Ten of my Favorite Things: Susan McGinnis
BY MARLI GUZZETTA INDEPENDENT ARTS EDITOR
You can't keep a good woman down. You also can't keep her still, at least not if that woman is the assertive and saucy Susan McGinnis, who finds herself surrounded by actors this summer, her fourth on Nantucket since moving here from the other island. She worked for 12 years as a Manhattan actor (and even played Miranda's secretary on an episode of "Sex and the City") before getting sand in her shoes.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Susan McGinnis at the Chicken Box, where she is producing a performance of "The Vagina Monologues" on May 30 to benefit Seaside Shakespeare.

"There are a lot of opportunities on Nantucket; you can create your own work here; it's an open and receptive community," said McGinnis, who also works as the admissions and special events coordinator at the Lighthouse School. "On Nantucket, there's a real culture of appreciation for the arts, in part because there are fewer activities. A play is actually kind of a big deal here, and people go see it."

In the first place, McGinnis oversees Seaside Shakespeare - a contingent of local actors who will be performing "Twelfth Night" Aug. 12 - 14 as part of the Nantucket Art Council's Shakespeare by the Sea Festival.

To support the group's effort, McGinnis has organized a fundraising performance of Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues" on Wednesday, May 30, at the Chicken Box.

The show is comprised of a series of monologues exploring the proverbial "down there" as a continent of cultural transcription - via characters that include a cocksure dominatrix and a Bosnian refugee who had been violated during the war. The play has become a metaphorical hand mirror for contemporary women (and men), sweeping the nation's colleges, where students have performed the monologues on Valentine's Day for the last decade. Laura Gallagher Byrne directs the cast, which includes Annie Breeding, Meredith Martin, Margaret Hitchcock, Susan Lucier and Cheryl Fudge.

"We hope to get our name out there in people's consciousness," McGinnis said. "This play piques people's curiosity. It's contemporary, so there's a draw."

Next month, McGinnis plays Barbie Ann DeMarco Sanchez, "a charismatic, big-haired lingerie saleswoman who never bothered to grow up," in Theatre Workshop of Nantucket's "Lone Star Grace," which runs from June 13 through June 20.

Sometime in between performances, McGinnis will facilitate the local casting of Nantucket actors in the Nantucket Film Festival's staged reading - which mixes local talent with some of the luminaries attending the festival. The characters will read "Filthy, Dirty, Twisted Lust" by Steven Weber.

Even at home, McGinnis is in the company of performers. She shares her home with operatic professional Greta Feeney and First Congregational Church's music director, Robert Behrman.

With what, one wonders, does McGinnis use to embellish her life when she's "off book?" We asked her to share 10 of her favorite things to find out.

1. Walking thru Miacomet to watch the sunset over Cisco. I love walking all around that area; it amazes me that you can be in a wide-open space and hear nothing but birds, wind, waves and peepers - such a stark contrast to my former life in the city - and the ocean is the reason I came to Nantucket.

2. Good hair days. I broke a lot of hairbrushes growing up thanks to my naturally frizzy hair. Need I say more?!

3. Singing with my Dad. No matter what changes in our lives, it is one constant where we always get a kick out of each other. I learned so much about music listening to him.

4. Dark chocolate. Actually ANY chocolate. That and ice cream are my weaknesses!

5. Lounging in bed on a rainy morning. When you wake up early but know you don't have to be anywhere right away, and the sound of the rain lulls you in and out of sleep - that's the best!

6. Sondheim lyrics. He's a poet and a genius.

7. Laughing with friends, wine and food. (Is that one thing or four?) When I lived in New York City, since everyone lives in small apartments, I had this fantasy about having a big wooden farm table with all sorts of different chairs around it filled with my fabulous friends. Now, when they visit Nantucket it comes true.

8. Craig Ferguson. He's smart and funny and goofy and soulful - and makes his living amidst the madness of Hollywood but seems to retain his outsider status and the perspective that it's all somewhat nuts.

9. Seeing kids from the 52nd Project (in NYC's Hell's Kitchen) do Shakespeare. They and the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park were my inspirations for starting Seaside Shakespeare on Nantucket.

10. The Vagina Monologues! Eve Ensler is such a brave and important writer for our time.

"THE VAGINAMONOLOGUES" When: Wed., May 30, 7 p.m.

(The bar opens at 6 p.m.) Where: The Chicken Box, Dave Street Cost: $30