
Photo by Evan Zimmerman courtesy Broadway in Cincinnati
From February 4-9, the Aronoff Center’s Procter & Gamble Hall hosts Life of Pi, a three-time Tony Award-winner and recipient of the Olivier Award for Best Play. Based on Yann Matel’s 2001 book of the same name, the story details a boy, Pi, who finds himself stuck on a lifeboat with four animals after a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean. One of the animals, a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, becomes a companion to help guide Pi through his distress on the sea.
In the Broadway Series adaptation of Life of Pi, Cincinnati native Anna Leigh Gortner is one of three puppeteers playing the role of Richard Parker, guiding the movements and sounds of the tiger’s puppet on the stage. Gortner discusses the joys of touring across the country, the complexities of puppeteering a tiger, and the excitement of performing in her home town.
This is your first U.S. tour. Did you ever expect to take on a role of this magnitude?
I didn’t. It’s honestly been the biggest surprise and blessing. I’m so grateful that all my experience up until now has led me to this opportunity and just to get to see the U.S. and do such a beautiful show. I couldn’t be more grateful.
What’s been your favorite thing about the tour so far? The Life of Pi cast had a private tour of the White House, and you mentioned the excitement of touring the country.
The White House was amazing. I think about the little things like getting to take dance classes with my classmates in different cities. I’m on a mission to find the best coffee in the U.S., so that’s been fun. I love finding the quirky and kind of weird landmarks in every city. I went to Point State Park [in Pittsburgh] where the three rivers meet and, being from Cincinnati, wanted to see where the Ohio River starts.
When you were preparing for your role as Richard Parker, what were some techniques you used?
It’s a very physically demanding role, so all of us [puppeteers] have our different ways of working out and prepping leading up to the show. For me, I maintain my dance workouts and my tumbling workouts, as well as some strength training just because a few of us came into the show without a puppeteering background. When rehearsal started, we all very much got into looking at videos of all different types of animals. Somewhat for the movement, but mainly for the sound, because for all of the puppeteers, not only do we do the movement in the show, but we do the sounds as well. We did a lot of research of the different sounds that the animals make. That was a lot of fun and an unusual kind of preparation for us all.
Life of Pi was a Best Picture-nominated movie and Richard Parker is, for most of the scenes, just a computer-generated tiger. Does that give you a responsibility to make the tiger more of a character in the play, to make it more lifelike?
We take on the responsibility of making Richard Parker as lifelike as possible, from the gait, the way he walks, his head movements, how he thinks. That is all done by the puppeteers, and we can’t move the tiger or do an action without Richard Parker having the thought first. That is our main goal, and when we succeed you forget that anyone’s even puppeteering Richard Parker, it’s just a tiger on stage.
Between being both a puppeteer and an actor, which was the trickier role to develop in playing Richard Parker? And, as a lifelong tumbler, did that give you an advantage in balancing those different roles?
What’s unique about this style of puppeteering is you’re always working with a group of other puppeteers, so you really have to develop your listening skills through your body and also through your ears. It’s such a unique style, so I feel like while the physicality and strength that’s required is a big part, it came very naturally, and my gymnastics and tumbling background helped and made that part easy. Learning to listen and follow the movements of the other puppeteers was a challenge, and it’s still something we work on constantly.
You’re from Cincinnati. What is it like to perform at the Aronoff Center, and is there added pressure with your homecoming performance?
Like I said earlier, I’m so extremely grateful and very humbled because I started in the Cincinnati theater world very late. I didn’t get involved until I was 19. And everyone in Cincinnati who’s an artist welcomed me with their arms and taught me the ropes and really baby-stepped me through what it means to be an artist. To come home and be able to perform is very humbling, and I’m just so excited for people to see this show.
What do you hope audiences take away most from the show?
Something so unique about this show is that every audience member takes away something a little different from the person sitting next to them. I think my biggest hope is that it leaves people thinking for a little bit. I feel that a lot of theater now is more for the entertainment and enjoyment during the moment, which this show certainly is as well, but it also leaves you thinking for a while and pondering. I think that’s my biggest hope.
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