BWW Interview - Miriam Shor Talks SWEAT at The Public; YOUNGER Season 3

Star of stage and television, Miriam Shor stars as powerful publishing executive Diana Trout in TV Land's YOUNGER. The talented actress can currently be seen on stage in the premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage' SWEAT, at The Public Theater. The powerful drama tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets and laughs while working together on the line of a factory floor. But when layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in the hard fight to stay afloat.

Today, Shor speaks exclusively with BWW about returning to the New York stage and reveals whether she is #TeamCharles or #TeamJosh when it comes to YOUNGER's Season 3 love triangle!

As I was watching SWEAT, I was struck by how relevant the story is to today's times, particularly with the upcoming election.

Yes, it's pretty intense and it's crazy how many things this play is about. It really gets inside of you, especially when you're doing it eight shows a week. And I applaud Lynn Nottage for tackling something like that. You know, it would be so daunting for any writer to tackle just one of these issues, but she tackles at least five major issues. But she doesn't shy away from that. Her last play RUINED received a Pulitzer, so I admire her so much. Not just because she's a great writer, but also

because she's has the balls to go after and go into these things that are painful and difficult and complicated and complex. And with SWEAT, she doesn't pull punches with any of the characters. No one is ever one hundred percent right or one hundred percent wrong. She makes it difficult, as it is in life.

Your character Jessie clearly had a dream of getting out and improving her circumstances at one point in her life, and she is the only character whose ultimate fate we never learn. What do you imagine eventually happens to her?

Well you can imagine all sorts of things that may have happened to her, but I think she might just be one of those people who disappears, one of those people who, life is so hard she just doesn't make it. You know I live near Thompson Square Park, and there are a lot of colorful people I see in the park, a lot of different personalities and homeless people, you get to know them. And every now and then, there is suddenly someone who is no longer around and you're just like, 'wow', but you never really know what happened to them. But then again, maybe Jessie just moved on to another town, got her associates degree and is doing just fine - but probably not. And that's the thing about this play, and why it's sort of epic in scale, because it really is an American tragedy. It has the scope of a Greek tragedy and the story is actually happening and hitting a lot of people so hard.

One of the things I just had to laugh about was how different your character's wardrobe was in comparison to the stunning, designer clothes you get to wear as Diana.

[laughing] Yeah, you know I love playing Diana Trout, she's such a fun character to play and I feel

so lucky that I get to play her and I have such a good time. But I do like to play different kinds of roles and I said to myself, it would be nice if I can play someone a little more grounded, more of a blue-collar, earthy and maybe even a little damaged character. And when this opportunity came along, I said, wow, this is exactly it. And I just really love Jessie and her whole thing about her dream to one day go to India. That's sort of her idea of a possibility, and it struck me and it really moved me because that's very similar to who I am, except that I did get to do those things. I did get out and I did see the world and I was lucky enough that my circumstances were such that I was able to do them. So I felt a kinship with her and I really felt the tragedy of what happened to her so much because I understood her curiosity. You can tell that she just wants to have a good time and for people to be happy and she's really kind of a positive light who got caught up in making choices that took her down the wrong path. Rather than finding happiness, her path led her to addiction, and that's so tragic. And that's true of all these characters, you see the path they take and also the paths they could have taken and it's this inevitable journey that is just heartbreaking. And when you see these people and start to really care about them, it makes it so much more personal and so much more immediate. And I just love that I get to do all these varied projects, I get to do a play like SWEAT, and then I get to do a great show like YOUNGER.

Throughout this season of YOUNGER we've seen hints of a Charles and Liza romance blooming, and yet your character Diana continues to pine away for him. Do you think she has any clue that Charles has feelings for Liza?

I think that she probably has inklings, but probably shoves them away. She has this ability to compartmentalize everything and she's very job-oriented so she gets her work done, so I think that's what she does with a lot of her emotions and with a lot of unpleasant things. She probably just stashes them away somewhere and then they come out in behaviors which are less than polite!

Although we really saw a different side of Diana at the beginning of the season when she tried to comfort Kelsey over the loss of her fiancé by taking her for a night out on the town.

I loved that, I think there's something of a feminist in Diana, well there's more than something, but I think there's a part of Diana that recognizes a fellow woman in pain and does give a shit about that - and I love that about her. Unfortunately she doesn't show that very often. And in this case she thinks that taking Kelsey to this bar is the cure all for her problems. And she's not wrong. I mean it is hard to be unhappy in a gay bar where everyone's singing show tunes! In fact I've spent many a night in those kind of places, in that particular place actually, Marie's Crisis, it's truly a New York establishment. You know it would be so easy to write Diana off as just this caricature of a bitchy woman, but instead, they make her three dimensional. Just when you think you know her, she'll surprise you.

Do you think that singing scene in the bar is the closest we're going to get to seeing this talented cast actually performing on the show?

Well I know that Sutton has made it very clear that her character is tone deaf! But who knows, we can never tell what's going to happen. The writers keep us in the dark until the very last second. But I can tell you that we do sing a lot in between takes. In fact, we do whatever we can to make each other laugh!

If it were up to you to decide if Liza ultimately ends up with Charles or with Josh, who would you choose?

Well, I always like things to be as complicated as possible, I don't like an easy ending. I don't like when all the pieces get tied up. As a viewer who loves stories and storytelling, that annoys me. So I like to see messy, and so far, it's been messy and I really appreciate that. It makes for a much more interesting story and it brings a lot of things out in people, so I'm all for both or neither. There's a part of me that thinks she doesn't need either of them in her life, she's a strong woman. And there's also a little bit of push back that asks, why can't she have both? But then again, these are people with emotions, so there's that to consider as well. So yeah, I say keep it messy!

Now that you're back on the stage, do you foresee doing another musical in the near future?

Well I will tell you that musicals are hard! Plays are really, really hard, but it's a very different set of muscles that you use. Both are a lot and I have two little kids to take care of right now. But never say never! And one of the things that is exciting about being an actor, and also terrifying, is that you don't know what's going to happen and you have to leave yourself open to whatever life offers you and then make your choices. But I am excited to see Sutton in 'Sweet Charity'! That is, if I can tickets.

Well luckily you have an in!

Well I do, but I may still have to sell a minor organ, not one of the main ones - maybe a spleen, or a gallbladder - you can get rid of that one, right? [laughing]

About Miriam Shor: Shor began her career with several acclaimed Off-Broadway productions, including Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John Cameron Mitchell. She reprised her role of Yitzhak in the critically-lauded 2001 film adaptation. Miriam has appeared on television in "The West Wing," "Damages," "Mildred Pierce," "GCB" and "The Good Wife." She can currently be seen as Diana Trout on TV Land's "Younger" (created by Darren Star). Shor played Madelaine True in Encores! production of The Wild Party at the New York City Center.

YOUNGER images courtesy of TV Land

SWEAT photo credit: Joan Marcus