The Future is Bright
An Interview with Rebecca Hoodwin
Written by Matthew J. Kaplan
Most artists never become household names and the majority of them can’t pay their bills without a “day job.” So why do we persevere? Is it a choice or a calling? To answer this question, I’m talking with artists of all mediums, seventy years and older. My first guest is actor Rebecca Hoodwin.
I recently met Rebecca through The PlayGround Experiment, a NYC theatre collective. As a writer, I was immediately drawn to her ability to instantly bring humanity, and often humor, to every character she plays. But Rebecca has been at it long before our collaborations.
Moving to New York City in 1971, Rebecca quickly found work on and off-Broadway, at summer stock, and with touring companies. Her theatre credits include Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, Driving Miss Daisy, Camelot, Bye Bye Birdie, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Little Me, The Pajama Game, Steel Magnolias, The Chesapeake Chicks and many more. She has shared the stage with Rock Hudson, Richard Harris, Carol Channing, Hal Linden, Cab Calloway, Barbara McNair and Harvey Korman, among others. But on this snowy New York City day, she shared a table with me at The Signature Theatre on W. Forty-Second Street, where actors often meet to run lines and prepare for auditions.
The following interview has been edited and condensed.
Matthew: Okay, so you get to New York City, you're auditioning and looking for work. You must have had some survival jobs to pay the rent between shows.
Rebecca: I've done it all. I handed out flyers, I checked coats, I babysat, I did catering work. And I worked as a bartender. My first job as a bartender required no experience. Thank God, because I didn't know the liquors or how to make any drinks! It was Matty's Broadway Pub on Forty-Fifth Street. Somebody got shot in the bathroom in that bar.
Matthew: When you were struggling, what was your go-to meal?
Rebecca: For a dollar, you could buy a pound of chicken livers. That's four meals with brown rice and veggies. And Nathan's was my home base. It was inexpensive. I got the trades, cut out every possible audition, and pasted them in my datebook.
Matthew: How did your family react in the early days when you decided to stick it out in New York City?
Rebecca: My father was worried about me. And he just kept wanting me to come back to Miami. My dad was an engineer and one night on the phone I said, “Not everyone is Frank Lloyd Wright, but that doesn't mean they don't build the buildings.” And he realized that his daughter may not be on Johnny Carson, but I was consistently working. In the 70s, there was so much work. There were 160 dinner theaters. There were tons of summer stock theaters. You didn’t have to look for work. But you weren't necessarily famous, you just were a hard-working actor, singer or dancer.
Matthew: And what about your siblings now? Do they think you're crazy? Do they think you're brave?
Rebecca: Maybe both. My sister said she could never do what I do. She could never deal with the uncertainty of the next job. She could never take that rejection. But my siblings have told me that they’re glad I’m doing what I love. And so that's what's important.
Matthew: So there was never a Plan B?
Rebecca: Not really. When I was a child, I said to my mother, “I have to go, I have to go away and be an actress.” When I was fifteen, I went to Chicago for the summer and did not want to come home. Chicago had all kinds of stuff, Florida had nothing. And now, I’ve met people like you. I do all of these play readings. I put myself out there and read for the writers. You have to be seen. The writers have to see you. And I'm a bit of a chameleon. I can do a lot of different types of things and create a lot of different types of looks. I just need to be heard and seen.
Matthew: Do you think that being a chameleon has allowed you to find more work, persevere and stick around?
Rebecca: Absolutely. For example, I rarely played characters my age. In A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, my first play when I got to New York, I played Domina, the wife of Senex, the old man. I was twenty-two years old.
Matthew: You were playing a character older than you-
Rebecca: Always older. When I was in college, they said to me, “When you get into professional theater, you’ll be able to play your age” but the first thing I got cast in, Little Me in summer stock, was Harvey Korman's mother. He was forty years old and I was 21. I played his mother and that was the first time I said, “Oh, OK, I'm doomed. I'll never be the ingenue!”
But I'm also seen as younger. Especially now. And that may have to do with the energy. When I was younger, I always played older. And as I started getting older, they began to see me as younger and it's not like, “Oh she looks so young,” it's just an essence I think, the way you present yourself.
Matthew: You were in Cabaret more than once.
Rebecca: Five times. So far.
Matthew: Playing the same role or different roles?
Rebecca: Fraulein Schneider. I never wanted to be anything but her. Twenty-one years old, I saw it on my first summer stock as an apprentice. I fell in love with the show. It was so magnetic, but the only role I ever wanted to be was Fraulein Schneider. I didn't care about Sally Bowles or Kost. Fraulein Schneider just came off the page. And I fell in love.
Matthew: And you said right before the pandemic, you were in Steel Magnolias.
Rebecca: Yes. That was the only time I got to do it. I played Ouiser. I went in for Clairee but they had me read for Ouiser too. And I got that. They wanted realism. They wanted straightforward. And then I loved approaching it that way. But I was still small for Ouiser. The casting director said I was the only one cast against type. Ouiser blows in, so you have to have that energy. I had to work on that but once I found it, that's when it began to click because you can't be Ouiser without that energy.
Matthew: What are some challenges for you and your craft at this age that you didn’t face when you were younger?
Rebecca: Well, as you get older, there's less work for you. And as we know, they don't write as much for women. Thank you for writing for women. Now here's the thing, a lot of people get out of the industry. I'm not out of it. So the only way to be in it and keep doing it is to stay in it. And I've never thought about retiring. Ever. It never occurred to me. Why? You don’t have to.
Matthew: You've been fortunate to land a lot of your dream roles. Is there one that has eluded you?
Rebecca: To me, the dream is always to get something new. I've done fourteen productions of Fiddler, I've done five Sound of Musics, five Cabarets, but to do something new that no one else has done, and to have your name stamped on it… they start changing the dialogue with what you're doing. And you're a part of that creation.
Matthew: I recently saw you in, and very much enjoyed The Chesapeake Chicks (By Peter Zachari). Was that the first production?
Rebecca: That was the first. And it's in the Drama Book Shop now and it's on Amazon.
Matthew: It seemed like the part was written for you. It was so great. It was the perfect part for you. You were the first person to play that role?
Rebecca: The first person to play Rita. And Ann.
Matthew: Do you think that people persevere in the arts because they know in their hearts that if they’re not doing this, they’re just not going to be happy? What makes someone continue despite the tough odds?
Rebecca: It's interesting. I think some people do keep going and they seem unhappy or they really want to do something else, so they get out. But it never occurred to me to not do it. You know what I'm saying? It never occurred to me. I don't have to retire. I'm an actor. Actors can act until they die.
Find more info about Rebecca Hoodwin at rebeccahoodwin.com
Matthew J. Kaplan
Matthew J. Kaplan is a playwright, filmmaker, musician, and now, due to a clerical error, a contributor to Haus of Fog. There are a lot of NYC stories, but Matt likes to tell the ones that are a bit off the beaten pavement. You'll see some of those stories here, and the rest can be found at matthewjkaplan.com
Instagram: @matthewjkaplan