KATIE RYERSON

The weather is just gross today in Ottawa. Grey and freezing rain have been sputtering down on us since mid-afternoon and it doesn’t seem to want to go away any time soon. Some people feel it’s pedestrian to talk about the weather. I think it’s intrinsically human. I’m sure people have been talking about the weather for as long as people have been talking. It's a nice tradition that everyone can chime in on. Even though it’s gross out, it is fine by me, I like winter. Winter is my best season. It’s the day after Christmas and the third night of Hanukah and everything feels like it’s happening all at once and yet it also feels as if nothing is happening. I get pretty wistful this time of year. The end of the year. The end of a shitty year. The end of a year that didn’t feel like great things were afoot. We create our own reality but when a huge number of North Americans and beyond are wishing away a calendar year…..something may be amiss…Or maybe I’m catastrophizing…. I’m known to do that. One thing that everyone can agree on it that Katie Ryerson is a ray of sunshine. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about my gal. Her and Warren Bain are two of my very most favorite people. They are supportive, professional, supremely talented and most importantly; kind. I was lucky to be on their Christmas card list this year and I hope to be for years to come.

So on this dreary day I give you my interview with Katie Ryerson. I’m sure it will brighten up your day as she always brightens every day I get to spend with her. I give you one of Canada’s most up and coming talents; Katie Ryerson.

Katie has just finished a gig in Morrisburg after closing a show in Sudbury and she is on her way to the Banff Citadel this winter. Her star is deservedly rising and it’s a joy to watch her soar.

Last spring Katie and I got together to do this interview. She was my first ever interviewee so some of the questions from the other interviews are missing.

We got together at Bread by Us. An uber cute bakery in Hintonburg. We sipped perfectly tart lemonade last April when Katie was doing a show at the GCTC.

Name: Katie Ryerson

Age: 25

G: Describe your career in four words

KR: Lucky. Growing. Questioning. Joyful.

G: What do you do?

KR: I’m an actor. A self-employed actor.

G: Why do you do it?

KR: That’s a good question! I like giving people an escape. I like do it. This is always a question I have trouble answering. It’s an important one. I’ve had lots of conversations with people about ‘why.’ I like to give people the chance to examine something. Life is hard and to be able to come into a theatre and be told a story that may or may not take you out of whatever mood you’re in ….like maybe you’re watching a play and it’s hard and it’s the same as what you’re going through and that helps through something…..why do I do it? I like it. For now. (we knowingly giggle). I just like telling people stories.

G: What made you fall in love with it?

KR: my mum’s an actor so I grew up around it but I wasn’t a kid who grew up knowing they wanted to be an actor. When I was in grade 10 at Earl of March we had a great theatre program and our drama teacher Greg Woycyznski was amazing. I kind of wanted to be an interior designer and I was interested in other things. Then one day I was walking to school and I can picture it; it was a sunny morning and I walk walking and there weren’t many people around. I was late or was going in after a spare period or something and I can remember the light and I remember feeling my gut and out of my mouth I said ‘I want to be an actor’. It was like the greatest feeling of relief I have ever felt and have felt since. I have never had a feeling like that. My body was like ‘thank you for letting me do what we want to do’. And that’s not to say that now I don’t want to do other things or I can’t do other things but at that time was the moment I fell in love with it. Or it was the moment I let myself fall in love with it. I let myself go into it.

G: Where did you train?

KR: I trained at Ryerson Theatre School. But at my high school I did a lot of cultivating. I did a lot of musicals and I got to get a role in a big musical that I thought I wouldn’t get professionally.

G: What role was it?

KR: Laurey in Oklahomah! It was so fun! And Kanata theatre. I did a lot of plays there and that was a really valuable experience. Having people outside of your high school validating you was really amazing. I met some really wonderful people there.

G:Do you have a favourite book about your craft?

KR: this may not be traditional but I have a book called Actions For Actors by Marina Caldarone and Maggie Lloyd-Williams. It’s like an actions thesaurus for actors. It’s really good. I don’t look at it all the time but I’ll go to it if I’m stuck and I always take it with me on contracts.

G: Is there an experience that comes to mind that taught you a lot about your work?

KR: I always learn stuff from every single show that I do. I had a friend who told me; every show you do is for a bigger reason. There’s a reason you are in that show and there’s something you need in your life from that show at that time in your life. I’ve really taken that to heart. It’s amazing, there are shows that I’ve done where our whole cast ….like family oriented shows where we all learned so much about ourselves. I think one of the most valuable lessons I’ve had was we had a cast that had an amazing working relationship but I came to the realization that you don’t have to be friends with everyone at the end of every show. And that is okay! (Didn’t I tell you Katie was the sweetest?!) You can have a wonderful working relationship and do a great show and put out a great product and you don’t always have to walk away ‘ best friends’.

G: So would you say in a larger context that you sort of learned that everything is constantly changing and a moment is equally valid whether it last forever or not?

KR: Yeah. And we work in a business where we are constantly walking a fine line between our business and personal lives. We are so intimate with our colleagues and vulnerable and times, and that can make it really rewarding, but it is ok if some people are simply colleagues. Some people are just business acquaintances once the show is over. And that’s totally ok.

G: Do you have a personal philosophy?

KR: My mom always said ‘curiosity’. Thinking about that word and bringing it to your work.

G: What does your week look like?

KR: When I’m not working I like to be busy. I’m always trying to cultivate part-time work. Right now I’m working at an office. So for the last couple of month’s I would get up around 8:30 and go to work for 10am, work for 6 hours, and then come home. In the spring I was taking film classes which was great splitting my time half business and half art.

G: Where were you taking film classes?

KR: Bruce Clayton. It’s a-ma-zing! Awesome, awesome, awesome!

G: So basically you just need to be busy? I’m like that.

KR: Yeah, it depends. I go through phases. I’m always active but I go through pheses where I go to the gym more or go to yoga more sometimes I just like going outside. I try to keep myself active. There’s a lot of time with friends. Drinking. Enjoying. Because there will come a time when I’m out of the city, or Warren’s out of the city, or our friends are out of the city on contracts. It’s nice to just be together.

G: What’s the hardest thing about what you do?

KR: Growing up they always tell you ’if you can do anything else, do it!’ They kind of put the fear of god into you and you are constantly thinking ’I think this what I want to do’. ‘I think this is what I want to do’ and then I started realizing I needed to have other interests. It’s ok to have other interests. In the real world you aren’t acting every single day of the year so you have to have stuff to fill your plate with. To fill your day with, to fill your brain with and it all feeds into your craft. It all feeds into it. If you’re an actor all. The, Time. Then ..y’know

G: So if I’m getting this straight the hardest part for you was having other people tell you that you should only be concentrating on acting?

KR: Yeah and accepting the fact that there are other things. The fear of walking the line between the real world and the acting world. We talk about this all the time, you and I, the fear of knowing you can do other things is scary and hard. The hardest part is the fear of knowing you may be happy doing something else. Because it’s like ‘I love this but should I go and do that!”. It’s maddening.

G: Yeah the fear is real! I have a branding coach for my side business and she asked me what my biggest fear was and I said “That I’m going to be really good at it and I’ll neglect my craft''. I totally understand that tug-o-war. I was afraid it would take up all my time but why should that have to be a scary thing?

G: Did you have any mentors? Who were/are they?

KR: Dayna Tekatch. I want to be her when I grow up. She is an incredible dancer/performer, she plays the saxophone…she’s amazing! We met doing a workshop of a musical by a teacher of mine at Ryerson. We’ve worked on a few shows since and she has become a good friend. She is so inspiring in the way that she works and finds a balance with her two kids and her husband. They travel all together. I really admire that most. She not only wildly talented and a lovely person she manages to work with people and be a wonderful mom. They are a beautiful family. I learned a lot from her about singing and musicals. Ian Watson was a wonderful teacher I had at Ryerson.

G: I had him t! But I doubt he would remember.

KR: He is so great. I learned a lot from him.

G: Who inspires you right now and why?

KR: Is it really lame if I say Warren?

G: Not at all! I love me some Warren Bain!

KR: He manages his life so well in terms of filling it with Joe jobS and acting. He is such a hard worker! He is always putting work into fulfilling his artists self and he is such a good person and he inspires that in all who are around him. He is just such a hard worker and a positive energy. I just find him really inspiring.

G: Who’s career do you wish you had and why?

KR: Oh! …hmmm….I’m trying to think…so much of this business is cultivating your own career you don’t often stop and think about other people’s….I don’t know! I wonder…..Maybe I’ll come back to this one, I’m not sure.

G: How do you prepare for a role?

KR: Depends on the show. If it’s a show where I’m playing a real person I will do a bunch of research on them. Like when I was playing Michelle Phillips I did a bunch of research on her and the band, and read the memoir, listened to all the music. If it’s a musical I try and get really familiar with the music so I know it going into rehearsal. I take vocal lessons and get it all down on tracks so I can go in prepared.

G: Who lays your tracks down? Your teacher or a separate accompanist?

KR: umm..it depends, both really. For a play I will try and get really familiar with it. There’s the thing where you always feel like you haven’t done enough prep work and then you go in and you realize you are starting. You aren’t supposed to have all the answers yet. I like to come in with questions. It depends on the show for sure. If it’s Shakespeare, you know Gabbie, all of that text work.

G: yeah. How do you deal with him? I always go to the lexicon and the Arden and look at the scansion. What do you do?

KR: The tools that Ian taught us. I do a lot of breaking down the pentameter to find where the stresses are in the line. I find out how many beats are in the line. Yeah all of that text stuff. I’ll highlight the cue lines. I soak up things that other people do that I really like putting an action in a box. I took that from an actor that I really liked. Someone else I worked with color coded all the punctuation. I started doing that.

G: How do you usually feel after a show closes?

KR: It’s different every show. I’ve been very luck with the shows I’ve been able to work on. There are some post show blues. I’ve been very fortunate to have done shows where I have made such good friends it is really rewarding! Like you and me and some other people who just become soul mates. You get to see a beautiful side of people and become really close.

G: Yeah, when you find those people it’s a way to combat those post show blues. Instead of 'the show is over' it’s more like' it’s the start of a friendship.'

K: Yeah you get stuff out of it.

G: How do you prepare for an audition?

KR: It depends. Yeah learn the lines, obviously. I always have the paper in my hand but I do try to get off book. If I glance down for a word that’s fine but I trying to get off book. I always think about what I am going to wear. I always make sure I’ve run it over with someone else reading for me, out loud so the first time you hear the words isn’t inside the audition room. If it’s a musical audition I make sure I’ve run it over with a pianist as opposed to an online track because it’s so different, those two experiences.

G: I’m just curious, what are your monologues?

KR: I love Bev Cooper. I love Helena’s stuff from All’s Well that Ends Well. I like Phoebe from As You Like it. I sing Evening Primrose and Much more from The Fantasticks.

G: Evening Primrose?

KR: Yeah! It’s from a made for TV musical from the 70s by Sondheim. IT HAS THE COOLEST STORY! It’s about this poet who wants to run away and hide in a department store and he finds out that there’s this whole secret society of people there.

G: Oh come on that’s just Today’s Special.

KR: Yeah! And if you leave, if you get caught, you turn into a mannequin.

G: How do you nail an audition?

KR: Being prepared. When I’m nervous, I mean I always have excited nerves, but when I’m bad nervous is when I’m less prepared. Because you don’t have a that to stand on, but when you are prepared, at least you know your lines, you’ve made your choices, and there is a security in that. In my perfect audition scenario; I walk in, I’m prepared, I claim my space well, I use my time, and hopefully I’ll breathe and have a conversation with the reader and panel. Oh and you get yourself a treat afterwards because audition is hard!

G: Oh yeah the treat is a must!

G: What trick of the trade can you share?

KR: I love my yoga ball and my wooden dowel for my feet. I love those props to lie on and roll on and loosen you up before rehearsal. Learning a good vocal warm up is essential! It can always change but they taught us some stuff at Ryerson that I still use and some stuff from other vocal coaches and teachers. You need to be warm before youget to work. I love all that voodoo stuff like slippery elm, oil of oregano, all of those things. I’m like ‘gimme that! All the things! All the oils!’ Oh and knowing when to turn off. Sometimes you do have to go home and look at your lines or your music but sometimes it is just as important to do nothing because you are still absorbing the days’ work anyway.

G: and by trying to cram more in is undoing what you’ve spent your day on.

KR: YEAH! Sometimes taking time away can be so helpful. And ALSO on a day off r&r can be good but you can also have a day of going out and seeing friends and being in the world can be just as rejuvenating.

G: What is your favourite piece of theatre right now?

KR: It’s a series of things in a way. In university we had a class that ended at 5pm. So on Friday nights at 5pm for an entire semester I went to see a show. Lots of theatre’s have Friday night rush tickets or 10$ student tickets so there are a bunch of shows that live in this beautiful blissful pocket in my memory from that time. I remember them so vividly. There was a show called Festin. I love seeing shows when I’m personally in rehearsal for something. I find if I’m hung up on something or having trouble with something, I will see something in someone else’s work that helps me! So the fall of 2008 in Toronto I saw a bunch of really special shows.

G: Is there something you are trying to say through your art?

KR: I’m just trying to tell authentic stories. Have fun, I’m trying to say enjoy yourself.

G: What is your perceived biggest failure?

KR: I did a terrible audition one time for people that I really like. It made it so much worse because they were people I knew really well and my agent gave me the wrong time. It was for a dance can that I sort of overestimated my skill level for what they were looking for. They were looking for dancer dancers and I couldn’t find the room, I was there at the wrong time, missed half of the combo, made it up and fell in the audition. I just couldn’t catch my balance and almost fell onto the panel’s table. It was comedic. I will say that dancers are so nice! All of them were like ‘let me help you, let’s go through it again’. So kind and that was a valuable lesson to be honest with your skill level. It’s hard line, like, if you don’t get an audition should you just crash it and go? But sometimes you weren’t called in because it is not really right for you, especially if it’s for people that you know. They would have called you if it was right for you. Maybe don’t push for it next time? I came home and had a drink ad it was maybe 11am.

G: What is your perceived biggest success?

KR: I was pretty happy when I got to work at the NAC on The Sound of Music. I was pretty stoked. It was so cool. Having grown up in Ottawa and having seen so many shows there…it was very cool. It was such a fun experience for me to do a show that people loved so much before you even get out on stage. It is joyous. Unbelievable, such a great house to play. I remember walking to work being so freaking jazzed. Hopefully my biggest success is yet to come!

G: What’s your strongest skill?

KR: I think I am pretty observant as a person. I have a pretty good radar on the feel of the room and understanding when a good time to ask a question is and where people are coming from. I’m aware.

G: What do you wish you were better at?

KR: Being more clear with my questions. I guess I’d like to be more concise.

G: Why do people need theatre?

KR: Because it’s alive. It is living and breathing in front of you and it hits you…you receive it in a different way...it hits your solar plexus and the water in your body. I think it gets people to see things differently and to laugh. I think it’s so important for kids to see theatre because I still remember Shakespeare shows I saw when I was a kid. I think it would be an easier question to answer if theatre spontaneously stopped. We would find out real quick why we need it if it went away. It speaks to the cultural level of a city. It advances the rhythm of the intelligence of the people. People want to go to Berlin because it’s such a hub of art. They go to New York.

G: What theatre secret do you have to divulge?

KR: Stuff can fall out of the sky. You can have nothing coming up and then something falls into your lap. Providence is real! She is good and she is real!