The Draw #5: Hannah Komperda

A new daily series for the TAPAS blog. I wrote down names on little slips of paper, the names of everyone currently in the TAPAS Facebook group and Discord server, 41 people altogether, and will be drawing one name every day to write about them and their history with the group.

Today I drew Hannah Komperda, who I met as a fellow ensemble member in the 2017 production of She Loves Me. We connected quickly over massage therapy, which is what she does. At the time I had just finished massage school but not yet passed the exam that would give me my license... though I continued studying for many months afterward, I never did retake the test and never became a massage therapist... at no point during my months of schooling did I ever believe I had learned anything about massage. Not only did I quickly forget everything I learned, but I've also completely lost the natural instinct for it that inspired me to pursue it in the first place, so I know less about massage now than I did before I started. I'm baffled at how I ever managed to make anyone feel better, because I can't make heads or tails of people's muscles anymore.

But back then, Hannah did know to turn to me during one rehearsal when she was having trouble with her leg. And I had an appointment with her once; I drove to her place and got a massage. I don't drive anymore either. Nothing in particular ever happened, driving cars just very slowly became a more and more stressful experience until I couldn't do it anymore. So, there's driving, there's massage, just two of the things I've completely lost my mental capacity for, to no trauma in particular... but this isn't about me.

Hannah joined TAPAS in 2021, when Emily Dozier wished to drop out of the role of Natha Lee in Keys & Kingdoms. The unease at having to replace an OG team member managed to pass rather quickly when I thought back on others I had worked with before, and Hannah came to mind right away. I did more prep work with her than with the other actors, to put together a set of notes and tricks to get the character's Swedish accent just right. Then she raised the valid question of why Natha Lee has a Swedish accent, inspiring me to regale the entire team with the story behind why elves very occasionally have Swedish accents throughout the AE:GIS multiverse. ...I won't go into that here, you'll have to find out another time.

So, I respect that commitment! It's been a while by this point since the voice acting was done, and it's for certain going to be well over a year before we hear the bulk of those performances, but I'm so proud of my K&K cast and hope they'll all be back on board once we start taking steps beyond the pilot. :D