The art of acting

By Darrian Dowdy

From forest fairies to Shakespearean princes, Monica Morrisey has a diverse portfolio of other personas she has embodied as an actress. Morrisey, a theater major at Niagara County Community College, has been acting since she was 12 years old.

“I’ve wanted to do something performative since I was little, and middle school musicals were what initially introduced me to acting,” Morrisey said.

Last spring, she played a fairy in the locally produced show, “420: The Musical.” This show, written in 2011 by Buffalo comedian John Kehoe, has been performed annually on April 20 in the Elmwood Village.

Morrisey, center, plays a fairy in “420: The Musical” in Buffalo, April 20, 2015. Photo by Darrian Dowdy.

It features Jerry the stoner, who falls asleep and wakes up in the Land of 420. It follows his story as he tries to find the meaning of happiness.

“It was a lot of fun,” Morrisey said. “That’s where I first started to break through my comfort zone as an actor.”

She is skipping the Land of 420 this year, and moving on to the City of Verona. Morrisey will play Mercutio in NCCC’s spring performance of “Romeo and Juliet.”

“In this production, we’ve placed a lot of attention on [gender in Verona],” she said. “Verona is in present day, it’s urban and dangerous…. Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, the princess, and the apothecary are all played by women…. We’re portraying the characters as women.

“To play Mercutio as a woman took a little more work compared to other roles I’ve had. Shakespeare gives Mercutio this heavy monologue in which he talks about women in disdain. As a woman, is that resentment or resonance?”

Michael Devine, a theater major at Buffalo State, also has some Shakespearean experience.

“I have read Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and a Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Devine said. “It has made me think of stage acting as a small piece of the idea of acting…. It is behaving believably under imaginary circumstances.”

He has taken the skills learned from live theater and applied them to acting in film. He is not currently working on any projects, but plans to over the summer. 

“Theater has given me perspective and something to rely on when preparing for a film,” Devine said. “Theater will teach you what acting is and will better prepare you.”

“I think it’s important to have an introduction to theater when doing a film,” Morrisey said,  “but there are a lot of fundamentals that you have to throw out the window when you do a film.”

Morrisey and Devine agree that film is an individual entity.

“Film is more precise,” Devine said. “It’s specific action, whereas stage is a bit more free and has more range.”

“Hurry up and wait,” Morrisey said, “You hurry up, get into costume, get all your props, be ready, and wait for when you’re called.”

Morrisey says that she prefers theater over film. “Will I [continue to] audition for films and take parts? Absolutely, but it’s not my end all…. Buffalo runs on this schedule where everyone has a day job, and they act, rehearse, audition at night.” Morrisey hopes to follow that path.