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Interview: Ali Rose Dachis Chats About THE WEDGE HORSE and Her Experience in FISH IN THE DARK
By: Nora Dominick Feb. 15, 2016
Ali Rose Dachis is making a splash in Fault Line Theater's latest play THE WEDGE HORSE. Written by Nick Gandiello, The Wedge Horse tells a beautiful story you will have to see to believe.
Dachis recently chatted with BroadwayWorld about the beautiful play and her experience in FISH IN THE DARK last Broadway season.
Check out the full interview below!
Can you tell us a little bit about THE WEDGE HORSE?
It's a play about three teenagers out on Long Island in 2003 who are dealing with a major lock in the family. There are two siblings and they have lost another sibling and then a friend. It's basically about dealing with grief and revenge and trying to kind of survive what that means as a family and what that means as human beings. In that there is a greater structure of kind of the American predicament after 9/11. It's a small representation of a much bigger story.
How does your character fit into the story?
Maddie is awesome! She's strong and brash and she has a huge heart. What's so amazing about this journey is that the family itself is decided whether or not to put the brother's name on a bomb that will then go over and hit Iraq. This huge decision is basically placed on the shoulders of these two teenagers. Maddie is someone who fights for justice and kindness, more so than revenge. That has been a very exciting thing to tap into, especially with someone who is probably not as educated as a lot of the characters we see on stage and as a teenager, who is still trying to figure things out.
The cast is made up of only three actors! What's it like working in such a small cast?
It's wonderful. It could've gone a lot of different ways, but because the two other actors are so incredible and so generous on stage and such brave actors that it lifts me up for sure. I think we are all able to do better work because we are just trying to give our very best every day. We can't falter for the sake of ourselves and for the sake of the other two people in the show. So, it's been a BIG gift.
How has it been working with Nick [Gandiello]'s words?
It's SO incredible. This is one of the top artistic experiences of my life and I have been lucky to be doing this for 18 years and this is one of the top! Nick is so kind and he's so smart and it shows so clearly through his writing. He was so wonderful in the process of developing this show because it changed A LOT. The last 40 pages were completely different at the beginning of rehearsal. So now we are working with what we all kind of developed together and Nick has so beautifully articulated it for us. What is so pleasurable about acting his stuff is that he just gets a message across without manipulating the audience or the actor. So, his message is embedded and it's very, very rhythmic and it has a hip-hop style that was very representative of 2003 Long Island. That makes it so great because it's a very realistic, based in reality, way of speaking that also has such a beautiful context.
How has it been working with Fault Line Theater?
It's been great! They have been very committed to telling the truth of this story and making this come alive. I think the designers particularly and everyone really involved has put their best foot forward for this. The design elements are extraordinary and I don't think you can see anything better on this level.
Working with Aaron [Rossini], who directed and is also the co-artistic director, was so special because he has been with this play for three years and has helped Nick in the development of it, so it's his baby and he was really specific and very engaged in bringing it to life with also hearing us and our opinions. I felt like I had a voice in the room along with the other actors. Yeah, I think the team all around was so satisfied and supported by Fault Line Theater. They have been SO SO good.
You were in FISH IN THE DARK last season on Broadway. What have you taken from that Broadway experience and incorporated it into this experience?
I guess every artistic experience is a step towards being a better artist and better human. So, there was that. I think there was something very special about achieving your life long dream that just kind of lives inside of me in a way that I will care with me forever. That will be part of my work and that's really exciting. I think also I would say during that show that there was a strong sense of community in that show because we had a very large cast, there were 24 of us, and everyone was kind and loving and came in with a smile and something kind to say, everyday for 7 months, which was huge. That includes all the famous people, that includes everybody around the board. Quite a few people from that cast have come to see The Wedge Horse, which is awesome. I think that sense of community, while that has always drawn me to the theater, was so strong and so represented in that show particularly and on such a grand level that I think that is something I definitely brought with me.
Ali Rose Dachis' credits Include: Broadway: Fish In The Dark. Off-Broadway: The Awesome 80s Prom. New York: Slant Theater: The Classroom; Sanguine Theatre: Exti 27. Regional: The Guthrie: The Edge of our Bodies, Circle Mirror Transformation, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Great Gatsby, Master Butcher's Singing Club, What May Fall; Baltimore Centerstage: Pride and Prejudice; Cincinnati Playhouse: Leveling Up; Southwest Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet; Arizona Theatre Co.: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Film/TV: Fatal Encounters (Discovery Channel), Magnificent Eve (NialX Productions). Ali is a proud member of Artists Striving to End Poverty. Training: University of Minnesota/Guthrie Actor Training Program.
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