| :: NewYorkQnews.com :: FireIslandQnews.com :: QnewsMegaMall.com :: GayLifeInAmerica.com :: TheBestOfFireIsland.com :: FireIslandRealtors.com |
 |
|
|
| |
|
|
A Conversation with Harriet Harris |
|
|
by Sherri Rase | >> see bio |
|
|
 |
|
|
photo courtesy of Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
|
|
| Harriet Harris |
|
Juilliard graduate Harriet Harris is an actor of distinct accomplishment. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Harris grew up in a town whose stockyard is a destination in its own right. The Kimbell Museum and Museum Mile, the Water Garden, and the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame are only some of the attractions there, but what could equal the call of Broadway-there's no way to keep someone down on the farm. But Harris isn't about bright lights and big city as much as she's about high quality. The diversity of her roles alone, from early off-Broadway experience, playing all the female roles in "Jeffrey," to her role as Vivian Buchanan, in "The Five Mrs. Buchanans," to her role in cult hit "The X-Files" as Dr. Sally Kendrick, shows that Harris continues to challenge herself. Recently, Harriet Harris spoke with Q on Stage.com about her career and what's next.
Q on Stage: Where's your Texas accent?
Harriet Harris: It's my straining toward affectation that's been happening all my life, so the accent happens mostly among my friends. I certainly had it when I went to Juilliard.
QoS: What was your earliest role?
HH: If it wasn't a situation where my brother and sister and I were doing something, then it was "Alice in Wonderland" and I was playing the White Rabbit.
QoS: What was the greatest acting challenge you've had?
HH: I always find the thing I'm doing to be difficult, whatever it is. For instance, two weeks into rehearsal, I may feel, "What's happening? I thought I understood it." What I'm doing right now ["Noises Off" with the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey] is very complicated. It is very challenging. When I was doing "Thoroughly Modern Millie" [in the role of the evil Mrs. Meers, for which Harris won a Tony], I was thinking, "I'm having the time of my life, but what have I gotten myself into?" And then when I played Amanda, in "Glass Menagerie," I found it challenging, because I played the role in my mind a number of times since I was 13. I thought this might be my only chance. I don't want to blow it. I've been thinking about this forever. I didn't want to disappoint myself, but was thrilled with the cast and Joe Dowling.
QoS: Do you prefer stage, screen or television?
HH: I like them all for very different reasons. It may be naïve at best, since I've not done many movies. I like theatre and television enormously, for different reasons. You have to be able to work with others quickly in television. Theatre is fun because I like to figure out how to crack the role and what will make the absolutely best show. I don't know that the work is better but it's definitely more intense. But I've had a great time doing television, too.
QoS: What is your Dream Role and why?
HH: I would probably like to do Amanda again. I think it's a role that I was considered too young to play by some, though I don't think so. But I'd like to do it again in a few years. I'd like to do another musical. You're surrounded by people who are really trying all of the time. There are things that those people can do that I can't do. I love being around it, with all the different disciplines coming together. It takes such a huge community to put on a musical. I also just did a Terrence McNally play, "Unusual Acts of Devotion," in La Jolla. I think I really probably ought to pin my sights on some other role that I'll simply die if I didn't play. I find what comes my way fairly interesting, though some of what comes my way is horrible. I should be smart and realize you could make almost any job great. But I try not to do things that will make me miserable. So far, I've been able to ride out dry spells and wait for something that makes me truly happy or something wonderful will come out of something I thought would not be interesting.
QoS: You were the only female cast member of "Jeffrey"-how did you land that role?
HH: I was doing plays with Christopher Ashley and he and Paul Rudnick were beginning readings for that play. Christopher asked me to participate in a reading and it was outrageously funny-I think Paul is just so smart and so clever. From the readings they decided that they wanted me to do it. Paul wrote more roles for me-probably a total of eight by the time we did the show. Some were very short, running the gamut from a crossover as Mother Teresa to a sexaholic at a meeting to Jeffrey's mother to a Marianne Williamson-type tough-love hearer. Playing a range of roles from a character at about age 20 through Mother Teresa made me look very versatile. But it was really Paul's writing. The cast for the most part then moved out to California and had a big adventure out there doing the show. It was a great time!
QoS: How early in your life were you aware of LGBTI people?
HH: I was aware from a very early age. Texas being Texas, people would say, "Oh, she's a single girl," or "He's a bachelor." I had a teacher early on who was a "bachelor" and a teacher later on who was "single." People in Fort Worth are very reserved, so they don't really speculate. They didn't care much about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and what was happening with them. People kept a respectful distance from one another. It wasn't hidden so much as just "not your business." I don't doubt that didn't make for isolation and loneliness, but from a perspective of this is how Texans live, why should it be different for gay people? That's what it was like when I was growing up-people there wouldn't really care about Brad and Angelina, back then. This constant need to know and speculate didn't exist. My Mom was very interested in the arts and a lot of the artists she knew didn't have families-it wasn't something, I think, that my family thought a lot about. It also wasn't much of a revelation when I moved to New York and people were out. In the period where I was growing up, it just wasn't as hidden as it was in the '60s and not as out as it was in the '80s. It's more of the climate that I grew up in being a '70s chick.
QoS: How did your hometown react when you were featured in "Jeffrey?"
HH: My Mother and her friends who saw it thought it was hilarious, but that's the strange thing about Texas. People can get really hot and bothered about a topic or they can be really libertarian. Most people just don't care. They just don't want to be made uncomfortable. They just don't want to know that much, there's a certain amount of reticence in even discussing it now.
QoS: Back to the actor's craft, when onstage, how do you keep your composure?
HH: I don't think that's ever come up, maybe when absolute accidents happen. Then the audience tends to accept whatever we do and look at it as part of the show. Usually the closest we've come is when something goes really horribly wrong from what it's supposed to be and then we're trying to figure out how to get it back on track.
QoS: Many of my friends and I enjoyed your work in the "Five Mrs. Buchanans". What was it like to work on that program?
HH: It's always a surprise when a show gets cancelled, but it was getting moved around an awful lot. If it hadn't been my first series, I should have seen it coming. They kept finding another slot, even though the numbers were great in the original one. Judy [Judith Ivey] is terrific and I was so grateful every day to sit down and see Eileen Heckart do her thing. I was very lucky, because she was very sweet to me and took time with me and it's really nice when someone so accomplished and talented and-legendary sounds ridiculous-but I was so thrilled with getting the chance to meet her. And working with her was a wonderful opportunity. I met Marc Cherry doing that as well, and he remembers people from show to show-I got to work with him again on "Desperate Housewives." Overall it was funny and a good experience. It's nice to hear people are still talking about it and people are seeing it now on YouTube, but it feels like a lifetime ago.
QoS: Please contrast "Frasier" with "Desperate Housewives."
HH: "Frasier" was so much fun to do-incredibly written episodes and the actors are so much fun. I was always thrilled when I found I would get to do another one. When I was growing up, my mother was not a fan of Disney films, but we got to see "101 Dalmations" and I thought Cruella DeVille was just wonderful. Bebe was close to that-a fascinating, but ruthless person in pursuit of what is really only good for her. Though I think that she really had a thing for Frasier-the writers didn't agree-they saw Frasier as her pawn, but I think he was her prize. I really liked everyone in the cast and crew. "Desperate Housewives" was fun too. And Felicia was a wonderful character.
You may see Harriet Harris' work in "Noises Off," currently in production through August 30 by the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ, at the F.M. Kirby Theatre, at Drew University, in Madison, NJ. Visit http://www.shakespearenj.org for more information.
|
|
|
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
 |
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| FEATURED HOME FOR SALE |
|
|
|
|
MORE FIRE ISLAND HOMES FOR SALE & RENT AT:
The Best of Fire Island.com >> |
|
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Return to Top of the Page
We are pledged to the letter and the spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity
throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in
which there are no barriers to obtain housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familiar
status, sexual orientation or national origin.
Equal Housing Opportunity. All material presented herein is intended for information purpose only.
While the information is believed to be correct, it is presented subject to errors, omissions,
changes or withdrawal without notice.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
HOME | SHOW LISTINGS | NEW YORK CITY | ART & MUSEUMS | REAL ESTATE | RESTAURANTS | SHOPPING
BROADWAY | OFF-BROADWAY | OFF-OFF-BROADWAY
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
NewYorkQnews.com | FireislandQnews.com | QnewsMegaMall.com | GayLifeInAmerica.com | TheBestOfFireIsland.com | FireIslandRealtors.com
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
© 2008 QOnStage.com - All Rights Reserved
Design, Implementation, and Maintenance Provided By Circa58/59
Privacy Policy, Disclaimer
|
|
