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Meet Cristina Panfilio

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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