Six Questions with "4000 Miles'" Klarissa Mesee

As Amanda in 4000 Miles, Klarissa Mesee makes a memorable impression with her ditzy humor and hilarious portrayal of a hipster art student. A graduate of UCLA and also a current cast member at "The Happiest Place on Earth," Mesee answers our six questions for MyStage, SCR's discounted ticket program for those 15-to-25 years old.

Klarissa Mesee

Your character, Amanda, is a scene-stealer! Is humor difficult to do successfully?

Mesee: I think the key to doing humor successfully is to play honestly. 4000 Miles is so well written that the humor is already there. So all you have to do is say the lines as honestly as the character would in the moment. Timing is also important...you gotta have good timing.

You graduated from The Ray Bolger Musical Theater program at UCLA. How different is it to be working on a play like 4000 Miles at SCR in comparison to a musical?
 
Mesee: The coolest thing about the program was that I had the opportunity to study and perform in plays as well as musicals. The biggest difference to me is how they're structured from conception, rehearsals and performing. A musical is really structured. You have notes to sing and marks you need to hit. Everything has to be consistent every night, just the energy changes. In a play, you have a lot more freedom to create your world. There’s a dialogue between actors and directors and it's more collaborative. We get to explore the scenes and discover new things every night.

What are some of your dream roles in the theatre?

Mesee: I have so many roles I'd love to play! But to name a few: any and all of the 6 Merry Murderesses in Chicago (the play or the musical). Kim in Miss Saigon, Marta in Company and just for fun, even though it'll never happen, Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Mesee and Matt Caplan in 4000 Miles

You're also currently performing in Mickey and the Magical Map at Disneyland. What is it like balancing work on that show and 4000 Miles at the same time?

Mesee: I was really lucky to have two projects that I loved so much and that couldn't have been more different! I enjoy keeping busy and when you're doing something you love as an actor and as a singer, you really don't mind not having a day off for a couple months.

Why do you love theatre?

Mesee: I love theater because it's live and it's real. You can't fake anything in the theater. There isn't an edit button or any do-overs and that’s what makes it exciting. Not only has an actor but as an audience member as well.

Why do you think our MyStage members will enjoy 4000 Miles?

Mesee: They will enjoy it because it's engaging and it flows. It's a great play about growing up, maturing and what that means to each character. I think everyone will find something in the play that they can identify with.

See Klarissa now in 4000 Miles, which closes this Sunday! Follow her on Instagram: @MissKlariss.

More About MyStage

MyStage is a special program designed for 15- to-25-year-olds. Members get a special discount, $10 tickets for shows at South Coast Repertory. It’s like student rush, but you can get great seats by purchasing tickets up to a month in advance! Members also get access to exclusive social events and behind-the-scenes updates.

Ready to join? It’s free and easy to sign up. Just e-mail the following to mystage@scr.org:

• Full Name:
• Address:
• Phone Number:
• Birthday and Year:
• Email (not your parents’):
• School Attending (if applicable):

Buy tickets. MyStage members get $10 tickets to 4000 Miles using code 8875.

"4,000 Miles" Opens to Cheers and Thanks

On November 25, First Night of 4,000 Miles began with cheers for the production and continued at the Cast Party with thanks to Honorary Producer Barbara Roberts.  You name it, over the years Barbara and her late husband, Bill, got behind it.  Their history of support is legendary, but it includes something not everyone knows: way back when, SCR joined the computer age thanks in part to Bill, who helped train the staff and get everything up and running.

Barbara and Bill’s daughter Brooke Roberts-Webb, who partnered with her mother to help underwrite 4,000 Miles, was unable to attend First Night, as were first-time Honorary Producers SCR Trustee Steve Duncan and his wife, Laurie.  But there were many old timers sharing the warm glow provided by the show’s director David Emmes and cast, led by Jenny O’Hara as the 91-year-old Leftie, Vera Joseph; Matt Caplan as her neo-Hippie grandson, Leo; Rebecca Mozo; and Klarissa Mesee.

Throughout the 50th Season, First Nighters will share their special evenings with longtime SCR artists.  Joining the audience for 4,000 Miles were favorites Marnie Mosiman and John de Lancie, who appeared in a total of 14 productions.  In fact, they met here in 1981, when John was in Childe Byron on the Mainstage and Marnie in Ashes on the Second Stage.  A decade later, they appeared together in Man and Superman.

Anni Long and Jarion Monroe travelled down from their home in Mill Valley to join the fun.  A longtime SCR favorite, Anni appeared in more than 50 shows, plus many productions of A Christmas Carol.  Jarion has a dozen shows to his credit.  And, they also met at SCR!

Ayre Gross, who began his career at SCR in Educational Touring Productions, went on to perform in seven more shows, including Our Mother’s Brief Affair with, among others, Jenny O’Hara.

They were all there to sip cocktails, including the signature “Leftie,” nibble mini bagels and New York style cheesecake and congratulate the artists of 4,000 Miles, which the Los Angeles Times called “a dramatic journey across the generations.”



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"4000 Miles:" Actors Feel Connected to Characters

Jenny O'Hara and Matt Caplan in 4000 Miles.

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Playwright Amy Herzog’s warm storytelling drew actors Jenny O’Hara and Matt Caplan to the play 4000 Miles. In South Coast Repertory’s production, O’Hara portrays 91-year-old Vera and Caplan is 21-year-old Leo.

“The subjects and the subtleties in the writing drew me to the play,” says Jenny O’Hara.

Caplan agrees, “There is an unparalleled energy in live storytelling, and if you are lucky enough to experience art that really does ‘hold as ’twere, the mirror up to nature,’ you can feel it.”

For Caplan, it was love at first read with 4000 Miles, as he prepared for his audition. 

“On my website I write about how I exclaimed aloud to my cats just how much I was enjoying the read, so they can personally attest to this fact [laughs]. Amy Herzog's language is so naturally sublime that you lose yourself in the authenticity and humanity of it, and after a while, you feel like an exhilarated little fly on the wall of a West Village apartment. I immediately and passionately sympathized with Leo, which is such an important and exciting feeling as an actor. “

In talking with both actors, we explored their approach to both characters and the play itself.

How are you similar to your character?

O’Hara: Vera and I do have similarities; we both are tough, principled, direct and soft-hearted. We both believe in the greater good. She reminds me of my 96-year-old mother, who still runs her off-off Broadway theatre in New York City. She is in her lobby every day, doing business. She was raised on a stump farm in Idaho, came to New York at age 50 to be a producer and has been doing it successfully for 46 years.

Caplan:  When Leo arrives at his grandmother's door, he is in a foreign city, and he is filled with a paradoxical mix of triumph and loss. He is struggling to remain a positive ideologue in the midst of unprecedented adversity. He's a fitness enthusiast. He's a liberal. He's a hopeless romantic. In short, yeah, I know a guy of who reminds me of Leo. Jenny breathes such life in Vera and nuance into this wonderfully wrought character that I truly feel like I’ve found a long-lost grandmother and friend. There is a subtle and unique kind of familiarity and discovery in relationships like Leo and Vera's, and Jenny has made this part of the process easy by being so believable and available.

How have your characters developed through the rehearsal process?

O’Hara: Vera has evolved in the rehearsal process in two directions…she has become both tougher and softer, more nurturing, and an advocate for all of her family members, especially her grandson Leo. Matt is a wonderful young actor and has made being Leo's advocate very, very easy.

Caplan:  Leo certainly evolves on the page, so my chief concern is honoring the text and making sense of his journey. I rely heavily on David and my fellow actors to help me shape and refine Leo's evolution. He can be brilliant, bratty, and vulnerable, all at once. I just want him to be understood.

Why are you drawn to SCR?

O’Hara: The theatre is remarkable. It is an ancient art form, a family, a celebration and a gift to the artists and the audience. SCR does extraordinary work with extraordinary playwrights, actors and directors. They have daring taste in material and terrific supporters. It offers its artists everything they need to bring the work to life. 

Caplan: South Coast Repertory fosters a level of professionalism and artistic bravery that I know to be quite rare. I think that the ease with which our company communicates and explores during rehearsal is continually surprising, at least to me. I must say this organization and this cast continue to astound me on a daily basis. It is a joy to create with them.

What do you hope audiences will come away with after seeing 4000 Miles?

O’Hara: I hope they come with any fixed ideas about the facts of youth and age broken and with love and respect for both states and for these two singular people.

Caplan:  I hope that audiences feel like they are experiencing a story that is both subtle and unforgettable. And most importantly, human.

Buy tickets now.

The Long Ride Home

by Kimberly Colburn

THE CAST:  Rebecca Mozo, Matt Caplan, Klarissa Mesee and Jenny O'Hara.

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It’s the middle of the night, and 91-year-old Vera has been woken up by an insistent buzzing at the door; her hearing isn’t what it used to be. She’s not expecting anyone, and she certainly isn’t expecting who it turns out to be: her grandson, Leo, who’s been incommunicado for the past few months, riding his bicycle across the country sans cell phone.

Leo doesn’t quite explain what brought him to Vera’s door, but it’s clear that he’s still a little lost in his life. He’s not ready to talk to his mother yet and he’s already been booted from his girlfriend’s house—she’s still mad at him for not calling all summer. Vera persuades him that he can lay low and get his bearings at her apartment in Greenwich Village—she’s an old political Leftie and perhaps senses a kindred spirit in her staunch environmentalist grandson.

This is the moment that opens Amy Herzog’s play 4000 Miles. We meet the central characters right when their relationship begins to change. Of course, Vera has known Leo since he was born; but when they find themselves sharing space, they get to know each other in a whole new way.

Herzog based the character of Vera on her own grandmother, Leepee Joseph, with whom she shared a strong bond. Her grandmother passed away since the play was produced at Lincoln Center in New York last year.

[Read a a New York Times profile of Herzog and her grandmother.]

In 4000 Miles, we see the bond between Vera and Leo grow and develop as we learn more about their lives and the tragedy that Leo is struggling to move past. Herzog’s work unfolds with exacting, well-observed characters that highlight the inter-generational relationship as Leo finally begins to face adulthood. Even as Leo makes the mistakes of youth, Vera naturally makes room in her life and thrives on the unexpected attention of her grandson, helping to instill our sympathy for the troubled young man. Sometimes, the only way to grow up is to confront the past, and relying on his grandmother gives Leo the space to find his way.

The humanity in the piece is what drew director David Emmes. He explains that it “is an intimate and insightful play about the nature of compassion and healing, as reflected in the relationship between a 91-year-old Leftist and her rebellious grandson.” He’s put together a standout cast, including Jenny O’Hara as Vera and Matt Caplan as Leo (meet the cast here), and a fantastic team of designers familiar to SCR audiences. Ralph Funicello (Elemeno Pea, Misalliance), one of America’s leading scenic designers, will be designing the set, with Sara Ryung Clement (How the World Began, Completeness) on costumes, Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz (Ordinary Days, La Posada Mágica) on lights, and Cricket S. Myers (The Parisian Woman, Sight Unseen) designing sound.

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"4000 Miles" Cast Comprised of New and Returning Actors

Familiar and new faces, national and regional credits, one returning South Coast Repertory veteran and three newcomers to SCR. They all are coming together at South Coast Repertory for Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles. Meet the cast of the play.

Matt Caplan makes his SCR debut as Leo in 4000 Miles.  On Broadway, he appeared in Rent, South Pacific and Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark and regionally he appeared in American Idiot. His television and film appearances include “New Amsterdam” and “NCIS,” Ambivalence, Across the Universe and Painting Abby Long. He is from New York by way of Virginia, where he studied theater at the Governor’s School for the Arts. Caplan also is a songwriter.

Rebecca Mozo appeared at SCR last season in The Parisian Woman, and also in In the Next Room or the vibrator play, A Wrinkle in Time, Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight, The Heiress and Doubt, a parable. Her other theatre credits include We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia at The Matrix Theatre Company; The Savannah Disputation (Ovation Award nomination), Trying (Ovation Award nomination) at The Colony Theatre Company; The Cherry Orchard opposite Annette Bening and Alfred Molina at Center Theatre Group; and Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Peace in Our Time, King Lear, Cousin Bette, Pera Palas and The Dresser at The Antaeus Company, where she is a member. Her film and television credits include The Repatriate, Headless Horseman, The Waterhole, “Pizza Time,” “Cold Case,” “The Young and the Restless” and “Medium.” She recently wrapped the web series “Kittens in a Cage.” Mozo earned her BFA from Rutgers University and studied at The Globe Theatre in London.

Klarissa Mesee role as Amanda in 4000 Miles marks her SCR debut. She can be seen in Mickey and the Magical Map at the Disneyland Resort. Her other credits include McCoy/Rigby’s Miss Saigon (Ovation Award nomination) and Richard Shermans’ Pazzazz! She also originated the role of Scarlet Wong in English Only: A Fight For Words in America. Her film and television credits include “Lost Tapes” for Animal Planet and “Teenage Mountain Lion,” a forthcoming web series. She is a native of Southern California and earned her BA from The Ray Bolger Musical Theater program at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television.

Jenny O’Hara is featured as Vera in 4000 Miles. She previously appeared in SCR’s production of Richard Greenberg’s Our Mother’s Brief Affair. On Broadway, she appeared in The Odd Couple (female version), The Iceman Cometh, Promises Promises, The Kid, Fig Leaves Are Falling and Dylan (debut with Alec Guinness). Her off-Broadway credits include John Guare’s New York Actor, Peter Hedges’ Good as New, Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Marathon ’93, Sedalia Run and The Fox. She also has appeared in numerous regional productions. O’Hara has been a series regular on “The King of Queens,” “Costello,” “Life’s Work,” “The Pastor’s Wife,” “My Sister Sam,” “The Facts of Life,” “Secrets of Midland Heights,” “Highcliff Manor” and has made guest appearances on “Rizzoli and Isles,” “Franklin and Bash,” “CSI,” “Grey’sAnatomy,” “Drop Dead Diva,” “Boston Legal,” “Philly,” “NYPD Blue,” “Family Law,” “The Practice,” “Roswell,” “Strong Medicine,” “ER,” “Chicago Hope,” “Party of Five,” “Drew Carey Show,” “Murphy Brown,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Law & Order,” “L.A. Law” and many more. Her movies of the week include If These Walls Could Talk II, The Color of Courage, My Name is Jane, An Unexpected Family, Robin Cook’s Terminal, A Mother’s Prayer, Happily Ever After, Winnie, V and Black Beauty. Her feature films include BFF, Sassy Pants, Devil, Heavy Lifting, The Hit List, Extract, Matchstick Men, Mystic River, Angie, Career Opportunities and Heartbeat. She is a founding member of Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA.