Playwright – Director –  Actress – Singer Audrei-Kairen is an accomplished actress, singer, director and playwright.  Among her many successes, she was inducted into the Who’s Who of Black Canadians after creating ‘Jazz-a-Matazz,’ the extremely successful Breast Cancer Benefit in Edmonton, AB, and is a recipient of the Black Achievements Professional Performing Artist Award in Canada. I personally met Audrei in the early-mid 1990’s and was instantly struck by her positive spiritual and creative energy. We both lived in San Diego, CA at the same time and also synchronistically ended up moving to Las Vegas within months of each other. As someone who knows her as a friend, I can attest to the fact that Audrei is not only insightful, encouraging and great fun to hang out with; she is also a peaceful person who saves the drama for the stage and screen. I’ve always known her to be productive, active and creatively engaged with the world around her. At the time of this interview, Audrei-Kairen is performing in two Las Vegas theatrical productions, ‘Nunsense’ and ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.’  She also made her Las Vegas directorial debut earlier this year with the jukebox musical ‘Leader of the Pack.’ Audrei has appeared in numerous musicals, including Aint Misbehavin’, Jesus Christ! Superstar and Showboat.  My Blueberry Nights and Bright Lights Big City are just a couple of her film credits. She has appeared in a plethora of commercials and has worked extensively as a voice-over artist, as well. I caught myself feeling like this interview with Audrei is long overdue, yet everything happens in Divine Order, and I’m so pleased that the timing of this piece allowed us the opportunity to be featured in a publication as beautifully conscious as Bellesprit Magazine. Mystikka Jade: You have starred in an impressive number of musicals, which include Jesus Christ! Superstar, Yuppies the Musical, Purple, Showboat and Ain’t Misbehavin’, to name a few. You’ve also appeared in films such as My Blueberry Nights, Street Smart, Bright Lights Big City and An Act of Vengeance. Film and theater are quite different venues from one another. What makes theater special for you? Audrei-Kairen: Performing before a live audience is and will always be the best way to learn and excel at your craft of performing. The audience never lies in their take on you as a performer bringing to life a character; they will either buy it or not. We’re not talking American Idol or that Honey Boo Boo mess! That’s pure, misguided entertainment. But when you portray a person, say a cowboy from the 1800’s, you better have done your homework on how people walked, talked, their interests, who they are, why they’re where they are, who their families were, where they came from, what boils are on their feet. And this is done all before that cowboy says “Howdy!” Movies and videos have the luxury of shooting a scene over and over, ad nauseum. (Film work) is great money, but includes little growth and development in a character. In theatre,  a roomful of humans who deal daily with other humans,  judging and assessing them, will let you know if your assessment of building a character is real and acceptable or not. I love that accountability as a live performer. MJ: What do you love about doing film work? AK: The pay, the pampering and the residuals. I love working with strong actors / stars who know how to work a camera and emotions at close reign. And the Lunch Wagon! MJ: How did you get started in show business? AK: Born in Los Angeles, my parents were on a movie studio tour with my older siblings and me at six months. My Dad, being the wayward, brilliant spirit that he was, had the family break away from the tour to peek into a studio that had a door open. He was holding me in his arms and at that moment, an Assistant Director of the movie being shot inside the studio was walking toward the sliding door. He yelled out “There you are! We need the baby now!” and ushered my family into the studio to an assistant, who took me to prep me for a shoot. They happened to be shooting a negro film at the time and my Dad, being the young opportunist that he was, saw an ‘experience’ in the making and rolled with it! True story! MJ:  You are currently acting in two Las Vegas theatrical productions, Nunsense (at the Las Vegas Hilton) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (at The Plaza Hotel). What can you tell the readers of Bellesprit about the roles you play in these shows? AK:  Well (laughs), one’s an ‘angel’ and one is a ‘devil!’ To be blessed to do those two shows a day during a time when work is slim is awesome. MJ: ‘Big Mama! The Willie Mae Thornton Story,’ a theatrical production you wrote, has recently closed to rave reviews. I believe you had mentioned it’s preparing to tour Canada, now? AK: It actually just closed in Vancouver to sell-out rooms! The show will be touring Eastern Canada in Spring 2013. I’m hoping to get it into the NY Musical Theatre Festival in the Summer. MJ: What inspired you to write the play about blues legend Big Mama Thornton? Has she been an influence in your own singing career? AK: What inspired me to write this musical were two things: the need to work and a dare! I was in Calgary, AB (performing at) The Club and thinking “What do I do after this closes? Woe is me!” The Artistic Director of the theatre suggested I submit a new work piece for the theatre to possibly produce. I said that I was an actor, not a writer. She said “I dare you to create something new. Try it! What can you lose?” The last dare I’d taken, I won the title of the first black female as Miss Denver when I was going to college there! Dares – I don’t take them lightly! So, during the day, I lived in the downtown library doing research on female performers of the past. I was looking to research a jazz singer since I love jazz so much, but read a little blurb on Big Mama who at one time, while performing in a little blues joint in Oakland in the late 1950’s, kicked a whole biker club’s ass because they wouldn’t shut up during her performance set! You see, Big Mama was 6’3”, 365 lbs, played both harmonica and the drums, drank like a sailor and lived life like only a blues woman could! I liked that kind of bite! It inspired me as a performer, a spirit finding my own way in this business and as a woman who wants to keep and highlight those who’ve gone before us in our upcoming generation’s memory. MJ:  Who else inspires you, musically? AK:  Nancy Wilson, Shirley Horn, Ann Hampton Calloway… oh, and my Dad who was the Tenor for Miriam Anderson when she toured the South. MJ:  What have been some of the highlights in your own musical career? AK:  All of my shows I’ve done are musical highlights, but creating a Breast Cancer Benefit of all female jazz singers was my love! To bring together a group of fierce jazz singers each year, with a killer jazz band to back them up was tremendous! Every year that passed, that event doubled in size! It became an entity onto itself! It succeeded because it was created out of love and homage to my Mom who had died of Cancer. Since then, both my sister and sister-n-law have passed from this vicious disease. I’m now ready to create such a benefit here in Las Vegas. MJ:  You recently made your Las Vegas directorial debut with the ‘jukebox musical’ Leader of the Pack. You also performed in this very show back in 1991, correct? AK:  Great memory! Yes, in Edmonton. It’s where I met my love, my husband who was in the band at the time. MJ:  What is it like being on the directing side? AK:  Ooh, got a year? I feel that every performer who loves their craft should at some time sit on the other side of the ‘auditioning’ table; there’s some true learning to be had from that angle. I’ll never go ‘diva’ or give my director or crew any problems EVER again! I also fell in love with having a vision and actively bringing it to fruition; it has been challenging, frustrating, exhilarating and totally rewarding! I’ve found it important to remember who you’re serving during this task, the audience; and why, to entertain them while they learn. And of course, it is also important to help those onstage to become better artists. MJ:  How are you able to manage so many different creative personalities? AK:  Part Shrink, part Spiritualist, part Mom, part Dad! Merge those parts equally into one stage guru & you’ve got yourself a mojito to be proud to swallow! MJ:  What is your greatest challenge about directing? AK:  Trust and Truth reign supreme on a stage, for me. Getting the trust of your performers, helping them to serve your vision and script, and allowing them to do their job truthfully and believably are what it’s about. See, if THEY don’t believe in what they’re creating, why should WE, as the audience? MJ: Are there any new projects that you are cooking up now? What can you tell us about those? AK: As we speak, I’m creating a Best of B’way Review to go up in November in Henderson, NV. Next, creating a Harlem Review for Black History Month in 2013 and all the while, trying to book BIG MAMA here in town and in New York. MJ: Do you have a website that you’d like to share with the readers of Bellesprit? AK: I can most definitely be found on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/audreikairen.kotaska MJ: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers? AK: Namaste to all Bellesprit readers and gentle spirits who are ‘awakening’ to their cherished destiny in these special times. I truly feel that those of us who ARE here have all chosen to be here to experience something that we may not understand now as young humans, but as the sage spirits we are, we know that it’s just around the corner.]]>