Marina Vrahnos of Plainsboro plays the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine in “The Lion in Winter” at Villagers Theater on weekends from Friday, April 5, to Sunday, April 21. The play is set during Christmas, 1183, in medieval France. Family competition is fierce between the two sons of King Henry II as they battle for the position of successor to the throne, quarrel with spouses, compete with siblings, indulge in adultery, and attempt to balance work and family.
Vrahnos, born and raised in England, taught yoga for 12 years and has done therapeutic massage work for 22 years. “Business is good, and I still love what I do — just as much as when I started,” she says. “Maybe even more so, as I feel more confident and have met some really lovely people. I have had the same clients coming back year after year.”
“The theater has been a part of my life on and off since I was a little girl,” she told the WW-P News in 2008. “My mother wanted me to go to acting school when I was four but I did not become involved with school and community theater groups until high school.”
Always passionate about acting, she took classes in New York, from Jody Wood at JW Actors Studio in Plainsboro, and has studied with the Acting Academy in East Brunswick for the past few years. “My acting teacher, Jared Kelner, has been an inspiration to me,” she says. “His passion for acting has kept me involved with theater these past two years.”
Kelner, author of “Lines,” a new book focusing on helping actors to learn their lines in a creative way, helped her learn the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine. “This is the most challenging role I have taken on primarily with having to learn so many lines — and because it is written in 12th-century poetry.”
Vrahnos produced “The Tiger,” Murray Schisgal’s one-act play about a housewife and a postman, at the Arts Council of Princeton in 2010. “I thought it would be great to see the play come alive on stage to see what can come out of these characters,” Vrahnos told the News in 2010.
Since “The Tiger,” she has been on stage at Kelsey Theater in “Equus” and “Pinocchio.” She has also been a British accent coach for plays staged at the black box theater at Mercer Community College.
“I have always been drawn to mountains, oceans, and climate,” she says. She has lived in Plainsboro for nine years, though she regrets not buying a home in Costa Rica.
Her son, Dimitri, now 21, is a 2010 graduate of High School South and a student at Salisbury University. At South he was captain of the varsity tennis team and is the only player at Salisbury to win all of his singles matches. “My mother still lives in England,” she says. Her father died in 2011.
She recently co-wrote a one-act play that was accepted for the annual Lawrence Play Fest and will be performed at the Lawrenceville Library in April. Her play, “After the Hurricane,” is about the relationship of two people who meet unexpectedly when they volunteer in a Habitat for Humanity-type setting. Though they have both moved on, they have a history — and it gets in the way.
Lion in Winter, Villagers Theater, 475 DeMott Lane, Somerset. Drama. $20. 732-873-2710. www.villagerstheatre.com.
One-Act Play Festival, Lawrence Library, Darrah Lane and Route 1, Lawrence Township. Friday, April 26, 7 and 9 p.m. Showcase of six one-act original plays performed as staged readings. Register. Free. 609-989-6920. www.mcl.org.
