Do You Know Alex Hewett?
Dan Collins |
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Yourdictionary.com defines "pixie" as "a fairy, elf, or other tiny supernatural being, especially one that is puckish." I didn't notice a picture, but if Yourdictionary decides to post one, they could do a lot worse than a jpeg of Alex Hewett.
She describes herself on Facebook as "blonde, left-handed, first generation Polish/Belorussian, only child, Catholic schooled, mother, actor, teacher, muse, writer, psychotherapist, healer through art, yogi, runner, vegetarian, shoe addict."
At 5' 1", this stylish, sprite in high heel boots, seated at the counter at Sofi's Crepes on Charles Street, daintily dines on the Florentine --mushrooms, melted cheese, Parmesan sauce and spinach -- which she somehow neatly consumes without a napkin while chatting about a trip to Paris and New Orleans. What strikes you immediately about Alex, beyond her physical beauty -- you'll find "model" on her resume -- is her childlike�glee�as she describes a happy experience or an upcoming project, her blue eyes sparkling�like a pixie's.
But don't be fooled. Beneath the Mary-Tyler-Moore-tossing-her-cap-in-the-air fa�ade, there's a bit of the old fashioned "dame," a dash of Bea Arthur, in the minx as well (pun intended). Pixies are supposed to be mischievous, afterall.
Alex reveals some of what makes her a character in search of an author�or a playwright�as she sat down with me to discuss her career as an actor, writer, psychotherapist and mom, making her way in Mobtown�
Let's begin at your beginnings�
I was born in a little town called South River, New Jersey, a half-hour from Manhattan and a half hour from the shore. I had friends who performed on Broadway, one who played an orphan in "Annie." I sang, took ballet, jazz, dance lessons, performed in grammar school plays. Theater and music were never considered something that could be a profession in my house. It was something to do for fun. I was told I'd be a hit at parties because I knew how to play piano.
For my undergraduate education I went to a liberal arts school called Georgian Court College in Lakewood, NJ.. I had a double major in psychology and business. You need to make the deals on the golf course, according to my Dad.
Today I take classes at Everyman Theater, voice lessons, dance, do Bikram yoga, even took trapeze lessons before they moved to Washington, D.C.
When did you get into acting?
I didn't really follow my dream [to act] til later in life. My father would take me to Broadway plays, to Rockefeller Center, and I'd see all sorts of performances, musicals�and I'd sit there, facing the stage, craving to be on the other side. It was not til I was 29 and living in New York that I began taking Meisner classes, which is an incredibly intense acting method, causing many people who try it to run screaming and crying from the room, but me, I was where I belonged! Being on stage, on camera, is where I most feel normal. I'm a bit of the emotional freak in life, but on stage, I'm at home.
Our little theater class in New York turned into a writing group which developed into the Main Street Arts Theater Company and I performed in plays that we wrote and was in absolute heaven.
I moved outside of Philadelphia and continued to pursue theater. I was only there about a year then moved back to Baltimore in 2004 where I discovered the Baltimore Theater Alliance (BTA) as a resource for actors, and the Baltimore Playwrights Festival (BPF). In addition to theater, I've performed in indie films, worked on HBO's "The Wire" and NBC's "West Wing"�done some print work and modeling, commercials, and voiceover work, but my true love is the work I do on stage.
Baltimore is a small city with a lot of opportunities. As an artist, I feel it's more livable than New York, more affordable and you can find your niche as an artist.
So what is your niche?
My niche is where my roots began�in the creation of original works. I've performed in many BPF productions, at the Baltimore Book Fair in Mt. Vernon where I'm a reader of original works; the Baltimore Playwrights Group has an event at the Kennedy Center, the "Page to Stage" festival, and I have performed in that, which is very thrilling to have on your resume.
I'm also a writer, been writing all my life and have never felt confident in my writing. I'd been attending the Baltimore Playwrights Group for years, always with a piece of paper in my purse with a monologue, a scene, the beginning of a short play, and always afraid to share with the group. Instead, I'd be the designated actor to read�with pleasure�works by other playwrights.
You've since overcome your shyness. What have you written recently?
Last year, January 2009 I wrote an essay inspired by a personal life event�I created an artistic celebration to mark the day of my divorce. This essay was published in a local magazine and I was encouraged to transform the essay into a play.
Who encouraged you?
Many members of the Baltimore Playwrights Group, and Jamie Kilburn (artistic director) of The Strand Theater, a company of which I was a member at the time, encouraged me to bring the story to life.
How did it work out?
It was pretty tremendous experience. I worked with Bruce Nelson, company member at the Everyman Theatre. He's helped me as an acting coach with monologue work. Prescott Gaylord became my director for the performance which ended up as a slightly scripted, mostly improv'd performance piece called "Graveyard Bride."
Prior to writing "Graveyard," I was tremendously inspired by a man named Bill T. Jones, a renowned artistic director and choreographer. He spoke at a conference about a piece he would perform as a young actor which he called 'setting himself on fire.' It was an improv'd, angry rant, an emotional vomit of a piece which put him in a very vulnerable and freeing place. He recommended every actor should 'set themselves on fire.' That stuck in my head and moved me to take my essay beyond the surface and into areas more controversial, deeper, and more uncomfortable.
I believe that as an artist, pain is a gift, and I've had the fortune to experience pain in my life and I wanted to use art as a way to express and share these events. I worked with another actor, Chase Gaylord, Prescott's brother, who served as my partner and bravely jumped in to this very raw and vulnerable ring of fire via improvisation. If I had been Chase, I would have been scared; he was fabulous
"Graveyard Bride" [which had three performances at The Strand, June 26-28, 2009] was a tremendous experience which changed me as an actor and as a person. I have also been working with Prescott with a new troupe called Secrets which cultivates the improv-based format we used for "Graveyard." The Secrets troupe debuted at the Baltimore Improv Festival at Mobtown Theater in 2009, and we have plans for more performances in 2010.
Why "Graveyard Bride"?
The ceremony I created to celebrate my divorce was to wear my wedding dress and have a photo shoot in a cemetery; it was all pretty random. The headstones we selected had two names; one said Robert Patterson, the other, Margaret. In my early 20s I had been in love and engaged to a man named Robert and he was unfortunately murdered by a man whose last name was Patterson. Being in that cemetery brought back flooding memories of everything that had transpired. Sitting there I also had idealized what I thought love is or should be or could be and imagined this couple, Robert and Margaret, as all what I wanted in my life and didn't experience in my marriage. My parents' marriage I felt was ideal in the love that they share; however, the tragedy of my parents' marriage as my mother is severely mentally ill and can never emotionally connect with anyone.
When I was five years old, my mother attempted suicide. I feel that my adult choice of psychotherapist as my profession was my attempt to help others in a way I could never help my mother.
So this "Graveyard Bride" performance piece exhumed these facts of my life that I chose not to deal with on a daily basis, as why would you want to?
But why a photo shoot in a cemetery?
One dear friend, Ken Stanek, who is probably one of the most gifted artists I know, had the idea of a photo shoot in a graveyard after I had suggested I go diving in a dumpster in my wedding dress, or splattering myself with stage blood to mark the anniversary of my divorce. So we did the shoot on Jan. 3, 2009, the date my divorce was final.
What other productions have you been in and do you have favorites?
Most recently I worked on a Baltimore Playwright production called "Sex and Desperation," an evening of four plays all having to do with the aforementioned title. I was fortunate enough to have three different roles, all of which were quite fantastic. In one piece, "Monitors on the Quad" by talented local playwright Julie Lewis, my character got to smoke cigarettes and seduce everything and anything that crossed her path. My favorite role of past summer was in the same production, called "Salt Water," where I played a mermaid. The costuming alone was fantastic. My friend, Helen Mary Ball who costumed the production at the Spotlighters Theater, created a whimsical presentation of a mermaid.
There was a play I performed in prior to that at the Strand�a theater I've been connected with since its inception at Station North, a company that focuses no promoting works by women and providing better roles for the female artist. Again, by Julie Lewis, called "Smolder." I played Sylvia who was a depressed, damaged, scarred shell of a woman. The role put me in a bit of a depression, but was worth it.
What do you look for in a role?
Something that's a far from who I am as possible and in a place that's scary for me to go�a character that's a challenge, that's complex, as all humans are�a character that's fun..
And who are you?
I'm a mother of two wonderful boys and an artist. I feel I follow the rules of life. I'm a person who wants to wake up every day and touch someone else's life.
I think I'm typically cast as the cheerleader type, but I don't know what my type is�the "good girl," but I can be nasty on stage. You can be crazy and despicable on stage and get away with it.
I'm fascinated with stories; not just the character but the world that is created around the character. My work as a therapist can mirror my work as an actor; as an actor, you need to drop your inhibitions and be vulnerable, in the moment, connected with the audience. As a therapist, I encourage my patients to be open and truthful and vulnerable to and to find a way to connect with another human being as a way of discovering who they are.
I understand that you're part of the Lagniappe Project in Baltimore. What is that?
Lagniappe is a Cajun word which means a little something extra you give unexpectedly. It's a nonprofit organization that places artists, writers, musicians, visual artists and actors to work in a hospital setting. The artists work at such places as Sheppard Pratt psychiatric hospital and the Hopewell Cancer Center.
What do you do with patients?
Children naturally seek art as a way to cope with pain. What struck me was a story about the walls of the concentration camp gas chambers, how they were covered with drawings of butterflies drawn by children just before they were about to be put to death. Art can heal, art can give you hope, art is a way of expressing yourself. Those with mental illness have a disease that is a disconnect from the emotional world.
Imagine being trapped inside yourself, in your own mind--art is a way of releasing yourself and expressing who you are. At Sheppard Pratt I work in the geriatric inpatient unit and the child and adolescent day program. The sessions I conduct always incorporate a form of relaxation exercise involving breathing and visualizations, a lot of improv techniques to help patients get out of their own head and to feel comfortable with just being in the moment. I help them develop characters whom they can speak through which might be less traumatic than using one's own voice. We collaborate on writing and creating, and hopefully I leave them with a sense of hope, and a different way of expressing themselves.
Do you teach anywhere else?
I also teach at the Fells Point Corner Theater (FPCT) where I work with a group of children from the Wolfe Street Academy (a public charter school, pre-K through the 5th grade in Baltimore). The children are not your usual "theater students." These are first graders, six years old, who are terribly shy and lack confidence and some have behavioral problems. In teaching them theater, you are instilling this idea that it's okay to have your own voice.
I feel these children have been told by most adults in their lives to be quiet. Theater gives you every right to express what you feel and that's celebrated�we'll actually clap for you.
The skills these children learn in theater class will, hopefully, help them learn the art of collaboration, respect, of working towards a goal�finding the creativity that naturally lives in most children. We have done Shakespeare, read the poetry of Shel Silverstein (the late American poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, children's book author), and I hope this semester to start working on original works as the children write something of their own.
My angel is Bev Sokol, FPCT president emeritus, who has given me the opportunity to work as a teacher there. And I think she felt my skills as a therapist as well as an actor make a good combination to work with this population of children.
I'm told that you are working on a production based on the Spoon River anthologies. Tells us about it.
"The Spoon River Anthologies" by Edgar Lee Masters was published in 1915, a collection of poetry and stories from the grave about people that lived in this small, possibly fictitious Midwestern town, where everyone was interrelated, like our own "Smalltimore." Everyone either cheated or killed someone; these are delicious stories and as an acting student, I was given a character to work on years ago from Spoon River named Dora Williams and fell in love with her. A very gifted director friend of mine, Lynn Morton, and I were discussing Spoon River and found we had a mutual love for this classic piece and vowed to bring it to the stage. We'll be presenting it this October during Halloween weekend.
What's next for you?
There's a new theater company called Magis that was founded by Fr. John Conley, a Jesuit priest at Loyola University in Baltimore and a playwright. I met him through the Baltimore Playwrights Group and over the past few years I have attended some of his readings and had the pleasure of being an actor in his readings. Magis is based at Loyola and is sponsored by the campus ministry and they present dramatic productions that highlight theological, spiritual and moral issues.
We are going to have a production this Valentine's weekend, a stage reading of the Song of Songs. Also known as the Canticle of Canticles, a one act drama that John has constructed from the Biblical anthology of love poems, the Song of Songs.
I'm thrilled to be working on this for multiple reasons�one, I'm an alum of Loyola, I attended graduate school there to earn my masters in psychology. And I'm Catholic and like the idea of working on pieces that raise religious and philosophical issues. These will be works that make you think and go to a place within your soul. (Performances of Song of Songs will take place in the Fava Chapel on the first floor of Hammerman Hall at Loyola University's main campus at 4501 North Charles Street, Fri-Sun., April 9-11, the event is open to the public, goodwill offering encouraged, contact Fr. John Conley for more information at [email protected]).
1. Alex Hewitt during the filming of Confederate Flaglers for the 48 Hours film festival - Photo by Phil Lauber
2. Alex Hewitt reads her essay The Cave of Rocks at Atomic Bookstore for the 8 stone press' issue party - Photo by Davida Breier
3. Actress and writer Alex Hewitt - Photo by Ken Stanek
4. Alex Hewitt acts with Todd Krickler in Smolder by July Lewis at the Strand Theater � Photo by Ken Stanek
5. Actress and writer Alex Hewitt - Photo by Pat Bourque
6. Alex Hewitt acts along side Lexi Martinez in the play Salt Water by Gina Young at Spotlighters Theater - Photo by Ken Stanek