Name: Kersti BryanHometown: Golden, Colorado - Home to Coors Beer.
Education: Hard knocks of NYC. Carnegie Mellon University
Select Credits: Mostly Eastern European ladies who are weeping or anything in corset wearing eras.
New York: August Strindberg Repertory, New York Classical Theatre, Player’s Club. Regional: All’s Well That Ends Well (Commonwealth Shakespeare *Nominated Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actress); Riverside Drive (Moscow Art Theatre *TCG Award); Shakespeare Theatre of NJ; Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Palm Beach Dramaworks. TV: "The Knick", "Elementary"; “Golden Boy”; “Drop Dead Diva”; “Law & Order”; "Small Miracles". Film: "Hell's Heart", "Actor Seeks Role", "Carla and Charlie" and others.
Why theater?: Whyyyyyyyyyy.....
Who do you play in True Believer?: Not named. Let's call her The Protagonist...
Tell us about True Believer: True Believer is about a young idealistic journalist who experiences the Egyptian Arab Spring and wants to bring that passion for change back to the United States...it doesn't go as planned.
What is it like being a part of True Believer?: I am thinking about revolutions constantly. We have an insanely good crew. It feels like we have the gods behind us on this one. Asa Merritt wrote a beautiful play, we have Joshua K. Brody directing it like a master, Bay Bryan plays original music, and Theaterlab is giving us their full support...and as an actress I get to chew through a powerful, surprising & very timely story with a small audience night after night.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I love eccentric, theatrical (bring 'em in from the ceiling with glitter! or make the sock puppet the boat!). Anything playful that utilizes diverse spaces. Some of my New York favorite companies at work: Bedlam Theatre, Fiasco, Sister Sylvester, St. Ann's Warehouse curates an extraordinary international line-up of companies to watch, BAM...I'm sure there's more.
Any roles you’re dying to play?: I've been prepping for the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet since high school (a few years yet), Chekhov's Three Sisters - any and all the sisters, (maybe I will play all three in one show). Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, The Actress in The Guardsman.
What’s your favorite showtune?: "There's No Business Like Show Business"! Actually...I'm not sure. But I love me a musical.
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: So many people but right off the top of my head: Taylor Mac.
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I want diverse casting. Let's call it: "The Gentlest Eccentric" and my brother can play me.
If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: My head says Shakespeare but my heart says Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame.
What show have you recommended to your friends?: I am recommending "Jane The Virgin" like it's my job. Just saw Bess Wohl's Small Mouth Sounds at Ars Nova...really enjoyed it.
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Spoonful of peanut butter and chocolate chips.
What’s up next?: dinnertime.