Jessica Sage interviews Barret O’Brien

By Jessica Sage

In the most recent Sage on Stage column, I addressed a question from Peter W. on actors transitioning from one role to another — whether in a single production or across multiple productions.

I wrote that the short answer to a big question about such a transition is character development. Developing a character is a huge part of the work an actor takes on for any role. I spoke with Daniel Molina about his transition from the character of Father Flynn in RTC’s “Doubt” to that of Brick Pollitt in our production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” We had so much fun with that discussion that I’ve asked Barret O’Brien for his take on that process. This season, we see Barret twice in RTC productions: first as Gooper Pollitt in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (which ran April 30 to May 4) and as Benjamin in “Ripcord” (which runs from July 16 to August 3).

Jessica: Barret, please talk a little about your mindset and process when switching from one character role to another.

Barret: In both “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Ripcord,” we, as a cast, are given the gift of working with rich and well-considered words from, respectively, writers Tennessee Williams and David Lindsay-Abaire. So the process is pretty simple: see what the writer is offering and translate that into the character. I find that the differences from one role to another arise naturally, on their own time and in their own way, without imposing too much, in order to differentiate worlds. Plus the particular worlds of these two plays are very different, Mississippi 1955 and New Jersey 2025, so we’re given so much right from go.

Jessica: In this particular situation, you’re moving from embodying a character in a staged reading to performing as a character in a full production. How does preparation for those roles differ?

Barret: So much of the homework as an actor is memorization. I mean, golly, think of John Tufts in “An Iliad” or Domenique Lozano in “Gidion’s Knot.” I enjoy the process of memorization, and I also acknowledge that it takes a lot of diligent, outside-of-rehearsal toil. In the staged reading series at Rogue Theater Company (RTC), we are able to release that particular aspect of the work and go right into the talking and listening. It’s quite a pleasure, a bit like summer camp. Outside of that difference, the preparation for a fully staged reading and a production is largely the same: What’s the playwright asking of the company? What are the opportunities? Where’s the play (in both senses of the word)?

Jessica: What challenges have you experienced in switching roles — turning off one and turning on the next? 

Barret: I fall in deep affection with my characters: most recently, Little Charles in “August: Osage County” at Rogue Theater Company and Scapino at Camelot Theatre. Sometimes that affection wants the runs to go on and on and on. Yet, even once the flats are disassembled, something of the created-world continues on when there’s that affection. I suppose that’s less of a challenge and more of an opportunity: to care fully, with abandon, and trust that that care carries over to the next work.

Jessica: What aspect of character transition has changed as you have gained experience?

Barret: The worry has gone away. I used to consider it part of my job to worry over the onus to create something interesting. Now, after 80+ plays on stages from Texas to Tblisi, I trust the process. I trust the play. I trust the director. I trust that character emerges. Of course a clown in a haunted house (“Ripcord”) is going to have vocal and physical differences from a lawyer in Memphis (“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”). The process will make the differences apparent.

Jessica: Have you ever observed another actor make a transition from one role to another and picked up some thought or practice that you’ve incorporated into your own work?

Barret: I need look no further than the cast of “Ripcord”; I’ve had the privilege of working with three of the actors before. Having sat mesmerized by his embodiment of Groucho in “Animal Crackers,” I got to team up with Mark Bedard to liberate Rome off-Broadway in “Julius Caesar.” And there — presto — from the grease-stick mustache and stooped walk, was Mark’s Trebonius, all tank top and biceps. Eileen DeSandre arrested me every night for a year in “Much Ado About Nothing” when she played the by-the-books security guard, Verges. And now she’s playing Abby, this vivacious, wickedly smart retiree. Or watching Steven Michael Spencer’s tragic Jason in “Sweat” and then acting opposite his wild, handstanding Pryor in “Off the Rails.” I am filled with inspiration over the endless elasticity of certain actors.

Jessica: What is the tightest time frame for switching roles that you’ve experienced? Have you had any crazy experiences switching from one production and role to another?

Barret: During the run of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at RTC, we did a Saturday matinee at 1 p.m., and then, at 4:30, I was called to set for Gary Lundgren’s new film, “An Extraordinary Year.” So I got out of Gooper’s costume and into the clothes of Jerald, a struggling PhD student, in the Grizzly Peak Winery dressing room, all while nibbling a lunch of apples and cheese.

Jessica: You have about two months between performances of these two RTC productions. In your experience, do you find yourself thinking about the next role even as you work on the first or do you keep yourself tightly focused on the production at hand?

Barret: Yes, images begin to appear as soon as I’ve read the script, no matter how far in advance. I’ll often jot those down and put them away. I make it a practice to be in one story at a time. For me, this is more fulfilling. That being said, there are seasons when, for schedule reasons or if you’re working in rep, this isn’t what’s being asked. In more overlapped processes, I compartmentalize just as someone in any profession might do. The Olympic runner Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (someone I find spellbinding in her abilities and concentration) is able to train for the 400-meter hurdles and the 4×400-meter relay at the same time. And, lo and behold, she never steps on to the track to run the 400-meter hurdles and runs the 4×400 by mistake.

Jessica: What about times when actors play multiple characters within the same play? How might this be like or different from the switching of roles when moving from one production to another? 

Barret: As Jamie Ann Romero, Mark Bedard, and I do in “Ripcord,” moving from character to character within a production is delightfully challenging and also super fun. This is probably epitomized in the stage work of Anna Deavere Smith or John Leguizamo. Or, right here at RTC, with the work of Dan Donohue and Ray Porter in “Stones in his Pockets.”

The unique task is finding the humanity in a character even when the text gives you very little to go on. Then you have to give each character full dimensions while not distracting from the main focus of the tale. Some productions will have you simply say, “I am now Horatio,” and that’s enough. Even though the audience just saw you as Bernardo, and we all say, “Cool. Got it.” Other productions will do more to chameleonize from role to role within a play, to give the production the feel of a much larger world. Oregon Cabaret Theatre really excels at that form of world building.

To me the theater is a limitless place of transformation. I feel tremendous gratitude to be part of it.

Theater lovers, what would you like to know about theater, acting, stagecraft, etc.? Send your questions to [email protected]. In the meantime, let’s bring up the houselights and join us for some fun!

Jessica Sage is artistic director of Rogue Theater Company (RTC).  RTC’s next production is “Ripcord,” playing July 16 thru August 3. For more information about Rogue Theater Company and the entire season, see roguetheatercompany.com.