August: Osage County-- Meet cast member Fred Lash!

What do you find appealing about your character and this show? The role of Beverly Weston in this show gives me the opportunity to ‘set-up’ the dialogue by family members that ensues after my death. I get to hear about my character after I am dead and buried, a very enlightening experience in acting.

What have you learned about yourself in playing the role of Beverly Weston? As Beverly in the prologue, I am afforded an opportunity to describe all three portions of my life; past, present, and a bit of the future. I have learned to change mannerisms, vocal range, and body language numerous times within the first few pages of the script, something I have never been asked to do on stage.

What do you want the audience to experience/take away from this show? I would like the audience to more clearly understand what a truly dysfunctional family goes through when individual members of it come together. The emotions and arguments portrayed in August: Osage County are not rare, they occur in families every day and must be dealt with. When feelings are penned up and stored deep within someone, it takes a lot to bring them out and the results are not always pleasant.

How does the show differ from other shows you have worked on? I believe it is the most thought-provoking and intense play in which I have ever played a role. It carries the audience to laughter; then makes it cry due to the profound sadness that hangs over the entire show. Also, I have never had a role in which I have spoken and performed at the very beginning, then disappeared until the curtain call!

How long have you been acting and what made you get involved in theatre? How did you get involved with LTA? I have played roles in theatrical production since I was in high school, almost flunking my regular classes at Purdue because I was spending so much time at the theatre! The love of acting has always been in my blood and, despite 20 years in the Marine Corps, I managed to get involved from time to time with local productions wherever my wife and I were stationed. Shortly after retiring from the military, and at the time of my mother’s death in 1989, I saw a notice in the newspaper for auditions for The Fantasticks at LTA. Since I had already played Huckelbee once before, I jumped at the chance and ended up being cast as the same character in the Frank Schutz version of this classic in 1990. I have been a loyal LTAer ever since.

What advice would you give others who are interested in working in theatre? My advice is this: Attend as many auditions as is possible and don’t be dismayed when you don’t get cast. Watch the age categories very carefully and go after those roles that fit. Be prepared to be offered a role that you might not have been aiming for, and play then with just as much intensity as if it was the lead.