By Kate and Melissa

We are excited to announce that The Actors Studio of Newburyport is hosting three workshop readings of our play BIG WORK this fall! And we are thrilled to welcome back the entire cast from our sold out March 2016 readings in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• Dates: September 16, 17, & 18, 2016 (Friday / Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 5 p.m.)
  
• Tickets: $18 for adults / $15 for students and seniors. Click here to purchase tickets.
  

BIG WORK examines our modern day relationship to our jobs, and the ripples this causes throughout our lives. Based on interviews with real people, the play follows accountants, artists, pharmacists, salesmen, people looking for work, and at-home parents as they share stories about their dreams, about feeling invisible, about starting over, and about searching for employment and themselves. What begins as a conversation about the work we do is woven into a larger story about identity, the definition of success, and ultimately what it means to both make a living and create a life.

When we set out to write this play, we hoped both to tell a compelling story and to spark a conversation about the way work shapes our lives and our relationships with each other. One of the most thrilling parts of our March readings was the talk backs with audiences where we got to hear how they related (or didn’t!) to different characters, their reflections on the role of work in their lives, and in one particularly fascinating discussion, their ideas for how to change the script of how we talk to new people we meet.
 
We also asked each of the 120 souls who attended to anonymously write down three words that described how they felt after witnessing the stories in BIG WORK. The word cloud below is what they shared. We hope you'll join us on the North Shore in September to continue the conversation.

By Kate

One truth I’ve known about myself since childhood is that I write in order to understand the world. When my soul threatens to break under the weight of a question, I set out like an explorer—with my pen as my boat and the blank white page as the open seas, with little knowledge of where I may go and praying to find new land.
 
When we started writing BIG WORK, I didn’t know what we would learn specifically. I just knew that I had recently turned 30 years-old, that I was already dangerously close to being a workaholic and I didn’t know why, and that the weight of trying to figure out where work was supposed to fit in my life threatened to break me. So I set out, although this time not alone. I would quickly learn that writing with a partner and having long conversations with interviewees were critical pieces of navigation equipment missing from other voyages.
 
Before Melissa and I interviewed others, we interviewed each other. We sat down with a tape recorder and asked each other the thirteen questions. Listening to the recording of my interview, it became clear that for me illness and work were inextricably linked. I was sick for the first 25 years of my life, and my biggest goal growing up was not to become dependent. I couldn’t wrestle with the question of the role work played in my life without also getting curious about how an unresolved legacy of illness was still shaping me.
 
Picking this apart took 18 months of interviewing and writing. There were many stepping stones along the way, but the moment that stands out happened while I was interviewing Safiya, an aerospace engineer born in Pakistan. She talked about having grown up in four different countries, and about being one of only a few women and a few Muslims in her field. The more her story twisted and turned, the more I saw the expectations and complications from her many identities swirling. Every detail of her story seemed to speak of constant change. And yet, it was, in many ways, one of the most lighthearted interviews I did—because she LOVES what she does. She said, “I get to send stuff to space!” no less than a dozen times during our conversation, grinning widely each time. The little girl she described to me who loved science had grown up to be a scientist. It was the thing that never changed when everything around her did.
 
I’ve always feared that I am who I am and that I do what I do because I was sick. That I’ve made all my choices based on my limitations, real and perceived. But talking to Safiya inspired me to ask myself what hasn’t changed for me since childhood, and I came up with two things: I’ve always been curious and I’ve always been a storyteller. As a young girl, I begged my teachers for extra homework, and was quick with a question for everyone I met.  And at four years-old, I would ask my mother to write down the stories I made up because I wasn’t old enough to write them myself.
 
I’ve seen my work and my life through a lens of illness for so long, that I never stopped to realize that I work in a day job—communications—where I’m paid to ask questions and tell stories. And suddenly all the seemingly disparate parts of my life—the communications manager, the nationalism scholar, the tanguera,  the traveler, the playwright, the friend—were linked and made whole by the oldest truth of my life, I am a curious storyteller. I am a grown up version of that four year old little girl. I don’t know what this means moving forward, but understanding this about myself has allowed me to like my work more and to need it less, to find more balance, and to have a deeper understanding of my life.
 
I believe in the power of story to heal. Writing BIG WORK showed me how connected my life is to strangers and friends alike, and how telling our stories can make us feel more connected to each other. It reminded me that the stories we make up about our lives can be treacherous, but that we can reframe them and write new endings. And it reminded me that wading into the murky, black, uncharted waters of our story can be frightening, but it can also be our salvation. In the process of writing BIG WORK, I found new land.
 
One day when we were nearly finished with edits and getting ready to cast our first workshop reading, I went out for a walk near my house. I wasn’t even thinking about the play when I heard an unexpected voice creep up from deep inside my heart and say, “This is the last thing I’ll ever write about being ill.” I stopped for a moment, caught off guard, and then I smiled. I think I knew it was coming.
 
For so long, everything I wrote was about being sick or from this perspective. Because when the reason you write is to understand the world, and when something has taken over your life and you can’t understand it, and you’re trying not to feel it but you can’t let go of it, it creeps into everything you try to write.
 
That voice I heard on my walk wasn’t a declaration or a promise of future behavior—I may write again someday about that part of my life. But what the voice was telling me was that I don’t need to answer that question for myself anymore, just like I don’t need to answer the question about work anymore. I am satisfied with how that part of my life fits into my narrative now. It is integrated. I carry it with me, but it rides in the back seat; it doesn’t steer. And because of that, I can be curious about other things and wrestle with new questions on the uncharted waters of a new blank page.

By Melissa 
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As an artist, I've had many day jobs thus far and if I'm honest with myself, I will probably have many more over the course of my creative life. I used to think that success meant getting to quit these jobs and work on my theatre making full time. I knew in my head that I was a "real artist" despite needing a day job to help me pay my rent, my loans, and buy groceries, but I didn't really know this in my heart. Writing and performing BIG WORK did so many things for me, but the biggest and by far the most healing gift it gave me has been a resolution of this longstanding tension.  

First and foremost, I believe that we must have our basic needs met before we can allow ourselves to make art. For me, when I have been worried about how to pay my rent, student loans, and buy food, it's impossible for me to dive deeply into the sea of creativity and come up to the surface with anything except anxiety and fear. I have gotten to know myself enough to realize that I need a fairly sturdy financial foundation before I feel free to let my artistic mind explore. While I used to think that keeping my day job and creative work separate was necessary, I now know that having a job that supports my art, not just financially, but emotionally, is important to me. Uniting all the different parts of myself and the different roles that I play does not in any way dilute the artist I am, but makes me stronger and richer in my ability to create something meaningful from my whole experience. 

Here are a few other unexpected discoveries I made in the process of making BIG WORK, as it relates to my own day jobs and my creative work in the world:

1.) I need the support of my artistic community AND the support of my day job community. And it's there, just waiting to be noticed. 
A number of the donors to our IndieGoGo campaign last year were people from my day jobs. In the weeks before, during, and after the performance, I received cards, emails, calls, and texts from so many of the amazing people I've met over the years at hospitals, lumber yards, classrooms, offices...each and every message of love and support of them meant so much to me. Was I terrified to let the people I've worked with, both past and present, see the play and thus me in a completely new light than they had in our workplace? Absolutely. But it has been incredibly moving to have shared something so personal with them and have been received with love and support. If this play was an emotional skydive, then my co-workers and managers were waiting for me on ground level with open arms. To dare to show up and be seen, unsure of how the people in your life will react, and in the end, be greeted with generous love and support is something that I wish everyone can experience at least once in their lifetimes. Now at my day job, I get asked how my creative projects are going, what I'm up to next. After she saw BIG WORK, a doctor I used to work for wrote me an email.  "I am so proud of you.  It was so well done and thought provoking. I had a great time! Please let me know of all performances. I look forward to more shows." For a long time, I got to watch this woman in her element at the hospital, doing what she does best: working with patients and changing their lives. To get to invite her to see me doing what I do best was, and have her accept the invitation with joy was incredibly moving. 

2.) Here's perhaps a not so surprising "secret": my day jobs have financed my creative endeavors-- without my day job, BIG WORK would simply not exist. 
The great Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh wrote about this symbiotic relationship in the natural world:

"When we look deeply into a flower, we see the elements that have come together to allow it to manifest. We can see clouds manifesting as rain. Without the rain, nothing can grow. If we take the clouds and the rain out of the flower, the flower will not be there. Without the sun nothing can grow, so it’s not possible to take the sun out of the flower. The flower cannot be as a separate entity; it has to inter-be with the light, with the clouds, with the rain."

The play that we created is my flower, and it contains countless "non-play" elements: the struggle to balance my job, finances, artistic work and personal life was my rain, self-doubt and fear were the clouds, and the joy I felt at making the difficult and scary choice to see this project through to completion was a blazing sun. I needed it all, and couldn't afford to waste any of it. You have no idea what you are going to use from your life to create something meaningful.

3.) I have been infinitely inspired artistically by my experiences in my day jobs. 
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a doctor and a pilot and a horse jockey and a lawyer--well, you get the point. I hated the thought of having to choose just one thing because I was so curious about all the different experiences someone could have on this planet. The beautiful thing about being an artist who needs a day job? I get to play countless different roles, both onstage and off, and all of them have been invaluable to my creative life. I've worked in a courthouse, a lumber yard, a diner, a hospital, a library, and have even hosted Wild West themed birthday parties for children...from these experiences have come a play about male breast cancer patients, an idea for a web series about historical reenactors, and inspiration for many characters I've played on stage and in film. I cannot wish these experiences away because they are inextricably linked to what I've created. They are part of me and I am grateful for all of them. It's now with wonder that I glimpse my future of working in the world, and not with heavy dread. Who knows what my future day jobs might inspire for me?

4.)  Writing, producing, and performing BIG WORK has helped to transform the way that I think about the role that a "job"plays in my life. 
I now have very different definitions for my “job” versus my “work" in this world. My “job” will likely change many times over the years, and is what helps me pay my rent, my grocery bills, and my student loans. My “work” in this world is as an artist and creative – it’s a constant throughout the different seasons of my life. At various times in my life, these two definitions have overlapped and crossed paths, but I’ve come to understand they are two completely different things for me. And that realization has made all the difference. 

Did you see BIG WORK? I'd love to hear what the play broke open for you in regards to your jobs and work in the world. Feel free to share in the comments below!

By Kate and Melissa

Love, gratitude, and unabashed joy—the overwhelming emotions coursing through us ever since the workshop readings of BIG WORK wrapped almost five weeks ago.

When we sat down to make the list of questions for the BIG WORK interviews, we asked ourselves what we wanted to get out of this experience. We said that “a win” was writing the play, taking the journey at all, and that if even one person saw it, it would be the icing on an already rich cake. So the fact that the show played to four sold out crowds and that there was a hearty waiting list, is more than we dreamed of when this all began.

THANK YOU. Thank you to everyone who came and who traveled far distances to be there, to everyone who sent us a note or an email, to everyone who called or texted with messages of support, to everyone who donated months ago to our crowdsourcing campaign, to the amazing actors who breathed life into these stories, and to everyone who cheered us on from the earliest declaration that we were going to write this play. We’ve marveled to one another over and over again that we’ve never felt so loved in our lives as when we dared give voice to this dream, and then watched as the people in our lives as well as strangers embraced that dream alongside us. We expected to be told we were crazy, or that this conversation about the work that we do and the lives we create in the process wasn’t worth having. But this experience has been proof that we are all looking for opportunities in our own lives to dare greatly, to be authentic, to be vulnerable, and to say, “Why not?”

If there was any larger purpose to this particular play, it was simply to start a conversation about how we see each other because of the jobs we have, and about the ways we all wish we were seen. Nothing was as rewarding as the talk backs with the audiences after each performance. Just as the characters in the play represent a variety of cultures, careers, and perspectives, our audiences were diverse as well: surgeons, artists, therapists, retail workers, and at-home parents.  People shared which characters they identified with, the questions that the play asked of them, and ideas for creating a new language that encourages curiosity about the people we meet, in more ways than just how a person earns a paycheck.  It’s a conversation we are committed to continuing.

The toughest question we were asked at the workshop readings was, “What are you doing next?” It was asked with enthusiasm and with genuine interest, but it is also a tough question for a two-person theatre company run by people with day jobs. The pressure (including and perhaps most acutely the self-inflicted pressure) to always have something tangible to show for your work can be overwhelming. But we’ve had to take a deep breath and accept that as much as we want to capitalize on the momentum of our workshop readings, we don’t have capacity to always have something on stage. And we got in this to tell the stories that we find compelling – that’s how we pick our projects, and they take as long as they take. In this way, we are daring to see ourselves as more than the work we produce as theatre artists and storytellers—a lesson from the many voices of BIG WORK itself.

But that doesn’t mean we aren’t always creating. Our goals for the next year are to bring BIG WORK to a full production, and to embark on our first “pop-up play” that responds to a real event in real time. We hope you will continue to share in these discussions and this journey with us. Our blog will stay active while we are in the creation process – sharing what is coming down the pike and also more insights from BIG WORK. We are excited to talk about the ways each of us has been personally and forever changed by writing this piece, and also how audiences reacted to the show. We did an anonymous survey of everyone who came, and we are particularly excited to share their answers to the question, “What three words describe how you feel after seeing BIG WORK?”

Waiting five weeks to say thank you to this beautiful community of Visitors for all of your support might make it seem like we aren’t bursting with love, gratitude, and unabashed joy, but we are, more than words can say. But these feelings were also accompanied by a hearty helping of exhaustion from being our own crew, box office, prop mistresses, promoters, and directors. And after months of going nonstop, these two introverts needed a chance to cook and eat well again, sleep again, dance again, and get lost in the pages of a book again. And honestly, it has been nearly impossible to articulate that love, gratitude, and unabashed joy. It sneaks up on us in the most unexpected of moments and knocks us completely over. We’re not sure we’ll ever be able to express what you’ve given to us; we can only hope the play has given some small piece of that back to you.

In the final installment of our “Meet the BIG WORK Cast” blog series, we introduce you to Emily Duggan, the amazing writer and performer who plays Jill, James, Safiya, and Tim in the show.

VISITORS: What drew you to BIG WORK?

EMILY: I had only recently been introduced to the concept of documentary theatre when I stumbled on the Perpetual Visitors' online casting call. In my personal writing and performance, I have long been interested in how the art of storytelling shapes the future of the past narratives it recounts, how the act of storytelling influences the way we will experience and have experienced those stories. The spontaneous decisions of the unrehearsed personal storyteller have also been something I come back to again and again in my writing -- how ideas occur to someone in the moment, and how they then choose to express or omit those ideas; where they pause, where they speed up; their various choices in diction, etc. In short, documentary theatre was something I should have found out about a long time ago. 

VISITORS: What's your philosophy about the role work should play in your life?

EMILY: I'm still trying to figure this out. If I could make someone's life a little lighter for a little while, and do that for a living -- that work would be the most meaningful for me.

VISITORS: What attracts you about working in theatre?

EMILY: I've been performing since I was a child, and I've always loved getting to tell someone else's story for a little while.

VISITORS: You're hosting a dinner party. Which 3 people do you invite, alive or dead? What do you serve for dinner?

EMILY: I agonized over this question for quite some time. At this point, I think I'd invite three of my four late grandparents (they'd have to decide amongst themselves who has to wait for leftovers), all of whom passed away before I graduated high school -- so I could meet them in an adult capacity, and learn their stories firsthand. My paternal grandmother would bake us a a pie. 

VISITORS: If you were going on the one way mission to Mars, what 3 things would you bring with you?

EMILY: 1) A sketchbook. 2) A notebook. 3) Glitter pens! (No erasers. On Mars, there are no mistakes.)

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ICYMI: Check out the previous cast Q&As with the play's writers Melissa Bergstrom and Kate Marple who play themselves; Teddy Crecelius who plays Marvin, Jack, and Tricia; Sumit Sharma who plays Dana, Sam, Omari, and Adewale; and Christa Brown who plays Rachelle, Kevin, and Megan.

In Part IV of our “Meet the BIG WORK Cast” blog series, we check-in with the play’s writers and directors Melissa Bergstrom and Kate Marple. Both writers play a version of themselves in the show as they re-create behind-the-scenes moments from their interviews with the characters. Melissa also plays Helen, Remy, and Paul.
 
Q: Why did you want to write BIG WORK?
 
MELISSA: As an actor and writer (with many day jobs mixed in), the answer to the classic, “What do you do?” question has always been complicated. I used to tell people “waitress” or “administrative assistant” or whatever I was doing to pay my bills at the time, but none of those things felt authentic. One day I said, “I’m an actor and I write too,” and I felt like a fraud. I always feared that the person would (and sometimes did) ask if I made money doing those things, or demand proof that I was telling the truth, and what was I going to say? It occurred to me that perhaps other people felt this way too, and the more I looked for people wanting to talk about this thing we call “work”, the bigger the conversation felt. It took a long time, but I’ve gradually gotten comfortable defining myself as an artist. A huge part of that journey for me was creating this play.
 
KATE: I was sick for most of my childhood and the first part of my 20s, and one of the main effects this had on me was that I became someone who was really focused on work – as a way of contributing to the world and as a way of distracting myself. When I got healthy, I really started to struggle with the questions that the play struggles with – about where work was supposed to fit in my life and what it was supposed to mean, about how much of it is who I am versus what I do, and about how people see me because of the work I do. And the more people I talked to in my own life about it, the more it felt like I wasn’t alone in wrestling these questions. I wanted to try and wrap my arms around what I was feeling, and the only way I know how to answer anything is by asking a lot of questions of a lot of people, and then trying to write my way to an answer.
 
Q: What's your philosophy about the role work should play in your life?
 
MELISSA: I have different definitions now for “job” versus “work,” or a “vocation.” My “jobs” may change over the years, and are what help me pay my rent, my grocery bill, and my student loans. And yes, they help finance my creative endeavors. My “work” in this world is as an artist and creative – it’s a constant throughout the different seasons of my life. At various times in my life, these two definitions have overlapped and crossed paths, but I’ve come to understand they are two completely different things for me. And that realization has made all the difference.
 
KATE: It’s changing. I’ve lived through moments where I wanted to work all the time, and where I thought my biggest contributions to the world would be left through my job. I still want my job to be an outlet for my curiosity and something that I bring value to. And I’ll never be someone who says work isn’t a big and important part of my life – I want it to be – but now I am figuring out what else I want, how it all fits together, and when it’s okay to stop, say no, and take a breath. And the older I get, the more I’m convinced that in work, like all things, it’s less important what I’m doing, than why I’m doing it and who I’m doing it with.
 
Q: What attracts you about working in theatre?
 
MELISSA: The theatre invites all of us to a space in which to experience, talk about, and process our “big feelings” – joy, heartbreak, love, fear, anger, and hope. Stories are much more powerful than most of us can imagine, and there is no limit to what kind of understanding and compassion can be fostered when we share our story with others, and in doing so, give them permission to do the same. I believe that this kind of vulnerability is the key to connecting with other human beings, and it allows us to work towards peace in the face of violence, fear, and mistrust. To take part in the theatre, as an actor, playwright, or audience member, is to agree to take all the less than perfect parts of our own experience, and forge something meaningful from them that everyone can benefit from.
 
KATE: There are so many things I love about the theatre, but what I love about writing for the theatre is that the audience has an impact on the story as it unfolds. Who shows up and how they react to the play influences what the story becomes on any given night. And as a writer, there is almost no other environment where you get to witness the relationship of the audience to the story in real time. It makes writing – which is often an incredibly solitary act – a community experience, and to me, that’s the best possible outcome. I’ve always written as a means of connection, and that feels enhanced in the theatre.
 
Q: You're hosting a dinner party. Which three people – alive or dead – do you invite? And what do you serve?
 
MELISSA: Louisa May Alcott, Charlie Chaplin, and Elizabeth Gilbert. I’d skip dinner and go straight to pies – pumpkin, strawberry rhubarb, and chocolate coconut cream.
 
KATE: I’d invite storytellers I love from whom I want to hear more stories – journalist and author Slavenka Drakulić, folk Cellist Ben Sollee, and author Maya Angelou. Although, writers (myself included) tend to be introverts, and it does give me pause. But as long as we skip the small talk, we should be fine. The season determines the dish. As it’s currently winter, I’ve got to go with a stew.
 
Q: If you were going on the one-way mission to Mars, what three things would you bring with you?
 
MELISSA: Can I count my husband and our cat as a 2-for-1 package, since he’d hold our certainly spooked cat the whole ride there? If so, the other two items would be an iPod full of my favorite music, and a never-ending pumpkin pie.
 
KATE: Enough meds to knock me out for the trip. I get sick on merry-go-rounds, and I’m afraid of heights…not sure I’m Mars material. Lots of paper and pencils. Writing on computers is a poor substitute to holding a real writing instrument, and I’d miss the smell of paper. Audio recordings of my favorite books read by my friends and family members – two birds, one stone.

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ICYMI: Check out the previous cast Q&As with Teddy Crecelius who plays Marvin, Jack, and Tricia; Sumit Sharma who plays Dana, Sam, Omari, and Adewale; and Christa Brown who plays Rachelle, Kevin, and Megan. And stay tuned -- we've got one more conversation with cast member Emily Duggan coming next week!

In the third part of our “Meet the BIG WORK Cast” blog series, we introduce you to triple threat -- writer, director, and performer -- Teddy Crecelius, who plays Marvin, Jack, and Tricia in the show.
 
VISITORS: What drew you to BIG WORK?
 
TEDDY: I stumbled across the online audition notice while looking for new contacts and potential collaborators in the Boston theatre community. Kate and Melissa looked like a team I would enjoy working with who share many of my theatrical interests.

VISITORS: What's your philosophy about the role work should play in your life?
 
TEDDY: This is an interesting time for me to answer this question, because I have always dreamed about devoting almost all my time to working on projects I love. But now I find myself wishing most for peace and balance, a job that I can leave behind when I am not at work. When I devote all my time to organizing my career, I feel like I am surviving, rather than living.
 
VISITORS: What attracts you about working in theatre?
 
TEDDY: Rather than recite my artistic manifesto here, I'll just say I keep doing theatre because I feel there is always more for me to do that I haven't done yet.

VISITORS: You're hosting a dinner party. Which three people – alive or dead – do you invite? And what do you cook?
 
TEDDY: At first I thought I would name people from history that I have a lot of curiosity about -- like Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, or Antoine De Saint-Exupery -- but I don't want to feel like I am somehow unlucky because I live now, rather than when I could have met these people. So I will stick to the living: Queen Elizabeth (because I'm just so curious what someone like her would be like in a small group), Thaksin Shinawattra (because I want to know the real story there), and Michael Moore (because he would bring a totally different perspective to the evening from the other two, and I wouldn't be the only person there who doesn't come from money). I would serve something with no possibility for embarrassing splatter.
 
VISITORS: If you were going on the one-way mission to Mars, what three things would you bring with you?
 
TEDDY: It may be corny to say so, but I literally could not step onto the ship without my wife (although I feel bad classifying her as one of three pieces of luggage). Apart from that, I would choose two real books -- the idea of living entirely through a screen sounds bleak.

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*We love what Teddy is bringing to the characters of BIG WORK, but there are so many other amazing things he's up to a writer, director and performer. Check out his website: http://www.teddycrecelius.com/index.html

**ICYMI: Check out the previous cast Q&As with Sumit Sharma who plays Dana, Sam, Omari, and Adewale, and with Christa Brown who plays Rachelle, Kevin, and Megan. And stay tuned -- we've got two more conversations with cast members to go.

In the second part of our “Meet the BIG WORK Cast” blog series, we introduce you to the über talented Sumit Sharma, who plays Dana, Sam, Omari, and Adewale in the show.
 
VISITORS: What drew you to BIG WORK?
 
SUMIT: The biggest thing that drew me to this project is definitely the questions that Melissa and Kate asked people. I often find myself asking many of these questions, especially the one, "Where do you draw your sense of self in life?” I heard about the audition literally a day before from someone at work, and came home and started reading about it. I felt an instant connection, and emailed them asking if they can meet me at such short notice, and they DID!!
 
VISITORS: What's your philosophy about the role work should play in your life?
 
SUMIT: I think work should and does play an important role in my life. It is something that I do for 8 - 9 hours a day so, it has a pretty significant impact on my life. I feel work in my life is like salt in my cooking. Too much or too little and the dish is ruined. It has to be just the perfect amount. 
 
VISITORS: What attracts you about working in theatre?
 
SUMIT: Oh gosh, where do I even begin? Acting to me is basically an expression of emotion. In TV and movies, this emotion is refined and processed to make it close to perfect. In theatre, it is raw; there are flaws and there is this connection with the audience that is just fascinating. It's a very powerful feeling that makes you forget everything else in your life when you are rehearsing, running lines with your fellow actors, and when you are finally on the stage performing. 
 
VISITORS: You're hosting a dinner party. Which three people – alive or dead – do you invite? And what do you cook?
 
SUMIT: I would invite, Ed Sheeran (he would probably leave early because of my never ending song requests), Bruce Lee (to solve the mystery surrounding his death), and Angelina Jolie. I would cook eggplant with some garlic naan.
 
VISITORS: If you were going on the one-way mission to Mars, what three things would you bring with you?
 
SUMIT: The 3 things I will bring with me are........A guitar (to play some tunes on my way), my pillow (I like a certain kind, and I am not sure if Mars got a similar one), and my home movies (to remind me of my days on Earth).

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*ICYMI: Check out last week's Q&A with Christa Brown who plays Rachelle, Kevin, and Megan in BIG WORK. And stay tuned -- we'll be posting a conversation with a different cast member each week.

We’re fortunate to have five amazing Boston actors bringing the characters of BIG WORK to life. In the first part of our “Meet the Cast” blog series, we introduce you to the fabulous Christa Brown, who plays Rachelle, Kevin, and Megan in the show.

VISITORS: What drew you to BIG WORK?
 
CHRISTA: I loved the idea that it tackled something that I was going through currently – finding that balance between pursuing my artistic endeavors while simultaneously wanting to be fulfilled in the "workplace." It's something I related to intrinsically, and I was immediately drawn to it and wanted to be a part of it. I feel like the opportunity presented itself at the perfect time in my life.  
 
VISITORS: What's your philosophy about the role work should play in your life?
 
CHRISTA: A part of me believes that work should add to your life and that you should be a little fulfilled, passionate about your work, and feel energized on a Monday morning. The other side of me believes that working in your passion is the only way to be whole. The OTHER part of me believes in balance, that through your work you can achieve a whole different level of personal growth that you can’t find in your passion and vice versa. I also believe that people can be genuinely fulfilled in their “jobs.” As of now, I am reveling in the balance I have found between my career and acting. I feel like I can pick and choose the roles I want to go for, and am also going through a really cool growth experience at work.
 
VISITORS: What attracts you about working in theatre?
 
CHRISTA: The sense of community about bringing universal issues and ideas to life. There are so many universal things that human beings experience but for whatever reason, we don’t talk about them. Theatre makes it okay. Theatre brings people together from all backgrounds and experiences and for a moment the world stops. It’s just you and the play, living through the words, bringing forward the truth; it is therapy for me. Theatre has helped me cope. It’s given me sisters, and has helped me grow in ways that I can’t explain. I found my voice, my niche.
 
VISITORS: You're hosting a dinner party. Which three people – alive or dead – do you invite?
 
CHRISTA: Viola Davis, Jill Scott, and Elizabeth Gilbert. #swoon
 
VISITORS: If you were going on the one-way mission to Mars, what three things would you bring with you?
 
CHRISTA: Someway of being able to watch TV or Netflix. A crap ton of blankets. And a cellphone with super big WiFi range so I can talk to my Earth buddies. #Mars #Outtathisworld

By Kate

We've fielded a lot of questions from loved ones and strangers over the past year about what exactly has gone into the making of our new play, BIG WORK. So here it is...by the numbers.