Witches Can Be Right... A Moment in the Woods with Amanda Williams Ware

Today we blog with Amanda Williams Ware who stars as the Witch in Artes de la Rosa's staging of INTO THE WOODS which opens in just over a week! Witches can be right…… You'll probably remember Amanda for her scene stealing vocals in last years production of In the Heights where she played the salon diva, Daniella alongside Sarah Maria Dickerson & Natalie Coca. All three return this season in this epic retelling of the Grimm Fairytales.

Witches can be right...

 

The role of “The Witch” in Into the Woods is not the stereotypical villain character. She may be what her opposites consider to be evil at times, but like them she is driven and motivated by emotion and need, not by hatred or circumstance as most villains are. She also serves as a constant reality check and bubble-popper for the characters she is in the woods with, even if a cynical one. She comments on their self-absorption and lack of decision-making skills, taking on the role of conscience as well as manipulator. This is not to say she isn't jaded or selfish – she can be. Even though she has, in my opinion, justifiable reasons for being downright nasty, not to mention justifiable reasons for manipulating a desperate couple into doing her bidding, she still gets carried away with her self-pity and lets it be a negative motivator.  

 

Amanda Williams (The Witch) with
Sarah Maria Dickerson (Rapunzel) at
the first reading of the script.

Nevertheless, she is right. She is always right. She is so right, in fact, that she is blinded by her rightness. She is so sure of it that she loses sight of everything around her. She knows she’s right about locking Rapunzel in a tower, but can’t see past it enough to realize what it’s doing to Rapunzel. She knows she’s right about completing her spell, but gives no thought to what it might cost. Most of all, she knows she’s right about human nature. How, in her knowledge, we are selfish and ignorant and capitalizing. She knows we will blame and ruin and kill each other to protect ourselves, and she knows children watch it all and learn those habits only to repeat them, and don’t listen when we say, “Do as I say, and not as I do.”



Amanda Williams Ware stars as The Witch in
INTO THE WOODS
at Artes de la Rosa
February 21st - March 16th

I won’t tell you if “The Witch” is finally overcome by her hubris, or if she gets away in the end, or if she learns her lesson and magically turns into a good person. It’s up to interpretation which of these is true. I will tell you, though, that she will convince you she’s right about at least one thing before the night is over. And we’ll see how you feel about her in the morning.