Features

Q & A with a woman of Lockerbie

 -  -  29


1. What is the play about? The Women of Lockerbie centers on the tragedy of Pan Am 103. Pan Am 103 was a fight that was blown up by a terrorist bomb and crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 271 people. Set seven years after the crash and based loosely off of real events, it follows the story of a couple struggling with the loss of their son, and the women of Lockerbie fighting the American government for the ability to perform a great act of love. 2. What character did you play? What did you like the most about playing your character? I played Olive Allison, the leader of the women standing against the American government. I loved Olive's fiery and strong-willed nature, and I saw in her a struggle to give God control that I strongly identify with in my own life. 3. Do you find it hard to get into a role? Explain. The roles in this show were very dark in a lot of ways. Olive lost her whole family to the crash and as a result deals with a lot of suppressed anguish and hatred; portraying that accurately and honestly was a challenge for me. I did a lot of research and watched a lot of videos, which helped. I'm not sure how else to explain the process that went into this. 4. How much time was there to prepare? What goes into the preparation process? We started really rehearsing as soon as we returned from Fall Break, but the preparation extended long before that. There was a lot of research about the crash, and about the various people involved. Four of us had to master Scottish accents, which was an interesting challenge. Then we had to immerse ourselves emotionally, of course being careful not to get into too dark of a place, since that's not healthy. It really was a huge process that went into a relatively short time. 5. What is the most challenging part about being in a production? What was the most rewarding part? Probably the most challenging part of this production was the subject matter. As I said earlier, it's some dark stuff. But at the same time, I feel the things it dealt with and the impact they had on the audience was the most rewarding part as well. 6. How many other plays at Bethel have you been a character in? Oh goodness, let's see. Well, acting isn't all I do, but I've had roles in six or seven shows so far, something like that. 7. How do you think the play went overall? I think the play went very well. We had an impact on our audiences, and I know no one in the cast is walking away the same as when we went in. I feel really good about the whole thing, and I hope we get nominated to take the show KCACTF, a theatre convention in January.
bookmark icon