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By Joanna Winston; Actor Interpreter in The Emperor’s New Clothes
In the theater world, you “audition” for a show with a song, a dance, and/or maybe a monologue (or two) to show your skills and give the director and crew a chance to pick who would be best for a particular production. You really never know if you will be chosen for a show, but you, “Just keep swimming” and move on to the next audition until something sticks. After a shaky, sweaty dance callback—where the choreographer taught a short dance combination and myself and other potential actors were tasked with copying it—I was unsure I would even make it as “Palm Tree #1” in The Emperor’s New Clothes. To say that Noah (my older brother and co-worker at The Children's Museum) and I were both cast in this production came as a surprise is an understatement! We were elated to find ourselves as “Grand Duke Barbados” and “The Emperor” in this fabulous production, and I was even more delighted to have another chance to work with my dear older brother onstage.
Noah and I have been doing shows together since we were very young. Our father was pro football linemen Roy D. Winston and our mother, Pamela Gray, was an art teacher in IPS for over 25 years. Strength and the Arts are at our core, and even in our younger years we were making up stories and performing them for our little eastside neighborhood here in Indy. Some of these stories even made their way into The Children’s Museum itself—my mother still fondly remembers chasing us around the Reuben Wells train as toddlers!
What is it like to work with your sibling? I understand it may not be everyone’s idea of “fun." Noah and I, however, are far from ordinary when it comes to this fact. Both of my brothers, Noah and Jonah Winston (How I Became a Pirate, Rumpelstiltskin, The Frog Prince) pursued performance as a career and eagerly look forward to chances to work on projects together. It is a joy to discover new characters, new locations, and new stories alongside the two men whom I consider to be my very best friends. When performing together, we have an understanding and a level of trust that is rare and difficult to match. Sometimes in theater we mine and dig for moments of levity, or “bits” as we sometimes call them in the business. These are second nature to siblings, for we navigate on the same wavelength and can summon up humor and drama by playing off of each other! This “give and take” is essential in theater whether it is The Tempest or The Emperor’s New Clothes that is being presented.
One fun memory we have from the run is of an afternoon show where I had gotten “dressed” in my new clothes a little too quickly behind a folding screen—so quickly in fact that I had unknowingly tipped my screen forward and almost sent it falling over! I had thrown my arms above my head in a celebratory “Ta-Da!” presentation for the crowd. In doing so, I had accidentally pushed the screen downstage, which would have been a disaster! We had a whole new scene to perform before I would “reveal” myself to my subjects, and this would have blown the secret for the audience! Noah, with cat-like reflexes, having seen the screen toppling forward, managed to leap from his position downstage to catch my screen before it tipped over and braced it back in place to preserve my Empress’ “dignity." He even managed to toss in a quick joke to make the audience think it was all a part of the act! We all had a good laugh about it after the show, but again I was reminded how thrilled I am to be doing what I love with a person I adore to his toes. It just goes to show you that families here at The Children’s Museum are guaranteed to make great memories.
You can see Joanna Winston & Noah Winston in The Emperor's New Clothes: A Musical Comedy in Lilly Theater through August 2, 2015!
