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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Light In The Piazza

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by Eric Stoud, dramaturg Not many actresses can say that they have played the role of Mother Courage three times. However, Barta Heiner is not just any actress. A member of the Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA, Heiner has performed more than 100 roles and directed more than 40 productions. Some of her favorite theatrical roles include Lettice in Lettice and Lovage, Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir, the title role in King Lear, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and Mary Whitmer in The Fourth Witness. Her recent roles in film have been Verlene Bennion in Cokeville Miracle and Sergent Major Nedra Rockwell in Once I was a Beehive. Barta Heiner is on the BFA Acting Committee at BYU, where she teaches acting and directs productions during the theatre season. She received her bachelor’s degree in theatre from BYU and her master’s degree in acting from the American Conservatory Theatre. Upon completing her academic degrees, she acted professionally with the Denver Centre Theatre while both teaching and directing for the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver. She has served as an acting and dialogue coach and consultant on such films as: The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd and Emma Smith, My Story. She also was involved with a student-mentored film project called Diantha’s Crossing, a project inspired by her great, great aunt, Mormon pioneer Diantha Farr Clayton. It has been aired on BYU television. As busy as she is with this production of Mother Courage, Barta kindly took the time to answer a few of my questions in this short interview: Eric Stroud: How does it feel to be doing Mother Courage as your last play at BYU before you retire? Barta Heiner: Honestly, I’m not sure I have had time to think about that…There are about four other shows that I would have rather done. Shows that were of a lighter vein, but still had pathos and important things to say. Since we have gone through three versions of “Mother Courage", it has been a bit of chaos for me trying to memorize lines and forget some of the ones I had already learned. ES: Having done Mother Courage in the past more than once, what themes or parallels do you find that the director of each production has held in common? BH: The same theme that Brecht had. It is a classic anti- war play. For me the difference between this and the original anti-war play “The Trojan Women” is that Euripides showed “humanity” on both sides. You saw the loss and pain and suffering of the women of Troy, but you also saw the compassion of the Greek, Talthibius who has to carry all of the messages of “doom” to the women. “Mother Courage” shows more darkness, irony, stupidity, futility, horror, but it also shows how the people still find humor in their lives in spite of the devastation and hunger around them. Katrin, who is the only gleam of goodness in the war is silent, yet still finds a way to make a difference by her actions. ES: What is Mother Courage’s mission to you? BH: Mission??? Survival…”All I want is for me and mine to get through this war." ES: What has been your favorite part about playing Mother Courage? BH: Hmmm…Favorite part….I don’t know if I have one yet…I’m still memorizing. But I do like that there are many levels to her, there is both comedy and drama. ES: What perspectives have you gained specifically from this Brechtian play? BH: In spite of chaos, it is important to care for one another. This show is going to be fantastic. Barta is one of the most talented and connected actresses that I have seen on stage. It has been a joy watching her exploration in rehearsals and I can guarantee you will not be disappointed when you come and see the show. Tune in next week for more information about Director David Morgan's concept.

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by Haley Flanders, dramaturg [caption id="attachment_4457" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Photography by: Mark A. Philbrick/BYU Photo Copyright BYU Photo 2016 All Rights Reserved photo@byu.edu (801)422-7322[/caption] Welcome! Our play opens in less than 2 weeks! Thursday, March 10 is the final dress rehearsal, and patrons are invited to purchase tickets for this performance. Then we officially open on Friday, March 11! We look forward to seeing you there. As preparation for attending this performance, this blog post includes a list of American Sign Language (ASL) featured in other examples of theatre and film. This will give you some history of ASL in performance and provides many resources if you become interested in learning more about ASL after experiencing The Taste of Sunrise at BYU. The bulk of this text came from the Educator's Resource Packet for the third play in this Ware trilogy, The Edge of Peace, produced by the Seattle Children's Theatre. Click on this link to access the PDF. [caption id="attachment_4456" align="alignleft" width="169"] Billy Seago[/caption] Let me first introduce Billy Seago. He collaborated with playwright Suzan Zeder on the development of Tuc in all the plays in the trilogy. Here is an excerpt of his interview with Seattle Children's Theatre in 2013 for The Edge of Peace: What are some interesting or unusual challenges have faced as a Deaf actor and how do you work with it? Billy: As a Deaf actor, I normally translate my lines of the script from the English text into American Sign Language for all the plays I am involved with. The Edge of Peace—as well as Mother Hicks and The Taste of Sunrise—were particularly challenging. American Sign Language (ASL) is a unique visual language with its own distinct structure, syntax and grammar. Information is conveyed not in sounds, but with the shape and movement of the hands and other parts of the body, and with facial expressions, including mouthing (making mouth movements without making any sound). ASL has dialects, with variations in signs and movements depending on region, where the signer went to school, who taught him/her ASL, at what age the signer learned ASL and how active the signer is in the Deaf community. So one of my challenges was to ensure that Tuc’s sign choices were based on the region around Ware, Illinois, the […] time period, the lack of fluent signers in Tuc’s early developmental years, the development of his “home signs” (personally invented signs) and his subsequent exposure to ASL at the State School for the Deaf. The sign choices also needed to reflect the natural progression of his sign development as he gained more education. NOTEWORTHY ASL PERFORMERS, PRODUCTIONS, AND VENUES:

Meet the Cast - Becca Petersen as Clara Johnson

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