Interview: Kathleen Garrett of North Carolina Theatre's STEEL MAGNOLIAS

From November 4th-13th, North Carolina Theatre will be launching their 2022-23 season with a production of Robert Harling's STEEL MAGNOLIAS at A.J. Fletcher Opera Theatre, which is located inside Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Actress Kathleen Garrett is taking on the role of Ouiser Boudreaux. She has most recently appeared as Laura Bush on the Showtime series, THE FIRST LADY, as well as Netflix's Emmy nominated miniseries, INVENTING ANNA. Next, she'll be seen on NCIS: LOS ANGELES. She has countless other screen credits which includes appearing on episodes of different TV shows such as HOME IMPROVEMENT, ER, MURDER, SHE WROTE, MURPHY BROWN, THE WEST WING, BEVERLY HILLS, 90210, MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, LAW & ORDER, and many more. She's also appeared in Oscar nominated films such as 2007's AMERICAN GANGSTER directed by Ridley Scott and 2020's THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 directed by Aaron Sorkin. I had the great pleasure of interviewing her about a lot of this and more.

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To start things off, how are rehearsals going?

KG: Oh my God. This has been the most amazing process. We have one week to actually mount a show and I have never worked like this before. I don't think anybody else has either, but it is a remarkable cast. Our director, Lauren (Kennedy), is extraordinary and it's rocking and rolling.

How has it been getting to work with your fellow cast members and creative team?

KG: Oh, I just think they're amazing. You know, Lauren, our director, is terrific and it's very optimistic. Everybody is incredibly talented. They all have a string of remarkable work behind them and the process is amazing how you have to walk in pretty much on day one with an entire script memorized. I didn't think I could do it and I'm just shocked that it's actually coming together. It's gonna be amazing. It's gonna be really good.

Would you mind telling us about your character?

KG: My character is Ouiser Boudreaux. One of her best lines is, "The only reason why people are nice to me is because I have more money than God." She's a quirky character in that she can be ornery, but she's also a little sexy and she's very opinionated. Very much the life of the party. I'm having a ball playing her.

How familiar were you with STEEL MAGNOLIAS prior to this?

KG: Well, it was a very successful play and then a film. The film's very different from the play. I actually prefer the play over the film. I think the play gets more into the characters. You really get to explore the characters and the relationships that these six women have with each other. I also think the play is much more poignant and profound. I'm enjoying the play. Audience members might agree with me too that the play is very poignant and very moving and fun and funny. It's a lot of things. It's really delightful.

Going back to the beginning, how did you first get started in acting?

KG: Oh gosh. I think it was something I always knew I was going to do as a young child. I always knew I would be an actor in school. I even tried to do other things like journalism, thinking, "Oh, you can't make a living as an actor." Then I was like, "Oh, why? Why try to fight it? This is what I do. This is who I am." And here we have it.

Throughout all of your years as an actress, what would you say are among your favorite experiences working in the theater?

KG: The beauty about theater is the live performances and the energy that happens when you're performing live. The energy between the cast members and the audience, because the audience is very present as a part of the storytelling. It changes every night because it's live. The challenge also for an actor is to keep it fresh every day. So what I have to do every day, I have to go through the script every day. Even in performance, especially if it's well written like STEEL MAGNOLIAS is, you learn something new about the character every time you read it. So I get on the treadmill or the elliptical and I'll go through the play, which will take me about an hour. So I get a workout both physically and artistically and then ready for the show. It's very different from television, I'll tell you that.

You also have a ton of film and TV credits on your résumé. Are there any in particular that happen to be among your favorite experiences in that area?

KG: Well, I just finished shooting NCIS: LOS ANGELES right before I came here. I mean, I literally finished that and jumped on a plane from L.A. to North Carolina to do this, and that was incredibly fun. The cast and crew on that show is top notch. I play a Russian black market dealer. Her name is Maridi Grova. It was so much fun. I'm a good guy, I'm a bad guy. I'm kind of sexy. I'm all these things. It airs January 8th on CBS. I think the most challenging thing I've ever played was Laura Bush in THE FIRST LADY opposite Viola Davis as Michelle Obama. That was an extraordinary experience. To play someone who is historical, famous, and alive to this day that everyone will compare me to. That was so completely different from who I am. That was the biggest challenge. I'm very proud of that work there. I loved INVENTING ANNA. I was so wanting to work with Shonda Rhimes and it was just so fantastic to be cast in her series. I have to say, what I did this year on FBI was great. I've been very blessed to do really fun, wonderful roles on really top notch TV shows and really top notch films. I mean, working with Aaron Sorkin on CHICAGO 7, which won me a SAG award. I was like, "This is cool." I saw Aaron again at the premiere of THE FIRST LADY when we were doing the red carpet on that. It's been a blast and a hell of a year, I gotta tell ya.

One of your TV credits in particular was an episode of a show that is pretty topical right now due to the recent death of its star, Angela Lansbury, which was MURDER, SHE WROTE.

KG: Yes. Angela Lansbury was definitely one of the greatest class acts in Hollywood. She did not audition actors. She cast actors off their demo reels and that showed such respect for actors. She not only did it that way, she would offer you the job. You didn't even go in for it. She paid you higher than what the highest tier was. She always topped it up. She was extraordinary. The first day on the set, I went up to her and I said, "Ms. Lansbury, I have to tell you that when I saw SWEENEY TODD (which she starred in), I was so moved that I broke up with my boyfriend. I was so wanting to get rid of him. And then finally I saw this show that I was so inspired by, I said, 'I don't wanna see you anymore.'" So I really had her to thank. I loved her.

For those who'd like to pursue an acting career, where do you think would be a good place to start?

KG: Well, I think what you wanna do is get trained because acting is a craft. A lot of people say, "Oh, I can act," and maybe they can. Maybe there is some innate talent, which you do need. I think you need to really respect the craft as a craft. If you wanna go in there and learn the craft, I would say go to the best drama school. you can go to. They have everything from theater to stage, fighting to dance and voice. You gotta develop your voice and your diction so that you can manipulate how you speak. So you can speak in various dialects. If you have a regional dialect, you can get rid of it when you need to. It doesn't serve every character. Say you're from New York, you're not gonna play every character like this. If you do, every character that you're gonna play is from New York. So the more skilled you are in your craft in every aspect such as body voice movement, the more versatile you'll be as an actor. Secondly, I would say when you do choose a school, choose a school that will have connections because it's so much about connections. So that is my advice to the youngins.

Before we go, do you have any other upcoming projects that you'd like to share with us?

KG: Yes, I do. I'm gonna go back to shoot a new pilot. It's called FLAWLESS: THE FEMINIST FAIRY TALE. I play the original gangster fairy godmother. It's about busting the myth of a woman or a young girl who always needs to be saved, quote unquote. She can find it on her own. So it's very fun. I'm looking forward to that.

Kathleen, I thank you very much for devoting your time to this interview. It was great getting to talk to you.

KG: My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

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Be sure to catch North Carolina Theatre's production of STEEL MAGNOLIAS. It will be playing at A.J. Fletcher Opera Theatre from November 4th-13th. For more information, please visit:
www.nctheatre.com/shows/steel-magnolias

Follow Kathleen Garret at www.kathleengarrett.com and on Instagram:
@thisiskathleengarrett

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