Hometown: All over the south--Texas, South Carolina and Tennessee. But my family's from Miami, so that's kind of a hometown too.
Education: MFA, NYU Graduate Acting Program
Select Credits: Seminar on Broadway (opposite Jeff Goldblum), Red Bull Theater, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, INTAR, a lot of great theatre out of town, and some television and film stuff too.
Who do you play in Sousepaw?: Her name is Reptile Girl.
Tell us about Sousepaw: Jonathan Goldberg's play is a meditation on the real life of Rube Waddell, a famous pitcher from the early 20th century when baseball was still figuring out what it was. Waddell was a very eccentric guy and his life off the field was about as legendary as it was when he was pitching. He was a fireman, a zookeeper, a sometimes actor, a more than occasional alligator wrestler...He also reportedly had a hard and storied relationship with the sauce. Which brings us to Jonathan's play--where Rube hires Reptile Girl, a local carnival performer, to keep him sober over what could be the most important night of his wild wild life. It's sexy. It's heartbreaking. And it's a comedy.
What kind of theatre speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Anything that teaches me something new. Anything that doesn't put my sister to sleep. She's a busy lady and a shrewd critic so if I'm boring, she's sure to tell me. Nothing wakes me up more than a good question asked in the dark. The courage of writers, all kinds of writers, to find and share their voice. I'm very lucky, I get to work with a few of them: Meghan Kennedy, Dipika Guha, Kara Lee Corthron, Melinda Lopez, Migdalia Cruz, Jennifer Joan Thompson, Tanya Saracho, Eduardo Machado, Rogelio Martinez, David Grimm and of course Jonathan Goldberg.
Any roles you're dying to play?: Iago. Maybe Hamlet. The protagonist from Rachel Kushner's book "The Flamethrowers". But mainly new characters.
What show have you recommended to your friends?: NAATCO's revival of Awake and Sing! with an all-Asian cast at the Public. The performances are electric. And King Liz by Fernanda Coppel at Second Stage Uptown. Karen Pittman is always electric.
What's your biggest guilty pleasure?: Bourbon neat.
For more on Sousepaw, visit http://www.shelbycompany.net/. For more on Christina, visit http://www.christinapumariega.com
