Working hard on two loves

Theater and music: “It makes me crazy and it keeps me sane,” said Abby Ahmad, one of Pitt’s… Theater and music: “It makes me crazy and it keeps me sane,” said Abby Ahmad, one of Pitt’s very own actor/musicians. Graduating in December, Ahmad has spent her years as an undergraduate dedicating her time to her two loves. Recently playing in gigs throughout the Pittsburgh area, she will be appearing in Pitt Rep’s “Arms and the Man” by George Bernard Shaw, running through Nov. 21 at the Charity Randall Theatre.

Playing and writing since she was 12 years old and performing professionally since she was 15, she is a self-trained guitarist and vocalist. Having done musical theater here at Pitt, Ahmad received the chance to truly combine her two passions in Pitt’s staging of William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” She played the role of Maria in that production, but she was also asked to be the musical director. But instead of just selecting music, her ideas quickly transformed her position into that of composer. “I got to mesh my two loves together,” she said with a smile.

Indeed, theater and music go hand-in-hand for Ahmad. “The performance aspect of theater helped with my music and musical performances,” she said. “Music is easier for me to do because it’s a presentation of myself. Of course, sometimes it’s scarier just to be you,” she added with a laugh.

In “Arms and the Man,” Ahmad gets a break from playing “herself.” She was cast in the role of Louka, a saucy servant working in the Petkoff household.

“I’m usually cast in the seductive roles,” she said. “Just because I’m curvy.”

Set in Bulgaria in 1885 during the Serbo-Bulgarian war, the play’s heroine is Raina Petkoff. With naive views of love and war, she is engaged to the equally idealistic Major Saranoff. But her heart and her views begin to change when the pragmatic Captain Bluntschli crawls through her window and into her life. But don’t worry about Major Saranoff; Louka has been enjoying his attention on the sly.

The play explores the classic themes of love and war.

“It’s packed with social commentary,” Ahmad said. “Yet it’s really light and fluffy. It’s been a challenge to present the comedy without losing the undertones.”

Her character in particular helps illustrate the difference between romantic love and physical love. Of her character’s relationship with Major Saranoff, she said that “the passion is genuine, and the love for him is genuine, but he’s her ticket out,” referring to the social class that separates the two.

This will be Ahmad’s first performance on the Charity Randall Theatre’s proscenium-style stage; she’s used to the thrust stages of the lab studio or Henry Heymann theaters.

“I love thrust theater,” said Ahmad. “It’s so terrifying and invigorating at the same time.”

Having begun rehearsals at the beginning of October, she and her fellow undergraduate cast members have had little free time. Juggling classes, rehearsals and jobs, she comments: “You have never seen a more run-down group of kids. We put in at least as much, if not more, time than the athletes, but no scholarship.” But, sharing the sentiment of most actors, it’s all worth it in the end for Ahmad.

“Nothing is more rewarding than having someone tell you that what you presented was meaningful to them,” she said.

While Ahmad has great fun acting with her peers, who are her friends outside of rehearsals, Pitt Rep offers the wonderful opportunity to act with graduate students, faculty members from the University and teaching artists.

“Having them to go to as well as Stephen [Coleman, the director] makes the whole experience complete,” Ahmad said.

With weeks of rehearsal behind her and the show opening this weekend, Ahmad anticipates a smooth run. But with theater, you never know what’s in store on any given night, and according to Ahmad, “That’s what makes it so exciting and guttural, the fact that anything could happen at any moment.”