I was able to sit down with Andy Nagraj, one of the actors for the 2010 TSF season. Andy has worked in a variety of theaters in Virginia, Ohio, and Chicago, including The Steppenwolf theater. He is currently pursuing his Masters degree at the PTTP (Professional Theater Training Program) at the University of Delaware.
Andy, what excites you about classical theater?
It’s just (pause) just better. The quality of the work is better than anything else (chuckles). That’s too general. It’s a cliché thing to say, but “there’s a reason these plays have lasted as long as they have.” That’s a very powerful argument to me.
When I was finally able to wrap my brain around what I was reading when I read Shakespeare, and what I was saying when I was saying Shakespeare--it blew my mind that an author 400 years ago could so clearly communicate with me today. Human beings are fundamentally the same. This man got to the essence of that better than anyone else. There is something wonderful about getting to connect that line. Something wonderful about being a channel for these plays to come out.
(Andy Nagraj in Ohio Shakespeare production of Two Gentlemen of Verona)
What excites you to do musicals?
There is a sense of heightened reality with Shakespeare work and I think if you step back and squint a little bit, it’s very similar on how musicals operate. The function of the song, of people not being able to contain themselves and bursting forth into song there's something really enchanting about that. I have a lot of fun when I’m in musicals and it doesn’t always seem like work. It’s a different beast, still closely connected to what we do. There’s a different connection that the audience gets to experience as well. I’m really excited to operate in both worlds doing Shakespeare and a musical. Also I’m in the production of Two Gentlemen of Verona which will have music throughout. I heard about the Love’s Labor’s Lost production last summer, and I’m very much excited to be a part of that and see how that works.
There is a sense of heightened reality with Shakespeare work and I think if you step back and squint a little bit, it’s very similar on how musicals operate. The function of the song, of people not being able to contain themselves and bursting forth into song there's something really enchanting about that. I have a lot of fun when I’m in musicals and it doesn’t always seem like work. It’s a different beast, still closely connected to what we do. There’s a different connection that the audience gets to experience as well. I’m really excited to operate in both worlds doing Shakespeare and a musical. Also I’m in the production of Two Gentlemen of Verona which will have music throughout. I heard about the Love’s Labor’s Lost production last summer, and I’m very much excited to be a part of that and see how that works.
What roles are you playing at TSF 2010 season?
Jacques in As You Like It, Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Shem in Two by Two.
(Andy Nagraj in PTTP As You Like It, photo by Bill Browning)
What excited you about these roles?
Well, Jacques is a part I’ve been fortunate enough to play before at PTTP in one of my first roles. Its a part that’s good for me. I’m ideally suited for it. (Chuckles)
Why do say it’s "ideally suited" for you?
Why do say it’s "ideally suited" for you?
It’s the type of person I am, very much something that I get. We all have different temper mentalities and are suited to different parts. I read it on a page and I get it, and when there are parts that aren’t like me is when even more exciting. I hope that it I get to play it again, something that pops up in my career.
Two Gentlemen... will be fun for me because I’ve been a part of two other productions, one with Ohio Shakespeare and one recently with PTTP. I’ve never played Launce and it’s a confusing part. A clown, a clown with a dog, shows up in the middle of the love story. What’s extremely exciting, in how to make his story serve the play and not just make it a stand-up gig.
For me that’s the most exciting part in both my Shakespeare roles. The challenge of it; of folding that into the show and making it serve the play. Having it be a part of the play, not just be Jacques doing the “All the world’s a stage” or doing my funny bit with the dog and not having it being a self-serving joke.
When Raymond told me I got to be a part of the musical, I was really excited about that. It’s been two or three years since I’ve been able to do a musical, it’s a genre that I very deeply love and something I hope I get to pursue for the rest of my life.
For me that’s the most exciting part in both my Shakespeare roles. The challenge of it; of folding that into the show and making it serve the play. Having it be a part of the play, not just be Jacques doing the “All the world’s a stage” or doing my funny bit with the dog and not having it being a self-serving joke.
When Raymond told me I got to be a part of the musical, I was really excited about that. It’s been two or three years since I’ve been able to do a musical, it’s a genre that I very deeply love and something I hope I get to pursue for the rest of my life.
