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SHOW REVIEWS CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS GOSSIP NEWSCopyright: April 19, 1999
Tony Award winner James Naughton has just received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance for his fabulous Street of Dreams show, the same show which earned him a covered MAC Award. The guy has a lot to brag about. What he's elated over is not his own success, but rather that of his daughter, Keira, who is starring as Daisy Archer in Tesla's Letters, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. (See Broadway To Vegas column of April 5, 1999)
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In Telsa's Letters, Keira portrays an American graduate student who goes to Yugoslavia in 1997, to research the life, letters and inventions of the great scientist Nicola Telsa.
"This play is great, so timely. I play a great character, really intelligent, driven, a tough, strong woman," explained Keira.
It's very important right now because everything is so present in everyone's conscious. This was written long before the NATO action. It was a story that was in the back of the newspaper - that people didn't really want to address. So, now it's ironic because there are lines like - Maybe I'll go to Croatia sometimes in 98 when you guys are through fighting and the UN has swept the area.
"I have most of my scenes with the director of the museum in Belgrade. He says - That's the trouble with you Americans, you never want to get involved until it is too late."
"You can hear the audience titter," continued Naughton. It's exciting to do a play that is so current - topical. At the end there is always the feeling in the theatre that the play has had some sort of an impact. It's a little bit cathartic to some and definitely stimulates people's minds, thoughts and feelings. That's what so great. It doesn't take sides. It poses questions."
While this play may have a cathartic energy on stage, Keria has been in productions where the tension was backstage. In that instance she was sharing a dressing room with Calista Flockhart.
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Did sharing a dressing room cause tension?
"It could have, but in this situation it was kind of a nice, safe haven. We were surrounded by tension. This is right before she got Ally McBeal. She actually had to leave the show and go to L.A. to do that. She was debating whether or not she should even audition for it, because she wasn't sure if she wanted to do a TV show, because she was beginning to break into films.
So what made Calista decide to audition?
"Me," said Keira. "I like to think I had some part in it, because she said - Do you think I ought to do this? I said, - Definitely! I'm not in any way responsible for her success, but her deciding to go audition was definitely a big decision for her. "
Then there is that question that everyone has been asking - Is Calista anorexic?
Keira replied; "Only she knows. She sure is skinny, that's for sure. I tried to get into her costume and it just wasn't happening," commented Keira about the actress who once worked eight weeks off Broadway for only $400. The only food Calista had was a case of ravioli that her older brother sent her.
If Calista had a brother who sent her canned pasta, many without genetic ties to stars assume the red carpet is rolled out for star power progeny. "No, not at all," exclaimed Keira. "You really have to prove yourself. For me, some of the most difficult moments to overcome are when someone who has known me all my life as James Naughton's daughter, sees me in something and says - "Wow! I didn't know you had that in you." For me those are the most satisfying moments, because it's really hard. Those people are judging me, but they aren't seeing me as myself, but as James Naughton's daughter.
"There are so many daughters and sons of famous people who come in and everybody goes - whatever," commented Keira about the easy dismissal of those with genetic connections.
"Those people might actually have talent," argued Keira, "but in the face of that kind of pressure, they can crumble. Or, they have to overcome it and become their own person."
Clearly, 27-year-old Keira is an actress that has her priorities in order. While the NYU graduate has made her own way onto the theatre stages, her psychiatric/social worker educated mother and acting father obviously provided a solid foundation.
"It was great having him as a father. He was always going on field trips and acting as a chaperon," recalled Keira. "For him, fatherhood was a priority - to be there."
During her formative years Naughton was frequently in California starring in CBS TV's Look Homeward Angel, with Geraldine Page, or in several television series including; Faraday and Co. with the late Dan Dailey, or films such as The Good Mother, opposite Diane Keaton, The Paper Chase, or the Paul Newman directed The Glass Menagerie.
"If he was doing a television show or something that was shooting in L.A. he would fly back to Connecticut on the red-eye for the weekend, just to be with us. I can't imagine how exhausting that must have been for him. But, he would be there. Saturday morning, we would wake up, and there he was."
While Keira's father is a graduate of Brown and the Yale School of Drama, Keira opted for NYU's drama department. She strongly urges aspiring thespians to receive formal training.
"It's hard to get an agent," she commented. "I had a great opportunity at NYU because I not only worked with a lot of professional directors, but because a lot of people in the industry come to see the shows, because they're right there in New York. I had that advantage. A lot of people go to NYU just for that reason - or Yale or Juilliard, because you have a showcase at the end," she said.
"Agents fly in from Los Angeles to watch the showcase," she elaborated. "I had tons and tons of meetings. In a way it's great and in a way it's silly. Because, you can end up signing with someone who doesn't know you. They've seen you do a two or three minute scene and that's it. That can be a problem. I pretty much had representation from the minute I came out of NYU, but it's always a battle between the actor and the agent," she added.
Did having a famous father help in getting parts?
"It had nothing to do with him," she stressed. "There is this whole misconception about being a relative or anybody famous. I auditioned for grad school and I got in. My father can't audition for me. The reality is - people actually tend not to take you as seriously, if they only know you as the daughter or son of a star," she said voicing the complains of many show business offspring.
Keria can see both sides of the casting question and made an interesting admission. "If I was a director coming to New York for the first time, trying to make a name or make a splash, I would never cast the daughter or the sister of the producer or the star," she admitted, and then explained her reasoning. "That could be viewed as a compromise and I wouldn't make that compromise. Even if she was the best person for the part, it would seem like a compromise. So, there is always that obstacle. You have to prove yourself more, because people go - she got the part because of her family. I have lost lots of parts because I am the daughter of James Naughton or the sister of Greg Naughton, she said referring to her actor brother who founded the Blue Light Theatre Company, where their mother serves as director of development.
As for her own future, for the past
two years Keira has been involved with Stephen Barker Turner whom Keira
describes as "an intellectual kind of actor." A Julliard graduate, they
met in the theater and have performed together at the Roundabout in All
My Sons. "It's kind of hard to date somebody who is not an actor,"
reasoned Keira. "We're very supportive of each other. He gives me notes
that are great and really help me and I give him notes that help him."
In other words they critique each other. Stephen's private critiques about
Tesla's Letters have all been positive.
Next Column: April 26, 1999
Copyright: April 19, 1999. All
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