Seeking Strength Through Weakness in the Acting World
By Raz De-Via Rozental
SCAD acting major Lauren Pye uses fear as a creative catharsis. She says that she seeks out people who intimidate her. She is not afraid of her weaknesses—she seeks them out. “Instead of letting their intimidation shut me down, I try to gravitate towards them and figure out how to make myself better.”
Pye has been involved in the theater since she was very young, but only found her love for Shakespeare in high school when she performed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” At the time, she was cast in a minor role without many lines. But for SCAD Atlanta’s “Shakespeare in the Court“ production of the show, she plays Helena, often considered the most complex and misunderstood character of the four teenaged lovers.
Pye considers “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to be one of her favorite Shakespeare plays “because it’s so crazy.” It takes a good ear and open mind to analyze the many inappropriate and abnormal references made by the peculiar characters. “Honestly, I wanted to play every part,“ she said. “Helena wasn’t who I saw myself as for a while, because normally I’m typecast as other roles and not so much the ’lover girl.’”
Pye explained that in the past she has found herself playing roles such as the feminist, the ghost girl, or even the killer. Examples of these would include her performances ad Jo March in “Little Women” and Morticia Addams in “The Addams Family.” However, thanks to her experience with the play and previous period acting classes, she found it easier for her to understand the language and context of the story. She could truly tap into the role by exploring the depth of Helena’s character beyond her generic typecast.
Pye is not the type of actress that is intimidated by an unfamiliar role, she is fascinated by it. She said she is enjoying uncovering Helena’s layers, because there is much more to her than what’s on the surface. “There is so much more you can do with her than just the hopeless romantic,” she said. Helena can be portrayed as overly love-led, even declaring she will “follow [Demetrius] and make a heaven of hell,” or in other words, destroy herself for love. Pye still sees depth in Helena outside of the common stereotypes.
The actress values the analytical approach to acting, overcoming her initial insecurities and finding herself inspired by her peers. After almost giving up during her first year at SCAD, she worked to push herself to face her weaknesses and find people with the skills she lacks. Therefore, she can learn from them instead of growing envious or jealous, believing it is better to challenge yourself than to let negativity and self-doubt get to you.
The thing Pye loves most about acting is how it’s a different job every time. She has never been the type of person that can do “one thing,” which reflects her personal character as a true artist. She constantly reaches out and tries new things, because in her eyes, why would you want to do the same thing for the rest of your life when you can be so many different people and experience so many different worlds?
“If I were to go on stage as Lauren, I would be a lot more scared than to go on as Helena. Acting allows me to be different people and explore different parts of myself. And even though I am not being myself, I feel like I’ve gotten to learn a lot about myself.”
