AFTER INTERVIEWS: ACTOR JACKIE CHUNG

Posted on: October 5th, 2011 by partialcomfort No Comments

More with Jackie Chung – PCP member and the actor playing the charming Susie in Chad Beckim‘s AFTER.

PCP: you were involved in the Welcome Mat reading of AFTER. this January.  How has the play and your character Susie changed since then?  What speaks to you about Chad’s play?

JACKIE: The play has changed quite a bit, but most of the adjustments were made to the Liz and Chap scenes and to the overall structure of the play. Susie’s general arc is the same – there were just some internal cuts within scenes and some small additions. The most devastating change for me was Susie being cut from the fight. I was hoping to get a hit or two in there.

I think Chad has written a beautiful play with some delightfully flawed characters. They’re human – they do and say things that make you cringe. Susie has a few of those moments, for sure. But, what I love most is Monty’s story – it’s absolutely heartbreaking. How do you start over after so much of your life has been taken from you? And Alfredo, as always, is incredible in this play – he doesn’t miss a moment of Monty’s internal struggle. Not a second. And let me shout out my other castmates – Maria, Debargo, Andrew and Jeff are just the best. Onstage and off. I am so grateful to be working with all of them.

PCP: We know a lot about Monty’s back story and a tiny bit about Susie’s (her previous relationships and so forth).  Can you tell us a little bit more about your character and what makes her unique to you?

JACKIE: Susie is a wonderful character – she’s sweet and bright, but she, as we all do, has some deeper issues. Through the course of the play, we get to see different sides of Susie and hopefully understand why she is the way she is. I think overall, she’s a woman who has been stifled by her own insecurities – she has been so influenced by outside, sometimes abusive forces, that she’s struggled to find her own voice. I guess she’s unique to me because she does some quirky things that are not unlike things I would do. And she makes some really awkward comments which we all do from time to time…right?

PCP: Anything on the horizon for you after AFTER.? 

Jackie Chung

 

JACKIE: I have a webseries coming out. We just had a sneak preview last week at MOCA, but I missed the event because we had a show that night! It’s called Pretty Precious Unicorns and it was borne out of a short play reading I did with Second Generation. You can find the trailer here: http://prettypreciousunicorns.com/. It’s quirky and funny and features a lot of my wonderful actor friends.

 

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Catch AFTER. in its FINAL WEEK!

Until October 8th!

Wednesday – Saturday at 8pm

Saturday at 3pm

Wednesday and Saturday’s matinee are PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN!

 

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