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August 25, 2008: Catherine Russell, star of Perfect Crime since 1987, tells us about the show and what keeps her going.
Perfect Crime began life as an Equity showcase at the Courtyard Playhouse on April 18, 1987. It was converted to an Off-Broadway production and has played variously at the Courtyard, Second Stage, the 47th Street Theatre, Intar, Theatre Four, the Harold Clurman Theatre before settling in the burlesque-house-turned-Duffy Theater from 1996 to 2005. With over 8000 performances, this mystery thriller continues in the heart of Times Square.
 Question: You have been performing in Perfect Crime since 1987 and reportedly have missed only four shows ever! Is that still true?
Answer: Yes, I have only missed to be a maid of honor or bridesmaid in my siblings' weddings.
Q: What keeps you going?
A: Snickers and coffee. Actually, I think if you love your work (and I do) you tend to stay healthy.
Q: What have been some of your other favorite roles?
A: Masha from Three Sisters - my favorite play, favorite role. I just finished playing a 1950's factory worker/abusive mother in a new film called The Lifters and I recently did a play called Some Enchanted Evening (on my nights off and late at night.)
Q: What is your worst flubbed line or most memorable stage mishap?
A: I bring my two dogs to the theater every day and at night they sit in my dressing room. My first dog, Clementine, once snuck onstage one night during intermission to steal a piece of coffee cake. She looked up to see 200 people catching her in the act and started barking at them. It was a quiet audience -- very few laughers – but they all cracked up and then laughed a lot in the second act.
Q: What are some of your typical daytime activities?
A: I built and now general manage the Snapple Theater Center , where Perfect Crime is playing, so I work there all day and then have the pleasure of going onstage every night. I recently became a first time producer. I am one of the producers of The Fantasticks which has returned to the Snapple Theater Center . It's a great combination - the longest running musical in the world in one theater and the longest running play in NYC in the other. Keeping them running keeps me busy!
Q: Why do you think Perfect Crime has had such a long run?
A: People love thrillers, whodunits and crime stories. The Mousetrap has been running in London for over 50 years, and Law & Order is about to become the longestrunning television show in history. Also, both the running costs and the ticket prices are cheaper for Off-Broadway, which makes it attractive to ticketbuyers and easier to keep running.
 Q: Who have been some of your favorite co-stars?
A: Over the past 21 years, I have worked with a number of terrific actors, but the current cast - Richard Shoberg (All My Children), Patrick Ryan Sullivan (42nd Street, Titanic, Beauty and the Beast) and Michael Dunn (Sweeney Todd, The Life, Cats) are all particularly good actors, handsome guys and wonderful people. We have a great time every night.
Q: Any plans beyond Perfect Crime?
A: I am working on producing Some Enchanted Evening as a film and I am hoping to build two more Off-Broadway theaters in the next year.
Q: What do you love about working Off-Broadway?
A: I love working in smaller theaters, where the audiences are so close. It keeps you honest. You can't phone in a performance when people are two feet away. Also, you can make your own opportunities! If you are willing to work hard and think "outside the box," you can create good theater space, find interesting projects, work with fascinating people, do guerilla marketing and have a terrific time!
More about Catherine Russell:
Catherine Russell originated the role of Margaret Brent in Perfect Crime and has played every performance but four since the play opened in April of 1987. She debuted Off-Broadway in 1980 in Stephen Poliakoff’s City Sugar and has appeared Off-Broadway in Miss Schumann’s Quartet, A Resounding Tinkle, The Award and Other Plays, Creeps, Three Sisters, Home on the Range, The Lunch Girls and Incommunicado. While performing in Perfect Crime, (after 10:30 or on her nights off) she has also managed to appear in The Queen of the Parting Shot, Some Enchanted Evening, Pas de Deux, Stages and Guardian Star as well as several films, including most recently, Remedy, Soundman, Full Time Woman and The Lifters. She teaches undergraduate acting at NYU and built and manages the Snapple Theater Center , Off-Broadway’s first corporate sponsored theater center, housing two Off-Broadway theaters and two large rehearsal spaces. Most recently, she has become a co-producer of the revival of The Fantasticks also playing at the Snapple Theater Center .
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