Susan's City Scene

ORTH: Mom’s a choreographer who just retired from teaching high school dance after over 30 years, and Dad’s a musician and high school music teacher. My mother has always loved musicals, so I listened to cast recordings in utero, and was definitely the only kid at my preschool who knew all the words to “Les Misérables.” I don’t think there was ever a question as to whether or not I’d end up in theatre. It’s always just felt like home.

DJ: Tell us about “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and the characters you play.

ORTH: Drood is a show within a show, and the adaptation is being presented by the company of the fictitious Music Hall Royale sometime in the 1880s, a good decade or so after Dickens’s death. Everyone in our cast portrays two characters: their Drood persona, and the Victorian actor who plays that role. Our audience votes on the show’s ending each night. In the Drood adaptation, I play a woman called Princess Puffer, who runs an opium den and seems to have a mysterious connection to some of the people in Edwin Drood’s life. In the world of the Music Hall, my name is Angela Prysock, and I’m something of a grand dame within the troupe. Princess Puffer gets a great song towards the end of the show called “Garden Path to Hell” that actually lays out exactly who she is and how she ended up where she did; the real fun has been coming up with who Angela Prysock is, and her life and career prior to this production.

DJ: Does audience reaction impact your performance?

ORTH: While you’re always subtly calibrating on the fly to allow for each audience’s reactions — holding for laughs and things like that —your job as an actor is to be consistent from performance to performance, so sometimes you just have to turn off the part of your brain that registers their presence. With a show like Drood, though, the audience reaction is integral to the piece. We’re constantly referencing them, or talking to them, or trying to elicit a particular response from them, which is exciting, because it adds a light level of improv to the experience.

DJ: How do you relax between performances?

ORTH: I’ve got a full-time day job as the Marketing & Communications Manager at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, so free time when I’m also doing a show is a precious commodity. When the stars align and I actually have an evening free, I’m probably either at home catching up on all the TV I’ve missed … or I’m out seeing somebody else’s show!

MORE ABOUT HEATHER ORTH. Recently appearing as Mrs. Bennet in the World Premiere Musical adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Orth won Theatre Bay Area Awards for her performances in “Sweeney Todd” at Hillbarn Theatre, “Sister Act” at Berkeley Playhouse and “The Boys from Syracuse” at 42nd Street Moon, and won San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for her performances in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at Ray of Light Theatre and “The Secret Garden” at 42nd Street Moon, as well as for “Chess and Grey Gardens” at Custom Made Theatre Company. Orth has also performed at Feinstein’s at the Nikko and with Symphony Silicon Valley. Orth attended San Mateo High School and now lives on the Peninsula.

SEEING (AND SOLVING) THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" runs through March 15 at Lohman Theatre, Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road (Interstate 280 and El Monte Road), Los Altos Hills. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays (2 p.m. Saturday, March 7); and 2 p.m. Sundays. Parking in Student Parking Lot 1 or Lot 8. Visitors must purchase the required parking permit for $3. For tickets ($12 - $36) and more information contact https://foothill.edu/theatre/productions/drood.html or call 949-7360.

Susan Cohn is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. She may be reached at susan@smdailyjournal.com.