A True Musical Connoisseur | Meet “Once Upon A Mattress” Actress Lowry Palmer

July 17, 2014

For my first interview as an Encore staff member, I chose to talk to an old friend (we’ve gone to school together from the time we were in kindergarten), who is currently a member of the Once Upon A Mattress cast. Lowry Palmer is a rising sophomore at the College of William & Mary, and a seven-time Encore alum. Five of the seven Encore shows she’s been involved with were summer productions, so she’s no stranger to a good musical. She’s also pretty familiar with princesses and peas after playing the Queen in Encore’s spring production of Princess and the Pea in 2010. Lowry has also worked at all of the Encore camps. Just before she headed off to the first tech week rehearsal of Once Upon A Mattress, we sat down to talk about the production, which opens this Friday, and what makes an Encore summer so special.

Maddie: You’re currently part of the cast of Once Upon A Mattress. Can you tell us a little about the production (without giving any spoilers) and your role in the show?

Lowry: I think the show is really cute. It has a little something for everyone. It’s one of those shows that parents can watch with their kids and go, “That was so funny,” but it also has that princess aspect that kids love. There’s nothing like a princess show, I think—the way that kids react, and they dress up and do they whole thing. [It’s a princess show] with a little bit of a twist. It’s not your normal princess story, because we did this story a couple years ago. I was actually part of that cast, too.

M: Oh, yes! I remember seeing you in Princess and the Pea. That’s so funny.

L: [Once Upon a Mattress] is a fairytale with a little bit more of a modern and exciting twist. I think it’s going to be fun! During the show, I’m part of the ensemble for a lot of it—one of the ladies in waiting—and I get to do a ballet part, which is interesting. It’s been awhile since I’ve done that. I’m also dance captain with Sarah Conrad this year, which I really enjoy doing.

M: Right, you were a dancer for many years. I still consider you a dancer, but you’re not taking dance classes or doing recitals or anything anymore. What is your dance background like?

L: I started dancing in first grade, with a company that was loosely called Youth Dancers of Arlington. It was a small company run by one lady, and kind of one of her friends. Her name is Judy Calogero. I did that for eleven years, and then she moved away. I was also doing jazz with Susan Brock. So, small, little things—we would just do a performance at the end of the year. And that actually taught me how to dance. I had no natural ability, at all. Not even a little bit. No rhythm, no flexibility, so that set the foundation.

M: And now you’re dancing in Once Upon A Mattress! How did you transition from dance to theatre, or how have your theatre and dance experiences come together?

L: When it came time to audition for my first show at Encore, I remember I was coming home from a dance class with a friend and she said, “Oh, I’m auditioning for this,” and I said, “I want to do that, too!” Dance came in handy when auditioning because I didn’t realize that not everyone has that dance background. It was really cool to be able to pull that out. I’ve taken that a step further because most of the shows I’ve done through Encore are that princess-y kind of fairytale show. I’ve been doing a lot of research online, watching Disney movies, and watching the princesses in Disney parks, and applying my dance background to learning how they move. I think that’s helped a lot with shows like [Once Upon A Mattress]. It also helps, just in general, with picking up the dances fast, and I think that’s part of the reason I’m dance captain for this show. I’ve learned every dance so I can teach them to people when they are missing, or I step in when we have an injury [like we just did this summer]. So I’m going to be stepping in and performing a part that I originally was not, but it should work out well.

M: Once Upon a Mattress is a musical. Do you have a preference, between plays and musicals? What makes one more enjoyable than the other?

L: I think both are great, and they both bring different things to the table, so they are equal on levels of fun, etc. But I love a musical. I love the cheese, I like how all of a sudden everyone breaks out into song and dance. Actually, this year at school I joined show choir because it’s basically just that moment of “We better sing a song and dance to it right now,” over and over again. I think there’s something really special about that, and something captivating about it. But you need a play on both sides because otherwise you don’t have a good story to follow.

M: I like that. You’ve done a ton of musicals with Encore, but what makes Once Upon A Mattress different from other shows you’ve been in? What’s your favorite part about it?

L: Something I think is really different about this show, and made it really different to work on this summer, is that it’s a show filled with a lot of physical comedy. A little bit of that has happened in past summers, but this summer it’s really hit on the head. There’s a lot of pantomime, a lot of falling and all that kind of stuff, and crazy, almost-stage combat (but in a funny way). I think that really sets this [show] apart. Plus, there’s a double meaning to everything, which is always fun. There’s something for all different age groups. I think that’s really cool.

[Pause for technical difficulties]

L: Welcome back!

M: Yes, welcome again to this interview with Lowry Palmer! So, double meanings?

L: Yeah, I actually asked my younger sister Faith to make of note of the jokes she picked up on that the kids around her didn’t when she comes to see the show.

M: This show does a really good job of hiding a lot of adult humor.

L: Oh, yeah, watch the King for that especially.

M: Once Upon A Mattress is the summer production for Encore’s 2013/2014 season, but Encore does shows during all four calendar seasons of the year. I know you have been a part of shows at other times of the year, so what makes the summer productions unique?

L: It’s really cool to work with an older crowd, because during the year there’s an 18-age limit. I think there’s a lot of mentorship that goes on during the regular season productions, where you have older kids and younger kids collaborating. I think that’s taken a step further [in the summer] because you have people who are, for example, our parents’ age and you learn to work with people of all ages. I always like the adults in productions. I feel like I learn a lot from them. We’ve had equity actors before, which is really cool to see. [The production team] really treats us like adults [during the summer], and they made a big point of that this summer, especially of being like “We’re going to treat you guys like pre-professionals, and not just like most of you are under 18.” I think that makes a big different, and really adds to the experience.

M: You have been involved in summer productions at Encore since you were old enough to audition, right?

L: Right.

M: So, that was when you were 15?

L: Yep, 15.

M: What first prompted you to audition for a summer show versus a regular season show?

L: Actually, it’s funny. The summer before I auditioned the show was Beauty and the Beast, and I wanted to be in Beauty and the Beast so badly. I loved that show, I loved seeing it. That was summer I couldn’t drive, and I actually did an Encore camp (I was a camper before I was in shows). When the camp ended, I had nothing to do. I was so bummed, I wanted to be doing anything. Then, when it came time to actually be able to audition for a [summer] show, I thought I’d love to be doing something like this, something I really love. It was a straight-forward musical, and I’d only been doing musicals up to that point—I’d always made sure to pick those ones out—so it just worked out well. I just had lots of fun. That was Anything Goes. I was the baby of that cast—the youngest person—which was very strange looking back now.

M: You worked with Sarah Conrad [who plays the Jester in Once Upon A Mattress] in that show right?

L: Yeah, that’s where I met Sarah Conrad.

M: How was working with Sarah? And what’s it like working with her again for Once Upon A Mattress?

L: I’ve worked with Sarah every summer I’ve done Encore shows. We’re tight, and she’s been doing them longer than I have. I always have to think about it because I always think that she’s my age, and she’s actually a real adult—older than me. She’s great to work with, I love her. She works really hard, and we both have a strong dance background so it’s nice to work with somebody when you have that same kind of train of thought. Right now, doing the dance captain thing, we kind of split it where I’ve learned all the dances and she watches all the dances, and then when we stage it, she’s going to be spacing everything and I’ll be watching it. So we have a nice little team going. She’s just the hardest worker. I remember during Wizard of Oz, between shows she had an allergic reaction and we were all like, “Oh, no, don’t go on. We’ll figure something out,” and she said, “It’s okay, you guys.” She was sick, but she went on and it was phenomenal. So much respect.

M: What advice would you give to other actors auditioning for a summer production at Encore for the first time? Is there anything in particular you wish someone had your 15-year-old self before you auditioned?

L: One thing: Just go for it! Really put everything into that audition because you can’t regret it if you put in everything. I remember, for my first audition, I came in wearing jean shorts and flip flops—which your not supposed to do. Don’t do that. I didn’t know what to expect. I walked in and they said we were going to dance, and I thought, now you’re going to have to do something special. They asked us to improv the last part of the dance routine and I told myself, “You better improv your face off right now.” I worked really hard on that and I think something like that helps, when you put everything into it. You never know how it’s going to end up. And always just be yourself. Everyone at Encore is really nice and really chill about the way they audition, so as long as you go for it, put everything into it, and show them what you can do, it normally goes well and it’s well perceived.

To see more from Lowry Palmer, and the whole Once Upon A Mattress cast, be sure to come see our show! Once Upon A Mattress opens Friday, July 18 at 8pm at Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre. You can buy tickets on our website or by calling our box office at (703) 548-1154.