5-Minute Time Out: Kristen Schaal
The comedienne on her secret life in children's theater.
by Christina Couch
April 15, 2009
Parents know her as Mel, the psychotically obsessed fan on the HBO series Flight of the Conchords, and as The Daily Show's Senior Women's Correspondent. New York kids know her the girl who makes their stories come to life. In between filming Flight and a handful of feature films (including the upcoming John C. Reilly/Salma Hayek project, Cirque du Freak), Schaal works as a founding member of the Striking Viking Story Pirates, an NYC-based nonprofit that conducts writing workshops in area schools then turns stories written by kids into full-scale theatrical productions. We caught up with her just before she heads off to London to film a pilot based on her web series, Penelope: Princess of Pets. — Christina Couch
You could be working on any project you want. Why start something like Striking Viking?
Story Pirates are really fun for us actors because the characters are crazy. I got to play a donut machine that takes over the town, a talking quesadilla that was part of a team of crime-fighters. There are so many wonderful characters that kids come up with. They take their imaginations farther than adults ever do. It's also awesome to see these kids learning how to create a story, what the elements are. To get to see their work done is also really exciting for them, their moms and dads are usually there. It gives them a sense of pride. It shows them that their work matters and hopefully will inspire them to create more.
I'm not sure many leading actresses would admit to playing a talking quesadilla. What's the worst role you've ever played?
Back in 2003, 2004 when Pirates began, I was just running around, trying to get any jobs I could and FAO Schwartz was hiring. They were inventing new characters for the store and one of them was a girl named Peppermint Twist, who worked in the sweets shop. I got to make up my background for her, so I basically told this disgusting story about how she was left in this store kind of like Punky Brewster, but her fate was much worse because she accidentally fell into a giant vat of candy and that's why her hair was pink and she couldn't leave the store.
You played the hostage toy with Stockholm Syndrome? That's horrifying.
"If you don't have leading-lady Hollywood looks then you get to be in freaky stuff."
I know. The whole job was horrible. I had to wear a wig all day, seriously six to nine hours and sunglasses and tights and I had to be enthusiastic about candy and it made me so sad because you couldn't turn it off. It's not like I was doing a half-hour performance. It was a six-hour performance about candy everyday and that is the worst job ever. The second worse job is working as a waitress at Planet Hollywood. Don't ever do that.
Peppermint Twist, donut machine, in Penelope: Princess of Pets (Episode one is here), you're playing a girl who's using her ability to talk to animals to kill a U.S. senator (with the help of a thirty-year-old orphan of course). Are you attracted to "freak parts?"
[Laughs.] They come to me and I don't mind. It's really fun to play them. I'm just not like the leading-lady Hollywood type, so as soon as you don't have leading-lady Hollywood looks then you get to be in freaky stuff. I'm not complaining.
You've said before that most roles for leading Hollywood women are "f-ing boring"
Oh geez. Well it's true. It's so formulaic. There aren't very many real surprises in movies now anyways, but there's almost never one as far as female characters go. If there's a leading lady on the screen, you almost always know exactly what her deal is going to be, so I'm happy playing other characters.
©2009 Christina Couch and Babble
About the Author
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Christina Couch is a freelance writer based in Richmond, VA, and Chicago, IL. She is the author of Virginia Colleges 101 (Palari Publishing, 2008). Her work can also be found in Playboy.com, Time Out Chicago, Wired magazine, MSN.com and Yahoo! Finance. |
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