Before moving up to play the Narrator in 2005, Katie was one of
Jacob’s many wives. “I spent my
first five years in Joseph as a part
of the female ensemble, playing
each part from wife, to jailbird, to
a screaming member of Pharaoh’s
court. At that time, my favorite
role to play was the ‘hairy Ishmaelite’ that buys and sells Joseph
off into slavery. I then traded in
my beard for a Bible and stepped
into the role of the Narrator, a
role I’ve reprised for the last ten
years.” Like most Bible stories,
there are far more male characters
than female, so playing the Narrator was quite a promotion. “My
focus shifted to building a rapport
with the audience, energetically
driving the scenes forward, and
using precise diction so that the
smallest word can be understood
clearly by the person sitting in the
last row in the balcony.” Unlike
most of the characters in the musical, Katie gets to break the fourth
wall, talking directly to the 2,000
people who fill the State Theatre
New Je rsey Stage
at each show. “The Narrator isn’t a
character, just a magnified version
of me - Katie Riley: my energy,
my silliness, my empathy, my passion.”
When asked about a memorable
moment from the past twenty
years, Katie remembers that she
got sick and missed her very first
performance! Thankfully, original narrator Kathleen Campbell
was able to fill in for her. Joe recalls that he hit the ground running – literally! “I was running
out and my shepherd’s crook got
snagged on the Mylar curtain and
I fell down. Hard!” But most cast
and crew agree it was the Blizzard of 2010, which, for the first
time ever, caused an entire performance to be canceled. At one of
the remaining performances, one
of the brothers couldn’t make it
to the theatre by curtain time, so
Massa asked a former brother sitting in the audience to jump into
costume so the show could go on!
Luckily, the original actor arrived
continued on page 64-->
December 2014
pg 62