‘Vi,’ a kind and loving mother in “Footloose”

Tootsie West is wise beyond her years in her portrayal of “Vi,” mother to the lead character “Ariel” (Sydney Hope) and wife to the “Reverend Shaw” (Alex Giorgi) in Mt. Hood’s winter musical production of “Footloose.”

Although West doesn’t have children herself, she said she usually plays similar parts, and it’s not difficult for her to act like a mom because she considers herself a motherly figure.

Like a typical mother, Vi “kinda just knows all. She knows everything,” West said. “She just has this way about her of just knowing how everyone’s feeling, and trying to be the person that avoids conflict but also tries to help as much as she can.”

In the play, Vi is desperately trying to be the string that holds her family together. After losing the couple’s son in a car accident, her husband shuts her out and avoids talking about how he’s really feeling. “There’s so (many) arguments that need to happen in the household but he doesn’t want to have them. And I want to talk to him about (it) because it’s the only way that it gets solved.”

West said Vi is more understanding of her onstage daughter’s seemingly rebellious romance because of her character’s own past. “I (Vi) had a guy just like that, and he was just as bad or whatever and I feel like it’s a right of passage to be with a guy like that,” she explained.

“I kind of just let her (Ariel) figure out her own ways and let her do what she wants to do.”

West’s character sings a song called “Can You Find It In Your Heart.”

“It’s awesome, I love it. It’s really touching,” she said. “It’s really kind of a lot pressure to be able to portray it correctly because it’s really deep. It’s a really good song.”

West said she feels that Vi is a very strong character she can relate to.

“She just really is powerful… she doesn’t have to say anything, you can just tell that she is there. I feel like I connect with her because I feel like we are the same person… like I’m her younger self,” West said.

West said she draws inspiration for the emotions behind her character’s relationship from seeing her own parents go through a divorce.

“I kinda take from that… I think how I would feel in that situation, cause I’m very outspoken,” something her character struggles with as well, she noted.

West said that Mace Archer, MHCC’s director of “Footloose,” told the actors to do something unique with their characters.

“He told us all individually, even if we aren’t a big character in the show, that we should all have a secret,” she said. “Each one of our characters should have secrets that they just don’t tell anybody, because humans have secrets.”

The secrets won’t necessarily come out during the play, but they help to build the characters for the actors and make them more realistic, she said.

The students’ performance is now just a couple weeks away, but West says she feels “like we are way more prepared than I’ve ever been for a show before.”

“Footloose” opens at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 21.