In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of Avant Bard’s production of TAME., meet Jill Tighe.
Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage?
Jill: The last play I did was Twelfth Night with Prince George’s County Shakespeare as Viola. Or Shakespeare in the Pub’s Romeo and Juliet :P
Why did you want to be part of the cast of TAME.?
TAME. is the most viscerally satisfying script I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.
Who do you play in the show? How do you relate to her?
I play Cat. The Smoldering, Moody, Tempestuous Bitch. She is incredible. How I relate to her is a super-broad question that I could expound upon for hours. But I will keep it short and sweet and say: She is a give-no-fucks, take-no-prisoners kind of woman that I respect the hell out of.
What’s the show about from the point of view of your character?
Getting it Right.
Playwright Jonelle Walker wrote TAME. in response to Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. For you as a performer, what do you especially like about her play and your role in it?
I love that Jonelle has written a character that is unapologetically herself. Think Sylvia Plath, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Shane McCutcheon all mixed up with a dash of old-school malice. She’s incredible. Jonelle Walker has given us a gift in that we now get to see a complicated, angry woman who is mourning but not in the traditional way. We get to see male characters onstage who throw tantrums, lash out, and are more clever than anyone they encounter onstage All. Of. The. Time. Now it’s Cat’s turn. I think that is the most exciting thing. Breaking this glass ceiling that only men are allowed to be complicated onstage is an absolute thrill. We are now seeing women like this throughout DC theater, women who are acting in ways that are traditionally reserved for Cis Hetero Men onstage. It’s exciting, thrilling, and a challenge to dig into characters with grit like this. So Thank You, Jonelle.
TAME. is set in the 1960s—a time before the sexual revolution, the Women’s Movement, Stonewall, and other dramatic social changes. What does the play have to say to audiences today?
I think “A Woman’s Agency Is Her Own” is a pretty succinct thing that the play says to audiences today. To me, Cat is the archetype of “smartest woman in the room who is discounted because she is a woman” and that is So. Viscerally. REAL. right now with the election.
Really to me this play can be summed up as LISTEN. To. Women. When. They. Tell. You. Things.
What is your favorite line or lines that your character says, and what is your favorite line that someone else says in the show?
This is my favorite exchange:
Patrick: I have privileges.
Cat: You sure do.
Because white cis hetero patriarchy.
What are you doing next on the stage?
Currently I am auditioning and getting ready for my Twin Sister’s wedding :) YAY! Congrats, Steph and Shane!
What do you want audiences to take with them after seeing TAME.?
I want them to finish the show with more questions than answers. This play is food for thought. That’s why we have talkbacks after almost every performance!
TAME. plays through December 11, 2016, at Avant Bard performing at Gunston Arts Center, Theatre Two, 2700 South Lang Street, in Arlington, VA. For tickets, call the box office at (703) 418-4808, or purchase them online.
LINK:
Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘TAME.’ Part 1: John Strange by Joel Markowitz.
Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘TAME.’ Part 2: Brendan Edward Kennedy by Joel Markowitz.
Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘TAME.’ Part 3: Jill Tighe by Joel Markowitz.