The Art of Being a Brat

It occurs to me as rehearsals have gotten underway for Saline Area Players’ production of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka that we have some of the nicest kids I’ve ever met playing the most bratty characters ever.  I started to wonder what they did to channel their bratty-ness.  So, I spent a little time with them trying to figure it out.  One thing I found out was that all of them watched both movies, the original from 1971 entitled Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and the more recent version from 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to get ideas about their characters.  3 of the 4 kids said they liked the first one better, which I saw when it came out, but they all saw on DVD.  Yes, there were people alive then.  In fact, my sister had a theme party at our house based on the song Candy Man, which was a lot of fun and, needless to say, included lots of sweets.  Anyway, the other thing they all have in common is that they are enjoying their parts, as you will see by some of their responses to my questions.

Augustus Gloop:

Henry Kiley, who plays Augustus Gloop, says he’s played the part before.  He describes his role as a “happy goofy glutton.” He says, “I could never do a good German accent…. but, I gave it a shot … it has been working well.”  To learn the German accent, his previous director read some of the lines for him with an accent and he listened to it on Youtube.

What’s his hardest part?   "Thinking about how ridiculous the song actually sounds."  Henry had to look up one of the words in the lyrics - truncheon (which rhymes with luncheon) - it's a kind of large club.  He says,"bratwurst the size of a truncheon is funny!"  Overall, Henry's take on the song is that it “doesn’t sink in that you’re singing about food” and then when you think about it, “it is absurd.” The song title is “I Eat More!”

Mike TeaVee:

Stephen Muzzi, who plays Mike TeaVee, says with a smile that normally “I’m a perfect angel.” At home he is more into books than technology, but watches TV, uses a wii and plays with the i-pod touches of his older siblings, although notes that when he asks them to use one, they often say “no”. 

How is he like his character?  “I’m really hyper at home.”  How is he different?  He doesn’t watch TV or screens all day like his character.

What’s it like to play the part?  “It is fun to be a person completely different than you are and to totally turn off Stephen Muzzi and put on Mike TeaVee and call adults ‘fools’…. That’s fun and satisfying.”  But, he acknowledges that he would never do that in real life!

Violet Beauregarde:

To channel her “brat,” Olivianna Calmes watched TV shows where people are super bratty.  She found the show “Toddlers in Tiaras” extremely helpful.  She says, jokingly, that the brat comes from “deep inside” her.  She tries to act sassy and laid back.  A favorite pose:  Hand on hip and leaning on one leg – “it gives the impression I don’t care what people think.”

How is she like her character?  She and her real mom have a good relationship with each other like Violet and Mrs. Beauregarde do.  They are both super supportive.

How is she not like her character?  Violet is usually very competitive, but she’s not.

What’s it like playing the part?  “Super fun and hilarious.”  “I can be exactly opposite what I am and know that people will laugh because I’m acting horrible.”

Veruca Salt:

Hannah Burkhart is one of the kindest kids I know and has been honored for her volunteer activities.  So, what does she do to play a spoiled, bratty kid?  She says “I try to be rude and listen to what the director says.”  She was instructed to be like a child who doesn’t care what anyone else says but to do it in her age range.  To prepare, she thinks about mean people she knows.  She has worked on her body postures – hands on hip, shaking her head, stomping her feet. 

How does it feel to be so bratty?  “I feel bad sometimes for yelling at everyone…. I don’t want to invade people’s personal space.”

Is it fun too?  “Oh, definitely!...I get to be mean to people with no repercussions!”

These are great kids who are having a riot playing bratty ones.  I’ve had my own share of playing bratty characters, and I agree with them, it is a lot of fun! Just know, though, that when you meet them on the street they are ACTING and these are not their real personalities.

Tickets are ON SALE NOW for Saline Area Players’ production of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka.  All the information is on SAP’s website at www.salineareaplayers.org.  

Unsung Hero - Deb

Why lyrics from Hello Dolly are going through my head instead of those from Willy Wonka, the show that Saline Area Players is currently doing, I’m not sure, but they fit.  “Amazing woman…”  “It takes a woman, a husky woman…” (never mind where the song goes after that).  I’m talking about one of the behind-the-scenes unsung heroes of SAP, Debra Warila.

I first met Deb when she was a nun.  Well, she wasn’t ACTUALLY a nun, she played one in The Sound of Music.  When we were asked to come up with background jobs for our characters, I found out that Deb had 5 boys (and I thought one was hard to raise), so she chose the role of laundress because it was something she really knew how to do well.  Deb did fine on stage, singing a capella with the other nuns, and later playing a ballroom guest in the Von Trapp home.  But, as the rehearsals got underway, she discovered that she could get to help build the set.  Now, when we say “build the set,” most people develop convenient hearing loss, but not Deb, she was ecstatic.  She took to set building like a fish takes to water.  I remember one person who didn’t know her asking who she was.  I guess she stood out.  Some might think that is because she’s a woman, but really the reason is that she has so much energy that she ran circles around all the other set builders.  Also, Deb asked if she could help with stage crew during that show.  Uh, yeah….!  So, I think she may have had some of the most costume changes in that show going from a nun to her ballroom gown with make-up (not tops in her comfort zone) to her black stage crew outfit, back to being a nun (without the make-up)….oh,while moving sets in between and helping with at least two costume changes for other cast members.

Jump ahead 6 months and then a year, and Deb was taking on set building for our little barn show, Jack and the Beantin, including the construction of an 8 ft tall can of beans, and then set building/stage managing/lights/co-producer/whatever for the Carol Burnett Show.  She even made a cameo appearance as a rapper during one of the commercials. She has so much energy in her “free time” and eats this stuff up.  I think I neglected to mention that Deb also was the main costumer for Carol Burnett and sewed many costumes for The Sound of Music too.

Now, we’re doing Willy Wonka and she is the prime set builder.  One of the seasoned set builders who is working on the show too said to me “She knows what she’s doing!”  Yes, she does.  Another said “she’s very creative!” Another quote:  “she has everything detail figured out in her head.”  She is able to find jobs for everyone who shows up to build and there have been nights with 3-5 projects going on at the same time.  Before The Sound of Music, she had never done this before, so half the time she is learning as she goes.  And sometimes, she is designing and re-designing sets as she goes along, making them better and more functional for the cast and crew. 

On some nights she also supervises painting when the paint chair is busy. She’s also learning vocabulary…  I remember the night she looked up the spelling for louon (or lauan) –  (with many pronunciations).  Learning the words related to the stage will be fodder for another blogpost.   (But, I digress).

What I like the best about this story is the way that community theater provides people an opportunity to use their latent talents in a very meaningful way.  I take some credit for inviting Deb to be on the board of the group, but even had I not done that, I think that she would have asked, yes ASKED, to help with set building once she got a flavor of it.  And, now that she’s doing it, there is no question who is in charge!  I still marvel at how she manages to raise 5 sons and take this on, not to mention keeping her house in good order while trying to sell it.  (Although she tells me that her housekeeping sometimes goes lower on the priority list… whose doesn’t?) We must thank her husband too, for keeping the home fires burning while she’s at set building, but he knows, as is clear to the rest of us, that she blossoms doing this kind of work and it keeps her happy!  Thanks, Deb!