A one-woman show is challenging on many levels for an actress, but Elizabeth Aspenlieder has the added burden of performing in Shakespeare & Company's first full-fledged winter season in its new Elayne P, Bernstein Theater in Lenox. "I'm the guinea pig," Aspenlieder says cheerfully a few days before starting previews on January 9 for Bad Dates, Theresa Rebeck's comedy about a Texas divorcée with a shoe fetish who moves to New York City to run a hot restaurant and meets all the wrong men. "I think of previews as dress rehearsals in front of an audience." (The play officially opens on January 17.) Since joining Shakespeare & Company in the mid-1990s, Aspenlieder has been the consummate artist/manager, performing in plays (everything from Othello and King Lear to The Comedy of Errors and Much Ado About Nothing) as well as running the PR department and selling all the advertisements for the playbills. "When I first arrived here, everyone was an artist/manager, even the CFO," she recalls. "We've grown tremendously since then, so not everyone who works here is an actor anymore."
Aspenlieder is a gifted, versatile actress, and she excels at broad physical comedy, which is one reason the Wall Street Journal called her "the best stage comedienne of the year" for her daffy performance in Tom Stoppard's Rough Crossing in the summer of 2007. Though Bad Dates sounds like the theatrical equivalent of Chick Lit, Aspenlieder promises that it has universal appeal (meaning boyfriends and husbands will laugh, too). "It deals with the same emotions as Shakespeare—loneliness, fear, ecstasy, desire, sex and jealousy," she says. "We are all looking for the same things—community, acceptance, to be counted and validated." Born and raised in Canada, Aspenlieder has found a sense of purpose and belonging in the hills of western Massachusetts. "The Berkshires would be a sad place without her, and we are really blessed that we get to have her," says the Lenox-based photographer Kevin Sprague. "Elizabeth is a generous spirit, and one of the most optimistic, vivacious people I know. She never stops working at being the true 'face' of Shakespeare & Company. We've worked together for more than ten years, and I always look forward to her passion, and creativity, and enthusiasm! Oh, and she is very lovely and has great legs." What's more, Aspenlieder is the type of woman other women envy and emulate. "She’s talented, hard working, beautiful and lights up the room when she walks in," says Sheffield screenwriter Maria Nation. "You’d hate her except she’s also the nicest person on Earth"
Aspenlieder admits that she's apprehensive about appearing on stage alone. "I've done two-handers, but I have never done a solo show," she says. For advice, she's turned to Annette Miller, her co-star in last summer's production of The Ladies Man (left), who has done several one-woman shows (Golda's Balcony and Full Gallup) at S&Co. "The one important thing I told Elizabeth that I learned was that you must understand why you—the character—has to tell this story. When an actor does a play with other characters, the actor has to find out what he needs from the other people in a scene—what they throw out and what they hope to receive back. In a one-woman play, you are talking only to the audience and they must understand why they must hear your story and why you must tell it at this place and time." Aspenlieder is stoked by the challenge. "Every performance is going to be like going on a first date," says the actress who suspects the audience will feel that way too. "I want them to like me. They want to like me. We want the same thing—to have a good time." Bad Dates at Shakespeare & CompanyLenox, MA; 413. 637.3353 Through March 8
