Actress Michelle Clunie (“Queer as Folk” and “Teen Wolf”) chatted about starring in the Off-Broadway play “Pen Pals.”
Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” This quote applies to Michelle Clunie.
“Pen Pals” was written by Michael Griffo and directed by SuzAnne Barabas.
The show is a celebration of the endearing power of friendship and connection of two women (Bernie and Mags) through handwritten letters that span approximately five decades.
Playing Bernie
On playing Bernie, Clunie said, “I have fallen in love with that character. My grandmother is from Newark, New Jersey, and when I arrived at the theater and I saw the kitchen table, it reminded me of my grandma’s kitchen table. So, it immediately felt familiar.”
“I found where Bernie lives inside me,” Clunie admitted. “I just love Bernie. She is a fighter, and she is a survivor. I think she is true to herself even if she is not perfect, and she is finding her way like all of us. I really adore and cherish the character of Bernie.”
Working with Megan Follows
On working with Megan Follows as Mags, Clunie said, “I adore Megan. We met via Zoom before we started working together, and we talked for about an hour, and we exchanged mobile numbers. On the night before our first rehearsal, we sat down, and we went through the entire script. It was so much fun.”
“I just love breaking bread with people and getting to know them, especially when I work with them,” she admitted.
“Megan is just lovely. She is one of my favorite people; I just adore her,” she added.
Lessons learned from this play
On the lessons learned from this play, Clunie said, “I think in your 50s, it is harder to make female friends. I think you become a very specific person with a specific history, and you don’t relate to everyone.”
“I didn’t realize that it might be part of what is challenging, especially making friends when you are older,” she observed.
“When I met Megan, I discovered that. Megan and I have had similar experiences. I realized that she and I have so much in common, and that’s delightful. So, I discovered that about myself, which I didn’t know before,” she explained.
‘Teen Wolf’
On being a part of “Teen Wolf,” she exclaimed, “It was a great experience. I loved working with all those kids; it’s a great group and they are very talented. I also loved playing a teacher in ‘Teen Wolf’ because prior to that, I had never been old enough to play a teacher.”
“Jeff Davis, the showrunner, is lovely and he threw this great scene at me, which was very emotional, and I just ran with it. I had just given birth right before that, so all my emotions were alive. Overall, ‘Teen Wolf’ was a great experience,” she elaborated.
“I feel that I’ve been very lucky to be able to work with great people. I’ve worked with some many people that I love and cherish, and that’s a nice thing to be able to say in Hollywood,” she expanded.
‘Queer as Folk’ — A life-changing experience
Clunie described “Queer as Folk,” where she played Melanie Marcus, as a “life-changing experience.”
“To this day, we all get letters from young people discovering themselves, and they tell us that the show has saved their lives, and that means so much to me,” she explained.
“I loved my character, Melanie. I had so much fun playing her, and it was just thrilling,” she noted. “Doing it was revolutionary. Melanie was the first full-time series regular lesbian on television. She was also this woman who didn’t care what men thought about her and that was revolutionary in and of itself for that time.”
“So, I cherish not only the show but the community that was built around the show,” she said. “We were a show that had to come out strong because it was the first of its kind. Who knew if Showtime was going to go all the way with it?”
“We were very adamant as a cast and with the producers that we were going to go just as far, if not further than the English version, and we did. The fact that I made people feel less alone means everything to me,” she acknowledged.
“The fans showed up and they kept us on the air, and without them, we wouldn’t have lasted past the first season. We were a very quirky show that was risky. I think of it as the ‘people’s show,’ and they kept us on the air for five years, and that was incredible.”
“Thanks to that show, the L word (lesbian) was greenlit. I got to play the first out-of-the-closet full-time lesbian character. I met my cast, and we are all soulmates; we will be together until the end. ‘Queer as Folk’ was just amazing, and the show truly is the gift that keeps on giving,” she added.
The digital age
On being a part of the digital age, Clunie shared, “I think it’s interesting. I don’t think I’ve mastered the digital age, but I enjoy it. My mother is 92 years old, and she has an email address, and she texts me. She is very tech savvy for someone who is 92.”
“I take my cues from her,” Clunie admitted. “I think social media can be used in a lot of great ways, and I try to do that.”
Stage of her life
On the title of the current chapter of her life, Clunie said with a sweet laugh, “To Be Continued…”
Success
Clunie defined success as “loving what you do, and you doing it with a passion.”
“This way, you just keep going because you love the work, and I feel that’s a great motto to live by,” she said.
Closing thoughts on ‘Pen Pals’
For fans and viewers, she expressed, “I want the audience to experience human connection, and I want them to walk out of there filled with the beauty of human connection. That is what the play is about, and I think that is what life is about.”
“Especially now with AI (artificial intelligence) and technology, we need that human connection more than ever,” she concluded.
To learn more about Michelle Clunie, follow her on Instagram and visit her official website.
Read More: “Pen Pals” review featuring Michelle Clunie and Megan Follows.
