INTERVIEW: Helen Cespedes is ‘Taking Steps’ at Barrington Stage Company
Taking Steps is the riotously funny farce from the mind of Alan Ayckbourn, one of the most celebrated British playwrights of the last century. The haunted-house comedy is currently being revived by director Sam Buntrock at Barrington Stage Company’s Boyd-Quinson Mainstage in Downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
The cast features a number of accomplished actors, including Helen Cespedes as Kitty, a character who attempts to stay as far away as possible from her “monstrously boring” fiancé. Other performers in the production include Claire Brownell, Luke Smith, Carson Elrod, Richard Hollis and Matthew Greer.
The haunted shenanigans continue at Barrington through Saturday, Aug. 5.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox spoke with Cespedes about her role and her time at The Juilliard School. Here’s what she had to say:
On how she got attached to the production …
“Well, sort of in the mundane way we often get attached to productions. I got called in for an audition, and I thought, oh, wouldn’t it be fun to do an Ayckbourn comedy. I’ve never done that before, and to be in the Berkshires in the summer and outside New York City, so absolutely I’ll go for it. And I came in and auditioned, and Sam Buntrock, the director, said, ‘Thank you. I’m very pleased.’ And then I had a callback, and he said again, ‘Thank you. I’m very pleased.’ And then I got the part, so I guess I could take him at his word.”
On her character of Kitty …
“I actually don’t say very much. I’m on stage for the bulk of the play, but sort of silenced, which she’s also kind of using strategically. This young woman who is trying to express herself actually can’t get her voice out there, but it’s such a joy. You know, I’ve been working on a lot of new plays lately, which is a wonderful experience. I love developing new work, but it’s definitely very rewarding to be a part of something tried and true, and that has been crafted like a well-oiled machine. This play is like a mathematical proof almost in the way it’s been meticulously crafted, and the important information has been laid in very strategically. And then he sets it all up, and then three-quarters of the play is just chaos, once the situation has been established. So we’ve really been sort of following it like a map and then playing within that.”
On Ayckbourn’s genius as a playwright …
“I think what is unique about Ayckbourn … is that it’s not just a farce and flat all shtick, all slamming doors. These characters are really beautifully drawn and have a lot of humanity, so while it’s very, very funny and very silly, it’s these very real people stuck in this silly situation who each have their own desires, and disappointments and frustrations. So we talked about in rehearsal something like The Office in terms of the sort of realism of these people. We say often that it’s not the characters that are farcical; it’s real people in silly situations.”
On working with Buntrock …
“It was really, really great. He’s one of the smartest directors I’ve ever worked with and the perfect person to direct this play because it really is difficult. The sort of untangling you have to do to crack this one requires a very brilliant mind like Sam’s. I think the thing I appreciate about him the most is when you’re in the room with Sam, and I told him this in a card on opening night, that you can feel the glee of Sam as a child going to the theater for the first time, and experiencing that excitement, and that, oh, I want to do that. He brings that into rehearsal every single day, and that, paired with his experience, his expertise, his intelligence and his kindness, is a really strong recipe for a director. So we were all just so pleased working with him.”
On working in Downtown Pittsfield for the summer …
“It’s really gorgeous up here. New York City in the summer, as you probably know, can turn into this humid soup, where everybody’s kind of cranky. And here, especially now that the show is opened, if we want to go for a swim during the day or go for a hike, that paired with just there are so many incredible cultural institutions up here. We went to MASS MoCA as a group early on, and we’ve gone to see other shows. There’s a real alliance between the cultural institutions up here.”
On when she realized acting would be a profession …
“It’s a tough question because I always wonder, like, did I know, and I was in denial? I think it was something that I always came back to. It always was sort of a home for me, but I guess it wasn’t really until I played Viola in a production of Twelfth Night in college that a little window opened. Oh, there’s so much for me to explore in this craft. In terms of, oh, this can really engage not only my intelligence, but my heart, and soul and body to sort of feel that full-throttle engagement for the first time. I think it was something that I had experienced before, ever since I was a kid, but it wasn’t until then that the light bulb off. Oh, I think I want to do this with my life, but if I’m going to do this with my life, I want to hide away in school, and try things, and make mistakes and really see what it’s like to be an athlete as an actor, to really feel like I’ve honed my skills. … So I applied to grad schools and said, let me see if this works out. And it did happen to work out, so I went to Juilliard. And that was sort of the point of no return.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Taking Steps continues through Saturday, Aug. 5 at Barrington Stage Company’s Boyd-Quinson Mainstage in Downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Click here for more information and tickets.
