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Meet
Cristina Panfilio
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Roles in RTSF 08:
Luciana in The
Comedy of Errors
Perdita in The Winter's Tale
How did you get involved in acting?
I don't think that there was a particular
moment that inspired me to work in theatre but there are a number of
things that continue to
inspire me to be an actor...
I've done two tours with Utah Shakespeare and each year the first stop
on the tour was a juvenile corrections facility. We did the show for
ten or twelve boys, all of whom were confined to a lockdown facility;
some of whom would never leave. Those boys were filled with more
gratitude and hope after the show than I ever could have imagined. The
sharing of these stories was an incredible gift for them, and they were
so touched that we would take the time to do that. That's a big part of
why I do this - for the opportunity to open something positive for
someone else - whether it's to make them think about something in a new
light, to inspire them to move forward, or even to help them forget
where they are for an hour and a half.
What was your first
acting experience?
One of the first plays I did was in fourth grade. It was a musical
called When the Hippos Crashed the
Dance. I played a hippo. It was probably exactly what you're
imagining.
Do you have a
favorite role?
Viola in The Twelfth Night
and Thomasina in Arcadia are
two that I would love to do again. I'd also be partial to tackling
Imogen in Cymbeline, Mercutio
in Romeo and Juliet, Vera in A Month in the Country, and
Roseline in As You Like It...to
name a few.
Favorite play?
Consequently The Twelfth Night
and Arcadia are two of my
favorite plays. There's a beautiful balance of rich humor, wit, and
heart in those plays. It's just great writing.
Who is your favorite
Shakespeare character?
I'm a sucker for a good pants role. Those women who go out into the
woods disguised as men. They're all so smart, and funny, and
full-spirited.
Why does performing
Shakespeare interest/challenge you?
I don't think that we would keep doing it if it wasn't great. There's
something inherent in these plays that touches us in a way that
transcends time. These words have been around for hundreds of years and
we've still able to use them to effectively tell a story. How fortunate
that we have the opportunity to use such rich language in an age full
of "likes" and "ums".
Who are your heroes?
My brother is someone I really look up to. He is, perhaps, the most
ambitious person that I know. And while he has his hands in a hundred
things at once, each one seems to have something to do with making this
world a little bit better. It's a rare quality. Those are the people
that I admire the most - the ones who remind me that we are all human,
we're all living on this planet together, and that maybe we can help
one another out a bit more than we think.
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