Who are you? What year are you? What are your interests?
My name is Alexandra Berryman, and I am a senior this year. I am interested in theater, singing, playing guitar, and writing.
What exactly do you do for Antigone?
I play the tragic heroine Antigone, a young girl with a staunch belief in obeying the will of the Gods no matter the circumstance.
What brought you to join the cast for Antigone?
I have loved theater for as long as I can remember, and have acted in 21 productions overall, including 10 Homestead productions. I was further motivated to audition for Antigone because I was intrigued by the concept of the show, as I had never acted in a Greek tragedy before.
Do you have any stories from rehearsals?
One of my favorite rehearsal moments occurred during tech week. Josh (Haemon), Grayson (Creon), and I were tasked with pantomiming Haemon and Antigone’s deaths behind a curtain, so our shadows would be visible to the audience. As our lighting crew was adjusting the lights for the shadow effect, we were goofing around, dancing, and performing various outrageous versions of the scene. Tech week is always a fun time, as we are often waiting on technical elements and have to find ways to entertain ourselves.
Antigone is a story about standing up for what you believe in and the conflict between family values and the values of the State. How have you connected to the story?
I have always been somewhat outspoken about my own beliefs and inherently skeptical of authority, so I found it easy to connect to Antigone’s personality. However, playing Antigone has forced me to explore human emotionality at new depths. Her final tragic monologue before she is lead to her death took me hours to craft as I decided which moments to indulge in sorrow, which moments to lash out in spite, which to plead earnestly, etc. By the end of the rehearsal process, I found myself sympathizing with both Creon and Antigone, proving how flexible and complex human moral systems can be.
You are using a script that was cobbled together by Figg, how have you changed it? What have you added or taken away?
Each translation of Antigone has different implications and subtleties that come with the specific wording of the lines. I believe the script we have is clear and well-thought-out, upholding the complex themes of the piece while telling the story in an engaging and emotional way.
What’s one thing that is different in this play or rehearsal process than anything else we’ve done in the Homestead Theatre Department?
Something I found really interesting was the way the chorus worked during rehearsals. Each chorus member individually determined how they felt about Creon’s regime, and each person agreed and disagreed with him at different points of the show. This forced each member of the chorus to flesh out their characters in full, making them a crucial and vibrant part of the production. I loved hearing the crazy and dramatic backstories everyone came up with for their characters.
Anything else you want to talk about?
I am so proud of this cast for taking on such a complex show and knocking it out of the park. Antigone is the best character I’ve ever played, and this feels like the perfect way to finish off my high school theater career. Thank you to everyone who helped us make this show great!
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