"Saying yes to Witch (see Linda Ferguson's ArtsWatch review here) meant committing to a production calendar that would spirit cast and crew from first table read to opening night in less than a month, a process that Modica-Soloway calls "a beautiful, hard, lovely, gratitude-filled lift." With it came the opportunity for her to slip into the skin of the gruff, acerbic Elizabeth, whom she describes as "a Character, capital C.""
"As the titular witch of Witch, Elizabeth has adapted to a lifetime of persecution by mostly withdrawing from society. She lives alone on the outskirts of her village, and the only guest she receives for most of the play is the Devil, with whom she forges an unlikely kinship. Embodying such a wounded, unapologetically misanthropic character is an emotionally labor-intensive demand and, to Modica-Soloway, an invigorating exercise in empathy."
"Embodying such a wounded, unapologetically misanthropic character is an emotionally labor-intensive demand and, to Modica-Soloway, an invigorating exercise in empathy. "I don't mind if the audience doesn't like a character," she says. "But I do always hope to help them understand that character, to see their fullness and humanity, the grief and the defensiveness and all the viscera that has gone into making that character who they are, long before I ever stepped into their shoes.""
Jen Silverman's play Witch is running at Profile Theatre through November 2, featuring Lauren Modica-Soloway onstage for only her second performance since ending a five-year acting hiatus. Modica-Soloway experienced significant life changes after 2020, including marriage, settling in Portland, an injury, recovery, and a renewed willingness to say yes. The production moved from first table read to opening night in less than a month. Modica-Soloway portrays Elizabeth, a gruff, acerbic woman who withdraws after decades of persecution and lives alone, forming an unlikely kinship with the Devil. Embodying Elizabeth demanded emotional labor and an exercise in empathy as Modica-Soloway sought to reveal the character's fullness, grief, defensiveness, and humanity.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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