Fox Valley Rep Blog

Amy Olsen plays Woman 2 in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!

What is your favorite thing about your character?

I absolutely love this show because it gives the actors a chance to play a wide range of characters. In one scene I’m a young woman on a date and in another I’m a 70-year-old widow. It really gives you ca chance to showcase your talents and also lets you explore all the different characters out there. And it’s wonderful that there are so many characters that people can relate to. There’s a little bit of everyone in this show.

What is the hardest part of doing this show?

I think the hardest part about doing this show is making the costume changes. Oftentimes, the lights go out for one scene and you have to be onstage for the next scene in a completely different costume. It was really difficult at first because we were still trying to remember the order of the show, but now we have a routine set and can plan ahead to make the changes go a little faster.

What is the best part of being this show?

This is easy…the cast and crew. I adore the people I work with and I look forward to seeing them every show. It’s our own little family.

Do you ever get stage fright? How do you overcome it?

I rarely get stage fright these days, but I was very nervous the first time we performed this show in front of a live audience. I overcame it by just focusing on what I was doing and enjoying my time on stage.

How did you memorize your lines?

Repetition. The more we did it, the more it sunk in. It also helps when you know exactly what you are doing at that moment on stage so you can associate your lines with your placement or movement.

What do you do if you forget your lines while onstage?

Keep going! Hopefully no one will even notice and you can get yourself out of it. And we are all here for each other so we can help each other out if something goes wrong.

Do you have any superstitions or pre-show routines that you follow?

I don’t have any superstitions, but I like to warm up my voice and body before the show and double-check all my costume pre-sets. It helps reinforce the order of the show in my mind. Once this show starts, there is not much down time so you need to do everything before showtime.

What roles would you like to play someday?

I’ve been lucky enough to play quite a few of my ‘dream’ roles, but I’d still love to play Dot in “Sunday in the Park with George.”

Any past experiences with Noble Fool?

No, but hopefully there will be more!

Charissa Armon plays Woman 1 in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!

What is your favorite thing about your character?

I don’t know that I can pick a favorite character in ILY. I love that I get to play lots of characters and that they’re all flawed in some way. That’s more fun to play than someone who’s thoroughly together all of the time.

What is the hardest part of doing this show?

The costume changes!

What is the best part of being in this show?

Without a doubt the folks I share the stage with (and that includes the backstage!).

Do you ever get stage fright? How do you overcome it?

Thankfully, I don’t get stage fright. I do get butterflies, but, I think that’s a good sign, I don’t want to be overconfident. I’ve heard all sorts of tricks to get rid of stage fright, but, I think for me it’s about preparation – as long as I trust what I’m doing and I listen to the other actors, I’ll be fine.

How did you memorize your lines?

I read them over and over and over until suddenly I don’t need to look at the page anymore.

What do you do if you forget your lines while onstage?

Paraphrase if I have to and try not to panic!

Do you have any superstitions or pre-show routines that you follow?

It depends on the show. For ILY I need to check all of my costume pre-sets or I’ll be worrying about my changes while I’m in the scene. I also always need to do a physical and vocal warm up.

What role(s) would you like to play someday?

There are tons! A short list: Harper in ‘Angels in America’, Mama Rose in ‘Gypsy’, Lady M in the Scottish play, Beatrice in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, any role in ‘Noises Off’, Mrs Lovett in ‘Sweeney Todd’, etc., etc.

Any past experiences with Noble Fool?

I played Noelle in the last incarnation of ‘Roasting Chestnuts’ – ‘Gina Wants You’.

Director Tom Mullen is happy to join Noble Fool Theatricals for the first time after recently directing and choreographing the premiere of JOE! The Musical at Chicago Dramatists with Equity Library Theatre. He has also directed and produced the Chicago premiere of Urinetown the Musical at the Mercury Theatre, and has been nominated for seven Jeff Awards including Best Musical and Best Director of a musical. Tom served as Artistic Director and founder of the Mason Street Warehouse in Michigan and has directed the first U.S. regional production of Urinetown. Tom has directed Full Gallop with Emmy award winner Jill Larson from All My Children.

How do you prepare for the first rehearsal?

I usually begin by creating a skeleton framework from the script and on a show like this where the four actors play multiple roles, I usually tweak who is going to do what first and how I want each stage picture to look.

I also try to not to really spend a lot of time mapping out every bit of staging as it tends to block the creative process for me. For one reason I have already directed the show before and I want to keep my own brain fresh. The cast brings a lot of the to the table with me and since the show is really about people connecting and finding each other, both as friends and also in relationships, I think it works best to use both of our own personal experiences from dating to make the scenes seem more authentic and less like a sketch comedy routine.

What do you want people to know about your job that they may not know?

I think most people view directing for the stage as a sort of a one-person-viewpoint that either they connect to or they don???t. For me you???re only as good as the team that you???re working with. If you put great people in place and trust your delegation, the process and the product will be the most collaborative and ultimately the most successful. I think people who see theatre and don???t have any idea of what is happening behind the scenes would probably not recognize that all time everyone is trying to help solve problems and come up with the best answers to make the show exciting and creative.

How long have you been directing?

I have been directing for sixteen years.

What is the rehearsal process like?

This rehearsal process has been extremely fun, not all shows are and this one has so much great heart. The text and score for I LOVE YOU, YOU???RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE is so solid and that???s why it has lasted so long off-Broadway and around the world and we had the pleasure of the author Joe DiPietro allowing us to update things, change scene locales in an effort to get it more modern. He???s been extremely helpful and supportive of this production.

What do you want the audience to learn from this show?

Wow! That???s a hard question; I really just think its more about having fun than learning something. But I guess it would be great to have folks be a bit touched by the heart of it and to laugh and to say, ???Wow this is so much like my life,??? then we would know that we all done our job well!