From Betty to a Bathtub
Girl-Band Member Amy Ziff Declares Her Theatrical Independence in 'Accident'

By Jane Horwitz
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, September 12, 2007

In her new solo performance piece, "Accident," Amy Ziff, the cello-playing member of the alt-rock girl band Betty, deals with matters of some gravity. Accidental suicide, for starters.

Her stage self tells us she slipped in the tub and accidentally sliced her wrist on her razor, landing her in the afterlife.

Sizing up her years on Earth with "good" and "bad" lists of her traits, Amy wonders whether she'll end up in Heaven or Hell. And whether she'll see the parents she misses so much.

Theater J is presenting "Accident" as part of its Incubator Series of new works at Studio Theatre's Stage 4 space through Sept. 23.

Ziff, whose conversational phrasing sometimes lilts like song lyrics, says she wants to explore "the whole idea of accidents versus intentions and what part of your life is accidental and what part of your life is actually by choice, and what part of your life is completely regrettable and what part is a celebration." She monologizes, sings, plays acoustic cello (no need for amplification in non-Betty mode) and takes on alter egos along her emotional journey.

The piece, workshopped at Theater J in January, was developed in New York with director Michael Greif ("Rent," "Grey Gardens"), who staged the show "Betty Rules" for the band, and with Rebecca Asher, script supervisor for HBO's "Entourage." She is staging the show here. Ziff took earlier versions of "Accident" to Canada and Italy.

Beyond quirks of fate, Ziff says she longs to peel away the mystery of depression.

"What makes depression and the feeling of being completely lost turn around for some people to experience complete joy . . . especially these days when there are so many things to make you completely afraid and curl up in a corner?" she wonders. "Is it just a question of going with the flow, or is it an active choice?"

The Washington area native won't say a particular experience sparked "Accident" but concedes a recent breakup had something to do with it -- "normal everyday life things where you say, oh, brother, it's happening again."

The other Betty members -- sister Elizabeth Ziff (their father was Washington actor Irv Ziff) and Alyson Palmer -- have encouraged her, Amy Ziff says. "We're all really excited and supportive of each other when we're working on individual projects. . . . It's really a great kind of feeling to know that your primary artistic family, to know that Betty is always there for you."

That's sort of what Ziff hopes people will get out of her little comedic exploration of death, depression, phobias and slipping in the tub: "Just to laugh at ourselves in this predicament and realize that in the end we only have each other . . . maybe our friends and family, and maybe ourselves."

See Ralph Run

For a time next month, Ralph Cosham will be in two places at once -- Baltimore and Washington. And no, it isn't the result of some new actors' relaxation-and-warmup technique.

Between Friday and Oct. 14, Cosham is handling two roles in "Arsenic and Old Lace" at Center Stage in Baltimore. And from Oct. 3 to Nov. 3, his voice will intone the narrative of "The Trial" in Catalyst Theater Company's new stage adaptation (by Christopher Gallu) of Franz Kafka's unfinished 1914 novel. Cosham already has recorded the narration and now is in rehearsals at Center Stage.

After "Arsenic and Old Lace" closes, says Cosham, he's eager to go to see "The Trial" and hear how his recording works -- "and then going backstage to congratulate myself on how good I was."

The British-born actor (from Eastbourne, a resort town on the Sussex coast) has assayed innumerable character parts with Shakespeare Theatre Company and the Folger and spent more than a decade as a member of Arena Stage's resident acting company in the 1980s and '90s. Yet he gets a kick out of appearing with little Catalyst, an experimental group that charges $10 per ticket. It performs at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 545 Seventh St. SE; http://www.catalysttheater.org.

They're "a great little group," says Cosham, who began acting here in the 1960s with the long-defunct Washington Theatre Club under the leadership of the late critic, director and educator Davey Marlin-Jones. Catalyst "reminds me of Washington Theatre Club," Cosham says, "doing really good stuff on absolutely no money."

He first worked with the company in its version of George Orwell's "1984." Always the epitome of suavity and urbanity on the stage, Cosham seems readily able to plumb those qualities for good or evil, comedy or tragedy. He was a plenty evil bureaucrat in "1984."

At 71, Cosham enjoys a busy non-retirement. "I was doing five shows a year for 25 years. So now I limit myself to three plays a year and the recorded books, which I do at home." He estimates he's narrated 100 books, among them Kafka's "The Trial" and "The Castle."

Born with a heart defect, Cosham has benefited greatly from new medical technology, including artificial valves and an implanted defibrillator. That's one of the reasons, in addition to family (he and his wife, singer-actress Beverly Cosham, have four grandchildren), he chose to stay in Washington -- his doctors are here.

"I've been living on borrowed time since 1970 and that's not bad," Cosham observes. "I keep keeping up just ahead of the technology. They find these new things to extend me. My grandchildren think I'm battery-operated."

Follow Spots

? Saturday's free Arts on Foot festival, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the downtown Penn Quarter neighborhood, will include performances and workshops at the Flashpoint arts incubator, reprises of Capital Fringe performances, cabaret productions and backstage tours of the Warner Theatre and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Programs are available the day of the event at Eighth and F streets NW. Visit http://www.artsonfoot.org.

? Coinciding with Arts on Foot, the Shakespeare Theatre Company will hold an 11 a.m. ribbon-cutting at its soon-to-open Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St. NW), followed by tours, dance performances and peeks at rehearsals for "Tamburlaine" (2 p.m.) and "The Taming of the Shrew" (6 p.m.), as well as activities for kids. Visit http://www.shakespearetheatre.org and click on "Open House."