WEYBRIDGE — Former Lincoln resident and Mount Abraham Union High School student Grace Experience Blewer is just approaching her late-20s and is racking up stage credits at a torrid pace.
“Alicia” in “The Thanksgiving Play” with The Lyric Stage Company. “Agatha” in “Frankenstein” with the Cardinal Stage Company. “Emily Webb” in “Our Town” with Heartwood Regional Theater. And on it goes.
But the diminutive powerhouse is now performing in a play that will occupy a special place in her heart, no matter what comes next.
She’s playing the role of “Anne Austin” in the George Street Playhouse stage rendition of “Midwives,” a book written by her father and noted author, Chris Bohjalian.
“I feel so grateful to get to work on a project with Dad,” Grace, who for the stage goes by “Grace Experience,” said during a recent email exchange with the Independent. “And not only because he is an amazing novelist and now playwright. It is very rare to be in a situation as actor where you get to ask the playwright or the screenwriter, ‘Hey what did you mean by that?’ or ‘What is the character’s intention behind that line?’ For this show I have just been able to call Dad on the phone and say, ‘What is Anne saying here?’ That is very, very cool.”
Set in the fictional Vermont community of Reddington in 1981, “Midwives” charts the story of midwife Sibyl Danforth, who during a stormy winter’s night is thrust into a difficult decision of performing an emergency Caesarian section to save the baby of a woman she fears has died of a stroke during labor. This decision leads to a fierce legal battle.
“Midwives,” released in 1998, was Bohjalian’s fifth book. It was introduced to a wide audience through Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club, and went on to become a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. Bohjalian, who now lives in Weybridge, continues to have great success as an author, and some of his books — including “Midwives” — have hit the big and small screens.
As “Anne Austin,” Grace place Sibyl Danforth’s apprentice.
“When the play begins, (Anne Austin) has only been present for five births, so while she is witness to the labor she is not particularly helpful when things begin to go wrong,” Grace explains.
She tossed bouquets to her cast-mates, including Ellen McLaughlin (as Sybil Danforth), John Bolger, Molly Carden, Michael Cullen, Ryan George, Monique Robinson, Armand Schultz and Lee Sellars.
“I love getting to work with this amazing team of casts and creatives,” Grace said. “They are all ridiculously talented and smart. Also I gotta say, the ’80s hair is pretty great!”
It should be stressed that Grace earned her role; it wasn’t handed to her because her dad wrote the book. And her dad is understandably proud of her; not only to see her become the personification of words he put to paper when Grace was but a child, but also to see what she is becoming — as a person and as an artist.
“Grace is a remarkable actor for a lot of reasons: preparation, diligence, training and natural acting chops,” Bohjalian said. “But she is also incredibly vulnerable as a performer: she exudes openness on stage. I look at some of my favorite things she’s done, and whether it’s a howlingly funny turn in ‘The Thanksgiving Play’ or devastating ones in ‘Our Town’ and ‘Into the Woods,’ they all speak to the way her characters hold nothing back — nothing — and leave themselves emotionally raw.”
Bohjalian believes Grace’s talents and outlook have in part been shaped by her formative years in Addison County. She was able to revisit her old stomping grounds in 2018 to appear in “The Turn of the Screw,” directed by Melissa Lourie.
“Lincoln — most of the county — encourages empathy because we all know each other,” he said.
The George Street Playhouse’s staging of “Midwives” debuted on Jan. 21 and will run through Feb. 16 at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in downtown New Brunswick, N.J., at 11 Livingston Ave. For tickets or more information, visit GeorgeStreetPlayhouse.org or call (732) 246-7717.
The performances will be a double treat for Chris Bohjalian — seeing his work brought to life by a person he helped bring into the world.
“I love seeing her bring my work to life; it’s one of the greatest gifts imaginable,” he said. “No director who is directing one of my plays or audiobooks is ever going to cast her because she’s my daughter. There’s too much at stake for everyone. But when she’s right for a role — as she is for Anne Austin … I am thrilled. She’s just so incredibly talented and so much fun to work with. She’s a pro in every possible way.”
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].