Whatley and the creation of Virginia
By Adrianna Finch
Assistant Editor
On Oct. 3. 2019, Senior theater tech Emily Whatley stepped onto the Cameron University theater stage for the last time as an actor before graduation.
As a way to make her last semester at Cameron count, Whatley auditioned for a part in Sarah Ruhl’s “The Clean House.”
Prior to her landing the role of Virginia, Whatley had stayed mainly behind the scenes of the theater’s production. She would build sets and paint and help design costumes for the actors and made sure that everything was in the right place.
The last time Whatley performed was three years ago during her freshman year in Shakespeare’s, “The Tempest,” when she wore a nude body suit and did not have any lines.
Prior to that, Whatley last performance in a major role was in “The Pajama Game” as Brenda.
When Whatley auditioned, she didn’t expect to cast as Virginia.
“The audition process is a cattle call, so everyone can come,” Whatley said. “It is a line read, so you just do a dry reading. She [the director] gave me the part for Virginia, and I just read it like I would, frazzled and nervous, and the director was like ‘okay, okay, I really hope to see you back on stage,’ and let me go. I really didn’t think I would be cast.”
Since Whatley did not think she was going to get cast, she was trying to figure out what she could design or do behind the scenes to contribute to the overall production. When she saw her name on the cast list, she was not expecting it.
“I was like, I don’t know if I can do it.” Whatley said.
When it finally sunk in that she got the part, she was really flattered.
“I was over the moon,” Whatley said. “It felt so good knowing that I did well enough to land a part that had significance.”
After Whatley got over her initial shock, she realized that this would be a massive shift from the technical side.
She said she always felt like she was out of the loop with the tech stuff because she was focusing on becoming an actor.
When Whatley shifted from the technical aspect to acting, she remembered what the theater was actually about.
“I loved it,” Whatley said. “I would come home happy and excited. It made me fall in love with everything gain. The technical aspect is a job. It’s a job that I am good at, but the acting is fun. It made me get that magic back.”
Whatley said she started to fall in love with the character as she worked on it.
Whatley knew she wanted to create a character who had more life to her.
She wanted Virginia to be over the top and neurotic rather than a stick in the mud compared to everyone else.
“I made her over the wall dramatic and flirty,” Whatley said. “I wanted to make her have as much energy as I could.”
Whatley said every night she tried new things.
One night, during rehearsal, Whatley decided to make Virginia flirt with the character of Charles [Lane’s husband], and the director loved it, so they decided to keep it in the show.
Whatley said she got to add more to Virginia’s character other than drama and flirtation.
“Every night, I kept trying different things, and if they liked it, they kept it, and if not, we got rid of it,” Whatley said.
To create the character of Virginia, Whatley pulled from the women in her life.
“I pulled the clean freak from my Aunt Jeanie and the way that Virginia would carry herself from my Ema and Mimi [Whatley’s paternal and maternal grandmother],” Whatley said. “I also pulled from myself to make the neurotic and insanely dramatic person that she ended up being.”
Whatley said once she had Virginia the way she wanted, she made sure that everything was perfect.
On opening night, Whatley said she was nervous and scared the audience was not going to like her or Virginia, but that was not the case.
“The audience on Thursday night was amazing,” Whatley said. “They laughed at all jokes and seemed to fall in love with Virginia the way that I had.”
Whatley said her favorite part of the play was when she was on stage by herself and the audience was laughing at what she created with the vacuum.
“The vacuum part was the most popular,” Whatley said. “I was just supposed to roll the vacuum on and off stage, and I was like ‘I don’t want to do that; it’s boring.’ So I played with how Virginia acted in those moments. Every night was different, because I never knew how the cord to the vacuum would react. I had to adapt to that scene every night, but still even with that, the audience loved it.”
Whatley said she is glad she auditioned. She wants people to know that it’s okay to do things that scare you, especially when it comes to acting.
“It is the biggest confidence boost,” Whatley said. “It teaches people that it is okay to be silly and to make people laugh at you. When we are acting, we are really just doing things that we are afraid to do in our normal lives, and it feels amazing to be able to be free.”
Whatley said even though this is her last performance on the Cameron stage, she will always carry Virginia and the lessons she learned from the role.