Interview With Toni Rae Brotons

Some of our regular fans may remember that on the November 20th edition of The Nibbler, Bee was raving about a new play she had been to see in Washington, called Carol’s Christmas.  Written by Marni Penning and produced by Pinky Swear Productions, Carol’s Christmas is a modern day take on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with a feminist twist.  Carol is recently divorced.  She views her situation as so hopeless that she has not left her tiny apartment in six months.  Her only contact with the outside world is Lauren, her neighbour from across the hall, who seems to have a high tolerance for body odour, or no sense of smell.  However, things are about to change for Carol, as she sleeps she is visited by an apparition of her sister Marley, who is chained by the shackles of domesticity and motherhood.  Marley informs her that she is about to get “some much needed perspective” in the form of visitations from the ghosts of relationships past, present and future.  And so, let the high jinx commence!   

Carol’s Christmas is directed by Toni Rae Brotons.  An established actor and director based in the DC area, Toni Rae took some time out

from her busy schedule to talk to Newsnibbles about this latest project.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your professional history.

Well, I’ve been acting in the DC area since 1999. Prior to that, I was a two-year company member with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Previous credits include Romeo & Juliet (Nurse), Measure for Measure (Lucio), and Julius Caesar

(Calphurnia), Taffety Punk Theatre Company; Mulan (Mushu) and Junie B. Jones and A Little Monkey Business (Lucille/Mom–Helen Hayes Nomination), Imagination Stage; Homokay’s Medea (Medea), Venus Theatre, The Spitfire Grill

(Percy), Theater Alliance; Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mrs. Bucket), The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences; One Good Marriage (Steph), MetroStage; Man of LaMancha (Aldonza), Keegan Theatre, and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Iris), The American Century Theater. I have a Master of Arts degree in Theatre from Miami University and am still trying to find time to create my one-woman cabaret.

As a Pinky Swear Company Member, I directed and performed in Cabaret XXX: Les Femmes Fatales for the Capital Fringe Festival (Pick of the Fringe Award, Best Musical) and directed Carol’s Christmas.

How did you become involved in the Pinky Swear group?

I had worked with Allyson Harkey in a show in 2007, and we became friends once I moved to Capital Hill in 2009. Karen and Allyson asked me to perform in a couple of cabarets in 2010 and then asked me to join the company.

What are the best and worst parts about directing a play that has never been performed before?

BEST: Knowing that what you present is not going to be considered “wrong.” It’s fresh and new. Also one of the best parts was working directly with the playwright, Marni Penning, who I’ve been friends with for many years.

WORST: You find stuff that might read well, including the technical aspects and then realize that you can’t make it work. For example, Marni really wanted the two men in the show to “appear” in Carol’s bed;however, that was something that we just couldn’t do on our budget.

As you might be able to tell, the best far outweighs the worst!

The detailed stage directions make the playwright’s intensions for the performance of the piece very clear, as well as explicit instructions with regard to set design and use of space and props.  Does this make directing the piece more or less challenging?

Since I knew that this was a world premiere and I knew the playwright (as well as the inspiration for the story), I really tried to follow as much of Marni’s stage directions as I could within the parameters of what was available to me. I encouraged the actors to at least try the beats and emphasis she wrote in. Actors normally disregard stage directions, as they’re usually written in by the stage manager of the original production; however, since this was new, I thought we should give them a shot.  We came fairly close in many regards and luckily, Marni was happy with what we ended up doing.

If you wanted to convert a Newsnibbles story into performance art, which would it be and why?

I think the panda poo green tea story might be interesting to stage. Poo as performance art is probably not for everyone, but then again, performance art is not for everyone.

 

We would like to thank Toni Rae for talking to us.  If you world like to attend one of the world première performances of Carol’s Christmas it’s showing at  Theatre on the Run, 3700 South Four Mile Run, Arlington, VA 22206,  Fridays, Saturday, Sundays, November 18 – December 23, 2011. All performances are at 8:00 p.m. There will be a special performance on December 22. If you want to buy tickets they are $20, and you can by visiting the Pinky Swear website, here: http://pinkyswear-productions.com/

Also, you can “like” us by clicking here: http://www.facebook.com/newsnibbles – just do it already.