Five Questions With Diana Huey

This week, we've been profiling some of the artists who've helped make July a stunning month for Contemporary Classics, a Seattle-based theatre company dedicated to producing new musicals. Today, we have Diana Huey, who had lead roles in both Zanna, Don't! and The Yellow Wood, which closed last weekend at the Center House Theatre. Diana's also worked with the Village Theatre, 5th Avenue, the Balagan, StageRight Theatre, and Second Story Rep. Later this month, you can catch her in the Village Theatre's In Your Eyes (August 14) and then at the Balagan in their staged production of Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, starting August 20.

1. Where did you grow up, and how did you end up where you are now? I grew up in Mukilteo, just north of Seattle.  Ever since I can remember, music has always been a huge part of my life.  I was always singing--whether it be with my favorite Disney princesses or making up my own songs to accompany my day. I started taking dance classes when I was in preschool and private voice lessons when I was about ten to focus my energy towards my passion of performing. All through grade school I was incredibly active in any form of the performing arts I could fit into my schedule--drama, choir (where I spent most of my free time working as a council member), jazz, barbershop--and my favorite: musical theater.  The high school musicals were the highlight of my high school career.  Playing Eponine in Les Miserables my senior year really solidified my love for musical theater and drove me forward to attend Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where I received a BFA in theater with an emphasis in the Performing Arts.  After graduating in 2008, I got accepted into an intensive Acting Internship at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, where I spent the entire season learning the ins and outs of the professional theater world, performed, and understudied their resident acting company.  Now I'm back home in Seattle and itching to do all the work I can get my hands on!

2. Which performance, song, play, movie, painting, or other work of art had the biggest influence on you and why? Growing up I absolutely loved all the Disney movies.  I appreciated how beautifully they were animated, the stories, the characters--but most of all, the music.  In a way, Disney was my first taste at musical theater. I was so drawn to how the music moved the story forward and explained things in a way that simply speaking couldn't.

3. What skill, talent, or attribute do you most wish you had and why? I kick myself all the time for having quit piano lessons when I was a kid.  My older sister Kathy and I both took piano lessons from a young age--but I found it difficult and after a few years gave up. I regret that decision with all my heart. If there was some way that I could turn back time and have a do-over, I would. I spend some of my free time now practicing on my keyboard at home and hope to someday re-teach myself how to play.

4. What do you do to make a living? Describe a normal day. Currently I am living up the whole "starving artist" lifestyle (glamorous, right?). When I returned home from Milwaukee last year, I returned to my day job at the Space Needle and worked there till I was offered a job with the 5th Avenue Theatre for their Adventure Musical Theatre touring show. For about five months, that was my full time job and I was very excited to be able to call myself a "full-time working actor." Once that contract ended, I got super busy doing summer shows (Zanna, Don't!, The Yellow Wood, New Voices with Contemporary Classics, In Your Eyes with the Village Theatre Festival and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog with Balagan Theatre). I have found from summers past that trying to balance multiple shows and a day job is incredibly taxing and virtually impossible. I'll have rehearsals for one show during the day followed by an evening performance of another.  It makes for a very busy day--sometimes 10-12 hours straight--so for now, I am currently unemployed and just trying to enjoy my summer doing what I love.

5. Have you ever had to make a choice between work and art? What did you choose, why, and what was the outcome? I have found that generally when I am faced with the decision between work and art, I tend to choose art--hence why I am currently unemployed and working on three different shows at the same time. Of course having money is a necessity to live comfortably in the city--but since I can survive off of careful savings and a small unemployment check right now--I have once again chosen art over work. I can live without the fun extra material things that money can offer, but I wouldn't be able to live without theater in my life. I went through a dry spell when I first returned to Seattle last year, and I literally went a little insane from craving the arts so badly. Theater and music are so deeply a part of who I am and it's something that I'm just not willing to give up.