Our next installment of "Better Know a Cast Member" features the lovely and talented Casie Platt. Casie plays the double roles of Nick's love interest, Molly, and Nick's online creation and Adam's object of desire, Rachel.
We have 4 more performances of dark play before closing on Sunday. For those light on the funds, Saturday's 2pm matinee will be Pay What You Can for you blog readers, so you have no excuse!
Forum--Hello Casie! Please: give us your online profile
Casie--I am originally from the Birmingham, AL area. I went to Birmingham-Southern College where I received at BA in Theatre. Then I made the trip to DC to receive my MFA in Drama from The Catholic University of America. I graduated in '04 and have been working in the DC area ever since. As for other interests, I love baseball and college football, BBQ, however I am kind of a snob about it being southern and all, all different kinds of music, currently on a Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Animal Collective kick, always on a Radiohead kick, listening to Ten by Pearl Jam a lot and thinking of my grunge days. I finished reading The Handmaid's Tale which was pretty frickin' amazing. Currently reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I love Lost, 30 Rock, Arrested Development and reruns of The Golden Girls. My favorite movie is probably The Shawshank Redemption, and I can quote Ghostbusters, Batman (Burton/Keaton/Nicholson), Major League, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? from beginning to end. I do many impressions. I love dogs, especially my own, Bowie. I have a lot of shoes.
Forum--When did you decide to get into acting/theatre?
Casie--When I was in 8th grade, we read Romeo and Juliet. We read it aloud in class. Each day we all got to draw out of a hat to see what character we would read that day. I read Lady Capulet, Mercutio, Peter, and Juliet. I was way more into this than the other kids. We watched the movie in class and I cried. I knew I wanted to do this for real.
Forum--Where might we have seen you on stage/off stage, recently?
Casie--I spent 7 months doing 2 shows back to back with Signature for their '08-'09 season. They were The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Little Dog Laughed. This show is actually my first Forum show but not my last. I will be playing Harper in the upcoming Angels in America and I am mad excited! When I'm not onstage, I'm a server at Cafe Deluxe on Wisconsin Ave. Yep, I'm an actress and a waitress. I am a walking cliche and that is a-ok!
Forum--There's nothing wrong with that. Tell us about dark play. How would you describe it?
Casie--I think dark play is funny, touching, scary, heartbreaking, and all too real, obviously because it is based on a true story. Just the fact that anyone can be anyone/anything they want to be online which can be fun at first but can easily take a turn for the worse. I think this play is very relevant to our times.
Forum--Tell us a little bit about your process in dark play. What challenges have come up in approaching these roles (Molly and Rachel)?
Casie--I was nervous about it. I didn't know how to approach a character who was a fiction inside the fiction. I had never done that before. I didn't know if I should humanize her or even how to humanize her or if I was just a vehicle, a mouth piece for Nick, my creator. I struggled with the idea of wanting the audience to be just as fooled as Adam about my existence but then I had to let that go because that's the point, the audience sees what is going on. And then Michael said to me, "The audience has to fall in love with Rachel too." It was tricky, but that helped put things in perspective. I made her a person who was an extension of Nick. She is Nick, just what he wants to be for Adam. I had to feel everything he felt, which is real emotion. Whew!
Forum--What is your favorite place on H St. outside of the Playhouse?
Casie--I really like the Rock N Roll Hotel. I've seen a couple of concerts there and it's a great venue. And Dr. Granville Moores! Yummy mussels and frites!!
Forum--Tell us about someone else in the cast/crew. Got any good dirt? Or even.....nice things to say?
Casie--Cliff took 15 years of ballet, James is actually 112 years old, Brandon still believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, and Charlotte is just a loose cannon. Don't make eye contact with her. Seriously, I love this group. Everyone is so talented, funny, generous, and perfect in their roles. This is definitely one I'm going to miss.
Forum--Do you like to chill?
Casie--Chill?? No. Hate it.
