It's apt that the play "Souvenir" will be premiering this month at Diamond Head Theatre as another season of "American Idol" begins.

Just as that television program features a parade of people who've deceived themselves into believing they have talent, the play tells the story of the longtime friendship between Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York socialite famous for her terrible singing voice, and her accompanist, Cosme McMoon.

The role of Florence is being played by Stefanie Smart. In this interview, Smart discusses the challenges of singing badly, finding her character and playing a real person.

Q. As a trained singer, what are the challenges of playing someone who sings badly?

A. For someone who has been trained to find the note and nail the note, and now must overshoot the note or mangle the note or not even come close to the note, it is definitely a challenge. ... All I really need to do is not support the air like I usually do, that produces the sound I'm going for while playing Florence. It's a simple trick to perform, but it's somewhat difficult to listen to. It sort of goes against ever fiber of my being.

Q. How did you prepare for this role?

A. It's an organic process. I found this character as I went along. I researched the role, and read the script, and listened to other people's impressions of the character. I also thought about how Florence (Foster Jenkins) might do certain things, like how she might sit on the edge of a chair. I tried to imagine her tics and mannerisms; from that amalgamation of techniques, the character was formed. Although, I must say, that even though I'd done all that groundwork, it was really only when I saw myself in the mirror in costume for the first time that I felt that I completely knew who this character was. I could see her right there in front of me.

Q. Television programs like "American Idol" have made a sport of presenting deluded individuals who believe they have talent in order to ridicule them; do you worry that your character will be viewed the same way?

A. We all know people who sing and believe that they sound great because no one tells them otherwise. Why burst their bubble? In Florence's case, however, I read that her father actively tried to discourage her from singing. He eventually made her choose between her art and personal comfort — he threatened to cut her off — and she chose art. ... Her earnestness about pursuing singing is where the comedy lies, but she herself is not ridiculous. There is a direction in the script about her character that reads, "there is no hint of mockery."

Also, this play is not a literal telling of her story; as the subtitle suggests, it's a fantasia on the life of Florence Foster Jenkins, so some license has been taken. John (Rampage, the play's director and Diamond Head Theatre's artistic director) and I have tried to honor her as a real woman, and neither of us would want her to be treated as a caricature. Everything she does on stage comes from a very real, very sincere place.

Q. How did you come to be involved with this production?

A. (Rampage) had been trying to get this play on the Diamond Head Theatre schedule for a while, but for one reason or another, it never worked out. He came to me and Laurence Paxton (who plays Cosme McMoon) and said that there was this play he'd been wanting to direct and if we would commit to being in it, it might have a chance of making it to the stage. We both said yes and now, here we are.