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Interview

Anne Heche Q&A w/Soap Opera Digest ( 2002 )
Anne Heche shares more about her Broadway role in PROOF and her Broadway baby, Homer Heche Laffoon

Digest: Give us a sense of a day in the life of Anne Heche, Broadway star.


Heche: Well, we do eight shows a week, so I only have one day off, and that day is dedicated to Homer, although I work at night so it's a kind of beautiful schedule because I get up at 10:30 and give my son his bottle, and then we have a play day, and then I work out or run in the park with my husband, and have a meal with my husband, and then go to the theater and come home and give Homer his last bottle and we have two hours of play before he goes to sleep at midnight, and so do mom and dad. So he's a Broadway baby - we have him on a Broadway schedule, which gives us a lot of time with him, which is fantastic. He's in my arms right now, just playing and kicking and having fun. It's been a really perfect schedule, actually. Rehearsal time was a little different, and then on the days off, the only thing that's different about that, really, is that every Monday my husband and I have a date, and we have a baby-sitter so that we can have our time. It's a good balance.

Digest: And how is it being back in New York, where you lived during your time on ANOTHER WORLD?


Heche: It's a magical place to be right now. I'm not eloquent speaking about September 11; I was not here and I have not been in the city until now, but there is a calm here that is really beautiful. And bringing a child into the most incredible city in the world and have it be a city that's gone through so much healing in the last year, it's apparent - you can feel it on the streets. It just feels like a layer of anger and negativity was lifted when those buildings were destroyed, because everyone had to come together with such love to heal it. You can feel it. So I'm so proud to be a part of it. I'm so proud to be in New York at this time and supporting, in the only way I can, a vibe of healing and support for the city.

Digest: And how are you finding the medium of theater, which is obviously quite different from film and television?


Heche: It's a real thrill to be able to tell a story from beginning to end and to have the challenge of acting that out as a whole. A movie takes three months maybe and you're doing four pages a day; you never really get to see the world of the movie until the movie is put together. And the process of making a play is that you are creating a world for whoever is sitting in that audience, and for yourself, in an evening. And the challenge of that was wonderful for me. That's something that I've never done before, been in control of this world. I mean, she has to take you on the journey, and it is a ride. It is emotional and traumatic and funny and insane and beautiful and genius, you know? So to be able to do all that in an afternoon if it's a matinee, or in an evening - the whole thing was a challenge. An actress' instrument is her mind, and her soul and her spirit, and having touched on many of these issues in my life and to be able to bring them fully to the stage was a treat. And also a different task than I've ever had to do. And I love that challenge. I always want to be challenged.

Digest: Do you enjoy working in front of a live audience?


Heche: It's incredible. It's as much a part of the play as the actors are. There are four characters in the play and they're all wonderful actors, and as much as they influence my performance, the audience definitely is as much a part of the cast as the cast. So when the audience is in there and digging it, the play can actually change tones according to how the audience is digesting the information. And that's what makes it fresh every night. It can become heavier, it can become lighter, it can become a little more insane, it can become a little more magical and musical. It's interesting, and it's all about the vibration in the room, and everybody picks up on it, and it's really fun. I think that's why people love the theater so much - even though it may have been done before, if you saw it a week earlier, you're seeing a new consciousness of the play. You're flying by the seat of your pants. If there's a mistake, you see the mistake. It's almost like seeing behind the curtains of a movie, in a way, and I love that. That aliveness, I think, invigorates everybody that comes to the theater.

Digest: Can you describe the experience of opening night?


Heche: Beyond. I have not experienced that kind of awesome sensation. It's a once in a lifetime thing to be doing Broadway, but the standing ovation that happened at the end of the play.... I will never in my life be able to recreate a moment like that because it was the most astounding thing I had ever experienced professionally. To know you've entertained a group of people and to have them say, "Right on, you did it!".... I mean, there was a big question mark in my mind. I have a lot of confidence, and my husband has a lot of confidence in me, but we were like, 'Can I do Broadway?' [Laughs] How do you know? You don't know until you do it! There are people who have faith in you, but you're just not sure if you can do it or not. So there was a big feeling of, 'Wow, I did this thing, and it worked. All of the hard work we all put in, it worked.' It was awesome. It was exhilarating. It was a real trip.

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