Hometown: Waldwick, NJ
Education: BFA in Drama from Syracuse University
Select Credits: I am particularly proud of Lyric is Waiting by Michael Puzzo which my company produced - it then extended onto an Off-Broadway contract. We were even able to give someone their equity card. Also, I loved my time on "Are We There Yet?” I did two episodes. The first one was a day player, then they called me to play a different character in the same season as a guest star.
Why theater?: I love rehearsal – those first weeks where any choice is possible. I love creating in an ensemble environment. Then you enter tech and everything becomes enhanced by even more innovative people. The lights are the design element I feel changes me the most. Something about stepping onto a lighted stage feels otherworldly-it feels like it gives you permission to step into character. It feels safe.
Tell us about It’s Only Kickball, Stupid: It’s Only Kickball, Stupid explores that time in your life when you have no idea why you do or say the things you do but you recognize that you are doing and saying them! All four of us play our twelve-year-old selves and our thirty five-year-old selves and I am having a blast. I could not ask for better playmates: Autumn, Eric and Debargo are all amazing.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: What I am drawn to is honest, messy actors.
What’s your favorite showtune?: Anything that Barbra Streisand sang on “The Broadway Album” from 1985. I was a strange child.
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: I would LOVE to be directed by Jodie Foster. Her work has such heart, intelligence and wit about it. Honestly I would love to just be in a room with her and talk about theater and film and love and life.
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Oh, god. Please don’t make a movie about me.
What show have you recommended to your friends?: Sleep No More. I found it completely fascinating to watch the audience choose to engage with the performers; when and where it happened or didn’t. I remember being completely appalled by human nature at one point in the show and then just sitting with the actor that had died. Eventually she had to get up. She probably thought I was crazy.
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Ben and Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. I mean, that pint is one serving, right?
What’s the most played song on your iPod?: I don’t really listen to music. My old iPod probably has way too much Kelly Clarkson on it.
What’s up next?: I will be working on a new play by Dominic Finocchiaro for the Lark’s Playwrights’ Week called The Lucky Ladies directed by Margarett Perry. Then I should probably finish the short film I have been writing for the past two years.
For more on It's Only Kickball, Stupid, visit http://www.kefproductions.com/