This week I got the pleasure of meeting the amazing Brooke Hartnett and amazing might be an understatement. Aside from her personality, she does everything from rock lead roles to making you pee your pants from laughter. Brooke plays Imogen in the UA Arizona Repertory Theatre’s Cymbeline by William Shakespeare and she rocks the role with her awesome acting abilities. If you don’t believe me when I say she’s wonderful, you can find her playing Imogen for the rest of the weekend, The Charles Darwin Experience and KAMP. So I introduce to you, Brooke Hartnett.
Age: 19
Hometown: Mesa, Arizona
Major: Acting
Year: Sophomore
So you are Imogen in Cymbelline, how does it feel to play such a big character?
It’s weird; I have never really done lead roles even in high school because I have been acting for a while. It’s interesting to have a show on your back, to carry a show like that. It’s interesting but really fun and you’re constantly busy.
When did you know that acting was for you?
I started acting in 7th grade that was when I took my first acting class but I don’t know that I really decided to be an actor, it was probably 10th grade when I thought I could maybe do this as a career but my junior year was when I started looking at acting schools and thinking that “I’ll do this.”
Can you name all the plays that you have been in? Do you have a favorite?
I could but my favorite would definitely be Importance of Being Earnest, hands down. I love that show. It was actually one of the first ones that I read. It’s so witty and good.
I know that you are also a part of the all improv comedy group known as The Charles Darwin Experience, what’s that like?
It’s everything. It’s so awesome. I had never done improv until getting to college and I got on the troop my first semester of freshman year so I have been doing it for almost two years. And it’s SO fun and it really goes hand in hand in acting, I’ll learn something at a Darwin show/rehearsal that translates into my acting, I’ll learn something in my acting class that I can use when I do improv. It’s just really fun but I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my acting degree when I graduate but improv has really helped me with what I want. It really helped me figure out my dream.
I know that with improv you have to stay on your toes and come up with something on the spot, is that difficult? Do you ever just freeze on stage?
I wouldn’t say that I have ever frozen on stage but sometimes you’ll get up there to do a scene and the scene will end and you’ll just stand there not knowing what to do next. For some people the hard part is not knowing what to do when you get up there but for me it’s hard to do “relatable humor,” doing something the audience can really feel, making them laugh because they see truth on stage.
You’re pretty involved in the performances at the U of A, is there anything else that you do?
I do KAMP and I do this thing through the theatre program called Theta Alpha Phi and I am actually a sophomore class representative for it with my roommate and we represent our class. This year we decided to jump start it again and we’re trying to do some fundraisers and we have plans to do an end of the year award ceremony for all of the BA and BFA shows kind of like the Oscars. But I do that and KAMP and Darwin and my major and my minor.
Do you ever have people come up to you to congratulate you on your performance in a play or in the Charles Darwin Experience?
Yeah, actually it happens a lot more with Darwin than Cymbelline because the problem is that no one really knows about the plays, people just don’t know about them. A lot of people do see Darwin though so I’ll get people coming up to be to tell me that I did really well on the show. Even on a bad show, people still come up and congratulate you even if you think you did bad, it still affected someone and I do think it’s cool.
What or who inspires you?
Mostly Rashida Jones, women in comedy like Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Kristin Wigg and many more.
And lastly, What are your plans after graduation?
I want to be on SNL but I am still not 100% about that yet. I am definitely moving to Chicago and I am hoping to get on this improv group called Second City which SNL actually pulls cast members from. Maybe even doing film in the far future, I am interested in more than film acting like screenwriting. So let’s see if I can do it all.