Abigail Lafont, acting senior, balances auditions and submissions for theatrical work with classes and rehearsal for five OCU productions during her last semester.
Lafont came to OCU from New Orleans to pursue an acting degree, eventually hoping to start a career in Chicago. Her experiences at OCU shifted her focus from realistic acting to movement work.
“I’m definitely more movement-based than my peers,” Lafont said. “I want a movement and physical theater career, while I see my peers going more toward traditional theater or realism.”
Lafont founded Motus Operandi, OCU’s first physical theater and movement company. She also has directed movement work in multiple OCU shows and currently is movement-directing War of the Worlds, the first Out of the Box production of the semester.
Intimacy choreography is another area of theater that caught Lafont’s interest. Intimacy directors choreograph moments of sexual violence or intimacy onstage to ensure actor safety and comfort. Lafont will serve as intimacy director for Elevator Girl, an OCUEdge staged reading, and Anton in Show Business, an Out of the Box production.
Lafont also is involved in two Stage II shows this semester. She assistant directed Music from a Sparkling Planet and will play “Kattrin” in Mother Courage and Her Children.
“None of my projects have interfered with my schoolwork, and everyone is really supportive,” Lafont said. “I’ve had to miss some Friday classes for auditions, but my teachers have been very understanding because they’re for my career.”
Lafont attended weekend auditions at the Institute of Outdoor Theatre (IOT) in North Carolina, Ozark, Actors Theatre in Missouri and Actors Theatre of Louisville, Kentucky in the hopes of meeting more directors and receiving offers for acting roles after graduation.
“I truly think Greg [DeCandia], my audition techniques professor, prepared us for auditions of all kinds because I feel comfortable walking into a room, assessing it and performing my pieces,” Lafont said. “The big cattle call audition at IOTs was a bit jarring because it was so fast-paced, and the accompanist didn’t give me a starting note. It was a good experience, though.”
Lafont said she plans to focus on Chicago showcase and video submissions, since she has finished her traveling auditions for the semester.
“If I start getting offers, this sounds cheesy, but it’ll be a gut feeling,” she said. “I’ll probably pray about my options and see where that takes me.”
If Lafont does not accept an offer for summer work, she will move to Chicago for a month immediately after graduation. Then, she will return to Oklahoma City to teach camps at Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, across from OCU, before moving back to Chicago in the fall. She said she wants to go to graduate school in England or Scotland and eventually teach in a university setting while acting.
Lafont said the semester is pulling her in many different directions, but she will miss OCU when she leaves.
“OCU annoys all of us at times, but this school has transformed us from tiny baby freshmen into prepared adults,” she said. “I’m enjoying meeting the underclassmen and appreciating what OCU has done for me during my time here.”
Gage Rancich, acting senior, worked with Lafont in directing Music from a Sparkling Planet .
“More than anybody I know, Abigail is ready to go at the drop of a hat,” Rancich said. “Coffee? There. Lunch? There. An audition five hours away? Just say when.”
Alex Speight, acting senior, said she worked with Lafont as director/movement director in last year’s Stage II All This Intimacy.
“She is exceptional at incorporating both what the director imagines and the actor’s impulses into a cohesive piece that tells a story and helps the action of the play,” Speight said.
Speight said she’s looking forward to three movement pieces in the upcoming War of the Worlds.
“I always picture things in my head, and she makes them better than I ever could have thought possible,” she said.
By Associate Editor Sage Tokach
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