{"id":42663,"date":"2019-02-17T13:38:11","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T19:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=42663"},"modified":"2019-03-11T12:51:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T18:51:18","slug":"daisy-blake-has-waited-15-years-to-have-a-little-fun-with-julie-jensens-o-vixen-my-vixen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/daisy-blake-has-waited-15-years-to-have-a-little-fun-with-julie-jensens-o-vixen-my-vixen\/","title":{"rendered":"Daisy Blake Waited 15 Years to Have a Little Fun with Julie Jensen’s O Vixen My Vixen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Daisy Blake as O Vixen My Vixen in Julie Jensen’s “Wait,” photo by Robert Holman.<\/p><\/div>\n

Daisy Blake has waited 15 years for this role. It\u2019s not an iconic one \u2014 Lady Macbeth or Blanche DuBois \u2014 nor even a lead; but it\u2019s one she says is on her theatrical bucket list, the one she has chosen to embrace after a 5-year absence from the stage. It\u2019s O Vixen My Vixen (yes, that\u2019s a character\u2019s name), from Julie Jensen\u2019s play \u201cWait,\u201d opening this week at Pygmalion.<\/p>\n

The play is set in Beaver, Utah, so Vixen is played with a dash of hick and a spritz of ditz, but listen closely and you might catch a hint of Blake\u2019s British accent. She was born and raised in England in an artistic clan: her mother, Jann Haworth, and father, Peter Blake, were major figures in the British Pop art movement, and siblings, stepsiblings, uncles and cousins all work in the creative sphere. Blake, herself, studied writing and acting. She came to Utah in 2002, following her mother, and stepfather, Richard Severy, who had relocated to Sundance a half decade before. She expected to write \u2014 she had been working for a newspaper in England \u2014 but that changed when she picked up a job working for Salt Lake Acting Company, answering phones.<\/p>\n

She quickly graduated to the stage when a co-worker approached her about auditioning for Charles Mee\u2019s \u201cBig Love,\u201d a reworking of Aeschylus’ \u201cThe Suppliant Women.\u201d That the role called for her to strip naked in the first scene didn\u2019t deter her, if only because she didn\u2019t think she would get the part. But she did, and learned to take one stress at a time. First, learn all the lines \u2014 she appeared on the stage for almost the entirety of the play \u2014 worry about the nudity later. That came about at dress (or, if you like, \u201cundress\u201d) rehearsal, in front of all her co-workers. \u201cAfter you\u2019ve done that, nothing else is as nerve-racking,\u201d she says, though acting continues to be anxiety-inducing and she has learned she likes less-prominent roles. \u201cI much prefer parts that are small \u2014 come on and go off, and have some fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

That describes the first role she really wanted,<\/em> which came later that season with Salt Lake Acting Company\u2019s premiere of Jensen\u2019s \u201cWait.\u201d It\u2019s a coming-of-age story about moving out of the house (even if only into a UPS truck), connecting with your high-school crush, and discovering the thrill of the theater. Vixen is the lead\u2019s love interest and catalyst for many of the play\u2019s comic moments. In 2003, Blake made it down to the last two in callback, but lost the part. Fifteen years later, Pygmalion announced they would be doing it for their 2018-2019 season. \u201cI wondered, should I audition or not,\u201d Blake says. She hadn\u2019t done a part since Pygmalion\u2019s The Women of Lockerbie<\/em>, five years before, and, \u201cI didn\u2019t want to audition again and not get it, because it\u2019s this role that\u2019s kind of a bucket list thing for me.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d her husband, Jay Perry, told her. \u201cIf you want the role, audition for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry should know. He\u2019s a regular in Salt Lake City\u2019s theater world. The pair met at an audition, where he got a part; she didn\u2019t. \u201cI was distracted,\u201d she jokes. \u201cHe threw me off.\u201d She admires his ability to tackle multiple plays in a year. She struggles to manage one. \u201cIt helps to have Jay in my corner, because he does so much acting.\u201d He understands the ups and downs of a run \u2014 the thrill of week one, the frustrations of week two \u2014 and can help talk her through them. It\u2019s reciprocal, and Blake notes it\u2019s important that they stagger their work, so that \u201conly one of us is crazy at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being an actor in Utah usually means working a day job, then rushing to rehearsals in the evening. Since 2014, Blake has been the content manager for the news site Gephardt Daily. These days she has been writing for them 50 hours a week, then heading to the basement of the Rose Wagner for rehearsals. She says acting and writing are far enough apart that she can feel rejuvenated rather than exhausted when going from one to the next.<\/p>\n

Writing actually put a halt to her acting career. When she began writing theater reviews for In magazine, the Salt Lake Tribune\u2019s weekly that lasted from 2010-2012, she had to forgo roles \u2014 too much of a conflict of interest. She didn\u2019t \u201cmind one bit \u2014 acting is great for me, but the flip side is I have some anxiety attached to it. \u2026 Writing is a private thing. You don\u2019t have to get up and commit and have people looking at you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A similar conflict has kept her from the stage while writing for Gephardt Daily. That, and the long hours. \u201cWait\u201d is a bucket-list exception. \u201cIf I\u2019m going to act again,\u201d she told herself, \u201cit has to be a role I really want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

She calls \u201cWait\u201d \u201can interesting mix \u2014 you read it and think it\u2019s a realistic play, but it sort of teeters on the brink of realism and satire,\u201d she says. It\u2019s the story of Wendy Burger, a small town girl who drives a UPS truck but tells her father she\u2019s getting into acting, because that\u2019s something he can brag to his friends about. She\u2019s driven out of the family home by his new girlfriend, a woman whose most appealing trait is her ability to bring home meat from the slaughterhouse where she works. Wendy finds refuge first in her truck, then in an apartment owned by a long-married and constantly bickering immigrant couple and ultimately in the old opera house her friend Lu is converting into a theater, in order to, in his words, \u201cspeak the language of dreams.\u201d \u201cAll the characters are based on real people with realistic journeys,\u201d Blake says. \u201cBut at the same time there\u2019s a touch of absurdity to the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The premise is that Wendy is retelling her story, presenting her memories of a crucial juncture in her life \u2014 \u201cso, she could have transmogrified everything into something slightly absurd in her head,\u201d Blake says. Central to the drama of that moment is Vixen, Wendy\u2019s high school crush, whom she encounters at her friend Lu\u2019s fledgling theater troupe. Vixen lands the role of Ophelia in a staging of Hamlet where the lead ends up being a flickering blue light, and Wendy plays Ophelia\u2019s best friend, Lisa. The opportunity to go over her lines, such as they are, with the object of her infatuation, is a dream come true for Wendy. Though the former cheerleader has a touch of the classic dumb blonde to her, Vixen is, for Wendy, \u201ca bird of paradise in human form.\u201d \u201cTo play [Vixen] as a vacant blonde is completely boring,\u201d Blake says about the role. \u201cThe challenge is to make her into a funny, ditsy character; but funny because she\u2019s rooted in reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had she gotten the part in 2003, would Blake have played it differently? Definitely. She would have taken it far more seriously, she says. \u201cYou grow in the interim. … I\u2019m less anxious than I used to be about [acting].\u201d Back then, it would have been more structured. Now, she finds herself slipping into the role, enjoying it. \u201cAs an art form, it\u2019s just acting,\u201d she reminds herself. \u201cYou\u2019re not a brain surgeon. … it doesn\u2019t matter, so you might as well have fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo by Erica O’Brien.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWait,\u201d <\/em>by Julie Jensen, directed by Fran Pruyn, Pygmalion Productions<\/a>, Rose Wagner Center, Salt Lake City, February 21-March 9, arttix.org, 801-355-ARTS.<\/p>\n

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Daisy Blake has waited 15 years for this role. It\u2019s not an iconic one \u2014 Lady Macbeth or Blanche DuBois \u2014 nor even a lead; but it\u2019s one she says is on her theatrical bucket list, the one she has chosen to embrace after a 5-year absence from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3367,1424],"class_list":["post-42663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theatre","tag-daisy-blake","tag-pygmalion-productions"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Daisy_Blake-1-e1550692360283.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 01:43:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42663"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42717,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42663\/revisions\/42717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}