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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Angela Robinson (cont.)

O.M.: If you could say anything to you women that are in the same place as Celie - who are in an abusive situation - what would you, as Angela the actress, say to them, and what would Shug the character say?

A.R.: Angela would say, "Know your worth and know that you have so much to offer - and don't let anyone treat you any less - you are a child of God". Shug would say something like, "Hell no - get out! We're coming to get you. We've got the guns; we ain't gonna let anything happen to you!"

That is the great thing about The Color Purple - Sophia, Shug, Squeak, and Nettie are saying the same thing - but they are different, and so they say it differently. Nettie is the intellectual one - she is going to school, and for the time (period) that the play takes place, that is unheard of.

Squeak is the Airhead, Sophia is the fighter, and Shug is the sexy one. They all say it differently, because they all come from different background - but they are still there for Celie. That is what makes it a human story, and not a Black story or a woman's story. It is a human story, because we all have people who are there to help us.

O.M.: Do you relate to the character of Shug, or is she so different from yourself that you have really created a different character?

A.R.: I think we are different, but my cast members don't think that - and we fight abut it all the time. She is not so different from me that I can't relate to her.

But, I became an actor so that I can play people that are different from me, and I enjoy that. It is the fulfillment for me as an actor to be able to play roles like this!

O.M.: What advice would you give to young actors?

A.R.: LOVE IT... make sure your passion is there. There are many reasons; fame and money are not the reasons you should be doing it for. You have to love it.

And then you have to study it, to make sure that you know the craft you are a part of. That is what I would say, "Love it, Study it, and Go for it." The love of it will keep you in it.

Tickets for The Color Purple at the Bass Concert Hall start at $19.50, and are available at Texas Box Office Outlets - including most H.E.B. stores - by phone at (512) 477-6060 or online at www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com. For more information, visit the Texas Performing Arts website at www.TexasPerformingArts.org.

(Photo: Angela Robinson and Kenita R. Miller; photo courtesy BroadwayWorld.com)