10 Questions
Take Ten: Aubri O'Connor
This week’s Take Ten finds Nu Sass Productions' Artistic Director AUBRI O’CONNOR juggling multiple hats, including taking a role in The Ugly One, playing through December 17. Check out her Audra McDonald-inspired theatrical roots, a seasonally appropriate audition tale, and the artist’s bold declaration that “Magical Realism is my lifeblood.”
1) What was the first show you ever saw, and what impact did it have?
My first professional show was Ragtime in Toronto with Audra McDonald. I'd never heard the show, and had no idea what kind of masterclass in acting I was about to witness. By then I'd already caught the acting bug (I knew i wanted to act even before I saw my first play), but it really drove home the power these shows can possess, and how all the artistic elements can work together to create a new world in front of your eyes.
2) What was your first involvement in a theatrical production?
I made my father take me to an audition when I was 4 - I prepared a song from my "Frosty The Snowman" coloring book. I'd have to ask him if I got cast! I don't remember when or why I decided theatre would be my life, it just feels like I was born with it in me, and I was lucky enough to have a father who supported me in it.
3) What’s your favorite play or musical, and why do you like it so much?
This isn't a fair question. Even out of the limited number Nu Sass has produced I don't know if I could pick a favorite. But I can tell you that everything I've done contains a similar undertone - the magic of life. Magical Realism is my lifeblood. Whether it's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (or it's big brother we can't get the rights to, Waiting for Godot), or A Bright Room Called Day, or even our world premier Stone Tape Party they all feature the same undercurrent - people who are people, living life the way any of us would or could, and dealing with the wonders, magic, and horrors that come as best we can. It just so happens in these plays the challenges are Death himself, The Devil, and the ghost of your best friend, but the extreme scenario being approached so very mundanely makes it all the more meaningful for me.
4) What’s the worst day job you ever took?
I've been really really lucky, and I've always loved my day jobs. I had plenty of time to build up my skill sets to prepare to be an actress, so I was always doing something I enjoyed doing. The only job I ever quit was bartending at a restaurant with a misogynist manager. I wasn't able to hold my tongue or abide his behavior, so I left - but I wouldn't ever say that was representative of the whole industry.
5) What is your most embarrassing moment in the theatre?
I learned early on the secret to comedy is not worrying about how you look when you do something, so there's no wedgie, or belly flop, or skirt tucked into my nylons that I wasn't able to turn into a laugh. For me, the embarrassing moments were mistakes with people off stage. I'm far more likely to be embarrassed with the long, grinding learning curve of being a producer than I am with anything that might happen on stage (she says, almost dooming herself to some huge embarrassing foible on stage for The Ugly One.)
6) What are you enjoying most about working on The Ugly One at Nu Sass Productions?
Working with Renana Fox, our director. She sees things so differently from me, and has such a different approach from Angie Pirko (my co-producer and our resident director) and I. I absolutely love watching her work while I'm in producer hat, and suddenly discovering what she's known she was going to get from me while I'm her actor. She has so much confidence in her cast, and herself, and that the method will work, it's almost impossible to not enjoy the process from beginning to end.
7) Other than your significant other, who’s your dream date (living or dead) and why?
Oh lawd, this question causes me trouble. Because if I pick someone I don't actually know, how can I be sure we'd have anything to talk about? With that said, I'd like to invite the Obama's over, make them some steak and mac'n'cheese, and talk arts and education policy and reform, and how we can use those to integrate into future political platforms to effect positive change. Like, the whole family. So... I guess not a date really?
8) What is your dream role/job?
This. Acting. Producing. I'd like to get bigger and better at it. Hire more people. Pay them better. Create more space for more womxn (not a typo, it just means women+) and our male allies. Maybe get to be part of a Woolly Mammoth or a Kennedy Center someday. I don't care much what the theatre is, as long as the mission remains, and I don't care much about the role as long as I can bring truth to it for myself and others.
9) If you could travel back in time, what famous production or performance would you choose to see?
I would absolutely love to go back and watch Shakespeare in action. Firstly, so I can prove or disprove if he wrote them all (I'm team he did), and secondly because it sounds just fantastic. it would suck to be a woman for one day back then, but it would be just amazing to watch that world work for even a day.
10) What advice would you give to an 8-year-old smitten by theatre / for a graduating MFA student?
I tell them the same thing I was told: If you will be happy doing anything else, do it. If not, stick to theatre with every fibre of your being. People will tell you to give up, you'll tell you to give up, but if it is what inspires you, just keep learning, practicing, and putting yourself out there. You will have to work, and sacrifice, and suffer, but you'll also have such amazing rewards for it. I literally said this to my 10-year-old cousin when she came to me for advice, and she just completed her starring role in a city-wide production back home, so I think there might be something to it.
AUBRI O’CONNOR is co-founder, co-producer, and artistic director for Nu Sass Productions. She studied theatre at Oberlin College (’04), where the esteemed group OMTA prepared her for her future in Beijing, China where she co-founded Nu Works, and then NYC where she co-founded Flaming Pants Productions. She has been producing and acting in DC since 2009. Recent credits include 43 ½: The Greatest Deaths of Shakespeare’s Tragedies (Polly/Aubri); Stone Tape Party (Rich); No Exit (Inez); A Bright Room Called Day (Gotchling). Aubri is indebted to the love and support of her friends, family, father, and her bear.
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