We must allow ourselves to find the happiness and joy in all things we experience. In essence, that is what Clara does. Clara finds what makes her happy.”

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By Rick Curtiss, Dramaturg trav·es·ty /ˈtravəstē/ a false, absurd, or distorted representation of something. As the dramaturg for Travesties, I get the ever less rare opportunity of discovering the undiscovered, or more bluntly, accessing the inaccessible. Travesties is the kind of show where having a healthy grasp of Romanian geography, early twentieth century British fashion, and Leopold Bloom will serve the audience well, but who has the time? Rather lets put aside the notion of that learning precedes understanding with some good old fashioned- In Vino Veritas It’s a Latin phrase. It means “in wine, truth.” Which is to say, “The truth is in the wine,” or “after drinking wine the truth flows free,” or maybe it’s “the complex nature of the metabolic processes which occur after drinking alcohol (wine included) results in an altered chemical brain state which in turn lets the imbiber process ideas in a different way, allowing previously unseen truth to be recognized.” The idea that alcohol can influence truth and understanding goes as far back as the fifth century BC Greek “father of history” Herodotus. He asserted that if a Persian decided something while drunk, they should consider it while sober. Since then, authors have added that if the Persians made a decision while sober, they should reconsider it while drunk. All it takes is some sugar, water, a microscopic fungus, and you too can have your own second opinion. I admit, as a dramaturg and supporter of unconsidered viewpoints the vino possibilities are curiously compelling--that there might be another dramaturg hidden in my head, just a couple of compromises away. Yet I am faced with a quandary both moral and institutional. I am a student at BYU which is constantly reaffirmed by Facebook posts, comments in class, and the annual Princeton Review as the No. 1 Stone-Cold sober school in United States. We are so sober that it can only be understood in terms of the WWE wrestler Steve Austin. At BYU sobriety is never without the stone-cold modifier. Every morning in the mirror I repeat the affirmation—I’m sober, but am I stone-cold sober? I imagine we all do. Inevitably, I can only wander down this dramaturgical path to drinking so far. I never crest the hill of understanding where I say to Herodotus, “Right on man, I totally get that.” By choice, I am forever separated from my inaccessible drunken self. And yet- The following is a recording from an Interview that dramaturgs Jessa Cunningham and I conducted with Roger Sorenson and Megan Sanborn Jones, the directors of The Importance of Being Earnest and Travesties respectively. https://youtu.be/9xOQ-imnIp8 Here is the same interview, only slowed down 55%. https://youtu.be/c2kBoOiWyyI Without any alcohol at all, we are able to have a noticeably different experience with the same information, and inexperience doesn't necessarily mean inaccessible. Come see both shows―sober.

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by Jessa Cunningham, dramaturg In the last post, I outlined some of the important rules that Upper Class Victorians followed closely. At rehearsal this past week, I asked the wonderful actors in our show to demonstrate some of the rules (and what it looked like when your broke them). Take a look at the pictures below, get a glimpse into Victorian etiquette, and see the silliness of the amazing cast! First, I had the cast display bad posture that couldn't be found at someone's house while visiting. Posture was always meant to be upright, with no slouching, leaning, or relaxing in any inappropriate manner. [caption id="attachment_4888" align="aligncenter" width="584"] From left: Meg Flinders, Emma Widtfeldt, Stephen Moore, and Sean Worsley[/caption] Next, I had them demonstrate proper escorting etiquette. While men were allowed to escort two women if necessary on the street, women were never allowed to have two men on their arms. [caption id="attachment_4890" align="alignright" width="225"] From left: Sean Worsley, Emma Widtfeldt, and Spencer Hunsicker[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4889" align="alignnone" width="225"] From left: Meg Flinders, Sean Worsley, and Emma Widtfeldt[/caption] This next picture is a hodge-podge of no-no's for Victorian's. The actors got creative and put on a display of deplorable crimes to commit while visiting someone's home. One pose was actually a rule, though: no picking at your teeth while calling. [caption id="attachment_4891" align="aligncenter" width="584"] From left: Meg Flinders, Emma Widtfeldt, Spencer Hunsicker (blissfully unaware), and Sean Worsley[/caption] Finally, I had Sean portray another rule that would have been embarrassing if one was caught committing it: looking at the handkerchief after one blows their nose into it. That was considered disgusting, and no one could do that if they were in polite company; it wouldn't seem proper. [caption id="attachment_4892" align="alignleft" width="225"] Sean Worsley[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4893" align="alignright" width="225"] Sean Worsley[/caption] This was a fun exercise to understand some of the intricate rules that Victorian's had to abide by. Hopefully you found this a funny and informative way to learn about the era!

Meet the Cast - Becca Petersen as Clara Johnson

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