We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ellie Otis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ellie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
Growing up, I played just about every sport possible. My parents were both athletes their entire lives, with my dad even being a D1 athlete for football and wrestling. And due to my tall stature and broad shoulders, most of my family thought I’d go pro in one sport or another. I even thought so too, until I accidentally signed up for a theatre class in 7th grade and my trajectory completely shifted. I fell head over heels in love with theatre and performance almost immediately, and became terrified to tell my parents, especially my dad, that I didn’t want to pursue a career in sports or STEM. With tears in my eyes, I told my mom and was shocked to find immediate support. I then told her how nervous I was to tell Dad and was even more shocked when she laughed. She told me she’d be with me when I told him, but that she was confident he wouldn’t mind. And she was right. Not only did he not mind, he’s since spent the last decade becoming quite the arts connoisseur himself. At least once a week I get an email about a Shakespeare fun fact he learned, and he’s my absolute favorite person to take to a show and discuss it with. Although I haven’t managed to get him or my mom on the stage yet, I’m grateful every day that not only did they both accept my passion for the arts, they encouraged and joined in.
Ellie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
It all started when I accidentally signed up for a theatre class in middle school, and quickly fell in love. It led me to choose a high school with strong theatre courses, which led me to meet some of my dearest friends. I found theatre to be a fascinating way to connect to other people, sometimes people who I’ve never even met or who don’t even exist. Theatre has taught me to be a better person, to lead with humanity and empathy. I’m proud to exhibit that in my work as a director, where I ensure an environment that is both collaborative and structured, a place where cast and crew can let their creative colors shine while still keeping focus on the overall product. I believe collaboration to be the center of anything I do as both a director and actor, and constantly seek new means of collaborating with not only theatre makers, but dancers, painters, sound engineers, and more. I’ve found my methods to be a magnet for the exact kind of people I want to work with, people who are honest and ambitious and empathetic and wish to hold a mirror up to nature, to our audiences, and to ourselves. Wherever my career leads me, I’m proud to know I will work with and befriend many brilliant creatives throughout.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My early theatre experience had very high highs and very low lows, and throughout it I never experienced what it was to be a lead or even supporting lead in a show. My confidence in my abilities as an artist were shattered again and again, and I faced many moments of contemplating if I was good enough to ever achieve a career in theatre. But I kept going. It felt ridiculous in the moment, like I was putting myself through psychological torture for what? To play a tree in the background as my friends ruled the stage? Yep, I guess so. Because no matter what, I knew I wanted to be doing theatre. I’ve always been academically rigorous and could’ve gone into a STEM career. I’ve always been naturally athletic and could have trained to become a D1 athlete. But no. I wanted to be in an uncomfortable costume in front of everyone while I tried to imbue myself into the role of a 50-something year-old woman with wrinkles drawn all over my face. I wanted to do theatre, no matter how much it hurt. So I kept going, and kept working, and eventually I learned that all the work I was putting in was actually making me good, that I had the ambition to be great, that I could work for opportunities and sometimes fail and sometimes succeed. That I was someone people wanted to work with. That even if I didn’t get it the first time, these new people would help me to keep going until I got it. One of my favorite quotes is from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: “If I could do anything else, I would.” Sometimes I wish I wanted to do anything other than theatre, whether it’s because of money, hurt pride, or the state of the world. But I just can’t give it up. Because it’s what I love.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
A crucial turning point for me as an artist was when I began taking classes in college that stretched my understanding of humanity and the world. I took classes on White fragility and Black literature, on world religions and the history of Jazz. These classes and more expanded my brain of a middle class white girl from Utah and taught me how to see things from the perspectives of those I’ll never be in the same shoes as. I think a recurring issue in our world is the lack of empathy in most people; I think I myself didn’t realize how much empathy I lacked until I was confronted head-on with challenging questions and concepts that made me question my privilege and radicalized me to a level of basic human empathy. I’d always considered myself to be a kind person, to be one of the ‘good’ ones. But when the questions and concepts started getting uncomfortable, I realized I wasn’t the person I wanted to be. I became enraged that these courses weren’t required for every single student after I saw how much they changed me, and how they changed the way I take in and acquire knowledge. Our roles as theatre makers is to reflect humanity: how can we do that if we only view humanity from our own narrow and limited experiences? How can we hold a mirror up to nature without first holding a mirror up to ourselves, to our background and our actions? Perhaps this is outside the scope of the question being asked…but my greatest resource that has significantly impacted my creative philosophy is to read, watch, listen, and learn as much as you possibly can about experiences that you will never have. Try with all you have to learn every aspect of humanity, of different types of cultures and backgrounds and experiences. Chase the question of what humanity is, and you’ll always be learning for your entire life. And I’ll be right there with you.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: ellie.otis
- Linkedin: Eleanor Otis
Image Credits
Matt Lovejoy
Katie Plott
@saspeckman