Kirsten Vangsness is both like and unlike Penelope Garcia, the brainy computer whiz she plays on the hit CBS drama Criminal Minds. Yes, they are both a bit idiosyncratic, energetic, sensitive, and “we both love us some Shemar Moore [her co-star].” But…
“She’s more together than I am,” says Vangsness. While Penelope is confident and self-assured, Vangsness describes herself as eccentric, left-handed, kind, curious and, surprisingly, insecure. However, that insecurity creeps in only when she’s not in front of a camera or an audience. When the cameras roll or the curtain goes up, confidence supersedes any uncertainty.
She’s in the premiere of Phinneas Kiyomura’s Figure 8, opening Friday at Theatre of NOTE in Hollywood. To say she’s pumped about the show would be an understatement.
“I love theater,” she says. “I love being on stage. There is just something about it. I feel good when I’m doing it. It makes me very happy.”
It’s about an hour before she’s expected at rehearsal, but Vangsness isn’t feeling rushed. She’s at Groundwork, the coffee hangout that’s a few steps from Theatre of NOTE, a place she calls her “artistic home”.
Ordering a beverage at the counter, the pint-sized actress, sans makeup, goes unnoticed as she blends in with the other patrons.
OK, she doesn’t exactly blend in, but this is the middle of Hollywood, so she does, at least, fit in.
Flat, black shoes, white fishnet stockings, cropped salmon colored jacket and a floral, bluish”“purple dress that accentuates and reveals her bodacious cleavage – these set her apart from the patrons who are donned in jeans and t-shirts. And then there’s the tousled blonde hair that rests on her shoulders and the oversized, black spectacles that occupy most of her face. It all makes for an eclectic look that has become Vangsness’ signature.
“If I’m wearing glasses, then I like to make the statement that says, “˜I’m wearing glasses’,” she says.
Vangsness, who is a hoot and a holla, would rather not discuss her age. “I’m this age,” she says pointing to her face. “I get cast as much younger than what I am.” When she’s looking for just the right words to say, she looks especially youthful — her eyes dart up and then back and forth quickly as if she’s looking for a file in her brain’s computer.
She has a quick smile, and she talks fast ““ real fast. She says she’s shy — “If I have to order a sandwich, I’m terrified.” But nothing about her bold style bolsters that claim.
The Part
Figure 8, which is written by Kiyomura, who co-directs along with Jerry Kernion, uses the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride) as a backdrop, while intertwining eight different stories about ordinary sinners doing sinfully ordinary things. The show went through NOTEworthy, Theatre of NOTE’s ongoing staged reading and play development series.
Vangsness’ character, an amateur porn star, represents lust.
“That part just screams Kirsten to me,” said Kiyomura, who has been friends with Vangsness ever since they studied theater at Cal State Fullerton about 14 years ago. “When I cast her, something said she’d be good in pulling off the humor and petulance without making her a caricature. Kirsten can bring such depth and color to things. She’s good at mixing comedy and drama.”
“It’s really fun,” says Vangsness, adjusting her glasses. “My character’s name is Christy. She’s a crazy, angry, dark character. It’s a thinking play.
“I love this show. It all happens out of order. It’s like the movie Memento [directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Guy Pearce and Carrie-Anne Moss]. All the characters are connected in different ways. It’s an exploration of sin. The play is about love and humans sometimes being a bad cocktail.”
Although the part is extremely edgy, Vangsness, who has been doing theater since she was in the fourth grade, says she feels safe in the role because of the other actors in the show.
“I love these people,” she says. “They are some of the most talented and committed people I know. I really mean that. They are good actors. They help me raise my game. This is an ensemble piece. It’s the farthest thing from a vanity project.”
“Directing her is easy,” says Kiyomura, who describes his friend as “sweet, loving, crazy, talented, supportive and amusingly unpredictable…She’s open to ideas. This is a rare collaboration for us. She doesn’t always do my shows, but she always reads them. We’ve worked with each other before on The Little Darlings. We work well together.”
Vangsness was a part of Theatre of NOTE well before she was cast in Criminal Minds. In 2004, she was the last winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Natalie Schafer Award for “Best Emerging Comic Actress.”
But she didn’t want to just be handed the Figure 8 role. She bristles at the notion of getting the role because she’s on a hit television show. She wanted to audition for it because she felt passionate about the project.
“I would never want to get something just based on how much exposure I have,” she says. “That would be dumb. I wouldn’t want it unless I’m the best person for the job. This is a good show. Phinny (Kiyomura) has worked on it for two years now. I like to stretch myself and explore. This role allows me to do that.”
When she’s doing theater, Vangsness has no interest in playing it safe. She loves to get down and dirty.
“My mom texted me the other day and said, “˜Should I come to this? How edgy is this,?’” says Vangsness. “I’ve invited her to things before and forgotten to tell her, “˜I’m naked in this’. I told her it’s very edgy. There is a sweetness in the brutality. It’s not something I want my nieces to see. It’s brutal, cool and a fun play to do. It’s not Damn Yankees.”
Yeah, That’s Write
Acting is not Vangsness’ only creative outlet. She has many creative irons in the fire. She acts, writes and produces and is passionate about them all.
“Writing affords me the ability to say what I want to say,” says Vangsness, who has been writing in journals since the fifth grade and now has about 200 of them in her house. “What do I want to work through? It helps me work through things and figure things out and talk about something I feel excited about.”
She has written a play called Mess, which she says she may mount in March. “It’s my take on quantum time,” she says. It’s about the notion that time isn’t exactly in line.”
She’s also currently writing Potential Space, an original play she says will open at the NOTE this fall. The show is about vaginas, but it’s not like The Vagina Monologues.
“It’s about the idea that all of us have several layers of ourselves,” says Vangsness. “I’m the Kirsten that wants you to like her, the Kirsten that is grateful for the interview, the Kirsten that says she hopes to get to the theater on time. I wrote it as sort of one person’s take with all of the conflicts she has and all those different voices. The vagina voice has the loudest of all of them. It’s weird.”
If shooting a television show, doing a play, and writing two others doesn’t keep her busy enough, Vangsness is also in the middle of co-producing and starring in the film Kill Me, Deadly, which is taken from a play that was produced at the NOTE in 2009.
“It’s a film noir spoof that takes place in 1947,” explains Vangsness. “It’s like The Artist meets Airplane. It’s silly. Shemar (Moore) has a cameo and so does Joe Mantegna.”
Admittedly, Vangsness went about movie making the wrong way. With 14 more days of shooting on the schedule, she needs about $1 million to complete the project.
“The way you do the movie is you raise the money first and then do the movie,” says Vangsness, who used her own money as well as that of one other investor. “We shot the movie, now we need to fund-raise to get it done.”
As Luck Would Have It
Pasadena-born and California-raised, Vangsness tooled around Hollywood like any other actress, before she struck gold as a series regular on Criminal Minds and was named one of the Top Ten “Scene Stealers” by Entertainment Weekly during its first season.
Over the years she held many jobs while waiting for the elusive big break.
“I never really had a Plan B,” says Vangsness. “But I had a lot of jobs. I was a substitute teacher, worked in a group home, wrote grants, worked at Victoria’s Secret, was a hostess in a restaurant, was a temp, was a personal assistant to an actress (no one famous), worked QuickBooks, worked in a fabric store and was even a bubble scientist.”
She has appeared in commercials for Diet Dr. Pepper, IBM and Borders Books. She was also a guest star on Disney’s Phil Of The Future and had a recurring role as “Stephanie” — a nervous, bee-hived, flight attendant — on NBC’s now defunct LAX.  Â
Her theater credits include A Mulholland Christmas Carol (L.A. Weekly Award), Book of Liz, Fan Maroo, Perfuct and Steaming City. She also appeared in the 2007 West Coast premiere of Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig at the Geffen Playhouse. Her short plays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine as well as in theaters throughout Los Angeles. She co-produced Famous Blue for Theatre of NOTE in 2006.
Vangsness would be the first to tell anyone how lucky she’s been. Her gig on Criminal Minds was only supposed to be temporary. However, her character made such an impact and was so popular, she became a series regular ““ a job she’s now had for seven years. She also portrayed the same character on the spin-off, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.
Crazy Time
But Vangsness’ life isn’t just about work. She likes to get a little crazy. She relishes the time she gets to spend with her fiancé, Melanie Goldstein, a film editor who has been her partner for five years. The two plan to marry in 2013. She loves to play with her dog, Bastian, whom she rescued from the pound in 1996.
If you go to her house, where she likes to write, hang out with friends, dance and play loud music, Vangsness says it would look much like “Alice in Wonderland is trying to grow up. But she has failed miserably. But, she’s trying. It would look like the French aristocracy went to space.”
“I don’t do theater for the money,” says Vangsness. “I would do this for free. You have to love theater. I get dressed in the alley. NOTE is like that. I sit on concrete and run lines because I love it.”
Theater “levels the playing field. It’s not about editing or special effects. You’re just there with your guts and viscera and I like that. You learn how to get out of your own way. I like that everyone is the same. It’s my church. I believe theater is where the conversation starts. It’s a form of community service. Theater is a great equalizer. You can’t hide behind anything.”
To keep her career in perspective, Vangsness says she often refers back to the Konstantin Stanislavsky quote her high school teacher had posted on the wall.
“Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art.”
Figure 8, presented by Theatre of Note. Opens Feb. 24. Plays Fri.-Sat. 8 pm; Sun. at 7 p.m.. Through March 24. Tickets: $25, Seniors/Students $20. Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga (just north of Sunset), Hollywood. 323-856-8611. www.theatreofnote.com.
***All Figure 8 production photos by Kevin Sharp
1 Comment
i love this peice. i enjoyed reading it. and thank you for writing it. I can’t go see it but would love to.
amber