Live Arts: Margaret Curry On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in Broadway, Theater or Live Performance Art

An Interview With Savio Clemente

Passion for the Process and of Craft: having a true love of the process of creating work is everything in my book. I cannot control what happens as a result of the process and the work, but I can control how I move through the work. I am not dependent on anyone else, or any opportunity, to bring me work or the joy of the work. I can create and practice work for myself, and whatever I do — whether self-produced or a job that I have been offered or have auditioned for — I can enjoy the doing of it. Having a bottomless desire and willingness to learn and grow, to deepen my relationship to acting technique, to see and learn from others’ work, to continue, always, to study, adds up to days spent in depth, in joy and in expansion. And I’ve found that all of that lends to continued momentum and work. It’s like a magnet for more amazing projects to love what you do.

As a part of our series about creating a successful career in theatre, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Margaret Curry.

A Houston, Texas native, Curry has built a solid reputation as an award-winning actress, producer, director, and singer. Curry has extensive training and experience on stage, including over 300 performances as Titania in the Off-Broadway hit Fools in Love, The Musical and two Equity National tours playing Karin in the musical Church Basement Ladies. On screen, she gained attention starring as the uptight, deep-in-grief Lily in the heartfelt feature film Starfish, and shined as the cutthroat, out-for-justice Attorney Andrews in the action feature film, Diamond Ruff, directed by Alec Asten and produced by Young! Studios. Most recently, Curry delivers a dose of comical skepticism as the pesky family friend, Susan Baker, in the new holiday feature film, MERRY GOOD ENOUGH, written by Caroline Keene, who co-directs with director of photography Dan Kennedy, now available on all major streaming platforms (Apple/Amazon/Dish.) She’s appeared in national and regional commercials, including Carnival Cruises, Spike TV, Jello Mousse and Cuisinart. Favorite directing credits include directing, co-writing and -producing the one-woman short play “An Evening with Eva: Waiting for Adolf,” starring Maxine Muster, as well as directing the US premier of Brian Eley’s “Some Things are Just Too Big for Numbers” starring actress Nina Lainville. Up next, Curry is co-writing, co-starring and co-producing an original web series with her producing partners Burke Adams and Lindy Rogers. As a singer, Curry has shared the stage with such luminaries as Leslie Uggams, Carol Channing, Billy Stritch, Amanda Green and Ann Hampton Callaway. She has appeared as a soloist or featured performer at the Kaplan Auditorium at Lincoln Center, the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Hudson Guild Theatre and many of NYC’s hottest nightclubs and cabaret venues. Margaret’s solo show “The Space In-Between” which debuted at The Laurie Beechman Theatre November 30, 2023, returns for encore performances on April 6th and May 4th, 2024.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I really appreciate being asked, Savio! I was born and raised in Houston, Texas (though no one ever guessed that!) I left Texas when I was 17 for college and have lived in NYC for decades, so I consider myself an honorary New Yorker by now — but I’ll always have those Texan roots.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I was one of those kids who were on their own alot from a very young age, and early on, the stories I read or watched on TV became my sources of connection, learning and curiosity. Through them, I fell in love with the world of storytelling: it made me feel less alone and it sparked my imagination, which was actually a kind of salvation. I couldn’t have articulated it then, but now I see that it developed into my first way of connecting to the world, of finding deeper intimacy, community and understanding. I grew a huge, never-ending curiosity about and love of humanity.

And that led me to acting and singing first, and now writing, directing and producing. I’ve made a life that revolves around storytelling.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I’ve had such an abundance of incredible people who’ve mentored, supported and helped me along my way. The one coming to mind at this moment — perhaps because it was just his birthday and he passed away last year around this time — is one of my early voice teachers here in NYC, Andy Anselmo. He helped me in so many ways — and the many things he imparted to me are still very much alive in me as I work and perform. Beyond voice, he helped me learn how to believe in myself and how to stay grounded and connected to my center or essence in a world that is increasingly demanding on our time and attention, which has served me greatly through the years, most especially the past five years.

You probably have a lot of fascinating experiences. Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

It’s all been and continues to be fascinating. I’m such a Libra. I can’t possibly choose just one story. Something I reflect on often is that in my experience, plays and songs actually find me. A piece will come my way, and sometimes it might even have to make repeated attempts to get my attention, but eventually I will end up working on them. Interacting with any art has the potential to change you. So I become different from every project I work on, in some way. For example, working on Terrence McNally’s play “Frankie and Johnnie in the Clair de Lune” was a part of what led me to being married today. Prior to working on it, I’d not been interested or open to relationships of that kind of commitment. That play expanded me as a person and how I was in relationships changed as a result. So thank you Mr. McNally! I love the marriage that I grew into in part through working on Frankie.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Funniest mistake early on? Hmmm. That’s tough, because when I first started out I was so hard on myself and had not yet developed a way of moving through the professional world in a way that was anchored in always having my own back no matter what and finding the humor in things. Any so-called “mistake” I made was devastating to me! It

was such a relief to learn to embrace being a fallible human and NOT take it all so darn seriously. Today I really try to see mistakes as opportunities as well as indicators that I’m actually on track. That there’s no “fail,” there’s only lessons, as you mentioned. But early on? Oh, boy. Not so much.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I’m bringing to the stage a long-time passion project of mine: Lanford Wilson’s THE MOONSHOT TAPE & A POSTER OF THE COSMOS, directed by Mark Cirnigliaro starring myself and Geoff Stoner. They are a pair of one-act plays about taking control of destiny and retaliating against fate and play a one-week limited engagement at Off-Broadway’s The Siggy at the Flea February 21–25, 2024. These are two of Wilson’s lesser known works, but they are exquisite, and, I believe, are still deeply resonant. Both plays, while distinct in their narratives, share Wilson’s signature style of storytelling that captures the complexity of human relationships and the profound impact of personal history. Through poetic language and compelling monologues, Wilson invites the audience to witness the inward struggles and exhilarating truths that define the characters’ lives. These plays validate the enduring relevance and universality of Lanford Wilson’s exploration of the human condition. I’m so curious to discover how they’re experienced by today’s audiences.

I’m also writing and producing a series — a dark comedy — with two actor friends, and we’re close to completing the writing of the first season. It explores — with raw honesty and heart-breaking-at-times-side-splitting-at-times humor — another area of human experience that people seem to want to avoid: getting older.

And April 6th and May 4th, I’m performing encore performances of my solo cabaret show “The Space in-Between” at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in NYC. Through both song and story, I’m exploring the spaces in-between: the universe between the present and the future, the bad and the good, the hope and what’s-to-come. With compositions by Johnny Mercer and Yip Harburg all the way to Chaka Khan, Roy Orbison and Jimmy Webb, and with the musical aid of award-winning arranger Gregory Toroian at the piano, Skip Ward on bass and Dave Silliman on the drums, with direction by Lina Koutrakos, it’s a beautiful and exciting show to perform. I cannot wait!

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of rejection, lack of support, or failure?

Those three fear-based concepts — rejection, lack, failure — can be so paralyzing. And they’re definitely not conducive to any creative endeavor. They’re all based on a kind of outward-facing pursuit of things. As in, they depend on looking out to others (how you think family or friends think of you/your career and/or how you think agents, casting directors, star meters, number of followers, level of studio work etc reflect to you and to the industry and world at large who you are as an actor) as indicators of your worth and success as a performer. That is so debilitating, disempowering, and keeps you on a search for something that can never really be met.

More and more, I am a fan of this instead: do whatever you do by conscious choice and for the joy and gratification you find in doing it. With that as your GPS, whatever you desire to come into being can and will come. Sounds Zen, maybe, but I’ve tried so many ways of approaching my career and performing. In the end, it is this — allowing my desire and need to create, communicate and collaborate to direct all that I do and finding the joy in it all — that has brought the best projects, collaborators and fulfillment. I cannot control anything else but knowing what brings me joy as an artist and to do that as much as I want to and can, in whatever way I can. That looks different on any given day. And it adds up to a beautiful, creatively fulfilling life. A side benefit is that other people are drawn to that kind of energy. There’s no neediness in it. I’m not making anyone else responsible for my work or success. The world is off the hook as the mirror of my worth. I’m free to create and share what I care about and let my offerings find their rightful audiences.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in the live performance industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Know what truly nourishes you — all of the aspects of you — and make them more important than everything else. Whatever that is for your body, soul, mind. Rest, fun, social connection outside of “work.” Nature. Family. Trying new things or having interests that bring joy and a sense of accomplishment outside performing. Whatever your” jam” is in the arena of play, self-care and mental health hygiene. Find out what that is and give that to yourself consistently. Keeping that well from going dry or flooding keeps you resourced at all times.

Thank you for all that. This is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in Broadway, Theater or Live Performances” and why? If you can, please share a story or example for each.

Since I think what “highly successful” looks like varies, depending on the person, I’ll be speaking to what I define as “highly successful” in a career in performing. The five things I’ve found to be helpful to me in creating the most human and honest stories and characters I can, so that the storytelling I’m a part of resonates, touches, moves, entertains, sparks and engages others. Plus, I’m all about things you can actually develop for yourself as opposed to something that is dependent on another person or entity. So these are all things anyone can develop, which I think is so empowering and freeing.

1. Passion for the Process and of Craft: having a true love of the process of creating work is everything in my book. I cannot control what happens as a result of the process and the work, but I can control how I move through the work. I am not dependent on anyone else, or any opportunity, to bring me work or the joy of the work. I can create and practice work for myself, and whatever I do — whether self-produced or a job that I have been offered or have auditioned for — I can enjoy the doing of it. Having a bottomless desire and willingness to learn and grow, to deepen my relationship to acting technique, to see and learn from others’ work, to continue, always, to study, adds up to days spent in depth, in joy and in expansion. And I’ve found that all of that lends to continued momentum and work. It’s like a magnet for more amazing projects to love what you do.

2. Curiosity: I think it’s an underrated superpower. Curiosity softens the whole process. I’ve come at my work, at my career, from the approach of goal-oriented, driven, competitive, marketing-driven, fear-based energy, and I’ve come towards it through the lens of curiosity. I’ve discovered that curiosity is a softer, gentler lens that allows for more creativity, more collaborative ease. I retain a wonderful and necessary focus as well as plenty of desires for what I want to see realized. But through the lens of curiosity, there’s an organic width of view that has brought much more day-to-day joy, creative fulfillment and — interestingly — more “success.”

3. A Fascination and/or Love for Humanity: it seems obvious, but I do believe that having a true interest in the human experience is central to success as a performer. I know that people choose to be a performer for reasons as unique as a fingerprint. I’m not speaking to having to feel warm and fuzzy towards people. I mean a desire — a true need — to explore what it means to be a human. An intrinsic need to understand human beings, our behaviors, what makes us do what we do. Performing is a collaborative art. We are not painters or sculptors who are working with only materials. We are working with human beings and the human soul. Literally and figuratively. So finding some way to really dig that, in whatever way “that” is experienced by you, is pretty central to being successful.

4. Capacity: for longevity, for challenge, for expansion, for flexibility, for forgiveness, for courage, for commitment. Learning about my own self (my physical and emotional bodies, my nervous system and mental health)is so necessary to my being able to use myself as the channel through which I want to reveal a human being. So exercising self-care and learning how to have a system that can handle challenges that different roles and/or collaborations bring on is as important as breath. Every role is different and has different demands. Awareness of this, awareness of myself and my capacities and taking responsibility for that by making sure I am caring for myself as I challenge myself helps keep me available to the work at hand as well as able to have longevity for a long career.

5. Sense of Humor and Play: At the core of it all, I remind myself and try to continually stoke the sense of play and wonder that I believe we’re all born with. Socialization (and middle school!) tend to dampen these early on. But they are still there, albeit sometimes buried deep under layers of bad experiences as a kid. Finding my own enthusiasm, excitement and joy, developing my ability, and willingness, to make a fool out of myself, to go big and fail, to laugh at myself and my attempts, to throw out ideas and discover how “bad” they often are on the way to something wonderful…not being precious about it all…these are a potent ingredient in the process of creating of any kind. I try never to leave them out of anything I do.

For the benefit of our readers, could you describe how the skill-sets you need in a theater performance are different than the skill-sets you need for TV or Film?

To me, the inner work is all the same. However, understanding, developing and using the ability to take in and understand the environment of the medium you are in and adjust the work accordingly is key. So while I need to be fully in my body and be able to connect deeply to my emotions and use my voice in any medium or size stage or arena, what translates or is revelatory on a film or tv screen is quite different than that of an intimate black box theater, a Broadway house or a large arena or outdoor venue. It’s not just knowing and having a body and voice

developed and ready to fulfill safely the literal need to project or make a gesture larger. It’s about having an awareness of the amount of energy required for the task at hand, namely, to communicate, to effect, to “reach” the other. That is a cognitive and visceral understanding of the way energy fills a space, of how a live performance in 3D experience is for the audience. SO it’s developing the skill of working within that knowledge in order to create the life of the story you are exploring.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

What motivates much of my work as a performer and as a producer is the desire to help people have a greater understanding — or at least have a wider lens for consideration of — the long-term effects of sexual trauma, particularly that experienced in childhood. It is an area that is vastly ignored in terms of psychological study and in terms of help available to people who’ve experienced or enacted sexual abuse or violence. This is an area of human experience often avoided (I believe) because it’s sexual in nature and often touches on unconscious, deeply-rooted, repressed beliefs and feelings that it is “taboo.” I can only bring to mind a handful of plays and films that have, to my mind, successfully explored this area of human experience in a way that is engaging and allows for an audience to associate with and enter into the material to actually begin to ask questions or come to some new or different, deeper understanding around it. Stories containing childhood sexual abuse, particularly between family members, are often portrayed so melodramatically that they end up turning off the viewer. Or they are so head-on and “in your face,” it works against the point of the exploration. Plus, it’s probably not going to make for a true blockbuster film or play, so fewer people or companies are interested in investing in their production, so it is what is known as a “hard sell,” which just drives it further into the basement. It’s part of my personal mission as a human to be a part of creating more work that finds the way into the light and, eventually, the mainstream, to bring a greater awareness of how damaging and far-reaching such violations actually are. For greater compassion, understanding, healing. Both for the abused and the abusers, as well as for the people who care for them.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life? Most recent favorite: “Courage is a love affair with the unknown.” — Osho

The moment I began to find a new relationship to the unknown is the moment I really started my journey as an artist capable of bringing what I most want to create into being and into the world. Our brains are literally hard-wired for making predictions and for our survival, so it’s counterintuitive to reach a place of mystery or of “not knowing” and choose to enter more deeply into it. But the more I live,, the more I have come to not only tolerate the unknown, but to welcome it and to befriend it as a necessary collaborator towards the creation of something, be it art or more life.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I would like time with the extraordinary filmmaker Jane Campion. Not only have her films always moved me through their profoundly visceral, visual story-telling. But she, I feel, has successfully navigated the film industry to make works containing areas of human experience such as sexual violence that are difficult to commercially produce in ways that I feel were very effective in that they were thought-provoking, entertaining and reached wider audiences. It would be amazing to hear about and hopefully learn from her approach to them.

How can our readers continue to follow your work online?

For more about MARGARET CURRY visit: MargaretCurry.com and DeepFlightProductions.com Instagram: @margaretacurry and @deepflightproductions

FB: /TheActressMargaretCurry and /DeepFlightProductions

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

I very much enjoyed this, Savio. Thank you.

About The Interviewer: Savio P. Clemente, TEDx speaker and Stage 3 cancer survivor, infuses transformative insights into every article. His journey battling cancer fuels a mission to empower survivors and industry leaders towards living a truly healthy, wealthy, and wise lifestyle. As a Board-Certified Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC, ACC), Savio guides readers to embrace self-discovery and rewrite narratives by loving their inner stranger, as outlined in his acclaimed TEDx talk: “7 Minutes to Wellness: How to Love Your Inner Stranger.” From his best-selling book to his impactful work as a media journalist covering resilience and wellness trends with notable celebrities and TV personalities, Savio’s words touch countless lives. His philosophy, “to know thyself is to heal thyself,” resonates in every piece.