Sophie Dushko?
Well, I can't play it on my phone and record.Shit.
So...
Do you want me to play it?
If you want to play...
I feel weird asking people.
I'll play, I'll play some ambience. I don't know if I have anything. Oh, I can play a Pandora station.
Great.
I'll play Frank Sinatra Pandora.
You know.
That's, I think...I'm all about this, but that's not what we want. It's too...it's too. There it is.
Great. Fly me to the moon? (It comes on first.) I know Frank.
Um. What's your name?
My name is Sophie Dushko.
Do you want some pineapple?
Sure. Thanks, Mom. Oh, god...I took a lot.
It's okay. Um, yeah, I was a Wellesley Mom this morning. I just got back from the gym and Whole Foods.
Yup.
Um, where do you go to school?
I got a lot of pineapple going on here.
Sorry.
Oh my god. I go to the Boston Conservatory.
Uh huh.
Yeah.
And what year are you?
I'm going to be a sophomore.
Uh huh.
I'm a baby.
A baby?
The baby.
Where are you from?
I'm originally from Canada, from Toronto. I also lived in, near D.C. But like, before I came to...this is not going well.
Sorry.
It's a lot of pineapple.
It keeps me young. You lived near...
When I was really young. I have, it's a confusing story, it's a whole event...but, Toronto...is where I went to high school and middle school.
Do you feel very political living near D.C.?
Um, my family is...um, I'm not super political but I have opinions, you know...
Cool.
I'm a well informed being.
That's great.
Sure.
What attracted you to this program?
Um, well, I did, we did Shakespeare first semester and my teacher, and I did like a sonnets show, and the acting teacher was like, "Hey, we're moving to contemporary next semester, but I like, really want you to keep doing this stuff because it really sits well in you." And I was like "I love it." And he was like "Do you have summer plans," and I was like no, and then he was like, you should consider auditioning for Commonwealth Shakespeare, he was like, they take non-equity, I don't know what they're like right now, cause he worked with them forever ago, but he was like, if not, they also have an Apprentice program, so I'm sure if you audition for the company, you'll also be considered for that.
So I auditioned for Steve, um, and Adam was in the room, but I like, it went well, I didn't hear anything for a couple weeks and then I get an email from Steve being like "Hey, you're 18...you can't be in our show but Apprentice is a thing," and I was like "cool." And then, I didn't get, officially get in until...because he was like you don't need to audition again but can you send in the paperwork. And then I like, didn't know, cause they told us so late if this was a thing, so I was like "eh, whatever." Um, and then I got home and was like, "I guess I'm doing this. Okay." So I'm here instead of working in a Starbucks in Toronto.
Great.
That was a long story.
And you love Shakespeare.
I do.
So tell me about your love of Shakespeare.
My love of Shakespeare?
When did it start? Why?
Where did it start?
I wanna know.
Um, you know. I always liked it but never had a chance to do it because I was super music theater when I was in Toronto. There's not a lot of Shakespeare happening there. I went to art school and was in the music theater, so we weren't allowed to do any plays...but they did a really shitty Romeo and Juliet one year, it was rough, it was rough. Um, but...I like, I went to my first Shakespeare play when I was 8 at the Stratford Festival...I saw As You Like It set in the 60s with like the Barenaked Ladies, like wrote music for it or something, it was kinda fierce. But, um, it's always been in the back of my mind and then my first semester a BoCo I got, we did, scenes...we did the Helena and Demetrius scene, like everyone did it in different gender pairings and we did it like really, in different environments and other stuff and then we did monologues and I did Juliet, which was fun...and I also got cast in a sonnets show, which was like, a new work based on the sonnets and that was like, a really big thing for me, I really loved it a lot, and I like, hold that really dear.
Um, so kinda being like thrown into it so much first semester reminded me of all the other experiences I've had with Shakespeare...and then I did Twelfth Night second semester, which was an interesting experience, but it was really good.
You were Maria. Mare-bear.
I was Maria. Mare-bear. Which is like, so weird. Cause that's wh...like, the opposite of who I'd be cast as, who I'd ever see myself being cast as.
I bet you learned a lot though.
Oh yeah. It was fun...it was a lot of fun. I never get to do comedy so it was very like, very bawdy and I was like "okay."
If you had to choose one play to read...
To read?
I love to read.
Yeah, I love to read too.
Which one would you read right now?
One Shakespeare play? That I'm gonna read right now?
Yup.
Um. I would pick Winter's Tale. I really like...it's got some fierce bitches in it too.
What character do you want to play? What's your dream role?
What's my dream role...like, ever? Um...
Or right now.
Um, I don't know that's hard. I really, like every, I feel like every Shakespeare girl wants to play Lady Macbeth, um but also, Hermione in Winter's Tale one day...and Imogen in Cymbeline...that's like, that could happen soon. And Juliet. I really like Juliet. She gets a lot of shit thrown at her, but you know, I don't think she's as stereotypical as people think she is. She's just like so sexual, like, she's not just a little ingenue.
I love Juliet. I love reading Juliet.
Yeah.
I did a Juliet monologue for Adam.
Yeah?
He was like you're more Juliet than Adrianna, Rosalind... anyone I've been looking at.
Really?
He was like you're more Juliet than anyone else. I was like okay.
Fierce. I wonder if he'd say I'm more Bottom.
Sophie. You're not Imogen, you're not Hermione...the closest is...Bottom.
What...
Are you checking the time there?
I'm like...I hear swords and I'm like...
Am I supposed to be...
Fighting? Like, who's in there?
Kyle...
Why?
He seems passionate.
I think that, I think that's the, that's my dream couple. Yeah, with those two boys.
Yeah, it's a good one. It was a good pairing.
It's a dream.
Like Jordan and I. Joan and her tender lamb monologue.
It's right.
And then I just, like, kick Jordan's ass.
Next question, um, do you have a favorite experience here so far?
Do I have a favorite experience here?
Here, yeah.
Here. Um...
At Shakespeare Camp.
I think, um, probably, I wish we got to work with the CSC actors more because the times we have have been really helpful, like, even though I didn't get to do a lot with Kerry O'Malley, but seeing her work and like hearing her speak about work was really interesting, um and Marianna too, like having that audition masterclass, because they're such inspiring actors...and even like, I really enjoy, even though it's tedi...it's a lot of work on the Common, being on the Common is nice because you get to watch them do their thing and like, I love Twelfth Night a lot, like I really, especially Olivia and Viola, I just love them and like being able to watch those ladies kick ass...I just wish we could see more of them because it's been so enriching when we do.
Kerry O'Malley is fierce.
Yeah.
That masterclass was...that was the work.
And she just like, called people out on their shit, too and would, like, not back down. She's like...we get babied so much, not here...
But in general?
It like...solely, but just in general...
That's what I find in acting training.
Yeah, and even in like, our society, now. It's like you don't want to do something..."okay." It's like no. It's a job. You're doing fucking work.
That's right.
Do you have a monologue?
Oh no.
This is the monologue...
No, it's not...it's not...
You have to do one.
What? Oh no.
You have to turn Frank off and do a monologue, Soph.
Ohhh.
Sit up.
Ooohhhh, I am slain. I am slain.
Turn Frank off, get in it.
Mom...oh god, what am I gonna do? This is Buble, not Frank.
Sorry, it's his Pandora station.
Buble's gone. Buble's over.
Um...Mitchell's just snappin' over there.
I don't understand why they're here early.
(Kyle Walton walks over.)
An interview.
Yeah, you're in my interview...
Sorry.
No it's fun...
Well, I heralded you.
You heralded Kyle into this.
Bye Kyle.
Bye Kyle! Bye Dad!
Bye!
My Grandpa. He's my Grandpa. Jordan's my other Grandpa.
You got two men. Grandma's got two...
Two arms. Two men.
I'll do...I've been doing Imogen for Adam, I'm gonna like open it...this is my test to see if I'm ready to do this monologue later today, so like, I can't really be bothered if I can't find it...I can't find it...This is stressful...where do I look, I can't look at you, you'll make me laugh. Can't use you as my...
Okay.
This is like, a lot. Wow.
I was angry. An angry little fucker.
That's acting.
That's acting, you know. You can't cry, you gotta yell. That's my acting advice for everyone.
Yeah, the next question is, do you have a piece of advice? Anything.
Acting advice or like, life advice? I don't think I have life advice.
Anything you carry with you.
Um, I have like two. Um, one of them is like an actual acting thing that my old director would say in like the first rehearsal of every show...when he's like talking about the show and stuff. He would just like, always remind us to listen...it's like a Jim Henson quote, but it's "listening is the first thing and the last thing." So, like, it's so true cause we get so in our heads as actors like, what are my lines, what am I doing, what's my tactic, what's my...how am I reacting to this...where really all you gotta do is listen and respond. Like, there's no acting and reacting, it's having a conversation.
Um and my other advice is just like, this is what I would tell my little, like, my little sister um, she's like my little mini me at high school, but I'd always be like in the big scheme of things, it doesn't matter. Like my thing to her was if anyone, like if a director's mad at you, if you don't get cast in the role you want, if like a girl is mad cause you did get cast in the role she wanted...doesn't matter, you're here to do a job. And like you do it and it's what you love to do.
So I was gonna swear, but I don't know if this is like, allowed to, I probably already did, didn't I?
Yeah, I mean...but I'm not about censoring right now.
Good, glad.
Thinking very Mamet. You be you, and I'll do my best to make you, you...on my Apprentice blog.
Any last words?
No. I think I have said it all. Said too much unto a heart of stone.
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