Theater News

Giving Thanks!

Gavin Creel, Sutton Foster, Marc Kudisch, Priscilla Lopez, Julia Stiles and more stars share what they’re thankful for this year.

Julia Stiles
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)
Julia Stiles
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving season? TheaterMania asked over a dozen performers around town to answer that question. Whether their answers were personal, political, professional or spiritual, we’re thankful to these talented show people for sharing their thoughts with us this holiday season.

Gavin Creel(Hair): I’m thankful for Wally heeling on the leash, Lay’s Fruit and Nut Mix, Thursday night bowling with my crazy hippies, my new orange couch, the march on Washington, my parents’ huge hearts, possibility, and love.

Julia Stiles (Oleanna): I’m thankful for the opportunity to do what I love, and the health of my friends and family.

Sutton Foster (Shrek the Musical): I’m thankful for the good, the bad, and everything in between — for life’s challenges and victories and learning through both of them. And I am most thankful for the friendships and support that help guide you along the way.

Hunter Foster (Ordinary Days): After seeing the election of an African-American president, the movement towards marriage equality, and the brave fight that’s being put up in Congress for healthcare reform, I’m happy to say for the first time in many years, that I am thankful to be an American. Okay, I sound a little bit like I am giving an answer for the Miss USA pageant, but it’s true!

Gregory Jbara (Billy Elliot): I am thankful to have a loving, supportive family and the privilege of providing for them by doing that which I love: working as an actor on Broadway — especially in this economy.

Montego Glover
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)
Montego Glover
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)

Montego Glover (Memphis): I’m thankful for my health, for the love, support and proud smiles of my family, for the warmth of my friends, and for the sense to use the things I’ve learned in my life and in my profession to help me do better work, be a better woman, and thrive as an artist. I’m humbled by how blessed and how thankful I am able to be.

Kate Baldwin (Finian’s Rainbow): I am thankful for the support I’ve received from the theater community. I’m almost embarrassed by the overwhelming amount of good wishes and congratulations. Show people are the best people.

Priscilla Lopez (In the Heights): I am so very grateful that my family is healthy, happy and flourishing. If that’s not blessing enough, I have been given the gift of my job at my home away from home at In the Heights.

James Carpinello (Rock of Ages): I’m thankful that I have an amazing family, a fantastic job, and for Adam Danheisser.

Marin Ireland (After Miss Julie): I’m so thankful to be doing what I always wanted to do with my life, to be getting paid to do what I love. I’m deeply thankful for this community of friends that have become my family, and I’m thankful for my family back home, for their health and their constant support and love, that keeps me going through the rough stuff.

Kelli Barrett (The Royal Family): I try to be someone who is very aware of life down to the oxygen in the room. I have a wonderful family, a wonderful job, I live in a wonderful city and have amazing friends. I’m alive, and I do have a relationship with God and that’s a very big deal. So the answer is, what am I not thankful for this year?

Marc Kudisch
(© Carol Rosegg)
Marc Kudisch
(© Carol Rosegg)

Marc Kudisch (Girl Crazy): I am thankful that even though there are difficult choices to make that I actually have choices. I am thankful that even though my girlfriend and I have been out of town a lot we still have each other to come home to. I am thankful that my sister is beating breast cancer. And I am thankful for the birth of my friend’s twins.

Jason Butler Harner (Our Town): I am thankful for Georgia Gracie, and Phineas Bee, and Emmett Jude, and Vivian Jane, and Jules Pip, and Ruby, and Adalia, and Ryleigh, and Casey, and all the other healthy ankle-biters my friends and family have popped out recently . . . and for their super-cool parents who not only came up with great names but will raise amazing kids who will love Thornton Wilder (and Phil Andros) without even thinking about it.

Antoinette LaVecchia (How to Be a Good Italian Daughter): There has been great healing and abundance in my life this year for which I’m deeply grateful and somewhat surprised: the year began a bit shaky, with me having to live with my parents, which was more than a challenge. But those months living and arguing with my mother were the catalyst I needed to finish my play, and, most importantly, to a deep healing in my relationship with my Italian mamma. It’s wonderful to begin each day with the words “thank you” and then to follow it with the question, “How can I serve today?” Miracles exist in the smallest of gestures and I am ultimately grateful to be alive in this world doing the best I can every day.