INTERVIEW: TV star K.K. Glick makes her off-Broadway debut
Photo: From left, K.K. Glick and Grace Experience star in Grounded, part of Summer Shorts 2018 at 59E59 Theaters. Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg / Provided by Karen Greco PR with permission.
K.K. Glick, who was featured on Bravo’s Odd Mom Out, is currently making her off-Broadway debut in 59E59 Theaters’ annual Summer Shorts festival. The actress appears in the one-act play Grounded, written by Chris Bohjalian and directed by Alexander Dinelaris, which surrounds two flight attendants brought together over a fear of flying on a transatlantic trip.
Summer Shorts, which offers two series of plays, runs through Sept. 1 at the Midtown theater complex.
“I had been hounding my agents, ‘I really want to do theater. I really want to do theater,'” Glick said recently in a phone interview. “I’m born and bred on the East Coast, but my background is … more improv [and] on camera. We’re in the theater capital of the planet, so without a ton of theater credits, it’s hard to make headway in that space. But they’ve been sending me out and auditioning, and with Summer Shorts, they didn’t have a normal audition process. It was just an offer.”
Glick read the script and identified with her character of Karen. The actress grew up on Long Island, New York, and the role reminded her of many “good, decent, wise-cracking, foul-mouthed, amazing women that are really tough.”
“She has two kids,” Glick said of the character. “She’s tough, and she’ll make you tougher. And there were a few lines in the play that I just really gravitated to. I mean, it’s a heavy subject matter, but also there’s a lot of humor in it.”
Bohjalian was involved in the rehearsal process with Glick and the rest of the team. She found the playwright’s willingness to hear ideas a welcome treat, especially compared to her TV work.
“He was so involved, which was such a delight,” she said. “I was really taken aback because I’ve never been part of something that was so collaborative. On set of the show I did — a big hyperbolic comedy — we stayed word perfect to the script, And there was really very little improv. … Chris was there through the whole first week of rehearsals, to say that the script was really malleable. Each time we read it, it was so lovely for them to be so open to what our gut and instinct was with the character. Would they say this? Would they not say this? We still changed the script as of last night, our third preview. So Chris was there, and he was a big part of it because we didn’t want to change anything without his blessing.”
Dinelaris, the director, helped elevate the play from being two women talking on stage to a dramatic and comedic offering showing a complete arc shared by the characters. “Alec found all the ups and downs,” Glick said. “It doesn’t necessarily feel quick because it’s a roller-coaster. I do love the form and the structure of the one act.”
The other plays in Summer Shorts Series A are The Living Room by Robert O’Hara and Kenny’s Tavern by Abby Rosebrock. Series B, which runs in repertory with Series A, features work by Neil LaBute, Eric Lane and Claire Zajdel. So many plays and so many actors make for an interesting behind-the-scenes atmosphere at 59E59.
“Our call times are staggered, so we’re not all there together prepping and backstage,” Glick said. “I mean, you’re doing your own work, but once tech week started, we got to meet one another. We all watched each other’s shows, so in that respect you kind of feel like, oh yeah, they’re my coworkers as well, even though we’re not in the same show. Yeah, we’ve all seen each other’s work, which is nice.”
Glick is best known for her recurring role on Odd Mom Out, which played on Bravo for three seasons. She finds the acting styles between TV and theater completely different, like apples and oranges. Still, her TV work has strengthened her foray into theater.
“When my agent started sending me out for theater, I was like, why do I feel so liberated in these auditions,” she asked herself. “But there’s no camera. I’m not limited to this chair and sitting or standing. I can move about this whole, huge space — like literally, very literally — so that felt wonderful after years and years in constant auditioning for TV and film in front of a camera.”
She added: “When you do a day on set, you may have just worked on that material for the last 48 hours, and then it’s done. It’s gone, and you move on. The opposite is true here, where I’ll be saying these words every night for a month. So I’ve been reflecting on that.”
There’s no mistaking that Odd Mom Out was a big break for Glick. For instance, before the TV project, she didn’t even have an agent. She entered the Bravo role after a “decade of rejection” and learning by trial and error. She pounded the pavement and learned about the industry.
“I would just needle my way into getting myself and my work in front of the right people, and so I did end up getting Odd Mom,” she said. “Three seasons — we were so grateful for that, so, yeah, it was really a huge step for me.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Summer Shorts, featuring K.K. Glick in Grounded, is currently running at 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
