We are introducing a new series called “Character Development” where we will interview current students who are developing their characters for the plays they are working on.
For this first episode we will be looking at IAB student and actress Anna Stallibras as she develops the role of Emily Vanderguard in Jenn Silverman’s The Moors.
About Emily Vanderguard
“I think it’s very clear that Emily wants to be seen, she wants to fit in and she wants to have a home. She says in the play that she’s moved from house to house her whole life. She’s always been a stranger and so I think from that it’s so clear that she just wants somewhere to belong and she wants to be seen by people and be part of something.”
The Moors play
“This is a play about women but it’s also, I think, a play about relationships whether those are toxic or otherwise. I also think it’s a play about loneliness. All of these characters in their own way want to be seen, they all want to find a place where they belong. It’s sad in a way but it’s from that that you can kind of understand why these relationships develop in the way that they do through all the characters in the play.”
Creating the character
“It’s so easy when you see lines on a page to just throw them away, but you have to remember that every single line is there for a reason and your character is saying it because they have to say it. They can’t not say it and so I think all the bookwork, the biographies, the uniting, the objectives, the super-objective… all of that is so important. Because then once you get it up on its feet you have so much context in this character and you can, kind of, put this the shell on of this character and go into the scene and completely understand everything and why they’re doing it.”
We offer a BA (Hons) in Acting and a Master in Acting (MA in Creative performance practice)
Other Jenn Silverman plays
Other plays written by Jenn Silverman include Collective Rage: A Play In 5 Betties, Witch, The Roommate, Phoebe in Winter and All the Roads Home.
The Moors was performed at the Institute of the Arts Barcelona in November 2022.
Directed by Silvia Navarro
Performed at the IAB Main Theatre.
