Q&A with theater actor Denise Burse

Denise Burse is no stranger to Seattle theater-goers. After past roles at the Seattle Repertory Theatre in a pair of August Wilson plays — “The Piano Lesson” and “Radio Golf” — she’s back again for “Brownsville song (b-side for tray).”

The play follows a family from a tight-knit Brooklyn borough forced to move forward and make sense of it all after a high school senior, in the midst of the applying for college scholarships, becomes the victim of gang violence.

Burse discussed the play, which runs through April 24 at the Leo K. Theatre (155 Mercer St.), and her craft.

This is your third stint at the Seattle Rep. What keeps you coming back to Seattle?

Denise Burse: I like, first and foremost, the respect that Seattle Repertory shows to its artists and the overall respect of the greater Seattle community toward artists and their support of the theater, particularly the repertory theater here.

It’s really quite refreshing and also restorative in the sense that so many theaters have gone under over the years — most recently particularly because of the economy — and so it’s nice to know that there’s a stable institution that’s still around, that’s still doing cutting-edge theater, that’s taking the risk to do the playwrights that are not that well-known yet.

It’s an exciting experience to be a part of, so I’m happy to come back, I’m happy to be back and I hope everybody will come out and see the show, because I think it’s going to be that kind of experience for them, as well.

Is that kind of respect something you don’t necessarily see in other parts of the country?

Burse: Well, not to the degree oftentimes as you do here. There are many theaters across the country that are quite naturally respectful of artists — otherwise, they couldn’t continue to do what they do.

But there’s also some jadedness, if you will, from the larger community very often, and so you see situations where your artists were seen for their abilities and not necessarily their celebrity, if you know what I mean. So many theaters now are using names to get people in and see an event…but it leaves the larger artistic community oftentimes unemployed, and that’s what I mean when I say they make a real effort to put the shows and do them in a way that’s both professional and respectful, without the added celebrity to get the people to come in and see it, so I think that’s closer to what I was saying.

What drew you to this play and your role?

Burse: I actually auditioned for the piece in New York and was seen several times for it, but it went to a good friend of mine. I didn’t get to see the production in New York but was still very moved and very close to it in the sense of always wanting to get the opportunity to do the role.

And so when the Seattle Repertory opportunity came up and I actually landed the part, I was absolutely ecstatic because it was the fulfillment of a dream of a script that I was interested in that I thought was very provocative, that was very current in addressing the issues of our society today and really trying to talk about things that are probably divisive in the minds of people who don’t want to really understand the loss of our humanity and the need to get back to that, to really caring genuinely about people, regardless — across socio-economic lines, across racial lines, across religious differences, ethnicities, sexual orientations, all of that, just to understand that humanity is really at the core of our being able to exist with one another respectfully and, hopefully, lovingly.

What do you think makes the topics you tackle in this play so timely?

Burse: Obviously, the most vivid would be the loss of the young man who is the title of the play, Tray, and the manner in which he dies. That’s very timely, obviously, given the whole police brutality and all of that. But this is not a policing story necessarily.

Again, it goes back to what we’re doing to each other, but more importantly, the fact that it’s not important enough to be addressed on the local, state, national [and] international levels. That the lives of certain young men and women across this country don’t seem to matter as much, and so with that, I would urge those who may be hesitant because of the subject matter or may be hesitant because they are struggling with their own issues in terms of where they stand on that, to come out and really see from an emotional theatrical perspective what it feels like, what it looks like, and maybe from that make a different decision about how they want to address those issues. That human life is important, regardless to where you find that life, regardless to the racial status of that life or, as again I said, the socioeconomic status of that life…. That community should be broad enough and expansive enough that it’s not just within the surrounding streets; it should be the city, the state, the nation should really, really get behind that cause, because every life matters….

But I think there’s a level of rage that builds up because it seems like nobody cares or nobody’s making an effort to correct what is going on, and as a result of that, you get these very volatile situations within the confines of a household, a community, a city, a state, and then everybody is shocked and up in arms about it, but still coming from the comfort of their home or their easy chair or with the remote to turn it off at any given point, as opposed to getting up from their chair and really getting involved to see what it is they can do to help correct the situation so it doesn’t continue to happen.

Do you look back on any particular roles in your career to this point that you think help you in this play?

Burse: Many, if not most of the roles I have taken, I’ve obviously played an African-American woman, oftentimes in the confines of a family unit. Some of those have been as the matriarch of that unit, but I think that given my years of living now, my experiences on a personal level have obviously impacted how I approach the role.

The playwright is always informing just by virtue of the words on the page and the information they provide there, but I think my living more than anything else has informed me, and then the elders that I have had the good fortune to sit under have also informed me — not just in my own family but in my larger family.…

And I’m very fortunate that, more often than not, I’ve been in situations where it is a collaborative effort: The other actors that are part of it inform me as well, and that’s a really special experience because you get to know them on another level, other than just their characters. We spent time together outside of the theater, and so their experiences and personalities come to life in a way that might not happen if I were just watching and participating within the confines of the rehearsal hall, so that’s been very helpful for me, too.

And I think that our director, Juliette Carrillo, is very sensitive about what Kimberly has given to us, and she makes every effort to make sure that we stay on track in terms of that information and that we are focused on really bringing to life the characters that she’s created for us.

So all of those things coming together really, really help create the life of the character and bring to life the piece itself.

A lot of people may recognize you from your role on TV on Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne.” What are some of the challenges you face in a play versus coming back season after season on TV show?

Burse: Well, television is a completely different medium altogether. It’s that unseen character or actor that we have to play with, and that’s the camera itself. So it’s a different set of skills or techniques because the camera can be as close as we are now, and make it appears if you’re 10 feet away, or it can be 10 feet away and still get the smallest hair on your face or pickup any other little flaws you might not want the general public to see, so it’s a totally different experience altogether.

Unfortunately, oftentimes, as we age in this business — in particular, women, and women of color, specifically — the roles become much more limited, and unless you are an established name or already a celebrity or star, they don’t always come knocking…

My career started in theater, and I truly love it. I love the exchange that you get with the audience: It’s immediate, it’s always different cause, it’s always a different set of people, so their responses are going to be different, and that just keeps an element of excitement and freshness that you don’t get with television….

That’s part of the excitement and challenge for performers as well, because it means that you have to really be at the top of your game, but you also have to be able to roll with the mistakes as they’re happening and make the adjustment right then and there. And everybody around you in that scene has to be prepared to do that as well, so that’s when you really start to know that you’ve established a relationship with your cast mates over and above just performances or being in rehearsals and trying to get your individual parts together….

So that’s the beauty of theater, and I think that’s why I love it so much, because I know there are no fixes, it’s right there, it’s immediate, it’s fresh, and it means that the audience then gets to participate in that as well — I like that.

How do you build that rapport with the cast around you so that, when things go a little differently from night to night, you’re able to bounce off of it?

Burse: It develops over time, but you start to realize that you have to learn to trust each other, really trust each other, and I think that comes from, first of all, each person’s respect for the craft, the respect for the work that they’re doing, the respect for the play and the playwright and the director, and also respect for each other’s persons off the stage.

There have been situations where that doesn’t always happen, and so then it just becomes a matter of the person respecting the piece and respecting the craft and wanting to make sure that’s what stands up.

But when you have a trust or rapport that builds over time with your cast mates that is greater than that, I think you have a much richer experience. You share a much deeper respect for each other and a genuine caring for the well-being of the piece, but to also want to give room for the best possible performance for everyone, not just your own, but for everyone, because that’s what really makes the play come to life, when you can put that kind of energy into it.

You mentioned that as you get older and being a woman of color, you can see the opportunities you get winnow a bit. Do you think you’ve seen the door shut at all because of this?

Burse: I think on some level they probably have. I also think that we have the digital age has made us very critical of a woman’s appearance: If you don’t do a lot of fixing, that appearance to many becomes unattractive, as opposed to the reality of this is what it looks like at this point in life. So you have a lot of fixing done, and some of it comes off very natural and some of it does not.

So you’re in that quandary of how do I do this and still keep a career alive, and how do I do it and know that I’ve got to make some other career choices possibly. I think it comes down to making the choice that is going to give you that most satisfaction, that is going to be the healthiest for you emotionally and physically, because that feeds the kind of choices you try to make happen for yourself.

I’m at a point where I’m making some of those decisions, and again, I think it’s part of life and I think I’m up to the challenge, and I look forward to what is down the road.

I think that there are going to be some roles that will be extremely exciting in the sense that I will be able to play my genuine age. I had that opportunity recently in London with a Netflix show called, “Black Mirror,” and so I’m excited now to see if those kinds of opportunities continue to happen, and I think they will. I really, really believe that they will.

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