Sara Bremen ’05 is a Theater and American Studies major at Wesleyan, and a familiar name to all in the Wesleyan Community. She plays the Believer in “Babel,” showing this weekend at the ’92 Theater. She met with me on the afternoon of opening night, to discuss “Babel” and beyond.

RAE KAPLAN: What can you tell us about your drama experiences at Wesleyan?

SARA BREMEN: Most of them have been with student productions, which was one of the main draws for me at Wesleyan. They’ve grown more and more collaborative and fun. This is actually the first department show that I’ve performed in, “Babel,” and it has been great, Claudia [Tatinge Nascimento, Assistant Professor of Theater], the director, is my advisor so she and I have been able to work really closely.

RK: And what can you tell us about “Babel”?

SB: “Babel” has been a completely different kind of process than something I’ve ever done before. We started with no script, no characters, no real story. Claudia had basic themes that she wanted to address from the biblical story of the tower of Babel and so from there we developed. I guess we started to develop characters, and all the people in the cast started collecting text from different sources and from there we brought dramaturges on board and they helped us write what is now the script. The entire thing is compiled of old conversations, or speeches people gave, or songs. It’s all stuff we’ve found- none of it has been written before. Which is a technique that was both really exciting and frustrating too, because you’re not really sure how things will fit or how to go about looking for something and how to find something once you know what you’re looking for. We were changing things up until two days ago.

RK: Is there anything in particular then that you contributed? Or pieces that you brought in?

SB: No more than any body else for sure. We started to develop a theme of vaudeville characters so at some point we talked about the different skills that each of us already had. I learned how to walk on stilts a couple of years ago so I was able to contribute (giggles) my big pieces of wood, stilts, which are fun.

RK: So you walk on stilts?

SB: Yeah, yeah there’s a little bit. I won’t tell you anymore about that, but there are some other circus-y things.

RK: So you’ve done a lot of other student plays here but you’ve also directed some. What do you enjoy more, acting or directing, or are there different things about both?

SB: There are certainly different things about both. I’m acting in “Babel” and I’m about to start directing another show later this spring called “Butterfly.” And what I like about acting- the more I study it, and the more I read, and the more I watch other people- is that all the things that I liked about directing can be used in performance and the agency that is given to a director is also given to an actor, but that is often ignored. The way that I see myself going and the way that the people I work with, that cohesion, the way that we’re going is towards an almost completely collaborative effort where there is a director who makes final decisions and who provides the impetus for everything, with all of us conceiving and presenting the piece together, which is the most exciting thing to me.

RK: You also took a semester off last year…

SB: (Laughing) You researched me?

RK: Haha yeah, I Googled you- and you did a play in New York! So what was that like?

SB: Well, the play it self was fantastic. It was a modified version of, my friend, Bajir Cannon ’02, his senior thesis that was performed here was called “The Loveliest and Saddest Landscape,” and it was about “The Little Prince.” It got picked up by a production company in New York, Studio 42, and Chris Kaminstein ’05, a good friend of mine, and I were asked to join the cast in New York. And so we did that. We had to modify it. Because of rights issues, they would not let us use “The Little Prince” stuff. The play itself was great and was very well received. It was such an experience, not only performing for, you know, a not only-student audience- in Manhattan, which still bewildering to me how that ended up happening- but also to do something for so long. We had something like 20 performances. That was cool. My experience in New York was maybe a different story. I’m slowly redeveloping my relationship with New York.

RK: Based on that, or anything else, do you think acting is something you’re going to continue with?

SB: Yeah, I hope so. I do plan on continuing and working with the people that I’ve met here, working towards forming a company and working towards our own projects and stuff. So, you know, there’s no safety, no back up plan.

RK: As long as you like it all, that’s good!

SB: I go back and forth, some days I want to live in the suburbs with a baby and a husband and cook and other days I want to run away to somewhere else…

RK: But not necessarily New York?

SB: Well…I don’t know, it’s growing on me!

RK: Well, thank you very much. Is there anything else you want to add?

SB: Come see “Babel”! It’s a good show, and if it’s sold out- come anyway! Because we’ll have extra seats, and it’s a good show. People should really see it.