On Friday, August 2, Act Too Players’ professional theatre company, AT PRO will open their production of Matilda: The Musical at the historic Franklin Theatre nestled just off the town square in Franklin, TN. Based on Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book, the 4-time Tony Award-winning musical features music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and book by Tony-winning playwright, Dennis Kelly. Directed by Act To Players’ theatre arts director, Sondra Morton, with musical direction from Jamey Green, the title role of Matilda will be shared (at alternating performances) by two young actors, Reese Benton and Reagan Schmicker and will feature a number of other youth performers and Act Too Players students. As for the adult cast, Tennessee native, Thomas DeMarcus, who now resides in New York, will take on the role of Ms. Trunchbull, with local theatrical mega-star, Megan Murphy Chambers playing Matilda’s less-than-caring mother, Mrs. Wormwood. Among the other adult cast members are Jeremy Maxwell as Mr. Wormwood, Erica Haines as Ms Honey and Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva as Ms. Phelps.
Just yesterday, while the cast was in the final hours of tech week, before Friday’s opening night, I had the chance to chat with DeMarcus and Chambers about their roles, working together, collaborating with Morton and the youth cast of Matilda for my latest Rapid Fire 20 Q. As always, the conversations were enlightening and entertaining, perfectly fitting considering the subject is Matilda.
——————————
RAPID FIRE WITH MATILDA’s MRS. WORMWOOD, MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS
JHP: Who is Mrs. Wormwood to you?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: Mrs. Wormwood is the delicious personification of rotten, upside-down Megan. She is shallow, blunt, arrogant and narcissistic. I am loving every single minute of wearing her leopard print skin.
JHP: Exactly how many shows have you been involved in in collaboration with Sondra Morton?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: Roughly 9,000, I think. 9,001 if you count the show that was being in the delivery room when her son was born.
JHP: Sometimes I feel like Sondra, Act Too Players and other youth theatre programs around town don’t get the praise they deserve. What’s something you would like to say to Sondra about her work with Act Too?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: I agree that anyone who works with kids in this capacity is an unsung hero. The performance opportunities these kids get are extraordinary, and the miracles Sondra works to get these shows put together blow my mind. Above all, though, the community that gets built during the process is unlike anything I’ve seen before. I’ve heard so many of our students say that they feel like a most authentic version of themselves when they’re at Act Too, and I’m really proud to be part of that. Sondra (and Erica, and Jamey!) are absolutely amazing.
JHP: One aspect of Mrs. Wormwood’s personality is her lack of concern where her children are concerned. Knowing what little I do about you as a person, I can say with certainty that couldn’t be further from the truth, especially considering when not on stage at Act Too Players, you are among the staff of Act Too Players. How vital is it to encourage the creativity of youth in the performing arts?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: Being part of high school theater and choir changed the trajectory of my life forever, so you won’t find a bigger advocate for youth arts programming than me. Regardless of what path a kid decides to follow, there are so many essential life skills that the kids pick up when working on a show. They become better communicators, collaborators, and empathizers. Watching these programs get pillaged breaks my heart, and does such a disservice to society in general. Art makes us complete, makes us better versions of ourselves!
JHP: As a staff member of Act Too Players, your official job title is Experience Manager. What exactly does that title involve?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: More than anything, I maintain lines of communication with our parents and families. I love that part of my job, and I love when show time rolls around, and that communication turns into actual face time with both the kids and their families.
JHP: While your character isn’t exactly maternal, Matilda does find a friend and mentor in Miss Honey. Who encouraged your creativity and free-spiritedness as a child?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: My childhood home was always filled with music, and my parents stocked us up with paper to draw on and Legos to build with; they’re both really interesting and creative people themselves, and my sister’s and my imaginations were encouraged to thrive. My 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Brown, also threw a lot of gasoline onto my fire. She created a beautiful bound version of a book I wrote when I was 8 called Confetti about, no surprise, a dog.
JHP: As Matilda’s on-stage mother, you are working with not one, but two young actors who are alternating in the lead role. What can you tell me about your two young co-stars, Reese Benton and Reagan Schmicker?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: Reese and Reagan are delightful, capable, professional young ladies, and we are truly lucky to have both of them in this show. They have a huge role to tackle and are doing it with real grace and enthusiasm, not to mention talent. It’s also been lovely to watch them work together as a team. I’ve seen zero competitiveness whatsoever – just authentic support and enjoyment of each other. I love being awful to both of them!
JHP: Do you find being the uncaring Mrs. Wormwood on-stage has caused you to be extra nice to the youth cast off-stage, or do you avoid them in an effort to stay in character?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: First of all – any of my friends reading this right now are laughing out loud at the idea of me ever being extra nice to kids 🙂 Coddling anyone other than my pit bull goes against my very nature. My character doesn’t impact the way I treat the kids at all. My favorite thing about doing an Act Too Pro show with them is getting to just be a fellow actor (rather than a stage manager or child-wrangler or person in a leadership position). In this environment, I treat them all the same as I do any other colleague. We have a great time, and I expect the same level of professionalism (and fun!) from them as I do any of the rest of my cast mates.
JHP: What’s the best part of having Jeremy Maxwell as your on-stage husband, Mr. Wormwood?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: I love watching Jeremy work, and he is always 100% game to experiment on stage with. Jeremy is super alive in a scene, and up for anything. It’s also lovely to watch someone who is so naturally patient and good with kids be so horrible to our Matildas.
JHP: I’m about chat with another of you co-stars, Thomas DeMarcus. If memory serves me you were both among the cast of Boiler Room Theatre’s Gypsy in 2004. When did the two of you first meet?
MEGAN MURPHY CHAMBERS: Thomas and I were friends looooong before Gypsy. We went to high school together, and he is one of literally two people that I’m still in touch with from those days. It has been so fun to be in a show with him again, so I’m overjoyed that we were able to lure him away from NYC for a little while. Getting to work with someone I’ve been friends with since 1993 is a gift, and I hope we’re still playing 25 years from now. There is no one I’d rather see play Trunchbull than him.
RAPID FIRE WITH MATILDA’s MS. TRUNCHBULL, THOMAS DeMARCUS
JHP: Tell me about your portrayal of Ms. Trunchbull.
THOMAS DeMARCUS: I have loved Ms. Trunchbull since I helped the original Broadway production on their special events team. She’s so deliciously cruel and righteous that you can’t help but stare and be intimidated by. She has this wonderful pattern to her speech with so many different ways to insult you and has zero regards for your feelings. Everyone always wonders what it’s like to play the villain but the villain never knows they’re the villain. They’re behaving and reacting honestly to their own ideals. Agatha is a joy to play. Her costume and her makeup and hair do so much of the work, I just need to remember when Matilda is being a maggot and when Matilda is being a disgusting little toad. Ms. Trunchbull chooses her words carefully.
JHP: Appearing in Act Too Players’ Matilda is a bit of a homecoming on a couple of levels in that you grew up near Franklin n nearby Brentwood and you have a bit of a history with Act Too Players’ founder and Theatre Arts Director, Sondra Morton, having appeared in a few shows at Morton’s beloved and much-missed Boiler Room Theatre. What’s it been like to come back home, be a part of this show and work with Sondra again?
THOMAS DeMARCUS: Coming back home feels truly wonderful. I miss Brentwood. A fun yearly game is figuring out which new restaurant has popped up at the place where that old restaurant used to be. My parents are still here in the same house I grew up so they are thrilled to have me join them for a little bit. Sondra is one of those people that I will always have fond memories of. She was in my first show at the Boiler Room Theatre (The 1940’s Radio Hour) and the Boiler Room is where I met some of my greatest friends (some of them can be found in this production of Matilda!). To know that Sondra has built this company and sustained it for so long in an ever-growing and always-changing landscape of middle-Tennessee is nothing short of remarkable. She always has fifty irons in the fire and yet can answer a specific question without missing a beat. She’s immensely creative and a champion of trying something to see if it fails. She truly supports these kids and beams at their successes. I’m beyond grateful that she called me me in!
JHP: You attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. While there, you switched your focus from math to theatre. What prompted the change in your course of study?
THOMAS DeMARCUS: I know I never considered theatre a profession coming out of high school. I believe I told my guidance counselor that I wanted to teach math and help coach the basketball team at some middle or high school that would hire me. But once I devoted 100% of my time and energy into the theatre department and kept meeting great artists brought in from all over the world, I began to see theatre as a career. I still LOVE MATH. Ask anyone. There’s an aspect to problem solving that I find so relaxing. I can make the (broad) connection between math and theatre through problem solving. Instead of solving for x, I’m trying to figure out why this character would do or say that. Look, it’s a loose connection but I’m sticking with it…just let me solve my sudoku in peace.
JHP: Anytime I chat with anyone who has a connection to UT, I have to ask….did you have the opportunity to study under my friend Carol Mayo-Jenkins, who I of course remember first for her portrayal of Miss Sherwood in TV’s Fame?
THOMAS DeMARCUS: Carol returned to Knoxville just as I was leaving so I never had her for a teacher, however, I was extremely fortunate to work with her onstage in The Glass Menagerie. She played Amanda and I was the gentleman caller brought over to dinner to try and make a love connection with her daughter, Laura. My character doesn’t come onstage until Act 2 so I got to watch the masterclass Carol would put on every night from the wings. She is truly an angel and could not have been warmer or more lovely to this young college student. We also had one of those lovely only-in-live-theatre moments where a candle would not stay in the candle holder and her commitment to staying in character was nothing short of brilliant. She is every bit a professional and she could read the salads off of a menu and receive a standing ovation. You know you’re doing something magical when the city of Knoxville dedicates a day in your name.
JHP: What do you recall most about your time at UT?
THOMAS DeMARCUS: I had always been an excellent student but when I got to UT, my discipline turned wholly to the theatre department. I flung myself at every audition, took every theatre class, and treated my education as if I was at a BFA program versus a BA program. I couldn’t wrap my head around the need for an astronomy class or two semesters of French when all I really hungered for was more sonnets and more scenes. To say I regret my years at UT is misleading because the time I wasted there is through no one’s fault but my own. I learned a significant amount while I was there, but I could have been more upfront with what I was truly looking for. There’s a line from one of my favorite musicals, Passing Strange that says “Do you ever think it’s weird that your entire adult life is based off the decision of an 18-year old?” Sometimes I think college is wasted on the young and yet I don’t want this to come off as anti-college and certainly not anti-UT. I love Knoxville, I miss Knoxville and UT gave me so many opportunities. And storming the field after a victory over Florida ranks very high up on my greatest days list.
JHP: During your time at UT, you were involved in All Campus Theatre (ACT), a student-run troupe. What stands out in your mind about your time with ACT and what have you noticed about your time in this production at Act Too?
THOMAS DeMARCUS: All Campus Theatre was a vital part of my undergraduate training. Because The University of Tennessee has a professional, resident theatre on campus (the magnificent Clarence Brown Theatre), there weren’t many opportunities for the undergraduates to be in mainstage productions. Outside of classwork, the well was fairly dry when it came to performance, design, or direction. ACT was completely student operated and became the secondary theatrical energy I was looking for. I remember we were all wide-eyed and ambitious as we would have Barefoot in the Park followed by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. We were one of the first, if not the first production of Steve Martin‘s Picasso at the Lapin Agile after its New York run because we simply wrote him a letter asking for his permission (He agreed, and we had a gold chair reserved for him at every performance). What’s great about Act Too Players is I can see Sondra giving these kids such great opportunities they may not be getting elsewhere. It’s beautiful to see them dive into the work.
JHP: Ms. Trunchbull isn’t your first time to play a campy drag character onstage, having appeared in the National Tour of Spamalot, playing, among others, Dennis’ Mother. What are the best and worst aspects of tongue-in-cheek gender switched roles?
THOMAS DeMARCUS: The best part, other than perhaps an easy laugh, is the instant recalculation for the audience. There tends to be a double-take even if they know the drag is happening. They become more attentive as they try to figure out just what’s happening and what’s appropriate to laugh at or with. I’d say the worst part is there is always a tendency to over do the character. I have to remember that Agatha Trunchbull is a woman and nothing is particularly cartoonish about Agatha’s behavior in her mind. She may be brash and bold but it needs to come from a real place or the audience will know it’s all for show. The audience is always smarter than the actors.
JHP: Among your other theatre credits, you were also among the cast of the touring company of Peter and the Starcatcher. What was your favorite aspect of touring with that particular show?
THOMAS DeMARCUS: I LOVED That Company. Our time together was all too short as we only toured for three months. That show was the definition of ensemble and we only had about eight days to learn the Broadway version. If you assigned a color to everyone’s walking path onstage and put it on a chart it would make a fine Rorshach experiment. Everyone is essentially onstage for the entire play and you cannot lose focus. You are constantly moving. One hour of every rehearsal was dedicated to cardio and circuit training. You might be part of a ship or part of a mirror or part of the crocodile or lifting this actor or catching this actor okay now put this coconut bra on because now you’re a mermaid! You couldn’t have asked for a more committed group. That show is about trust and focus and sweat! We were lucky to have a few days with the late (and a true class act) Roger Rees, who directed the Broadway version.
JHP: You now call New York home. I imagine the young cast of Matilda have been full of questions about living in THE theatrical center of the world. What advice might you offer your young cast mates who are thinking of pursuing their theatrical dreams?
THOMAS DeMARCUS: One of the first things I was asked was whether or not I had seen Hamilton and then I got to watch their jaw drop when I said I’d seen it three times. Being in NYC and being able to watch (and occasionally work with) some of the biggest names in theatre is a complete joy. I’m not always sure how to be an advisor for younger actors, but I suppose what I wanted to hear at their age was to always enjoy art. Whether performing, volunteering, or just watching. Enjoy it. Theatre is so beneficial to a young mind. Not becoming a dancer who can recite Shakespeare while belting Dear Evan Hansen. Those are all great, but theatre should inspire you, and cultivate your imagination and help you grow as an individual. Follow that dream. FOLLOW IT. Also, it really will help you with math.
JHP: What do you see as the moral of Matilda?
THOMAS DeMARCUS: Matilda might say it best herself: “Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty.”
——————————
To catch Act Too Players & AT PRO getting a little bit naughty, be sure and get tickets to Matilda at Franklin Theatre from Friday, August 2 until Sunday, August 11. Opening weekend showtimes are Friday, August 2 at 7 p.m., Saturday, August 3 at 12 noon and 6 p.m. and Sunday, August 4 at 2 p.m. The show then continues the following week with shows Tuesday, August 6 thru Friday, August 9 at 7 pm., Saturday, August 10 at 12noon and 6 p.m. and Sunday, August 11 at 2 p.m. Tickets range in price from $15 to $49 CLICK HERE to purchase tickets and to view special ticket prices for the August 6 & 7 performances.
If you’ve enjoyed this Rapid Fire 20 Q, CLICK HERE to check out previous conversations. For more about Act Too Players, CLICK HERE and be sure and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Interested in coverage for your latest entertaining endeavor? Click the contact page and drop me a note. You can also follow JHP Entertainment on Instagram and Facebook.