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Every comedy needs a chaotic breakout character: not necessarily the lead, but a force of nature who races through the motion and reshapes every scene in his own image. “Animal House” had an almost feral John Belushi as Bluto; “The Hangover” starred Zach Galifianakis’ bearded, confused best man Alan.
And The Last Day of Retrograde, available now on Amazon Prime Video And Apple TV+has Joshie, played by 32-year-old Marinwood native Kaya Mey. Mey isn't the one Marin talent involved within the film. Producer Haley Baldwin grew up in Novato and co-star Sidney Pippin is a Marin native and graduate of Marin Shakes and Marin Theater.
The film takes place in Palo Alto amongst a circle of friends whose interactions are all characterised by their lack of mutual desire; It's a romantic comedy with seemingly infinite variations. It's actually set on the last day of the planet's most shameful season and, like Ingmar Bergman's “Smiles of a Summer Night” or Norman Jewison's “Moonstruck,” uses the movements of the spheres as a proof for why everyone behaves so strangely.
Mey initially liked the casting call since it focused on queer characters.
“I said, 'Can I play one of the characters written for a man?'” says Mey, who identifies as non-binary. “I went into the audition and the director said I could play any of the characters, so I chose Joshie.”
Joshie is a living cartoon character, stuffed with eye-rolling and gunplay, and Mey embodies the character so completely that it was a bit surprising to choose up the phone for our interview and never hear Joshie's exaggerated, colloquial speech.
“I feel like Joshie is all in me,” says Mey. “But I don’t always present myself as Joshie because in society it’s easier to present yourself in a more feminine way.”
The alternative of a male role has a poetic meaning for Mey. When they began acting in middle school, their first monologue was being asked to deliver Hamlet's famous soliloquy, “Now I am alone.” Although the feminine roles in Shakespeare's plays were played by men in his time, Mey's teachers found it difficult to simply accept a feminine-seeming non-binary person within the role of the melancholic Dane.
“Many of my teachers told me that I would never play Hamlet because of my biology,” says Mey. “The fact that I got to play Joshie was really special for me.”
Mey studied Commedia dell'arte, a Sixteenth-century Italian comedic form, on the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theater in Blue Lake. Mey wrote an entire commedia dell'arte sequence for the film, which the characters perform as a part of an application residency and which deals with the characters' personal grievances with each other.
Although Mey's comedic performance within the film probably involves a bit more hip movement than is typical for this venerable art, they are saying it's not an enormous exaggeration.
Commedia dell'arte relies on archetypes, each of which embodies a specific personality trait or aspect of society. Although Mey personally sympathizes with Columbina, a down-to-earth female stock character, Mey associates Joshie with Il Capitano, the epitome of male agitation, whose boasting the opposite characters easily see through.
“I think Joshie likes to present himself as very outgoing and capable, but he definitely trips over himself a lot,” Mey says. “That dynamic is definitely a Joshie thing.”
Acting will not be Mey's only hobby. They are also experienced massage therapists and recently opened Haven, a spa in San Anselmo, whose press materials claim that Mey “brings the same dedication to her clients as she does to her art.”
“I have very consciously done things that align with my values, be it creating art or setting up a wellness center,” says Mey. “I have the privilege of being able to create art that has a narrative that ultimately creates catharsis or makes people feel seen.”
Originally published:
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