NR: I think you and Terry Richmond are the only two women who have been in the ensemble since the beginning. Is that true?

KN: Yes, the only two women. Charles West and David Cromwell are the only others from the very beginning who are still here.

NR: Yeah, but Charles is not even ensemble anymore. He's Jessup now. How on earth do you keep from being bored to tears, being a soldier and a maid and a tart, over and over again.

KN: It's a whole other skill set. It takes technique. You know that this is your job and you find new ways to create nuances, but of course within the parameters of what you have to do. As ensemble, there's a little less room for really changing things. You need to stay pretty true so that the principals can have leeway with their roles.

NR: When you walk out as a soldier with a gun, there's not a lot you can do.

KN: Exactly. There's a lot of precision too with Bobby's direction, no doubt about it. (laughing) Of course I've tried to create my "soldier characters," but there's a little conflict there. I'm being in character but I need to hide my gender.

NR: Well, you're tall. That helps.

KN: It does. A lot of it is just very technical - hitting the marks, being where we need to be so we support the production the way it needs to be supported.

NR: And you can still make that interesting, or is it just a job?

KN: It's a challenge. I try not to make anything "just a job" because I think at that point you shouldn't be doing it anymore. If you're there, then you need to be a creative person and doing your job to the fullest. You have to really be a part of the ensemble.

NR: (teasing) Well, very likely there's someone in the audience who hasn't seen it before.

KN: Exactly! Exactly. It's always new for someone. I know that for myself I've done other projects while I've been doing this show and that has kept me "artistically alive" which is great too. You know about Ron's (Melrose) piece, Early One Morning, and I've done a couple of radio shows too. They were great because we'd rehearse Sunday nights and we recorded it live in front of an audience on a Monday night. I did that twice and that was great because, as I said, I love the discovery and working on a character. I come from a background and my training is in straight theater as an actor. That helps me when I'm in the ensemble because that's how I'm approaching it. Say we're in the prison - I've got something going on, a story for myself. I can change that story too, so that keeps it interesting.

NR: Now you have all new leads. How did the dynamics change? There are different people to react to.

KN: Well that keeps it interesting. That's definitely one of the variables that has kept it a journey. I really love our new leads. I liked our old leads too, and of course Doug (Sills) is just incredible and those are very tough shoes to fill, but I think Ron (Bohmer) is terrific. All three of the leads come from a strong acting background and they're very good to work with backstage. They're very nice people. You have to say that cast changes has kept things interesting. The "backstage life" is always changing.

NR: Now, tell me about your show with Ron Melrose.

KN: It's a one-woman musical and there aren't that many out there in the world. It's called Early One Morning and the character is Mary Magdalene. It's definitely of a religious nature but I think it's so amazing that whether friends from a Jewish background, or from a secular background, come to see it, they've all taken away something because it's also about watching this human being grapple with some huge issues and crises of faith. It was such a gift when I met Ron and he said, "Would you like to work on this piece?" I heard it for the first time and I said, "Absolutely! Are you kidding? Is there any doubt?"

NR: He wrote everything and that's him playing on the CD, right?

KN: He wrote everything.

NR: It's just the two of you?

KN: Exactly. He's a brilliant musician, musical director and composer. He's so wise, both on an emotional plane and just in terms of how he puts things together intellectually. In terms of being a man writing for a woman, it's so sensitive. It just taps into all of the emotions.

NR: It is wonderful. I didn't get a chance to see the show but I have the CD.

KN: Well I think we probably will perform it again, but it's tough. Ron gets even more busy when we're going through a changeover in Pimpernel than I do. We had a two week run at the Lambs Theater back in March and April. It was really nice to get it on its feet because we had performed it once before, just a "one night only" sort of thing when we were rehearsing The Scarlet Pimpernel. It was great because a lot of the cast and crew came to see it, as well as friends of both Ron and myself from "the outside world." (laughing) It was so successful, but then we got sucked into putting together Pimpernel. Then the Lambs had shown some interest in it and that was just wonderful so we had looked forward to that. Then we released the CD simultaneously which is extremely exciting. For awhile it was available at Colony, and then it was on Amazon.com but now it's at the Virgin Megastore and it's at Tower in Lincoln Center. I'm thrilled, I'm really thrilled.

Interview conducted and photographs by Nancy Rosati.