3 actors to put their spin on one-character pirate play

Bryan Willis’s pirate play has a point to make.

“I Love You, Flavilla,” being performed Monday in honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, is a tale about the meanest pirate imaginable.

Though it’s a silly story — and though he wrote it in 2009 — the Olympia playwright sees the single-character play as relevant to today’s political scene.

“I thought it would be timely,” he said. “It’s a story about a bully who gets his comeuppance, and he receives his comeuppance at the hands of a mighty female pirate.”

If it’s now unexpectedly political, the 20-minute monologue is also personal. “Flavilla” — named, of course, for the female pirate — began as a story for Willis’s son, Zach, now 17 and a senior at Capital High School.

“When Zach was growing up and we were driving in the car, I would tell stories,” he said. “That’s how it started. It evolved.”

What it evolved into is not kids’ stuff: Willis recommends the play for ages 14 and older.

“There’s no bad language,” he said, “but it’s definitely more of an adult-oriented story.”

“Flavilla” premiered — on Talk Like a Pirate Day, of course — seven years ago at Olympia Tiny Theatre, a house that allowed an audience of just 10 or so people per performance.

Then, as now, it was performed multiple times. Monday, Ryan Holmgren will do his version of the monologue at 7 and 9:15 p.m., Betty Brinkman will do hers at 7:45 p.m., and Kyle Henick will be on at 8:30 p.m. Audience members are welcome to come for one performance or stay for them all.

“These are three wildly different actors in terms of their style, their shapes and sizes, and their delivery,” Willis said. “I haven’t micromanaged or directed them.”

“The character is multifaceted, and the story is extravagant, so it makes for wild differences in interpretation,” agreed Henick, of Seattle, who was one of the actors for the 2009 production, which offered performances beginning every hour from noon to midnight.

“I did the show four or five times that day,” Henick said.

“I love the script, and I was excited to do it again. The best thing about the show is it’s really easy to get involved with.

“Nobody knows what to expect going in, but once you get in there, you just play along.”

He has something new in store this time.

“There’s a song in the script that I didn’t use the first time because I wasn’t sure what to do with it,” he said. “This time, I have a better idea of what to do with it.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2016 at 4:37 AM with the headline "3 actors to put their spin on one-character pirate play."