| Spider Games By: Robert Schork Soap Opera Weekly Magazine January 1, 2002 Passions' Lindsay Korman is caught up in her character's tangled web Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald has done a lot of growing up over the last couple of years - Or has she? Sometimes, it seems like she's suffered through one self-created minicrisis after another without learning much from the experience. When Passions viewers first met her, Theresa was a starry-eyed, sheltered teen in a working-class family headed by a single mom. Theresa not only longed for a more glamorous life, she had it all mapped out. From the wedding dress to the man she intended to marry (Harmony's richest but not-so-eligible bachelor, Ethan), Theresa set out to make those champagne wishes and caviar dreams come true. To say she's hit a few "snags" is an understatement. Along the way, she got herself mistaken as Ethan's stalker, accidentally burned down half of Harmony's fast-food restaurants, got mixed up in a scheme that led to the humiliating public reveal that Ethan is not a Crane, and, most recently, got drunk, slept with, married and possibly got impregnated by her fianc�'s former father. This week, she heads to the abortion clinic. "She's certainly got an exciting life right now," bubbles her portrayer, Lindsay Korman, who explains why Theresa's best-laid plans have spiraled so wildly out of control. "She is somewhat na�ve, and she's slowly learning what the definition of being na�ve is. She finds herself inside a world where she stops and says, 'Oh wait, this isn't how I thought it would be. I didn't know that this would lead to that!'" Up until now, Theresa's reckless behavior has been rooted in the faith she had that fate was on her side. "There is a brief period where, hold your breath, she doesn't talk about fate. But soon after there's a moment where she says, 'You know what? Fate is smiling down on me again. I can feel it'... I see her as a person who keeps getting hit with a hammer on the head, going farther and farther down into the ground. But the power within her to persevere is unbelievable. You may think she's crazy, but I think it's an incredible quality that she can just say, 'You know what? I don't care. Let's move forward.'" As the stakes have gradually risen in the risks she has been taking, Harmony's sweetheart has resorted to some not-so-sweet trickery. "it's been awesome, because it's a place that the character's never been," says Korman. "I got to experience the process of a young girl who has this dream, who now has this man, has a ring on her finger and gets really bad, and now she's going to do things she never thought she would." "As time goes on, I think it will be shown that it is for him and not for selfish reasons," Korman insists. "I have to admit, there were times early on when I would sit back sometimes, look at my character and think, 'Well now, is this really about her love for this man, or is this just about herself?' But obviously when I play her, there's no room for judgement at all." Korman does acknowledge that Theresa bears some responsibility for what went down between her and Julian - a story twist that's become quite the hot topic among Passions fans, who cried foul (if not rape) when Julian and Theresa got drunk, married and slept together. "They've added a great dimension to all of this, because it will become more apparent that it's not [all Julian's fault]. Her mother wants to say Julian got her baby drunk, but Theresa's like, 'I allowed myself to get drunk and be put in that situation.' In her drunkenness, she actually thought she was with Ethan. While it was probably her first time ever drinking that much, it's no excuse. She went ahead and did it." "I liked how it was written because we were allowed to be comical with the whole thing," Korman adds. "I thought that was a really good choice. Obviously with Ben (Masters, Julian), he has so much humor with his work and in the writing, and I wanted to have fun with it really bad. I didn't know when I'd ever have the chance to do something like this again." Something else Korman wishes she could do again is have more airtime with all of her on-screen relatives. "I think it's been about six months since I've even had a scene with Jesse (Metcalfe; her on-screen brother, Miguel). I have been thinking and thinking about this for so long. I am praying to work [more] as a family. If we can all get together, the Lopez-Fitzgeralds, and deal with some issues that have not been dealt with, that would be heaven." "Everybody's got a love-life problem right now. It's Harmony," Korman sighs. "Just sit down and work them out! I would love to get involved in helping Luis and Sheridan, or Miguel, with something. Anything where she could be with that family unit. I think family is so important in real life, especially when things aren't going so smoothly. You can get that grounding, and I think that my character needs that - some family love." |
 |
 |