Actor Garret Storms gets his feline on in Second Thought’s ‘Wink’
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
Rich@DallasVoice.com
Lately, Garret Storms has taken on the role as director to helm a number of shows throughout DFW. He also serves as the associate producer at Stage West in Fort Worth. He’s also an actor but it’s been a couple of years.
But did he think he’d be returning to the stage as a skinned cat back from the grave?
“Yes, I’m playing a cat, but you really just have to take it face value,” Storms said.
Second Thought Theatre opens queer playwright Jen Silverman’s Wink today running through July 13.
The theater’s write up description of the show:
At the intersection of violent desires, domestic anarchy and feline vengeance is …
………………………
Wink
Written by: Jen Silverman
Directed by: Jenna Burnett
Assistant directed by:
Tyler Benjamin Baker
Cast:
John M. Flores
Lauren LaBlanc
Omar Padilla
Garret Storms
Stage Manager: Hailey Green
Costume Design: Karina Sanchez
Sound Design: Claudia Jenkins-Martinez
Scenic Design: Justin Locklear
Lighting Design: Niels Winter
Through July 13 in Bryant Hall on the Kalita
Humphreys Theater campus,
3400 Blackburn St.
SecondThoughtTheatre.com
………………………
The 2019 dark comedy follows unhappy housewife Sofie and her bread-winning husband Gregor, who both seek weekly counseling from an unorthodox therapist, Doctor Frans. Wink is the cat. And Gregor has just skinned the cat. What chaos does Wink’s disappearance bring to the neatly-ordered reality Sofie, Gregor, and Doctor Frans have constructed?
Storms, who plays the titular character, sees it as a fable.
“A darkly, comic fable,” he said. “In fables, animals take on human characteristics for readers — or audiences — to access them.”
After such a gruesome death, Wink comes back to life, which is where Storms picks up the role.
“It’s fun but challenging. I’m still trying things and figuring out what sits right,” he said. “We as people hold tension quite physically, where cats, by default, don’t. So I’ve been trying to shed myself of that tension.”
Having been away from the acting side of theater, the play itself was an easy “yes” for Storms. This absurdity and darkness, he said, is right up his alley.
“This is the kind of work that interests me. Personally, I love stories that live best on stage and in front of an audience,” he explained. “We suspend our disbelief in theater differently than with movies, and this falls into that of asking an audience to do so.”
This is Storms’ third time working with Second Thought, but the first time since its new leadership of Parker Gray, Carson McCain, Sasha Maya Ada and Jose Torres.
But coming back to the company has been rewarding for his return to the stage. Storms talks like he’s in good hands.
“They are all wonderful and so prolific. I have such respect for them. And the director, Jenna, is top shelf,” he said. “Really, everyone in that room and company is doing nothing but their absolute best. Making theater is hard, but I’m really inspired by the spirit in the room.”
OK, but let’s go back a bit. Storms’ character was skinned and died — not the cutest of images, the audience does not witness such horror. But seriously, how — as a character — does Wink come back from that. Pissed?
“I don’t know which life this is for Wink. And it’s a devastating notion, but the playwright described Wink as reckless with power and bedraggled,” Storms said. “Plus, the horrible act is a metaphor as the play progresses. “
What Storms won’t be doing is an obvious cat appearance. There are no ears or tails. Definitely no fur. Instead, in collaboration with the director and costumer, they settled on more elements that read cat.
But he will slink around the stage as Wink interacts with the rest of the cast in all his feline fabulousness and, hopefully, knock things off shelves.
For tickets, visit SecondThoughtTheatre.com.