Quick Q&A: Kate Wetherhead

Kate Wetherhead is having an extraordinary experience in the new 4-person musical Ordinary Days.

What was your first exposure to Ordinary Days?

Last Fall Adam (Gwon, the composer and lyricist) asked me to do the 45 minute NAMT presentation of this show. A lot has changed since that presentation but it’s hard to say what because all the songs that were selected for NAMT are still in the show and are still more or less the same.

What do you respond to in Adam’s work?

I think he’s got an incredibly distinct voice as a writer. I wouldn’t consider myself a scholar of music theatre composers but I am constantly impressed with the uniqueness of his own style. And he’s a very smart writer – he’s able to write beautiful melodies that do not get in the way of themselves if you know what I mean. You can take a conversational approach to his music to tell the story but be singing something really beautiful. I think that’s incredibly skilled. And, my personal taste, it’s fun to sing. His music makes sense.

As opposed to…?

Well I’m not going to name anyone specifically but sometimes music sounds beautiful but then when you try to actually sing it it’s challenging because it doesn’t necessarily seem grounded in truth. That’s maybe a strange thing to say when talking about music. What I mean is that everything that I sing that Adam writes feels like a monologue or like a conversation.

Because his songs are conversational, do you feel like you approach the show like you would a play?

Absolutely. Adam makes it easy. And he is so good that if there is a moment that doesn’t make sense it becomes abundantly clear right away because everything else is so succinct. If you get to a spot when you think “you know, Adam, this could maybe be a little more specific, it’s been so specific up until now, can we keep on in that direction?” he’ll make changes right away. Good, smart changes. He was present every step of the way – every day of rehearsal, every day of previews, tech. Any question that arose he was there to address it right away.

What were some specific changes he made during previews?

The changes were more in the (alternating) story that Hunter (Foster) and Lisa (Brescia) play and it’s a bit tricky – I don’t want to give away their story, so let’s just say that.

photos: Joan Marcus

The story you play in the show, opposite Jared Gertner as Warren, is mostly fun. Was it fun to work on or was it hard work to pull it off?

I don’t want to say it was easy, but the process has been fairly effortless. It’s never felt grueling – the only time it’s felt like work was moving furniture on stage in time. Jared is hilarious, constantly engaged, and he’s respectful – not just of me but of everyone. I couldn’t feel more safe on stage with him.

You have to communicate a shift in Deb’s relationship with Warren without having a song devoted specifically to it. Was that a challenge to convey?

It’s interesting that you asked that. Up until last Friday…it’s not that I was unaware of that but I had a certain realization about that very question. Adam’s writing is so good that I could just go out and do the songs and it would work. But something clicked for me about her full arc. I decided that Deb has a curiosity about Warren’s world view. She starts to see things not go as she’d planned, and starts to consider that maybe hers is not the only approach. It wasn’t so much “in this scene I’m going to do this now”, it’s more that I gave her questions to ask herself and I’d go out into the songs looking for answers.

Is Deb close to you or a reach?

It’s been a great gift to play someone who I feel I understand so well. I think I am more polite than Deb is – at least I try to be. Certainly the root of her frustration and her need to feel in control, her desperation to succeed, are all things that I definitely relate to as a young woman trying to be an actress in New York. I adore her.

Your husband, Jeff Croiter, is the show’s Lighting Designer. Had you worked together before?

We’ve worked together a couple of times but since this space is so intimate this was the first when he was 20 feet away. He had seen the NAMT presentation and was enamored and approached Mark (Bruni, the director). I had nothing to do with it except for keeping my fingers crossed.

Since the space is so intimate I wondered: does the energy in the audience have a strong effect on the show you give?

Absolutely. There’s something wonderful and there’s something tragic about that. It’s only been a couple of times but if we have a night where they are not as vocal your first instinct, which you have to squash immediately, is to push. That’s not going to do anybody any good. And yet you still have to do your show and when your show requires you to reach out over and over again to the audience there’s been just one or two times where I’ve wanted to stop and say “I’m sorry, am I bothering you? I can stop this right now.” The audiences for the most part have been incredibly responsive and receptive which is a joy. And I have to say, the more responsive they are the better our show is, due mostly to the fact that they are right there and there are only 62 of them at most. I don’t want to say I can’t do a good show if the audience isn’t good, that’s not true, but in this circumstance it does help.

One of the greatest pleasures of this show is hearing you all sing without amplification. How often do you get to work like that?

Never with a capital N! I don’t feel like I’m ever pushing out there. We can have these small moments that are honest. It feels so real and I love to hear my fellow actors sing. Hunter’s first entrance is through the audience – my mother came last week and said it was so nice to have Hunter right there next to her and to listen to that beautiful instrument. I can’t speak for the other actors but if I could always play this way I would.