'Hamilton' brings history to life in production opening in Providence Nov. 30

Tiffany Nichole Greene is a thinker, and has been since she was a small child, so when she was hired to direct the touring production of “Hamilton,” she dug into the script happily.

“I don’t need to reshape it,” she says of the international hit musical based on the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, which runs Nov. 30 through Dec. 12 at the Providence Performing Arts Center. But Green did immerse herself in historical research on the characters to better understand their psychology and bring them alive on stage.

“I can dig deeper to find more specificity and detail in the moments, more attention to environment, juicy details I really love,” says Greene.

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The resulting “Hamilton” is by no means a static production, she says. Every performance has unique nuances, because Greene works with different actors who alternate in the roles of Hamilton, his wife, Eliza, and his nemesis, Aaron Burr.

“Each different Hamilton, Eliza and Burr give different entry to the piece,” Greene says. “They each have different motivators, and their thoughts are different. The blocking and the script are the same, but their differences make it exciting.”

Director graduated from Brown University-Trinity Rep program

“Different entry” also describes her approach, even before she came to Rhode Island as a graduate student in the Brown University-Trinity Repertory Company theater program. She recalls advice she received from instructor and actor Brian McEleney.

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“He’d say, ‘Find the thing you have in common [with a character] and give yourself permission to understand this person,’” she says. “You translate your experience and put a costume on it.”

Greene shared the same advice with a fifth-grade boy in an elementary school production of “Romeo and Juliet” she directed years ago. In a scene involving a kiss, the boy balked.

“I asked him what his favorite thing was. He said ice cream, so I told him to think of her as a year’s supply of ice cream. In the end, people in the audience were tearing up in the scene,” Greene recalls with a laugh.

'We're not so different from these people we’re playing'

“It reminds us that we’re not so different from these people we’re playing, especially with period pieces." Greene says. "Human behavior is the same. I seem to have a knack for finding where the actors are and meeting them there.”

A two-time Drama League finalist for directing, Greene finds strength in coaxing non-verbal communication from casts and meshing it neatly with their delivery.

“I am fascinated by … how the two support, betray and ultimately expose one another,” she writes in the philosophy statement in her bio. “The two are like strange lovers.”

“I’m interested in truth and honesty, even when it’s ugly,” she adds in a telephone interview. “I’m always looking for the extreme version of us, because I don’t believe in realism.”

Part investigator — a throwback to criminal justice and forensics, her first major in college — and part juggler, Greene views live acting as layers that stem from the actors' behavior, their environment, and their emotions, which reflect their truth.

“I spend time going moment to moment with the cast," she says. "How do we talk about what’s in your body and mind right now? Then, it’s a real experience being explored.”

If you go ...

What: “Hamilton”

When: Nov. 30-Dec.12

Where: Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St., Providence.

Tickets: $69-$399

COVID safety: Proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID test within 72 hours of performance date is required; masks must be worn at all times, unless actively eating or drinking.

Information: ppacri.org, (401) 421-2787

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 'Hamilton' brings history alive in show opening in Providence Nov. 30