Q: Please introduce yourself and your acting experience.
A: My name is Brittany Pirucki and I am a 26-year-old actress. I would say I’ve been acting all of my life but my first actual experience was at acting camp in 4th grade. My passion originated with music; I started classical voice and piano lessons when I was 5-years-old. Honestly, I loved being on stage and it just continued to grow from there. After my acting camp in 4th grade, I focused more on voice and performance voice until I was in high school when I finally took drama classes as an elective and found my niche with musical theatre. I felt I needed to further develop my acting so, following high school, I auditioned and was accepted into the Foothill Theatre Conservatory. For 2 years, I devoted my life with furthering development in all aspects in theatre and film, especially acting and eventually received my AA in theatre.
I have performed in over fifteen shows. My last show I was in was a musical called “Damn Yankees.” I’m currently focusing more on my career in Speech Language Pathology, but I try to find any opportunity to be on stage. In fact for my wedding, my fiancé and I are performing a surprise dance for our guests, which features a lot of musical theatre aspects.
Q: What does expert acting look like (ie. what do you do to be a responsible, successful actress)?
A: I would say an expert actor is one who can manipulate and capture a variety of different characters and personalities. It’s easier to capture a character similar to your personality, but when it comes to a character from a different background, it takes a lot of time and research to connect with the character. A lot of actors such as Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep and Heath Ledger have been successful in their careers due to their willingness and expanding their talents with different characters, meaning they can perform well in a comedy, as they would in a more dramatic piece. I think to be a successful and responsible actress it is very important to continue to challenge yourself with plays and characters you aren’t as comfortable with and to continue to educate yourself. Even though I have decided on majoring in Speech Pathology, I still audition for shows all over to become more and more comfortable with auditioning. I also am minoring in theatre to continue to expand my education further.
Q: Describe your experience (if any) with medieval or “period” costume. What was your favorite costume that was representative of a different age?
A: I actually haven’t done a whole lot of “period” plays. I took a class for Renaissance acting and it was a personal favorite of mine, but unfortunately theaters do not do a whole lot of those types of plays. The humor and eloquence of “period” plays is fascinating. We learned the importance of posture, which is challenging but it’s important to breathe. My costume was a period corset with large skirt; this one was by far one of my favorite costumes but also one of the most uncomfortable. It was very constricting but it also gave the effect of the importance of posture and breath support.
Q: Do you have any experience acting in Shakespearean plays or reciting lines in other than modern English?
A: I have definitely studied a lot of Shakespeare at the Foothill Theatre Conservatory. I was in Much Ado About Nothing in high school. I did a lot of scenes in the Conservatory from Merchant of Venice and Taming of the Shrew. I love Shakespeare. At first I hated it because I didn’t understand it, but then I had amazing professors who showed me how to truly appreciate those types of plays.
Q: What makes you passionate about the acting? What makes you passionate about acting in costume?
A: I love being on stage. It’s almost an out of body experience. My nervousness and passion create such a high. I love challenging myself, so playing a character that is unlike myself is really rewarding. The costumes just further develop the character you created, which is a part I really enjoy because it is the most creative I can be when I am on stage. The costume shows the audience the character you developed and what you created in your imagination.