Studio Theatre just announced the third and final extension of Amy Herzog’s Pulitzer-finalist play 4000 Miles. Actor Grant Harrison, who plays the lead character Leo, has been in DC since mid-February, and took some time with Literary Director Adrien-Alice Hansel to reflect on his journey exploring and performing at Studio.
Adrien-Alice: You started rehearsals on February 18. Coming into this process, what did you think would be the toughest part of this play? Where you right? How did that play out?
Grant: Initially I thought the hardest part of 4000 Miles would be memorizing the lines and doing this great play justice. When I was sitting down with the script and studying it, I just kept thinking "how the hell am I going to be able to do this?” But I've learned that that's exactly where I want to be as an artist, taking on projects that are challenging me, working on great material and with collaborators who open you up and enable you to grow through the work, thereby also as a person. I was wrong about the lines and doing the play justice, with a captain like Joy, putting the play together was pretty easy because she challenged us with all these ideas, insightful interplay and business onstage which at first are really difficult to learn (all at once) but then once you find the rhythm, the play becomes easy and fun. The hardest part then became having to eat 2 Danishes a day (and on two show days 4 Danishes a day!!!) for three months straight, in scene 2. If Joy had mentioned the "Danish equation" at the audition, I just may not have accepted this role...
AH: What’s been the biggest surprise of the play?
GH: The biggest surprise is the incredible contrast of comedy/tragedy. I don't think, upon reading it, I really understood the distinct contrast within the piece, and how (which is something that really interests me as a performer) the audience can be hysterical at one moment and then an instant later, the moment switches and everyone is really taken aback. For example, the way Leo yells at Vera or in scene 6 when the interplay between Leo and Amanda is flirtatious and fun and you think it’s really going to happen between these two, but it shifts on a dime and the fun, spontaneous atmosphere is totally shot down and these two people are repelled from one another, I think that's one of my favorite moments of the play because it’s so real, so life-like and also so theatrical. When performing it, you can feel the audience having almost no idea what will come next, that's very exciting for me as an actor.
AH: What would you say is the moment or aspect of the play that has changed the most since your first preview performance of 4000 Miles?
GH: I think the whole play has changed quite a bit since the first preview. At the beginning you're just sort of feeling what it’s like to share this piece of insular art that has been contained in a rehearsal setting and you're not used to other bodies in the room...which is the final and most essential ingredient. I think at the beginning you're trying to get it "right" and that's never too much fun, so there is a lot of stress involved...then, hopefully you relax into it and it begins to breathe. I'll try to articulate this, at the beginning you're kind of playing the center-point of a line of the character, but a character like Leo has a very long line, where at one end he's really funny and playful and then at the polar opposite end he's very sad, confused and grief-stricken. As the run goes on, you're able to play the gamut of this line, rather than just playing the "center-point" of it, which is kind of who you think this person is before performance. Did that make sense?
AH: Of course it does—I think you're tremendously articulate about the art of living into a character. What do you do with your days, now that you’re in performances? Do you have a favorite DC spot?
GH: I've been reading a lot and catching up on books I'd been meaning to get to but hadn't. Below is a list of my favorite local DC spots.
Dupont Circle, sun-shining, book in hand.
The balcony of my apartment, guitar in hand.
The Whole Foods world food buffet (what a spread!)
AH: Do you know what’s next for you, after Studio? (Don’t leave us, Grant!!!)
GH: There are a few things that I may do after 4000 Miles, but it will be really hard to leave this play, this city, and Leo. It's definitely going to take some time. I was cast in a mockumentary called BadPuss, it will be the directorial debut of Emily Weist (Dianne Wiest's daughter). Dianne was the casting director and it's kind of a Spinal Tap meets Spice Girls kind of mash up... look out for it.