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Member Spotlight!
Theatre Charleston's May Member of the Month is
STEPHANIE CROWLEY.
Stephanie has been an active member of Theatre Charleston since June of 2011. Click here view her profile in our actor database, and check out our recent interview with her below.
My mother says she always knew I would grow up to be a performer because, while my brother and sisters had imaginary friends, I had imaginary audiences. I remember performing for them, like showing them how to dress yourself without your mom's help, and having them be amazed and applaud happily. I did my first play in school when I was 13, and was instantly hooked. I did my first community theater production at 16, my first summer stock later that same year; majored in theater in college and had the opportunity to study with the Royal Shakespeare Company for a few months when I was 20. During all that time, even though acting was always my first love, I also learned and grew to appreciate costume design and production, lighting design and production, directing, props work, stage management, and more. Although it was always my intention to make a career in live theater, my plans got a little sidetracked after college. Due to a few unexpected setbacks, I found myself needing to "get serious" and make some regular money quickly. A temp job soon turned into a permanent job, which turned into a surprise career in public relations. Eventually I got to work in a small company in the San Francisco Bay Area that specialized in publicizing performing arts companies, which was fantastic. I got to see a lot of theater, on all levels, and met some amazing actors, musicians, dancers, and directors (both famous and not-yet-famous). Unfortunately, from 2003 to 2011, I lived near Syracuse, New York, where there was very little theater to be had -- so when my husband and I moved to the Charleston area last year, I was most excited about all the live performance opportunities here. For the first time in about 20 years, I am giving my chosen profession a "second shot" -- doing my best to make a career out of the theater and supplementing my income with part-time work.
2) What character have you enjoyed playing most and why?
While I love all my characters after a fashion, I have a particular fondness for two: Mary Tilford, the "bad child" of The Children's Hour, and Lucy Schmeeler, the roommate with the perpetual cold from On The Town. I enjoyed playing Mary because even though she does some terrible things to other people in that play, I really understood why she did them and how, in her own mind at least, there was no other choice but to hurt people. Mary's internal philosophy, like the Marquise de Merteuil, was "win or die," and there were times in my life that I felt something similar. Lucy was a great role because she was so hopelessly goofy, so eternally optimistic; and in the end she gets the only thing she really wanted, anyway -- a good man. Besides, it was fabulous to play the cold to the hilt, I spent several weeks of rehearsals brainstorming and trying out new, disgusting noises to make with my nose and throat to make people laugh.
3) Do you have any other hobbies or special interests?
I have been a dedicated yoga practitioner for almost ten years now, and just recently became certified to teach. I am currently teaching classes at The Yoga Loft on Gum St. in Summerville. Yoga is an amazing tool for a performer: it encompasses physical exercise that builds strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination; teaches you breathing techniques for heightening your energy and calming your central nervous system (great for those pre-curtain or audition jitters!), meditation for bringing calm and clarity to the mind; and best of all gets you in the regular practice of listening to yourself, and knowing yourself. I think the better you know yourself, how your body and mind tend to work when you're not paying attention, the better you get at being able to take control of those things and adjust them towards the character you want to play. It can lead to very deep work as an actor.
