A couple of days after the performance I attended, the school's weekly paper featured an interview with the unnamed woman playing "The Naked Goddess of Peace and Reconciliation". No photos, no name, and very limited references to her background. Just a lot of questions and answers about her performance and how she felt about it. At the time of the interview, she had completed three of the four scheduled performances. I'll try to summarize what I read:
She was in her late twenties, married with a small child, was a grad student in a nearby university, which she didn't name. She'd never acted before, but wanted to try acting just for once.
College Paper: How did you get this role?
Her Answer: I saw a casting call for a non-speaking part in a comedy, to play a Goddess on a throne. I figured, all I'd have to do is be there, no real acting. Plus, it might be fun being a Goddess. No pay, all volunteers. When I went for the tryouts, nobody else was trying for the role, because any serious actor would want lines and motion, to show off their skills to make a name and start a career. Since I'd never been an actor before, and was studying for a different career, and it was just four performances, I figured I could fit this in and have some fun. I got the part. But even though there wasn't much for me to learn, I'd be a stage prop for the other actors which meant I'd have to be at every rehearsal. They didn't tell me I'd be the focus of the whole play, and no mention that I'd be taking my clothes off!
College Paper: How did you agree to get naked?
Her Answer: Ha! They kind of eased me into it. The original cast call said nothing about nudity, and at the first rehearsal, they gave me a "nude" body suit, a flesh-colored Danskin with appliqués for the nipples and pubic hair, and a long blonde wig, long enough to reach my waist. Right away, the director noticed that everyone kept dropping their lines trying to describe what they couldn't see, trying to describe the details of my actual nipples and pussy without being able to see them. After a few more bummed tries, the director asked me if I could let them have a quick peek at the parts in question, then cover back up. Right away I was against it, but she, the director, said it would be like changing backstage, which all the actors have to do anyway. They'd all seen each other naked, if only briefly, I told them I'd have to think about it, I'd never been seen naked before. I was still afraid. So we continued that rehearsal with me still in the body suit.
...It was two days until the next rehearsal, and I used that time getting used to being naked. When I was alone in my apartment, I stripped off while studying for my grad course, but got dressed before my husband got home or if I had to go pick up our child. At the next rehearsal, I told the director I might be ready to flash! After a short while I felt brave enough, so they asked me to strip off. I did, but just for a minute, then quickly got back into the body suit. I felt embarrassed. We went through the rest of that day's rehearsal with me in the body suit. But right away everyone noticed how smoothly the lines went after that one little peek, once they'd seen what they needed to talk about, namely my lady bits. The director thought about the improvement and asked If I'd mind losing the body suit entirely, and playing the part in the nude? No! A quick peek was embarrassing enough, but to stay naked the whole time? I don't think so.
...She gave me some encouragement about playing a nude role. That when I'm on stage it's not me, but my character the goddess. The other actors who had done nude before told me they pretend they're wearing a mask so nobody in the audience knows whose body they're seeing. They gave me a real mask to wear while I still had the body suit on and asked me to just wear it for a while, and sure enough, I didn't feel like me any more. Next they asked me to strip off, but to keep the mask on. But I couldn't do that. I told them I'd have to think about it, I'd never been seen naked before. So we continued that rehearsal with me still in the body suit.
...At the next rehearsal, they gave me the mask again and said I should strip off only if I wanted to. No pressure? Ha! On with the mask, off with the body suit! I felt fine, since it was the goddess and not me. But no matter who the character was, it was my body standing there, the only person naked. Then they gave me the blonde wig. But the wig didn't fit properly with my mask still on, so I asked everyone to stand still for a moment while I removed the mask to make sure I wouldn't freak out being nude in front of them without it, because now it would be me and not the Goddess. And remember, I'm naked and they all have their clothes on. Actors, extras, stage crew, lighting people, food caterers, delivery men, everybody, janitors, even students wandering around. I felt like I wasn't really there, like an out-of-body experience.
...I was already naked, all I had to do was take the mask off. I was afraid the Nude Goddess would revert back to the Nude Me. I finally took the mask off, and for a moment I was Me again and almost started to run behind a curtain. But then they put that wig on me and I was the Goddess again. That's when I realized I could do this naked, and told them. The entire cast and crew rewarded me with a big cheer. So I stayed that way for all the rehearsals, and, as you know, for the public performances. Nude, wearing only the wig. So this is how they get you to play a role nude!
...Nude was really better, because I felt foolish in that skin suit with fake nipples and a fake bush sewn on. Nothing in my life is fake, and I didn't want to start now. If Aristophane's original script called for real nipples and a real bush, that's what I'd give them. By now I was fully into the production. I was part of the team.
...Since I was worried about being identified on stage, the makeup crew said they could make me look like a different person by treating my eyebrows and the corners of my mouth.
...So, I was the only one naked even during the rehearsals! At the dress rehearsals, we all got out of our street clothes, but I was the only one who stayed naked. The men got into their togas and strapped on those huge phalluses, and the women put on those loose, almost transparent, gowns. No underwear, I could see hints of their nipples and mounds, most with pubic hair but some not. But they weren't naked like me. I was the Goddess, the Naked Goddess!
...Speaking of pubic hair, there was a big debate over whether I should be smooth. I had a very full bush at the time. Shaving would make my lips more visible, but without hair how could they talk about a forest? So there, with the Goddess naked and sitting on a chair with her knees up, in front of a mirror so I could see too, the actors who had lines argued over how the area between 'her' legs should be presented. It was like they were all looking at the Goddess's body and, with the mirror, I was just another observer!
...You may wonder why this was such a big deal. Well, if you've seen or read the play then you know the Goddess's genitals are very important to the story, both visually and in the dialog. Once I agreed to do the part nude, the director wanted to make sure what was seen matched what was spoken. I learned that in the theater business this is called 'continuity', and without it the audience gets confused. After a long debate, she finally made the decision that the Goddess's lips would be bare. The only hair left would be a neatly trimmed triangle above the slit and going out to the sides, just to the crease of the legs. The remaining hair would be fluffed out for fullness. The director said we were lucky that I showed up with a full bush, because that gave her plenty to start with.
...I felt like I was in the doctor's office, and that they were describing somebody else's body, but of course they were looking between MY legs and talking about MY slit and MY hair and MY lips! Finally, the director wrote out some instructions to the salon where she gets groomed, and I went there the next day.
College Paper: What was the most difficult thing you had to do while rehearsing?
Her Answer: Well, after getting naked, nothing else really mattered. Everyone else wore either street clothes or their costumes, but all I had was a robe. But it came off whenever somebody had lines referring to the Goddess. It really took a lot of attitude adjustment before I could do that comfortably, and sometimes I still freak out at rehearsals. But the acting itself was easy, because I didn't have any lines to memorize, didn't have any moves except to swing down on the rope and then climb up on the throne.
College Paper: And what is the most difficult thing for you when you're on the public stage?
Her Answer: Besides holding off an orgasm, which is really difficult, just being naked in front of so many people. Besides strangers, there are people that I take classes with, my friends are there, even my sister and one of my brothers. I told them I was going to be in this play, but I didn't say what part I have, so they'll just figure I'm one of the warrior's wives and somebody else is the Goddess. The play's makeup staff was great, and the wig helps a lot. My own husband had trouble recognizing me, even though he knew what to watch for.
College Paper: Your husband? How does he feel about your playing this role the way you did?
Her Answer: By about the second or third dress rehearsal, he noticed I wasn't bringing the body suit home for cleaning. So I told him I'm doing the part nude, rehearsals and all. I didn't tell him how explicit it would be, just that I'd be in only one act and that he'd enjoy seeing the other women in their filmy gowns. That's all he knew before he attended the first performance. When my part came around, of course he saw the Naked Goddess swing down, and he knew that was my role, but he still had trouble realizing it was me. Of course, he figured it out. But he was still shocked to see that I was fully naked, the only one really, really naked, and of course he wasn't expecting to share with 400 other people the views that usually only he gets, and maybe my doctor. Hey, funny thing: I just realized my doctor was there last weekend, I wonder if he recognized me, maybe from my puss!
...Anyway, back to my husband. He said he didn't mind me being naked. I reminded him that it wouldn't matter if he minded or not, because the whole point of the play is that women have power to make their own decisions and to act in their own right, but anyway I was happy he liked it. He said he squirmed more over the dialog than about my being nude, but then he started feeling rather proud that I would do this. And he knows me a lot better now!
