Alice Ripley

I come from the Midwest, from the suburbs - growing up hanging out at the mall and looking at the corn fields across the street. I kind of was embarrassed by it for a long time. Then I decided, 'Hey, if everyone else can embrace their homeland and where they're from, I can do the same!'

The road's a tough life, but I said 'yes,' because as a kid growing up in Ohio, I never had a chance to see a Tony-winning actress in a role she won the Tony for.

All day I wait for my job, which I do at night, and once I get there, I walk a tightrope, jump through hoops, and take breathtaking dives.

Next To Normal' is rock music. It's a rock opera. That, definitely, has a place in popular music.

Writing is the place where I can do it all and get away with it. You can't do that in the theatre.

You've got to chop back the performance like a rose bush. That's when it's beautiful.

Knowing there is a capable back-up willing to give it a try always makes you feel better.

The audience fills me back up, definitely.

There were eleven kids, and we all shared a bathroom. It was enough to drive us all insane.

I wasn't a musical-theater kid. We went to plays at school and took field trips to see Shakespeare. And that really sparked that fire for me, and so that's still going, and I haven't given up on it.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an actor in classics like Shaw and Shakespeare and Chekov and Ibsen.

When everything kind of hit the fan, my dad married Jo Anne, and suddenly there were five kids from the Ripleys and five kids from the Doughertys. Then my dad and Joanne had a baby. I usually have to make a diagram.