On The Road: Lenne Klingaman
Hello my darling On The Road readers! This week, we are taking a little trip back to Broadway's favorite diner with the adorable Lenne Klingaman. I have never met Lenne in person, but I already adore her, because she is best friends with one of my favorite people on the planet, Desi Oakley! She is currently playing Dawn in the first national tour of the Tony-nominated musical Waitress. Lenne is a San Francisco native, and she earned an MFA in Acting at UW. Along with conquering the stage, film and TV Lenne is a singer/songwriter, and you can check out here debut album here. While she was in Cincinnati I set up a photoshoot for her with an awesome local photographer, Samuel Greenhill. I hope you enjoy getting to know Lenne, and if you happen to visit the diner, tell her Teale sent you!
How long have you been a performer?
I started acting in plays when I was in high school but have performed in various ways since I was a kid.
What is your favorite show you've ever worked on?
It’s a tie between Waitress and Hamlet (in which I actually played Hamlet. As a woman.) For me, the best part of acting is getting to tell stories from the various perspectives of wildly different characters.
Who is the coolest celebrity you've ever met at work?
I mean I’ve gotten to meet a few very cool celebs and had a few friends turn into amazing celebs …but Sara Bareilles. She’s the bees knees.
How long have you been on tour and is this your first tour?
This is my first tour. I’ve been on the road and work away from home a lot but not in this way before. Its a new, wild experience. We started rehearsing in NY in September, 2 days after I got married! Got to Cleveland in early October 2017 and have been on the road since late October.
What has been your most memorable moment on this tour so far?
Probably when we had a technical error with automation and the curtain came down almost on top of me!
What is the most challenging part of being an actor on tour?
Oh man. The beds? The trunk? But seriously… it’s maintaining a sense of self and connection to one’s life while being removed from all things “Home”. We each have our own way of coping with that (talismans, pictures, instruments, altars) but ultimately you have to find a way to keep one foot in your life that has come before tour and will continue after.
What is the most surprising part of your job?
The sweet sweet fans who relate so much to the character I play. So many people identify with Dawn and I love being a vessel for her.
What are some items you absolutely can't live without backstage?
My collapsible hot water kettle from BB&B. Meaningful cards from my husband, Sara, and others that serve as great reminders of love and connection. “Lil Dawn” - a sweet doll designed to look like Dawn from a fan. And either a candle or essential oil or something that just smells good and calming and creates a home-like environment.
What's a random fact about touring that people are always surprised to learn?
We travel on our one day off.
What is it about this job that makes you come back each day?
It’s a mixture of 2 aspects. One is reaching out to strangers every night and connecting to them, touching their lives in some meaningful way simply by virtue of telling stories. The other is very primal, it’s the sense of wonder and pure joy I get from imagining and pretending. I think we all need that connection to our inner child. This is mine. I will add that the best result from doing the job is the awareness of other people. Inhabiting characters with different perspectives and life experiences really teaches you about compassion and empathy.
What is the most interesting day at work you've ever had?
That is tough. There are so many and I don’t pick favorites but ones that stand out recently include sitting down for a living room chat with the women in the Arts & Healing group in Cincinnati who have survived abuse and discussing their experience of seeing Waitress. When they asked for a song, Desi and I in this beautiful small circle of women sang them a short bit of Soft Place to Land acapella and it was powerful to just be with them, singing, being human, talking, sharing our lives. I won’t forget that ever. I also will never forget the first time I performed the To Be or Not To Be speech in front of an audience as a female Hamlet and feeling utterly terrified and yet the most powerful and empowered I’d ever felt in my life. It felt audacious but also like I had Shakespeare guiding me with his steady hand.
What is your favorite part about telling this story every night?
I can’t pick just one! So…One: hearing women in the audience erupt when Jenna kicks Earl out. There have been many powerful responses in that moment and it is palpable. Two: Experiencing the 180 Dawn does in the diner scene with Ogie. Being won over not just by persistence but by a true connection that they share. The hilarity, the resistance, and then the sheer joy when she, in spite of herself, lets herself really connect to this man who has dared to put himself on display for all to see, especially for Dawn.
What is your favorite thing about playing Dawn?
My favorite thing about playing Dawn is her pureness of spirit. She is kind and light-hearted yet so real in the fear to come out of her shell, her comfort zone, and reveal who she really is to the world. She clearly loves her friends and the diner, but she has not conquered how to be out in a world that she cannot control. I love that she learns to do that, to release some control and learns how to love but more so, let herself be seen and loved.
What is your favorite part about Ogie and Dawn's love story?
The moment when Dawn drops the flowers. In that moment, she realizes this human who likes her actually likes the things she likes and isn’t pretending and is not afraid to show it! They have a shared passion and many things in common and he isn’t shy about those passions. He doesn’t hide them He wears his love of history like a badge of honor and that somehow allows her to drop her defenses and have a conversation in their own language of love (History) and ultimately form a beautiful bond. I love their unique, wild love.
What is the best advice you've ever been given?
Advice is an interesting topic. Because one piece of advice may be perfect for one person, and the worst for another. And in this career you get LOTS of advice. You kind of need to learn to be your own advice interpreter in this line of work. I feel like I’ve created an amalgamation of advice given to me over the years by taking the bits that I really needed and combining them into a large Advice Umbrella, if you will. Which basically for me encompasses a few key pieces of advice: saying yes to every opportunity worth taking while remaining true to your sense of self and truth, working hard and training hard, admitting to yourself that your are your toughest critic (but avoid reading reviews too often) and if you can please and be proud of yourself, then nothing beats that.
What piece of advice would you give your 18 year old self?
Back to the Advice Umbrella! Haha! I think my 18 year old self needed to hear that she could seek validation less and trust her gut and instinct more.
What advice would you give to a young person who wants to move to NYC and pursue a career in the arts?
Ok follow me here… create your own Advice Umbrella. Listen to all the advice, take it in, but listen with an attentive ear. Parse out what is useful to you and leave behind what is not. You will develop a sense of what is best for you. Everyone has an opinion but what is right for some may not be right for you. The best part of developing as an artist is figuring out who YOU are as an artist. No one else can do that for you. This doesn’t mean take it easy on yourself, this means develop your own compass. It will ultimately be your best guide through this difficult but highly rewarding career.
FUN FACTS:
Where did you go to college?
University of Washington, Seattle for my MFA. UC Santa Cruz for BA in Theater. I did the Summer Training Congress at ACT in San Francisco as well.
What is your favorite costume you've ever worn?
When I played Juliet in Romeo & Juliet at the Denver Center, the costume shop built GORGEOUS dresses for me. All of my costumes in that show were incredible, but the ball gown was epic.
What was the first Broadway show you ever saw?
Tour wise it was Les Mis or Phantom in San Francisco. They were right around the same time. On Broadway I believe it was Bring in da Noise Bring in da Funk. Oh Savion, how I love thee.
What is your favorite Broadway show you've ever seen?
Cabaret. My favorite off-broadway musical is currently Hadestown.
What is your favorite restaurant or bar you've found on tour?
The Kitchen in Denver is my all-time favorite. But Desi and I had my belated birthday dinner at Salazar in Cincinnati. That is a new fave now.
What is your favorite US city you've visited on tour?
City-wise, it’s a tie between Des Moines and Cincinnati. But I gotta say, the Minneapolis audiences were unbelievably amazing.
