A Little Bit About Lindsey Gates-Markel and Her Role in OR,

Last week I talked to director Kay Bohannon Holley about her upcoming production of Liz Duffy Adams' breezy, boisterous historical romp Or, which opens on Thursday night at Urbana's Station Theatre. Holley's star, playing the role of Restoration playwright Aphra Behn, is Lindsey Gates-Markel, who has taken on some very different roles during her time with the Celebration Company. Gates-Markel has been Eurydice in Sarah Ruhl's play of the same name, Suzanna, the quirky newlywed who has a dangerously close connection to her adoptive brotherin Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw, and most recently, Hamlet. Yep. Hamlet. That's Lindsey as Hamlet on the Station Theatre's poster for their production.

Lindsey is also a writer, editor and all-around interesting person. This is only the tip of the iceberg of questions I need to ask her! But we started with Or, and this is what I found out...

Playing Aphra Behn is certainly different from playing Hamlet, which I think was your last role at the Station.

Hamlet meant great satisfaction at the culmination of a high-pressure role and loads of work. I actually signed on for Or, while Hamlet was still running, with the trust that it would be a lighthearted, sexy jaunt under Kay’s nurturing direction. And so far, Or, has been exactly that experience, with many lovely additional flourishes.

Do you have a favorite role? Is there a particular kind of character or play you are most attracted to?

I started acting with intent when I was thirteen and have stumbled alongside local theater seasons since, but I don’t pursue much interest outside of performance and patronage. I don’t keep up with new scripts or have a list of ideal roles in mind. Meanwhile, live theatre performance has turned out to be the most transformative habit of my life. I’m secretly very shy, and maybe because of that, performing is a compulsion I've indulged since I was very small. Theatre is an exercise in emotion and stories and balance. I learn more about life and other people and the human experience through it. So, at the risk of sounding too Pollyanna, every role is a dream role. I’ve been very lucky.

Tell me about the play Or,. If I’m putting this together correctly, it involves Restoration playwright Aphra Behn, the king, Nell Gwynne and spies. As well as Behn trying to get some work done in the midst of chaos. And kind of mixed with some modern twists. How would you characterize the play?

The play is ultimately about Aphra Behn running full-bent after a golden theatrical opportunity, one she knows will launch her legacy into that of “the f*cking immortals,” and Charles II, Nell Gwynne, and her former partner in the spy game, William Scot, bursting in and bringing delightful distraction with them. It’s fast-paced, clever, bold, and not a little bawdy. And Or, is one rare instance where female empowerment and sexiness aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, that sexiness is really borne of the women in the play reveling in their freedom to ask for exactly what they want, both in and out of the bedroom.

How would you describe the real Behn versus the Or, Behn?

Lucky for me, very little is known for sure about the real Aphra--she’s indeed considered the first professional female writer, she was indeed a royal spy, she did indeed work with William Scot (whose father was part of the group who prosecuted Charles I and was later hanged for regicide when Charles II was restored to power), and she did indeed spend time in debtor’s prison, which is where the play opens. Much of the rest is a blank page, and filling it in has been pure fun.

However you look at it, Aphra Behn had to be pretty amazing to forge ahead and make a career for herself as a playwright (and a female playwright at that -- inconceivable!) during this period in English history. What do you think makes her different?

Aphra says early on that she “crave(s) glory.” It’s so often the role of women to soften ourselves, to quiet down, to delay our desires and shrug off our talents. Deflecting and downplaying our joy becomes such a habit that we expect it even from ourselves. Kay recently mentioned the word “monomaniacal” in reference to Aphra, and that’s been my mantra ever since. Yes, Aphra wants to screw around with other interesting and passionate and talented people; she wants to help her friend in his moment of crisis; but above all, she is wildly desirous for glory and recognition and heroism. She wants to write. So it’s my exhilarating job to keep that brass ring hung way up high and to keep that spirit pumping through me every second.

As I said to Kay Holley, I think Liz Duffy Adams is a newcomer with a fresh and distinctive voice. What are your biggest challenges in working with Adams' words?

The main reasons this little play is tough are also some of the reasons it’s wonderful--because of the farcical nature and because Adams dabbles so much with mixing time periods. There are sections written in iambic pentameter; there are parts where the “fourth wall” bends a bit. Our delivery swings between presentational and intimate. From a technical perspective, I’m lucky in that I only participate in a little of the door-slamming and in none of the backstage quick-changes--there are several moments where one of my castmates disappears and then returns several seconds later as a completely different character. I don’t envy them that, though it’s delightful to watch from my steady onstage perch.

Have you worked with Kay as a director before? What about the rest of the cast?

This is my second time being directed by Kay, the first being Becky Shaw last season, which also featured Mathew Green. Working with Kay, from day one, is uniquely transformative. She’s so emotionally intelligent, such an empath. And she starts the process with implicit trust in her actors, so we’re really cut free to progress as quickly as we want or as carefully as we need.

I mention Mathew because I’m consistently amazed at how clearly our characters appear out of the ether when we’re working on a scene together, under Kay’s direction. It’s some kind of theatrical alchemy for me. He moves with complete purpose from the word go and never plays a scene by rote. Engaging with him onstage sharpens my instincts. You’ve got to be alert to keep up.

And I’d be absolutely remiss if I didn’t mention Stephanie Swearingen, a relative newcomer to the Station and a devastatingly adorable Nell Gwynne (and several other characters). Stephanie was tasked with venturing out of her comfort zone in this production, and now she’s just doing a bold Mexican hat dance over that line every night. It’s my pleasure to be onstage with her and to witness her progress.

Oh, and that Gary Ambler is okay, too. He’s a cute kid, lots of promise.

Thanks, Lindsey! I can't wait to see Or,!

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And that is just a little bit from the very intriguing Lindsey Gates-Markel. I feel like we barely scratched the surface and like Aphra Behn, there's a lot more to find out. In the meantime, we can all get over to Urbana to see this play about a fascinating woman, written by a fascinating woman, directed by a fascinating woman, and starring another fascinating woman. Don't you just love theatre?

Is It Fiction? Is It History? Or Is It OR? Kay Holley on OR at the Station Theatre

Liz Duffy Adams' irreverent and clever comedy Or, a time-twisted romp through one imaginary night in the life of Restoration playwright Aphra Behn, opens next week at Urbana's Station Theatre. Behn is a fascinating figure, not only because she was probably England's first female playwright, or because she was among the first playwrights in the history of English-speaking theatre to make a living at it. There's also the spy factor. The saucy humor. The wit. The gender-bending and cross-dressing.

It's no wonder Behn caught the imagination of a playwright like Adams, who uses humor and lively writing to juggle poetics and pop culture, the past and the present, looking at theater then and theatre now to tell us something about ourselves. In Or, Adams spins an outrageous and wonderful story around this fictional version of Behn, still a spy but trying to get out of that dangerous trade by writing a play, as she does her best to resist the amorous advances of King Charles II, the famous actress Nell Gwynne, and a shady ex-lover who is also a double agent -- all in one night!

In order to understand more about Or and the Station's upcoming production, I posed a few questions to director Kay Bohannon Holley, always a strong presence in the Celebration Company in whatever role she's playing. So here's what Kay had to say about her own past and present, and her experience with theater then and theater now.

 I know you've been associated with the Station for a long time and you've directed a lot of very intriguing shows. What was the first show you directed at the Station?

The very first show I directed was Edward Albee's play Three Tall Women. As it turns out, three of the fourteen shows (I think . . .) I've directed have been Albee.

Aside from the Albee, do you have any favorites or any shows that stand out over the years?

I have different favorites for different reasons--some shows bring a unique emotional or even spiritual perspective to my life. Some are intellectually challenging. Some are wonderful because of the people I'm working with. I've pretty much loved them all. Copenhagen was the most difficult text I've worked with, and one of the biggest acting challenges I've shepherded actors through, so I am very proud of that production. Fortunately, I had three very fine actors in Steve Keen, Gary Ambler and Joi Hoffsommer. Wit was a deeply satisfying emotional experience, both as a play and because of the wonderful actors I worked with, including a beautiful performance by Barbara Evans. All of the shows I've directed with Gary Ambler and Joi Hoffsommer have been amazing because those two are so good -- and so good together on stage. They're my Tracy and Hepburn. Almost, Maine was a beautiful way to spend the holiday season and last year, Becky Shaw was a great opportunity to work with some of the Company's younger actors on a very "up to the minute" kind of play. Well, you see what I mean. There's something to love in all of them.

How did you come to directing in the first place? Do you have a specific directing philosophy?

I didn't set out to be a director, exactly. My degrees are all in what used to be known as "Oral Interpretation," so I've been involved in performance all along--and had directed as part of my work at the university. Gary Ambler encouraged me to direct at the Station and now I suppose I consider myself more a director than an actor. I'd start sounding really pompous if I tried to articulate a "philosophy of directing" for you. Suffice it to say that I think of myself as a storyteller and of theatrical art as a gorgeous exploration of what it means to be human.

Liz Duffy Adams isn't that well-known a playwright, although what she is known for is a distinctive voice. How do you see Or? Is there anything in particular that draws you to Or?

I frankly don't know much about Adams, beyond what I've read in brief biographical blurbs. I know that she has received acclaim as a playwright of great promise -- having plays produced at the Humana Festival and working with the Women's Project. But oh -- what a text. When Rick Orr [Station Theatre Artistic Director] handed me this play two years ago, he said it was "a little gem." And that image has stuck with me -- only now it's become a colorful jewelry box -- and when you open it up, delightful things spill out.

There are several things that draw me to Or. First, I've long been fascinated by the Restoration period. Perhaps this dates back to my seeing Forever Amber as a kid and just being spellbound. Secondly, it is a delightfully bawdy little play.

More importantly, though, I am drawn to the character of Aphra Behn, both in literary history and as she is drawn in the play. Aphra, as we meet her in the play, is a woman on fire with her passion for writing. And, as full of life and love and lust as she is, it is the writing that surpasses all. In fact, all of the women characters in the play are women who are doing things women haven't done before--Aphra as a poet and playwright, Nell as an actress and Lady Davenant as the manager of a major theatrical company. I am hopelessly attracted to the courage and liveliness of women blazing trails. Perhaps Aphra Behn in life was not the world's best playwright; the very fact that she was one at all -- insisted on being one -- burned to be one -- is what moves me.

Did you have any particular opinion about Aphra Behn before this show?

I had read Behn's "Oroonoko" in college--and had not found it particularly compelling reading. However, perhaps with Virginia Woolf as my guide, I had a deep appreciation of Behn's importance as a literary figure and an inspiration to women writers since.

What do you think the title means?

Literally, it is a reference to the Elizabethan and Restoration habit of giving their plays ponderous titles that had the word "or" in them. Adams also tells us in the prologue of the play that the word links that which seems opposite -- as in "gay or straight," "boy or girl," "cheap hackney trash or art." I think one of the "links" that Adams likes is the link between seemingly different eras. She sees patterns in the Restoration era that reverberate into the 1960's/Vietnam era and even into our own post-9/11 era.

Tell me about your cast and who's playing what.

I have a really great cast: Lindsey Gates-Markel is playing Aphra. The other cast members are Mathew Green, Stephanie Swearingen and Gary Ambler. They light up the stage.

Is the show turning out to be what you thought when you first got the script, or is it taking off in unexpected directions? 

Shows always go in unexpected directions when you bring the words up off the page and let good actors at them. It is the sexy jewel that I expected and so much more.

And finally, why do you think Or fits the Station and what it does? Why should Station fans -- or newcomers -- try Or?

The play mostly takes place in one place and one time -- so that lends itself to the intimate space of the Station. I think Station regulars will love seeing some of their favorite actors in such a funny, sexy show. And I think it will make newcomers want to come back.

Thanks, Kay!

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Liz Duffy Adams' Or begins on Thursday, March 28 and runs through April 13 at the Station Theatre, 223 North Broadway in Urbana. For more information, click here or call 217-384-4000.