Michelle Kritselis' Breakdown

The Brown Paper Box Co. presents CHARACTER BREAKDOWN: A Miscast Cabaret this Saturday, March 23 at 8pm. This one-night cabaret will feature appearances from The Brown Paper Box Co. artistic associates and former cast members performing as characters they would never play due to age, gender, voice type, race, etc.

Get to know BPBCo.'s Marketing Director and co-founder MICHELLE KRITSELIS (2012 Reefer Madness! staged reading; dramaturg for To Tree and Godspell).

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Q) What's the first word that comes to mind when you hear 'miscast?'
A) Type. When I read in a review that a performer was "miscast," it often means that (s)he is playing a role against character type. I think this is a valid complaint if the actor lacks the ability to play the role, but otherwise, the demand that actors always play their type is very limiting. Like, I wanna see an ugly ingenue once in a while. There, I said it.

Q) Without giving too much away, what can our audience expect with your number?
A) The audience can expect pretty music and lots of emotions. What, too vague? By "emotions," I mean that during my song, I'm going to burst into tears, wring my hands a lot, and finish by flipping the piano over in a fit of rage. (Just kidding, I'm not. ((Or am I?? (((YOU'LL HAVE TO SEE THE CABARET TO FIND OUT!)))))) But in all seriousness, my song has to do with the frustration of not measuring up to a certain ideal, and I think everyone in the audience can relate to that feeling.

Q) Upon first glace when you walk into an audition, what is your character 'type?'
A) I am a multifaceted individual with a rich and complex inner life, and I WILL NOT BE PIGEON-HOLED BY THESE HACKNEYED CHARACTER TYPES!
That, and "Neurotic Girl Next Door."

Q) But what people don't know about you is .......
A) I could play an awesome Phantom of the Opera, on account of my hideous hemi-facial disfigurement and love of capes.

Q) Last good movie you saw?
A) I'm too cheap to go to the movies often, so the last good movie I saw was on DVD and from the mid-'70s: Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze). I first encountered it a few years ago for an International Women Film Directors class I was TAing, and I loved it. It's about a WWII Italian army deserter who gets captured and imprisoned in a German concentration camp. It's darkly comic and disturbing and moving all at once, and I think everyone should see it.

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Come see Michelle in The Brown Paper Box Co.'s CHARACTER BREAKDOWN: A Miscast Cabaret on Saturday, March 23, 2013 at Davenport's Piano Bar & Cabaret.  Please visit www.davenportspianobar.com for reservations and additional information. Tickets are $15 + two-drink minimum.

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