Interview: Celia Keenan-Bolger on The Visitors, The Gilded Age, and Finding Home Onstage

For Celia Keenan-Bolger, the stage has always been a place to explore the complexities of the human experience. Whether bringing new works to life or breathing fresh perspective into classic plays, the Tony Award-winning actor has built a career through performances marked by emotional depth and authenticity.

Now appearing off-Broadway in Bryna Turner’s The Visitors, Keenan-Bolger takes on a story that examines the intricacies of family dynamics, identity, belonging, and the messy business of love. Reuniting with Will Pullen, her former To Kill a Mockingbird co-star, she finds herself once again exploring the bonds between siblings.

Meanwhile, as Mrs. Bruce on HBO’s The Gilded Age, she is expanding her screen experience alongside an ensemble of theater veterans. In our conversation with her, she reflects on the roles that have shaped her, the collaborative magic of developing new plays, and the ways her offstage experiences continue to inform her craft.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What was it about The Visitors that made you want to be a part of the production?
I was sent the script and they asked if I wanted to do a reading of it. I didn’t know Bryna, and I remember thinking it was just a really good play. It made me think of my own relationship with my siblings, which is very different from the dynamics in this play. Another huge part of why I wanted to do it is that Will Pullen and I played brother and sister in To Kill a Mockingbird. I wanted to be on stage with him again because we had already built so much trust and relational tenderness.

The Visitors explores questions about belonging, identity, and human connection. Which themes resonated the most with you?
There is a queer love story at the center of the play which feels meaningful, partially because I have two queer siblings myself. But there’s also this idea of chosen family versus family of origin. I know so many people who moved to New York City, as the character Joanna does, to sort of build the life that they couldn’t have in their family of origin. This resonates with me. I come from a very healthy and loving family, but I do think we look for what we didn’t get.

What has been the most challenging or surprising aspect of bringing this story to the stage?
I think this play is full of sharp turns, which is part of what attracted me to it in the first place. Reading it, I thought I knew exactly what it was supposed to be. But in doing it, there were so many moments when there was a fast turn and I didn’t make it, and then I had to get back on the train. The train sort of left without me!

How does your approach change when you interpret a classic play versus developing a character in a new play?
With old texts, if something doesn’t work, we just spend a lot of time trying to figure out how we can we make it work. With this new play, there’s an incredible process of uncovering what Bryna is trying to communicate. It’s so thrilling to give an audience a new play every night. In rehearsals we’re able to calibrate information and then try to keep doing something different.

Is there a role you’ve played that surprised you by revealing something about yourself or changing the way you understand people?
Who comes to mind the most is Laura in The Glass Menagerie. When I first read that play, she did not really resonate with me. I thought, “She’s shy. I don’t know what’s so interesting about that.” After really digging into the play and getting to embody that character night after night, I grew to have so much respect and affection for her.

What has playing Mrs. Bruce on The Gilded Age allowed you to explore as an actor that you haven’t had the opportunity to explore onstage?
It’s really about getting those 10,000 hours for me. I feel like I have technique in the theater that I don’t have on camera. The gift of The Gilded Age is to be surrounded by all-stars. My graduate acting school for the camera is being in a scene and watching Carrie Coon. Until watching her, I didn’t understand that one could do different takes and give the editors different options for the way a scene can go.

Without giving away any spoilers, can you share what’s going to happen with Mrs. Bruce this season?
I can just say that this season we filmed a parade. It doesn’t have much to do with Mrs. Bruce’s character, but it is a little teaser, because it felt like being on the set of a Martin Scorsese movie.

What are you most interested in challenging yourself with next?
I’m going to spend next year trying to write a book. I don’t exactly know what it will be. I think it will certainly have elements of theater that I have been a part of, but I have to get the content, and then I’ll figure out what the form is.

You’re coming up on 15 years since Peter and the Starcatcher. Any chance there will be an anniversary reunion?
[Playwright] Rick [Elice] did a little event for [the late director] Roger [Rees], and we were talking. I said, “Do we need to do a little Peter and the Starcatcher reunion?” I don’t know how you really do that without all of the stagecraft, but God, that show! I feel like we kind of have to make that happen.