Queen Anne's Izabel Mar was told early this year that she got the part.
"When I found out I was so happy," she said. She'd been at school when she learned she'd been cast as young Pearl in the Intiman Theatre's new adaptation of "The Scarlet Letter." Her friends were thrilled for her, too. "I'm so glad I have friends like that," she said.
Just 12 years old, this will be Mar's first major show (though she had done a handful of regional projects), and any anxiety she may feel is completely masked by both an infectious excitement and a mature calm that dominate her personality. In an office at the Intiman, she talked about theater, how she got the bug, key supporters and where she wants to go with it - namely the stratosphere.
Sitting on a couch with her long brown hair draped over a blue shirt and red, star-spangled pajama pants, Mar recalled the audition during which she stumbled.
"I didn't do so well. I blanked out," she said about the four lines she was asked to recite. But for the callbacks she had it memorized and director Lear deBessonet gave her the part.
The young Pearl, Hester Pryne's daughter, is an "impish girl, who is moody, I guess. She goes from happy to angry really fast," Mar said. "She's taunted by the other children." She smiled, adding that Pearl is kind of like Wednesday from The Addams Family.
A big reader of young adult fiction (she loves Nancy Drew, Harry Potter and Percy Jackson) Mar read Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterpiece in preparation for the part and found it "very poetic." Intiman's adaptation of "The Scarlet Letter" is by Naomi Iizuka, who has written work often considered poetic such as "36 Views," "Language of Angels" and "Polaroid Stories." This version of "The Scarlet Letter" has a lot of movement in its staging, on a stage that has levels, which Mar has had to get used to.
"The hard part is part of the dance I do and adapting to the space," she said. "You have to take note of the slope of the stage. Here there are many levels."
The best part, she said, has been the support of fellow cast members and deBessonet.
"She's one of the best ever, really nice and she gets the play," Mar said. "She really gets into it."
"The Scarlett Letter" opens Oct. 22 and runs through Dec. 5.
As for the future? She wants to expand into TV and film. She wants to go to L.A.
"I want to do 'Glee' or something," she said. "I want to do something big."[[In-content Ad]]
