Hometown: My father was an Air Force officer. A pilot. A former Japanese prisoner of war. We lived all over. I went to a different school every year from 5th grade until I was a senior in high school. California, Utah, North Dakota, Virginia, to name a few. As an adult, many years in Texas, a few in Cambridge at the American Repertory Theater, and NYC since 1994.
Education: BFA from TCU; MA from University of Texas, MFA from the Dallas Theater Center/Trinity U.
Select Credits: I guess the role that changed my life was Sadie Burke in All the King's Men. It altered the trajectory of my career. Got me noticed by Robert Brustein in The New Republic, and gave me a ticket out of Dallas and onto a bigger stage. It was a musical based on the great Robert Penn Warren novel and used Randy Newman songs. Sadie's a great character. Tortured. Passionate. Raw.
Why theater?: I played pretend all the time. I taught high school theater for awhile in Austin. And my MFA is in directing. I love the craft of the theater.
Who do you play in HAL & BEE: Bee
Tell us about Bee: Well, I'm still learning about her. She's fun. She's frustrated. She drinks too much. She is living a life of repetition. Quiet desperation. But she is not giving up. There's a spiritedness to her. And of course, that's the hook for me.
What is it like being a part of Hal & Bee?: I pulled out of another job to do Hal & Bee because I absolutely love the play. Max Baker is an incredible writer. I did a reading of the play a while ago and flipped over it. And Sarah Norris is a young, quietly confident director. I would work with either of them again in a heartbeat.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I like it a little bit wild and surprising. I like when theater is theater, doing what it does best, not what tv or film or kitchen sink do better. I like sound to be incorporated. I like actors to pop in a slightly dangerous way. I like the knowledge that actors and audience are in the same room/cabaret. Bootycandy, Fun Home, Blasted, Wakey Wakey, The Way West. I'm inspired by the use of more women. Let's get those stories up and running.
Any roles you're dying to play?: I want to do a one-person show. Not one where I play a lot of characters. Not dramatic interp as we used to call it in speech tournaments. One where I'm the same person throughout, a little bit funny and a little bit outrageous. With lots of colors. I did Little Dog Laughed. Someone like that. Or maybe she's an actress. Looking back. Hmmmm.
What's your favorite showtune?: Currently, "Ladies Who Lunch." I did Company and I sang that show for an audition for "Transparent." I would love to be on "Transparent." It's messy like me.
If you could work with anyone you've yet to work with, who would it be?: John Tiffany. His staging captures my imagination.
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Gayle Rankin and it would be called "Candy." If you have a stripper name, use it!
If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: The original Sweeney Todd. I played Mrs. Lovett. Oh. My. Lord. And then I worked with Hal Prince the next year when I moved to New York. The man can stage a musical. I did see Evita and my mind was officially blown. He's a master.
What show have you recommended to your friends?: I'm obsessed with The Bengsons. I saw Hundred Days and Sundown Yellow Moon. Anything they're involved with.
What's your biggest guilty pleasure?: THE YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What's up next?: My daughter, Erin Buckley, writes. And one of her plays is in contention for a prestigious festival this summer. There is a role for me. That is my idea of heaven.