Interview: Zoë Parkinson of DRUNK CHRISTMAS CAROL at DRUNK SHAKESPEARE

Zoë Parkinson is going to be starring in A DRUNK CHRISTMAS CAROL, which promises a hilarious evening of booze-infused laughs. Spirits and spirits, apparently. It is a highly improvised comedy version of the Ebenezer Scrooge story, and a little bit boozier. DRUNK SHAKESPEARE is a multi-city company of actors that has been in Houston for some time now, and they are receiving rave reviews for the fun and engaging nature of these shows. BROADWAY WORLD writer Brett Cullum got a chance to speak with Zoë Parkinson about adding some oomph to the holiday spirits!   

Brett Cullum: First up, tell me a little bit about Drunk Shakespeare. I know you are all a company. You're in the Emerald Theater, which is located downtown. You do these shows all year round. 

Zoë Parkinson: Yeah, so kind of our thing that we pride ourselves on is doing classic texts, and then putting a fun, boozy spin on them. So, normally throughout the year, we are doing Shakespeare productions. We just finished out ROMEO AND JULIET, and then we moved on to Bram Stoker's DRACULA, and now we are about to actually do the world premiere of The Drunk CHRISTMAS CAROL! There are ten actors, and 5 of us are on stage at one time. And we put on the show, and our drunk actor throws hilarity and chaos into the production.

Brett Cullum: Now, the premise of this is that one of the castmates actually does five or six shots before the show in front of the audience. So they are somewhat impaired. So, they are going on, and it's gonna be anybody's guess as to what they're gonna do.

Zoë Parkinson: Oh, they drink whatever they find along the way, too. They wreak havoc on our little play, and it's so much fun.

Brett Cullum: Doing this kind of thing. How do you prepare for that? I mean, does it totally throw you when you go on as the drunk person?

Zoë Parkinson: You know, it totally can. Especially when we're doing the new shows, and it's all still kind of new material to us, it can be difficult. The nice thing is that we're a company that really supports each other, and we really want the best show for each other, so it's such a supportive environment to play and be chaotic and goofy and do things that we wouldn't normally do, so that's been a really wonderful experience.

Brett Cullum: Well, I noticed that you have several companies around the country. I mean, there's a DC one, which I almost accidentally bought tickets to, and then I would have had to take a flight. There are a couple of them. Help me out. Do you know the rest?

Zoë Parkinson: Five locations over the country. We have New York, Chicago, DC, Phoenix, and Houston.

Brett Cullum: Yes. So you all do the same script, right? I mean, it all kind of comes down as the same script?

Zoë Parkinson: Normally, yes. I believe that Houston is the only company this year doing a Christmas Carol. We all did, Drunk Dracula, but Houston might be the only Christmas Carol.

Brett Cullum: Oh, well, great! Well, we get a world premiere from the Drunk Shakespeare crew, and the ALLEY can sweat it out with a little competition. So, this event runs from November 19th through December 28th, which is only four weeks. But I am noticing several shows per day! You have to come in, and you do several performances! That’s gonna be hard if you are a drunk actor at every performance. 

Zoë Parkinson: Well, we have our old tried and true methods for how we select the drunk actor, but you are going to get a different drunk actor every show, and so it's different every night and every performance, but there are eight to fifteen shows a week, so you'll be able to catch something good every time.

Brett Cullum: This is crazy! Okay, so who are you playing in A Christmas Carol?

Zoë Parkinson: I am playing Marley, and some other little surprises along the way.

Brett Cullum: So, how do you feel about going head-to-head with the Alley? Because, you know, they've been doing this for a long time. I assume most of them do it sober, but you truly never know. I am going to be looking at Elizabeth Bunch and Dylan Godwin differently this year. 

Zoë Parkinson: Oh my god, we love the Alley, but something that's really great is that they're very different shows. So, you know, seeing Christmas Carol at the Alley, you're gonna see the classic, wonderful tale, and then seeing it at the Emerald theater, you're gonna see something crazier, a little different than what you might have seen in other productions.

Brett Cullum: You know what I think would be great is if you guys traded casts one night, and you all go on to the Alley set, take shots, and then do it with their set. Then they come into your space and do this little, small, intimate space with 45 cast members climbing all over the room. 

Zoë Parkinson: [shoots Brett a stern look] Maybe we'll work on that.

Brett Cullum: Well, tell me a little bit about you, Zoë. How did you get into theater?

Zoë Parkinson: So, I grew up as a ballet dancer. I was a ballet dancer in Austin, Texas. Then, in high school, I joined my school's musical, and from there, the bug bit me, so I started getting more into theater. I ended up going to the University of Central Oklahoma for my BFA in acting. I moved back to Austin, where I did a little bit of acting work and some stage management work. Then, I made a small jump to Houston, and I've been here for two years now.

Brett Cullum: So tell me one of your favorite roles that you played.

Zoë Parkinson: I mean, recently, the favorite role that I've played was Juliet in ROMEO AND JULIET. That was a pretty big bucket list.

Brett Cullum: So Drunk Shakespeare, you are using the Bard’s original text? You are cranking out Shakespeare all year long?

Zoë Parkinson: We are absolutely memorizing the original text, yep. That's one of the things that makes working on productions like this at Drunk Shakespeare so great, is that we're all professional actors, we are all pretty serious about the text, we love Shakespeare, we love works of literature, and so it makes it that much more fun to throw a wrench into it, since we're all so passionate about it already. So it just makes for some really well-thought-out gags and really good conversations about making it silly and dramaturgically sound.

Brett Cullum: How did you end up in this company? Where did you audition?

Zoë Parkinson: It was just the classic audition process. I found the audition call online, attended, and went through the standard audition process. 

Brett Cullum: Did they make you get drunk for it? 

Zoë Parkinson: Oh my gosh, that would be crazy. But it was just a call. There were sides and monologues and a little bit of improv work, which was kind of it.

Brett Cullum: Well, Zoë, we are so excited to see you in Drunk Christmas Carol, which runs at the Emerald Theater starting November 19th through December 28th. I know I'm coming in early, I'm coming in before Thanksgiving! Then, after this one, after Christmas Carol, what do you guys go back to?

Zoë Parkinson: We are gonna be going back to Verona for ROMEO AND JULIET.

Brett Cullum: Ah, back to two drunk kids in love! Thank you very much. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you and learning more about The Drunk Shakespeare Society. It's certainly something that popped up here in Houston. I literally get ads for you every three minutes on Facebook. They know I drink and read, apparently! It's wild! I'm just like, oh my gosh, they must really want me to go to this.

Houston Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. BRIGHT STAR (Spark Theater)

7.5% of votes

2. ROCK OF AGES (Standing Ovation Theatre)

6.3% of votes

3. THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (The Sankofa Collective)

6% of votes

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