Sultry summer just right for First Folio's tropical 'Twelfth Night'

A lot of actors work hard at their craft. And many push themselves to makes their performances perfect. Minita Gandhi, starring in First Folio's outdoor production of "Twelfth Night" (opening in previews Wednesday, July 7) pushed herself so hard in rehearsals she got heat exhaustion.

"We were rehearsing and I started to feel odd and see white," Gandhi says. "When we went to the hospital my blood pressure was low, which is one of the signs of heat stroke."

Gandhi knows how it happened - a bad combo of making assumptions and working too hard. Born in Mumbai, India, and raised partly in California, Gandhi never thought she was susceptible. "I am from a hot climate," Gandhi says.

But that only goes so far if you don't drink enough water or take enough breaks.

Ever since Gandhi discovered theater in college in California, her passion for acting has been strong. "Acting is not like any other job," Gandhi says, "It is your heart that is invested in the work, not just your mind. And when we are rehearsing - it makes you go above and beyond. Missing a day of work is not like missing a day at any other job; it is painful to miss rehearsal." (Which she had to do, to spend a day cooling off and rehydrating.)

For Gandhi, missing rehearsal is all the more painful because she is the play's female lead, Viola. Viola is the plucky woman at the center of Shakespeare's popular comedy, who, shipwrecked in a strange country, dresses up like a man to protect herself and ends up getting entangled in various court intrigues.

Gandhi has appeared in two previous productions of "Twelfth Night," once in college, where she played Lady Olivia, a beautiful brokenhearted aristocrat who falls in love with Viola, thinking she is a man. "And last year I played Viola in the Piccolo Theater's production," Gandhi says.

This production, however, has a twist to it. Director Michael Goldberg has transposed the action to 19th Century India. That means that Gandhi, who has lived in the U.S. since she was a toddler and speaks with slightly California accent, must "play" an Indian. Or rather two Indians, a proper 19th century Desi girl and the rough-hewed man that is Viola's disguise.

Gandhi gives each character a dialect. Viola speaks like she just stepped off BBC radio. The guy Viola pretends to be speaks a much burlier, brogue-filled English. Hearing her speak is astonishing. She disappears utterly into the characters.

When Gandhi first went to college, she didn't know exactly what she wanted to study. She like writing poetry. And she was interested in politics. When theater clicked for her, her parents were not thrilled.

"They just stared at me like I was crazy. My father was very much a part of the American dream," Gandhi says, "He came over here in his college years in the '50s. He went home to marry and then came back here to work (as a mechanical engineer in the pharmaceutical industry). He sent money home and then brought his family over when he could afford it."

When she first told her parents she wanted to go into theater her dad "just said no."

"You are an Indian," Gandhi recalls her dad said, by way of explanation.

"They were very supportive parents," Gandhi says, "My dad was worried no one would cast me."

Gandhi was concerned too, and spoke to her theater instructor, who encouraged her to keep studying and to speak again with her parents.

"My parents just saw how much I loved theater," Gandhi says, "They told me, 'We will support you.'"

Soon after that Gandhi got into the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, Calif., where her passion blossomed. "I got to do the art that I loved," Gandhi says, "six days a week, 12 hours a day."

That passion later led Gandhi to a nine-month internship at Milwaukee Repertory Theater and then a move 90 miles south to Chicago, where her passion still runs strong. Sometimes too strong, especially in June when the temperature rises and the air is thick with humidity.

"I am trying to take care of myself," Gandhi says, "I am drinking plenty of water."

"Twelfth Night" runs July 7 through Aug. 8 at First Folio Theatre, performing on the grounds of the Mayslake Peabody Estate at 31st Street and Route 83 in Oak Brook. Call (630) 986-8067 or see www.firstfolio.org/plays/twelfthnight.html.