As longtime members of the Atlanta theatre community, the actors in this cast have known and worked with each other for years. We thought it only fitting to ask them to reminisce (or dish) about their own “family baggage.”
Brenda Bynum: Jill Jane and I worked together at the old Academy Theater in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and in the ’90s at Theater Emory, and have been friends all along.
Jill Jane Clements: I played Brenda’s mother in my first profession production in Atlanta at the Academy, Getting Out.
Brenda: And then, there’s Del. We’re fueled by our shared passions for Beckett (Happy Days) and Fugard (A Place for the Pigs) and mutual respect over many years — at least 30! We have shared a dressing room, and I have seen him naked onstage in a pig sty — albeit for me working without my glasses —alas, all the good stuff was no more than a pink blur. This is our third scripted marriage — or have I lost count?
Del Hamilton: Brenda’s correct. I do love Beckett, and am in awe of the mysteries he unlocks when I get to perform his texts. As to what she did or did not see while gleefully whipping my naked body with a stick night after night, well, I must defer to her sense of taste and her kind disregard for the sight of my full splendor.
Jill Jane: I got to stage-manage Del in Joe Chaikin’s Waiting for Godot at 7 Stages, and we traveled to The Hague for a Samuel Beckett Festival. Brenda was there too! What a ball we had in Holland!
Bethany Anne Lind: Jill Jane has played my mother, grandmother, and now my great aunt — all within the last year! Also, she helped my husband and me with some landscaping because she has this genius green thumb thing going on. I have a thumb of death.
Tess Malis Kincaid: I first worked with Bethany Lind in Steel Magnolias at Georgia Ensemble. I had to do a bridal “up-do” to her hair every night, and she never once complained about all the hairspray. I love that girl — she’s a rock star.
Richard Garner: One incident I remember was a rare time when I was acting on the Georgia Shakes stage, in a production of Twelfth Night. I went up on a line, and Chris started to give me some help. I thought I had the line, so I actually waved him off. And, that damn line never came. Lesson learned: when Chris Kayser offers a helping hand on stage, don’t wave it away.
Diany Rodriguez: I’ve only worked with a handful of my fellow cast members before, almost six years ago, as an intern at Georgia Shakespeare.
Courtney Patterson: I DO remember that the only thing Diany really ate was microwave Hormel chili with one packet of sugar stirred in. Surprisingly enough, I had to clean her vomit off the floor one night in the dressing room before a show. Huh. It was fine, though. I had been a bartender for several years so I was pretty much desensitized.
Andrew Benator: Greatest moment I had with Courtney was in Boeing, Boeing at the Aurora. It involved her high-heeled shoe unintentionally sailing into the audience. Classic!
Courtney: Andrew is one of my favorite people. He threw me under the bus once in a show. He did something hilariously unexpected and made me break. — Totally unprofessional, I know, but as the audience was laughing AT me — and my pride was literally shriveling before their eyes – he raised his hands in victory! Claimed it was some Comedia clown pose. Nice, Andrew. Real nice.
