Today we’d like to introduce you to Marianne Galloway.
Marianne, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I graduated from University of Florida in 2000, and found myself moving to Texas, where I knew absolutely no one. I couldn’t get work as a young director, but managed to get work as a stage manager. Through this work, I began to meet other young artists from various disciplines who were struggling against the same problem: working, but not in the positions they wanted to be in, or on the kinds of projects they wanted to be involved in. I founded Risk Theater Initiative in 2002 with the mission to challenge artists in their chosen aspects of theatrical production, and this core mission of Artist Development remains the same today.
Risk launched in September of 2003 with a critically hailed production of “Waiting for Godot”, and the company took off. But after 5 years of success, I was fairly burned out as a Producer, Director, and Arts Administrator. I took a giant step back, put the company on hiatus, and shifted my focus to Acting.
It recharged me to be a cog in the wheel rather than the person operating the whole machine, and helped me rediscover my joy. I began by playing supporting roles at larger theaters, such as Eunice in Rene Moreno’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” and Izzy in the regional premiere of “Rabbit Hole” (directed by Cynthia Hestand), both for Contemporary Theatre of Dallas) and leading roles at community theaters (the title role in “Sylvia” for Theatre Coppell, directed by George Morrow). I fulfilled a dream in 2014: playing Sarah Norman in “Children of A Lesser God” directed by Susan Sargeant for CTD. In a way that I will never be able to fully articulate, that project was my heart song.
In 2014, I also signed with an agent (Core Talent) and began a new challenge: working on commercials, print campaigns, film, and television. After several years, I finally began to be drawn to directing projects again. However, I found that I have a profound need to focus on the voices and stories of women.
Once I realized that, the projects found me. Risk Theater Initiative relaunched with a smaller, more personally manageable business structure in 2014 with Carolyn Raship’s “Antarctica” for WaterTower’s Out of the Loop festival. This was the first time I gave myself permission to act in a Risk show, and it was a pretty wonderful experience.
My most recent directing projects have also been “heart-projects”: the very personal, autobiographical stories of two of my dearest friends. The first was developing, directing, and producing Sherry Jo Ward’s “Stiff”, which was the smash hit of the 2017 Festival of Independent Theaters, and is currently touring the United States. I then developed and directed the workshop production of Jessica Cavanagh’s “Self-Injurious Behavior” at Theatre Too, which was another overwhelming hit.
My current acting project is for a fabulous new company: Imprint Theater Works. I’m playing real-life French Revolution-Era feminist Playwright, Olympe de Gouge in the regional premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s “The Revolutionists”, opening July 20th at the Margo Jones Theater in Fair Park. After that, I’ll reprise my role of Harper in “Angels in America: Part 2-Perestroika” for Uptown Players at the Kalita Humphries Theatre in September, and will be directing the regional premiere of the musical “Once” for Theatre Three in the Quadrangle.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
One of my key challenges is that I have a severe bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment. In layman’s terms, that means that I really, really can’t hear well out of either of my ears. I pretty much only hear vowels. With the assistance of a pair of incredible hearing aids, I’m able to hear well enough to “pass” as a hearing person, provided that too many people aren’t talking at once, and the environment I’m in isn’t too distracting. I lip read, and once I get familiar with a person’s rhythms and inflections, it becomes much easier to follow what they’re saying.
I’ve lived with this challenge my whole life, so I’m used to the things I need to do to compensate. As I’ve matured, I’ve started to take notice of the many, many ways I over-compensate for what I fear will be an excuse for people to write me off. An intense fear of someone assuming that I wouldn’t be able to “handle” something because of my hearing drove me to a level of overachievement and perfectionism that isn’t healthy. I still have high expectations of myself, but I work to make sure my inner voice is kinder to me than it has been in the past.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Risk Theater Initiative – what should we know?
I’m a freelance Stage Director, as well as a Stage/Film/Commercial Actor.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Micah Lyles has been my Assistant Director for 15 years. He is my “ears on the ground” in rehearsal and tech, and my touchstone in life. He has been an integral part of Risk Theater Initiative since it’s. Founding (he serves as Artistic Associate), and has been a huge component of both my success as a freelance and Producing Director, as well as the success of Risk as a company.
Jennifer Kuenzer, Jessica Cavanagh, and Sherry Jo Ward, and Ashley Gonzales have been my sisters in strength in this crazy field of Acting. Actors are often expected to pretend that they don’t have feelings except the ones they are required to show in the circumstances of a given scene. The reality is that being an actor can be brutal, and the only time you don’t feel things about navigating through the business is when you don’t care anymore. These four warrior goddesses are the ones who “get it”…who cheer from the rooftops for my successes, hold my hand during my challenges, check me when I deserve it, and share their own joys and sorrows with me so I get the reciprocated gift of empathy.
Image Credit:
Mike Morgan, Luke Robert Miller, George Wada, Ace Anderson,Linda Blase
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