Celia Keenan-Bolger (‘Mother Play’) on embodying Paula Vogel in one of ‘the most powerful’ scenes of her career [Exclusive Video Interview]

Celia Keenan-Bolger received her fifth Tony nomination for “Mother Play,” but beyond her own recognition, she is most excited that she gets to navigate awards season alongside her nominated co-stars Jessica Lange and Jim Parsons. “It’s so clear from the inside that the system does not function without one of the parts,” she says, describing their tight, three-person ensemble. “Particularly because this is a family drama and because what Paula Vogel wrote has such personal relevance, and she’s really drawing from her life. It sort of opened up the floor for all of us to talk about our personal family lives, which then just has made us even closer,” expresses Keenan-Bolger. Watch the exclusive video interview above.

The Tony-winning actress portrays Martha in the new play, a character that serves as a stand-in for a young Vogel. It’s a part that the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright created specifically for Keenan-Bolger, teasing a role for her about eight years ago. When the actress finally received the script, she was shocked to discover that she would be inhabiting the writer’s real life experiences. “I started reading it and I was like, oh my God, this is like to play a version of her,” remembers Keenan-Bolger. “And honestly, I think if it had been someone other than Paula, I would’ve been so intimidated and so scared. But having worked with her before and just knowing the spirit that she brings into a rehearsal room, there is so little ego.” Thankfully, Vogel wasn’t precious with keeping details completely accurate if it didn’t serve an actor’s approach. “It made us feel like there was liberty inside of the story, even though it was so personal to her,” says Keenan-Bolger.

WATCH Jim Parsons video interview: ‘Mother Play’

Given the creative license she felt in embodying Martha, Keenan-Bolger fortunately never felt like she had to do an imitation of the playwright. “It feels so delicate because on one hand I feel such responsibility both to represent Paula, who I genuinely think is one of the most important figures of the American theater,” she explains, “but then I think we’re not particularly similar. I think if somebody said, who’s the perfect person to play Paula Vogel, I don’t know that you would come to me. So I had to sort of figure out what I can thread into this performance that is very much of Paula, and what do I release myself from some responsibility and say: Martha.” So while some fans of Vogel may spot physical or vocal similarities, Martha is a creation all her own.

It could be argued that Martha is not as “loud” a character as the ones Lange and Parsons are playing. Keenan-Bolger spends a great deal of the play observing her stage family, as Martha soaks up the actions of her Mother and Brother, and learns two very different paths in life when it comes to caring for family. “A lot of people are the observers, the sort of ones who either feel on the outside or have been placed on the outside,” suggests the actress, noting that she feels great responsibility to accurately represent that aspect of the family dynamic.

SEE Tony Talk: What will win Best Musical?

This is perhaps best exemplified in the final, quiet, moments of the play. Martha is caring for her elderly mother who scarcely recognizes her anymore thanks to a deteriorating mind. Martha offers a rare moment of touch, a soothing wet sponge against her mothers skin, as Keenan-Bolger and Lange hold each other’s eyes for a moment. “Paula said at one point that she was trying to create a play that was a forgiveness ritual and that she was trying to make something that brought her closer to forgiving her mother,” explains Keenan-Bolger. “That last scene, it’s like the gift that Paula has given all of us that it’s like somehow they are also grappling with: they either need forgiveness or need to forgive…Jessica and I get to embody it. And then the audience gets to think in their own life where they are also looking for some moment of forgiveness.” You can hear a pin drop during that finale in the Hayes Theatre, and even the actors have to resist the urge to shed tears. As Keenan-Bolger sums it up: “I think it is one of the most powerful things that I’ve ever gotten to be a part of on stage.”

Keenan-Bolger won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In addition to her latest bid for “Mother Play,” she has earned previous Tony nominations for “The Glass Menagerie,” “Peter and the Starcatcher” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

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