Saidah Arrika Ekulona
The Actors Center Journal Vol. 1 No. 2, November 2009
Actor’s Voice: Saidah Arrika Ekulona
I’m kind of a rare case, my career started right before things changed in the theatre. In 1995, I started working at the Guthrie Theatre 3 months before I graduated from graduate school. We had a luxurious 3 months of rehearsals for King Lear before we even moved into the theatre. The Guthrie had an established company of professional actors that had been working together for 10 years by that time, and although I had been told in school that I would just be a character actress, my first professional role was Cordelia. I was working in a professional repertory theatre, performing in 4 plays! That’s every actors dream!!
Nowadays, due to the NEA cutting back on grants in the late 80’s thru the 90’s, you’re lucky if you get 3 weeks of rehearsal, and that sometimes includes time for tech. Many theatres have dropped their actor companies, and few actors are lucky to get to be a part of those that still exist. The repertory experience trained me to work harder than I ever had before in my life, it gave me some serious chops, it was exhausting and exhilarating!!! I had the time to create a character, play with her, and explore her over a length of time. Now you just get hired for one show, the run is only for a few weeks, and you’re out the morning after closing night.
The pulse of the theatre has changed as well. Many theatres choose to do co-productions of plays, and plays with small casts because they cost less. Thus, the scope of casting has changed. If I came out of school now, I’d never get cast as Cordelia, because theatres establish a boundary that is not to be crossed…they can’t take the risk to explore as much as they used to, if they do, it may cost them a grant they desperately need. So how does this affect the actor? It takes a hell of an artistic director to produce new works from new playwrights. The plays that are being produced in many regional theatres and even in New York are safe, traditional plays without a new spin on them. How are actors to grow, expand themselves and discover who they are as artists if they are being typecast in the same kind of roles all of the time? And let’s not even discuss the effects of celebrity stunt casting, the newest form of a “get-rich-quick-scheme” that insults us all.
While things have been slowly improving creatively and financially for me since I’ve graduated, with the country in a recession, I hope we don’t slide back into the familiar territory of uninspired theatre. I’ve been incredibly fortunate this past year by originating roles in two exceptional plays (Ruined; Othello) that have challenged me creatively and personally. I’ve learned a great deal about myself as an artist from the process in each of these productions and I now wonder where that leaves me. Where can I creatively capitalize on what I’ve experienced? Will I be able to find plays where I can extend what I’ve learned?
I’ve recently completed the Innana Workshop with Olympia Dukakis and Joan MacIntosh.  That actually helped me answer this question. It invigorated me and inspired the idea of challenging myself by creating my own work.
I’ll post what happens.
Saidah Arrika Ekulona appeared this year off-Broadway in Ruined. Her performance received an Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award, BTAA Award, and the Drama Desk Award. She was also seen this year in “Othello” this. She has worked on Broadway and off and at most of the not for profit theatres in town. She has appeared extensively in regional theatre, film (Righteous Kill, The Taking of Pelham 123, among others), and television. She has an MFA from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theatre.