Interview: IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU Cast Reveals Where Their Love of Theatre Began

Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Broadway World have partnered for a filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. Richard Ridge of "Backstage with Richard Ridge" recently sat down with It Shoulda Been You cast members Sierra Boggess, David Burtka, Montego Glover, Harriet Harris, Lisa Howard, and Chip Zien to discuss how each of them got involved in the show, what it's like working with David Hyde Pierce, and much more.

Check out a sneak peek of the interview below in which the cast discuss how each of them first developed their love of performing. Check back Sunday morning to watch the full interview!

Where did your love for performing begin and what were your early creative outlets for each of you?

Chip Zien: Well, for me, I was a boy soprano. I had a magnificent boy soprano voice. And I went to camp in Hayward, Wisconsin - probably all of you have been there, it's the logrolling capital of the world. And I was very fortunate to play the lead in all those shows. I was Lola in Damn Yankees, I was Annie in Annie Get Your Gun, and then I was Eliza in My Fair Lady. And then, my mom made a phone call. She was furious - he was going to camp - it was a rugged camp, as you can well imagine, since I was there - and she said, "Shouldn't he be out on a canoe trip or camping, actually, as opposed to 'camping' by wearing a wig and a dress." Never made that connection. But, that's how I started. And I could sing. I don't know what happened. So, that was my start.

David Burtka: I would do lots of shows with the neighborhood kids - puppet shows, and we would put on costumes - my grandma would make tons of costumes in a big bin. And then, as I got a little older in like, middle school, my dad was an educator for mentally and physically handicapped kids, and every summer he'd teach the summer program. So my friends would get together, and we'd put on the most elaborate plays and musicals and sing and dance. And we would perform them for these handicapped kids. I mean, they had no idea what we were doing, but we had a lot of fun. So that was my outlet for it.

Montego Glover: I started studying acting when I was 12. I had the great privilege of going to an incredible school, and fell in love with the classics. We were doing them, recreating them. I was a 12 year old with other 12 year olds who were very serious artists and we put up our plays and we loved it. I remember one time in school, like my second or third year in the program, we were taking bows, we had done Beauty and the Beast and recreated it. We were so proud of it. We did all the costumes and the sets and the makeup designs, and we were taking our company bow, and we did the upsweep, and all of our teachers and parents were out there and they were applauding. And I was holding the hands of my cast members, and I remember thinking, "I'm so happy right now. This is what I want to do."

Sierra Boggess: I just liked being in front of people. I was an ice skater for ten years, and I would do competitions and stuff. I always sang and things with my sisters, but I discovered loving being in front of people by performing through ice skating. And that sport is so expensive, so we had to stop. And then I guess the natural place to put me was in an acting class, so that's where I went. And I loved it because then everyone had to listen when I talked or sang.

Lisa Howard: I would sit in front of our record player and listen to show albums - The Sound of Music and Annie - and I would just sing and sing and sing, and my brothers were so annoyed at me. And I got the solos in the Christmas pageants and things like that, and someone said to my mom, "Maybe you should get her voice lessons." This was fifth or sixth grade. So I did that, and then I really started and found a love of performing because I did show choir, which was very big in Ohio. I'm from Akron, Ohio. And I did show choir, and so I learned how to sing and dance and smile. I was in the ETC All-American Youth Show Choir, and we had a whole week-long workshop in the summer, and you learned how to sing and dance and smile and that's where that love started. And then I did my high school shows and things like that, but that's how I began.

Harriet Harris: I began to overcome shyness. I was sent to a theatre school. It was tough love. It really was some of my mother's friends just said, "Eleanor, your daughter, she's just backward. She is not going to get anywhere like this." Because in the town where I grew up, everyone was very social. And I was - I'm fairly reserved when I'm not doing the thing I do. I like a context, you know, I think rehearsal provides a context, a show provides a context. I love amusing people, and I love putting stories out in front of people and communicating that way. So from that six year old trying to learn how to relate to people, it's been a great way, it's been a great avenue and probably the best course my life could have taken. Although I think I would have been a good florist, too.

HARRIET HARRIS (Georgette Howard). Broadway: Madame, the wicked step-mother, in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, Present Laughter, Cry-Baby: The Musical, Old Acquaintance, Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Featured Actress in a Musical) and The Man Who Came to Dinner. Encores!: Little Me. Off-Broadway: Standing on Ceremony; Yeast Nation; Jeffrey (Drama Desk nomination), Bella, Belle of Byelorussia (Drama Desk nomination). Film: Love Is Strange, Memento, Nurse Betty, Addams Family Values. TV: "Desperate Housewives" as Felicia Tilman, "Frasier" as Bebe Glazer. Member of the Acting Company, AEA. www.HarrietHarrisActress.com. Twitter: @msharrietharris