In the Tony-winning musical, strangers become neighbors after 9/11

By Jim Flint

When actor, writer and filmmaker Victoria Frings makes her Oregon Shakespeare Festival debut, it will be in “Come From Away,” opening March 14 at the Angus Bowmer Theatre.

Frings joins OSF following a career that spans Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theater, cabaret and filmmaking, fulfilling a longtime desire to work in Ashland.

“Come From Away,” which runs through Oct. 24, is based on real events following Sept. 11, 2001, when commercial flights were grounded and 7,000 passengers were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. With little notice, residents housed and fed the stranded travelers for several days. The musical tells that story through an ensemble cast portraying passengers and townspeople, with music drawn from Celtic and folk traditions.

Frings, who lives in Los Angeles and was born and raised in San Francisco, plays Beverley, an American Airlines pilot, along with Annette, a reporter, and ensemble roles.

Hooked from the start

Her path to theater began early.

“I was in an original musical at my church when I was 5, and you can tell from the video of the production that I loved being on stage,” she said. “I took my one solo line very seriously, and there’s even a moment when I glared at a little boy who was goofing off. From then on, I was hooked.”

Creativity was part of her home life.

“My mother was a fashion designer and an incredibly creative person,” Frings said. “She begged me not to pursue fashion (too uncertain a career, she said), so naturally I went into the theater.”

She recalls a moment in high school that helped solidify her decision to pursue acting. While attending a show at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre, she was talking with a friend about her ambitions when a paper airplane landed in her lap. Inside was a note that read, “Thanks for coming, stay true to your dreams.” She says that may have been the first moment she really considered it a calling.

Despite her commitment to theater, Frings also pursued academics, enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania and double majoring in environmental studies and science, technology and society. She graduated summa cum laude. Her first professional acting job followed soon after, in Tom Stoppard’s “Rock ’n’ Roll” at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia.

“It was an amazing experience,” she said. “The Wilma became my artistic home for the next few years.”

From Broadway outward

Her subsequent credits include Broadway’s “An Enemy of the People,” off-Broadway productions and regional work across the country. One of her favorite roles was Marianne in “Constellations” at the Old Globe.

“The play itself is an incredibly inventive, emotional exploration of alternate realities and fate,” she said. “And the role itself felt like it was written for me. Marianne is awkward, funny, playful, pragmatic and a scientist! I got to talk about quantum mechanics in one scene, do sign language in another and attempt to communicate in spite of a debilitating brain tumor throughout.”

Stepping into Beverley

In “Come From Away,” Frings is particularly focused on Beverley Bass, one of the central figures in the musical.

“Beverley is one of the great musical theater roles to come out of the modern canon, and I’m thrilled I get to tell her grounded, human story,” she said. “She gets to show two very different sides of herself in the show: the one who stays strong for her passengers, and the vulnerable wife and mother missing her family and trying to support them from afar.”

She also plays Annette, a local teacher, and shifts frequently between characters.

“Accent work has always been a tool I’ve loved to use to build distinct characters,” Frings said. “So, switching between a Texas and Newfoundland accent does a lot of the work for me.”

She notes that the production relies on small, specific changes rather than full transformations.

“Everyone in the musical switches roles frequently. Audiences have to quickly buy into the fact that maybe they won’t see huge, full transformations, but small, specific gestures at individuality.”

The material is drawn directly from interviews with the real people involved, including Bass. Frings says that responsibility shapes her approach, especially in her solo number, “Me and the Sky.”

“All songs should be worked on as if they are monologues,” she said. “But with this one especially, I have felt it imperative to get into the emotional core and meaning of the words before layering the music on top. I feel a responsibility to tell Beverley’s story with clarity, specificity and heart.”

A pivotal moment

Her casting process overlapped with a major life change. Frings was nine months pregnant when a casting director contacted her about the role. After submitting a taped audition, she received a callback, then had to explain she would soon have a newborn.

“When I got the offer, I felt like my worlds were colliding — my prior career ambitions and my new identity as a mother,” she said. “But I love the show and I have wanted to work at OSF since I was a Shakespeare nerd growing up in San Francisco. So, with my husband’s support, I said yes.”

“Come From Away” is sung from start to finish, placing sustained vocal demands on the cast. Frings recently originated a role in “Madame Clicquot” while pregnant, which helped build stamina. Even so, she says the OSF run presents new challenges.

“Taking care of my voice adds a layer to my daily prep,” she said. “This is extra tricky with a 4-month-old at home keeping me up at night! Luckily, I love a challenge.”

Rehearsals begin with céilí dances led by choreographer Sunny Min-Sook Hitt, a practice Frings says sets the tone for the company.

“They bring such joy and laughter to the room,” she said. “I think that is ultimately what makes audiences love this show, the buoyancy of it. Also, the harmonies are delicious.”

Why it matters

Asked why this story feels timely, Frings points to growing division in the country.

“Stories about people reaching across the aisle are of utmost importance in a world that is splintering along ideological and political lines and is getting more hateful and violent as a result,” she said. “Especially in the wake of COVID, we need stories of people banding together and doing something, not for their individual freedom and well-being, but for the greater good.”

When audiences leave the theater, she hopes they take that message with them.

“I hope they carry an urgent desire to extend a helping hand to a stranger and to put in the work when the work needs doing, which it does. And, of course, I hope they leave with a renewed love of the theater.”

For Frings, “Come From Away” marks both a professional milestone and a long-anticipated arrival at OSF, in a production centered on cooperation, adaptability and shared responsibility.

For more information about “Come From Away,” other OSF productions, or to purchase tickets, visit osfashland.org.

Jim Flint’s Curtain Call column publishes on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. Email Jim at [email protected].