Question and answer with the cast of Driving Miss Daisy

Ansley Valentine playing Hoke

1) What is the biggest challenge you face when playing your role?

In playing "Hoke" there are a number of challenges. First of all, I have to be a believable elder man who becomes older over the course of the play. I am fortunate to have grown up around older people--especially men much like Hoke. I can pull from my personal background to give me a place to start. The other challenge will be to look at the play with fresh eyes. I did the show about 10 years ago. Although I am a little closer to the age of the character, I still have some muscle-memory of the first time I played the role. I am working through to keep the good things, and with Dale McFadden's help, finding lots and LOTS of new things.

2) What do you look forward to most in the rehearsal process?

This is an easy one: working with this incredible cast. Last year marked my official return to professional acting. "The Boys Next Door" was an incredible experience. And I would be hard pressed to find an equal to that. However, I think there is one with this cast. It is so nice to walk into the first read through and immediately find an intellectual and emotional connection to your fellow actors and the text. If you can look at each other on the first day and generate strong, true responses, then you know the ride will be a wonderful one.

3) What do you think makes Driving Miss Daisy still relevant to today's audiences?

I think the other challenge of the role is not becoming a stereotype. I think many people might look at this character being one of those "old time" maid/butler/servant roles. However, it is much more than that. For a time, my grandmother and great-aunts worked as domestics. They told lots of interesting stories about the folks they worked for. Like it or not, this is our history. In this play, we get to see so many dimensions that might have been hidden from view. I think it is relevant for today's audiences for many reasons. Some people claim we are in a "post-racial era" with the election of President Obama. But as Hoke says in the play, “Things changin', but they ain't change all dat much.” The lessons in the play about trust, forgiveness, friendship, and love are timeless. Perhaps looking at them through this particular lens, the audience can learn many more.

I want to also throw in a plug for this theatre program as a whole. I think when we are going through school, we do not always appreciate the training we are receiving, and how that will play into our future careers. However, I did appreciate the work here, and the things I learned--but now I am REALLY seeing the benefit of that training. As I approach this play, I have an incredible freedom as an actor. I have this ability to access things that I did not have before I came to IU. I really have to thank all of the profs for that, and Bruce Burgun in particular.

Martha Jacobs playing Miss Daisy

1.  All of the characters in Driving Miss Daisy age 25 years during the play. Finding the changes that come over twenty-five years is an interesting challenge. All three of these characters are deeply rooted in the South. I have lived mostly in the northeast and in the midwest, and I really don't have personal experience of the culture and pace of the South. I've been talking with people who are from the South and reading personal stories of people who are Southern natives.

2.  Everything:  working with my fellow actors, making the big and little discoveries about the play and the character, hearing the director's responses and guidance, finding inspiration in the work of the set, costume and lighting designers.

3.  Driving Miss Daisy is about the relationships between a Southern Black chauffeur, an older Southern Jewish woman and her businessman son. The story is largely about chauffeur Hoke's warm, firm insistence on his personhood and Daisy's dawning consciousness of her own racism. Like all plays, Driving Miss Daisy is finally about love, of course. But the struggle to see oneself clearly and to grow is not only always relevant, I think it's why we go to the theatre.

Matthew Buffalo playing Boolie

1.  Every role has its unique challenges, and as the rehearsal process continues, new challenges emerge.  At this point in the process physical adjustments due to the passage of time is a huge challenge for me.  My character ages from his early 40's to mid 60's in the course of the show.

2.  What I love most about the rehearsal process is discovery.  It's amazing how every day of rehearsal there is some sort of discovery involved.  Sometimes it is as small as gaining a deeper understanding of a specific line or as large as personalizing the physical characteristics of the character.  I thoroughly enjoy the rehearsal process.

3.  Driving Miss Daisy is definitely relevant today.  Racism, aging, class, and family issues and struggles, which are just a few of the topics dealt with in the story, are all very active in today's society.  I know in my own family, some of these issues are very alive.  I definitely relate to this story on many different levels.  The characters are also recognizable.  I believe every audience member will know someone in their own family or community that is similar to these characters and the issues in Driving Miss Daisy.