Actress Alex Keiper Brings Warmth and Humor to The Humans
Spending Thanksgiving with your family can often bring up a roller coaster ride of emotions served with the turkey, stuffing and other holiday fare. This is the premise behind The Humans, a well-written, beautifully performed, touching, and memorable award-winning play starring Alex Keiper, now playing through March 4, at the Walnut Street Theatre, during its landmark 209th season.
Stephen Karam’s 2016 Tony Award® Winner for best play, is directed by Walnut Street Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director Bernard Havard.
Karam was commissioned by the Roundabout Theatre Company to write The Humans after his previous play, Sons of a Prophet, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His plays borrow heavily from his personal life and all share a deep focus on family.
With The Humans, Karam challenged himself to write a play in real time on a single set. The entirety of the play is a 90-minute slice of the Blake’s family Thanksgiving, allowing Karam to touch on the connections, personalities, and interactions of the family.
The charming 32-year-old Keiper grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, attended a 2002 summer program at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, continued there for college and graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s of fine arts in musical theater. She was an Independence Foundation Fellow in 2013, which sent her to The Atlantic Acting School Summer Intensive.
She moved to Manhattan after college, but kept getting work in Philadelphia, so after going back and forth for a while, she decided to stay in the city of Brotherly Love.
Now, the South Philadelphia resident is loving both work and play here.
Keiper, who plays daughter Brigid Blake, made her Walnut Street Theatre debut in 2015 in the Walnut Studio 3 production of Proof. She has performed with companies including Arden Theatre, 11th Hour Theatre Company, Theatre Horizon, and Theatre Exile.
In October, Keiper, who has a beautiful singing voice, won the 2017 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Musical. Keiper was last seen at the Walnut Street Theatre as Catherine in Proof.
For this production the two-story Chinatown apartment of Brigid Blake and Richard Saad is the perfect setting for this show, complete with a dilapidated spiral staircase and a dining room table topped with a festive, if not frugal, Thanksgiving spread.
After a sleepless night, the family patriarch Erik Blake brings his family from Pennsylvania to celebrate Thanksgiving at his daughter’s new apartment in lower Manhattan.
As darkness falls outside the crumbling pre-war duplex, mysterious things start to go bump in the night, and family tensions reach a boiling point. American middle class hopes, dreams, and fears are first coaxed – then shoved – into the light in this humorous, hopeful and heart-tugging new play.
Do you remember your first visit to Philadelphia?
Alex Keiper: Yes, vividly. The first time my parents drove me down Broad Street and the Avenue of the Arts, it truly felt like where I was supposed to be. It felt like home. I had an amazing experience.
Why did you decide to settle in Philadelphia?
AK: I kept getting work in Philadelphia, so I moved back in 2008. I have spent the past few years working here and loving this community. I have enjoyed helping it grow and watching it change. I enjoy being here.
Your father was an actor so please tell me about his experiences.
AK: My father, Robert, worked off-Broadway in the 1950s and ‘60s. He toured with The Owl and the Pussycat, and performed at the Actor’s Theater of Louisville. I remember him working as much as he could and sharing hilarious stories of living in New York, carrying around baked potatoes in his pocket and having to make ketchup soup in the diners because he and his friends couldn’t afford anything else. Despite his struggles it was something I still wanted to do.
So, after graduating from college what was your plan?
AK: To audition and find work. When I was growing up my dad was teaching me unconventional ideas about acting. He said that ‘A lot of people want to be famous and will get caught up in the success.’ But he wanted to know why I was pursuing this very difficult career path and advised me that if I was ‘a working actor you will be successful.’
What else did he say?
AK: He told me that the work is the most important thing, and to follow that path where ever the work is taking me rather than rather than seeking approval or acclaim.
Who is coming to see you in The Humans?
AK: My mom and dad came during Super Bowl weekend. I also became engaged in November and my fiancé, Michael Doherty, who is also an actor, has a big family and many members of his extended family will be coming during the course of the run. I am fortunate that I am soon inheriting this large group of wonderful people. Since the show is about family dynamics it will be an interesting one for all of them to see. It is so nice that The Walnut Street Theatre is able to do these longer runs in the big space, so a lot of people will get to see it.
When did you first audition for the show The Humans?
AK: I was playing Lizzie Borden in The 11th Hour, and a friend who works at the Walnut Street Theatre told me they were doing The Humans, that I would be perfect for the role and encouraged me to submit my applications. I auditioned and felt great about it, but you can never tell. A few days later I received the call, and then I really dug into the script.
What is the most challenging part of this show?
AK: The dialogue is the most exciting part. The characters talk the way normal people talk. The play is written with real instinct, and real impulses, and driven by action. There is a lot of dialogue, and it’s always intentional. This is also a really clean script with a lot of overlapping, so we talk over each other.
Why do you believe that people enjoy this show?
AK: I think it will be very familiar for a lot of people. Its s sort of a universal family dynamic. I also love the writer. His earlier work Speech and Debate about a high school debate team, starred a teenage girl and her humor is so true, funny and strange. When I heard that The Humans was written by him, I totally wanted to be part of it. Since this is the first regional production after the tour, even though he is a busy man, I am hoping that he hopes to see it.
What else can you say about this?
AK: Well, I believe that holidays can be both joyful and difficult. So, I would say to come to laugh at yourself and emphasize in a way you might not have thought of before with your family members. People identify with the show and recognize aspects of their mom, dad, sister or grandmother.
You are not only a stellar actress, but you are a teacher.
AK: Yes. My roommate, Matthew Mastronardi, who has been my best friend since the third day of college, and I started A and M Studios, a local teaching studio. He plays piano and cello and is a wonderful voice teacher, while I am an acting and performance coach. Students come to us to prep for auditions for college.
What do you help your students with?
AK: We do pre-screen videos before our students invited to audition. There are so many people who don’t have access to sheet music or don’t know where to look for monologues. We guide them through what the process. For them it is hard for them to be themselves and hard when they are being told that acting is all about breathing, grounding yourself, being in the space, and being who you are in the space. It sounds simple; but it is a vulnerable and scary process.
What career advice do you offer those who want to follow in your footsteps to pursue a stage career?
AK: I tell them that they have to just do it. I believe you have to go after what you want and submit yourself for work. I don’t really think of it as networking, in a community like Philadelphia we come friends and trusted confidantes, so I have previously worked with nearly everyone in The Humans.
How is that helpful, personally and professionally?
AK: We are here supporting one another’s work. That’s the most important lesson that I have learned as a professional; that if you support others they will support you. It’s a difficult business, and we all face a lot of rejection; but I like to move the competition aspect. It’s about being generous, having good energy, enjoying them, and looking at them as a human and not a competitor. So many people leave the industry because they feel unseen, unloved, and unappreciated, but for me it’s about appreciating the other person first.
When you are not acting or rehearsing how do you spend your time off?
AK: I am a big TV aficionado. I have a wide appreciation for the Golden Age of television. My guilty pleasure is Project Runway. My fiancé got me into Survivor. I also enjoy Game of Thrones, and Baskets on FX. I enjoy the work of John Oliver and I am a huge Seinfeld fan.
In your show your boyfriend makes the holiday meal, so I wonder do you cook?
AK: I started doing Blue Apron last year and that gave me an understanding and appreciation for cooking. I used to fear going to the grocery store and was very overwhelmed.
Tell me about your character of Brigid Blake.
AK: I play the daughter in the family. I have just moved into a new apartment in New York’s Chinatown with my boyfriend and my family is coming for Thanksgiving to see my new place. We get to eat a full meal in every show – real sweet potatoes and salad, and it’s delicious.
Lastly, why should people come to the see The Humans?
AK: Communication with someone that you love can be much harder than someone you don’t care about. It is about members of a family trying to be their most honest selves, and that proves to be very difficult. It’s easy for us to be hurt by the people we love the most – so I believe that people will see themselves in this family, and their family members, and the mess that we call Thanksgiving dinner.
For more information on The Humans at the Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, go to: www.walnutstreettheatre.org or Ticketmaster or call: 215-574-3550 or 800-982-2787
For further information about Alex Keiper please visit: alexkeiper.com
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