We were lucky to catch up with Kim Hlavac recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kim, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I have had many meaningful projects in my lifetime. It’s difficult to highlight just one, but I’ll go with the “project” that first came to mind. I attended the New York City professional High School of Performing Arts majoring in the acting department when it was located on West 46th Street & Broadway right in the heart of Times Square. The movie FAME with Irene Cara & the tv series was based on our high school, Now renamed as the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and located behind Lincoln Square and Juilliard. Each acting student chooses scenes to work on in class with just a few chosen to be performed for the whole school during our assembly gatherings. My scene partner and I chose to do a scene from, “The Miracle Worker” by William Gibson. I played, Anne Sullivan and Pamela Miller played Helen Keller. We were chosen to perform for the entire school and faculty. The scene we performed was the water well breakthrough scene when Anne finally reaches Helen to understand/comprehend the association of objects with communication through sound vibrations, touch/feel & sign language. Reliving these moments even now gives me goosebumps. After the scene was through, the applause was deafening with a standing ovation without a dry eye in the house, even Mrs. Freud, the unemotional, strict, expressionless math teacher was weeping. The experience of having to be able to touch people to the core and express through the creative arts sealed my deal with acting. The gift of story telling enables the artist to invite the audience to experience thoughts, feelings, challenges that they too may have experienced. It opens a door to allow others to not feel alone and know there is strength in sharing.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I grew up in a dysfunctional, abusive household. Every day I went to church or school, I pretended all was well on the home front. I had to squash my true feelings and live life as “all is well”. Echoes of screaming and yelling rang out of our home, causing our neighbors to keep their distance and not include us with the invitations to parties & celebrations. I felt very isolated and an outcast. In school I found freedom with working on characters in the school plays & talent contests. I was able to become anyone else but myself in these roles and find expression of my feelings through the words of a writer.. I received gracious, encouraging feedback and acknowledgement of my ability to get an audience to laugh, cry and connect. Acting became an outlet for me to put my emotions, stress into words and communicate. I went to a private parochial lutheran elementary school. Next stop is high school, I did not want to continue to the local sister lutheran high school and our local public high school was very high in crime and drugs, so that was an immediate “no”. One of my mother’s church friend’s daughter went to an art school in Manhattan, the High School of Performing Arts. This sounded like a dream but one had to prepare two monologues to “audition” to get in. I didn’t even know what a monologue was or an audition. Her daughter, Andrea Markowitz helped me prepare two monologues, directing me and introduced me to theater games and interviews that would be included if I got a call back. Well I got a callback and finally received the acceptance letter which I still have to this day. I felt special, thousands auditioned from all 5 NYC boroughs and only accepted, maybe 90 as freshman acting majors. (I may be off with the number, but needless to say it wasn’t very many). I felt like I found my tribe with my fellow classmates. I received the leads in our high school productions and won an award for best actress during our graduation. I continued on to receive my BFA in Theatre Arts & Film from professional acting program at The State University of New York @ Purchase with George Morrison as our mentor. Favorite roles were Hennie in “Awake and Sing” by Clifford Odets starring opposite Stanley Tucci as Moe, directed by Larry Kornfeld, Sonya in “Uncle Vanya” by Chekhov starring opposite Stanley Tucci as Astrov, directed by Kay Michael Patten, & Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing” by Shakespeare starring opposite Stanley Tucci as Benedict, directed by Theodore Mann. Stanley Tucci & I were cast several times together by different professional directors. We had an unbelieveable chemistry together that was magnetic. After graduation I moved to NYC and continued studying with Uta Hagen & Wynn Handman as I auditioned in New York City. I performed in several theater productions one of the highlights being Edna in “Waiting For Lefty” by Clifford Odets, directed by Howard Da Silva. I worked on several commercials and daytime soap operas, with a recurring role as Lauren Phillips on “Another World”. I was flown out to Los Angeles to audition for a leading role in “Days Of Our Lives” and a new pilot, “Seinfeld”. I read opposite the now Jerry Seinfeld, not knowing who he was at the time. I didn’t land either role but sparked interests in agents to represent me. I moved out to LA and my career came to a screeching halt, it was during the beginning of the Gulf War and things in the industry were slowing down during this eventful uncertainty. I was becoming very discouraged but received an “audition” back in New York City. Within a month, I moved back to New York City, hired with an exclusive “fit modeling” contract with Ann Taylor. Although not an acting job, this modeling work took me all over the world; Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taiwan, Korea, China, Milan, Florence, Paris, Istanbul, Mexico, to name a few. At the age of 40, I met my husband Eric and put my careers on hold to have my boy/girl twins Ayla & Myles. I wanted so desperately to be a healthier, loving present parent than what I had experienced in my childhood, so the next 18 years I devoted my life to my family. During the pandemic when the whole world shut down, one of my dear friends, Virginia Linden, also an actress/writer, invited me to read a role in her 10 minute short play over Zoom with a group called “Station House” monitored by Gareth Williams which consists of NY/LA actor/writers. The group met weekly throughout the whole pandemic over zoom to read new 10 minute shorts, plays and/or screen plays. I didn’t have to leave my house and these meetings became a weekly gathering with like minded professionals. I then took a chance and started writing myself and became very encouraged. One night at our meeting a producer, Bernadette Armstrong from Opendoor Playhouse was in our meeting. She produces fabulous audio podcasts. I submitted one of my plays to her and she accepted it. Bernadette allowed me to cast and direct it. Eventually I wrote more that were produced and I was cast as an actor in several other plays she was producing. It has now been over three years and I am still working as an actor/director & writer at Opendoor Playhouse podcasts. We now record them in LA in a sound studio in Altadena, CA. And simultaneously, through “Station House” & “Detroit Street Films”, I was fortunate to able to direct a five minute short poem film. “The Things I Say To My Animal”, which included a collaboration of our many members. The film was accepted in the “International Poetry Film Festival” and also the “NYC Festival of Cinema.” I am very thrilled to be back in the industry now on my terms, creating meaningful art for me to express my creativity and hopefully inspire others. I get to do this for the pure joy of loving the arts.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Most rewarding is to hear the audience member or other writer/actor/directors say, “I’ve never thought about it that way before”, “I didn’t know others felt that way, now I don’t feel so alone”. “You inspired me to become to……..”. Also to open up discussions about the writers’ themes & how they may still relate today or is history repeating itself.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Society can support artists and creatives by going to see a live performance, write a review, refer to family & friends, donate to help keep theater companies alive, post on their social media, support the acting unions.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.opendoorplayhouse.org
- Instagram: Kim Hlavac
- Facebook: Kim Hlavac