Jessica has been a member of The Scarlet Pimpernel company since last July. In October, she became an understudy to Marie and Marguerite, and has played them opposite quite a few Percys and Chauvelins.

NR: Can you tell me where you grew up?

JP: Yes. I was born in Nashville and I lived there till I was eight. My dad was studying at Vanderbilt and he finished his degree when I was eight. Then he got a job in New England so we moved up there.

NR: Where in New England?

JP: A little town just south of Worcester. My dad taught at Holy Cross. I spent from year eight on through college there. At seventeen I left and moved to Boston. I went to college in Boston at Emerson. I spent four years there and then I moved to New York.

NR: Who or what inspired you to become a performer?

JP: Actually I can't even remember a time when it wasn't something I wanted to do. In one vein or another, I've always been interested. I think it was sort of a domino effect because my mom was instrumental in getting me involved in the arts when I was a child. I was pretty much in every class you could think of. I went from piano to swimming to diving to gymnastics. I started to concentrate on certain things like gymnastics, which then led me into dance. Once I was heavily into dance, that sort of opened me up to theater. All along I had been singing and had been in the choir. I had been in chorus in school. It was somewhere in the middle of high school that I realized I could combine all of these interests into one direction which was specifically musical theater. Since then it's really been a passion.

NR: So that was your major in college?

JP: Yeah, but I went in and out. I definitely had phases of feeling like I wanted to become a therapist or something completely unrelated to show business.

NR: Really? So, what finally pushed you into it?

JP: I guess I got to a place where I felt like I didn't want to let an opportunity pass. If I was going to pursue this, (which was the riskiest choice), then I would need to do it now. So, I decided to give it a shot and that's when I decided to move forward with my degree in that area and then move to New York. I thought if it was something that's not right for me, I think I'll know it.

NR: What was the best advice that you were given?

JP: I really can't think of any one particular piece of advice that had an impact on me but I can say that my family always believed in me and that was a huge factor in my feeling the confidence to go through with making the choices that I did. My parents are both educators and they're very academic people and I know I always felt that I should excel at whatever it was that I chose to do. There was a part of me that knew that this was the thing that I could excel at.

NR: I believe you joined the cast last summer?

JP: Yeah, last July.

NR: But, you weren't an understudy then, were you?

JP: No. I came in to replace Kay Story and I came in in an ensemble track. I wasn't an understudy until we started the new show.

NR: How does it feel to understudy a lead in your Broadway debut?

JP: Indescribable. Absolutely. As with everything, it was a process that I worked toward and when you're making small steps to work toward something, when you finally reach your goal, I think it comes upon you as this huge shock, which is really where I found myself pretty much the first night I went on.

NR: I was going to ask you about that. Did you have any notice the first night? Did you feel you were ready?

JP: Ironically, we had just had understudy rehearsal. I went home for dinner and I was thinking on the train ride home, "I feel really good about this material. I feel really prepared. If there were ever a day to go on, today would be the day." And, I walked in the door of my house and my husband said, "Guess what? Turn around. You're on." I literally was frozen with fear. I couldn't move. My jaw was on the ground. I thought, "Oh, my God, I can't do this!" But of course, I knew I could.

NR: When was that?

JP: Oh, gosh. I think it was December, but it might have been January.

NR: So, it wasn't right in the beginning. Now, you understudy Marie in addition to Marguerite. Do you feel that Marie gets enough rehearsal time also?

JP: Yeah. Bonnie (Becker), our Stage Manager, is great about scheduling understudy rehearsals that cover all of the material we need to know. There are weeks that I'm called to do the Marie track and there are weeks that I'm called to do the Marguerite track. It's definitely covered. Because Marie doesn't have music, it was a much easier track to learn. I focused on the Marguerite material first so that I could feel confident with that because it was a much larger responsibility, but once all the material was down, then it was fine. I was confident.

NR: What about when you get short notice? I was here one night and Rachel (York) had walked in, but then found out she couldn't perform, and she had to leave. You did a wonderful job.

JP: Oh, yeah, I remember that day.

NR: Is that hard on REALLY short notice?

JP: You know, I think times like that is when your adrenaline kicks in. I don't remember feeling much except that I knew that I had to get the job done. It was "half hour" that I found out when I came in. It was scary. My first reaction was fear. But, there was work to be done - there was a fight call to be had, there was make-up to put on, there was a corset to get into and those things take priority. They also put you on a path toward a goal and the goal is immersing yourself in that character and any opportunity that the fear had to come in, I had to push my fear away and not allow it to come in.

NR: Does it come back to you after the performance?

JP: No, afterward is a feeling of relief and also a chance for me to look at everything as a whole unit. It's easier at that point for me to go back through the journey of the character and find places that I want to work on in the next understudy rehearsal, or that I would like to change for the following performance. It can be a hit and miss when you go on as an understudy because there's so much adrenaline, and there's so much involved in just concentrating on the mechanics that sometimes the finessing can be overlooked. So, in subsequent performances, it becomes really important to bring those things back in, bring in the detail so that you can fill out the character.

NR: Rachel talks about her Marguerite as being feisty and dramatic. How do you describe your Marguerite?

JP: I guess I would say Jessica's version of feisty and dramatic. I think, coming from the text, the character has to be that way, inherently feisty and dramatic. As each actor gets into the role, it was important for me to find elements that are specific to me, so that I could, in an honest way, contribute to that feistiness and that drama.

NR: Bryan (Batt) told me that he would try to do a few things differently from Douglas (Sills), but there were some things that just didn't really work differently and he had to do them the same. There were a few things that he was able to make his own. Do you have a similar situation?

JP: Yeah. I think it's even more limited with this character because Percy, as you know, has a lot more freedom in terms of where he can play, or the ability to play. She's much more of the constant. Of the triangle, she remains in her place as the others rotate around. That's imagery that I think applies.

NR: Do you play her differently if you're playing against a different Percy or a different Chauvelin?

JP: Yes, but those differences are so minute because of the fact that I have so few times to go on with different people. I know when I go back through my performance, I can think of those things, but they're probably not detectable because it was one performance with each different character, as opposed to having the chance to do several months' worth of performances with one person, and then watching yourself react off a different person and really be able to sense those differences. For me, when I go on, because it's new every time, then the feelings and reactions are new every time, or at least I try to make them that way. I try to make them truthful, so it's harder to tell what those differences are.

NR: What's your favorite part about Marguerite? Is there a favorite part of the show that you enjoy the most?

JP: Oh, the sword fight. Oh yeah!

NR: The sword fight? What was your reaction? Had you ever done any fencing before?

JP: No, but once I learned, I wanted to take classes.

NR: The first time they told you "By the way, you're going to fence" did you sit there and say "You're kidding me?"

JP: No, I was so excited. Yeah, I was really excited. Both my mom and my brother are black belts in karate. And while fencing is not a martial art, it was close enough to really be interesting to me because of what I know they've been through because of their experiences. I found it fascinating - the little details of how you hold your body, and where the other arm goes, the arm that is not holding the sword. All of that is fascinating to me. Of course I haven't taken class yet. (laughs) Someday I will.

NR: You could probably teach it when you're done. What's your favorite part about being in the ensemble?

JP: Hmm. That's a good question.

NR: Well, you do actually do that most of the time. (laughs)

JP: Yes, I do. I guess being in the ensemble gives you the freedom to try new things without the fear of it being in the spotlight. In other words, when I am a maid, I can make her quirky, or I can make her youthful. I can make her kind of sexy, and I can play those little things just for fun. It's probably not something anybody will notice, but I feel like it's a good exercise for me as an actor. And it also keeps it interesting.

NR: How do you keep it interesting? That's another good question. You're coming out doing ensemble every night, unless you're called for the other parts. How do you keep that from being boring?

JP: I can tell you it's harder than keeping a role interesting. I think the hardest part of feeling bored, or the potential of feeling bored, is often feeling like we don't matter because we're not the ones that people are laughing at or clapping at, or whatever. I think for me, the best way to keep it full, keep my track full, is to always appreciate that I'm on stage with 40 other actors, to know that any time, someone can be looking across the stage and reacting off of me and that I've got 40 other actors that I can choose to interact with. I know that I can draw on that kind of variety and that I choose to be there for other people and that's a way to keep my job most interesting.

NR: Now you've got the ball costume which all the women have, and you've got the "Storybook" costume and that wig in the beginning.

JP: Yeah, which barely stays on my head.

NR: I know. I'm watching you while you're dancing, and you're trying to keep that wig on your head, while you're tilting it. Do you have any costume horror stories to share? (laughs) How do you do that?

JP: Oh, let's see. I think only two. A couple of months ago, you know we have a quick change out of "Madame Guillotine" into the wedding, and that's timed really right down to the second. My zipper broke on the front of my costume and I missed my entrance. But, not only did I have to come on stage late, they still didn't have a chance to repair the costume, so I actually had to take my fichu and tuck it into the waist band of my costume to cover the HUGE GAP where my zipper was standing open on the front of my costume. (laughs) I mean, we have corsets on underneath, so it's not a big deal, but I'm sure that it wasn't the most attractive thing you've ever seen. Just yesterday actually, when I had my quick change into my mob costume, into "Madame Guillotine", I pulled the zipper up and I just kept going and there I had the tag in my hand, which meant that it was fine for that number, but when I got out of it, I wasn't able to put it back on. So actually for the "Rescue," I had to wear one of the swings' costumes. But, that's fun. It's really fun to wear someone else's costumes. I mean, it sort of adds a little "spice."

NR: (laughs) Now, you are staying, right? You're staying for the new version?

JP: I'm staying.

NR: So how do you think you're going to feel on May 30th?

JP: I think it will be sad, but you know, it's built in. It's a built in part of what we do. We celebrate the beginnings of shows and we celebrate the closing of them. It will be sad to not be in the same group of people, because this group is magnificent and we all have really wonderful working relationships, and personal relationships. But, it's a part of the job and I know that for many of us we will continue to keep in touch even though we're not working together. And for those of us who stay on, I think it will be important to have each other as a support system and it will also be very exciting to welcome new people into the show. That's always a great part of it.

NR: It's a whole new version.

JP: Yeah, that will be exciting.

NR: Was the League a surprise to you when you came?

JP: I don't think so. The first time I heard the word "Pimpy," I thought someone was joking. But I have friends over at Jekyll and Hyde and so I know that there's a pretty big Wildhorn following. It was interesting to me. I remember getting on the Net and surfing around a little bit to find out what the general feeling was out there. It's very exciting to know that so many people are thrilled to watch you work, and thrilled to be a part of this project - this wonderful project.

NR: What do you like to do when you're not working?

JP: Sleep.

NR: (laughing) Sleep - everybody says that.

JP: Oh damn - I thought I was going to be original. Well, my husband and I are both photographers. He's much better than I am. In fact, we have a small head shot business that we run together. So I take a shot (pardon the pun) at some amateur photography. It's funny you know. So many of the hobbies that I was involved in before I got this show have really kind of fallen off to the side. Between understudy rehearsals, and voice lessons and classes, and everything that's involved with coming to work six days a week, I really find that my free time is spent just catching up on the rest of my life, and spending time with my husband and relaxing.

NR: Now I know that you're staying with the show, but a couple of years down the road, what would you like to do?

JP: Honestly, I would love to work in animated films.

NR: Really. Doing what - voices?

JP: Voices, yeah. I've worked on some demos for some of the new Disney things and Dreamworks things, and I find them so fascinating because you're standing in front of this microphone and you have the ability to create any character you want that's not limited to your physique, your age, how tall you are, how old you are, what you look like. It can be really freeing and it can be, I think, an incredibly creative process, and a really interesting way to work. So I'd like to explore that.

NR: Well good luck.

JP: Well thanks!

Jessica is a delight to speak with, and although I've never seen her play Marie, I have seen her play Marguerite a few times and she impressed me greatly. I'm very happy that she will be a part of SP3, and that she will be given more opportunities to shine.

Questions suggested by:

Renee Girard, Nesha Sellers, Michele Bettwy, Meena J. Rao, Josie Smith, Jessica Boston, Marc Roselli, Helen, Leona Hoegsberg, Carolyn Peters, Jody Uyanik, Lauren Teweles, Melanie, Karen, Amy Lovett, Stephanie Henkin