'Perfect Crime' and Near-Perfect Attendance:
I’m guessing that as a school girl in Connecticut, when it came time for end-of-year awards, Catherine Russell, the star of off-Broadway's Perfect Crime, had a lock on the attendance medal.
Why?
Because as a theater professional in New York, Russell has starred in all but four of the 8,739 (and counting) performances of that show. Let’s do the math: That’s 21 years of eight shows a week, every night but Tuesday.
Why miss four?
Read on.
Jack of All Trades:
Russell needs a business card that’s about a foot wide. It would say: Actor, Teacher, Producer, General Manager, and Entrepreneur. No surprise that she gets by on four hours sleep a night. Check that. She thrives on four hours.
“I believe that if you love what you do, you have more energy,” she said. And this from a woman who had been teaching in the morning, fixing a commode at the Snapple Theater Center at midday, doing an interview in the afternoon, and going on stage that night.
A Love Affair:
Russell was with The Actors Collective in 1987 for the first showcase of Perfect Crime, a psychological murder mystery. The creation of Warren Manzi, the show was optioned for Broadway, but Manzi pulled it back, unwilling to put up with required changes.
Not that he’s opposed to changes. In its first few years, Manzi cut it from three hours to its current two.
“He gave me rewrites at intermission,” Russell remembered with a laugh.
But when you love something, you put up with it, and Russell confesses to a lifelong love affair with theater.
“From the time I could speak,” she said, “I always wanted to be an actress.”
This Show Must Go On:
Russell teaches English at CUNY and graduate theater at NYU, where she earned her masters. She created and manages the Snapple Theater Center, including lining up the Snapple sponsorship. She’s one of the producers of The Fantastiks playing there now. And she goes onstage as psychotic psychiatrist Margaret Thorne Brent six nights a week.
- She credits the show’s longevity to:
- producer Armand Hyatt’s unwavering support
- keeping expenses down
- actors bringing their best every night
An Actor’s Life:
Russell says, “My passion is business and theater.” And she gets to pursue them both every day. But it’s that passion that helps keep her sane.
She also benefits from the comfort of two dogs who accompany her to the theater. And, despite the near-constant work schedule, she’s enjoyed a 14-year relationship with her boyfriend, who owns several restaurants in New York.
Now, about those four shows. Russell missed them to attend weddings of family members. As for her wedding, when it should happen, “We’ll get married on a Tuesday at City Hall,” she said.