Cindy Madden as Caroline

Cindy Madden, a sophomore theatre major, plays Caroline. Madden originally found the style and language of the play to be quite different from other plays in which she had appeared. But the rehearsal process allowed her not only to discover her character, but also to find important clues to her performance in the play's imagery.

On Discovering Caroline

Madden describes the character of Caroline as "very practical, kind of straightforward. She tells it like it is. She puts everyone in his or her place." But the actor was careful not to make the character too angry. She explains that Caroline is "not mad at the world. She's just really practical and down to earth." For Madden part of this balance meant finding the sense of humor in the role. It also meant connecting with the genuine affection that the character feels for the others in this world. Madden notes, "She really does care about these people." The insight about the importance of relationships to this character came from playwright Caridad Svich, who told the cast that these characters are the only people left in this town. So Madden's " relationships with everyone onstage became very important. These are the only people I have left to make connections with. So it was a challenge to be that straightforward but to do it with love."

On Using the Imagery

The actors paid particular attention to the words in the script that stood out to them. Verbal images such as "fire" and "desire" appear repeatedly in the play. But Madden found that the images her character uses are not as intensely poetic as those of the other characters. She explains, "My character doesn't' have a lot of imagery so I had to go through and find words that had a deeper meaning that what they say on the page." Once she discovered Caroline's operative words, the actor paid special attention to playing with these words in rehearsal. One repeating image that did strike her as important to the character is "time." Madden notes, "She goes at her own pace. And Tirasol interrupts her all the time." Caroline's lines often reflect her desire to maintain a steady pace and not get caught up in Tirasol's frantic concerns. As Madden puts it, she just "goes on her merry way, kind of at her own pace like Eyore."

Director Juanita Rockwell encouraged the cast to incorporate the play's rich imagery into their performances. Madden recalls she told them "make it as big as possible. Sing the text." So they sang the text in order to explore the grandeur of the language and the various possible meanings in each phrase. Madden found this technique especially useful in a scene when Tirasol continually pushes Caroline until she explodes in a tirade.

On the Audience Experience

Madden hopes that the audience members enjoy the play's "sense of poetry and romanticism" She thinks the play contains compelling messages about life, death and grief: "That it's okay to grieve. That it's okay to not want war. It's okay to miss people. A lot of times people kind of shy away from grieving and sadness. Simone just dives right into it."