Pop Culturalist Chats with Elizabeth A. Davis

Tony Award-nominated actress Elizabeth A. Davis is more than just a stage and screen actress. She’s a producer, a writer, and a musician. She’s a teller of stories.

Her roles range from performing in Broadway’s Once and acting on TV’s Blue Bloods to creating and writing the musical My Name’s Not Indian Joe. Recently, she’s brought legendary female director Buzz Goodbody to life in Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s production of Buzz.

We caught up with Elizabeth to chat about women, stories, and what other fantastic projects she has up her sleeve.

PC: What drew you to acting and when did you know that was what you wanted that to be your career?
Elizabeth: My parents directed high school theater from the time I was born until after I graduated so I always was sitting in the presence of people that believed that theater could change people’s lives. They really believed that theater was an important part of how to fully round out the education of a young person. They also had me playing the violin. My parents were very active in the community, too, and believed that theater could help better the community so I was gifted with this belief that theater was good for communities.

I did both of my degrees in Classical Theater Performance. I did my B.A. in Texas and my M.F.A. in Ohio, but I didn’t know a professional actor until I was well into my 20s. So the disconnect was between educational theater and how do you actually do that as a profession. That has been an extremely, I guess, side-of-a-cliff-climbing-type challenge: to go from a small town girl of 363 people in the pan handle of Texas to a professional actor in New York City. But, its an incredible pleasure that I don’t take for granted.

PC: What has it been like for you, playing a character that is based on a real person, in Buzz? Were there qualities of hers that you knew going into it that you wanted to bring into the role? And qualities of yourself that would complement her?
Elizabeth: She was nicknamed Buzz [by] her brother because she never stopped moving, and I definitely relate with the idea that there’s always something new to try. There’s always new projects to create; there’s always more stories to tell. That energy and quality of forward motion is something that personally resonates with me.

This is also a person who was breaking a lot of glass ceilings. She was one of only five women directing in the UK during the 70s. She was the first–and only–woman directing at the Royal Shakespeare Company at the time; her contemporaries [included] Trevor Nunn. She directed, very famously, Ben Kingsley in her production of Hamlet which was pretty groundbreaking. There was a quality about Buzz that is charging into unknown territory, but being so convinced that it’s the right thing to do that she wasn’t going to dare not do it. The journey that I just told you about, of my becoming an actor, [has] a lot of parallels with that: the importance of the work; it must be done, and I must find a way to do it.

Of course Buzz was also created The Other Place at RSC which was just a tin shack costume storage. She turned it into a viable theater that is still in existence. I think that’s what I really admire about the legacy of Buzz and what I hope to replicate or embody: the ability to say “Oh, the door isn’t open. I’m going to crawl through the window instead. I’m going to find the way that no one sees and make it viable.”

PC: Since you’re in the last performances of Buzz, would you say that is your biggest takeaway from the show?
Elizabeth: Yes. This is a story about life and living life, but, ultimately, she did take her life and didn’t get to see the fruits of her labor. So, [I think] it’s essential that we all put aside whatever is going on in own minds to tell the story that must be told.

PC: Looking ahead, what are the other types of stories that you want to tell?
Elizabeth: I have written a musical that we produced off-Broadway–about a year ago now–and [it’s] about a Native American homeless man who lives in Waco, Texas. I became his executor. His ashes are in my husband and my home, and I have written our story. Ultimately, I hope that it will be launched into the cannon of musical theater for the purpose of a) giving a Native American man a lead role and b) a coming-of-age story to realize and reconcile my white privilege. That is a story that is deeply important to me to be told. The title is My Name’s Not Indian Joe. There’s a scholarship foundation set up in his name that we’re trying to fulfill.

I am passionate about telling stories that have an arc of redemption. I love stories with a theme of grace, meaning, “We’re nothing alike. This shouldn’t happen or work out, but it’s going to because we’re going to come together and look each other in the face and realize we’re more similar than we’re different.” Those are the stories that keep me going, and I’m writing those stories. I’m helping to produce those stories, and I’m looking to act more in those stories.

PC: Since you wear all these hats–actor, writer, producer–what is something you would tell a young student looking to do the same thing?
Elizabeth: It takes time. I really feel like we are in a dangerous culture that embraces fame above all else, and it is, to me, one of the most treacherous things to the work because creating a lasting legacy of a career of plays and musicals is the long game. It’s sticking in there when nothing exciting is happening. It’s moving through the mundane. It’s saying [that] just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I know that college culture is such a pressure cooker right now, and I would just ask them to give themselves the gift of the long game.

PC: After this production, what’s coming up for you? 
Elizabeth: I have been out of town for a while. I did Indecent in Boston and Los Angeles, and now I’m out of town on Buzz. I’m heading back to the city for the fall. We have distribution of a film that I did, and we get to see that in theaters soon: Trauma is a Time Machine written and directed by Angelica Zollo. I get to be a part of the record-breaking twenty-first season of Law & Order: SVU. I’m excited for people to embrace a very long TV history drama that has put a highlight on women who suffer from sexual assault. Further, my mind is shifting toward producer-head in regards to my musical. We have a fantastic Emmy Award-winning director, Don Scardino, and we’re all putting a lot of eggs in that basket this fall.

PC: Many of these stories you’ve talked about have been women’s stories. Who would you consider some of the most influential women in your life either personally or professionally?
Elizabeth: Truly, this is not cliché even though it will be: I did see my mother directing plays from my earliest remembrance. She is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most influential artist that I’ve been able to watch.

I think producer Daryl Roth is extraordinary. I think Elizabeth Marvel as an actor is just extraordinary, and she plays really deep, fantastic interesting roles that excite me. Oh gosh. There’s so many! I’m currently working with Carrie Preston [director of Buzz] and Susan Ferrara [playwright of Buzz], and they are among a variety of other women in the Hyphenate. I have been able to watch them the past few years. We’ve kind of been all jumbled up together like, “I directed Susan in a play; Carrie will act in her play. I’ll produce her play.” It’s been really special to watch those specific women.

PC: Do you find it challenging to have different roles, from acting to producing?
Elizabeth: I will say that they feed each other. I wrote a role for myself because I wanted to see the role on stage. It didn’t exist so I created it. To me, it has empowered me as an artist more than anything. I feel like my tasks in all of these ways is me holding hands with myself. It’s like as if there was a table with a bunch of empty chairs around it, and I’m getting up and sitting in a different chair to get a different view of the whole. I find it really thrilling.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

Last TV Show You Binge-Watched
Fleabag

Favorite Book
Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle

Favorite Film
I’m so torn. It’s between three: East of Eden, Tree of Life, and Steel Magnolias. That one because it showed me that women are allowed to have real problems, and they can get through them.

First Play You Were In
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe…cast as The Witch by my mother! [laughs]

Artist or Musician You Could Listen to on Repeat
Trisha Yearwood

Dream Dinner Guest
Malcolm Gladwell

Place You Most Want to Go To
After doing Indecent, it’s Aushwitz.

Stay up-to-date with Elizabeth A. Davis’s happenings by following her on Twitter
and checking out her website.