Actress Karen Eilbacher is coming to town with the show Fun Home. This is her first national tour with a show that is full of diversity.
Fun Home took home five Tony Awards with a tale of three Alison's based on Alison Bechdel's best selling novel. The story of a dysfunctional family follows the life of a lesbian protagonist and her journey through life. Eilbacher plays her girlfriend Joan.
Windy City Times caught up with her on the road to discuss the Obie Award-winning show.
Windy City Times: Hi, Karen. Where in the world are you calling from?
Karen Eilbacher: Cleveland, Ohio.
WCT: Where are you from originally?
KE: White Plains, New York, Westchester County.
WCT: Did you study acting in school?
KE: Yes, I went to NYU Tisch.
WCT: Did you ever think you would be in a show like Fun Home?
KE: I did. My friend Roberta Colindrez was playing Joan on Broadway. I watched her work. It is definitely a role I have sniffed around before. I am forever grateful that the experience has become real.
WCT: How is your take on the character different than Roberta's?
KE: We are two different individuals. There is always something to discover every single night because I am living and breathing onstage. It depends on who I am working with and being receptive to a fly moving on the wall or a bed moving for example. I am open and ready for anything that adjusts my perception or instinctual choices with Joan.
I try to expand my repertoire to who is this person and how does she love? What does she want? Every single night it is always something beautiful to discover.
WCT: For the people who haven't seen it, please discuss the plot.
KE: It is based off a true story. It is written by Alison Bechdel. There are three ages that are explored—small, medium and older Alison. She looks back on her life and her relationship with her father—what that does to her as being out and a lesbian cartoonist is the show. Her father is gay and kills himself. She tells the tale of being the same age as him when he killed himself by stepping in front of a truck. It is about how that affects her life, love and disfunction.
It is about family and how we relate to one another, how what we go through affects our every waking moment.
I went to visit the Hungarian Heritage Museum here in Cleveland. I am German-Jamaican and my grandmother was Hungarian. I was telling the people that run it about the subject matter and the inclusiveness of it. The next thing I know they are telling people visiting the museum that everyone knows someone who is queer, bisexual, gay, lesbian, or questioning. They talked about the show to them.
There are all kinds of portals for people to place themselves in this story. That is profoundly incredible and beautiful. That speaks for Alison's story making. It is Broadway show that we are touring and sharing with people.
WCT: It must be rewarding to bring this show to small towns. You might change someone's life in Ohio after [that person sees] Fun Home.
KE: We have been getting some great feedback. I feel the audience being entirely engrossed and empathetic. Everyone can see themselves somewhere in this story, whether they are LGBTQ or straight. People are open to it and love hearing someone else's story. It is very human from actor to audience. I am humbled every night.
WCT: Are there several LGBT cast members?
KE: I am definitely one of them. I am among a fantastic cast and crew who is full of all colors, shapes and forms. I like to take things at face value and people being open with their sexuality, whatever that journey might be. It has been fantastic to get to know people in the way that they share themselves.
We have some queer members and non queer members, but everyone is onboard with everything that is LGBTQ. Fun Home is a fun home! [Laughs] It is a fun place to work. There is a lot of understanding and generosity.
WCT: Tell me about your past performance on She Like Girls.
KE: It was from Chisa Hutchinson and we won a GLAAD Award for the off-off-Broadway show in 2010. I did the show for three years. It was based off the real happening of Sakia Gunn. She was 15 years old when she was stabbed to death coming home. Some guy was trying to pick her up off the street. She was with a woman in the evening time. She explained she was gay, but was openly killed for that.
I played that part. It was about the coming of terms in her sexuality. She came to love another young woman named Marisol. She came out to her mother in New Jersey. There was a lot to the story.
It was a fantastic experience. At the time I was coming to terms with my own sexuality. It was quite a journey for myself.
We were floored the night of the GLAAD Awards. I had been with that show from a bare bones production of it to that moment.
Thank you for asking about that.
WCT: They need to revive it.
KE: Yes, they do. It was fabulously directed by Jared Culverhouse. I told Chisa to write a screenplay. I don't stay young forever and would love to play that role again!
Catch the Chicago two-week run of Fun Home Nov. 2-13 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St. Visit BroadwayInChicago.com or call 800-775-2000 for ticket information.
