Why are you an actor?
That’s a pretty difficult question. I guess the answer is that I was never anything else. I have several jobs / careers / professions and all of them are things I just started doing when I was little and never stopped: acting being one of them.
Do you use a specific technique?
I have technically never had any “formal” theater training so I wasn’t trained with a specific technique in mind. Meisner is probably closest to what I do, but really, to be honest, the techniques I use most were taught to me by a great director: Joe Gheraldi. I began working with him in 2000 and have done many, many shows with him over the years.
You also enjoy music. Tell us about the band you're in.
I am classically trained vocally, but have always been into all sorts of music. My husband, Jack, introduced me to the music of the 1970’s CBGB / punk era and told me of a desire he had to put together a band to introduce other people to his favorite music. We are both actors and performers (I met him in a Joe Gheraldi production in fact) and decided to take a more theatrical route with the band. We premiered “The Flesh Junkies” our “Zombie Punk Cabaret show”, around Halloween of 2011. We play all covers (with the exception of one song currently) and cover obscure rock & punk tunes by great artists such as The Mumps (and other songs by Kristian Hoffman), The Cramps, X, Lou Reed, Blondie, X-Ray Spex, David Bowie, Iggy & the Stooges, and much more. Jack & I are the singers of the band, though he plays guitar as well. We play mostly on Staten Island and around the other boroughs of NYC. You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thefleshjunkies & YouTube (see a performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJbXC6KjnfE). We have shows coming up all the time and recently just finished another play.
Who are your favorite actors and why?
My current favorite actor is Sir Ian McKellen. Aside from being a great movie performer (how can you beat Gandalf & Magneto), he is brilliant on stage. I saw him last year with Patrick Stewart in Waiting for Godot & No Man’s Land. The physicality of the characters he played in both pieces were so different, and yet, both were done to perfection. I am so sad I missed his King Lear at BAM.
You just finished your 6th year in a production at the Staten Island Shakespearean Theatre Company called Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol. What kind of character modifications have you done over the years?
First off, our “Bogle” is not at all typical of how the character is usually played. She (or he) is usually a mini replica of Marley who is his guide. The first year of the production, our director, Joseph Daly, wanted me to ignore how it had been done previously and figure out who I thought “The Bogle” should be. The guidance he gave was that he thought of her as a bit of a pixie sprite and wanted me to work with that. Through that idea, the descriptions Marley gives in the script, my interest / research in mythology & folklore, and some inspiration for movement by a choreographer I admired, The Bogle became more of a demonic / fairy creature. Over the years no major overhauls have happened to the character, but she has gotten a bit darker and more insightful each year. The biggest difference in the production year to year is finding new meaning in the lines of dialogue. I think everyone’s character has gotten more intense over time.
What's the difference between a small audience production vs. a large audience production?
Every show takes a lot of rehearsal time, no matter what space you are performing it in. Marley has the benefit of having fewer rehearsals each year, but that is because we walk into the first rehearsal completely off-book and with the show basically blocked, otherwise we would have the same 4-6 week rehearsal of most shows. I love doing shows in small spaces; it’s far more intimate than large theaters. In the case of a show like Marley, there is some breaking of the 4th wall and in the small space we perform it I get to actually make direct eye contact with almost half the audience before the show is done – it’s a lot of fun to interact with them. There is something to be said for doing large scale performances as well - you don’t get to see the reactions of the audience like you do in the smaller shows, but when a 500 person house is cheering, there is almost nothing like it. (I did Shrek, the Musical this past summer and we had a 500 person standing ovation after one of our big musical numbers…we had to hold for a good three minutes or more for applause, I don’t think I have ever smiled so much in my life. It’s a really fantastic feeling.) Certain shows, such as large scale musicals work best in a big theater, other shows, like the 4-person Marley, work much better in a small intimate space. The first year we did it, it was in a larger theater. I enjoy where we have it now so much more.
What advice do you have for actors and musicians who are just starting out?
Don’t do it for the money; do it because you love it. Take every new opportunity afforded to you. Go for roles that will challenge you and make you grow as an actor.