Performing Theatre
I had the wonderful opportunity to act as Amir in the Pulitzer-prize winning play ‘Disgraced’ by Ayad Akhtar. This adventure took me to the charming little town of Hailey, Idaho for 5 weeks. Although we officially started rehearsals at the beginning of February, I began my character work on December 25th.
This was an equity play and joining me on the cast were two other LA actors, Marvin Youssif and Dan Stevens, NYC-derived Aubrey Lace Taylor, and the artistic director of Liberty Theatre, Naomi McDougall Jones. The co-directors of the play were Catherine Eaton and Sami Bass.
The preparation I needed was immense because of the sheer amount of dialogue my character had. I probably wrote my monologues at least 100 times before showing up for rehearsals. On top of that, my emotional life needed to be fully activated. Fortunately, I’d been training for the past year with one of the greatest method acting coaches in the world, Stephanie Feury, and she had taught me many techniques to get me connected to my body and voice along with thorough understanding of plays.
I still cannot believe that I memorized so much in such short a time period. We only had 2 weeks of rehearsals and then 3 weeks of performance.
The runs went very well, and we truly affected the audience in Idaho. From the artistic director: “There must be some red hot word of mouth out there, my friends. It is unheard of to hit that many tickets for a show that isn’t a musical”. We received standing ovations on many nights, and many texts like the following:
“WOW! What a play. What a cast. You are ALL incredible. Last night felt like a homecoming for the beloved Liberty Theatre. Thank you for all your hard work on that end. As you likely predicted, we had some lively conversation until late in the night. Bravo!”
One interesting question I was asked at the end of the play run—how did it change me?
Contrary to what I’ve always been taught, that theatre and film are two different media requiring different skillsets, I came to strongly believe that there is no difference. As Meisner said, live truthfully in imaginary circumstances. In my eyes, great theatre and great film are the same. A performance is not too big or theatrical for film if it’s honest. And no extra performance or volume is needed for theatre. Stages can be mic’d up in 2024 and beyond—no need to project to the back of the room. It takes away the intimacy and honesty of a play to ‘yell with your diaphragm’.
To finish, it was one of the most amazing experiences for me to be back in live theatre, to create with such wonderful actors, directors, and crew and affect audiences so deeply—a beautiful memory I will cherish for the rest of my days on this planet.
Actor Ash T and The Liberty Theatre Co. Executive & Artistic Director Naomi McDougall Jones on KMVT11 to promote ‘Disgraced’
First reading of play. From L to R: Aubrey Lace Taylor, Naomi McDougall Jones, Tess Makena, Marvin Youssif, Dan Jones, and Ash T
Production Photo by Kirsten Shultz
Production Photo by Kirsten Shultz
Production Photo by Kirsten Shultz
The newly renovated Liberty Theatre in Hailey, Idaho
Inside the beautiful Liberty Theatre
Closing night of play.
