The Wheat Berry
As we near the end of introducing our fruity ensemble, we are met with the crunchiest “fruit” of Forbidden Fruit: The Wheat Berry.
Returning playwright Sara Jean Accuardi and actor Kailey Rhodes paint us a picture of the hardy inhabitant of the lone grain of the group’s bleak roomscape…
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In 8 words, how would you describe the world of this room?
SJA: Longing for more than dust and mouse shit.
KR: Dry, desperate, askew. Are there mice or not?
Did you pick your fruit? What drew you to it?
SJA: Right before the pandemic, Samantha and I were brainstorming a project in which The Farmer’s Wife, of “Three Blind Mice” fame, was a character. That project didn’t happen (thanks a lot, COVID) but when this opportunity came up, and the wheat berry was one of the options, we knew this would be the perfect opportunity to resurrect the idea of The Farmer’s Wife.
I also love that the wheat berry is a little out of place among the other fruits featured in this play. It’s not sweet, ripe, or juicy. It’s hard. It needs to be processed. It takes water, time, skill, and patience for the wheat berry to become something more. But where would we be without it? So much of civilization is built on those little seeds.
Where did you begin with building a story? Has your concept transformed over time?
SJA: I thought The Farmer's Wife would be this wild tail-chopping broad, but as I dove into writing this piece I kept getting caught up in the fact that she doesn’t have a name. She is defined by her relationship to the person she married, and that person, in turn, is defined by his job. She is so far removed from herself. Who was she before she became The Farmer’s Wife? I realized that was the story I wanted to tell.
I always pictured the piece taking place during the Dust Bowl when the soil was so dry wheat could not grow. What is a kernel of wheat without water? What is a person without their identity?
Are there texts, tales, or real-world events that have inspired your work on this piece?
SJA: Samantha shared a quote with me from Kate Lebo’s The Book of Difficult Fruit that, to me, relates to the world of this piece: “Wheatberry dust is more explosive than gunpowder.”
As we begin physically devising and rehearsing, what are you curious about exploring?
SJA: Watching Kailey bring this character to life has been such an amazing experience! She is a fearless performer.
KR: The femininity of the Wheat Berry room is a very different embodiment than the lush, sensual expressions that may be found in other rooms. In fact, it's as if every emotion that this woman could feel has been dehydrated, becoming something more brittle, almost turning to dust. What does that mean for connecting with her, as an actor? I am curious about how her room mirrors the room that is her brain--thirsty, imaginary, ending.
Without revealing too much, what design elements are you excited for in this room?
SJA: One can never have too much dirt.
KR: The walls.
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Forbidden Fruit runs March 4th - April 1st. Book your tickets here.
~Kai