INTERVIEW: Tina Alexis Allen talks ‘Outsiders’ season two
Outsiders has been a ratings success for WGN America as audiences have flocked to this Appalachia-set drama about the fictitious Farrell family. Within this mountainside community are many memorable characters, including David Morse’s Big Foster Farrell and Ryan Hurst’s Lil Foster Farrell. Also amongst these family members in rural Kentucky is a character by the name of Shurn, played by Tina Alexis Allen.
For Allen, the show has been a professional delight, and she cannot wait to see what the drama has in store for TV viewers. “Well, my character, Shurn, gets introduced in episode seven in season one, and I got a call to audition,” Allen said recently in a phone interview. “It was really fast. I actually auditioned on my iPhone because they needed it pronto, and they were already in Pittsburgh filming. So I literally got the job just auditioning on my iPhone and sending it off, and there it was.”
For those potential audience members who have not seen season one of the hit drama, it’s best to skip a couple paragraphs. Allen’s character is first introduced in the series on perhaps the worst day of her life. Shurn has lost her son, and that presented many challenges to Allen on day one of shooting.
“So the challenge of doing that and doing it halfway into the season and having to just come on set and take that on was very challenging and exciting,” she said. “She holds one of her family members responsible for the death of her son, so the challenge of all that emotional roller coaster was really enticing to me.”
Allen was not completely new to the Appalachia region of the United States, which stretches across a mountain range in West Virginia, Kentucky and surrounding areas. The actress actually filmed a movie called Moving Mountains in rural West Virginia a couple of years ago.
“We were down filming for, I don’t know, a few months, and I got real familiar with a very, very small town in West Virginia,” Allen said. “I had the privilege of really immersing myself before this role came along. … Obviously our world is totally unique. In Outsiders, the family hasn’t been off the mountain in over 200 years. My character has never lived off a mountain, so obviously it wasn’t exactly from one movie to the TV show and completely literal, but certainly an exposure to this part of the country for sure.”
When Allen looks for new roles, she has a few criteria in her mind. One is an emotional depth for the character, and the other is playing roles that are different from her other credits. That can be a hard proposition for a professional actress who has had many successful roles — on stage, on TV and on film. Allen’s résumé includes The Break-up Notebook, Phantom Pain, The Onion News Network and her critically acclaimed one-woman show Secrets of a Holy Father.
“So I think if I’ve done a role, it’s not that I wouldn’t want to do it again,” she said. “It’s just if I’ve played that kind of character, that wouldn’t be my first choice to repeat that, but looking for something that I haven’t played and also an emotional depth would be the two things that I’d look for — and good writing. That’s always important.”
Her Secrets of a Holy Father show, which details her own father’s complicated true story, was met with such acclaim that Allen has adapted the production into a book, which will be released next year. That role, in which she actually embodies the character of her father, was a risky move, she said but that’s what she thrives on.
“I’m a big fan of risk, and the idea of exploring my father’s story and at the same time playing him, so exploring it from his perspective, felt like maybe one of the biggest risks I could take,” she said. “So it was incredibly scary. It was really fulfilling. I think the audience reception to the show was really fantastic and felt oftentimes personal and visceral, so it was probably the most challenging thing I’ve ever done.”
In addition to her role on Outsiders, Allen is working on two screenplays that she’s been hired to write. She’s also awaiting news on the future of Outsiders beyond season two. “I’m in this window of time where I actually can accomplish some writing assignments I have, as I said, and then hopefully be back up on the mountain as soon as May,” she said. “I do feel like I’m living my dream. And, in some ways, I feel like I’m just getting started because even though I’ve done a lot of theater and I’ve definitely done film and TV, in some ways, Outsiders is really the most exposure that I’ve had. Obviously TV gets a lot more exposure, but, yeah, I’m very excited for Outsiders. And I’m also excited for what comes next, both acting and writing. Living the dream is a good way to put it.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Outsiders continues on WGN America Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Click here for more information.
