Originally Posted by Drew Moerlein Jul 19, 2007
To be quite blunt - the sound that comes from Kate Mulgrew's mouth when she speaks feels like nothing less than a magnitude 3 earthquake rumbling through the support beams of the rehearsal space (you know… the kind that feels like a Mack truck cruising just in front of your living room - shaking china ware and the like). If I had to pick a person who I would not want yelling at me, it would be Kate, simply because a firm whisper would undoubtedly knock my britches off, so I can only imagine what a full-volume lecture would do to me and the building around me. I can say truthfully that I sat in awe for the first few minutes of rehearsal, wondering how this remarkable, almost other-worldly sound could rise up out of this woman.
Other-worldly!! What do you know - the perfect transition. Although I never really watched Star Trek in my youth, or much other TV for that matter, it has been an eye-opener researching Kate Mulgrew, Iphigenia 2.0's Clytemnestra, who is perhaps most well-known for her role as Admiral Kathryn Janeway, in Star Trek Voyager. It's so strange to me to think that Admiral Kathryn Janeway, who I remember as an intergalactic, space-ship riding, evil-fighting, outer-space warrior is actually speaking and acting live on stage every day as a passionate mother and wife. Mind-boggling may be slightly too severe an expression for the situation, but it is very strange to know a face that well from TV, an art form that urges the viewer to believe that these fictional characters, events, and places are real, and that a woman like Admiral Kathryn Janeway is a real person and not Kate Mulgrew at all, and then to see that person question the actions of an empire in a reinvention of a classic play (Iphigenia 2.0) rather than speak of the constant dangers of space-travel is rather amazing.
I know it just seems like another well-known and well-renowned actor coming into a rehearsal space, but it feels different in Kate's situation, because I know her best from Star Trek and there is arguably very little reality in the premise of that program, meaning that I have not seen her in a role where she embodies a character who could be a reality in my life.
Anyway, Kate brings such a power to this production, and I can't wait to see how it evolves and becomes more and more relevant to my life and the issues that we have all faced or will face at some point in our lives (well, maybe not to such an extreme, but you know what I'm saying - love, hate, passion, betrayal, honor, disgust, fear, happiness, etc.).
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