Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Wherefore art thou, Courtney McLaren?

Wherefore art thou,
Courtney McLaren?


We don’t need Frank when there’s someone pounding the ivories next to us.
It’s true.
Someone is going ham next door.

Hi Courtney.
Hi Caroline.
Oh, sorry…what’s your name?
My name’s Courtney Anne McLaren.
Anne with an E or without.
Anne with an E.
Do people even spell Anne without an E?
They do, and sometimes people are like, you’re not spelling it right and I’m like no. It’s WITH AN E.
There is an E.
It’s the English spelling.
The English spelling.
The English spelling of Anne as opposed to the French.

Courtney is presently curling her hair…
I am. Turning on the curling iron as we speak!

Uh, where are you from?
I am from the center part of Massachusetts, like Fitchburg.
What’s the town that I’ve never heard of?
The town you’ve never heard of is Winchendon, Mass.
WINCHENDON!
Winchendon.
Never fucking heard of it.
A little farm town…I live next to a cheese farm.
Yup.
It’s pretty spectacular.
Yup.

Where do you go to school?
Um, I go to the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Mass. I’m gonna be a senior.
Yup. Are you excited?
I am excited. It’s exciting but also scary cause like, I assumed I would always be an underclassmen, but I knew it was coming, it’s just like, it came sooner than I thought.
Yeah. Same boat!

What attracted you to this program?
Well, I had a friend who did the program last year…and actually another friend who did it the year before that, and so I definitely knew of it and heard great things from both friends. And then I went to NETC and I got a callback from there to here and I thought, well…it sounds great. And I did my research and…
And now you’re here…
Now I’m here. I sent in my application, they accepted me, and I was like “You know what!”
Why not.
More Shakespeare training is always fantastic.
Did you have a lot in…at school?
I had done a summer at Shakespeare & Company a year before this so I had some from there, and then I had a little bit at school. So yeah, my Shakespeare training…it’s getting up there.

Ow…I’m pulling my hair.
I like, can’t stop watching…I love watching people do their hair.
I’m so slow…
It’s okay.
My hair just really likes being straight…it doesn’t like any change I try to do to it.

What’s your favorite Shakespeare play?
My favorite Shakespeare play…difficult…I gotta go with Twelfth Night. I’ve been so attached to it this past year.
Viola.
Viola.
Vi.
Vi.
Vi…
And Sebaby.
Viola and Sebaby.

If you could play any character…
Any character? Right now? Anne Boleyn…my answer changes as I grow as a person.
That’s what I expect.
Exactly. Right now, it’s Anne Boleyn. Yup. That’s my dream right now.

Do you have a monologue?
Monologue? Sure why not. I’m deciding…

In this brief moment I would like to say Courtney McLaren…Courtney Anne McLaren is the number one Apprentice…UNIVERSALLY, I think.
I appreciate that.

OH.
OH GOSH. A GUEST IN THE INTERVIEW. (it’s Sari)
Of course you can come sit.
Join.
Sit and listen. Shut up and listen…yeah, someone is pounding…
Do you remember that…from The Princess Diaries?
Yeah, that’s why I said it!
Shut up and listen!

Alright, Courtney, we usually don’t have an audience other than myself but if you’d like to share a monologue with us…
I’ll do “hard to seem won” because I’m doing that for Steve Maler in two days. Let’s see if I remember it guys…



Thank you.
HARD to seem…OH.
You’re one of my favorite people Caroline…
ME?!
You are.
Gosh. Thanks.

I have more questions!
More questions, oh my!
Um, do you have a favorite experience here so far?
My favorite experiences here so far are my experiences with Team Simon, the best group in the program.
It’s obvious to me at least, you know…
It’s true. Very true. Tis true.

(The lights went off) Uh, lights out…
In the darkness you cannot see anything.
So yes, my favorite experiences have been with Team Simon. These include our song rides in the car, working as a group to develop our green show which is…I’m very proud of our Greenshow, I will not lie. It was like, a struggle getting there but now that it’s there it’s beautiful.
It has a lot of heart in it.
It does. A joke…we have hearts. Cut out hearts. Ha ha ha. Also, our sushi date last night.
Last night was a really special night.
It was. These rank among my favorite times with Team Simon.
I agree.

Now Courtney, do you have a piece of advice you would like to share with someone right now?
Right now, my piece of advice is to try to keep a positive attitude about everything you do. I think that negativity, like, actually kills your soul. Like, I can not function if I have a negative view on what I’m doing. So. When something in your life sucks, I think you need to find what’s good about it. Even if the only thing that you can think of is like, well, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Like, just look for the good.
Just looking for the good. Thanks Courtney.
Anytime, Caroline.

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