Backstage at APT

A great story about Tracy Michelle Arnold in The Isthmus, written by Jennifer A. Smith.

"Acting is all I've ever really wanted to do," says Tracy Michelle Arnold of American Players Theatre. Thank goodness, then, that Arnold is so exceptionally talented. Now heading into her 12th season with the Spring Green-based professional company, Arnold is a magnetic stage presence who can master a wide range of roles.

For me, the 2009 season in particular really highlighted Arnold's skills. As Judith Bliss, the matriarch of a batty, self-absorbed family in Noël Coward's Hay Fever, Arnold showed her comedic side. With her big gestures and histrionics, retired stage actress Judith needs to be the center of attention at all times. Arnold's performance was one of the funniest things I've ever seen on stage.

During the same season, Arnold played Kate in Harold Pinter's Old Times, a spiky, enigmatic play from 1971. Pinter's drama, with pointed silences and only three characters, required Arnold to convey meaning through the smallest of gestures and facial expressions. As APT artistic director David Frank puts it, "She's so innately economical in what she does; stillness is an enormous power that she has."

For the complete article, please follow the link below.
http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=33614