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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