Finding Karen

While discovering a character is a unique and challenging process for every actor, discovering a character whose brain doesn't work in the same as everyone else's presents a whole new set of choices to make and roads to travel. It has been a fascinating to watch Jenny Young and her fellow performers discover the character of Karen, a young woman with schizophrenia. While this character's disease is by no means the only aspect of her humanity that we encounter, it is a huge part of not only her character but the substance of the play.

So this means that her voice, her physical world, the way she interacts with others are all things that the actor has had to find with the reality of her disease in mind. How far should this go? Does it pervade her every interaction, or do certain things and people trigger it? This has also affected the choices of the other actors, particularly Martha and Peter, who are playing her parents. What are their individual relationships with her and her disease? Do these different relationships with her affect their relationships with each other?

These are a lot of questions, yes. But I would feel silly writing anything that seemed like an answer. This is such a complex yet organic process and it is just truly remarkable to watch these characters take shape throughout the rehearsal process, especially given the extra dimension that needs to be layered into Karen's character.

Watching TV last week I came across the HBO documentary "Diagnosing Bipolar: Five Families Search for Answers," and the interviews with the parents of the affected children struck me as so resonant with the characters of Gwen and Ned, Karen's parents. The one thing that every single parent said is something that both Gwen and Ned say in the play; that they would do anything they possibly could to make life just a little bit easier for their child. Such a basic desire to protect your child, and in many ways that's one of the central conflicts of the play. Gwen and Ned want to make everything better for Karen, and they simply can't.

- Courtney Walker, assistant director

"Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'" - Kurt Vonnegut