I was born in my parents’ house
(yep) in sunny Santa Cruz,
California – a hippie, surfer
dude, university town with a
bustling organic farmers’
market, cheesy old boardwalk,
and spirited progressive
community. I was a chattery,
giggling, multi-slouch-socks-
wearing little entertainer from
an early age, with no patience
for piano or ballet, but big on
self-styled living room
extravaganzas. And I was
jubilant about language…
specifically using said language
to argue. I was totally that
precocious, stubborn five-year-
old who needed to know the
reason behind absolutely
everything. I loved taking on
my (brilliant and highly
educated) parents or the
astrophysicists at the
conferences they’d bring me to
all over Europe for my dad’s
work. I once asked a Nobel
Prize winner how many hairs
were on an average human
head and told him flat out when
he guessed wrong.
My Pandora’s Box acting
moment happened in a fourth
grade production of Sleeping
Beauty. I played the Evil Fairy
(not evil, just misunderstood!)
and my mom somehow
convinced the school to trump
up the boring old text with a lot
of jazzy new lines, most of
which somehow went to me. I
got to wear heavy eye makeup
and hear lots of people talking
about me afterwards – what
could be better?? But then I
saw The Winter’s Tale at the
local festival Shakespeare
Santa Cruz and began to
understand what theatre was
really about: the production was
modern in all the right ways,
sparklingly clear, completely
heartbreaking, and seriously
funny.
I started volunteering and took
summer classes at that magical
place when I was silly young,
revelling in its redwood
amphitheater and culture of
Equity actors from New York and
elsewhere who were irreverent
but disciplined – and a riot to
party with after shows when I
could tease out tales of
glamorous escapades and not-
so-glamorous nomadic
livelihoods.
I had it in my head to go East
(with a capital “E”) for college
and wound up at Princeton,
laughing and/or commiserating
into the wee hours with like-
minded pals, acting in and
producing loads of student-run
theater, and dabbling in college
politics and journalism. I
studied abroad in London and
chewed up the National Theater
Bookstore’s collection of works
on contemporizing Shakespeare
(Mmmm). I interned for a
summer at New York Theater
Workshop in the casting office
(note to self: nothing casts
during the summer) and tried
out assistant directing at
Shakespeare Santa Cruz, which
was pretty fantastic except I’m
like the one actor who doesn’t
secretly want to direct.
After college it was New York all
the way. I did The Public
Theater/NYSF Shakespeare Lab
and taught the secrets of
iambic pentameter to kids
around the five boroughs. I
acted in some stuff in
embarrassing locales (another
note to self: just say no to
cafetoriums). I assisted at
Theater for a New Audience and
the artists’ haven New
Dramatists and was invited to
accompany a sweet New York
Times theatre reviewer on
assignments. I infiltrated the
theater scene, worked on
cracking the city, cocktail
waitressed it up – and applied
to grad acting programs so I
could finally focus.
In ’03 I hauled my stuff to
Providence, Rhode Island
(whoa, I thought, that’s like
really East) and joined the
second ever class of the Brown
University/Trinity Rep
Consortium, the brainchild of
Oskar Eustis and Paula Vogel.
I was head over heels with it,
woo’d in part by its mission to
be a “place of artistic kinship,
creative excellence and social
idealism, where the artistic and
intellectual educate one another
and even become one.” A
rocky but blazing love affair
ensued. Clowning was involved,
and yoga, and understudying,
and talking in funny voices.
Favorite roles included Thyona
in Big Love, the Prince in
Romeo and Juliet (yep), Sheila
in A Chorus Line, Perdita in The
Winter’s Tale, and a solo-show
I made called “What Happens
After The Princess Gets
Everything She Fucking Wants.”
On the side during grad school
I worked as editor (dramaturg,
really) and consultant on The
View From the Center of the
Universe – a book by my folks
– published by Penguin in April
2006. It suggests how we can
achieve a sense of belonging in
this vast universe of ours and
how, armed with this newfound
awareness of our significance,
we might work toward solving
today’s global problems.
Inspiring emails have been
pouring in for over a year, and
the local newspaper announced
“it seems saving the world is a
family business.”
Meanwhile, I’m back in the big
bad city – a proud member of
Actors’ Equity, yoga headstand
guru, and reigning queen of the
shmooze.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gratitude galore to the active
members of the Mutual
Appreciation Society (Nancy,
Joel, Rena, and Larry), as well
as mentors and great pals
along the way: Michael Newton,
Amanda Brandes, Thom Jones,
Michael Mote, Tim Ocel, Kerry
Huang, Tommy Gomez, Brian
McEleney and Stephen
Berenson, Michael Warren, Kim
Gray, Duncan Stewart, Remi
Sandri, Chris Bradley, Craig
Watson, the Axels, Stephen
Gabis, Eric Rosen, Boris
McGiver, Jessica Crandall, Maria
Oliveras, Chris Harcum, Jordan
Burg, Marco McClees, Alex
Torra, Kate Wilson, Alison
Blackwell, Michael Ritter,
Makaela Pollock, Stephen
Graybill, Eric Bland, Neil
Genzlinger, Brian Houtz, Joe
Kochan, Liva Coe, Matt Lembo,
Krista Braun, Ben Beckley, Jo
Heap, Adam Immerwahr, Joe
Cermatori, Terrace F. Club, the
Lynn Blumberg family, and Tara
Firenzi.
(yep) in sunny Santa Cruz,
California – a hippie, surfer
dude, university town with a
bustling organic farmers’
market, cheesy old boardwalk,
and spirited progressive
community. I was a chattery,
giggling, multi-slouch-socks-
wearing little entertainer from
an early age, with no patience
for piano or ballet, but big on
self-styled living room
extravaganzas. And I was
jubilant about language…
specifically using said language
to argue. I was totally that
precocious, stubborn five-year-
old who needed to know the
reason behind absolutely
everything. I loved taking on
my (brilliant and highly
educated) parents or the
astrophysicists at the
conferences they’d bring me to
all over Europe for my dad’s
work. I once asked a Nobel
Prize winner how many hairs
were on an average human
head and told him flat out when
he guessed wrong.
My Pandora’s Box acting
moment happened in a fourth
grade production of Sleeping
Beauty. I played the Evil Fairy
(not evil, just misunderstood!)
and my mom somehow
convinced the school to trump
up the boring old text with a lot
of jazzy new lines, most of
which somehow went to me. I
got to wear heavy eye makeup
and hear lots of people talking
about me afterwards – what
could be better?? But then I
saw The Winter’s Tale at the
local festival Shakespeare
Santa Cruz and began to
understand what theatre was
really about: the production was
modern in all the right ways,
sparklingly clear, completely
heartbreaking, and seriously
funny.
I started volunteering and took
summer classes at that magical
place when I was silly young,
revelling in its redwood
amphitheater and culture of
Equity actors from New York and
elsewhere who were irreverent
but disciplined – and a riot to
party with after shows when I
could tease out tales of
glamorous escapades and not-
so-glamorous nomadic
livelihoods.
I had it in my head to go East
(with a capital “E”) for college
and wound up at Princeton,
laughing and/or commiserating
into the wee hours with like-
minded pals, acting in and
producing loads of student-run
theater, and dabbling in college
politics and journalism. I
studied abroad in London and
chewed up the National Theater
Bookstore’s collection of works
on contemporizing Shakespeare
(Mmmm). I interned for a
summer at New York Theater
Workshop in the casting office
(note to self: nothing casts
during the summer) and tried
out assistant directing at
Shakespeare Santa Cruz, which
was pretty fantastic except I’m
like the one actor who doesn’t
secretly want to direct.
After college it was New York all
the way. I did The Public
Theater/NYSF Shakespeare Lab
and taught the secrets of
iambic pentameter to kids
around the five boroughs. I
acted in some stuff in
embarrassing locales (another
note to self: just say no to
cafetoriums). I assisted at
Theater for a New Audience and
the artists’ haven New
Dramatists and was invited to
accompany a sweet New York
Times theatre reviewer on
assignments. I infiltrated the
theater scene, worked on
cracking the city, cocktail
waitressed it up – and applied
to grad acting programs so I
could finally focus.
In ’03 I hauled my stuff to
Providence, Rhode Island
(whoa, I thought, that’s like
really East) and joined the
second ever class of the Brown
University/Trinity Rep
Consortium, the brainchild of
Oskar Eustis and Paula Vogel.
I was head over heels with it,
woo’d in part by its mission to
be a “place of artistic kinship,
creative excellence and social
idealism, where the artistic and
intellectual educate one another
and even become one.” A
rocky but blazing love affair
ensued. Clowning was involved,
and yoga, and understudying,
and talking in funny voices.
Favorite roles included Thyona
in Big Love, the Prince in
Romeo and Juliet (yep), Sheila
in A Chorus Line, Perdita in The
Winter’s Tale, and a solo-show
I made called “What Happens
After The Princess Gets
Everything She Fucking Wants.”
On the side during grad school
I worked as editor (dramaturg,
really) and consultant on The
View From the Center of the
Universe – a book by my folks
– published by Penguin in April
2006. It suggests how we can
achieve a sense of belonging in
this vast universe of ours and
how, armed with this newfound
awareness of our significance,
we might work toward solving
today’s global problems.
Inspiring emails have been
pouring in for over a year, and
the local newspaper announced
“it seems saving the world is a
family business.”
Meanwhile, I’m back in the big
bad city – a proud member of
Actors’ Equity, yoga headstand
guru, and reigning queen of the
shmooze.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gratitude galore to the active
members of the Mutual
Appreciation Society (Nancy,
Joel, Rena, and Larry), as well
as mentors and great pals
along the way: Michael Newton,
Amanda Brandes, Thom Jones,
Michael Mote, Tim Ocel, Kerry
Huang, Tommy Gomez, Brian
McEleney and Stephen
Berenson, Michael Warren, Kim
Gray, Duncan Stewart, Remi
Sandri, Chris Bradley, Craig
Watson, the Axels, Stephen
Gabis, Eric Rosen, Boris
McGiver, Jessica Crandall, Maria
Oliveras, Chris Harcum, Jordan
Burg, Marco McClees, Alex
Torra, Kate Wilson, Alison
Blackwell, Michael Ritter,
Makaela Pollock, Stephen
Graybill, Eric Bland, Neil
Genzlinger, Brian Houtz, Joe
Kochan, Liva Coe, Matt Lembo,
Krista Braun, Ben Beckley, Jo
Heap, Adam Immerwahr, Joe
Cermatori, Terrace F. Club, the
Lynn Blumberg family, and Tara
Firenzi.
