in the New York production of Wit
Kathleen Chalfant originated the role of Dr. Vivian Bearing in Wit at the Long Wharf Theater, and recreated it in New York at MCC (Manhattan Class Company) in a production which later transferred to the Union Square Theatre, where it is still running (through April 9). Her performance brought her major awards from the Drama Desk, the Drama League, and the Outer Critics Circle, plus an Obie. Now, Chalfant is preparing to open in
Wit at the Vaudeville Theatre in London on April 3 (previews begin March 27). This production of Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a brilliant professor of literature succumbing to ovarian cancer is directed by Leigh Silverman, recreating the direction of the late Derek Anson Jones.
Though Chalfant is best known for her work in Wit and in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, her diverse credits also include appearances on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in regional productions of Racing Demon, M. Butterfly, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, and Endgame, in addition to her film and television work. This interview took place last month while Chalfant was appearing in Wit at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
TM: When did you know you wanted to be an actress?
CHALFANT: When I was 7 years old… My grandmother, who lived with us, used to take me to the movies every Saturday, and I used to come back home and act out all the parts in the movies in the backyard. It is always what I wanted to do…although there were times when I’ve forgotten and done something else.
TM: Did your family encourage you?
CHALFANT: I think my parents had a complicated relationship to my wanting to act. We didn’t have any money, so they didn’t think it was a realistic goal. I found out later that my father had been very proud of me, and my mother too–though they died the year I was 40, which was 15 years ago, so they missed some of the more exciting parts. But my brother encouraged me. He was always interested and involved in the performing arts; more opera and ballet than theater, though his first job after he left college was to work in a theater in Sacramento as a stage manager.
TM: Did you study acting in college?
CHALFANT: No, I went to Stanford. I fully intended to study acting, because that’s what I wanted to do. My high school drama teacher had just put on a production of Hedda Gabler for me so I could play Hedda, and that was fine–except I was only 17, so I was a little hazy on the concept. Stanford had a very good drama department, but I had fallen in love with someone. At 17, that was very important, and my boyfriend didn’t approve of the theater. He wanted me to be an intellectual! So, in an odd kind of a way, I went to college for him–but it was good, because I ended up in the classics department. I got a degree in classical Greek, had some of the most wonderful teachers you could ever have. And I met Henry, who is now my husband.
TM: Did it occur to you when you were studying classical Greek that acting seemed a little far away?
CHALFANT: It was very peculiar. All the time I was at Stanford, I never set foot in the theater, though I was part of a play-reading group that was organized by one of our professors. Also, it was the early sixties and the students were making lots of experimental movies, so I was also in those. I graduated a little early, in December of what would have been my senior year, and I was supposed to start grad school in January. But Henry and I went to Mexico together over Christmas break, and I said to him, “I don’t really want to go to grad school when I get back.” Henry said, “What do you want to do?” I said, “Well, I’ve always wanted to be an actor (I’m sure I said actress).” And he said, “Why don’t you do that,” which was a revolutionary concept. It had never occurred to me that I could change my mind, do something other than what I was supposed to do. So I went back to school and quit. I moved to San Francisco, got a job in a publishing firm as a proofreader, and started studying acting with someone named Larry Bedini.
