Artist Spotlight: Krista Apple

Storytelling is what theatre is all about.  Actors, and teams of backstage folks work hard to bring a story to audiences.  But what about storytelling within storytelling?  I’m not talking about a narrator, or someone who is removed from what’s happening onstage, but rather someone who is in the thick of it all but is still telling us a story within a story.  This is exactly what we got in [link]A Summer Day[/link], and I got to talk to Krista Apple, our storyteller.

Apple did a phenomenal job keeping us in both the past and the present.  She executed each line and moment perfectly, and really carried the show.  What she has to offer about the role she played, how she played it, and what it all means is so exciting to hear about.  I can’t imagine this was an easy one to pull off.  Apple gave us some truly invaluable insight to what she did and how she did it, as well as the show.  A Summer Day was an amazing piece, and Apple was front and center…even when she wasn’t.

A Summer Day was truly a work of art, which Apple’s character was both in and creating it at the same time.  Her thoughts and awareness of this play and the part she played in it was inspiring, and I love that she shared so much with me.  I really got a lot out of this, and I really hope that everyone else does as well.

Your character knows what’s coming, even though the past you and the audience don’t.  How did you store that away so no one would know?

Lucky for me, most of that work is done by the play - Fosse has a very subtle way of revealing information in his work, and in this play - so my job was about tone - making sure that I didn't focus on sadness in the early moments of the play. Yury (the director) and I talked a lot about the "detective work" this character was doing. She says early on that she doesn't understand what happened, and so my driving force, in the early part of the play, was "rolling up my sleeves and re-telling this story so I could figure it out"!

You did a lot of storytelling in this show.  How did you live in that moment, but also the moment you were telling us about?

Ha, yes - telling stories onstage is a tricky thing. But we all often do a lot of it in real life, so I kept reminding myself what that process is like, practically - you actually do have to live in both moments - you have to let yourself connect to the image of the story you're telling, but also make sure that you're connecting with your audience (the person/people you're telling the story for), gauging their response, adapting according to their needs, etc. In some ways, telling a story onstage is easier b/c you 're pretty sure the audience isn't just going to stand up and walk away... but that can make it harder, too, in constantly remembering to gauge their attention, curiosity, energy. I spend a lot of time looking for people to actually make eye contact with when I'm up there! :)

There are some really beautiful moments where your current self and your past self seem to know each other are there.  How did those moments feel?

Thrilling. Electrifying. Like all the reasons I do theater. This is the superpower that theater has, and will always have, over other storytelling media like film and TV. Film/TV can "layer" time in the same way - we can experience one character's story from many points of their life - but film and TV can't layer time AND SPACE in the same way we can on the stage, like this production does so beautifully. That's what makes it haunting, for me. 

What is it like for your character watching a story unfold that she’s already lived through?

Thrilling. Electrifying. Heartwrenching. I often find myself wondering about which moments of my own life I'd want - or not want - to see played out in front of me. A lot of folks have drawn the parallel between this show and the end of OUR TOWN, when Emily goes back to live just one day, and she can't do it - she realizes, suddenly, what a f**cking precious gift every little mundane moment of our lives is. So I've spent a lot of time reflecting on that, personally, during this process. It opens up your gratitude in a big, big way to do that as a practice - to step back and take in the big picture of your life.

How did you shake off the intensity of this show at the end of the day?

You know, acting is such a funny thing.... Part of the "stamina" you develop is the capacity to take a big emotional ride and then walk off stage and crack jokes backstage and just be back in your life. But then there are these undercurrents that can start to show up..... I've noticed this month that I get much more anxious if I haven't heard from my husband! As if part of me is convinced he will get lost at sea. Over the years, I've learned to see that "karmic challenge" coming, and know that the play will start to invade my psyche a little bit. So I try to honor it (check in with my husband) but also not take myself too seriously (not panic too much if I haven't heard from him... but then feel much better when I do.)

What’s up next?

After we close on Sunday, it's back to freelance artist life for me!

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I loved hearing everything that Krista Apple had to say about A Summer Day.  It really made me think about the show, and maybe gave me some different perspectives to it.  Her work in this play is almost to an extreme, but in the best way possible.  I absolutely loved everything about her role in this show, and everything she had to say about that role and the play in general.  Seeing her was definitely a gift…I hope everyone else thinks so as well.