Photo Source: Carol Rosegg
The award-winning actor says her own background is far removed from that of the Churches. She was born and raised in San Francisco; her British-born mother and American father ran a motel and then a boarding house. It was a "catch-as-catch-can life," she recalls. However, her husband, urban documentarian Henry Chalfant, emerged from that upper-crust universe (though he's not New England bred), and through osmosis Chalfant adapted to the milieu.
In rehearsing the role she brought that experience to bear, though she experimented with a Boston accent. "I now have Mid-Atlantic speech, but playing with the Boston accent helped," she explains. Designer Jennifer Paar's costumes shaped Fanny's ladylike posture and gait. Acting with John Cunningham, who comes from that social stratum, also informed her portrayal, she says.
"But the older I get the less and less serious I am about my 'method,' " she continues. "I feel, especially with a play, if you are able to get the words inside of you, you are 90 percent on your way to finding the character."
Over the years she's had a number of revelations, she recalls, starting early in her career when her performances were guarded. "A friend said, 'You're not acting to the end of your fingers.' My head was engaged in trying to make something. I've discovered that the best work comes with radical relaxation. If you can manage that, trust the work you've done in rehearsal, know your lines, understand the relationships, prepare the first moment of the play, and then jump into it."
Chalfant has been doing just that for decades and is among the most respected theater actors working today. She is perhaps best known for her clearly delineated multiple roles in the two parts of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" ("Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika") and especially her searing performance as the intellectual cancer patient in the original production of Margaret Edson's "Wit."
Not Put Off by New Platforms
Chalfant never had a doubt she wanted to act, though she majored in classical Greek at Stanford University and got married at 21. The couple spent a lot of time traveling, especially in the early years of their marriage. By her own admission, she didn't launch her career until she was in her late 20s. By the time she landed her first important role, in Jules Feiffer's "Hold Me!" at the American Place Theatre Off-Broadway, she was in her early 30s. "My career did not really take off until I was in my 40s," she says. As much as she was an actor, she was also a wife and mom. Her daughter, Andromache, was born when Chalfant was three weeks into rehearsing the title role of "Major Barbara." Andromache is now a set designer, and Chalfant's son, Dave, is a bass player.
Looking back, Chalfant says the most difficult role she tackled was Ronald Reagan in Sarah Ruhl's "Passion Play" at Yale Repertory Theatre. In the same drama she also played Queen Elizabeth I and Hitler. The latter is so demonic and unimaginable, he was paradoxically less challenging to play than Reagan. "I lived through Reagan and hated him," says Chalfant. But she found a way into the character by hooking into his overriding self-confidence.
Chalfant acknowledges her good fortune in her roles and projects. "You seldom find a revelatory character in an otherwise uninteresting piece of writing," she says. "I look for characters that are whole and adventurous, especially as I get older. I try to avoid stock old people. I love the fact that Fanny is sexy and that there's a sexual charge in her relationship with Gardner. I'd love to do 'Long Day's Journey Into Night,' but I'll be too old pretty soon. I'm now 67, and I don't think I should be playing a 50-year-old character if the character's age is relevant to what's happening."
Still, she regrets not having tackled Pinter and Chekhov earlier. But she says that at this point, even if a classical role was age appropriate, she would be a little intimidated since she rarely tried her hand at the classics. But a shortage of roles is not her problem. At the moment, Chalfant is excited about several contemporary plays she's considering in addition to an upcoming indie, "Isn't It Delicious?," in which she's featured and that stars Keir Dullea and Alice Ripley.
Launching a career today, in the age of websites and social media, is different from when Chalfant pounded the pavement in search of gigs. But unlike some of her contemporaries, she's not put off by the new platforms and maintains she'd be an actor if she were starting now.
"I don't think it's any harder than sending out postcards and walking around and knocking on doors," she says. "It's just another platform for self-promotion. In many ways I think this is a very exciting time. Because of the Internet you can easily produce and control your own content. The problem is that artists don't know how to monetize it yet."
Whatever the road to employment, she says, one element is constant: "Be sure it's what you want to do. This is not a life you go into on a whim. But if it's what you want to do, take whatever help anyone wants to give you. Remember that what you're doing is a thing of value."
"Painting Churches" will play through April 7 at the Clurman Theatre on Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC. (212) 239-6200, (800) 432-7250, www.telecharge.com, or www.keencompany.org.
Outtakes
Received Tony and Drama Desk nominations for "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches" Drama Desk, Obie, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle awards for "Wit" and an Obie for "Talking Heads"
Has appeared at many regional theaters, including Long Wharf Theatre, Arena Stage, Guthrie Theater, and Mark Taper Forum
Guest-starred on "Law & Order" (all three New York–based shows) and had a recurring role on "The Guardian"
Featured in such films as "Duplicity," "Kinsey," "The People Speak," and "The Last New Yorker"
