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Postpartum Seanachai

Posted by DCA Theater on October 3, 2008 in July-December 2008 Season, Scenes from the Big Picture

Written by J David Moeller (Playing Frank Coin)

New mothers often experience peripartum, also known as postpartum, depression primarily brought on by hormonal changes, but exacerbated by feeling of stress from changes at work and home routines and also from having feelings of loss of identity of who they are, or were.

Actors -who create new identities with each new show- sometimes suffer a similar, if not medically described, phenomenon (castpartum Seanachai) brought on by the sudden cessation of association with a cast that has grown close during the lengthy process of rehearsing a production and its subsequent run…often spanning many months.

Some of the 21 performers (and the roles they play) in “Scenes From the Big Picture” weigh in with their feelings on the subject.

Don Blair (Sammy): “’Mixed feelings’ sums it up.  Whenever the end of a show approaches I’m relieved and triste all at once.  But this show has been…‘Special’- and so it adds an extra dollop of weltschmertz to the whole affair. (Weltschmertz: feeling experienced by someone who understands that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind.) Don will be shaving his head for the June ‘09 re-mount of Bret Nevue’s “The Last BBQ” at Ann Filmer’s 16th St. Theater.

Barbara Figgins (Sharon) says all she’s going to do is file her taxes. That should be depressing enough in its own right.

Lee Stark (Connie): “I don’t often feel sad after a show, because that’s one of the joys of doing theater, there are a lot of stories to tell and every one has to end at some point.  It feels natural.  I always miss the particular group of people, though, but you keep in touch if it’s meant to last. And it’s a small freakin world.” She opens in the title role in Victory Gardens’ “Eurydice” Oct. 13.

Carolyn Klein (Helen): “It’s not every show that I am sad to see end but I am definitely going to miss this cast and working on this production…a great script, good people and beautiful work.  It’s been an awesome run.” Carolyn opens in WildClaw Theatre’s “Dreams in the Witch House” Nov. 16 at the Athenaeum. She’s filming an “indie” slasher film, “The Landlord”, in October.

Mike Carothers (Rat) joins the cast its final weekend stepping into the role formerly played by Shane Kenyon who’s replacing Jamie Abelson (opening as Orpheus with Lee Stark in “Eurydice”) in the role of Bop.  He says, “After a show…I tend to compare it to that of a vacation to another country. You are there for months and experience bonds, events, laughs and moments that will never be repeated. Then you pack up and go home. It means no one at home will understand what you’ve just experienced. No matter how vivid the descriptions, pictures and even videos, none will convey what you experienced on that vacation or that production.”

Zeke Sulkes (Swiz) is going to the New Victory Theatre in New York with Redmoon Theater’s critically acclaimed production of “Hunchback”. When asked how he feels at a show’s closing he says, “I do indeed get pangs of sadness when a show closes.  Not always, but in the case of this show, most certainly.  (It) is a temporal piece of art, meant to exist in a limited space and time.  And it is not the “show” that I will miss the most.  It is the community we’ve created; the cast and crew have bonded in a special way.  I will miss this bond the most.”