I teach voice, and I teach pretty much just, like, whatever people need. So if they want me to work on a monologue with them, or if they want me to do some work with them, I do that. And then I do master classes, like at high schools - which is my most favorite thing to do.
I think it's really important for young audiences to see that you don't have to apologize for being angry when you're angry, and you don't have to apologize for standing up for yourself when people are pushing you around.
All you can really do is try to be a good person and try to make good decisions and try to survive.
My father passed away when I was pretty young. I was 7 years old, and I think when that happens, there are a variety of ways that a young person can react to that loss. I think, for me, it kind of put me in a perpetual state of feeling like something is wrong with me and like I didn't belong, or everybody else had things that I didn't have.
Tina Fey is a genius - I've seen it with my own eyes now. She's a very observant person, and I've never seen somebody write such a high volume or as quickly as she does.
My high school was the closest thing to hell on earth that exists. I was around a lot of ultra-preppy, very mean-spirited girls, and they were very cruel to me. I ended up switching schools and going to this performing arts school near Boston called Walnut Hill.
I think, when you're an actor, it kind of enables you to fully inhabit all of the youngest parts of yourself.
One of the things I love about stage makeup is I get to play up my eyes even more than usual.
High school is something that we have to deal with. It's not a glorified fluffy, fun, prince-and-princess kind of time.
When 'Mean Girls' came out, I was 15. So I saw that movie and was like, 'That is so funny.' But it still has that fluffy, happy ending, and that doesn't happen in high school.
I'm not able to change the tools that I bring to the table. I've tried to fade into the background many times, and I just can't do it.
I think it's important to be friends with the person you have to kiss onstage in front of a hundred people. You might not be friends in real life - especially if you're in high school - but you need to at least be 'secret friends' for it to work. Try to be comfortable with each other.
We have to train our kids better and really enforce in them that no matter what mainstream media and pop culture and all of the terrible things around us say - that it's OK to tear people down, that somehow it will make you feel better, and it's OK to gossip about people - it won't make you feel better.
My senior year, I got to play Maureen in 'Rent,' and I had more fun than I'd ever had in my life.
There are good musicals that came from movies, like 'Shrek' and 'Legally Blonde!' But, um... they should never mess with 'The Hunger Games.'
I remember, when I saw the movie of 'Cabaret,' I was amazed by Liza Minnelli: like, 'Wow, that kind of looks like someone I could be similar to.'
As an adult, you want to connect with people, and you want to feel accepted.
I started performing with the Boston Children's Opera when I was 5, and I stayed working with that group until I was about 12 or 13, so that was a huge part of my life. It was, weirdly, an extremely professional environment geared towards kids.
The point of songs in theater is that you're supposed to end up in a different place than where you started.
It's important to be really verbal about what you believe, to try to claim America as your own, as we're trying to figure out the identity of this country and what we're going to be.
