Broadway actress Victoria Clark chatted about her 2023 Tony Award win for “Kimberly Akimbo.”
She had previously won the Tony in 2005 for her performance in “The Light in the Piazza.”
Background on Victoria Clark
Her first Broadway job was understudying in the original production of “Sunday in the Park With George” in theatre 38 years ago.
Since then, Clark has had performances in 12 additional Broadway shows including her most recent performance as Kimberly in “Kimberly Akimbo,” for which she was awarded the Tony, a Lucille Lortel Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award.
Ironically enough, the last time she was 16, Clark played 71-year-old Rebecca Nurse in her high school production of “The Crucible.” “Rebecca was a very old lady, so it’s kind of ironic but a fun fact,” she said with a sweet laugh.
Favorite motto to live by
Her favorite motto to live by is: “Live while you’re living; we have nothing but this moment.” “It goes by really fast. Sometimes, I look at the young people in our cast and I think they are going to blink, and they are going to be my age. Life is precious,” she explained.
‘Kimberly Akimbo’
Clark won the 2023 Tony Award for “Best Leading Actress in a Musical.” This marked her second career Tony win in this category. “I am just over the moon about it and I am so grateful,” she exclaimed.
“I just feel really blessed and excited to be a part of this project. This show is so funny, so moving, and so healing for so many people, including myself. It’s a great new chapter in my life and I couldn’t be happier,” she elaborated.
The show itself won a total of five 2023 Tony Awards. “We won more Tony awards than any other show, play or musical this year, so we are thrilled about that,” she said.
Working with Bonnie Milligan
On working with Bonnie Milligan, who plays Aunt Debra in “Kimberly Akimbo” Clark said, “Bonnie is a superstar. She brings 150 percent of herself each night,” Clark said.
“Bonnie is so inspiring to me, and we are very good friends. She is deeply respectful of everyone in the show and the material. She is an incredible scene partner and so playful. She keeps it fresh and we have a very similar work ethic. It is very important to us that the show stays fresh and in top form,” she elaborated.
Victoria Clark joins an unique list of thespians
Clark holds the distinction of being one of three living “Leading Actress” to have won two Tony Awards in the same “Musical” category for original productions since the days of Mary Martin and Angela Lansbury; Clark praised both Martin and Lansbury as two of her biggest idols growing up.
“That was a pretty fun list with some amazing people,” she admitted. “It is so humbling and exciting to be in a list with Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli. It’s a very impressive list and I am proud to be a part of it.”
“When you are creating something new, there is no map. When you are stepping into a revival, obviously, you have the vision of the new creative team, so that is always thrilling, but there is still a map,” she said.
“When you are doing a new show, anything is possible. That is a very different situation and I am very proud of that. The process is much more rigorous and exhausting,” she acknowledged.
The digital age
On being an actress in the digital age, Clark said, “I am getting better at it. There was a long time where I didn’t understand it. If there was someone that I wanted to talk to, they were probably in my phone already, that was my philosophy.”
“Another downside of social media is our tendency to compare ourselves to what other people are doing. The content is curated so intensely to the point where you don’t know what is real and what is fabricated. The digital age can be hard on people’s mental health. I wasn’t ready to support a lot of those platforms for those reasons,” she said.
“I have met so many people through Instagram and I have forged many new friendships,” she said. “I have also been able to reach out to artists that I admire and tell them that they are incredible. There is a way to reach people now, so that to me, feels like a technological advance. I love to be part of a movement where people feel like they have an outlet for healing and for understanding. That’s important to me.”
She shared her thoughts on AI on the future of the arts and entertainment industry. “Some of the art that is coming out using AI is really fantastical and beautiful,: she said. “There are some incredible people that do imaginative and creative things well. There is tremendous possibilities there.”
Stage of her life
On the title of the current chapter of her life, Clark said, “Expect the Unexpected.”
Success
Clark defined the word success as a “healthy balance between the way we spend our time, and finding that balance between friends, family, and livelihood.”
Closing thoughts on ‘Kimberly Akimbo’
On her Broadway show “Kimberly Akimbo,” she concluded, “I want people to walk away from the theater after seeing ‘Kimberly Akimbo’ that it’s never too late to start living, it’s never too late to make new friends, as well as to enjoy your life, go on a road trip, and to say you are sorry. Basically, it’s never too late to (fill in the blank).”
To learn more about two-time Tony winner Victoria Clark, follow her on Instagram.
