(Formerly) Local Talent
We talk dolphins and drugs before the comic actress debuts her new one-woman show.
Posted by: Seth Sommerfeld on May 10, 2012 at 10:00AM
Seattle took Lauren Weedman’s theater virginity. Before she was a Daily Show correspondent or a randy depressive on HBO show Hung, the writer-actress was honing her comic timing at the Empty Space Theatre and on Almost Live!. She’s never forgotten her former home (no matter how hard she tries), and for the past few years, it has inspired more than a few anecdotes in her acclaimed one-woman shows.
Next week she’ll debut her new monologue, SRO: Single Room Occupancy at Northwest Film Forum, which delves into Weedman’s life in the early ‘90s in Seattle and Amsterdam, backed by film clips from her favorite movies at the time (lots of Tom Hanks, Daniel Day Lewis, and classic horror).
For our latest Fiendish Conversation we talked to one-woman force about drugs, dolphins, and Seattle’s ability to kill one’s soul. (Kidding.)
What should people expect from SRO?
It’s a brand new work, so I don’t even know what I expect. It’s a new story that I’ve wanted to tell for a while and I’m doing it in a whole new style, for myself. The classic solo theater style is to just stand there and tell people a story and I’ve really resented that my entire career. I never wanted to do that. I wanted to be different. And now, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. But I’m using film clips, which is awesome. To have access to film to help tell a story is the best. And I’m going to do a lot of improv with this show. It’s comedy, it’s personal, it’s always a little out there. I’m trying to think of another word besides “bitchy.”
Do you have any specific preshow routines?
I shoot up heroin. And then I throw up. And then I do yoga. No. That’s not true—need to make sure I’m clear. I don’t have a set thing every time because each show needs a different kind of approach. Here’s one thing: Every time I do a show, before I go on stage I always say to myself, “I am not going to walk off stage with any regrets.”
What impact did Seattle have on you and your writing style?
Well, I think it killed my soul. [Laughs.] I’m just kidding. There’s been a lot of overcoming that I think is really inspiring when you’re working. Just getting over that huge wound of having ever lived in Seattle. Totally joking.
Coming to Seattle and finding the Empty Space was gigantic. It changed everything. It was the exact right fit of a theater that was a little off the beaten path. It was equity, but not mainstream. And that’s the theme of all of my work; I’m always second stage-y. I’m forever spoiled by starting working in Seattle, because I’m always still striving. It’s like if I actually had a really good first lover I lost my virginity to—which I didn’t, but let’s say I did—it would be hard to get back to those glory days. Seattle is like that in the sense of the audiences, and the support for new work—for more non-mainstream work, more experimental stuff. [It’s] just so much more open. That is a bummer because it’s hard to find that in the rest of the country.
If you weren’t an entertainer, what would you do?
I like the idea of being a high school counselor… or a dolphin expert. I feel like in college there were always girls that were like, “I think I just want to work with dolphins.” Who would be, like, “I hate dolphins! I wouldn’t want to work with them!”
Are there any post-show routines?
I shoot up heroin. And then I throw up. And then I do yoga.
Lauren Weedman’s SRO: Single Room Occupancy
May 17–19, Northwest Film Forum, $12–$15
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