Interview: Michelle Elaine of PRIMARY TRUST at The Alley Theatre

Michelle Elaine is a resident company member of the Alley Theater, and she has been seen in productions such as Noises Off, A Christmas Carol, Clue, Dead Man's Cell Phone, Sense and Sensibility, Sweat, and  Quack All the Way. She originated the role of Miss Scarlett in the 1st touring production of Clue, and she has won a Houston Press award for “best supporting actress” at the Ensemble Theater's production of Clyde's. She is currently starring in Primary Trust, which runs at The Alley through May 25th. Broadway World writer Brett Cullum got a chance to talk to Michelle about the show and her career. 

Brett Cullum: Yeah, so tell me about this show. I don't even know anything about it other than I know it won a Pulitzer. But Primary Trust? What is it about?

Michelle Elaine: Primary Trust is a show about a guy named Kenneth, who is introverted and lives a routine life, and things get upended for him when he loses his job at a bookstore, because it's closing. This rattles his life, and his routine is shattered. But in talking to people and figuring out how to move forward, you see that human relationships, little random acts of kindness, and even connection, help him to see that he can have his two feet on the ground, and he can build something new with the people in his community, if he so chooses to accept them.

Brett Cullum: Very nice! It's a Pulitzer winner for the script, and the name of the author is Eboni Booth.

Michelle Elaine: A lot of people ask, “Why do you think it won the Pulitzer?” Post pandemic, and with all of the social media stuff that we have going on. There's something so simple that she was able to capture again, how we need each other, and it goes so against what society tells us. You just need your phone. You just need an app. You just need some money. She's able to really capture something so deep and rich in just saying hello and seeing where the conversation goes, or being vulnerable enough to rely on someone, for a moment, for a hug or for care. It makes so much more sense when you see it. But I think that is what is pulling on people's heartstrings and what's making it so important right now. It's the human connection and community, and just the undeniable fact that we do need it to be healthy and to thrive, and for the world to exist.

Brett Cullum: Now this one's in the Neuhaus Stage, so it's in the smaller space downstairs. I call it “the basement where we get all of the cool new stuff!” It’s more intimate and lends itself to this message is what I am gathering. So, who are you playing in this production?

Michelle Elaine: Oh, my goodness! I think I tallied correctly. I'm playing 17 different characters. My jaw dropped! The main one that I play is Corrina, who is a young lady that he meets at his favorite restaurant. But I also play several different waiters in the restaurant. So that's where the tally kind of goes up. And then also at the bank, Primary Trust. I play different bank customers there. So yeah, I think I'm at 16 or 17 people total.

Brett Cullum: How do you even approach that? Because I have trouble getting one character out, let alone 17! Do you give each one their own story? Or are you just shuffling everything?

Michelle Elaine: Yes, to both of those things. It starts off with a shuffle. Okay, why don't we just try this literally? Nigel Smith, the director, and I went through and gave names to the characters. Okay, who do you think that is? And who do you think that is, and what's her name? And what's his name? And we just started from there. There's kind of something to a name. One of my characters’ names is Ramona, and I don't know why, but that makes me so excited. Something about the name Ramona. I think it was those books growing up. I try out a voice, and then from the voice, and then a way that I kind of walk or hold my body, or center myself. The story comes from there, and some of them need more imagining than others. But yeah, there's kind of no way around it. If I want you to believe me, I've got to give a story to each and every one of them.

Brett Cullum: Now, you mentioned Nigel Smith, the director. Have you ever worked with him before, or is this your first collaboration with him? 

Michelle Elaine: No, this is my first time, though I am familiar with his work, because I saw his work with 2017’s Syncing Ink, and I was so blown away by that production, so I felt like I was definitely excited to work with him.

Brett Cullum: Oh, good! Nigel is a legend! Well, let's talk about you a little bit. How did you get into acting? What was the genesis of Michelle Elaine's career in all of this? 

Michelle Elaine: It was in elementary school. I remember being in drama, and I guess I was fortunate to have drama in elementary school. I remember the teacher sat us down in a circle, and she just handed out a script, and she said, “Everybody read one by one!” I think because I was one of the better readers, she was like, “Okay, I can make you the lead character!” And she made me the lead character of the show, and when we got to performance, I just knew I was like, “Oh, this is definitely what I want to do!” I get to pretend to be someone else, and I already have a rich imagination, and people will stand up and clap at the end, I mean, come on, this is what I want to do. And of course, getting older in middle School, high school, and deciding to study it in college, there was more meaning behind it. It just feels like theater people are my people. It feels like the right place for me, and there's literally nothing else I ever wanted to do. 

Brett Cullum: That is really unique. Usually, we kind of drift around from career to career! But you just singularly said, “This is it!” Where did you go to college? You mentioned that.

Michelle Elaine: I went to Howard University.

Brett Cullum: Oh yes! That is incredible. When did you come to the Alley as a resident company member? 

Michelle Elaine: I have been a resident company member for only a few months. My “member of the company” debut was in Noises Off, which was the first show of this season. But I had worked at that with the Alley, I want to say, since 2013 or 201414. My 1st production here was actually understudying Vanya, Sonia, Masha & Spike, and then I was cast in The Old Friends. I want to say it was 2014, and from there, years would go by, and they put you in production here and there, and then a few more productions, to where it seemed like I'm kind of up in here in most of the shows in the season. And then here we are now as a company member for the first time.

Brett Cullum: You know, I didn't even realize it was that fresh. I mean, I know that it was kind of recent, but it's so interesting to hear about how you all kind of work with The Alley before, and then come on board officially as the resident company member, and I remember your Belinda from Noises Off! You were so spot on, your comic timing was just flawless, for that one. That is a tough show that is fast, that is furious, that is like being on a spinning freight train!

Michelle Elaine: Thank you for saying that. That Noises Off kept me up at night. I was like, “What is going on. Oh, gosh!” Everybody is so dependent on you hitting the mark, like the literal spot of you being where you need to be when you were supposed to be there, or else it collapses, and then you've got to stage a collapse as if it just happened. It had to look like everybody is falling apart. That show was a beast! This was an initiation like no other because it was literally the hardest show I have ever done.

Brett Cullum: I can see it because I think a lot of people think drama is really tough, but they don't understand that the comedy, especially when you do a farce like Noises Off or Clue there's so much energy that has to come up, and every night, and to sustain that! Noises Off famously has the second act where it's the dumb ballet. Nobody even talks! You're doing all nonverbal comedy, and you're trying to land these jokes with things flying around you. Tragedy and drama seem really easy after that!

Michelle Elaine: Absolutely. And it's so scientific! That's the one thing that I already knew, especially with Clue, because when I told my friends from that tour, “I'm going to do Noises Off.” They're like, Oh, it's just like Clue!”  But you're in the show. And I'm like, “Oh, okay, that was partly true,” but it was 75 times harder, and Noises Off really taught me how scientific getting a laugh can be or what comedy is.

Brett Cullum: Oh, absolutely! We can publish a book and call it THE PHYSICS OF PRATFALLS! Tell me, what have been some of your favorite roles? I mean, you've mentioned Clue, and you were Mrs. Scarlett. Is that right?

Michelle Elaine: Yeah. Miss Scarlett. Miss Scarlett is definitely up there. That was just fun in general, I mean, because I feel like with Clue, you are having as much fun as the audience is having. We were literally laughing on stage sometimes, especially at the end, where we kind of broke the fourth wall a few times. We had the liberty to have a good time, so that one was really special to me. Clyde's [done at the Ensemble] by far is one of my favorites. I won the Houston Press award for that. I really appreciate Lynn Nottage's work, and I feel very fortunate that I was able to do Sweat at the Alley Theater and then do Clyde's, which is like a sequel to Sweat. I was able to essentially portray the devil in a sandwich shop, which I mean, she was crass. She was nasty, she was rude, she was horrible, and it was so much fun. It was also a very scary kind of stepping over into the dark side, but mostly fun and rewarding in that way to be able to do whatever I wanted to do.

I don't think that I gravitate towards drama or comedy, but I will say that comedy is so rewarding because you can go to work laughing, and leave work laughing, and I would choose that over crying any day. 

Brett Cullum: Do you know what's coming up after Primary Trust? Do you have some big roles that you're looking forward to?

Michelle Elaine: I'm looking forward to the Agatha Christie Mirror Crack’d. I'm super excited about that, because even before I was doing shows at The Alley, I loved Summer Chills because I'm a horror fan and a mystery fan. So if you take me to the theater to see something that's going to be scary and mysterious. I'm here for it. So I'm super excited about that. I'll also be doing The Da Vinci Code this season or the upcoming season. I'm super excited about that, and I'm most excited about doing Fences. I’m playing Rose, which is like a dream come true. I don't even know, it hasn't fully dropped in. I know that it's coming, but the fact that I will be doing this play that I've read since high school, maybe even middle school! Everybody knows Rose's monologue. Any actress, anyway, and I'm geeked. I don't know what else to say. I'm super geeked about it.

Brett Cullum: Shoot. I think I know Rose's monologues. 

Michelle Elaine: I know Troy's monologue. You know, everybody just knows Spence's. It's probably one of the most studied American plays.

Brett Cullum: It's really important, and it's gonna be a really nice chance and opportunity to have The Alley present their version of it. So I am very excited to see that coming into the next season. That's gonna be great. 

So, going back to Primary Trust. It runs through May 25th, and you kind of touched on this before. But I was gonna ask you, what do you think that it says to today's audiences? What are you hoping that people walk away with when they come out of the Neuhaus Theater after seeing this show?  

Michelle Elaine: There's a really beautiful line that I'm going to butcher at the end of the play, and this is not a spoiler alert because it's not my line, which is why I'm going to butcher it about loving the people that are in your life now, before they're gone, and loving people and accepting love just for love's sake, because it's beautiful, even if it ends, even if you part ways, it had value, because you were loving and being loved when it happened. That may sound super, Corny, or whatever. But I think, if you really think about it, you recognize the value of that and think about the relationships in your life. I encourage people to bring a friend to see Primary Trust, because the play is really about friendship and the human condition of needing one another and relationships. So it's really beautiful. And it doesn't have an intermission, which I always say is a great plug. You'll be in and out in an hour and a half, and you can go get dinner.

Brett Cullum: I am always ready to go get dinner! Well, thank you so much for talking to me today, Michelle Elaine. You do amazing work of transforming into these people, and I guess that just goes back to elementary school. They saw that in you that you had this imagination that would just go wild, and we are so proud to have you as a resident company member of The Alley, and looking forward to seeing Primary Trust and everything else that you do. And I'm especially gonna like, lay claim to seeing Fences as soon as I can! I want to say all those monologues with you!