Meet Elizabeth Burke, if you don't know her already, you really should!
She's our longest standing ensemble member, best known for her work in Rising Sun's productions of Hellcab & The Crucible, she's been with the company since 2004.
Meet: Elizabeth Burke
Q: How long have you been involved with Rising Sun
Performance Company?
A: Since 2004 I believe.
When I was but a child.
Q: What is your primary role with RSP?
A: I'm an actor, an
ACTOR.
Q: Why is RSP your artistic home?
A: Because there is a level of community and support that is very difficult to
find in NYC theater. Here, theater
companies come and go, so to be involved with the same group for 8 years is
pretty great. I even left for a few years to work on a political campaign and
was welcomed back with open arms. Like
family! I think that there is a safety that is created during rehearsals which
allows an actor to feel free to explore their boundaries. That safety lends
itself to creative thinking and risk taking I might not find as just an actor
in a random play with a random theater company. It's the sense that we are all
here for the same end, to stretch our abilities, to take risks, to freely speak
up in the creative process and be able to have an actual impact on our art.
Q: What was your favorite RSP Show or Role? Why?
A: Oh wow, playing Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible was so challenging. I loved being able to tell this love story of
2 real people caught up in a nightmare of lies and fear of that very specific
time in our history instead of simply playing out the witchcraft story.(I
really think this play is a love story and I'm sticking with that.) I loved finding out more about John and
Elizabeth and understanding why they loved each other so much. This tough love
is what makes John's betrayal and ultimate imprisonment and death so terrible
and pointless. I also loved playing a
psychopath in the one-act "Tell Me You Love Me", part of Hotel Suite.
Being able to play such a deranged person who, on the surface, has no redeeming
value. I liked the challenge of getting the audience on my side even as I tried
to kill my husband with an axe. By the end of the play I have the audience’s
sympathy while the man I am trying to kill has none, and that was remarkable.
It was finding the subtle choices, believing in her humanity and finding out
what drove her to make such extreme choices that made me want this play to
continue as a full length. There is so
much more to her story and I want to know it!
Q: What are you looking forward to seeing/ experiencing with
RSP?
A: More great concepts like Hotel Suite, a site specific show. I have not seen this very often in NYC
theater and doing it in a non-theater space was amazing. I do want to do more heavy duty pieces like a
few we have currently under consideration and this is the company with the
balls to do it. I also can't wait to
re-start the creative process in writing a new play Henry's Wives.
Q: What are you excited about for Season 12?
A: Everything! I can't wait to continue
working on Henry's Wives, re-mounting Hell Cab for Christmas (because this is
SUCH a Christmas story) and I am really excited for our Fall Mainstage show
even though I don't know what it is yet!
Q: How have you seen the ensemble, including yourself,
evolve?
A: Yes, I have seen RSP grow into a mature company and as one of the older
companies in Indy theater , we have been intimately involved with the growth of
NYC's Indie theater community. We have
more staff now, including a Literary Manager and our student internships have
been a benefit to us as well as the students.
I have evolved as an actor I think!
I also like the idea of producing more interesting and disturbing
original works. But then, I'm not one
for pretty plays with pretty people.
Q: What do you do outside of RSP?
A: I write a regular political blog "Burke's Law" on the
www.ClydeFitcheport.com website. Go, click, read, comment. I have been politically active for years
working on many campaigns as well as producing large scale events. But now I
work full time as Sr. Coordinator, Global Strategies for Cardiovascular
Research Foundation. It's time to settle down to a real job so I can act more.
Q: Favorite Memory or experience in RSP?
A: Well, it may go back to the first play I did with them, the Ghost of
Greenbriar County. The whole premise of the piece is ridiculous especially
since the writer has become some sort of dominatrix. She also claims the story is about her family
and true. But then she is a dominatrix
so I won't argue. But the best part is when our space got flooded and we had
only a few days to locate a new theater that could do the show and was
affordable and was in Manhattan and was available. That Akia and David Anthony
were able to do all those things, finding a theater and saving the show made me
realize I found the right company with which to work.
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