Interview: First-Time Tony Nominee Fina Strazza Appreciates a Good Dance Party

Fina Strazza made her Broadway debut at age 8 as a replacement in the title role in Matilda. Now at 19, she is on a leave of absence from NYU for her second Broadway show, playing overachieving high school student Beth Powell in John Proctor Is the Villain.

Strazza, also known for the Prime series Paper Girls, was cast in a workshop of the play at 17, the same age as her character. “I knew I wanted to be a part of this project if anything ever happened with it,” she says. “There has not been a single day for the past two years I have not thought about this show and thought about Beth. I’m really thankful that [playwright] Kimberly [Belflower] and [director] Danya [Taymor] saw something in me when I was 17.”

The Tony nominators saw something, as well, since Strazza has been nominated for a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Strazza spoke to TheaterMania about dance parties, The Crucible, and more.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

You’ve been acting since you were young. So what was your own high school experience like?
I went to the same school from kindergarten until 12th grade, so even though I’ve grown up in the heart of Manhattan, which is this crazy hustle and bustle, I got this kind of small-town upbringing. The faculty and the kids have been the same people my whole life, so I related to the girls in this show because they’re in this small town in Georgia and each other is all they’ve ever known. My school was also a STEM school. It wasn’t performing arts. I’ve always wanted to keep that separate. I’ve tried to balance both, but acting has always had my heart, so this is kind of like I’m getting to experience high school and clubs for the first time.

Music is an important part of this play. What kind of music do you like, and do you listen to anything before the show?
Amalia [Yoo] and I share a dressing room, and we have flowers everywhere. We keep the lighting low, and we have nice little decor, so we like our music to match that before the show. Amalia is usually our DJ, and she plays mellow, calming stuff that relaxes us before we get onstage. Probably my favorite memories from high school are with my two best friends, and every time we were at my house, we would have dance parties. I have a scene in the show where my character and Sadie [Sink]’s character talk about these dance parties that these girls had, and I feel like I’m talking about my friends every time because I literally own LED lights and a little glowing disco ball for the occasion of a dance party. We loved “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon. I think when you’re a teenage girl, those songs can be so world-building and mean everything to you, and there’s a sense memory now when you hear them, so I love how the show highlights that.

Did you read The Crucible in high school?
I didn’t read The Crucible until doing this play. I tried to go into it with an open mind. Something that’s important about Kimberly’s work is that even though it has a very direct and assertive title that John Proctor is the villain, the play is really just encouraging people to re-examine canonical texts and allow for the possibility of different perspectives. We read The Crucible out loud as a cast. I personally find Elizabeth Proctor to be a very honorable character, and I think that she’s kind of the hero of that story if there’s going to be one.

This show has very funny moments, but it also deals with upsetting issues. Are there any moments that are difficult for you? How do you work through that?
Totally. It is a really funny show, and in our rehearsal room, we forgot how funny it is because the same people were watching and doing it every day. Everyone’s not laughing out loud while we’re rehearsing it. Beth has a pretty heartbreaking scene with Mr. Smith, and we have a check in with each other after the show or after the scene if there’s time to remind one another that what’s going on onstage is not going on offstage and that we’re all there to support each other.

I think some people would be surprised at how heavy our show can feel based on how we act backstage. The only way to do this eight times a week is to remain lighthearted when you’re behind the scenes. We have a lot of candy around, so I’ll usually have a lollipop or a Jolly Rancher or something right after the show. It’s always someone’s birthday, so we have cake before the show a lot.

Is there a part of the show that you look forward to every night?
Scene 2, which is the first scene where the four girls are alone together. It’s fun and it feels like its own play in and of itself because it’s so early in the show before anything has gone wrong. It’s like these characters are untouched and you’re simply seeing them as these funny teenage girls who are talking to one another in a very real manner of how teenage girls talk to each other. It’s the moment in the show where I feel the closest to the girls.