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Ellen McQueeney on playing 'Masha'

10/13/2014

 
Ellen McQueeney as 'Masha'
Why should someone come to see this show?

Anyone who wants to laugh and have a good time should come to see this show! Christopher Durang is a master playwright who has crafted a wonderfully funny, moving play about complex characters who are now middle aged and questioning the choices they made in life.

What excites you about working on this show? 

I am excited about working on this show because the play is so well written! Playing comedy is always a welcome challenge, too, and my castmates are very talented and a lot of fun to work with! I look forward to many performances with this fine group of actors...to find all the nuances of the characters and the play!

What character are you playing and how would you describe them to someone?

I am playing the role of Masha....sister of Vanya and Sonia...and the only sibling who "got out" of the family home and had a career and a life. Masha is a successful actress, and she is most famous for her "Sexy Killer" movies, but she deeply regrets not having had a career as a classical stage actress. She is very insecure, which she masks with her apparently large ego and her self-involvement. She loves nothing more than to talk about herself and her acting experiences....and she just cannot understand why she hasn't been able to hold onto any of her five husbands. In the play, she shows up with her very young "boy toy" boyfriend, Spike. Clearly, she is trying to recapture her youth and trying to make herself feel better about her life. 

Is there anything about your character that you can relate to?

The only thing about my character that I can relate to is that, I too, am an actress....but the similarity stops there. While I have had a successful career as an actor, working regionally and off broadway, I have never known life as a celebrity, as Masha has. For this, I am actually grateful, as a life in the public eye can lead to great insecurity, disillusionment and despair. In Masha's case, she has never been able to stay in a steady relationship because of her success and her life choices, and this distresses her greatly. 

Is there anything about playing this role that intimidates you?

The only thing that intimidates me about playing Masha is a bit of concern that the audience will see her as mean or evil, rather than just self involved. So, hopefully, as the story unfolds, she will be revealed as greatly flawed and insecure, and if I do my job correctly, perhaps the audience will feel some sympathy for her as they see how she is changed throughout the course of the play. 

What is your favorite line in the show? 

My favorite line in the play is Nina's line...."Oh, life is like a long, long pathway in the forest, filled with wonderful surprises ahead. Artistic fulfillment, fame, fortune....love. Do you agree?"



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