Nature Vs. Nurture

"Christine is a mother who, when faced with the realization that her seemingly perfect little girl may have a more sinister side, questions if she herself may be to blame and contemplates whether she should protect her child from the consequences and to what lengths she will go to do so," Alissa Walter describes her character in the upcoming Arts Center of the Ozarks' production of "Bad Seed."

Walter went into the role having already made some serious decisions about her portrayal.

"Christine walks a very thin line between loving her daughter and being terrified of her. There are some very strong emotions that I'll have to pull from, and I hope to convey that inner turmoil without losing the character in the emotions."

The drama, which director Harry Blundell describes as "the first to ever have explored the idea that some people are just born to be bad," is based on a novel written in 1954 by William March and nominated for the 1955 National Book Award for Fiction. The play, which opened on Broadway in December 1954, was written by Maxwell Anderson, who also wrote or contributed to "Gypsy," "Knickerbocker Holiday," "Valley Forge," "Lost in the Stars" and "Anne of the Thousand Days."

"I chose this one because it's a pretty great story about nature versus nurture, and it has a good spread of well-written characters for folks to play," Blundell says. "And Maxwell Anderson is one of my personal favorites of playwrights in the early to mid-20th century.

"The play was a huge success on Broadway and also a very iconic film. The fact that it involves a cast from children to adult ages is also one of my interests because it's a microcosm of the arts center's mission to engage all ages in the arts."

Walter found her way to ACO as an adult, she says.

"Once I graduated from college, I thought that was the end of acting for me," she says. "It had been a fun extracurricular activity, but now it was time to be an adult and focus on graduate school and eventually getting a job in accounting. Three years later, I was working at a local eye clinic and talking with one of my co-workers about our mutual love of musicals. She told me about a community theater that was having auditions for an upcoming musical. I didn't even know community theater was an option for people who weren't in school or weren't trying to make a career in acting!

"I auditioned and joined the chorus of 'Hello, Dolly!' and have been trying out for as many plays and musicals as I can at the ACO ever since."

Walter says most of her roles have been "minor characters or those without lines," starting when she was dragged to an audition during her sophomore year of college.

"One of my friends asked me to audition for Shakespeare's 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' because she didn't want to go alone," she remembers. "Before that I had only been in a few elementary school and church youth plays, so the idea of acting in front of people paying to be entertained was a little daunting. But I wanted to be supportive of my friend, and I assumed I wouldn't get cast anyway since I wasn't in the theater program.

"I ended up getting the role of one of the Outlaws along with my friend. Even though it was a small part, we had a blast, and I was hooked! Before we were even finished with performances for this show, I was already asking when the next one would be. I tried out for every play I could fit into my schedule until graduation.

"My favorite role has been one of these minor characters: 'Girl' in the story 'The Audition' from Neil Simon's 'The Good Doctor,'" she adds. "The character has a monologue where she performs as all three sisters from 'The Three Sisters' by Anton Chekhov. It was an enjoyable challenge to be able to bring four different characters to life in just one scene."

And now Walter will turn her attention to the question central to "Bad Seed."

"Are evil people born or are they a product of their environment? I want the play to spark that conversation for audience members."