20 Questions Coach Feature

Get to know Coach Kate, Coach John, Coach Kirsten, and Coach Molly

September 2023

What is the best sushi place in Atlanta? Which two coaches hold a negative view about Harry Potter- and which two love Lord of the Rings? Who would you most likely find in space? And how does each coach view the importance of community for actors? Find out the answers to these questions, and more, as you read through:

20 Questions with TAS Coaches.

Who are you?

Oh, I didn’t even see you there. I’m Kate.

How long have you been in the industry?

For about 20 years now.

What is your dream acting role?

My dream role? It wouldn’t happen right now. I’d have to time travel back in time to the original Lord of the Rings filming and play out the role of Legolas’s long lost daughter, of which I wrote the fanfiction for when I was in elementary school. So I’m more than willing to send that over to Peter Jackson if we want to recreate some stuff.

Where are you from?

I’m from Jersey

What inspired you to start acting?

Bringing it back to Legolas. I was like obsessed with those movies as a kid. And I loved the world that they lived in. I wanted to be a part of it, and I also had a giant crush on Orlando Bloom, and I really wanted to meet him. So that’s what started it all. But then I started acting for myself and found out that acting was the love I had that was bigger than Orlando Bloom, and that’s a big statement.

What is your favorite movie?

My favorite movie is Lord of The–No, I’m just kidding. It’s Dead Poets Society. I love that movie, it makes me cry every time. And it is my goal in life to have a student stand on top of a desk and say, ‘Oh, Captain, My Captain’ to me. (Interviewer: Coach Kate’s students, make it happen! Let us know.) Hint, hint, guys, extra credit.

Who is someone you admire?

I very much admire Ilana Glazer. She is from Broad City. She’s an amazing activist, an amazing comedian and amazing mom. And all in all, I just find her to be kind of like my idol.

What is the most fun character you’ve played?

So I was in a student film at UCLA and I played the character of this girl who had a condition called synesthesia, which is a neurological condition where your senses kind of get crossed over sometimes, to varying degrees and whatnot, but I loved this because I have always loved science and I got to kind of combine the two. I actually had to learn how to play clarinet just a little bit, because her condition was that when she heard music, she saw colors. So she would close her eyes as she played and blue would be C or red would be D, and it was just a really cool role. It was really interesting.There was a lot of research and it was just awesome to kind of represent people with that condition.

What is your favorite part of character creation?

I think it challenges me as a person because I don’t like to see the world in black and white, right or wrong, and character creation really like forces you to see the gray in the world and kind of connect with a character that you may have nothing in common with, but you find ways to rationalize and understand them. And I think that using that in character development makes me a better person as well. So I find that to be like the most beautiful part of it.

Who is your favorite fictional character?

Ok, so I love Dennis Reynolds from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. His character is ridiculous and a horrible, horrible person. Obviously the actor is not like that in real life, but I find the intricacies of his character just to be absolutely hilarious.

Who is your least favorite fictional character?

It’s not going to go over well with everybody, but I cannot stand George Costanza. That is the type of person that if I met in the real world, I would be like, ‘Get Me Out of this Room!’. Oh my gosh, I find him so infuriating. And I love Seinfeld. I love the show and it wouldn’t be the show without George, but he drives me mad. So George is probably like my biggest button-pusher of character.

What is something you can’t live without?

Other than practical things like my car, my family, or a sweet answer like that, on a more superficial level, my Dyson vacuum, which recently died. So I guess I’m trying to confront that right now if I can live without it. But yeah, I’m going to be on the phone with them. I want another one. I can’t…I can’t do this for much longer.

Who is someone you can’t live without?

My son. That’s easy!

What is something that’s helped with your acting journey?

I think that something that really helped me, I’ve always said acting is recreating life and that’s really hard to do organically. We spend a lot of time dissecting scripts and getting in character and creating this back story, this inner monologue. There’s so many details that we do when we’re being an actor that we don’t do in real life, so it can come across as faux. When we’re being that character, the biggest take away for me is just do all that homework, do all that research, and then let it go. Let it go, let it sit in the back of your mind so that you can be present in the moment and let it be as authentic as possible so that you can accurately portray that life.

How long have you been coaching?

I’ve been coaching for 12 years now.

What is your favorite part of coaching?

So other than the fact that instead of my own successes, I have like 100 to brag about because of all these students… Because I’ve been doing it for so long now, I’ve been able to see students that I started coaching at like ages 9-12, these kids are adults now and they are like living in LA. One was recently in a Steven Spielberg film and another is in a Netflix series. And just being able to go have dinner with them now that they’re adults and see how the things that they struggled with when they were adolescents have been something that’s been a power for them as an adult and as an actor, just that full circle and the growth and journey that I’ve seen in these students over the last decade gives me purpose and it makes me feel really great about what I’ve committed to.

Where is your favorite place to be in Atlanta?

Hmm. Other than home? I work in the hospital in Atlanta too, and I love it there. I’m doing great work there. I’m helping people. And so as of right now, as of recent, that’s where I spend the majority of my time. But I love it.

What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not at TAS?

Well, what do I like to do or what do I do? Honestly, I’m a simple person. I find a lot of joy in just being home with my kid. I love building forts with him. I love when he takes his nap and I get to go sit on the back porch, get some sun, read a book, and yeah, we do a lot of, like, arts and crafts stuff. We save all of our boxes for little theaters with things like parchment paper and shadow puppets and I find that stuff to be super fun because I’m really just a grown up kid. I just love being home with him, doing that kind of stuff with him.

What is something you’ve always wanted to do?

I want to take an aerial silks dancing class. That’s what I want to do. I want to conquer my fear of heights by doing it. But also, I feel like it would be so cool. Every time I see videos of people doing them, I think, I could do that, right? It’s probably so much harder than it looks, but I really want to do it. It’s on my bucket list.

What is next for you?

Next for me is, um, well, graduating. Really ready to do that. It’s been a long journey, a LOT of school, but it will be well worth it. And then, you know, I can just start being a normal person who’s not saturated all the time doing something, but having more free time. Take a yoga class, I don’t know. Go on walks! Hopefully we’ll be going to Thailand next year for a family trip, so that’ll be amazing too. So that’s it. Just keep moving and grooving.

Who are you?

I’m John Castle.

How long have you been in the industry?

Well, probably about three to four years now.

What is your dream acting role?

Dream role? One that I think is revered across the world.

Where are you from?

From right here in Atlanta, GA, but was raised in Texas.

What inspired you to start acting?

Oh boy, What inspired me to start acting? The community, the community of people, the people that I’ve met, they’re the ones who really inspired me to start taking it seriously.

What is your favorite movie?

Dirty Dancing.

Who is someone you admire?

My mother. I admire her resilience. She just went through a lot and still managed to come out unscathed, so to say, on the other side.

What is the most fun character you’ve played?

Goodness gracious. The most fun character that I’ve gotten to play is one that I’m working on right now and that’s a Cowboy, So, I’ll let you know in a couple months how fun it actually was.

What is your favorite part of character creation?

Understanding how somebody would feel about something that I might not necessarily understand or feel that same way.

Who is your favorite fictional character?

My favorite fictional characters are Venom and Eddie Brock. They’re my favorite fictional characters.

Who is your least favorite fictional character?

Harry Potter.

What is something you can’t live without?

Air. Like, something you seriously can’t live without or just like something? Air. Love. Relaxation Water. Probably water and air.

Who is someone you can’t live without?

God. Oh but someone? Nah, I’m gonna go with God.

What is something that’s helped with your acting journey?

I hate to go back with ‘community’, but community and having an open mind.

How long have you been coaching?

This will be my second year.

What is your favorite part of coaching?

Seeing people learn about themselves naturally.

Where is your favorite place to be in Atlanta?

Like the greater Atlanta area, Lake Lanier. If I was to say in downtown Atlanta, probably Ru San’s Sushi.

What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not at TAS?

Kayak on Lake Lanier, be a dad, read, listen to music, and workout. I like a lot of things.

What is something you’ve always wanted to do?

Become an actor. Raise a family successfully. Fly. Working on that one.

What is next for you?

I’m probably going to get on my kayak and go over to Lake Lanier and think about the next big role that I’m gonna get.

Who are you?

I’m Kirsten Krehbiel.

How long have you been in the industry?

I moved to Atlanta in 2014, so roughly since then.

What is your dream acting role?

Any sort of recurring role, whether it is a drama where I’m making you cry constantly and hurting your feelings or something like Saturday Night Live. I want it all!

Where are you from?

I’m originally from Kansas, small town Kansas.

What inspired you to start acting?

Since I’m from a small town, we were able to do just about any extracurricular activity you wanted. In fact, we kind of had to, otherwise there wouldn’t be enough people for anything.

So I got involved in theater in high school, just like I did with sports. But it turns out I’m not good at sports. So here we are!

What is your favorite movie?

The Matrix.

Who is someone you admire?

Right now in the industry, I really admire Zendaya. I think she makes brilliant choices with her acting career, especially as someone who’s come from Disney stardom, that’s a really hard transition to make and I think she did it flawlessly. Any interview or anything I’ve seen of her, she just seems like a genuine person and I think that is something very inspiring.

What is the most fun character you’ve played?

I’ve gotten to play a lot of fun characters, but I think some of the most fun come with my work with Sketchworks Comedy. I have a character that is recurring. Her name is Susan. She’s a little rough around the edges and really ridiculous. And then we just finished in New York doing Vape the Musical and I get to play Marty Maraschino, so it’s just complete opposites that I love.

What is your favorite part of character creation?

My favorite part of acting is character creation. I love pouring over a script to find hints and details into your character’s life. That internal work of figuring out their backstory and why they say/do what’s in the script. Then you get to play with the external: the character’s voice, walk, stance, ticks. Doing this work, finding out who the character is, that’s what I love about the art of acting.

Who is your favorite fictional character?

My favorite fictional character is probably Samwise Gamgee .Because he is so wonderfully sweet and works so very hard and really, in my opinion, is the true hero of The Lord the Rings.

Who is your least favorite fictional character?

Probably Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter, because she gives cat ladies a bad name. I mean, I love to hate her, just beautifully acted.

What is something you can’t live without?

Coffee.

Who is someone you can’t live without?

My sisters.

What is something that’s helped with your acting journey?

Definitely having a community. I’ve been blessed to be a part of Sketchworks and now with The Actor’s Scene and just making great connections on set. But no matter how supported you are outside of acting, by your family, by your friends who aren’t in the industry, it’s still really hard for them to understand sometimes. So it’s really helpful to have a community that you can talk to, to discuss certain things with. If you’re having any issues or are excited about something, they’ll actually get it. Or especially when you’re feeling down because it’s an industry of rejection, so it’s nice to have people who support you, love you, and understand.

How long have you been coaching?

With The Actor’s Scene, since 2020, I came in during the Pandemic.

What is your favorite part of coaching?

I love seeing the progression that the students make, so by the end you’ll be able to see that difference. But even just in every class when you see something click or… you know, I had a student who’s now been at The Actor’s Scene for three years and my first year with her, every time she did her first take, it was awful. She would always fail her first take, and we just did a recording the other night and she nailed her first date. So just to see people click with what’s been hard for them in the past.

Where is your favorite place to be in Atlanta?

The trees outside in my backyard are really cool. I like to go down the beltline, just anywhere where I can be outside. I come from Kansas where trees are not a-plenty.

What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not at TAS?

Binge TV. Take naps. Uh, go on adventures. I like to read, I started reading Scott Pilgrim so that’s been exciting! And yeah, just hanging with my cat.

What is something you’ve always wanted to do?

Go into space. Or the bottom of the ocean but at this point for some reason, that seems more terrifying these days!

What is next for you?

Next for me is not quite space, as far as I’m aware. But hopefully soon. I am in Act3 Productions’ next show. It’s called Perfect Arrangement, written by Topher Payne. I’m so excited. Uh, Amy Cain is directing it. And it’s a great cast. It’s gonna be an amazing show. I’m so excited about this.

Who are you?

I’m Coach Molly. I’m also the Media Director for The Actor’s Scene so if you’re seeing this on the internet, you’re welcome!

How long have you been in the industry?

I have been in the industry since 2007. I signed with my agent, shout out to Houghton Talent in 2009, and I’ve been working in Atlanta ever since. So even before there was stuff here to work on, I was here before it was cool.

What is your dream acting role?

My dream role is to be on an ensemble procedural drama cast. I would love to be like the quirky tech analyst in a crime drama situation. Like Abby Sciuto in NCIS or Penelope Garcia in Criminal Minds. I love working with the same group of people for an extended period of time, and I also love quirky zany characters!

Where are you from?

I am from right here in Georgia. I have lived here all my life and I was born here. We’ll see what’s next, but so far the greater Atlanta area is my home.

What inspired you to start acting?

I have wanted to act for as long as I can remember, like as long as I have understood what movies are and the fact that people can be a part of making them both in front of the camera and behind the camera, I’ve always wanted to. So I started classes when I was 7, but I think that was just my mom being very protective of me and wanting it to be my decision to start taking acting classes which I really do appreciate and admire that she did that. But yeah, the desire has always been there.

What is your favorite movie?

As somebody who has a film degree and does videography and directing work and is an actor, this is just a super hard question. But a movie that I’m diving into right now in sort of my personal learning that I love that I think is definitely worthy of being a favorite is The Creature from the Black Lagoon. I’m actually reading a book about it right now and I was prepared for this, so I have it with me. It’s called The Lady from the Black Lagoon and it is about Milicent Patrick who designed the creature, but for various reasons in Hollywood at the time, they didn’t credit her. Learning about the lost history of this designer has been cool. So as of right now, my favorite movie is The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

Who is someone you admire?

I have always admired Elliot Page. You know, I think that I grew up on his work and in my early days people told me I had that dry humor vibe that he’s very famous for in like the 2010s comedies. And then now, you know, seeing the person that he’s become and the projects that he’s a part of. I love The Umbrella Academy and all of the amazing performances there from the entire cast. But I feel like he is always somebody that I have looked up to as far as talent and work ethic.

What is the most fun character you’ve played?

This is a dual answer I feel like, because the most fun performance that I’ve gotten to do is probably in The Yellow Wallpaper, which is adapted from a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman into a short film. This is my Jodorowsky’s Dune. Like, truly. It has taken so long to make and I don’t know if it’ll ever get finished. But just to truly be able to be, you know, I mean unhinged and kind of behave in a lunatic manner was very unusual and very fun for me. But I also really enjoyed the character creation and working on DanyVlogs with my friend Rae. We did a first-person vlog style sort of horror mystery and it was really cool to work in the new format of like the first-person POV and all the challenges that come with that, but also dual perspective storytelling. And I got to do some really cool stuff, which I won’t tell you about because you should watch it. So I’ll put that in the description below. But either the yellow wallpaper or I played Jane or DanyVlogs where I played Xania.

What is your favorite part of character creation?

My favorite part of character creation is the humanity of character creation. I think that we learn so much about ourselves and about the world around us from the characters that we look to and the characters that we create and the characters that we perform as. I love finding what I have in common with characters that I’m playing and seeing how I can play up those aspects of myself, especially when there are aspects of myself that I do not like. I think that wrestling with your flaws and wrestling with your actual real vulnerabilities in your art is really powerful. But I also love observation as a character creation tool. I love self observation and kind of learning my tendencies and also learning how to read the people around me and kind of seeing what I can use from my daily life and the people that I know and and the places that I go and all these experiences that I have and seeing how they can help further my performances.

Who is your favorite fictional character?

I’m going to say two, I’ve decided, from Good Omens, both the book and the show. Aziraphale and Crowley. I feel like they’re both my favorite characters because I really love how we have the duality of man represented in these characters of the angel of the demon. I love how a big part of their relationship is seeing things that they have in common with each other and seeing areas where it is a little bit more gray than black and white. And so I really love that they explored that idea with those characters and I think that both of the actors just do an absolutely phenomenal job with them. I’m excited to watch Season 2, I’m behind!

Who is your least favorite fictional character?

My least favorite fictional character is Caillou because he’s a little whiny baby and I’m really not about that. I’ll say it because nobody’s brave enough to say it!

What is something you can’t live without?

Something that I can’t live without is a little bag with all my stuff in it and it’s so impractical. I walked in today with like 4 bags. My computer bag, my purse, a separate bag, and my camera bag. My family always calls me The Bag Lady. I even was in a car accident and I had a bag full of charcuterie stuff because, I don’t know why I decided to carry it in that manner, but it was in a cute, canvas tote bag. And so one of the kind pedestrians that found us put my snack bag with me. They’re like, “Oh, this must be important, that’s her bag.” My actual wallet bag, I think, stayed in the car, so I just had a bag full of cheese and grapes on me. It was so wild. But I always have multiple bags on me, so I guess I’ll say my bags.

Who is someone you can’t live without?

I feel like my best friend Madison is probably someone that I can’t live without. We have been friends for so long that we’ve seen each other grow up, and I think it’s really special to have that relationship with somebody, especially that’s not your family. I love my siblings and I love my parents, but you know, I think having that sort of familial relationship with somebody that you built out of nothing is really spectacular. So, Madison, my best friend.

What is something that’s helped with your acting journey?

You know, I think that there are so many things filming, so many and there are so many things that we can create, but there is really no reason to be comparing ourselves to one another. Because in teaching, I’ve really seen that every single person that I’ve worked with has something unique to offer. And again, like that is our humanness. Like your uniqueness as a person. And I really feel just that lack of need for competition, like I don’t even really need to know what’s going on with other people because their successes don’t take away from mine. So I think just this idea of community within acting and sort of, you know, competing with yourself instead of your neighbor because there’s really no point in that.

How long have you been coaching?

I’ve been coaching here for three years, I would say I’ve been largely coaching for five years, I was kind of dipping my toes in with private lessons and things like that, but I’ve been teaching at this studio for three years.

What is your favorite part of coaching?

My favorite part of coaching as a massive extrovert is literally just meeting everybody and getting to know their stories and working individually with people to figure out where they are and where they want to go and what their strengths are. I love, you know, teaching vocal lessons and hearing beautiful music for hours. That’s like one of my favorite things to do. I really just enjoy getting to know the actor as a whole and working with them to achieve their goals.

Where is your favorite place to be in Atlanta?

I love the little Snack Shack in Piedmont Park. I think it’s called Sean’s Heart of the Park. I could be lying. I’ll hopefully put something in the video if I am, but it’s just this cute little snack shack in the middle of Piedmont Park. They have pickle mac and cheese and other funky faves. Go check it out.

What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not at TAS?

I’m rarely not here, but when I’m not here, I love working in a directing and DP capacity. I own a videography company and I really enjoy doing work there. I also like reading, watching spooky movies, and hanging out.You can find me lounging, I guess, if I’m not working, in film or TV in some capacity.

What is something you’ve always wanted to do?

I have always wanted to travel outside of the country. I’ve never really been. I’m very intrigued to especially visit, like, where my ancestors came from, because I’m very in touch with the indigenous side of my ancestry and visiting Cherokee, North Carolina. But I would love to visit, you know, places from other lands that I also come from. Hopefully going to Scotland, to Ireland, really the whole UK. My partner has a lot of German ancestry and he still speaks German, so I really would love to visit Berlin and maybe do a little Europe tour one day.

What is next for you?

I have a lot of big announcements coming up with my anonymously named videography company. I would love it if you kept up with that on social media, so I’ll leave my information below. But in addition to that, just kind of cooking up some local things and hopefully I’ll be able to announce more about all of them very soon. (Wink, wink, nudge nudge.)

Ready to get started? Reach out today!

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About The Author

Molly Pass

Molly Pass is an Atlanta-local actress, acting coach, and wedding videographer who loves to help new and seasoned actors alike find their purpose and passion through performance. She holds her bachelor’s degree in Film and Media Studies from Georgia State University and enjoys discussing movies, shows, and all things new media. Her favorite part of working at The Actor’s Scene is being able to inspire folks to pursue their dreams and helping them to gain confidence in themselves along the way. When she is not acting or working in the digital media realm, she enjoys reading murder mysteries and desperately trying to keep a garden alive.

20 Questions Coach Feature