A. Oh gosh... it was probably the first moment that I had a clue. [Laughs] I jumped into it feet first. I had been on stage a lot, almost exclusively dancing, some interpretive theatre-type dancing where we were perhaps doing a story that was narrated. But nothing where I ever had dialogue on stage until I got into High School.
My senior year was when I really got involved in acting classes and theatre outside of school - just various projects. For the first time I was meeting casting directors even though I had absolutely no clue what I was getting into. I was sixteen years old - about to turn seventeen - and I was actually looking to get some senior portraits done. I met someone who was helping to cast a project in the local area, and they asked me if I'd be involved in this showcase. I had no idea what I was doing, and they sort of led me to a monologue, a piece they thought would be good for me, and walked me through it. It was absolutely magical. Just getting more reaction than I ever expected to... it was absolutely magic. Whenever you have a good moment you always get that feeling again.
Q. I know exactly what that's like. I've done quite a bit of theatre myself, actually. The moment for me was my sophomore year of High School, and we did Big River as the musical. I had a minor part in the chorus, but we did three shows and got standing ovations every night. The first night I just got this rush and thought, "This is all I could ever possibly want."
A. Yeah, exactly, it doesn't matter. It's knowing you were part of something and knowing that the audience feels you did justice to it. It is so unbelievable to me. I mean, you're playing people - whether they're fictional characters or not, there's so many facets that make a person a person, that makes somebody believable. To fulfill those - on the surface it can look pretty easy, but when it comes to actually fulfilling a person - that's just an amazing thing for me.
Q. So after this showcase where you got snookered in, did you go off to college for more training, or did you jump right into the professional gig?
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