Young Turkish Girl`s Interpretation of Shakespeare in the US

Turkish Life Magazine

If you are really serious in being successful in life, then there is no better way than educating yourself with the inspiring stories of other people who attained success. To see successful people may not be enough. You have to be able to see the sacrifices made, the efforts spent on the way to success.

Of course these stories are not only told to read for pleasure. These stories have to motivate, inspire and encourage the readers to be successful in their professional or private lives.

The key to being successful in life is to believe in oneself! Therefore, in the first pages of such a story, I will tell you about a Turkish girl who created her own chances, and chased her dreams. I will share with you the challenging story of Yasemin Eti who strives to become an actress in the US.

Yasemin Eti-Photo by Joe Henson

An Ankara native; Yasemin Eti discovered her passion for theatre in high school and with the encouragement of her drama teacher, her heart guided her to New York. She joined the auditions of five conservatories including SUNY Purchase. Although she did not think that she would be accepted by SUNY Purchase, which is a highly competitive State conservatory accepting only 18 drama students out of 800 applicants each year, Yasemin wanted to take a chance. One week after the auditions she found out that she was admitted! She went back to Ankara, graduated from high school and moved to NY to start her dream career and new life in NY. Teachers in her new school told her if she did not correct her accent, she would only be able to play Turkish or Middle Eastern characters. Yasemin had to face this issue in her freshmen year. That summer Yasemin spent every morning with diction exercises while her classmates were enjoying the holidays. Her dream was to be able to perform the classics in a language other than her native one. She did not want her accent or her being a foreigner to hinder this dream. She was able to astonish her friends and teachers when she came back from summer holidays.

Yasemin Eti as Katrina Van Tassel in “Sleepy Hollow” in her tour with Chamber Theatre Productions

In their first show at school “Marat/Sade” Yasemin was selected as the lead actress. In five consecutive plays Yasemin had parts at school and in Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht Yasemin was playing the lead again. In her junior and senior years she received the Outstanding Student Award for Acting. She graduated with distinction in May 2016.

A professional challenge started for Yasemin in her new life because she knew very well that NY was filled with many qualified candidates striving for a job. She knocked at doors of theatre companies, took part in auditions and she began to work in Alpha NYC and Eastline Productions with smaller roles. After a short time she was selected as one of the five actors to take part in the national tour of Chamber Theatre Productions. Yasemin moved to Boston for rehearsals and found herself on a five month tour visiting nearly 70 cities. The stories were the short classics of Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, W.W. Jacobs, Guy de Maupassant and Mark Twain. The company was performing 6 short stories everyday for middle and high school students. Five actors and three technicians of the company woke up at 7.00 am every day, set up the stage, got in costumes and make up, performed, took down the set, loaded the truck and traveled to their next destination for the next performance.

Yasemin as Saloon Girl in “Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” of the tour of Chambers Theatre Productions

For five months Yasemin slept in a different city every night, witnessed different faces of America, learned about the culture and different regions. She was very happy to share this experience with children because the performance was the first play many of the children in the audience have seen. She was rediscovering drama, finding the chance to practice what she learned and gaining new experiences.

From Marat/Sade by Purchase Repertory Theatre. Yasemin as Charlotte Corday.

After the tour was over Yasemin was back to NY. Her days were filled with film and theatre auditions. Nowadays, she is very excited about her part in “12 Angry Women” to be staged by Alpha NYC in April and “Richard III” by American Theatre of Actors, starring as Lady Anne. Yasemin was successful in the audition of Woodstock Shakespeare Festival and will be the starring as “Portia” in the “Merchant of Venice”. The rehearsals will begin in June and the play will be staged in July and August in Woodstock.

These are from the first pages of Yasemin’s story. Of course that is not all. Yasemin Eti will play many more parts on her way to success. She will gain a lot more theatrical experience and will play the lead parts in other classics.

From Marat/Sade

She will bring her unique self to Shakespeare’s character, continue to work with this pace, running from one audition to the other and chase her dreams. She will be the subject of many more interviews so as to become a respected and praised Turkish actress in the US.

Now it is time to hear her sincere answers to our questions.

Marat/Sade

Film or theatre?
Theatre.

What are the challenges and red lights of becoming an actress in the US?
America is now breaking its patterns. In an interview with a commercial agent, I was told that I would have never been able to find a job in the commercial sector ten years ago because I was not blonde and blue eyed.

Furthermore, there are many people in NY trying to have an acting career. Competition is high. You go to auditions and wait to be called with 40 people that look just like you. Then only one person gets the part. There are many actors who are unemployed for almost two years. It is a risky profession. Even getting an appointment is hard. In this profession you get told No more than you get told Yes. Not giving up, not losing self confidence, and your love and passion for the art requires strength and perseverance.

What kind of an audience are you? What was the recent movie/play you watched? Do you watch TV series?
I love to watch movies and plays. I wish the plays were as affordable as movies but unfortunately you sometimes have to pay around 200 dollars to see a play in NYC. I like movies from different countries. There are wonderful cinemas in NY showing only “Foreign” or “Indie” films. Recently, I was able to watch Cate Blanchett’s “The Present” on Broadway. I watch TV series. Currently I am watching Narcos. Game of Thrones, Stranger Things and Orange is the New Black are my favorites. It is very difficult for me to follow a series. If I do not like it in the first ten minutes, I don’t continue but if I like it I try to watch it all.

Yasemin as Jackie in Hay Fever by Eastline Productions

How do you get prepared for your part? How do you work on the character you will perform?
First of all, I read the play 3 or 4 times. I try to understand the story and grasp the message conveyed in the play. Then I do the same for the scenes my character is seen. My professors in the Conservatory always told me that the aim of an actor is to carry the story told by the author to the audience. For this reason, I read the story over and over in order to understand what my character adds to the story.

Then I check what the other characters say about my character in the play, what my character says about herself and what the author says about my character. Moving from these I try to analyze the personality, cultural values, morality, principles, dreams, expectations, goals and fears of character. I watch movies and TV series with characters similar to the one I will perform. I do a lot of research. I do these as my homework before the rehearsals, so that I have the time for trial and error and for discoveries during the rehearsals.

Yasemin Eti as Bernice in Stage Door by Purchase Repertory Theatre

What does the stage mean to you? Why do you work so hard for it?
Nothing in life pleases me as much as the stage. When I am on stage I feel like everything falls into place because the audience can find a part of themselves. While watching some plays I identify with the character so much that I find the solution to my problems while witnessing their stories. To think that I can do the same for the audience gives me joy. The idea of helping people through my work makes my efforts worthwhile.

Yasemin Eti as main character Grusha in Bertolt Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle

Do you think there should be a message conveyed by theatre? What is the role of theatre? As a person experiencing two cultures how are the differences of culture reflected in theatre? What cultural differences do you see in different audiences?
The role of the theatre is to tell people about people. The role of the theatre is to make people question the values, rules and principles that they normally do not question. The role of the theatre, as said by Shakespeare in Hamlet is to hold a mirror up to nature. I think the best plays are the ones that send a message; the ones where people can in one way or another find a piece of themselves.

The cultural difference is reflected on the stage to a great extent. I think especially in comedy there are significant differences. In my opinion tragedy is somewhat more universal. Additionally, I do not think that some plays qualified as funny for Americans can be perceived as funny by Turks and vice versa. I think comedy is dependent on the social and cultural values of human beings.

Marat/Sade

AHave you ever been faced with a different reaction or attitude in a performance because of your accent or ethnicity?
Most of the time the audience does not understand that I am a foreigner. if they knew that I am Turkish prior to the performance, they always ask how I can speak such good English. My ethnicity never led to a problem until now. On the contrary, because of my looks no one can exactly understand where I am from. Some think I am a Latina; some say Italian or Greek or Middle Eastern. It really makes my job easier. If I do the accent work necessary for the part, the audience generally believes that I am from that ethnic origin.

Is there a part that you want to perform very much or that you think will suit you very much?
I think Anthon Chekhov’s characters suit me perfectly. While working on Chekhov in the Conservatory, my American friends had difficulty in understanding the plays due to cultural differences, but I think the understanding of sincerity, eating and conversations around the dinner table are quite similar to what Turkish people do. These characters are guided by their heart and I see these features in me.

Do you want to share your experiences from this journey?
A Patience is very important. patience, faith and perseverance. If you want something, rather than waiting for it to come to you, you must work hard, strive and struggle to get it. If despite all your efforts you did not get what you strived for, then you should know that another opportunity awaits. One must always believe that dreams come true.

Any regrets?
Sometimes after a play; a few months after closing, something happens or I visit some place, I watch a movie or I go to a museum and I discover something very important about the character I played. Then I say “I wish I had the chance to discover this before closing the show because I would the played the part way better”. For example, in Chamber we performed the same play everyday for 5 months. We had a total of 70 performances. After the tour was over, one day I went to visit a mansion which was turned into a museum. One of the characters I was playing while on tour always longed for grandeur in her home. She dreamt of gold, silver and diamonds. She wanted to attend balls. I was never able to understand her longing for this lavish lifestyle. I understood the feeling for the first time that day as I walked through the halls of the mansion. Of course at this point our show had already closed. What’s done was done.

A tiny quiz for you if you had to answer in one word:
a) Stage – Life
b) Love – Root
c) Fame – Volatile
d) Money – War
e) Family – Warmth


Engin Tufan Sevimli | Turkish Life Magazine © 2017 | NEW YORK