10 Questions
Take Ten - KAREN CURRIE
We've all been there, applauding at curtain call and the cast gestures their thanks to the orchestra, the director, and... who are we clapping for now? It's likely the show's stage manager, the person who does a bit of everything, from handling all the backstage duties during a performance, to assisting the director while rehearsals are going on, to admin duties, and everything in between! 2020 is the Year of the Stage Manager, so this week, Take Ten from theatreWashington's guest is KAREN CURRIE, production stage manager for Signature Theatre's Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes. The play by DC playwright Dani Stoller is about a retiree who finds her "empty nest ends up a little fuller than she imagined" after "a pregnant niece, the troubled boy next door and a distressed daughter with a secret show up at her door." Currie talk about her early start in theater, her love of working on world premieres, and the time she worked in a "metal box" grilling hotdogs during the summer. Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes runs through March 29 at Signature Theatre.
1) What was the first show you ever saw, and what impact did it have?
I’m not positive which one it was, but I’m sure it was a Gilbert and Sullivan that my mother was directing and my father was playing the comic lead in. The family participated in those community theater productions every summer for years when I was young. Since I started out in a basinet in the back of the house during their rehearsals, the fact that I’ve wound up in the business is no surprise to anyone.
2) What was your first involvement in a theatrical production?
I played the axe bearer for the Lord High Executioner (my Dad) and a lady in waiting to The Mikado at age 8. From there I was in every fairy tale known to man every winter and a musical or G&S show every summer through middle school. By high school, I was working backstage as well as onstage.
3) What’s your favorite play or musical, and why do you like it so much?
Assassins by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman. I’m a politics and history nerd, so a show that combines that, musical theater and dark humor is perfect for me. And who doesn’t love Sondheim?
4) What’s the worst day job you ever took?
Although not really a “day job” since it was still high school, concessions at the class A ballpark in my hometown. It’s working in a metal box with a grill and beer taps in the middle of summer in Central Virginia. I’ve been fortunate that all my true day jobs have been very flexible and supportive.
5) What is your most embarrassing moment in the theatre?
In tech rehearsals for In the Heights at Olney: I’m trying unsuccessfully to nail the on beat blackout cue towards the end of Act I. When I finally got it right, I raised my hands in the air and said “YES!” forgetting that my table was the only one in the space that still had light on – so I was spotlighted in my not-so-private victory dance.
6) What are you enjoying most about working on Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes for Signature Theatre?
World premieres are my jam - the explorations and challenges that come with them are one of the reasons that I became a stage manager. And to get to do it on a piece that is funny, sexy, heart-warming and challenging written by a brilliant friend, working with some designers that I’ve worked with for years at an organization that I love working at - It’s getting to create great new art with family. What’s better than that? Plus it makes you want to call your Mom a lot.
7) Other than your significant other, who’s your dream date (living or dead) and why?
Anyone who can make me laugh, challenge me to be better and to have better work/life balance.
8) What is your dream role/job?
Resident Stage Manager at a Regional Theater that does new work.
9) If you could travel back in time, what famous production or performance would you choose to see?
An early preview of Sweeney Todd. Can you imagine being in a theater space and not knowing that horn is going to sound at the top? Gives me chills.
10) What advice would you give to an 8-year-old smitten by theatre / for a graduating MFA student?
Go see everything you can. Find the people who are doing what you want to do and talk to them. Shadow a stage manager or a crew member to see what their jobs are like. And if you aren’t sure of what path you want to take, try every department – sometimes the one you aren’t expecting winds up being the one that is perfect for you.
KAREN CURRIE's Signature Theatre credits include A Chorus Line, Heisenberg, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Fix, Cabaret, Elmer Gantry, Pride in the Fall of Autrey Mill, Saturday Night, Sycamore Trees, Les Misérables, The Happy Time. In the DC area: Folger Theatre: As You Like It; Olney Theatre Center: Mary Stuart, Once, In the Heights; Kennedy Center: Digging Up Dessa, Oliverio!, Mockingbird, Orphie and the Book of Heroes; Theater J: Trayf, Roz and Ray, The Christians, The Last Schwartz, Another Way Home, Sons of the Prophet, G-d’s Honest Truth, Yentl, Freud’s Last Session, After the Revolution, The Hampton Years, Woody Sez, Body Awareness, The Whipping Man, The Religion Thing, Imagining Madoff, The Moscows of Nantucket, The Odd Couple, The Four of Us, Lost in Yonkers, The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall, Honey Brown Eyes, Speed the Plow. WSC Avant Bard: The Royal Hunt of the Sun. Virginia Stage Company: Detroit '67, A Christmas Carol. NYC: The Last Session.
1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20009
+1 202-337-4572
Email us to receive our weekly E-News.
JOIN US!
