What is your history with Chalk Rep?

My history with Chalk Rep was, until now, as an admirer from afar. My first Chalk Rep experience was a couple years ago when I attended Chalk's FLASH Festival at the Hollywood Congregational Church. The quality of the writing was phenomenal, the actors were terrific. I started talking to some of Chalk's founders about their work because it was so refreshing and I loved the space and moving around it to see the different pieces. It was just very cool.

How is working site-specifically at Hollywood Forever different from other projects you've worked on?

I love site-specific theater. I have not had the opportunity to do it since doing a crazy adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov in the meat-packing district in New York when I was a wee thing. The most recent play I did before Slither, was at a lovely, traditional proscenium theater, and like Carson's play, involved direct address of the audience. The play was a success but I found it challenging being at a remove from the audience. I wanted to walk amongst them! Working at Hollywood Forever, in the Masonic Lodge, is both challenging and exciting. Entrances and exits are made more transparent as we make use of the entire space, which is kind of great because it feels like we are really story-telling. The lodge contributes depth and tone to the play that we may not have found at a theater. It's a reflective place, takes you out of your every day routine, for sure. It feels like a space with history and weight, where big stories can happen.

What attracted you to working on SLITHER?

You know, I read the play very quickly, and I remember two things jumping out at me: Aevah's line about being invaded by the "pus-brained Greeks" and Lee's entire monologue about her regret at raising her daughter too strictly. I liked the inherent sense of humor and irony that Aevah, an ancient Cretan goddess possesses. It felt playable. She wasn't exoticized. As for Lee. . .as the mother of a toddler, I have constant doubts about my parenting skills. I think I am doing pretty well! I like Lee's toughness, her hurt, it all feels very true. I also like Carson's exploration of the misunderstanding of both women and snakes in cultural, I suppose largely religious (Biblical), history. Finally, much of Aevah's amazement that her world is coming to an end, and that coarse people will soon take over, not appreciating the beauty of her people's art and achievements, resonates for me both in the present day and recent past history.

How do you feel about snakes?

My one experience with snakes was on my grandmother's farm outside of Bombay. I was a teenager, and was on a bullock cart ride with one of my grandmother's gardeners, a sweet older man in a light cotton shirt, cotton pants and no shoes, his typical attire. We were riding along a dusty road, lined with grandma's mango trees, when the bull suddenly froze. I looked over the shoulder of our gardener and saw a king cobra coiled and ready to strike. It was awesome. Huge. Amazing. I was too in awe to be scared and before I knew it, my pal jumped out of his seat, stamped his bare feet indignantly and basically just admonished the cobra until it un-coiled itself and glided off into the trees. It was kind of odd and funny. I understood from my grandmother later that you are not to kill the snake, but rather feed it milk. Show it respect. And that it typically doesn't bite, except in self-defense. I don't know if that's true, and I never did see a snake drink milk out of the various bowls left around her large farm. But because of that experience it does make me sad when I see the snake charmers in front of the Taj Mahal roping in tourists who hold these de-fanged snakes and pose for pictures.