New City Stage chronicling ‘Frost/Nixon’
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While a freshman at The University of the Arts, Marissa Bescript confessed “I just don’t like myself” to instructor Aaron Cromie, with the Barrymore Award winner and Newbold dweller replying “What are you doing about it?”
Four years after that intense inquiry, the actress is continuing to court comfort within her skin and remains a recipient of advice from the decorated director, who is helming her role as Caroline Cushing in New City Stage Co.’s “Frost/Nixon” production.
“I’m around so many people who are settled in themselves,” the 22-year-old resident of the 500 block of South Street said of playing the socialite, who spent five years as the love interest of notable journalist and television host David Frost. “I’m absorbing energy from the old dogs, so to speak, and the more I take in, it’s a triumph.”
Fond of fiery characters with daunting-to-decipher personalities, Bescript finds herself playing someone “normal” for the first time. Exploring Frost’s 1977 interviews with 37th President Richard M. Nixon, the Tony Award-winning play is affording her occasions to build her knowledge of the past while also inspiring her hopes for a fruitful future.
“I’m having fun with the script,” the Queen Village denizen said of performing at The Adrienne Theatre through Jan. 5, adding that she compiles notes to explore personal contributions requiring improvements. “I feel pretty good about how I’ve handled everything and being open to easing into the role.”
Having gradually gained gumption over the work’s thus-far-two-week run, Bescript believes the opportunity to embody Cushing, who acquired additional clout as a Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor, is furthering her infatuation with becoming a colleague of, and a consummate hire for, overseers with as much insight as Cromie and peers with as much gusto as New City Stage’s producing artistic director Russ Widdall, who portrays Frost, who died Aug. 31 at the age of 74. Admiring Cushing’s ability to champion ambition coupled with attention to managing its consequences, she executes her duties minus any bag of tricks, relying on receptivity to analyzing her craft instead.
“I’m always up for answering my ‘What haven’t I done’ question as a way to keep challenging myself,” Bescript said of comprehending her complexity, which, like that of the play’s co-core characters, includes an attraction to acquiring and advocating for acceptance.
Playing a paramour, Bescript carefully avoids the possibility of seeming subservient and looks to give a nod to the notion that a great woman always stands not far from a great man.
“I’m still learning,” she said. “However, I’ll never lose sight of my need to find that process inspiring. I’m looking to evolve and that won’t happen tomorrow, but I’m thrilled to work on my confidence and goals through ‘Frost/Nixon.’”
Stressing strength comes naturally for Bescript, who as a Roxborough youth mastered the means to express herself through her mother, grandmother and five aunts. A consistent comic for her kin, she gravitated toward the performing arts as a middle schooler, with the source of her pull in their direction as robust today.
“I’m bored with myself, I suppose,” she said. “I just like to be others, portray other people, because of the exploration involved. Parts of me come out, definitely, but I’m trying to channel them more so than I’m looking to reveal myself.”
Unable and unwilling to refuse her muse, Bescript immersed herself in becoming a thespian, with Montgomery County-situated venues lifting her resolve and gifting her a career path. Having preached the perils of female bullying as a high school mentor to Club Ophelia participants, she fell victim to self-inflicted figurative taunts as a University of the Arts freshman. Discovering enormously talented contemporaries, she confessed to losing a sense of herself during her tumultuous first year yet regrouped to strip herself of an allegiance to labels.
“I learned I’m not defined by something like my height,” the 5-foot-10 figure said. “There’s so much more to an identity than the external.”
With a revised appreciation for her depth and diligent tutelage from Cromie and other professors, she began to realize the world of opportunities open to her and has brought that enthusiasm for newness and growth to the Center City institution, from which she graduated in May; the New York City-based Catalyst Project at Dixon Place; and the Washington, D.C.-headquarted Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. With five movie credits, too, including three for Pennsylvania People Productions, Bescript has scripted a plan to avoid expendability, which she sees as a common career killer for Philadelphia theater personnel.
“It always helps to seek out chances and familiarize yourself with the top people,” the budding professional, who as a collegiate garnered connections by co-founding and serving as an ensemble member for the Brind School Producer’s Grant-winning company Hazardous Material, said. “I want to take chances because they will be instructional and rewarding. That much I know.”
With her handling of Cushing and Monday’s table reading of the Katharine Hepburn-executed role in “The Philadelphia Story” at Plays & Players Theatre, Bescript is honoring the commitment to positivity that she made over her final three undergraduate years. Welcoming an ever-evolving sense of stability, she aspires to tackle any task, be it playing women like Hedda Gabler from Henrik Ibsen’s play of the same name, Blanche DuBois from Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” or any who can enhance her qualities of being elegant, goofy and lionhearted.
“‘Tenacious’ is a bit overused, but I have to be it,” Bescript said. “I’m a work in progress.”
For tickets, visit newcitystage.org.
Contact Managing Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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