Review Fix chats with Jan Wallace who discusses her upcoming production “Shirley And Me.â€
About the Production:
SHIRLEY AND ME, WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY JAN WALLACE AND DIRECTED BY E. KATHERINE KERR, WILL PLAY THE 2017 PLANET CONNECTION THEATRE FESTIVITY, WHICH RUNS JUNE 12 – JULY 9 AT THE CLEMENTE, 107 SUFFOLK STREET, NYC.
After achieving great acclaim with this one-woman show at Florida’s Sarasolo Festival in Sarasota, Jan Wallace reprises her role in Shirley and Me at this summer’s Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. SHIRLEY AND ME is about Jan Wallace‘s relationship with the character “Shirley Valentine†(a not so young working class Liverpool lady who just takes off on holiday to Greece sans husband). Inspired from Jan Wallace‘s years of performing the award winning 1986 Willy Russell play, SHIRLEY VALENTINE, to theater audiences in Connecticut and the New York area. SHIRLEY AND ME allows Wallace to relive her experience of performing SHIRLEY VALENTINE with humor and honesty, exploring how it affected her then and how the character of “Shirley†inspires her now.
Unlike Shirley Valentine, Jan did not leave her husband, he, sadly, left her. Michael Wallace passed away from a brain tumor and Jan dedicates this series of performances to his memory. She has joined forces with The National Brain Tumor Society to honor him with a specific donation site: www.nbtsevents.braintumor.org/JanWallacedonations.
Performances are June 17 @ 5:15 p.m.; June 19 @ 7:30 p.m.; June 23 @ 5:30 p.m.;
June 25 @ 8:00 p.m.; July 2 @ 3:45 p.m.; and July 7 @ 7:00 p.m. For tickets, visit PlanetConnections.org.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Jan Wallace: I have two different creative processes – one as the writer and one as the actor.
The Writer: Writing an autobiographical play is very different from writing a fictional play with characters, so for Shirley and Me I am telling my story of playing Shirley Valentine, of how I connected to her character at that time and how now, when I am in a very different part of my life, I am inspired by her.   The script has gone through many, many rewrites. I am always open to changing the script and taking out what doesn’t carry the story forward. It’s still an on-going process.
The Actor: My process for this play is no different than from any other play I do, except being a one-woman play I have the full attention of my director, E. Katherine Kerr and we follow her four principals of acting – Relaxation, Commitment, Communication and finally Being Present. At the beginning of my process I make sure I am relaxed so that I can start memorizing my lines. Once they have become “an organic” part of me I can start committing myself to the character. Communication is essential and it is very important to me that I communicate 100%. It is sometimes hard, when you are the only one on stage, to stay focused and to not go on auto pilot. Constantly communicating allows me not to fall into this trap. And being present in my body, allowing myself to accept where I am, in both mind and body, at the beginning of my performance and checking on where I’ve “landed” at the end, helps me to carry out all the other principals. Obviously I also follow these principals when I’m performing.
Review Fix: What makes this different or special?
Wallace: As I said above, the most special thing is having the full attention of my director. We definitely worked in collaboration with each other. Katherine creates a very safe environment in which to work, making it easy for me to accept feedback.
Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself through this process?
Wallace: I actually learned that I was more interesting than I thought I was. I thought audiences would primarily find Shirley’s story more funnier and more interesting than mine, but happily I was proved wrong.
Review Fix: How does it feel to be a part of something like this?
Wallace: I feel very honored and excited to be part of this festival. However, coming alone from Sarasota, Florida it’s also a little overwhelming and scary.
Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this production and for the future?
Wallace: I don’t really have any goals for this particular play. It’s a private part of me that I have now expressed so I don’t really feel the need to find another avenue in which to perform it. Hopefully, though, I will write another play and have the opportunity to take that to other festivals and maybe even back to Planet next year.
Review Fix: What do you think your audiences will enjoy the most?
Wallace: I think audiences will appreciate my honesty and humor.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Wallace: Audiences had such a positive reaction to my play when I performed it at the Sarasolo Festival in Sarasota and wanted to see me perform Shirley Valentine. I am going to be doing just that (20 years after I last performed her!!!) in Sarasota next February.
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