THE WASHINGTON POST.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019EZ16
On Stage
BY THOMAS FLOYD
F
inding empathy for one’s
character is a fundamen-
tal step in the acting proc-
ess. But for the cast of the
musical “Assassins,” that step is
more like a leap of faith.
A comedic, nonlinear fantasia
about nine people who tried to
kill U.S. presidents — four of them
successfully — “Assassins” imag-
ines a reality in which these vil-
lains of history not only cross
paths but even push one another
to commit their unspeakable
deeds, which are depicted with
varying degrees of artistic license.
Featuring music and lyrics by leg-endary composer Stephen Sond-
heim and a book by John
Weidman, the subversive show
premiered off-Broadway in 1990,
then won five Tonys for its 2004
Broadway revival.
Last week, an Eric Schaeffer-
helmed production of “Assassins”
kicked off at Signature Theatre.
So how do the actors go about
understanding such notorious
real-life figures?
“Everybody wants to be seen,
and I think that’s something
that’s uber-relatable,” actor Tracy
Lynn Olivera says. “We all just
want to be noticed and heard, and
for better and for worse — mostly
worse — all of these people justwanted somebody to listen to
them.”
As the time-hopping charac-
ters bond over drinks, drugs and
disdain, “Assassins” explores the
motivations that pushed each one
to the edge. Here’s a look at five of
the show’s infamous characters
and how the actors portraying
them tapped into their troubled
minds.Vincent Kempski
(as John Wilkes Booth)Kempski came into “Assassins”
knowing the broad strokes of
Booth’s story: Ford’s Theatre, “sic
semper tyrannis” and so on. As
Kempski further explored the bit-
ter actor and Southern sympa-
thizer who killed Abraham Lin-
coln in 1865, he found more nu-
ance than his high school history
books had let on.
“Booth was surprisingly a fam-ily man,” Kempski says. “He was
really loyal to his friends. He was
like a prankster. Everyone loved
him. A lot of people really didn’t
believe that he did it. They
couldn’t fathom it.”
Unearthing that humanity
helped Kempski better under-
stand Booth, whose distress over
the Civil War’s death toll — illus-
trated in the show via “The Ballad
of Booth” — gives the character an
emotional core.
“He was doing it for the better-
ment of the country, but he had a
personal stake in it,” Kempski says.
“I think he was incredibly driven
because of loss in his life. Yeah, he
was on the wrong side of history.
But to him, it wasn’t that.... I try to
approach it as feeling justified that
Booth was doing what was right, at
least in his mind.”SEE ASSASSINS ON 18It’s not about character assassination
What’s it like to get inside the heads of
people who put presidents in their sights?
CHRISTOPHER MUELLERIf you go
ASSASSINS
Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell
Ave., Arlington. 703-820-9771 or
sigtheatre.org.Dates: Through Sept. 29.
Prices: $40-$110.
The cast of “Assassins” at
Signature Theatre: Rachel
Zampelli as Lynette “Squeaky”
Fromme, Christopher Bloch as
Sam Byck, Ian McEuen as
Giuseppe Zangara, Vincent
Kempski as John Wilkes Booth,
Tracy Lynn Olivera as Sara
Jane Moore, Sam Ludwig as
Lee Harvey Oswald, Bobby
Smith as Charles J. Guiteau,
Evan Casey as John Hinckley
Jr. and Lawrence Redmond as
Leon Czolgosz.