"Daddy's Dyin'" Cast Profile: Samara Golabuk

Hi, everyone! "Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will?" opens this week at the Vam York Theater!  First up for profiling is Samara Golabuk, who plays Evalita. GCP Girl: Tell me about some of your previous shows.

SG: I've been very fortunate to have been a part of several shows at the GCP, most recently, last year's "Blithe Spirit" (Elvira, a favorite character for sheer sauciness alone) and "See How They Run" (Miss Skillon, for which role several patrons called me The Human Noodle). I also go to play the extremely unpleasant Stepmother in the new theater's inaugural show, "Cinderella," which was a blast, and my only foray into musical theater to date. I've also made an appearance at the ART, and The Hipp as a young street urchin oooooh so many years ago. :)

GCP Girl: Which do you enjoy performing more, comedy or drama?

SG: An extremely difficult question. As a younger actor, I'd've said drama, because comedy seemed so inescapably difficult to do well. It remains a difficult genre, but whether my own skills have improved (one hopes), or my preferences have merely changed, I'd have to say that I've been having an amazing time exploring the subtleties of timing and tone that make a comedic role so delightfully challenging. I tell myself that I'm getting funnier as I get older, and that it ain't just my looks.

GCP Girl: Tell me a little bit about your character.

SG: "Evalita Latrell Turnover Wilson" is referred to on numerous occasions in the script as "pure dee white trash," and I'd have to say this is probably the most succinct summary of her, though I find her to be more interesting than that. The youngest of four, she's accustomed to getting her way, expressing herself in the self-absorbed ways that spoiled brats normally do. Perhaps having been led to believe that ALL men would treat her with the doting affection that her father always has, she skips and hops from one relationship to another without ever being truly committed. She'd rather sow her wild oats, but continues to seek love and attention, so ends up being a serial monogamist of EPIC proportions (married 6 times before she was 40!)

GCP Girl: What is your character's catchphrase?

SG: The quote that comes to mind is a line she says in response to her current beau referring to her as "sweet cheeks." She says "He don't mean my face!" Another popular line is "Grab me a beer while you're at it, honey!"

GCP Girl: Are you anything like your character?

SG: I certainly hope not, but like most roles, I think we get cast where there is affinity, personality-wise. I would refer to myself as sexually liberated, at least, though not nearly the attention-hog she proves to be! I would definitely say that I have her free-spiritedness and appreciation of the male gender, and, while I do adore attention and admiration, I certainly WON'T go to any lengths to get it. I'm much more secure and self-possessed than she is. Hopefully a bit more erudite, as well! :P

GCP Girl: This show is about family. Is there anything about this family that reminds you of your own?

SG: Oh, my, yes. There is an incredibly strong bond in this family, as much as most of them hate to admit. They DO love each other a great deal, they just chafe under the limitations and expectations they place on each other. I think most humans are guilty of that. More superficially, my husband's family is from the deep south, so not only are the expressions and attitudes familiar, they are practically homey. :)

GCP Girl: If you had to be related to one of the characters in the show, who would it be and why?

SG: Probably Mama Wheelis, because she's the most together, and the most down-to-earth of all of them. God love a woman unafraid to wield a cast iron skillet!

GCP Girl: Tell me something about yourself you'd like everyone to know.

SG: I don't normally dress like that.

Thanks, Samara! That last line has definitely piqued my interest! Preview is Thursday night, so get ready!

xo xo GCP Girl