“Polaroid Stories” Student Profile: Christina Fontana

Meet Christina Fontana, playing the role of Eurydice in Polaroid Stories.

A senior Theatre major, Christina can do it all. This year at CSU, she was the scenic painter for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Stage Manager for “Oh, What A Lovely War,” an electrician for “The Alchemist,” and Puck’s ‘stunt double’ in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” She’s also had the opportunity to work as an electrician at Bas Bleu and the Lincoln Center. While she’s currently planning on pursuing a career in stage management, she’s thankful to CSU’s School of the Arts for teaching cross-discipline to students and for providing opportunities for students both on and off campus.

What have you done to prepare yourself for this role? How have you adapted to the double casting of this character? What difficulties have you faced as a result of the double casting? We’ve been given lots of material to start with — documentaries, websites, photos, music, etc. For my character, I researched different drugs to which she might be addicted, particularly those that cause amnesia, because Eurydice “drinks from the river of forgetfulness.” The director, the other actress and I concluded that Eurydice has begun a journey into the world of prostitution, so I’ve looked into more stories and documentaries about prostitutes. Our director and the male cast members (who aren’t double cast) have made the double-casting process very flexible; we’ve each been able to make our own character choices and developments. I imagine that it’s more difficult for our scene partners to adjust, because they do all of the same scenes with two different girls.

What have you enjoyed most about being in this production? I’ve enjoyed the character research that Polaroid Stories has demanded; not only is the cast researching these characters, but so is the crew. Our lighting design and projections designers, Meghan Gray and Ben Wasser, gave the cast sketchbooks to doodle in (as our characters would doodle) and will be including those in the show. It’s been and will be a really great collaboration from all sides.

What do you hope audience members will take away from this play? Looking into the world of this play has really opened my eyes to the desperation that street kids face, including drugs, cold, hunger, sexuality, and abuse. Polaroid Stories is a less traditional script than what most of the public is familiar with, mixing Greek mythology and the desolation of the streets. I hope that it’s an eye-opening experience for the audience as well.

Image: Christina Fontana in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Photo by John Eisele, Summer 2009.

Posted 03.29.10


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