Football players aren’t regularly seen performing in collegiate plays, but Brent Curvey, junior in sociology-liberal arts and sciences, will trade in the football field for the stage in “Intimate Apparel.” This show is even more special for Curvey, though, because his girlfriend, TiAnn Taylor, senior in performing arts, is also part of the cast.

Although most students involved with plays find the rigorous rehearsal schedules challenging to balance with the rest of their lives, Curvey and Taylor have an added responsibility – a family. Together, they have a 3-month-old son, Malachi, and Taylor also has 3-year-old Isaiah.

Taylor said director Sarah Zwick-Tapley, lecturer of music, visited her in the hospital after Malachi’s birth and auditioned her on the spot for the show. At the same time, Zwick-Tapley asked Curvey if he would also like to audition.

“She cast both of us in the play, and from then on, we’ve just been tackling taking care of the boys and rehearsals,” Taylor said. “Acting is always my thing and always has been. I’m doing it for the fun of it, and I do it because it’s what I love to do.”

Taylor said their typical day starts at 6 a.m. After dropping the kids off at day care, Taylor attends class while Curvey exercises in preparation for trying out for the NFL. In the afternoon, they pick up the kids and drop them off at a baby sitter before having rehearsal in the evening.

Although this schedule seems daunting, Taylor said she and Curvey work around it because they understand each other’s needs.

“I know sometimes he needs some sleep and he needs a break, and he’ll take a break from the kids, and he’ll know when I need a break,” she said. “Sometimes we both get frustrated every now and then, but both of us know ultimately that when all this is over, it’ll be totally different, and we’ll be really proud about ourselves doing this.”

The support of family and friends has helped Taylor and Curvey balance a family, school and rehearsals. Taylor said they’ve had to give up a lot to balance everything, but she loves working on the show.

“I’ve just learned that if you have a passion for something, you can’t let anything hold you back. Even though I have two kids, I still have a passion for acting,” she said. “Eventually, I will accomplish what my dreams are. I’m struggling with the kids right now and my future and acting and all that because that’s my dream, but one day I know that will be better.”

Besides her passion for acting, Taylor said working on “Intimate Apparel” has been very special for her because she said it is mostly an African-American play, and she and Curvey get to work together.

“He gets to see my talent, and he’s found something that he likes to do as well,” Taylor said. “He’s found he likes to act, and that, in a way, has kind of brought us together.”

These family ties in “Intimate Apparel” run deeper than the cast, however. Zwick-Tapley said one of the most important ideas of the play deals with vulnerability with others in a relationship. This theme of intimacy gives the play its title.

“Lingerie is about what we show people and what we don’t show,” Zwick-Tapley said. “It’s about showing our best sides and covering up what’s insecure, and all of the characters explore the issue of who they are when they’re being intimate.”

She said intimacy reveals qualities about the person that make them truly human, and this is why “Intimate Apparel” is an extremely passionate play. It takes place in 1905 and deals with a 35-year-old woman, Esther, who begins a courtship with a man through his letters. However, when they decide to marry, they each find out that the other is not who the other seemed to be.

Although it may seem hard for modern audiences to relate to Esther’s urgency to get married in the early 20th century, Zwick-Tapley thinks the play will resound with audiences because of its universality about relationships, class, sexual identity, religion and race.

“It’s the timeless issue of being vulnerable with someone else, and if they’re cruel or accepting with you, you can scar,” she said. “They all wanted fantasy and had to come to terms with reality.”

Kira Ashby, senior in performing arts, who plays Esther, said she prepared to take on this universal role by focusing on relationships and social pressures.

“Nobody wants to be lonely,” Ashby said. “Everybody wants to be happy, and we get to the point that we overlook things that might be red flags because we want dreams and we want this happy life. Sometimes things get in the way.”

Ashby said this play has taught her how to keep a positive outlook on life because it held a lot of life values, and the characters have to forge ahead in life despite reaching their breaking point. She said her greatest challenge was learning how to convey Esther’s feelings as a real person as opposed to a character. However, Ashby also said one of the greatest rewards of the show is that it serves as an opportunity to battle multicultural ignorance among students.

“It’s just another avenue for us to take a look into African-American culture, and not just African-American culture, but how we interact with certain beliefs that hinder us in life,” Ashby said.

However, both Ashby and Zwick-Tapley also love the show for the intimacy it promotes. Ashby said she loves the play for its emotions. In addition, Zwick-Tapley said she loves performing in the Maintenance Shop because the stage is so close to the audience.

“I hope that people when leaving this play truly understand the emotional roller coaster that Esther went to and how she overcame it again,” Ashby said. “[Zwick-Tapley] had a wonderful idea, and she was very passionate about what she did, and it made the atmosphere become a lot easier to learn in a process we didn’t even expect to learn. We came every day ready and on fire, and everything will pay off this weekend.”