‘Time Stands Still’ co-stars often share stage

Avid Atlanta theatergoers, who may have lost count of how many times they’ve seen Carolyn Cook and Chris Kayser onstage together, are not alone. So have the veteran actors themselves.

“I sort of anticipated that question,” Kayser admits with a smile during a recent lunch interview with his most frequent co-star, “but I couldn’t keep track of them all and just gave up.”

For her part, Cook’s best estimate is “about an even 50” shows over the past 20-odd years — including some 35 or 40 with Georgia Shakespeare (where Kayser has been an artistic associate for 23 seasons, Cook for 18); a half-dozen or so with the French-language company Theatre du Reve (which Cook founded in 1996); and a handful of other productions around town (most recently, the Alliance Theatre’s celebrated 2011 drama “August: Osage County”).

Suffice it to say, of their countless collaborations, the latest is “Time Stands Still,” which reteams them with Horizon Theatre co-artistic director Lisa Adler, with whom they previously worked on a 1998 staging of “Skylight.” This time out, Cook plays a physically and emotionally battle-scarred photojournalist recently back from assignment in Iraq, and Kayser takes on a supporting role as her magazine editor.

COOK ON KAYSER:

“He’s a privilege to work with. There’s an inherent trust between us that gives me a sense that I’m going to be safe. Whatever he comes up with, you just know it’s going to be good. Whenever I’m not in a show with him and get the opportunity to sit back and watch him, there’s always something going on [and] he makes it seem so effortless. He’s working but you can’t always tell it. He has a natural ability that’s never accidental and completely watchable. I was in awe of his Dogberry [in this summer’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’].”

KAYSER ON COOK:

“She has a great intelligence about her that few actresses have, analyzing and questioning things really deeply, trying to come up with workable solutions and answers. Sometimes it drives me crazy in rehearsals, just talking about all the stuff she’s thought through, but her effort and talent is all for the good. We get along like brother and sister, occasionally calling each other out and giving each other a hard time [but] the point is we’re both in there swinging and glad to be working together.”

ON THEIR DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE WORK:

Kayser: "Again, I refer to the intelligence she brings her characters, where I'm probably more confident that I'll feel what's right about my characters."

Cook: “Except that makes it sound as if he isn’t intelligent, too, which he is. And it’s not to say I don’t feel my way into a character, as well. Maybe it’s just the ratio that’s different. Besides, no two actors work exactly the same.”

ON WHICH OF THEIR SHOWS TOGETHER MEAN THE MOST TO THEM:

Kayser: “‘Osage County’ was pretty doggone great.”

Cook: “‘Metamorphoses’ [at Georgia Shakespeare].”

Kayser: “We’ll never forget our first Theatre du Reve show [Eugene Ionesco’s ‘The Lesson’].”

Cook (laughing): “That was an exercise in blind terror.”

Kayser: “Not only because it was in a foreign language, but also because the company was a brand-new idea, so the thrill of putting a show together, performing it and then finding an audience for it …”

Cook: “I remember being backstage after the show, looking at each other with a kind of shock that we actually made it all the way through the play.”

Kayser: “Playing Benedick and Beatrice in a version of ‘Much Ado’ directed by Kenny Leon.”

Cook: “‘Skylight’ with Lisa.”

ON WORKING WITH HORIZON’S ADLER AGAIN:

Cook: “What I love is how Lisa never gets too satisfied with things too early on in the process. If I come up with some superficial interpretation of a scene and there’s a deeper meaning to be found, she doesn’t let me stop in that comfort zone. I value that very highly.”

Kayser: “She’s smart and detail-oriented and works really hard. She told us at the very beginning of rehearsal that we were going to be digging as deep as possible. At the same time, we’ve all mellowed and become more patient, compared to when we were a little wilder and crazier.”

ON WHAT KEEPS THEM GOING:

Cook: “I love the variety that theater affords us, how the range of characters we get to play broadens our horizons and expands our lives. The same year I played Saint Joan [for Georgia Shakespeare], I also played a prostitute in ‘Comedy of Errors.’ The opportunity to stretch in different directions like that is definitely interesting, but it’s also great fun.”

Kayser: “Theater is more forgiving in terms of age, unlike ballet or baseball, where you can’t get old. In that way, it’s sort of forever new. Hopefully, our age and experience counts for something, as long as part of us stays young in terms of still enjoying it.”