Park Slope

Brooklyn Eagle interview with ‘Napoli, Brooklyn’ co-star Elise Kibler

July 13, 2017 By Peter Stamelman Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Elise Kibler. Courtesy of Polk & Company
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A writer needs a computer (or if she’s old school, a pen and a pad); a photographer needs a camera and film; a painter, canvas and paint. But for an actor it’s not that simple: She needs an audience. She also needs a thick skin, a sense of humor, stamina and inexhaustible confidence.

Elise Kibler, currently co-starring as Vita Muscolino in Meghan Kennedy’s “Napoli, Brooklyn” at the Roundabout at Laura Pels Theatre, would seem to have all four. Since graduating from NYU, she’s gone on countless, often-times (as with any actor) fruitless auditions. Check the “thick skin” box. In the Playbill for “Napoli, Brooklyn,” Kibler, who plays one of three Italian-American sisters growing up in 1960s Park Slope, describes herself as “a female with brown hair and a strong immune system.” So, check the “sense of humor” box. On Broadway, she’s played three roles in the same play: Becky, Clara and Denise in “The Heidi Chronicles.” Check the “stamina box.” She understudied Tavi Gevinson in “This is Our Youth” — but never went on. Check the “inexhaustible confidence” box. It therefore comes as no surprise that, when asked who her favorite actress is, Kibler immediately answers “Barbara Stanwyck,” an actress who once famously said: “I hate whiners. You have to fight life and make it work for you.”

On a recent Sunday, before the 2 o’clock matinee of “Napoli, Brooklyn,” I sat down with Kibler, who lives in Williamsburg, to discuss her career trajectory after graduating from NYU, how she deals with the grind of auditions, her mechanisms for coping with rejection and what keeps her energized and positive.

Below are edited excerpts of our conversation.

Eagle: Growing up [in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago], did you always know you wanted to be an actress?

Elise Kibler: Yes. My parents signed me up for a community theater program and from the start it felt completely right, completely straightforward. It was immediate; I fell in love with the whole process. It was what I knew I wanted to do with my life.

 

Eagle: Were your parents encouraging?

EK: Yes, absolutely! My dad always used to say, “Why not you?”

 

Eagle: Can you remember the first play your parents took you to?

EK: “The Phantom of the Opera.” My dad took me when I was in second grade. It was a big deal. I borrowed a fancy dress from one of my friends and I remember I also borrowed a little muff, because it was winter. And because I was so petrified, I had to sit in my dad’s lap the whole time. But I loved it.

 

Eagle: Are there any photos memorializing that first theater outing that we can use to accompany this interview?

EK: [Laughing] There probably are, but you can’t have them!

 

Eagle: How long did it take for you and Jordyn [DiNatale, who plays Francesca Muscolino] and Lili [Kay, who plays the third sister, Tina] to bond — to really feel like you were the Muscolino sisters?

EK: We actually have the entire cast to thank for that, because every cast member is so easy to be around that we all bonded. When you like everyone you’re working with, that’s the perfect foundation to allow for trust. And, without giving too much away, the whirlwind nature of the play brings us all together. When we went off-book and got into the theater and started running with the material and playing with it — that’s when things got really juicy and creative.

 

Eagle: Had you seen the original Long Wharf production?

EK: I had not — and actually, I’m glad I didn’t, because I think it’s good to come in fresh.

 

Eagle: Eugene Lee’s set design is remarkably vivid and detailed: The two prominent signs — “Kentile Manufacturing Co.” and “Duffy Meats” hanging stage right and center, the unadorned hanging lamps, whose lighting suggests mid-century streetlamps, the backdrop of Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn circa 1960…

EK: Well, actually I’m glad you’re describing all that because [the cast doesn’t] actually see it. I mean, we see what’s in front of us, of course, but we don’t really get the full scope that the audience gets.

 

Eagle: Wait, you don’t even see that massive crucifix and the long shadow it casts?

EK: You do, but it’s above you so it’s not really in your line of vision. I will say, the music [traditional recordings of Neapolitan folk songs and popular ’50s Italian songs like “Anima Cuore”] feels immersive — and necessary — because most of our scenes are brief and the music fills those breaks.

Eagle: How lucky do you feel to be wearing Jane Greenwood’s costumes?

EK: Oh my God, we’re so spoiled! She’s the best.

 

Eagle: Let’s talk about a young actor’s life, starting with auditions and landing the next role. Would I be correct in assuming that even while you’re in a play, you’re going out on auditions for the next one?

EK: Yes, absolutely, you always continue to audition, as long as it doesn’t conflict with your current commitment.

 

Eagle: How do you manage to juggle learning “sides” for the auditions with maintaining your focus on the play you’re doing?

EK: It might seem overwhelming from the outside, but it’s just part of the job in the acting world. You learn to compartmentalize. And it’s a gift, because you’re always hoping you can line up another job on the tail-end of the one you have. Personally, I enjoy it — it makes me feel saturated in the thing I love. The only time it’s tough is when you’re in previews, in which case you’re rehearsing for most of the day and doing the show at night. It’s only under those circumstances that I sometimes find it tough to make space for new information. After the show opens, you get your days back to yourself.

 

Eagle: What has been your experience with casting directors? Anything comparable to Emma Stone’s “Mia” in “La La Land,” where you’ve auditioned while a casting director is taking a phone call? Or ordering out for food?

EB: Happily, my experience with casting directors has been almost exclusively positive. There are several really special casting directors here in New York and, generally, the feeling is they want you to succeed and to surprise them. Certain casting directors really make you feel seen as an artist, which in turn inspires you to do your best work for them. Those are casting directors you can’t wait to show your work to.

 

Eagle: What’s your internal mechanism for coping with rejection?

EK: Rejection is simply the nature of the game, especially when you’re starting out. If being rejected overwhelmingly more often than being accepted is your nightmare, then acting is not the job for you! Over time, you figure out how to best take care of yourself. For me, that means long walks after auditions. In terms of coping with negative feedback specifically, it’s different, of course, for everyone, but maybe it’s about hearing your own voice stronger than anyone else’s.

Eagle: You know that classic Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer song “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive?” You seem to have it in your DNA. How do you manage it?

EK: I love my job! I don’t think this is particular to acting. When you love something, you take the bad with the good because the good is incomparable. Also, it’s important to surround yourself with a community of people who believe in you and who you believe in. And when things get tough you lean on them. Really hard.

 

Eagle: Last question: I know that Tavi Gevinson is also from Oak Park.

EK: Yup, we grew up together!

 

Eagle: Is it difficult when you and Tavi — or any friend — are up for the same part?

EK: Of course, you can’t help but have competitive feelings, but if the person is really a friend, you’re on the same team. Whenever a friend books something, one of my buddies always says, “It was one of us!” That kind of sums it up for me also. Like, it’s all in the family, your turn is coming! There’s a dear friend I went to school with who I now see at auditions all the time. We always say, “If it ain’t me, make it her!”

 

Eagle: I’m impressed; are you always able to be so upbeat?

EK: Well, no… because sometimes, yeah, it does just suck, but that’s OK, too. You use it as fuel for the next one.

 

Stanwyck could not have said it better.

 

“Napoli, Brooklyn” runs through Sept. 3 at the Roundabout at Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. For schedule and ticket information, visit roundabouttheatre.org.

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