SEATTLE — Teenagers running around their small town. A very weird incident. A girl, alone after the loss of her twin, telling her story.
So unfolds “The K of D, An Urban Legend,” starring Renata Friedman, herself the product of the small town of Port Townsend.
The one-woman play opened Jan. 14 at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and many performances have sold out. It runs through Sunday, Feb. 20.
Last Sunday, Friedman got a standing ovation for her portrayal of its 16 characters who range from young teen boys and girls to a couple of middle-aged parents.
In this story, the “K of D” stands for “kiss of death” — literally.
It’s set in tiny St. Mary’s, Ohio, where “skinny Charlotte McGraw” sees her brother die in a car-versus-skateboard accident. From there, an urban legend grows, with Charlotte at its center.
One look at this actor in her jeans and sneakers, and it’s clear she fully owns “The K of D.”
Prowling the stage set, with its ghostly lake grass and broken-down wooden dock, she moves like a bendy doll, her voice changing from Becky Ray’s smoky purr to the growl of Johnny, driver of the car that killed Charlotte’s brother.
St. Mary’s isn’t Port Townsend, but Friedman knows how rural kids can cook up spooky stuff.
“You become each other’s entertainment,” she said. “I definitely understand that feeling of community, of growing up with the same kids since you were 2.”
Yet unlike skinny Charlotte, Friedman’s small-town girlhood was a good one.
“I loved it,” she said. Life in Port Townsend “promoted a lot of creativity.”
Friedman worked in the family business — her father, Rocky Friedman, bought the Rose Theatre in 1992, when she was 12 — and knew she wanted to be an actor by the time she was a teen.
But it was the stage, not the screen, that beckoned.
“As soon as she turned 16 and could drive, she was driving to Seattle to take classes,” Rocky Friedman remembered.
“I went every Monday night, and I would get home after midnight,” added his daughter.
“I can’t believe [he] let me do that, but I am very, very grateful he did.”
Renata Friedman went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts at New York University.
She then toured the country with the Aquila Theatre Co.’s productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
She later “met a fellow, a wooden-boat builder, not a profession you can pursue in Manhattan,” so she elected to move to his city.
“I kept getting work out here” in Seattle, so it made sense to switch coasts, Friedman said.
“As I got older, quality of life became more important,” she said.
When Friedman traded in her Queens, N.Y., apartment for a place in Seattle, her rent went down by about $500 a month.
And in that theater-rich city, she could make a living as an actor without other day jobs, something few can do in New York.
Five years ago, Friedman got hold of Laura Schellhardt’s script for “The K of D” and workshopped it at ACT in Seattle.
She later raised her own money to stage it at a tiny basement theater on Capitol Hill and then, in 2009, brought it home to Port Townsend with nine performances at Key City Public Theatre.
From there, Friedman took the play’s 16 roles to New York City’s Fringe Festival, where it sparked “best of the Fringe” reviews.
The Seattle Rep’s production of “The K of D” is by far the most lush in its lighting and set design.
And returning to this play is a joy, Friedman said, since it gives her a chance to make it better than ever.
“As a performer, the little breakthroughs are just so delicious,” she said.
“The K of D” has its comic moments, but it’s also an exploration of something sinister: the curse a town puts on one girl and her struggle to rid herself of that curse.
“A question I love to pose to the audience,” Friedman added, “is when they’re watching these events, are they in the time that they happened, or are the characters erupting from this girl, as a sort of catharsis?”
Storytelling and live theater, as anybody who’s been to a good play knows, are powerful cathartic forces.
And “The K of D” has been drawing sellout crowds to the Seattle Rep since opening night.
Among Friedman’s many fans is, naturally, her dad.
“I love it,” Rocky said of the play — which he attended at all four of the previous venues.
“I’ve gotten to see sides of her on this stage that I had never seen before.”
Following “The K of D,” father and daughter will revisit a 7-year-old tradition: Friedman will come run the Rose for a few weeks to give Rocky some vacation time.
“It’s very fun. I get to pretend like I have a real job,” she said.
During March, April and May, Friedman will be back in Seattle, auditioning for the plays that will take her into 2012.
So why does she still choose live theater and not the movies she grew up watching at the Rose?
She answers in an instant: “the unpredictability, the abject terror” that overtake her as she stands in the dark before the show begins.
“It’s a great opportunity,” she said, “to really feel alive.”
Tickets to the play are available at www. SeattleRep.org and by phoning 206-443-2222 or 877-900-9285; Jefferson and Clallam county residents can enjoy a 30 percent discount thanks to the fact that Friedman is from the Peninsula.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
