Many actors might be nervous when they decide to act in a one-person show, but few people are put in the situation of Penn State student Emily Mathason.
Not only will she be the only one onstage, but she'll also be performing in front of the person who wrote her lines, already acted her part and to some extent, lived the role.
In the audience for No Refund Theatre's Thursday night performances of Local Celebrity, a one-woman, semi-autobiographical show, Canadian playwright Alice Nelson will watch Mathason become the first person besides Nelson herself to act out the work onstage.
"How many people have performed a part in front of the author, who is the only person who's ever performed the part, which is about them?" Mathason (senior-theatre) said.
Although many college students struggle to make their tuition payments, and some will do whatever it takes to make the money, Local Celebrity tells one woman's story that proves there are many ways to gain local fame.
A character named Tina, who joins an escort service to earn money to pay for her education, narrates the play.
"The show is about someone trying to work as a prostitute without becoming a prostitute," director Sean Collier (senior-theatre arts and English) said. "It's her struggle to keep hold of her life in the environment and not letting what she does define her."
Mathason will play Tina, the character based on Nelson. Though nervous about the role, she describes it as "the biggest opportunity" of her college career.
"I always wanted to do a one-person show," she said. "I'm really going out with a bang."
Collier said he was inspired to bring the show to Penn State after seeing it performed in Indianapolis. NRT's rendition of the show will mark the fourth time it has ever been performed, and the first time it has been performed by someone other than Nelson.
"It's a very personal show," Collier said. "We're very thankful she's letting us do it."
Nelson will be visiting Penn State to see the performance through a joint venture with the West Halls Residence Association, Collier said. She will speak and field questions following Thursday's 8 p.m. performance in the Waring Commons Cultural Lounge.
The show will move to NRT's usual home, 111 Forum, for the Friday and Saturday performances, also at 8 p.m.
"[This show] is good for the cultural lounge," Collier said. "It deals a lot with social and women's issues."
Mathason's character will describe her life story from age 15 to 21 and discuss both serious and humorous situations. She said that throughout the show the audience sees how her character "learns, grows and changes."
Mathason admits, at first, the highly sexual dialogue and actions of the play took some getting used to, but these themes add humor to the show and help the audience relate to the show.
Because Mathason will portray all of the story's characters, she had to create different mannerisms to distinguish one person from another.
"The challenge with this play is that all of the character differences are done by Emily," Collier said.
Besides these initial reservations, Mathason said she is thrilled to be taking the role.
"It's a dream come true," she said. "I'm so thankful to Alice to allow us the opportunity."
Collier said one-person shows are not common in NRT. He said shows such as Local Celebrity represent a wide range of material that sometimes goes overlooked.
Jessie Leo (freshman-film and video) is handling various technical aspects of the show, including sound. She describes the show as "breathtaking."
"It's unlike anything I've ever seen before," she said.
For Collier, one-person shows are not an entirely foreign concept. His father, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Gene Collier, co-wrote The Chief, a one-man play about the late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney.
This time, the main character may have more in common with college students.
"The character is young, paying for college and having experiences in a world we know nothing about," Collier said. "The show humanizes the profession. You can't look at Tina as someone not like you."
