Irina Sergeyevna is a role I played at BYU in 1994 in Chekhov's The Three Sisters. The youngest of the three sisters, she was inadvertently responsible for the death of the plays most beloved character, Tuzenbakh. (Though should she really blame herself when someone lets himself get killed in a pointless duel over her? I mean, really?) It wasn't my greatest work ever, but Emmie played my eldest sister, and I still call her Olga much of the time. I know, it's pretty random to call myself that when it really means something to just a few other people, but posting comments as "dianna g." has felt boring. I'll have to find some kind of middle ground, because I have the cutest picture of Sophie on my profile, and if I don't comment as a blogger, the world will miss it. Anyway, I very much see myself as Irina. She was passionate, emotional, often a bit confused, very childlike, and she had a bad habit of not getting things done (like that coveted trip to Moscow!). That pretty much sums me up most of the time!
Now my favorite role ever has a very boring name: Kate Mundy. Another good friend, Jannah, played my little sister, Christina, that time. As I already have a sister named Christina, I choose to call her Jannah. I must share, however, that my favorite cast-mate memory of Jannah is when she played Poseidon in The Odyssey. She was so brilliant that I feel really sorry for everyone in the world who missed her performance. My hand has only recently healed from the day she slammed a 5 pound trident onto my fingers when I, as Zeus, wasn't paying enough attention to her godly demands. Those were very special days!
(Incidentally, if you feel up to something like The Odyssey, you must try the Robert Fagles translation. It's hysterical genius!)Of course, in that play, we each played multiple roles, most of which were men. Identity crisis indeed!
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