Get to Know the Cast and Director of BRAINPEOPLE

Here is a rainbow of answers to five questions for the cast of BRAINPEOPLE. Get your butts to the theatre tonight after you Get to Know, Director and Company Member Catherine Tripp, and cast members Regina Aquino, Amanda Thickpenny, and Monalisa Arias.

1. Would you decribe yourself as a Brainperson?

Catherine: Uhm no I am the essence of me
Regina: Totally and completely, in every way you can interpret that word.
Amanda: If by Brainperson you mean Nerd, definitely. I have an encylopedic and completely useless knowledge of geography and art history, and I think the brain is the sexiest part of the body.
Monalisa: So totally yes.

2. What makes Brainpeople a good fit for Rorschach?

Catherine: The magic realism and the dark humor
Regina: It’s a story about the inherent human need for connection and communication while it completely dissects the psyche of each character in the play. Total emotional, spiritual and psychological examination - so of course its a good fit for a company named after an actual psychological exam.
Amanda: It's magically realistic and realistically magical - and totally theatrical! And this is my second Rorschach show involving girl-on-girl action. Stay tuned.
Monalisa: It's edgy, sexy, and hopeful. Like all you Rorschachers!

3. Multiple personalities play a big part in this show? Do you have any alternate personas and if so can we meet him/her?

Catherine: I ain't telling.
Regina: No, there's just me. I'm plenty of crazy awesomeness in one personality. Though I am constantly talking to myself. And I mean constantly - people look at me funny.
Amanda: Gemini...
Monalisa: I have hundreds of people in my brain. You can meet 14 of them when you see the show.

4. Small cast shows are a rarity among Rorschach productions? What is it like not to have to keep track of 15 to 20 people during the rehearsal process?

Catherine: It has made process a lot tighter. And I think that the sense of team is a lots stronger. We are definitly in thidefinitelyr. You can't stand in the back of rehearsal and not pay attention. We are all there all the time.
Regina: I LOVE small casts. The shows I'm most proud of had small casts. The intimacy of a three person cast, combined with the fact that everyone in the room on a daily basis is a woman makes for an intensely personal, highly empowering experience. We all spend so much time supporting each other and allowing each other to just be free in the moment that our relationships on stage and off are completely open, honest and trusting. Not only do I totally respect these women professionally, I have made some deep friendships that are truly rare to come across in life. This is one of those shows that has changed me and how I perceive the creation of art, which is a precious thing.
Amanda: It's lovely and exhausting. We're a really tight cast. We support and nurture each other. But we have to give 100% the whole time. In a cast of three people, if you're screwing around upstage, everyone notices.
Monalisa: First time with y'all, so it's awesome for me.

5. What is the most awkward dinner party you have ever attended? And what did you have to eat?

Catherine: I did have to go to a dinner party where we ate beef heart. (It was my parents party and I was a teenager- which is pretty much the longest awkward dinner party any of us go to)
Regina: I've been to so many awkward dinner parties I don't know where to begin. As far as food goes, I've been served a noodle dish with chicken and bits of liver that looked like chicken and no one told me about the liver so when I voraciously ate it, I was stunned by the texture and froze in place, trying to think of a non-rude way to extract the bits of liver from my mouth. I honestly felt violated and duped.
Amanda: My parents had several awkward dinner parties. They weren't really into entertaining, and whenever they did invite someone over, it was usually out of pity: my father's single and lonely clarinet teacher, my mother's nebishy Rabbit Rescue friends, anyone who had recently been through a really bad divorce, home forclosure or natural disaster. So to this day, I feel like something is missing if, at a dinner party, someone isn't regaling everyone with their tale of woe.
Monalisa: Most awkward dinner party...thanksgiving with friends of mine, made awkward because my significant other at the time didn't want to be there. Tons of turkey, mashed potatoes, and most importantly, STUFFING!!!