Some people say luck determines your lot in life. Others insist hard work makes the difference. Actors Theatre’s performance of “Good People” explores the divide between these two mentalities and how putting too much stock in either attitude can limit someone’s potential.
Margaret, better known as Margie, has lived in South Boston’s “lower end” her entire life. A lower-class “Southie,” she’s a high-school dropout with a mentally disabled adult daughter.
After being fired from her low-wage job at the dollar store, Margie brainstorms with her bingo-playing friends about where she might be able to find work. One of her friends is also her landlord, and she threatens to kick Margie out if she can’t keep up with her rent. Desperate and out of options, Margie contacts an ex-boyfriend from high school who made it out of south Boston and became an affluent doctor.
Katie McFadzen, who plays Margie, said her character has to come to terms with the differences between her situation and that of her ex-boyfriend, Mike. Their interactions highlight the socioeconomic divide between people, McFadzen said.
Margie makes $9.20 an hour, which adds up to about $360 a week before taxes. Most of her money goes toward taking care of her daughter; she and her friends play bingo both as a social activity and for the chance to earn a little extra money.
In one scene of the play, she attends a party at Mike’s house where he serves a half-dozen varieties of cheese, none of which she’s heard of. Their classes are further contrasted when she pulls out a present for Mike and his family, a flower pot cheaply decorated to look like a rabbit. Mike’s wife sets the pot on their living room table in front of an expensive vase he bought her as a “push present” after giving birth to their daughter.
The main conflict between Margie and Mike comes down to their outlooks on life. Margie says Mike was lucky to get out of their neighborhood, but he insists it was hard work that got him where he is, also suggesting that she had a choice in where she ended up, too.
“It’s basically a lot about the haves and the have-nots,” play director and Actors Theatre Producing Artistic Director Matthew Wiener said. “The play is ultimately about the intersection of class and economics.”
Wiener said “Good People” is a relevant play for the Phoenix community with its focus on a service economy and large “working poor population.”
“The growing gap between the 1 percent and the 99 percent is something that is in the newspapers every day,” he said. “Phoenix has been slower to recover than other communities.”
Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts theater performance graduate student Shanique S. Scott plays Mike’s wife, Kate. Scott said she became very comfortable with her fellow cast members over the three weeks they rehearsed the play.
Scott said that every actor has his or her own process for memorizing lines and getting into character. After trying out a couple different methods, she said she learned to trust her natural process, which is to be off-book — have her lines completely memorized — starting with the first day of rehearsal.
She said she also improved her physical presence on stage by working on how to access emotion through movement, voice and the body, something that is learned differently on stage than from in a classroom.
“I learned how to be more connected with another person on stage, to not be in my head as much, to trust my instincts and just do, to immediately respond without thinking about it too much,” Scott said.
McFadzen said one moment that let her bond with some of the other cast members was when they went to play bingo at a Catholic church in Scottsdale on a Sunday as research for the play. They played for three hours, she said, observing the people around them to pick up on the “etiquette of bingo.”
Many of the bingo players placed lucky charms on the table in front of or next to them, McFadzen said. Margie and her friends do this, as well.
“That was a super fun thing to do to get us prepped for the theatrical world of bingo,” McFadzen said. “There was a little bit of a zen quality going on.”
Although Actors Theatre left its previous home at the Herberger Theater Center a year ago, the company has continued to put on shows. In January, they performed “4000 Miles” at Black Theatre Troupe’s Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center and in October and November of 2013, they did “A Steady Rain” at Playhouse on the Park at the Viad Corporate Center.
Before the opening night performance of “Good People” began, Actors Theatre Managing Director Erica Black announced that all performances from their upcoming 2014-2015 season would take place at the Black Theatre Troupe location. Additionally, Actors Theatre will perform two shows in rotation over the summer at that location, as well.
“Good People” is being performed at the Arizona Opera Center through May 11. General admission tickets are $36 and can be purchased on the Actors Theatre website.
Contact the blogger at jasmine.barta@asu.edu
Editor’s note: Curtain Critic is the Downtown Devil weekly theater review.
