Catch up with Liza Grumer – Saint Peter, Sister Glenna, and Soldier #1
Liza has appeared with the Hyde Park Community Players before as Jaques de Boys in Summer Shakespeare As You Like It, Amparo and Conspirator in Mariana Pineda, and Agnes Evans in the Friday Staged Reading Series performance of She Kills Monsters.
This is the third consecutive show you’ve done with HPCP, so I guess I should ask what drew you to your first audition!
I did theater in High School and college, and then I came to Hyde Park to do a graduate program – Master of Arts in Humanities at the University of Chicago, and I’d just finished that. Most of the theaters in Chicago are on the north side, and then I saw a random poster for As You Like It auditions on a lamppost. Everyone was really nice, I was fortunate enough to be cast, and I just keep showing up!
Hooray for random lamppost signs. You’re playing 3 different characters, how do you handle that on stage?
I’m using different physicality, when I am Peter I am a little bit more rough, then I run to be a nun and it’s softer. There isn’t time for a costume change, really, so I hold myself differently and feel like a different person.
In Mariana Pineda you definitely achieved different physicality for Amparo and the Conspirator. Have you found a connection to these characters?
I’ve connected more with other characters, especially Agnes and Amparo; less so with these characters, which is more of a challenge.
Is there anything else you want us to know about you or the show?
I can’t think of anything. I’m staid, really, which is why I like playing a fisherman or someone who’s trying to overthrow the government in my free time. I’m just really glad to fall in with this group of people and get a chance to play so many different roles.
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