Alicia Simmons   Getting Serious about Comedy

Alicia Simmons is a comedian, actress, writer and director. She is a woman who wants to do it all and with her dedication and strong work ethic, I have no doubt that she will. As a comedian, Alicia performs almost every weekend at comedy clubs in Los Angeles. She was part of Comics on Fire, a nationwide comedy competition. Most recently, she was accepted into the Groundlings Improvisational Comedy Troupe. The Groundlings has been responsible for launching some major comedic talents like Phil Hartman, Lisa Kudrow, Jon Lovitz and a host of comics who have been featured on both Saturday Night Live and Mad TV. And in the midst of all of this, Alicia’s in the process of putting together her own one-woman show. 1. You are a trained actress (with a BA in Dramatic Arts from William Paterson University) and you are also a stand-up comedian. What do you find more challenging dramatic acting or comedy? Comedic acting. Comedy is all about timing. Drama can read anyway you play it. It’s easier to tap into a raw emotion than it is to hold timing. 2. What does comedy do for you creatively? It seems to me that there would be something cathartic about making people laugh. Would you agree? It has allowed me to focus and it has also allowed me to tap more into my dramatic writing, which is funny. I’m also coming up with jokes and writing every day. 3. I know you are also working on a one-woman show called Baby Girl, tell me about that. Being the youngest in my family, I didn’t have friends as siblings (I was the tattletale). It was more like torture. So I created a lot of invisible friends. I was always the family therapist. Even though I was the youngest, I was the one who always noticed problems and spoke out about them. The show is about my family, my friends and all the situations I’ve gone through from being the youngest child. My three older brothers and my sister had their own worlds before I came. There was always a distance between us. My dolls and my stuffed animals and my parents were my best friends. When I was 12 my mother died and life took on a new meaning I had to be the adult. It talks about how comedy overtook a lot of the bad things that went on. My family always loved music so we all learned to play instruments and sing. So we had this very talented, gifted family. My mother always encouraged our art. When I was eight, I told her I wanted to be a poet, and she got me a typewriter and told me “I had to learn to type first.” Through all the pain, there was always laughter. The show is about pain and happiness and going back to pain again but then in the end managing to come out positive. It’s about having a positive outlook on life and I don’t think a lot of people have that. 4. I've noticed a disturbing trend in movies and television that I call the Vanishing Black Woman. Increasingly black women seem to be even more underrepresented than usual in current TV and films. With the exception of maybe Halle Berry or Queen Latifah, many of our actresses just aren't getting the kind of roles that other actresses are getting. As a working actress, do you see this trend also, or am I just hallucinating? It’s definitely a trend. It’s just like the extinction of black men in black women’s lives. The reality of it is that we are not creating stories for ourselves. We are waiting for someone to drop something to us. We aren’t really invested in having our stories told, we assume that someone else is going to tell them. We always say ‘they aren’t writing for us’ and when they think of black women they often think of the stereotype, the rough black women who tells it like it is. It’s as if there is no good side to us. It’s not the truth. We have an extremely sensitive side to us. We put everything on our shoulders. The stories being told about us are not representative of us. We are not always angry black women. We don’t always try to be the know-it-all. There are a lot of ditsy black women. And their story needs to be told too and in a positive light. If you look at Living Single, it was Queen Latifah, a full figured woman who ran the magazine and had men running after her. But then we had the Parkers and Monique chasing after the professor. Living Single told more of our stories than the Parkers and had a more positive outlook. 5. Do you think we can get another Living Single on the air? Well, we have Girlfriends covering the LA, materialistic women and I think we can have a show that realistically portrays black women. Something that shows we really are and I think LS touched on that. 6. What is the best thing about black film in 2006? It’s still alive. 7. What is the worst thing about black film in 2006? The quality is no longer there. It’s all about moving units than about telling a quality, fulfilling story. When I met Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis at their 50 anniversary book signing in SF, someone asked how they felt about black film and tv. They felt that their story wasn’t there and that there story wasn’t there. A story about a black couple with strong careers, raise a family and have a strong marriage. Only the Cosby Show came close. 8. Describe your dream project. My dream project as an actress is to remake the Ann Bancroft and Dom Deluise movie "Fatso." As a director my dream project is to direct a science fiction novel that I read in college. When I read it I said this would be a great movie. As a writer my dream project is to write a mini-series for HBO. 9. You are definitely a multi-hyphenate. You are an actress/comedian/director/playwright. Is there any position or aspect of performance that you aren't interested in mastering? Not really, I sing and once I'm grounded in my career I will go back to music which was my start in entertainment. I play the clarinet and I'm learning the guitar. 10. We just had the Academy Awards. With that in mind, what did you think was the best picture of last year? To be very honest I think Lackawanna Blues was a great picture, however it was made for HBO and not a feature release in theatre. I think Crash was a great film which let the world know that we still have a long way to go as humans when it comes to accepting and understanding different ethnic groups. I love Capote because Phillip Seymour Hoffman does great character work and me being a character actress respects him always staying in the moment. Hustle and Flow was also a good film because of Terrence Howard. People tend to think that portraying a pimp should come natural to a Black man as if we all came from that world or we are in touch with that side of life on an every day basis. Over all I think Crash made that most impact. 11. Having said that, what actors or actresses do you look forward to working with? I look forward to working with S. Epatha Merkerson, Kimberly Elise, Laura Linney and Philp Seymour Hoffman just to name a few. I live to work with the people who know how to be. 12. What does success look like to Alicia Simmons? How will you know when you have finally ‘made it’? Success to me is when I can work and live bicoastal. I will know that I'm successful when I'm working on Saturday Night Live and a Broadway show while shopping my mini-series to HBO. 13. Parting Thoughts? When I moved to Los Angeles I had no clue of how to turn off my stage persona. I worked theatre when I first landed in LA and I found a great deal of people who mock the stage and took it for granted, because Los Angeles is a film town and I understand that, however if it wasn't for live theatre the movies and television would have never been born. I continue to stay connected and grounded in my theatre roots.

Previous Ones to Watch
Arastao Maree - One to Watch (January 2006)
Karyn Beach - One to Watch (February 2006)