The Niceties is one of the most challenging plays I have worked on. It’s the kind of play that actors long for. For me it is on par with Wit (where I played a woman who had stage 4 ovarian cancer and was a professor of John Dunn). The Niceties is a dense, layered play in content, language, emotion, energy and scope. So often plays present me with great opportunities to learn and expand. Wit had a profound effect on my life. The Niceties clearly is having the same effect. From my first reading of the play, I have not stopped thinking about it. I continue to learn from it every day.
I began my research in September, certainly it was not all at once. The holidays interrupted my study, but I’ve spent long hours at my computer, often into the wee hours (with apologies to my character, Janine, who says you need to be in the library for research!). COF founder Rusty Wilson drilled into us that you must be familiar with all of your circumstances in a play, including the time period, the people with whom you associate, everything you say and who you are in that context. Not being a student of history, I had a lot to learn. Even if I was familiar with an individual or a historical account, I still felt the need to study it. Believe me, there are numerous individuals and events mentioned in the play that I had to explore. I also studied about the racial divide between African American and White cultures. Just because of time I could not investigate as deeply as I would have liked into everything presented but I have learned a great deal. My research has been fascinating, enlightening and quite disturbing. I have read a bit about revolutions, talked with friends who are historians, writers (thank you Don and Marcia Liebich), educators and mentors. I have been consumed with this show!
Overall, I realize how much I have learned and how much more I still need to learn. In every aspect of my life, I must become a better listener. It is something I have already been working on, but this show pinpoints that need. As Zoe tells Janine “you need to shut up and listen.” And I do! Just to absorb and understand. The only way I can get through this play is to listen. The only way I can have empathy is to listen. It is something “I keep, keep, keep, keep, striving toward.”
