In this series we ask one of our actors, directors, staff, board members or volunteers 10 questions based on the famous “Proust Questionnaire” and give them a theatrical spin. (For more information and to see the full questionnaire click here)
Murder on the Nile – 2015 (left to right) Amie Fipps, Mick Alderman, Ellen Jensen
Ellen Jensen (who plays Jaqueline de Severac in our current production of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Nile) is the latest “victim” of 10 Questions. Ellen is an avid Agatha Christie enthusiast who has been a regular on the Coaster stage since 2006. She has graced the Coaster Theatre stage as Sally Brown in Your A Good Man Charlie Brown, Panacea in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Rapunzel in Into The Woods and a multitasking clown in The 39 Steps. Up next you can catch Ellen as Wendy Windwood in this summers It Could Be Any One Of Us.
1. What is your present state of mind?
Exhausted. Excited. Relieved. Optimistic. Wooshy? Is Wooshy a state of mind? If so, then definitely that.
2. Who are your favorite playwrights?
Well, like any theatre nerd I love my Shakespeare, and Agatha Christie will always be my literary fairy godmother, in both plays and novels.
Into The Woods – 2014 (left to right) Ann Bronson, Ellen Jensen
3. Your favorite musician?
David Bowie. I love him, he’s amazing, and iconic and secretly my spirit animal. I’m listening to a lot of Joan Jett, Queen, and Nina Simone right now too.
4. Who are your favorite characters?
My favorites are the ones who try, who want to be more and do better, the ones who develop and redeem themselves. The unique ones, the outcasts, and the misunderstood.
5. Who are your heroes in real life?
My mother, for one. She’s an amazing, strong, lovely woman and I am just so thankful I had her to look up to when growing up.
6. What natural gift would you most like to possess?
Oh, I wish I had a naturally mathematic and organized mind. I’m terribly chaotic and get easily distracted by daydreams or what I’m feeling. I really envy people with that type of disciplined, Type A mind.
The 39 Steps – 2014 (clockwise from upper left) Ellen Jensen, Ben Van Osdol, David Sweeney, Lisa Fergus
7. What is your most marked characteristic?
Erm, I have a tendency to be painfully quiet until I’m comfortable in the space I’m in or with the people I’m around.
8. What do you most value in your friends?
Loyalty, honesty, and sincerity. I really admire people who just accept themselves and strive to follow what they believe and be the best version who they want to be.
9. If you could be anyone throughout history, who would you have been?
That’s a hard one, my knee jerk reaction is someone like Elizabeth the First, Eleanor of Aquitaine, or Marie Antoinette. Someone with strong character who experienced life, culture, political intrigue, major changes, and whatnot. It’s those kind of life stories that fascinate me.
10. What is your motto?
At this point of my life “Fake it ’til you make it.” is something I find myself listening to quite a bit.
Photos by George Vetter/Cannon-Beach.net
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