Interview with comedic actress and writer Katie Schorr.

ON THE RECORD

Given Name:
Katherine Schorr

Alias:
Tater, Kittson

Occupation/Title:
Actress/Writer

Website(s):
Katie Schorr in "Take Me. Seriously."
Katie Schorr in Head In the Oven.
Katie Schorr in The Interpreters
Katie Schorr in "Donut Theory" from The Lance and Ray Show
Katie Schorr in "The Narcissist Majority"
Katie Schorr's Blog

Top 3 Biggest Creative Influences:
Diane Keaton
Steve Martin
Lisa Kudrow

Top 5 Favorite/Most Visited Websites:
The Apiary
The New York Times
Pop Candy
Orangette
IMDB

6 Most Recent Creative Accomplishments:
Writing and performing my one woman show, “Take Me. Seriously.”, at the Upright
Citizens Brigade Theatre.
Revisiting my fiction-writing past in a wonderful short story writing class
Performing in the improv show, Rawhide Presents: The Raw Harold at the UCB Theatre.
Co-writing a script for a musical sketch show, The Interpreters, about a folk-singing duo.
My blog and my recent entry on Revolutionary Road.
Helping my boyfriend write the wedding ceremony for his brother's wedding where he
officiated

2 Most Recent Non-Creative Accomplishments:
Repacking, at the airport, outside of check-in, several suitcases that were over 50 pounds
to make them under 50 pounds. I totally did it!!
Finding an affordable and nice two-bedroom apartment in South Slope, Brooklyn for me
and my sister to live in!

1 Big Creative Endeavor you're working on for the future:
Writing and acting in a screwball comedy for TV or for film.

1 Famous Person who would play you in the movie about you (but don't say why):
Heather Burns

OFF THE CUFF

HAASTYLE: Your show “Take Me. Seriously.” currently has a run at New York’s
Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre. Can you tell us about the show?

Katie Schorr: Sure! “Take Me. Seriously.” is a 30-minute show about four 17-year old
American, high school girls. And each of the girls is sort of in a sticky situation, or has
been or is going to be, so the stakes are pretty high. Some of them sing, one of them
dances, one is a cheerleader. One of them may or may not be pregnant. One of them
may or may not be a lesbian. They’re really at a pivotal moment in their lives where
they’re trying to figure out the answers to important questions. And these girls happen to
be misguided and sexually aggressive. So that, added to the difficulty of their situations,
makes for some funny stuff. And there’s also a broader plot line that I can’t give away.

HS Note: Click here to view a video excerpt from "Take Me. Seriously."

HS: How did this idea come about? And how did you create these characters?

KS: The idea came about from a rejection. I did a show in November, a spank of a show.
A spank is basically an audition of a show for the director of the theatre. He didn’t really
like the form that that show was in. I was disappointed, but I took his criticism seriously
and really a week later I sat down and started rewriting the show completely. I took the
characters I liked and threw away the ones I didn’t. I tried to think about what I wanted,
which was literally to be taken seriously. It’s a title that applies to the characters and to
me as an actor and a person. So I turned that into the show. That was the theme. And it
helped me find other characters I’d wanted to do, but didn’t know how to play them.
Giving it that theme brought to life various ideas I had had. So it came from both
rejection and an unwillingness to be rejected.

HS: The show’s previous performances have been quite well-received. What is it about
this idea or these characters that people enjoy?

KS: That’s interesting. I think it’s both that the characters are universal and people can
relate to them. But they’re also extremely odd. I’ve gotten very diverse feedback from
people. Some people have said that they felt just like every single one of those characters
in high school. Or still today. Others have said that’s not the case at all, but it’s still
really fun to watch odd girls running around on stage. The sort of lead character, who
starts off the show and then comes back at the end, is Chelsea Nelson. She’s president of
the film society. I would say she’s one of the favorites. People really like her. She’s
certainly hard to connect with because she’s such an extreme nerd. I think the character
people have told me they like the most is the cheerleader. She’s stupid, but also street
smart. I think people just love how blindly self-assured she is. That’s been very
interesting. For me, I think my favorite character is Chelsea because I connect to her the
most. But this cheerleader, Tara, really pops on stage.

HS: “Take Me. Seriously.” is described as a “one woman show” because you are the only
performer. Why did you decide to do this show on your own as opposed to with other
actors?

KS: Well I just don’t think anyone else is funny! [laughs] I’m kidding of course, but
part of it was fueled by this desire to show what I could do. So I didn’t want to share the
spotlight. I just thought, “Here are some of the characters I do and love and here’s me.”
And I’m hoping that people in important places will see that and will want to give me an
opportunity to do more. And it is easier for me to write for myself, but I do find that in
my theatrical writing and my fiction writing, my voice always sticks out. I’ve always felt
tied to a first person voice. And when it’s coming from me, I feel like I might as well
play that character. I would like to write more for other people. I think that’s maybe the
next thing I would tackle: not having an attachment to the project where I need to play
the character I developed. I think that’s really hard to do because you get really close to
the characters that you write. I did have a pretty strong sense of how I wanted these
characters to be on stage. I really like them and wanted to do what I could do with them.

HS: Aside from “Take Me. Seriously,” your project Head In The Oven is gaining
notoriety again. Can you talk about that show and its recent resurgence?

KS: Yes! Head in the Oven is a 9-to-5 suicide hotline where 3 women, Randy, Pear, and
Heather work. And I play Pear, who is sort of an ingénue. She’s clueless, sweet, hardworking,
and also looking for a husband. And the job is, in a way, a road to a husband
for Pear. Head in the Oven was the first thing I ever did as an actor out of college. I had
the really good fortune of meeting some great people, including Maggie Carey and Amelia
[Zirin-Brown]. We did that 2 years ago. The idea was generated and Maggie wrote it and we
collaborated when we filmed it. It was so exciting and so fun. We filmed it in an office
where I worked. It was really awesome. When the first episode came out, pretty quickly
we got some attention. And then various projects and other things got in the way of
moving everything forward. And now it’s been awesome to see the second episode come
out. I am excited for the third episode because I feel like it really does complete the
series and it’s just an intense climax to the three parts. It’s a big, big ending. I haven’t
actually seen the final version, but if it goes as planned it will be great.

It was very hard to read the comments on YouTube. People said some horrible things,
basically because suicide is not something everybody wants to joke about. What’s great
about the show is that we try not to laugh at suicide, we’re laughing at the people
working at the suicide hotline. Obviously not everyone can see that. Reading the
comments was hard. It was a great lesson in not internalizing what people say about you,
even though they weren’t specific to me in most cases.

HS Note: Click here to view Head in the Oven episodes.

HS: And what about your project, The Interpreters? Where did they come from and will
we see anything from The Interpreters again?

KS: Yes. On a whim my friend Justin and I came up with an idea to write a short film
about a folk singing duo called The Interpreters, a previously married couple. The end
product was fun and a really helpful way to learn how to shoot something and make a
short film. We made all the mistakes you could make, so that was good. [laughs]

Now Justin and I have revisited it and written a stage version of the show. We’re now
turning it into a cabaret-style sketch show. It has a plot, but we want to sing a lot of
songs and do a lot of “interpretations.” Justin is a great musical theatre singer and I’m
more of a folk singer. We’ve finished the script and we’re hoping to submit it to some
theatres this summer.

HS Note: Click here to view The Interpreters.

HS: This project allowed you to make music part of a comedic idea, which we see in
SNL, Whose Line is it Anyway?, and other shows. Why is music such an effective
vehicle for comedy?

KS: The musical improv show, Baby Wants Candy, where they improvise a musical, was
so funny. And I was in a group called The NYC, an improvised teen drama like the O.C.
We did a musical version of that show and it went over well. I think anything put into
song is just much sillier than it would be spoken aloud. And when it’s improvised,
people get the giggles. It’s silliness to the nth degree. Musicals are funny. It’s ridiculous
to start singing out of nowhere in a real life moment. It’s also really creatively fulfilling
because it’s so freeing. I think it really taps into our natural goofiness, as people.
Singing is ridiculous and very, I keep saying this, silly. It’s like being kids and fake
singing opera. And no matter how sharp your lyrics are, I think what’s so fun about it is
that the person is hitting high notes and shouting at the top of their lungs in a falsetto. It’s
over the top. That’s why I find it funny.

Also I think singing exposes you. Generally when people sing, they sound really earnest
and sincere and they sound raw. Someone with a not-so-great singing voice can be really
humbled when they have to sing. Even if you have a good voice it can be humbling
because you’re putting it all on display. That just opens up the comedy channels. It’s like
seeing someone naked—you just laugh instantly even if what you’re seeing isn’t funny.
You’re laughing at the discomfort of it.

HS: Who is responsible for The Interpreters’ theme song and that infectious little jingle
between scenes?

KS: Oh yeah! [sings] The Interpreters. Justin wrote the music and we co-wrote the
words. He had the music together and we just put the words to the music. It was very
easy and quick. And right on the first day of shooting we figured out what verses we
would sing and little harmonies. It’s such a catchy song.

HS: What’s it like being a female, comedic actor? Can you talk how comedic acting for
women differs from what male actors do?

KS: Yeah. With the Lance and Ray Show I’m a girl in a group of three other guys. It’s
interesting to learn about what each gender finds funny, stuff that girls find funnier than
guys. And it’s interesting to see how girls are written into things. I’m working with guys
who are so funny and really know me and know what I do well and what I do in a funny
way. And still sometimes I want the girl part to be fleshed out more. And they do the
best job of anybody I know!

It’s harder to find really self-assured comedians like Amy Poehler and Kristin Wiig and
Tina Fey, who are just at the top of their game. They can compete with men because
they’re not trying to. They’re doing their own thing. And they’re very, very confidently funny.
That’s really rare.

Vanity Fair published that article about women struggling to be both pretty and funny. And if you’re trying too hard to be pretty, are you funny? Is being funny having a lack of vanity?
I think all those questions just remain questions. It’s not just men writing not-so-good parts for women, it’s women having trouble claiming what is funny about them and doing funny things
their own way. Sometimes I feel like I write to appeal to men more, and I can sense when I’m doing that. But writing genderlessly is really hard to do. Once you’re conscious of what makes certain people laugh, you keep that in mind all the time. And unless you’re really confident
in your sense of humor, it can be hard to not think about it when you’re writing. Hollywood is dominated, writer-wise, by men. There are more male writers than there are female writers. Period. But I think that can be changed by women writing unabashedly about things that
they find funny. I think ultimately what’s really funny should be genderless. But in our society that’s not always the case. We laugh at things we connect to and sometimes men and women connect to different things.

HS: You also have a lot of experience with improv comedy. Can you talk about how
your improv experience influences projects like “Take Me. Seriously.” and the
Interpreters?

KS: Yeah! Improv was so good for me as a person and as an actor. Just opening up and
being brave on stage, and listening. All those basic things were so great to take into
writing and performing my show. I worked with my director, Lance, on “Take Me.
Seriously.” and a lot of what we did with certain characters relied on improvisation. I
had written a lot of stuff, but we put that away and he improvised with me. And we kept
the material we really liked. I would say the whole rehearsal process relied on being
loose and free. And when we settled on characters in specific situations, we still
improvised within that structure. I still, with every show I go into, hope for really
spontaneous moments where things can change and the character can be open to the
environment. And I found that knowing how to improvise gives you a lot more
confidence to let that happen. Since it’s a one woman show, so there are no other actors
waiting on me for their cue. So I can take certain liberties.

I would say The Lance and Ray Show is like that too. Being part of that show and also
watching it in the tech booth was such a great lesson in the way two actors can get on
stage together, improvise, go in new directions, react to their audience, and also to each
other. I think that got me really excited about what a collaborative effort can be on stage.
This isn’t a typical show. It’s a show written by the people in the show. That was really
exciting to watch. After this one-woman show I think I would definitely want to do a
show with somebody else because it’s just so fun.

HS: You have a strong writing background and did writing before going into acting.
Would you say that the way you went into acting is less typical?

KS: It’s definitely atypical. I would say most likely the average actor went to college for
acting or they grew up all through their life acting in plays and going to summer camps
for acting. I definitely had more distance from it and I didn’t study it in college. I did
some plays in high school and college and I always loved the theatre. But I evolved as a
less outgoing person. Theatre kids were really intimidating to me and so I just didn’t feel
like I could be an actor because I was different from the rest of them. I’ve been writing
for a long time. That never went away and it has yet to go away so I definitely feel like
I’m a writer/actor. I lack the little black book of actor’s connections so being a writer also
gives me a little more power. I can write for myself. I also just wrote a little sketch that we
filmed for The Lance and Ray Show. It’s a tiny little thing, but it makes me feel excited.
So much of acting relies on having the right look for a certain part. I think I’m quirky in the
acting world. I don’t fit exactly into one type or another. Writing can only serve me and give
me a leg up in ways I don’t already have one.

"HS Note: This Off The Cuff interview was conducted live at the Haastyle underground studio."