I didn’t audition for the show initially—I was already slated to costume Little Shop, Grease, and You Can’t Take it With You. I was thrilled when former artistic director Andrew Gall asked. You Can’t Take It With You was the first show I directed in Pittsburgh, my home town. I was nervous about sending in my video audition since I understood they were looking for an older actress. But so happy to accept.
I’m an actress in Asheville. Some of my favorite roles include Viola in Twelfth Night, Ophelia in Hamlet, Marianne in Tartuffe, Demetrius in Titus Andronicus, and Grumio in Taming of the Shrew with the Montford Park Players; Masha in The Seagull, and Ophelia in Fall of a Sparrow with Mountain Arts Theater; Evelyn Thomas in The Shape of Things with Different Strokes Performing Arts Collective; and Kristine Ulrich in A Chorus Line with Asheville Community Theater. I also play Jade in the hit comedy series Transplanting which is about to begin its second season.
When not acting, I work in a resale shop so most days I’m at the store buying clothes for our inventory. I fill my days off as a pin-up model with photo shoots and rehearsals.
I’ve loved playing the clown in this production. Chris let me have a lot of fun in rehearsal but reined me back in during tech week. In Act III, I would make my entrance and do my best to crack up everyone on stage. Chris explained that “everyone” was in the middle of a pivotal emotional moment, and I was interrupting. So while I get to come in and have my fun, the other actors are in a very serious and tumultuous place. Playing with the balance of comedy during that entrance was very satisfying.
I’ve always said the Sycamore’s are just like my real life family in Pittsburgh. On a typical day, my brother works with music producers in our basement; my mother outlines a new book or documentary she’ll never write or make; my father pretends to be a cowboy through a paved prairie all while my baby brother tries to perfect his gnocchi recipe. They have always been genuinely themselves and full of life and love just like the Sycamores. It’s the reason to see this play. Family. Loving life, loving yourself, and loving the people who will always be there.
Stage Whispers 