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Endowed with enviable mental equilibrium, Rebecca Khalil has made the majority of her 19 years a quest to balance expectations and has fervently fought to emerge with a commendable combination of outlooks. Through Sunday, she will continue to validate her verve by handling the title role in “Ritu Comes Home,” an InterAct Theatre Co.-presented play examining integration into American culture and exploring the excitement of youth.
“Looking back, I was a rebel kid and wanted to grow up so quickly to fulfill my dreams,” the resident of the 1000 block of Ritner Street said of weighing her goals against suggestions on what she should pursue. “In many respects, then, I’m just like Ritu.”
The Adrienne Theatre-situated production has the Lower Moyamensing dweller portraying a Bangladeshi beneficiary of a Bryn Mawr-based couple, with former South Philly occupant Jered McLenigan as Jason to David Bardeen’s Brendan. Ritu eventually makes her way to the United States, causing the characters to contemplate their identities and responsibilities to one another. For Khalil, the work’s three-week run has offered additional perspective on the immigrant experience and growth through novelty and has intensified her involvement in the Philadelphia theater community.
“I was initially scared but have learned so much from everyone,” the teenager said of her colleagues, including director, InterAct artistic director and Bella Vista inhabitant Seth Rozin. “The fear just came from knowing that I will always expect more from myself.”
Khalil contends the script’s family-infused focus aids her own home-centered maturation, as she has used the piece’s cultural qualities to examine her Egyptian parents’ appreciation of America’s ever-evolving nature. Engrossed with absorbing its message, she has called upon “Ritu Comes Home” as not only an endorsement for her decision to remain in her birth city, which she had contemplated leaving last year after graduating from The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, 901 S. Broad St., yet has again fallen for as a University of the Arts sophomore-to-be, but as an aid in accepting Bardeen’s creed that she already possesses enough talent to chart a much more expansive course.
“The plot covers so much in a very subtle way,” Khalil said of playwright Peter Gil-Sheridan’s brainchild. “It gives me plenty of leeway to explore my abilities, and it’s helping me to believe in what David says, but I don’t think I’m there yet. Maybe that’s a consequence of being young because I like testing myself and asking more of myself.”
Having auditioned for the show last summer, she has had nearly a year to ponder what its ultimate influence could be on her progression as a thespian and has enjoyed the responses to her self-imposed inquiries. Seeing the piece as a profound reflection on alteration, she also senses that it seeks to have its executors and viewers remain true to their reliance on love and devotion to dreams.
“We all want some sort of autonomy that we know we have to keep from changing into selfishness because of the need to have others supporting our journeys and receiving our encouragement, too,” Khalil said. “This show has really hit home for me in many ways.”
The lifelong South Philadelphian comes from a creative clan, with her mother having honed an interest in singing and her father a fondness for acting. She pondered their pursuits, dancing and modeling before determining that her patriarch’s childhood pastime should become her perpetual passion.
“I wanted to do so much, and, yes, there were times when loved ones gave advice on entering other fields, but I was firm and declared ‘I’m going to do the arts,’” Khalil said of her ambition, which, despite her occasional bouts with feeling like an outsider, prospered during her days at the St. Monica elementary school sites, 17th and Ritner streets and 16th and Porter streets. “That was me being a rebel again, and I’ve not looked back.”
Along with falling for the stage, the actress showed a proclivity for producing reflective writing, a fancy that evolved during her secondary education stint.
“There is something so simplistically beautiful about words,” the poetry buff, who has completed a chapbook and instructs a spoken word class at her Hawthorne alma mater, said. “I’d like to do so much within that realm, too.”
During her initial high school days, Khalil failed to land desired roles, so she supplemented her creative cravings by scoring an internship with the Philadelphia Theatre Co. and a respected role within the Philly Youth Poetry Movement, which she credits for giving her more confidence as a performer. She fomented her fortitude right before her senior year through a Yale University School of Drama workshop and finally found her focus during her swansong term by being the titular figure in “Antigone.”
“I’d wanted to go to New York after CAPA, but choosing UArts was the best possible decision,” Khalil said of her Center City-situated haven, where she has numbered instructor, Barrymore Award winner and Newbold resident Aaron Cromie among her biggest inspirations. “I’d like to make it there eventually, but Philadelphia has such a welcoming theater identity that I can’t go wrong by meeting and learning from established individuals.”
Desiring such integration has meant seeing many shows and attending networking events that have started to yield thriving friendships. She will make use of one such union following “Ritu Comes Home” by interning for Applied Mechanics, an all-female-run ensemble that includes South Philadelphians Kristen Bailey and Mary Tuomanen. She will also assist InterAct later this month through a reading of “The Private Green,” a Philadelphia New Play Initiative piece, and will combine with 11 student actresses in November for the University of the Arts’ Personal Narrative Project offering of “9 Parts of Desire.”
“I’m looking at everything as a great opportunity,” Khalil said. “I’ve found something I love, and I’m going to nurture it.”
Contact Managing Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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