Meet the Cast – Loving Repeating’s Shannon Warne

January 5th, 2011

Shannon Warne is an accomplished actress who will hit the stage in our upcoming West Coast premiere musical, Loving Repeating … A Musical of Gertrude Stein, as Young Gertrude Stein. While busy rehearsing for the show that is set to begin previews on January 18, she was nice enough to take some time to answer a few questions for our readers.

What is your educational/training background?

I’ve been doing theatre since I was a kid, acting in anything and everything I could get myself into.  Although I have been singing since I was 4 or 5, I started “officially” training in classical and musical theatre voice when I was 16.  I went to a liberal arts college and graduated with a BA in performing arts, but to be honest, I’ve never really “studied” acting.  What I know has come mostly from experience and observation.

MY FAIR LADY at age 7

I started acting when I was 6.  I won’t say how many years it’s been, but it’s a lot.

Favorite roles and/or productions you have been a part of?

Favorite roles is a tough one… 3 come to mind right off:  Violet in Violet, Milly in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Guenevere in David Lee’s Camelot.  Each of these roles came to me at a time and under circumstances that were life-changing as well as just being incredible roles to live through.

Favorite plays or musicals that you have not been a part of?

I love the classics: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leosser, Lerner and Lowe, etc.  The music and stories are so lush and moving I love performing them.  Although nowadays many classics are seen as simple and outdated, I feel this is a gross misunderstanding of works that are deceptively complicated and that echo the challenges we all still face today just as well as any Wicked or In the Heights.

On right as Polly in ICT's THE THREEPENNY OPERA

Favorite part of being a Los Angeles stage actor?

I love the LA stage community of actors/directors/writers/producers, etc.  It is a smaller pool than you might find in NY, but it includes talent from both coasts so many work in film and television as well, making this an incredibly talented, versatile and supportive group of people.  That goes for our audiences as well.

What is the strangest or funniest thing that has happened to you while on stage performing or in an audition?

One of my favorite on-stage memories occurred when I witnessed my co-star (Jim Walton) make another actor laugh so hard during her scene that she kept tripping over her own feet while exiting up the stairs.  The entire 2500 seat house was laughing, I was laughing, and Jim just kept going… It didn’t end there.  Even after exiting stage this actor could not recover so she missed her next entrance.  Jim, having prepared for such a situation, happily covered for her so that the show could continue (almost) without a hitch.

How are you preparing for your role in Loving Repeating?

I have been doing tons of research on Gertrude: her writing, her friends, her lifestyle and, of course, Alice.  I think it is so important to honor her writings the way she intended them and her life the way she lived it.  This show is a challenge because it is not linear the way most musicals are.  We have to find a way to tell her story while keeping the integrity of Gertrude’s work.  I think the best way to accomplish all of this, is to know as much as possible about Gertude the woman.

What do you love most about Loving Repeating?

I love doing research and I’m so happy to say that I am falling in love with Gertrude and her writings.  I wasn’t terribly familiar before so it’s been a thrill to learn how much I enjoy her and her work.

Upcoming projects?

Yes!  Sorry, it’s top secret…for now.

See Shannon and the rest of the cast of Loving Repeating when it opens January 18. The show will run until February 13. To get your tickets, call the ICT box office at 562.436.4610 or visit www.InternationalCityTheatre.org.