A week into the run of a play in New York City, Anne Louise Zachry starts off a typical work day at a local diner, where she picks up The New York Times to peruse the Arts & Leisure section.
“[I look] to see what is being done in town and what shows are opening or being reviewed,” said the ’89 Darlington alumna and professional actress. “[Later in the day], I will read through material for an audition I might have and work through the text to understand what it is the character might be doing. I write down any impressions I might have about the mood of the scene and the given circumstances of the play.”
Zachry then makes a phone call. “I’ll call a friend and ask for some help in reading the material aloud,” she said. “Then, I usually spend some time helping the friend with his or her upcoming audition.”
By that time, it’s 5:30 p.m. – time to go to the theatre for the evening. “When I arrive, I grab some tea and spend about 30 minutes warming up for the show. This usually entails articulation exercises I learned at Juilliard and some stretching, as well as running some lines with a scene partner,” she said. “After getting into hair and make-up and costume, it’s time for the show to start.”
Zachry loved theatre from an early age, and fondly remembers attending the Fox Theatre’s production of Annie with her grandparents when she was in the first grade. “I was mesmerized and brought the tape of the soundtrack home and played it for hours,” she said. “I then held my grandparents hostage for days doing my imitation of the songs and highlights from the show. Whether it was tap dancing in the driveway with my cousin or performing in the church talent show with my brother, I have always loved an audience.”
The daughter of a ’65 alumnus, Zachry came to Darlington as a boarding student in 1986. “I think the way in which Darlington encouraged and nurtured independent thought has had a tremendous impact on my work and on my life,” she said. “The School really encouraged students to think for themselves and to value their own ways of seeing and thinking. I am so grateful for that because it was the first time I was really pushed to listen to myself and trust that my contribution was valuable.”
Zachry’s memories include running to the School Store after study hall at night to meet friends and eat Honeybuns and hanging out in the Cove during the school day. “I spent every Wednesday night at the Enloes’ house, my Rome family, eating a home-cooked meal, and that is a very memorable time for me,” she said. “We used to have these very elaborate and fantastic biscuit-eating contests.”
She recalled meeting her first friends at Darlington while doing The Little Foxes with George Awsumb, AP humanities and cinema teacher. “His love of the arts and ability to inspire curiosity about a painting, a film or a play had a big impact on me,” she said. “And, of course, the humanities trip to New York was unforgettable.”
Zachry also credits Brad Gioia, former headmaster, and David Powell, chairman of the English department, with teaching her to be a leader and to find joy and freedom in her work, respectively.
“I would urge students at Darlington to really mine the connections they have with the faculty, because that is something that was really missing in my education at Duke University. I never found that student-teacher connection,” she said. “The fact that my teachers at Darlington really spent time getting to know me outside of the classroom and really believed in my talent has been a real image of faith for me in times of doubt.
“When I was at Darlington, there was a very forgiving atmosphere that was created by the administration,” she continued. “With that in mind, I encourage students to try a lot of new things and especially things that scare them or in which they may not excel. One of those activities just might stick and become the thing that brings them the most pleasure, or may help them make friends with people they otherwise would not have come into contact with.”
After graduating from Darlington in 1989, Zachry went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Duke and a diploma from the drama division of The Juilliard School. She was ready for the stage.
Playing different characters has taught her a great deal about acting and about herself. According to Zachry, each job she has had has presented a new set of problems to solve. “I think the times when I have pretended that the problems weren’t there are the times when I have learned the most,” she said. “Unfortunately, it was usually not until performance that I realized I should have made these things conscious."
When Zachry played “C” in Baltimore Center Stage’s production of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women, she had trouble bringing her own personal joy to the role, mainly because she found her character not likeable. “Her youthful arrogance and ignorance is actually a source of humor in the play, but I was unable to find the sense of play. Consequently, I was very tense in performance,” she said. “I wish that I had found a way to wink at the audience and somehow make her less desirable traits more fun to inhabit. In rehearsal, I think I thought I was being a ‘good actor’ and serving the play by hiding the qualities I deemed unappealing. In truth, I should have been reveling these qualities and embracing her abrasiveness and impatience and absolute disrespect for the old woman.”
This spring, Zachry worked on The Mentor Project in New York City, in which the Cherry Lane Theatre pairs emerging playwrights with well-known playwrights to develop new work. Through this program, she worked on a play called Wordsworth about a single mother who is trying to find ways to communicate with her son while she is battling thoughts of suicide and questions about her sexuality. In the middle of this, her dying father comes to live with her. “The play is actually quite funny, and it was a real thrill to be able to originate a role,” she said.
After finishing with The Mentor Project, Zachry went to Vassar College to work at New York Stage and Film on a reading of a new play. “Vassar houses a sort of ‘summer camp for actors,’ where emerging and established playwrights use film, television and theatre actors to generate excitement about new work,” she explained.
Zachry recently found out that she was cast as “Babe” in Syracuse Stage’s production of Crimes of the Heart. “I have always wanted to do a Southern play,” she said. “Even though teachers at Juilliard were rigorous about getting my Southern speech patterns to a more neutral place and constantly reminded me that my Southern accent was really only a small part of who I am, I can’t wait to bring back all my bad habits and be fully Southern on stage.”
