Caris Corfman, a talented and lovely actress, was a fellow student at Florida State University School of Theatre in the mid-1970s. Her career suffered a devastating reversal of fortune in 1993 when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Despite four operations, the benign mass left her with a severe and unrepairable disability, causing her to lose the functioning of the part of her brain that controls short-term memory.
However, she was still able to repeat verbatim passages or monologues she had learned years and years before her operation. In a remarkable comeback, Ms. Corfman returned to the stage after over a decade in a one-woman show, "Caris' Peace," at the Flea Theater in Lower Manhattan in October 2005. The show was a bravura turn, in which she talked about her life and illness before and after, using index cards to help keep her focus and continuity.
The show was a filmed documentary, "Caris' Peace," which chronicles the former actress' story and personal battles. The Boston-born actress, born in 1955, arrived at FSU in the mid-1970s, where she showcased her talent in productions such as "The Glass Menagerie" and "The Taming of the Shrew." Her performances were marked by her natural and vibrant beauty, and she was one of those people who drew an audience whenever she entered a room.
After FSU, Caris attended the Yale School of Drama, where she made her off-Broadway debut in the critically-acclaimed production of "Wings" in 1978. She also earned outstanding notices for her role as Emma in the Yale Repertory Theatre's production of "Curse of the Starving Class" in 1980. One of her crowning moments was creating the role of Katherina Cavalieri in the original Broadway production of "Amadeus" in 1980, starring Ian McKellen.
Throughout the 1980s, Caris continued to demonstrate her versatility in a number of original contemporary plays, including "Fish Riding Bikes," "The Sleep of Reason," "Filthy Rich," and "Exact Change." She also worked with many prominent actors, including David Groh, Sylvia Miles, David Strathairn, Robert Lansing, Barbara Barrie, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Although she made less than a handful of films, one of her notable roles was in the British period piece "Dreamchild" in 1985, starring Ian Holm as Lewis Carroll and Coral Browne as Alice Hargreaves, Carroll's inspiration for his "Alice" tales. As for TV, it was that medium's loss that she was not utilized more often. However, her first love was the theatre.
In 1993, following a role in the movie "The Pickle," Caris' professional journey came to an end. From then on, her life would be about recovery, rehabilitation, and survival. While she would not be able to remember someone she had met minutes earlier, she would remember me from our FSU days. And I have always remembered her - her incredible beauty, both inside and out, her charisma, her amazing talent as a performer, and her obvious love and dedication to her craft.
Caris' one-woman show would become living proof of the extent of that love and dedication, and, more importantly, her belief that her life was not over but in a major transition. On January 13, 2007, Caris' life's journey ended, passing away peacefully in her sleep of a stroke at age 51. She continues to be cherished by the family, friends, and actors she left behind, whose lives she touched and inspired, and is deeply, deeply missed.
