IMFourPlay

Kate O'Neal is a returning member to the FourPlay company, and brings with her an amazing level of vocal virtuosity and variety. If you haven't heard Kate sing, you surely are missing out. Kate agreed to meet me for afternoon nibbles in a new age vegan rice cake and tea shop where we nibbled on alfalfa sprouts and bok chou dipped in a spicy tahini. It wasn't long before our conversation turned to the current project at hand...

Current favorite musical: The Musical of Musicals: The Musical; Wicked
Current favorite improv game: ABC Game

DC: Kate, you have arguably one of the strongest voices in the company (as was recently made evident in Jester Theater's sold-out production of The Musical of Musicals: The Musical.) Tell us a little about your professional work as a singer and vocal artist.

KO: I grew up singing, performing with my sister and my Dad. He would teach us songs and I would almost always provide the harmony. That's mainly because my sister was bossy and always wanted to sing the lead! I didn't mind. I found it to be more of a challenge, and that makes me happy. My first band was when I was in college at Indiana University. I sang in a new wave beach band called Astrosurf. We made an album and performed around Indiana. I moved to Florida to pursue my singing, and got a gig with a top 40 band, a rock band, and then a country band. Through the years, I've sung new wave, rock, country, jazz, gospel, and done some formal quartet work.

DC: That's quite an impressive array of styles! I wouldn't peg you as a country singer in particular, and yet you've served as the warm up act for some interesting talent! Do you have any interesting stories to share from the road?

KO: My favorite is when I was warm up for Willie Nelson. At the time, there was a singer by the name of K. T. Oslin who had a hit song. It was fairly new and the song was big, but not many people had seen her. Well, I happened to love her song, which was called "Hold Me" and decided to open with it. My band played a number and then called me out: "Please welcome to the stage... the one and only K... T... O'Neal." Then they started playing the intro to the song. The crowd went wild. I mean crazy loud. I was shocked and then realized... oh crap... they think I'm K. T. Oslin!!! I finished the song, and again, the applause was amazing. My parents were in the audience - I'm sure they were smiling and thinking, "Wow, they love her! Ha! That's our daughter!" ...I never broke it to them.

DC: You'd better not tell them about this blog!! When did your attention start to move from the world of music to that of improv, and what is it about this crazy genre that attracts you?

KO: I honestly can't remember how I heard about the SAK classes, but I did. At the time I was so horribly unhappy, suffering the effects of mercury poisoning, not doing anything creative, hardly singing, miserable in my marriage, just having moved into this town and not connected to anyone. And I thought, "I've got to do something for myself or my soul will whither up and die," and so I signed up for the Improv I class. I had done community theatre, mostly musical theatre, and loved it, but this improv thing -- whatever it was -- looked different. I was curious. Charles [Frierman] was my teacher and he was so positive and so nurturing. I was absolutely hooked. Improv to me has been frightening and freeing at the same time. I never realized, before I did improv, how passive I can be at times - how concerned I was about what other people thought. All the things I needed to work on in my "real" life were being thrown into my face in my improv classes. It has been the catalyst in my evolution as a person.

DC: I had a similar level of self-discovery when I moved into the theatre arts. It's sad to think that many people might never have that moment of self-realization. You're quite familiar with the rather complex structure that is FourPlay: The (Improvised) Musical, having worked on the show last year. What is it about this format that most challenges or excites you as a performer?

KO: I have rhyming anxiety! My biggest challenge is to get myself out of the way to allow the creativity to flow. I feel like a bit of an adolescent in improv: still a little bit awkward, and not as confident as I'd like to be, but I'm ready for a growth spurt! My greatest fear about doing improv is that I will be a burden to the other players. As I get stronger, this fear will subside. As for what excites me: everything!! Even the things I fear excite me, because facing them brings me closer to the person I want to be! I love the complexity, how things are interwoven, the chance to play four characters, the caliber of the people I'll be working with... I could go on. Plus, I'm thinking it will be fun too. If it's not, I'll be pissed. And now that I'm not passive any more, I'll let it be known! This pisses me off! Where's the fun?!?!

DC: Well said. Now, would you mind terribly putting me down? People are starting to look...

To learn more about Kate, go here.