my 'rabbit hole' adventure featured in LA Stage Times

Les Spindle and the good people at LA Stage Times have put together a lovely feature article on my role in RABBIT HOLE and career in general. I had a really nice time talking to Les--he knows as much about the Los Angeles theater scene as anybody you'll find.

You can read the article here.

opening david lindsay-abaire's pulitzer prize winner, 'rabbit hole'

I have a list of roles I'm dying to play on stage. I think most theater actresses probably do. Mine's yearssssss old, written in various shades of pen and pencil on a dog-eared piece of notebook paper, tucked away in a drawer.  Once in a while I'll get it out to look it over, and occasionally I'll edit the list. Cross something off that no longer appeals to me or I'm too old for (see ya, Juliet!), add something in that's just come along or that I feel I've grown into. I'll think about the doozies that I'll wait a while for ('Mary' in Long Days' Journey into Night, anyone?) and wonder how many of the titles will eventually cross my path. Only a couple of times have I been lucky enough to cross a part off the list because I got cast in it. A few years ago, I played 'Alma' in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale. When I got that part, pffffft! Off the list. And she was as much fun as I'd imagined.

Don't get me wrong: I have been given the chance to play many terrific roles, but lots of them have been in world premieres, and you can't put those on the "to-play" list unless you figure out how to time travel. (A couple of those roles would be on the list now if I hadn't already played them. 'Lisa' in The Glory of Living. 'Darlene' in Caught.) I don't know how I got lucky enough to snag those parts, but I'm glad I did.

Then just the other day, pffffft! Another one crossed off the list, and I'm so excited for it. I'll be playing 'Becca' in Rabbit Hole at the beautiful La Mirada Theatre starting October 25.  I've been dreaming about this role for a very long time.The production is being directed by Michael Matthews, and I can't wait to get to work with him and the rest of the cast next week. You can click here for more info and tickets.

going to nyc with 'caught'

For ten months in '10 and '11 I had the sheer pleasure of originating and playing the role of Darlene in David L. Ray's smash-hit Caught. Now I'm thrilled to be going with the producers and our director, Nick DeGruccio, to New York City for a three-day workshop followed by two presentations of the staged reading at 3 pm and 7 pm, March 12, at the Foxwoods Theatre. Many thanks to my current employers at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles for giving me the preceding weekend off from The Fall to Earth! We'll return with performances of TFTE on Wednesday, March 14.

If you're in New York and would like to join us for one of the Caught readings, message me here and I'll direct you to where you can get free tickets to either performance.

thanks, steven stanley

Anyone who's anyone in Los Angeles theater knows S.S. and his website, StageSceneLA. Independent of any publication, Steven attends hundreds of shows in L.A. every year and reports on what he sees. This past season, he was especially supportive of "Caught," attending the play eight times including opening and closing nights and revisiting his assessment of the experience with each cast change over the course of ten months. He also saw "Eccentricities of a Nightingale" which ran during the same time.

Steven is a passionate supporter of stagecraft in this theater town, and I'm grateful that he named me in one of his top honors this year.

what happens when your friend is terribly clever and goes viral?

Watch this. Do not drink beverages at the same time. Consider yourself forewarned. 

Re-imagined and voiced by one of my dearest friends, Micah McCain, this mash-up is well over halfway to a million views in just over 2 days. If you saw "Caught," you saw him as "Splenda." And if you want to see more of his video stuff, his YouTube channel is wehoguy30. 

"Hey, girl!"

'caught' extended to february 13 (nix that) april 3 (nix that) may 15 (nix that) June 26 (nix that) August 7!!

MUST close August 7. Really. The theater's rented out, and we're movin' on....

I've been playing Georgian Bible-belter-with-a-secret, Darlene Drift Lynn, since Caught previewed on Thanksgiving weekend 2010. I've had to update this post so many times I decided to start from scratch.

A few highlights:

• Now the longest-running show currently playing Los Angeles
• Ovation Recommended
• Nominations for LA Weekly Awards for Best Direction and Best Ensemble
• Tons and tons of repeat audience. Like, people coming back 6 and 7 times
• THE word-of-mouth hit of 2011
• LA Weekly GO! "a scintillating domestic comedy"
• over 300 Audience ratings on Goldstar with a 4.7 out of 5.0 rating 
• highest rated world-premiere comedy on Goldstar ever
• etc., etc. etc.,

If you haven't seen Caught yet, take yourself to the theater for a night you won't forget. Get your tickets at the Caught website or if you're quick, Goldstar. In the meantime, get in the know about the secrets behind this behemoth hit by watching this video, right here:

caught, or why i was up at 3:34 am

I'm home from rehearsing a new play that will open December 3, 2010 at the Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles. That it is a new play means that I'll be originating a role, an experience I find both a joy and a nightmare, literally.  I'm playing a woman very far removed from my own experience on  many levels, and making sure I tell the truth of who she is has got me a little anxious.

The work that actors do is special. And by special, I don't mean vaunted or More Important Than Other Work. I mean different and strange. My work takes me out of the house at odd hours and leaves me talking to myself on a regular basis. Thanks Haysus for hands-free phones; now when my neighbor on the 405 watches me madly gesticulating and pontificating, I can pretend it's because I'm On The Phone (sometimes I'll even do a little dumb play with my phone to add to the illusion when I know I've been, um, caught.)

As to the literal nightmare, I never sleep more poorly or dream more vividly than when I'm rehearsing a play that's gotten under my skin. Not all of them do. But the tougher ones, the ones with themes of violence or hate or deep, deep love occupy my mind almost around the clock during the 4- or 5- week rehearsal period. Caught is one of those plays.

The reward I get for all this Big Suffering is to move around on a stage and say someone else's Beautiful Words. To be someone else for an hour and fifty-two minutes. To maybe, if I'm lucky, mirror for a couple of people something difficult they're working out in their own lives. To expose some small truth. To make somebody chuckle in recognition.

I won't  tell all Caught's secrets, but it deals with questions around love, family and faith. It's a very funny, very affecting play being originated by a team of some of Los Angeles' and New York's top theater professionals. I think it's gonna be one to see.

Caught, the play