Interview: Nadia Verrucci of AT THE BEGINNING OF TIME at Centaur Theatre

Nadia Verrucci is a staple of the Montreal theatre scene. She is an accomplished actor, singer, director, Artistic Director, choreographer and voiceover artist particularly as Juno in the award-winning, highest-selling franchise series of video games ever produced by Ubisoft, ASSASSIN'S CREED which makes her a popular guest at comic cons and pop culture events. In 2013, Nadia was the recipient of the META (Montreal English Theatre Award) for Outstanding Actress for her performance in Jacques Brel IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS. I had the chance to chat with Nadia as she prepares to co-star in Steve Galluccio's AT THE BEGINNING OF TIME at the Centaur Theatre.

HANNIBAL: Tell me a little bit about your journey into the arts.

VERRUCCI: When I was in elementary school, I was writing plays for my friends and I would perform them as part of class. I really liked playing the parts. Then when I was in high school, I auditioned for a show. I don't know what made me audition for it. I was very, very shy and quiet and I guess I got a bit of the bug performing the plays that I wrote. I started taking acting classes on the weekend. I was also horseback riding and I was starting to compete. Unfortunately, the riding lessons and the acting classes happend at the same time, so I had to make a choice. I chose acting. I wanted to go to acting school, but I wasn't allowed. So I got my teaching degree instead. I taught for 12 years before I resigned and started In Your Face Entertainment (theatrical production company) and got an agent. I was on the road to acting and then I took a really big detour before circling back to it.

HANNIBAL: You do so many incredible things. If you had to choose one discipline, what would it be?

VERRUCCI: I think I'd stick with acting. Directing is a lot of responsibility and choreography is super fun, but it always just makes me wish I was dancing instead of just doing choreography. Honestly, if I could do my whole life over again, I would want to be a dancer, but that's not really one of the choices because I don't really dance...I mean, nobody's ever paid me to dance. [laugs] But then again, I wouldn't have been able to go to school for dance. My father would have said no, so moot point. I'll stick with acting!

HANNIBAL: Tell me about AT THE BEGINNING OF TIME. How has the process been getting back into a room, still in the pandemic? I guess you are in the theatre now?

VERRUCCI: We've actually been in the theatre since the beginning. Centaur used to have a rehearsal space, but they don't anymore, so rehearsals actually take place in the theatre now, which is really nice. It's weird because I spent two and a half years of the pandemic teaching in person, so the weirdness of being with people isn't there for me. We did have the COVID talk like what's the protocol if someone gets sick, etc, so there's that...you know, stuff you never had to talk about before, but we are all used to that now, I think. It's so been nice to be able to rehearse so much on the actual stage as opposed to sauntering in a week before opening and having to get used to a whole new space. We did a lot of talking the first two weeks, a lot of exercises, a lot of discussing many different things. We even watched a movie at one rehearsal! It had nothing to do with the play. Our director, Peter Hinton-Davis, was like, "this movie is exactly what the world the play lives feels like." I brought popcorn from home, we sat down in the theatre and watched a movie. It was hilarious and great! It's a small cast and a small group of people. There are just 8 of us in the room; Four actors, Peter, our assistant director, Adam Capriolo and our stage management team. It's been very intimate and very nice.

HANNIBAL: Of all the roles you have played in your career, what would you say is your favourite and why?

VERRUCCI: Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir, 100%! Part of the appeal of the role is the script because it's so incredibly well written. It's incredibly hilarious on one end and extremely poignant on the other end and then everything in between. I love doing that show with Chris Barillaro. We bounce off each other really well. Florence was a real person and she really went out there and did her thing. I have no idea if she knew she was bad, but she was just like, "this is what I want to do and I'm just gonna freaking do it." Of course, it helped that she had craploads of money and she could afford to do what she wanted to do. She just did not listen to anybody and did not let anyone stop her. On an objective level, it's inspiring to just know that she did actually do these things and on a subjective level, playing her...I would describe her as eccentric and that's very fun to play.

HANNIBAL: What is a dream role for you? Something you have yet to play.

VERRUCCI: I might be too old now, but I've always wanted to play Adelaide in Guys and Dolls.

HANNIBAL: I don't think you're too old for Adelaide!

VERRUCCI: Aw, thank you!

HANNIBAL: Tell me a bit about your cat rescue, Lady Gatta Cat Rescue and Adoption.

VERRUCCI: Oh! I have been doing cat rescue for about 7 years. I got into it first to help out The Pussy Patrol (a local cat rescue) and then, because there really wasn't anybody doing any kind of trapping or rescue in Parc Ex, I started to do that on my own and I became the de facto Parc Ex trapper person. I worked for the city of Montreal, in conjunction with the SPCA, one summer. I was going all around the city to help people trap and to teach people how to manage colonies. I needed to kind of separate trapping and rescue from my personal life, so I started Lady Gatta in June 2021.

HANNIBAL: Looking ahead, what's on the horizon for you?

VERRUCCI: First up, I am directing Lizzie for In the Wings Promotions, your company, which opens the beginning of May at Théâtre La Comédie de Montréal! Then in Mid-May, I'm singing in the final show of The Becket Players.

Nadia's next comic con appearance is at The Heroes and Villains con in Cortland, NY on April 15.

AT THE BEGINNING OF TIME runs from Tuesday, February 21 - Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 8PM, with Mondays dark. Saturday and Sunday matinee performances at 2PM. Opening night is on February 24 at 8pm.

Centaur 2, Centaur Theatre, 453 St. Francois-Xavier, Montreal. Tickets ranging from $20 - $68, with subscription rates, group rates and student/senior discounts available. Tickets can be purchased at https://centaurtheatre.com/box-office/tickets/ or by phone at (514) 288-3161.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

School matinées on Wednesday, March 1 and Wednesday, March 8 at 12PM.

Thursday Pre-Show Convo, February 23 at 7PM with Centaur's Artistic Director Eda Holmes and designers of the show to discuss their work on the production.

Sunday Chat-Up, February 26 at 12:30 PM with Lucinda Chodan speaks with pioneering columnist Richard Burnett about what life was like for a gay man in 1970's Montreal.

 

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