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.”

Tags

Light In The Piazza

data-content-type="article"

by Haley Flanders, dramaturg [caption id="attachment_4401" align="alignleft" width="224"] Abbie Craig from the cast signs each letter of the American Sign Language Alphabet. Look for this page in your program and try your hand(s) at ASL. Can you spell your name?[/caption] The Taste of Sunrise is so unique because it is bilingual; it is performed in American Sign Language and spoken English at the same time. This might seem confusing to produce and to watch. This is how it is done: If characters (not the actors, but the characters in the play) are Deaf, then they sign their lines while someone (usually another actor who looks like them) stands near them and speaks their lines. This is so that the Hearing audience can understand what is being signed. These characters are called "voice" characters, like "Tuc's Voice", played by Sean Worsley. If a Hearing character is speaking, then another performer stands near them and signs their lines. This is so the Deaf members of the audience can understand what is being said. These performers will be called "ASL performers" in the program and many actors double as named characters in the play and ASL performers for other characters. So for every character, there are two actors on stage. However, there are certain times when a character speaks and signs at the same time. This means only 1 character needs to be on stage since both Hearing and Deaf audiences can understand the dialogue. Sometimes a Hearing character interprets Tuc by saying his lines aloud while they are having a conversation, so in those instances, a "voice" character is not needed. [caption id="attachment_4403" align="aligncenter" width="248"] Actor Sean Worsley's character is called "Tuc's voice" because he speaks the lines of Tuc, who signs everything since he is a Deaf character. Sean is standing to the left of Ben Featherstone, the Deaf actor playing Tuc. Notice how they look AND stand alike.[/caption] Another fascinating fact about this play is the required casting. Suzan L. Zeder, the playwright, requires that the actor playing Tuc in The Taste of Sunrise be an actual Deaf actor, not just an actor pretending to be Deaf. For our production, we actually obtained not only a Deaf actor to play Tuc, but two Hard of Hearing actors as well: Ben Featherstone is playing the role of Tuc. Ben is deaf, but wears a cochlear implant so that he can read lips and hear vibrations. Jason Keeler is playing the role of Roscoe and an ASL performer and is Hard of Hearing. David Hampton is playing the role of Dr. Grindly Mann, a Hunter, and an ASL performer and is Hard of Hearing. He is also the ASL coach for this show. INTERPRETERS: Another unique element to this show is how to rehearse it. Even though Ben wears a cochlear implant, he will not be wearing them for the show, since they did not have them during the early 20th century (the time period of the play). Therefore, he often rehearses without it, and two ASL interpreters have been hired to attend rehearsals and translate what is being said by Julia Ashworth (the director) and anyone else speaking directly to him. The two interpreters, Kim and Ann, work for the BYU disability center and often interpret for other BYU shows on select nights. [caption id="attachment_4406" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Kim translates Julia's directorial instruction for Ben since he often does not wear a cochlear implant in rehearsal, in preparation for when he will not wear it in the show.[/caption] This is a really fun process to watch. Often times Ben, Jason, and David will sign to one another while other conversation is occurring, or they will choose to sign instead of speak during a rehearsal break and the interpreters will translate. There are also members of the cast who are ASL students and can understand ASL even though they are Hearing. Furthermore, Ben, Jason, David, and some other actors from ASL classes have never acted before, so this is an exciting rehearsal process since they are brand new to theatre! Overall, the rehearsal and production process for a bi-lingual play is challenging but trust me, it will be worth it! TAKING ON THIS BI-LINGUAL CHALLENGE: A WORD OF WARNING AND ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT

overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=

data-content-type="article"

[caption id="attachment_4360" align="alignnone" width="800"] Toby and Maria being directed by Professor Jones[/caption] by Christian Riboldi, dramaturg Last week we closed our doors to the BYU audiences and this week we began our traveling tour. Recently on our blog we were able to learn a little bit about each of our cast members in order to learn how each on is a little different from the other. This show has been an adventure from the start. For those of you unaware of how long Young Company productions have to be rehearsed it's only about 4 weeks total. That's not a lot of time to put together an entire show let alone a piece of Shakespeare. For everything to work we needed efficient rehearsals that could serve as effective problem solving sessions. The only thing that could solve our issues was rehearsal, our metaphorical snake oil. The cure for all the challenges that come with putting on a production quickly. The two main challenges we needed to overcome during the rehearsal process were understanding the language and story of Shakespeare, and sharing that story in a way that helps others, especially kids, to understand and enjoy the story as well. In this blog post we will focus on how we overcame the first challenge during the rehearsal process. Before our rehearsals began, our talented adapter Rick Curtiss, the director Professor Jones, and myself, worked for over a month on cutting the script down from a 3 hour show to a 50 minute show that contained only the essential characters and scenes in it. As a part of that process we passed around draft after draft, checking for gaps in the placement of the scenes and the lines. One of the goals of Professor Jones was to maintain Shakespeare's language throughout the entire play. So aside from the songs, and a few western expletives, every word of the play is in the original script. [caption id="attachment_4361" align="alignnone" width="800"] Sebastian discovering how sad he needs to be. Professor Jones directing[/caption] By the time the script was ready we had just cast the show with our amazing actors you learned about last time. Our first rehearsal with the actors was about understanding the vision of the director and how Twelfth Night helped tell that story. The first few rehearsals were all done from a table reading through the script and trying to understand what the meaning of certain phrases and words were. If anyone had a question about a phrase we wrote it down and kept moving. By the time Christmas break came we had read through the play a couple times and answered most of the questions that had arisen through reading the script. [caption id="attachment_4362" align="alignnone" width="800"] Feste learning learning how big his reactions need to be from Professor Jones[/caption] Once January hit and school started again, all of the actors were expected to be memorized completely, so that we could continue with the rehearsal process unencumbered by our scripts. The interesting this is that even though many of the questions were answered during the read through about the script, it wasn't until we stood up and began adding movement to the mix that we began to learn what questions we hadn't answered yet. Whenever one of these questions arose about words or motivation they were addressed immediately or right after rehearsal during notes and we moved on. This challenge of understanding the play required continual effort throughout the entire rehearsal process. Next time we will discuss how we had to use that knowledge and understanding of the play and transform that into a production that helped others understand Shakespeare.

Meet the Cast - Becca Petersen as Clara Johnson

Related Articles

What to Expect When Watching this Dual-Language Show (ASL and English)

Snake Oil: Rehearsals Part I

Mother Courage: Shattered Beyond Repair