LisaRaye recently sat down with rolling out to discuss love, relationships, and the Je’Caryous Johnson play, Married But Single.
How were you introduced to the stage play, Married But Single?
I met Je’Caryous a couple of months ago through a girlfriend who owned Studio 11. I did a film for them and she said he wants to work with you. So I sat down and I met him and I’m gonna tell you this, I felt his spirit, the businessman in him. And I committed to the play before I even knew what the play was about because of him and his past success. So, I did a mild table read and it was fun. I was committed from day one.
What can we expect from your character?
I play Sharon and Sharon is involved with her significant other for like three years and she’s been there for him financially, physically, emotionally, and everything. And she takes care of him and she’s actually been taking care of him for a couple of years now because he’s an aspiring R&B singer without a career. And so she gets ragged out by her parents and by her girls. And so for me, it was very hard for me to be able to commit to such a character because she was so unlike me. Sometimes when you’re just doing it, you don’t realize what you’re giving to that person and what you’re doing and how you’re allowing them to be pulled by your motivation. And I said, you know what, from that perspective, I get it.
What are the differences from working on stage to working in film and TV?
It’s very different for me being in a stage play because on TV, the cameras follow you and there’s definitely, “Take two. What’s the line? What’s the line again?. It’s that. But on stage, there’s none of that, it is take one all the way through. So, if you mess up, you have to find that rhythm, you have to find your way, you have to be saved or save yourself and figure out where you are in the space. So, you have to make that story forward and you have to not only know your lines, but you have to know their lines because you may have to save them too. And what joke worked yesterday in D.C.’s audience, may not work in tomorrow’s audience in Chicago or Atlanta. So we’re always trying to find different ways to make it fresh and new.
What will audiences take away from the play?
We have this message that’s compelling to people that are in relationships. Sometimes people who are married act like they are single. And sometimes single people want to be married so bad that they are willing to do anything and they are lost sometimes. So, we have a message here that’s actually real, that we are able to make people think. It’s a thought provoking play. You’re sitting next to your significant other and it’s something in this play that’s going to make you think, tear up, laugh and it’s also very entertaining.
Married But Single” will play live at the Cobb Energy Center April 8 and 9
