“Black box theater in New York is an amazing experience but very so often productions are not fully committed to their best results for many different reasons, scarce profits, small audiences etc etc. There was never a second in this production in which I doubted or even worse forgot the importance of the job that we are all responsible for.” -Silvia Morigi who plays Giulia an Actress/Healer
You Love That I’m Not Your Wife is a fast-paced romp through the dysfunctional lives of five couples who are each searching for love in LA but in all the wrong places. Written and directed by Joanne Mosconi-Piano and coproduced with her husband John and theatre veteran Blake Boyd who also stars in the play as Tony Cicarelli, a smooth-talkin’ player who tries to win the heart of Marie, played by the mesmerizing Frankie Gallucci. Underscored by singing, live piano and non-stop laughs, YLTINYW is as clever as it is salacious and with a cast of this caliber you won’t want it to end! There is something magical impacting the cast’s onstage chemistry because shortly after opening night, the rest of the show sold out.
Freya Lund who is originally from the UK takes the role of Sophie to new heights, delivering non-stop laughs as the sweetly uptight Zoloft popping girlfriend of Dan, her sugar daddy played by the engaging Len Rella. Freya elaborates on the experience, “This experience allowed me to step in someone else’s shoes and fall in love with the character. I live in New York and things move really fast here, so to be able to dive into a project and work with such talented people helped me to step up my role because I want to be at the same level as them. More importantly, I learnt from our amazing director Joanne, who truly put her heart and soul into this project and taught us that if you believe and work hard anything is possible.” Silvia Morigi, an Italian actress who’s portrayal of Giulia is as riveting as she is raw, edgy and smart. “The biggest learning experience that I got from this production is to take on little pieces of any task that is not necessarily acting related in order to be able to do your best work. There is so much work behind a production that goes far beyond the acting skills and scene work. It’s very easy for actors to get self-involved and ignore that the creative process doesn’t stop when the scene is over but is alive in any prop setting, stage building, lighting and so on. The sooner we understand this, the richer our experience is going to be on and offstage.”
Offstage, Freya and Silvia are best friends which has worked out in their favor as Silvia testifies, “Freya is a woman and an actress with a tremendous amount of energy and charm. I went through very conflicting feeling when I knew she was going to be a part of this production. I was excited to have one of my closest friends with me but also scared of having to compete with such a shining creature that was going to leave everyone breathless. The moment I decided to let go of my fear our relationship went on a whole different level. Most of my closest friends have no idea what theater means to me. They respect it, but they don’t know it. I have Freya tattooed on my heart forever after sharing this with her. This is never going to leave us.” Freya adds, “My favorite thing about performing with Silvia is that she truly gives her all on stage and sets on fire her element of truth and in doing so helps to ground everyone around her in telling their own truth. She brings fire, vulnerability and charm to the stage making not only the audience fall in love with her but the characters too… one day I will be saying ‘I shared the stage with Silvia Morigi!’”
Which begs the question, how much are Silvia and Freya like their characters in real life? According to Silvia she “found a lot of Giulia in my tendency to focus my attention on others as a way not to face something painful that is going on with myself, which I thought is one of the main reasons that gets Giulia into healing. I identify very much with her loneliness too and the free passionate spirit with which she moves through life.” Freya Lund adds, “Sophie is an extremely complex character, like most of us actors! I feel as Freya I share Sophie’s desire to avoid conflict- which Sophie definitely does. We are also similar in our ways of people pleasing and also putting other people’s feelings before our own. And did I mention that we both love tea?”
The cast of You Love That I’m Not Your Wife is rounded out by the uber-talented Miguel Carlos Alves, Jeremy Bright, Genevieve Coovrey, Staffan Edelholm, Jennifer Silverman, Sarah Voigt and Dr. Mike.
You Love That I’m Not Your Wife
Fridays & Saturdays, 7pm
November 3-18, 2017
SOLD OUT
Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre
The Players Theatre
115 Macdougal Street, NY