Local actress Sara Marrocco will soon be taking the stage at Eagle Eye Theatre playing the lead in the Between Shifts Theatre Society production of The Gravitational Pull OF Bernice Trimble.
Trimble, a young woman who is trying to hold it all together as her world starts to fall apart after it is revealed her mother has Alzheimer's.
The Chief caught up with Marrocco after rehearsal Monday for a chat about how she got into acting, the play and having a partner who is also an artist.
What follows is an edited version of that conversation.
Q: How did you get into acting?
A: I studied it in Australia as soon as I finished school. I did a theatre major, and then I took some time off getting into mountain biking and skiing. I have just gotten back into acting the last three or four years in Whistler, and now with recently moving to Squamish, I have gotten involved with Between Shifts, which has been a great experience. They are amazing down here, and they know what they are doing.
Q: But when did you know you wanted to act? Was it as a little girl?
A: Yeah, I would always put on shows for my family. I was the entertainer or the one to sing and be silly in front of my family. I think I was born into that role. I did really well at it in school, and I had some amazing teachers later on, and I stuck with it.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about the character Iris you are going to play?
A: My character is dealing with some difficult news she has received, and she is trying to pass the time because the ticking clock is getting to her. She wants to distract herself. In doing that, she retells the story to the audience through flashbacks and memories of how she found out the difficult news. She is very introverted; she likes to deal with things on her own. She has a hard time processing her feelings. She is very internal. Retelling the story is kind of cathartic for her and a way of dealing with what has happened and a way to pass the time.
Q: What are the challenges of playing her?
A: The challenge is that she can't express her feelings very well, so she is always struggling to release these emotions, but she is trying to stay strong for her family. I can relate to that as a person, but I think it is on a different level with Iris. She is also keeping busy, she is cooking and cleaning, and she is retelling her story to the audience, which is a challenge for me as well because there is a lot for me to do and a lot to remember.
Q: And the joys of the character?
A: She is very deep and thoughtful and very imaginative, so it is really nice to play someone who has such a poetic and beautiful view of the world. And, as the play would suggest, there are correlations with how Iris sees the world in terms of the universe, planets, and astronomy, so she is very outer-worldly, and that is a joy to play because she sees the world so beautifully and very sadly as well.
Q: The play deals with mental health issues, in particular Alzheimer's, do you have any connection to that issue personally?
A: I have had struggles with mental health myself, so I can relate to the character Iris, who shows some signs of depression, but regarding dealing with a family member with mental illness that is a whole other story.
I definitely think there should be more awareness about mental health and more openness to speaking about it, so it is nice that in this play we are dealing with it.
Q: It can sound like the play is a downer, but I know from reading it, it is also funny, correct?
A: Absolutely. There are so many moments between mother and daughter and siblings that I think people can relate to — just the pettiness and the name calling and the weird little habits that our mom in the play has. It has been nice to touch on those moments that I think we can all relate to.
Q: In the bigger picture in Squamish, there has been a lot of open discussion about space and money as challenges for Between Shifts. What do you think of the local theatre scene and what needs to be done to help it in Squamish?
A: The Between Shifts Theatre Society is established enough that it deserves its own theatre. One of the struggles of every production we have done is there's no space for us to build our sets, there's no place to store our wonderful costumes, that our costume designer has made over the years. And to not be able to go into the theatre that we use now, which is part of the high school, makes it really difficult to rehearse on our own time. There is always a time restriction. Our own space would be absolutely wonderful. I think it is time.
Q: Your partner is well-known local musician Will Ross, what is it like having two artists in the house?
A: We feed off each other, and we actually live with other artists too. For me, it is inspiring to be surrounded by that and to see Will be a full-time musician — it is not his side job, it is not his hobby — that is inspiring for me because I love acting and would love to make it my full-time gig.
The Gravitational Pull OF Bernice Trimble, written by Beth Graham runs April 6 to 7 & 11 to 14. For tickets go to /betweenshiftstheatre.com.
