Interview: Jenny O'Hara's Always Making LITTLE THEATRE Big

Rogue Machine has world premiered Justin Tanner's latest comedy Little Theatre at the Matrix. Lisa James directs the cast of: Ryan Brophy, Zachary Grant and Jenny O'Hara. Jenny made some time between rehearsals and shooting to answer a few of my queries.

Thank you for taking the time for this interview, Jenny!

Hi Gil, thanks for the request.

What cosmic forces brought you to use your talents in Little Theatre?

The quality of the director, the play, the playwright, the theatre and the challenge of playing this character. I knew her a little and she was a piece of work!

Have you worked with any of Little Theatre's cast or creatives before?

I have done seven projects now with our glorious director Lisa James, one of which was Bitter Women, Justin Tanner's hilarious play at the Cast theatre, which is the true site of Little Theatre.

What do you look for in a theatrical project before you commit to it?

Whether it has intrinsic value, what it has to say. This piece is hilarious and simultaneously tragic. It is based on the true story of Justin and Diana Gibson's relationship and the making of Justin as one of L.A.'s iconic writers. It is about creation and destruction and loss. It is painfully funny.

If you were to submit your character Monica Menlo for a dating site, what qualities of hers would you list?

Glamorous, sexy, artistic, a mentor and gives pretty outrageous head, (all self-proclaimed qualities).

Whoa! Didn't expect that! What flaws would you definitely omit?

Domineering, deluded, hilarious in her neediness, and basically a mess. She is really hard to adequately describe. Outrageous but funny.

I remember seeing you in Daniel's Husband as Daniel's mother. How do you find your way to portray characteristics that aren't in line with your own beliefs?

The driving force for Daniel's mother was her love for her son. It blinded her to the realities of what he might have wanted, could he speak, and what his husband, whom she also loved desperately needed. Warring love. Understandable. We are complex creatures.

Your mother founded 13th Street Rep in New York and you made your stage debut at the age of fifteen at Bushkill Playhouse in the Poconos. Was acting always the only profession you wanted to have while growing up?

No. I was the high school drama star, and everyone assumed that I would be an actress. But I wanted to be a nurse. However, my mother made me apply to Carnegie Mellon, or Tech, as it was then known and I auditioned, was accepted, and got a scholarship, but I was all razzle-dazzle high school acting and didn't know what the teachers there were talking about. Beats sounded like math.

After a year, I got myself to N.Y. and discovered the Method and it was like a light coming on. I knew then that acting was my future. I had the extraordinary luck of finding the best teachers of my time starting with John Ulmer, then Strasburg, Sandy Meisner, Wynn Handman and here in L.A. the redoubtable Allan Miller, and they changed my life.

You made your Broadway debut in "Dylan" in 1964 opposite Sir Alec Guinness. Any words of wisdom he passed along you?

No, he didn't do that, but he was wonderful to me, really kind. I was 21 and it was my first Broadway show, in fact my first N.Y. show. I have a lot of stories, but this is one of my favorites. He was doing an evening of Dylan Thomas' poetry at the 96th Street Y and asked my boyfriend and me if we would like to come to his place on Central Park West after the show so he could read us the selections he had made and give him our thoughts. He was of course amazing, and he then made us all supper. What an evening and what a privilege.

What words of wisdom would you pass along to acting newbies?

Find the best teachers you can and study, study. If a teacher doesn't make sense to you or inspire you, move on. Be fearless, take chances, they will pay off and accept every reasonable thing you are offered. It's the only way to grow. Good luck!

As a Los Angeles denizen of a number of years, appearing on numerous L.A. stages, what changes have you noticed in the Los Angeles theatre community?

The community remains intact, rich and vibrant. It is little theatre where the riches are to be found - The Fountain, Rogue Machine, the Skylight, Ensemble Studio Theatre L.A., The Odyssey and many more. Hope springs eternal!

What's in the near future for Jenny O'Hara?

Who knows. I take my own advice. If it is interesting and the people connected to it are good, jump. And have a LIFE, it feeds your art.

Thank you again, Jenny! I look forward to seeing another one of your complete transformations in Little Theatre.

For tickets to the live performances of Little Theatre through January 8, 2023; click on the button below:

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