Student actors join Kirk Players for ‘David and Lisa’

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Tim Trinka and Emma Morton are the title characters in “David and Lisa”; Jonathan Meier, (rear), director of theater at Mundelein High School, plays Dr. Alan Swinford.

Updated: January 27, 2012 10:46AM

Two Mundelein High School students are sharing a unique acting experience. Freshman Emma Morton of Hawthorn Woods and senior Tim Trinka of Mundelein play the title characters in Eleanor Perry’s “David and Lisa,” a co-production between the high school’s theater department and Mundelein-based Kirk Players.

The show is directed by Kirk Player Jon Leslie Lynn and the cast includes Jonathan Meier, director of theater at Mundelein High School, as Dr. Alan Swinford. The cast of nearly 30, includes high school students and adult community theater actors.

David and Lisa are residents in an institution for children with psychological problems.

Cold personality

Tim said that at the beginning of the play David is “very cold, very calculating — borderline inhuman. Toward the end of the play, he tends to warm up and be a little more kind to people but that doesn’t change the fact that he can be a bit of a jerk to everybody.” One manifestation of his coldness is the fact that David doesn’t allow anyone to touch him.

When David meets Lisa, his initial impression of her is “as long as she doesn’t touch me, she’s cool. Her case is interesting. She’s fun to be around,” Tim said. “She isn’t a complete and utter bore compared to the rest of the freaks around here.”

“Lisa is a very sweet girl but she has multiple personality syndrome,” Emma said. “When she’s Lisa, she’s giggly and happy. Generally, she’s very excitable — she hardly ever sits still. And when she speaks to you, it is only in rhymes. Unless she trusts you enough, she requires you to speak back to her in rhymes.”

Sometimes, though Lisa becomes Muriel. “Muriel is a little more aggressive,” Emma said. “She shows her intelligence a little bit more but she will not speak to you. She will only write.”

Emma said that Lisa “is very excited” when she first meets David. “She wants to go talk to the new guy. She wants to show off how sweet she is.”

“There’s a hint of a romantic relationship,” Tim noted, adding that he loves that the play doesn’t “try to shoehorn a romance in.” There is evidence in the closing scene of the play, however, that his friendship with Lisa causes at least one positive change in David.

“Personally, I think she’s always had a little crush on him because he didn’t ‘blow her off’ the way most people do,” Emma said.

Lisa begins to trust David, which is a huge step for her, Emma indicated. “In my opinion, she becomes more and more reactive to what other people are doing.”

Tim, who is fascinated by psychiatry, decided that David is dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder and possibly the form of autism known as Asperger’s syndrome. Because of his interest in psychiatry, Tim didn’t have to do much research into those conditions. “The most intense research I did was on chess maneuvers because I have to play chess a lot and I’m terrible at chess,” he said.

Two personalities

“To prepare for this role, I did a little research because Lisa also has schizophrenia, but I think her main problem is the multiple personality syndrome,” Emma said. “It’s actually not that uncommon of a thing for people with schizophrenia. So I tried to figure out how to differentiate the two characters.”

Tim, who has studied at the Improv Playhouse in Libertyville and taken singing lessons, first appeared on stage as an ensemble member in “Fiddler on the Roof,” during his freshman year at Mundelein. This is his sixth show at the school. Despite his talent and love of theater, Tim plans to study criminal justice at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wis.

Emma began acting as a seventh-grader at Fremont Middle School in a one-act show called “Saturday Matinee.” “I’ve been involved in it ever since,” she said. She plans to pursue an acting career.

“Being on stage is like a drug,” Tim concluded. “It’s the best feeling in the world to hear a cheering audience.”

Emma also finds acting thrilling. “There’s an adrenalin rush just before you walk onstage because you know everyone’s looking at you,” she said.