Jayne Houdyshell
Recently appeared on Broadway in “Bye Bye Birdie.” Her other Broadway appearances include currently in “Love, Loss, and What I Wore” (Westside Theatre), “Well” (Tony nom., Obie Award, Drama Desk, Outer Critic Circle, Lortel Award noms; and “Wicked.” Off-Broadway Ms. Houdyshell has been seen in “The New Century,” “The Receptionist,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Fighting Words,” “True Love,” “Attempts on Her Life,” “The Pain and the Itch,” (Jefferson Award) and “The Clean House.” Her film and TV includes: “Morning Glory,” “The Bounty Hunter,” “Everybody’s Fine,” “Garden State,” “Changing Lanes,” “Maid in Manhattan,” “Conviction,” “Loving Leah,” and “Law & Order.”
Was it always your dream when you were young to act on the stage?
Yes. I didn’t know there was such a profession being an actor until I was three of four. My father had been an aspiring performer before he married and I heard his stories and I want to do that. Of course, I had a very vivid fantasy life, an imaginative life. I felt very comfortable and safe in the make-believe state. It was my most precious occupation – that and reading. I grew up in a rural neighborhood. I was rather solitary, living in a fantasy world; it was easy to do when you’re left to your own devices. The muscles for that were developed at a very early stage. When I was twelve, I started doing community theatre in Topeka Kansas.
Who were your inspirations when you began acting?
I didn’t have the opportunity to see a lot of theatre. What did I listen to were Broadway cast albums. I’d listen to Julie Andrews, Mary Martin, Chita Rivera, Angela Lansbury. I listened to Barbara Harris sing “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.” I’d stare at the album covers, trying to crawl inside the photos, at stare at the costumes. There was a great outdoor musical theater in Kansas City, the Starlight Theatre, and as a family we’d go. I remember seeing “Camelot,” “110 in the Shade,” “Funny Girl.” I can remember sitting there weeping, I didn’t want to leave the theater. I didn’t want to go back to reality. Something had transported me to that world that was woven by the musicals. It was so magically. It was my aspiration to be up there. That contributed to my driving ambition on stage.
One of the roles you brought to life beautifully was in “Well.” What made that experience special for you?
In talking about the “process,” part of what made the experience especially so deep was it being a long process – four and half years. I had such enormous respect and love and found it constantly stimulating and with Lisa and Leigh on the play, it was very easy to stay engaged. It never ceased to be interested. There were constant rewrites, readings for two years. I was always impressed by the work moving us forward, always pushing us further into the world. When we went into production at The Public we got rewrites every day, then we went to ACT writing, which was a critical process. Lisa could have just sat back but because the structure of the play was so unconventional, I conducive to continuing working on it. I was so happy to be along for the ride as Lisa’s mother. She was an infinitely complicated woman and I always felt so entrusted with the role.
Another of your roles was in “Coraline,” creating Coraline, a nine-year old girl?
I loved doing it. It’s such a rare thing in the theatre when you work on something that’s totally original, not only in content, but in vision and sound. I really appreciated the experience and feel enormously grateful to Leigh Silverman and David Greenspan entrusting me with such a challenging experience. Luckily for me, Leigh was first approached by Stephen, and David about directing it, and I was the first person Leigh thought of for the part. When she approached me, there wasn’t much of script, very early in the book. The first thing I did was read the novel. I really captivated by the story, and some what daunted by the prospect of playing a child, particularly one of such epic, heroic proportions. She was a great role, a dreamy part.
But I was intrigued by the challenge of it, very excited by the prospect of working with Leigh. I knew she and I collaborated well. I admired David tremendously, and I thought Stephen's music was so interesting.
as Madame Morrible in THE WIZ
We did two full workshops prior to starting rehearsal, and by the time there was a cast assembled, we had a full working book, a complete score and we did at the Zipper Theatre. I miss that venue, may it rest in peace, and in the course of first three weeks, everyone in the creative team was most interested in developing a vocabulary for the production – what it would be, in terms of the visual, the imaginative in terms of the thoughts, what was imaginary, what was made out of ordinary objects, developing a musical vocabulary for the underscoring, and then, of course, Stephen was hearing other people doing his songs. And hearing it at the initial workshop, out came the first ideas what the production would look like, in terms of lights and costumes and set and then as they developed Christine’s concept for the set, it was very galvanizing. What could be done with pianos, not only a toy piano but the toy world in the mind of everyone. Six months before we opened, we all walked into first day of rehearsal room, and it was filled with pianos and the creative team had a firm beginning. Then we further developed those ideas and worked very collaboratively.
I didn’t just do external research; I often would be in the park watching children, noticing who they were physically, how simple their movements were. They don’t make moves unless they’re necessary. They wait for the next impulse, physically, they’re at rest. Sometimes I was relieved to observe it – simplicity was the key. I didn’t want to fall into the trap parodying a child. I needed to know who was I was with my thinking right for this piece, and then being able to open up the audience up to think about their source and creativity.
It was always a fluid process in rehearsal, moving towards improvement and growth, and that’s always been true for me. Though it’s not always the case sometimes when you do a role. It can become challenging, but we were open, solidly in the process of performing the piece, so the work deepened and simplified.
You also performed in “Wicked.”
They couldn’t have been more different. It’s interesting, when I was a kid coming up in the theatre, at a small theatre in the Midwest I did a lot of musicals. Now I’m doing nothing but musicals, like “Bye, Bye Birdy,” so it’s an interesting shift.
“Wicked” was mind-blowing. To go into it first time, I went in as a replacement and I had ten days to rehearse with the stage manager, and then I was out on the stage. I had never been in a Broadway musical before, it was really quite an experience: thrilling and terrifying all at the same time.
Principally, it was a challenge for me discovering what size I needed to be for the work to fill the house and inhabit the world of the musical. It took a number of performances to get my bearings, learning how to deal with being, how to negotiate the technical challenge. I found myself projecting as I normally would, and the sound techs are phenomenal, adjusting me, assuring I was doing was fine. I was allowed to project at a level I was used to and then it became more fun as time went on. It became more like surfing.
What are you looking for from a director and what should they expect from you?
I always hope they’ll point things out to me about the character I don’t already know, ways of looking at the role, broadening and inspiring and challenging my work. I love working with those directors who set a bar out of my reach. It gives me something to jump for. My best experiences have been working with directors who are generally inspiring and in a way, nurturing.
I’m a team player, and I always try to keep my eye on the big picture: what am I serving? What is the director’s vision for the play itself and how does the role I’m playing serve that? Directors seem to appreciate that from an actor, who looks at that, as well as their own personal concerns.
How did you learn to turn the “critical” voice off inside your head?
I think I cycled through periods where I questioned my own work. Usually it has to do with worrying about whether I’m on track with the work, whether I’m right for a role. Generally I know I’m fairly competent of my skills and confident of my capacity to figure things out. I go into every project to have struggles and challenges along the way. I’m not daunted when those kinds of things come up. It’s not an easy thing we do as actors, in terms of the neurotic constant insecurity, but hopefully there are people who are around who can give me feedback when I need some help.
How do you maintain your strength and courage to continue to grow as a person and as an actress?
How did I learn it? I don’t know, I think if one's a survivor, those things that test your mettle as actors, the challenges of unemployment, of auditioning, of being rejected, putting yourself out there, being blasted critically – those are the mettle testers. If one can survive those things then you find out what mettle you’re made of it. I think it comes down to having an iron resolve to do it, no matter what stuff comes your way.
I’ve had when I was adrift, having gone through a period in my 30 year career that have been real tests in my belief in myself, despair, feeling like no one else believes in you. Having to rely on myself to survive. Having come through those times, they’ve made me a better artist; they’ve developed in me deeper compassion for the roles I play.
I was fortunate working as much as I did in regional theatre, but I needed to stop doing that and work in one place. To get established so directors and casting directors knew me. I’ve become more confident.
What does it mean to you to be a part of the great theatrical tradition we have in this country, being connected to actresses like Laurette Taylor, Rose McClendon, Kim Stanley and Geraldine Page, Colleen Dewhurst, Marian Seldes, among others?
I don’t even know how to respond to that. I don’t think in those terms. I love Marian Seldes’ work. It’s phenomenally beautiful. She’s a wildly theatrical actress. I have tremendous respect for who she is as a person of the theatre. I have the deepest respect because when I’m around her and see her in the industry, the way she represents the theater, how she talks about the theatre in the most meaningful way, with such a depth of love for what it is we do. It gives all of us much more respect. She lives and breathes it. She’s a shining example, I hope one day to become that kind of actress that can inspire young people to cherish their love for the theatre and protect it. I feel she carries with her the memory of the legacy of all these greats she has worked with and she seems to pass it on to whom ever passes crosses her path. She is a great soul of the theatre.
The theatre must always survive – it’s an organic experience that happens because of us, and it’s not on a screen or in a computer or a video game, it’s can’t ever be the same because we’re all going through a live experience in the moment.
