Publications & Media Manager Shannon Loys sat down with our Pride and Prejudice newlyweds, Amy and Trick Danneker. Amy (formerly Amy Hill) is playing Kitty Bennet and Trick is playing Mr. Bingley.
SHANNON: Congratulations on getting married!
AMY: Thank you!
S: It was a big deal in the theatre community, yeah? Two beloved local actors getting married?
TRICK: Oh (laughs) I don’t know. It was a big deal to us!
S: When were you married?
T: September 7th.
S: So it’s been…
T: Almost two months!
S: Have you guys been in a show together before?
T: Oh yeah.
A: We have. …Five?
T: This is our fifth.
S: Woah.
T: Yeah. We met doing As You Like It at Harlequin Productions in Olympia. We were not playing lovers. In fact, we’ve never played—no, that’s not true. We’ve played lovers one time, in a 14/48 play in which we were in a polyamarous trio. So I basically had two wives.
S: Yeah, that almost doesn’t count then.
A: No, it doesn’t. (laughs)
T: And I don’t think we even kissed or barely even touched each other in that play. But, we’ve played brother and sister, I’ve married her cousin, and I’ve married her sister… And a year after that we did Taming of the Shrew together at Harlequin again. Then we did the 14/48 play, which is by pure happenstance, because that’s all cast at random. And then, um, a few years ago for Seattle Shakespeare Company, we were in Pygmalion together.
A: With Jen Taylor.
T: With Jen Taylor. And that’s when we played brother and sister.
S: Was that weird playing brother and sister?
A: It was kind of fun in a weird way.
T: It was, yeah. In the very first scene she’s really upset with me and she gets really snippy with me and telling me I’m not doing a good job at trying to find a cab for our mother when it’s raining out. So it was fun to have a little back and forth kind of thing. We knew each other so well that there’s a familiarity there.
A: I think if we were playing lovers, I’d be more… I don’t know, nervous?
T: Yeah, that’d probably be a little weird, actually.
A: Like everyone’s watching us.
S: Because they know that it’s real on some level?
T: Yeah.
A: Yeah, and there’s more pressure! But playing his sister is just fun.
S: Pride and Prejudice is definitely a romantic story. Has it been fun being in a romance together, even though you’re not playing each other’s love interests?
A: I’m going to answer first.
T: Please.
A: It is a blast. This is one of my favorite books and growing up I had a literary crush on Mr. Bingley. So when Trick got cast he was like, “Well, I got cast. Yay!” and I said, “NO, YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. YOU’RE MR. BINGLEY.” (laughs)
S: He’s a great character.
A: Yeah he is. I fully support the casting decision there.
T: I just think it’s fun to be able to try to bring all that to life. You know, the great part of the Book-It Style is that everything I need to know about the character is accessible. Everything they say about me—and they say a LOT about me—they probably say more about me that I actually say myself. It’s fun to be able to base what I do on that.
A: What do you think Mr. Bingley thinks of Kitty?
T: (Thinks) I think that both Kitty and Lydia are charming young women and certainly will be a catch for somebody someday. But perhaps that someday will be a few years down the road.
S: (To Amy) Do you think Kitty has a crush on Mr. Bingley?
A: Totally. (laughs) I think Kitty has a crush on the doorman. She’s just that age.
S: If it moves and it’s male.
A: Yeah. There’s a point in one of the balls where Mr. Bingley comes up and introduces himself to Kitty and Lydia, and I love getting a moment to portray that.
T: They don’t stop bouncing. (demonstrating) They bounce the whole time. That’s the only way I can describe it, is that Kitty and Lydia just bounce a lot. (laughing) They’re very bouncy girls.
A: It’s just fun to be in a really happy, lovely, fun, romantic show, especially during the holidays. I can’t wait for our families to come see it. And then we get to spend the holidays together, too.
S: So when you two get up in the morning you’re together, then you come to work–which is rehearsal–and are still together, and you go home together. Is that a blessing, or a little bit of a mixed blessing?
A: It’s the best.
T: Yeah. It’s great. We can make lunch for each other. And we can put our lunches in the same sack.
S: Convenience factor.
T: Yeah, exactly. And we can walk here because we live close by. We can walk to rehearsal. We get to have a nice little stroll.
A: Yeah.
T: And the truth is we don’t actually interact a lot together on stage. So we still kind of have that separation during the day. Mr. Bingley is not in a lot of the Bennet sisters’ scenes and Kitty is not in very many of the Mr. Bingley scenes. So it’s actually kind of rare sometimes when we are called [to be at rehearsal] at the same time.
S: Especially early on.
T: Exactly. Once we start getting into runs and especially once the show opens, it will be even nicer to be able to have that time.
A: But I can imagine it would be hard if we were playing Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. There’re a lot of dynamics there through that whole story. I could imagine that that would be really, really tough. That’d be hard to go home and separate it.
T: I think you’re right.
A: So it’s fun that I get to hang out with a bunch of girls. And you get to hang out with the dudes all day.
S: Do you bring the accents home?
T: No.
A: We have two cats at home so when we get home it’s immediately—
T: It’s not British. It’s kitty talk. “My fluffy little princess.”
A: “Hello, little girl.”
T: Roxy and Jazzy are our two cats’ names. With a “y.” R-O-X-Y
S: You’re welcome to send a picture of the cats and we’ll include it on the blog.
T: It might go to their heads though. They might get an ego. Hmm…there is a good picture of them cuddling, so maybe we’ll send that.
See Trick and Amy in Pride and Prejudice, on stage November 25 – December 28. Tickets are on sale now.