By Andrew Gans
Question: It's such an amazing cast, I wonder what it's like backstage. Is there a sense of family?
Question: How nerve-racking was that, though, getting up in front of everyone and wondering how people would react?
Question: Since we haven't spoken before, I'm just curious, where were you born and raised?
17 Feb 2012
Bryonha Marie Parham, Norm Lewis and NaTasha Yvette Williams.
photo by Michael J. Lutch
Williams: We are incredibly close. And, everybody is so nice. Of course, we have the usual… couple crazy people. [Laughs.] However, even with the crazy people, you love them. I don't know what happened. I know we played this game in the beginning. Diane had us develop these lives, these characters, for the show, which you always do when you're in a production. However, I don't know that you always get the opportunity to share them with everybody. We had a day of actually telling people who we were—who we had decided our characters were going to be and how they related to each person and what they did and their strengths and weaknesses. So, not only did we do that for ourselves, which I think, as actors, we always do when we have a role, but we actually got to hear and listen to everybody else's. What I think that did was certainly define who the people who lived in Catfish Row were, but because they were defined—or more defined—it lets you know how you fit in. It's sort of like me sitting out and watching the show for weeks—"Wow, okay. That person does this. And, I know that when I do that later on, this person has done it before." You know, those kinds of things. It sort of gave us a sense of community that you normally don't get in a four-to-six week rehearsal period because you're just so [focused] to get it up. I think that particular exercise, for us—because it was public—helped us develop ensemble-ness in the community. Certainly, it trickles down and travels outside of the Row. It travels outside of the space from where we're performing. We kind of like each other.
Williams: It was early, so it was kind of nerve-racking. We had like a week-and-a-half, I guess, to get it together before she announced we were going to do it—"We'll be doing this next week." We had about a week with each other, trying to feel each other out… But it was nerve-racking because say I decide that my character bought the water pump for the town. And, in your private time, you might have thought your character did it. You know what I mean? You're nervous about whether your idea of who you are is really going to fit into this world, and then you just make it work regardless. Say, "Well, we had two pumps. The first one broke down" or whatever the case is… It wasn't as nerve-racking as it was enlightening. It was nerve-racking in that we were just meeting each other and we had to get up and do something, but as far as what we had to do, that wasn't necessarily nerve-racking to me. It was more, "Wow. That's pretty interesting." We learned a lot about people. There's one character, Eva—people in the ensemble gave themselves names—and, while she was very quiet in rehearsal, her character that she developed had this full life and attitude that went along with her personality. And, it was just good to see people opening up and blossoming and really thinking about who they were and the story that they were going to tell—that we were all going to tell. We're all telling Porgy and Bess' story, but we each have a piece and a part and branch of that particular tree. That was just the beauty of that whole exercise, and I know that that's what has made us close with each other, being protective of each other and actually getting along, where we otherwise might have just gone to work and gone home.
Williams: I was born in, actually, Rochester, New York, but I lived there for like three months, because the snow came. [Laughs.] And, my family was from North Carolina, and we weren't used to a lot of snow. I was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I spent about five years in Philly, but North Carolina is my home, really.
Williams: Age three! I was singing in the Tiny-Tot Choir at my church. [Laughs.] And, doing little things at church—mostly around three. But, professionally, I guess, around 13, I had my first community theatre show.
