Spotlight on the Artist: Julie Ahasay
What feels especially timely or relevant about Home, I’m Darling right now?
I’ve heard so much about “the good old days” recently. And I get it. The pressures on us to keep up, to work longer and harder, to be the perfect spouse and parent, can grind a person down. Technology is a great tool, but it can also alienate us from our friends and family. It’s understandable that many people yearn for simpler times. But when we look back, it’s so important to remember that the good old days weren’t so good for so many people.
What drew you to Sylvia as a role?
Sylvia has been around long enough to know the dangers of nostalgia. Seeing her own daughter create and cling to a world she calls a “cartoon” is worrisome and frustrating. She’s a woman who actively worked for women’s rights and she is both embarrassed and concerned that her own daughter is choosing to live a life that feels limited and foolish.
What has been your favorite part of the rehearsal process?
One of my favorite places in the world is in a rehearsal room with a group of artists working together to tell a story. Digging in and discovering characters and ideas and themes never fails to inspire me. There are new insights at every rehearsal and it is just fun to play with others. It’s magic.
What keeps you coming back to the theatre, show after show?
I love exploring story-telling. It an essential part of being human. We’ve been telling stories as long as there has been language to tell them. We think, remember and turn our experiences into stories to provide meaning to our lives and relationships. And, for me as an actor, director and curious human, theatre provides all the doorways into sharing our stories.
We get to do it LIVE and every performance and audience is new, every time.
What has been one of your most memorable experiences as a performer?
This is a hard one to answer. I’ve been very fortunate to have opportunities to play some wonderful characters.
I have been thinking about what it means to be a “mature” artist these past few years. A role that spoke strongly to me about this was Ruth Steiner in Collected Stories. Donald Margulies’s play addresses ideas about who owns the story, what it means to be an artist and a teacher, and the fear of being left behind. It was an inspiring challenge to play a brilliant artist revisiting her past, navigating her present and fearing her future.
