1 actor, 7 roles: Mass shooting, then forgiveness
When she was offered her latest role, Trenell Mooring took a deep breath.
“I was terrified when they asked me,” said the Oviedo actress, a veteran performer on Central Florida stages.
The reason for her trepidation was obvious: The “role” is actually “roles.” Mooring plays all seven characters in “The Amish Project,” which opens Aug. 11 at Mad Cow Theatre in downtown Orlando. There’s no traditional set, no props to be seen. Other than a solitary chair, it’s all Mooring.
But fear can be a great motivator for an actor.
“One of the reasons I said ‘yes’ was I was scared,” Mooring says.
Another reason? The play’s compelling message.
“It’s a story of forgiveness,” Mooring says. And it’s a story that should speak in an especially emotional way to Central Floridians.
Jessica Dickey wrote “The Amish Project” after the 2006 mass shooting in a one-room schoolhouse in Pennsylvania’s Amish country. But Mooring and her director, Mark Edward Smith, are quick to explain that the play does not dwell on the violence.
“It’s not about the tragedy,” Mooring says. “It’s about what comes afterward, it’s about how to cope.”
In the wake of the 2016 shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, Smith says, local theatergoers will empathize with the characters in the 90-minute play.
“If it was produced in any community at any time, this play has a message for the audience,” says Smith, who is also an actor. “But certainly, in our community at this time, there will be an added resonance.”
Mad Cow will host talk-back sessions between the creative team and the audience following Thursday and Sunday performances of “The Amish Project,” which runs 8 p.m. ThursdaysSaturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays from Aug. 11 through Sept. 10 at the theater, 54 W. Church St. (Tickets $30-$40; call 407-297-8788 or go to madcowtheatre.org).
In October 2006, a gunman shot eight girls in a one-room schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa. Five of them died, and the gunman killed himself.
Both Mooring and Smith are in awe of the reaction from the local Amish community — who quickly offered forgiveness to the gunman’s widow and other family.
“I don’t know that I would have that in me,” Smith says. Adds Mooring: “I don’t think I’m that strong.”
Although the play’s themes include forgiveness and healing, “it’s not a preachy play,” says Mooring, who adds it’s surprisingly funny.
“I certainly wouldn’t call it a downer,” Smith says. “Ultimately, there’s a sense of redemption.”