SOUTH ORANGE — South Orange’s own Michele Pawk used to giving intense performances. After all, the actress won a Tony in 2003 for her work as an alcoholic mother dreaming of a better life in the Carol Burnett-scripted “Hollywood Arms,” following Drama Desk-nominated turns in “Crazy for You” and “Cabaret.”
And soon, Pawk will be starring in a play just as intense as her Broadway shows — intensely funny, that is.
In the Paper Mill Playhouse’s upcoming production of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” which will open on Wednesday, Jan. 21, and run eight times a week through Sunday, Feb. 15, Pawk plays Sonia, a woman whose dispiriting life with her similarly miserable brother, Vanya, gets turned upside down with the arrival of her grandiose movie star sister, Masha, and Masha’s buffoonish lover, Spike.
Anyone who has heard about the show’s 2013 run on Broadway or is even remotely familiar with the work of its playwright, Christopher Durang, can guess just how outrageous the story gets from there, which Pawk said makes her starring role both exciting and terrifying. However, she said she is looking forward to getting inside her downtrodden character’s head.
“She is a woman who has had a little bit of a disappointing life in her eyes,” Pawk told the News-Record in a phone interview on Friday, Dec. 19. “She is looking back and is disappointed with what she has done and has no idea where she is going to go from here. And the moment that we watch her in the play, she seems a little bit stuck.”
In order to better understand Sonia, Pawk said she reads the play over and over again, noting the similarities and differences between her character and her own life. For instance, she said everyone can understand the feeling of being in a rut, which helps her relate to the role. From there, she said it is just a matter of fully embracing who the character is, for better or worse, which she is sure to do once rehearsals start after Christmas.
Though she has not yet had the chance to perform with her fellow cast members, Pawk said she already knows the part of the play she is most anticipates — the scene where Sonia receives a phone call from a suitor.
“It is just deliciously written and so full of emotion and fear and excitement and self-doubt,” Pawk said. “I am excited about working on that because I feel like it is almost a perfect little play unto itself.”
Pawk is also excited about the opportunity to make her Paper Mill debut, after years of taking her son to see shows at the theater, some of which even starred her husband, fellow actor John Dossett. She lauded the state-of-the-art facility, saying it is as good as any in New York City, complete with a wonderful caliber of talent.
But an advantage Pawk is particularly looking forward to is the short commute home from Millburn to nearby South Orange, where she has lived for the past 10 years. After spending two decades living and working in New York, Pawk said she and Dossett decided to move to the village so their son could experience the benefits of a suburban childhood. It was a choice they have not regretted.
“It has a small-town sort of feel; it is very neighborhood-y,” Pawk said. “We are just so happy here.”
“And yet you still have a really culturally diverse community, so you do not feel you are removed from the kind of civilization you want your kid to be brought up in,” Pawk added. “We just love it out here.”
Another reason Pawk enjoys living in South Orange is its close proximity to New York, which has allowed her to pursue a new passion — teaching. Since becoming an associate professor of theater at Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y., Pawk said working with the young actors in her classes has become one of the most important roles in her life. She said she loves all her students for their insight and humor, and evidently the feeling is mutual. According to Pawk, her students have been sending her a steady stream of congratulatory emails, upon hearing she would be starring in “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,”with many promising to be there when performances begin.
Their presence will certainly be appreciated by Pawk, who said it gives her students a chance to learn from her performance and see her as being on the same playing field. Plus, she said they hopefully will take away from the show a message she tries to convey in her classes: seize the moment.
“Life is short, grab it,” Pawk said. “Go big or go home; that is what I say to them. Take a risk.”