BWW Interviews: Debut of the Month - VANYA AND SONIA's Shalita Grant

Shalita Grant makes her Broadway debut as the inimical, yet well-meaning psychic maid Cassandra in Christopher Durang's newest romp Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, now playing at the Golden Theatre. The outrageous comedy, directed by Tony nominee Nicholas Martin, tells the story of Vanya (David Hyde Pierce) and his sister Sonia (Kristine Nielsen) who live a quiet life in the Pennsylvania farmhouse where they grew up. When their sister Masha (Sigourney Weaver), a famous movie star, arrives unannounced with her twenty-something boy toy, Spike (Billy Magnussen), an unforgettable weekend of rivalry, regret and generally hilarious racket begins. By the end of their impromptu family reunion, this lovable bunch won't ever be the same!

Grant's Off-Broadway credits include Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (LCT); The Philanderer (Pearl Theatre); Measure for Measure,The Winter's Tale, The Merchant of Venice (The Public Theater) and Roxy Font (FringeNYC). On film she has appeared in Empire Corner, Invisible and Rehearsing a Dream and guest starred on the CBS drama series"The Good Wife."

The exuberant actress spoke to BWW about why making her Broadway debut is a lot like jumping out of an airplane - once you land you think, 'Holy F---kballs, that was amazing!'

Your character Cassandra is so quirky - how did you come up with your interpretation? Is it based on anyone you know?

It actually is, my great-grandmother who is still alive. She has bi-polar disorder on top of being a pretty big personality to begin with. I'm from a small town in Virginia called Petersburg and everyone in the town knew that there was this crazy woman who would show up at events and things and they would always find out she was related to us.

I remember a time when I was 12 and there were a bunch of kids at the bus stop who were talking about this crazy woman downtown who was talking to a mannequin head and I began asking them questions, like, 'what did she look like?' and after they described her I thought to myself, 'I think that's my f---in great-grandmother!'

So one day, me and this nice, well-mannered kid were early to the bus stop and I hear bells behind me and I turn around and it's my great-grandma and he turns around and is like,'Oh s--t that's that crazy woman from downtown!' So she comes up and starts talking to me and I'm trying to act like I don't know her but it's clear from what she's saying that she knows me, so you really can't pretend! And I didn't want to be disrespectful, so I was walking that line between trying to seem cool for him and acting like I didn't know her and then trying to seem as respectful as I could to her so that I wouldn't get hit. Finally she got frustrated with me and said, 'Well I see you got an asstitude instead of an attitude so I'll see you later!' and she strutted off. So that's her.

Ah, so that's the source! It seems like Cassandra must be a challenging role because she
has a lot of anger, yet at the same time she is very protective and caring toward her employers. How do you balance that dichotomy?

You know I once had a director who described his mother as very aggressive and very hard on him and hard on his siblings but, if anyone messed with him, he knew that he could tell his mother and that crazy would be unleashed on that person. And he said there is a sweetness to having that amount of crazy behind you. (laughing) And I think that describes Cassandra as well. She loves working for these people, she loves them because they are so sad and in a way it's like she wants to make them feel good, and so they're sort of like her babies. And knowing that they can be tossed out on the street is very hurtful. And she will use anything, voodoo, chasing Sigourney around, anything to make sure that her employers stay safe. It is her job on the line as well, but she also cares about them. They have a lot of crazy behind them!

You've been with the show from the very beginning when it was just a one-act play. How has it evolved and how has your character evolved since that time?

Believe it or not, when I first did the reading for the one-act, Cassandra was a lot angrier, because I was really channeling my great-grandmother and there was safety in knowing the person that I was using to interpret the character. And when we started putting it on it's feet, Nicky [director Martin] was just like, 'It can't be that angry. She has to have more joy and be more pleasant. It's funny, but it's not exactly her whole story.' And that's mainly how my character has evolved, finding more places where the joy can show through so that the anger makes sense, you know, she's just not angry all the time.

Of course lines have been changed, things have been cut and added. I feel like the show now is much tighter.

Yes, many of the reviewers made the comment that they didn't think the show could get any better than the off-Broadway production but that in fact this latest incarnation did seem tighter.

And I think that speaks to the fact that now we're in a proscenium. You know comedy is so much easier and accessible in a proscenium. Nicky can tell you exactly where to look, exactly where the jokes are. At Lincoln Center we were in a thrust and not everyone was getting the same show, depending on where you were sitting. But in the proscenium, 9 times out of 10, people's focus is where it should be, you don't have to worry about doing something to stay entertaining for everybody. I think this new space informs a lot of that.

What is it like to work with Christopher Durang?

Well Chris has been my dream since high school. I used to read him and crack up - he was the only playwright who I could read on the page and laugh out loud, just so great, so funny. And when I got to Julliard someone was like, 'Oh that's Chris Durang over there' and I was like, 'Whaaaat! What's he doing here?' And it turned out that he was the head of the playwriting program with Marsha Norman. So I got to work with him, he tailored a monologue for me for the presentations that you do at the end of the school year at the conservatory which was really cool. And he had seen a bunch of things that I had done at the school and we became friends. And he called me and asked me to do the reading of this one-act.

My experience with Chris is that he's so affable, so sweet but very human. I imagined that he would be so sure of himself because he's so established and has been around for so long and his work is so good. But he gets nervous, just like everyone else and I think that's one of things that was so relieving because I'm always nervous so it's nice when someone that I admire is like 'me too'. I really appreciated that. One of the things that makes me so happy is when I see him laugh at something he's created and has seen like a thousand times but it still makes him laugh, it's so great. I so respect him as a person and as an artist and it's just so great and lucky that I get to work with somebody who I feel that way about.

All of the characters in this play are so quirky and bizarre in their own way, yet the audience still relates to them and responds to them. Is that part of the beauty of Chris's writing?

I think it's definitely that. I think that Chris has the ability to write something seemingly bizarre and totally out there, totally unrealistic, however there is a real truth to every character that he's written. And I think that people intrinsically respond to that truth, even though what they're seeing and what they're hearing is something that they feel is insane. You still get it because you know there is a truth, there is a realness to what's happening in front of you.

What's coming to mind as you say that is the brilliant monologue that David Hyde Pierce
has in the second act. Even though he delivers it in a kooky way, what he's saying is completely relatable.

Yeah and I think that's awesome that initially you think, oh he's so weird, he's so quirky and you're right, he still is relatable. I think we are all not as normal as we think we are and I think Chris is saying, 'Here you are. This is where you're at!'

You recently told BWW that being in a musical is on your bucket list. Do you hope to pursue that sooner rather than later?

Well you know one never knows. I hope so. Musicals are not something I have had vigorous training in. But it's definitely something that I want to do. I don't like to be afraid of anything. I don't want to feel like there's something that I can't do. So I will do what I have to do to make sure that I prove to myself that the fear is useless and not necessary. I'll hurl myself into the fire with my arms wide open and my eyes closed and hope that I land on something soft!

Can you describe what it was like to make your Broadway debut?

You know I get this question a lot. I feel like at first, when we initially did all the practice for the Broadway run of the show I felt like it was too early to even know because it was my first day. It was just like, 'I'm at rehearsal, I don't know yet.' And then during the previews, I was like, "I still don't know, I still don't know.' And then opening, it was like, 'Wow, I think I'm close to feeling something to what I'm experiencing.'

But when you're in it, it's like what I imagine jumping out of an airplane to be. You're like, 'I know I'm getting into this airplane to jump out of it, I know that's happening.' And then once you're in the airplane you're like, 'Whoa, I'm really up high and I know I have to make this jump and I'm really afraid and I hope everything goes well.' And then you jump and you're like, 'OK, I'm in the air, I'm in the air, I'm breathing', but you don't really have time to think because you're experiencing it. And then once you land, then you have all those thoughts and once you're in the car coming back you're like, 'Holy F---kballs, that was amazing! I was in the clouds and there were birds and I was on my back and the parachute thing happened and I thought I was going to die.' So I kind of imagine after the show is over that I will have very specific thoughts.

For most of my career, I've known what it's like to be in the audience and to enjoy what I'm seeing but still have the ambition to say, 'I can do that, I know I can do that. And I want to do that and I can't wait for that to happen.' And now I'm doing it, and I'm doing it 8 times a week, and it's mind-blowing. And it's also very healing and also very hopeful because it's not over for me. I still have so many other things I want to do!

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is currently playing at the Golden Theatre. The box office is now open at 252 West 45th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues. Tickets for the strictly limited engagement are $60.00 to $130.00. For Group Bookings visit www.telecharge.com/groupsor call Telecharge Group Sales at 800-432-7780.

Photo Credit: T. Charles Erickson

Photo Credit: Walter McBride