[whimsical symphony music]
- In the hills of Spring Green, fans file into
the outdoor performance space at American Players Theatre.
It's an ideal night
to see Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband."
- Nowadays people marry as often as they can, don't they?
[audience laughs]
It is most fashionable.
Dear duchess, and how is the duke?
- For actors, it's fun being the star of the show.
- Being able to find yourself in someone so different from you
is just a feeling that's unmatched.
And I think that's what acting is about.
- Not every actor can play a starring role.
- It is the lark that sings so out of tune.
- Jade Payton is an acting apprentice.
At APT, that's a full-time job.
- Yon light is not daylight. I know it, I.
- A normal day as an apprentice is classes from 9:15 to 11:15.
We get a small break.
- Who dare? Speak man.
- Your lady, sir.
- And then a rehearsal block from noon to five,
a dinner break, then you have a show.
- Hundreds of actors apply to APT's
apprentice program each summer.
Only five or six are selected.
- I actually was working last summer
at Utah Shakespeare Festival.
Brenda DeVita, the artistic director,
came and auditioned a bunch of the members of the company.
- She came in and she acted for me and I was blown away.
- If thou are fickle fortune, what has thou with him
that is renowned for faith?
- Jade was one of the chosen few.
She spent years earning a master's degree,
honing her craft for this moment:
to be part of a professional theatre troupe.
The reward?
Essentially being an extra.
Apprentices start in small roles
with little or no speaking parts.
[whimsical symphony music]
- It's really hard.
Especially an actor that's spent four or
three or two years
in a graduate program or undergraduate program,
where all they've been doing is dying to get out and act and
then you say wait, stand here and hold this stick.
- It takes a real emotional toll to be actively involved in
these stories and not be able to speak your mind.
- It provides aspiring actors like Jade
the opportunity to watch and learn.
- I think the focus that this acting company has and this
artistic group has is unmatched.
It's like the Olympics of theatre.
- They come and watch these older actors and they really,
really understand that what they're doing is special.
We ask them to figure out if that's what they want to do.
- Jade learned that reading her her lines was less important
than reading between them.
- Listening, I think is ten times more important
than speaking, on stage.
Really actively listening to the story that's being told.
And finding your way in it without
trying to force your way into it.
Trying to find a way to stay engaged because at any moment,
if someone looks at you, you should look like you're part of
this play even though you're not talking.
- Oh, I love modern society.
- So when that big break finally comes ...
- It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and
brilliant lunatics.
[audience laughs]
Just what society should be.
- ... the apprentice is ready to step into the spotlight.
- She stepped into that first reading of "An Ideal Husband"
where she's playing a really large part for an apprentice.
We don't usually have parts that great for apprentices.
She was just perfect for it.
Her energy and her spark was really right for the role.
- Well, Tommy has proposed to me again.
Tommy really does nothing but propose to me.
- Jade's talent and hard work was rewarded
with a large speaking role.
And for any actor, that's something to talk about.
- Actresses like Jade that are as talented as she is
and as curious as she is, you really want to keep them
interested in live theatre because we need them.
- I don't know what I would be if I wasn't in the theatre.
I really don't.
And I hope I don't have to answer the question, honestly.
I hope I really get to do this forever in any sort of capacity.
- Thank you so much Lady Markby for England and myself.