SCAD play takes on 44 presidents with just 14 actors
When Candace Kitchens got into acting, she never thought she’d end up playing James Madison.
Or William Howard Taft.
Or Andrew Jackson, her favorite U.S. president.
“He was like the original cowboy,” explains Kitchens, a senior performing arts major at the Savannah College of Art and Design. “He was barely educated and then just decided one day, I guess I’ll study law. He became a Tennessee lawyer and people loved him.
“He’s fun to play — he just grunts a lot. As a girl, it’s an opportunity I’ll never get again.”
Kitchens is one of 14 actors who’ll take on the men of the Oval Office starting Nov. 1 in SCAD’s production of “44 Plays for 44 Presidents,” a two-hour show of short, biographical scenes highlighting the lives of all the American presidents, told through 2-minute plays dedicated to each.
“It’s kind of in a style of sketch comedy,” says director David Storck, “44 skit-length pieces. Most of them are comedic — there are a handful that are dramatic or tragic, but overall we’re taking a fun approach to this.
“Our aesthetic is sort of a vaudeville — it’s just boom, boom, boom one piece to the next. It’s a fun way to inject some lessons about history.”
The Savannah production is one of 44 running concurrently at theaters, colleges and high schools across the country and culminating on Election Day.
“We need to throw history at the madness of the presidential election cycle because nothing stifles temporary insanity like history,” playwright Andy Bayiates says of the project. ”It reminds us of our power as voters and our ability to weather strife as a people.”
Boys club
For the actors, it’s also a chance to poke some fun at leaders from George Washington to President Barack Obama, transforming themselves through the process.
A presidential-looking coat is the key prop that identifies the acting Commander in Chief in each scene. Because it’s cut to fit the tallest cast member, it presents an interesting physical challenge for smaller actors like Kitchens.
“I’m 5’2 and petite,” she says. “The coat had to be one-size fits all — it basically was fit to the biggest person in our cast, who was a big guy. So every time it gets to me it’s huge.”
When it came time for Storck to pick his Taft, Kitchens was the only logical choice.
“They thought they were going to stuff me with a fat suit, but David thought it would be funnier if they put me in all these oversized clothes,” she explains.
“Men are playing women, women are playing men,” Storck says. “Eisenhower is played by a woman — Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson. Jimmy Carter’s played by a woman.
“It was kind of odd to approach a play where you’ve got all these different roles, and yet the main role in each of these 44 plays is about a middle-aged white guy.”
That fact alone says something crucial about the history of the American presidency that will become apparent to audience members as the play progresses. How much higher will the number climb before things change — 55 presidents, 66?
“I don’t know,” Kitchens says frankly. “There are some people in our cast who argue that we’ll have a homosexual president before we have a woman president.
“Hopefully soon,” she adds. “I was supposed to play Hillary (Clinton), but David cut it because he thought I was just too … I took too much of a stance on it. ... Actually, I would like to play Michelle. I think I do a great Michelle Obama impression.”
No one spared
As divisive as the national political discourse has become, it’s easy to imagine Storck and his cast steering clear of the recent presidents — Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton — but no one is spared in “44 Plays.”
Though “every so often there’s a slightly partisan piece,” Storck explains, “the production as a whole tries to be nonpartisan. It’s about encouraging people to make a difference and just vote.”
In the show, “Obama is surrounded by a number of conservatives on the playground,” Storck says. “They’re doing double-dutch jump rope, and the actor playing him is doing a lot of acrobatics and finally he stops and says, ‘You know, you guys can jump in here and join me if you want.’
“Bush Jr. is two narrators going back and forth talking about one being pro-Bush, one anti-Bush — both interpretations of him,” Storck says. “At the end, there’s a little speech by the actor playing George W. — it really becomes up in the air.”
The purpose of the play, Storck and Kitchens say, is not to choose sides but to encourage the audience to become part of the process on Nov. 6.
“What I hope that folks get out of it is basically just acknowledging that we do have such a say in it now,” Kitchens says. “I think the point of the show is to get people to see that, as sad as it is to say, there were some pretty not capable people who were running our country for a while. You see the real progression of America once the people get a say.
“The people who wrote the show, they actually wrote two different endings and sent them to us — an ending for Obama and an ending for (Mitt) Romney,” Kitchens explains. “We thought about having the audience decide the ending: ‘Which do you want to see?’”
But that’s not what happens in the SCAD production, which you’ll have to attend to find out.
“We don’t care who you vote for,” Kitchens says. “I’m just happy we get to choose.”
IF YOU GO
What: “44 Plays for 44 Presidents”
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 1-3; 3 p.m. Nov. 4
Where: Mondanaro Theatre, 217 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Cost: $10 general admission; $5 with senior, student or military ID
Info: 912-525-5050, tickets.savannahboxoffice.com