When actress Alysia Reiner auditioned for a small stage production I produced last year, I knew instantly I was standing before someone with an interesting career in behind and in front of her.  She read with such ease and vigor and clearly possessed the ability to become someone else at the drop of a hat.  It was a show about motherhood, a subject she knew very well, as a new mother with a toddler at home.

Alysia’s resume is so impressive.  She’s had recurring and guest starring roles on hit shows like “30 Rock,” all the “Law & Order” shows, “The Sopranos,” “White Collar,” “The Exes,” “The Starter Wife,”and many more. In film, she is still recognized as Christine, Thomas Hayden Church’s fiancee and then bride in the Oscar-winning cult film favorite “Sideways,” for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast. Alysia has been in blockbusters like “For Love of the Game,” but also shoe-string budget Sundance faves like “The Vicious Kind,” which was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards. And that’s just a fraction of the work she’s done.

Little did I know back then that she was about to start filming the role as Fig in what would become my favorite TV show, Orange is the New Black, which debuted on Netflix two weeks ago.  I finished all 13 episodes in just a few days, a feat for me, as my kids often control the remote control.  It has become my new obsession and I still can’t believe how good the show is. And how good she is.  I basically binge watched the whole show and devoured every scene.  It’s a show about story-telling, about the women in the stories and the show gets inside them in a very different way than anything I’ve ever seen before.

It’s fairly obvious by watching the show that filming OITNB must be an INTENSE experience, so I asked Alysia a few questions:

How did you get involved with the show?

It was an offer – but i had auditioned for another role -  readers  - tweet me to guess which one!

What is it like working in a women-led, all women cast show?

incredible. we have such a spectacular group of talent – starting of course with our incredible Jenji (Kohan), the writers and producers, and the cast is AMAZEBALLS.

How do you like playing Fig?  Are you like her at all? 

LOVE IT and NO she is so the opposite of me!( as you know)! I am the girl who wants to change the world and have GEDs and meditation classes. I actually started volunteering in a prison with an amazing organization called Council for Unity.

What was it like shooting in a real prison? Did you do any research to get into the mindset of these women?

We actually shot at an abandoned kids psych ward = CREEPY!

What was it like working with Jenji Kohan?

She is so warm and delightful, so incredibly humble, so incredibly loyal, you can’t believe the genius that comes out of her.

How involved was the real-life Piper? Did she come to the set regularly?

Yes which is great – and ironically her husband Larry is a dear friend of someone I was best friend’s with in HIGH SCHOOL!

You have an interesting relationship with the warden and guards. They all seem to listen to you.  How were you directed to play this part?

Honestly they gave us a lot of freedom. I made some big choices about Fig from the beginning and I think the team liked them (I sure hope so!) because I was never directed to pull back or change. Its also so in the amazing writing. Our writers so give us so many clues in the writing about how to play things.

How does the show make you feel about how women are treated in prison?  What have you learned about the system that you can share?

Its scary to me. The more I read the more upsetting it is, hence the volunteering. Piper is super active too and I plan to get more involved with some of her organizations. I so hope our show is a catalyst for change in the system. If it takes FIG’s evil ways to help that happen, I will be as evil as I can be.

What’s next for you? Can you tell us anything about next season?

As for next season, I wish I knew!  We start in a couple weeks. As for me, I just shot 2 films – THE GIRL IN THE BOOK, and REVENGE OF THE GREEN DRAGONS and I am about to voice a dear friend’s book SOME NERVE – so excited.

In addition to being a great actress,  Alysia is also a producer, writer, humanitarian, outspoken environmentalist, mother and model. She’s a champion of all things eco-friendly, green, light green, or even that lime green that most people hate. Head over to her site to check out all the causes she is passionate about.

Follow Alysia on Twitter, Facebook and check out the show on Netflix AS SOON AS YOU CAN.

Credit: Jennifer Lee Photography

It’s been two days since Listen to Your Mother hit the NYC stage.  After weeks and weeks of working on the show’s logistics, from finding a non-profit to support… to helping to cast the show to finding rehearsal space… to securing sponsorships… to scouting a location for the cast party, I put my heart and soul into bringing this show to life. I enjoyed every waking minute of it and nourished the experience.  Words can not even express how grateful I was to be a part of it.  I kept thinking that the chance of ever working on a NYC stage production again in my lifetime was slim, so I’d better make the most of it.  And I did.

When the big day arrived, I jumped out of bed and ran to the train, with a flower arrangement, bouquet of flowers and sponsorship materials in hand.  My train got indefinitely delayed well before our arrival in the city, and I called upon my husband to come sweep me up and drive me into the city, knowing very well that he’d have to turn right back around to get my mom and come back.  He didn’t put up a fight and I called him my hero all the way to the theater.  Nothing would prevent me from making my “stage debut”.

And it was glorious.  The cast shone like a star.  We had only rehearsed twice together as a group prior to that moment and had never rehearsed on that exact stage, but every cast member nailed it.  Each performance had an impact on everyone watching, just as we expected.  I stood on the sideline and watched the audience reactions – they laughed, they cried, they sat in awe of their loved ones and of ones they didn’t know.  It all just WORKED so magically and I beamed throughout, thinking about the power of storytelling.   This summer each woman’s story will all be broadcast on You Tube and they will be seen and heard by women around the world.

There are so many other reasons I’m proud of this show.  I’m proud of the money from ticket sales that we donated to Room to Grow, our chosen non-profit; I’m proud that we filled the house at the JCC (we actually sold out within weeks and had people emailing us until the day of the show for tickets); I am proud of the fearless emcee Rene Syler who was the perfect fit for our show and knew exactly what to say between each piece; I am proud of the difficult stories that many cast members told, particularly the brave Cynthia Bastidas and Kate Mayer, who brought audience members to tears; I am proud of the profound impact that Eve Lederman’s story is having on so many women with her follow-up features in the NYT Motherlode story and mention in a story on Jezebel;  I am of proud the cast for creating a room full of laughter and telling stories that we can all relate to; I am proud to have worked with Alysia Reiner, Abby Sher, Deborah Goldstein, Estelle Sobel Erasmus, Howard Margulies, Jonny Schremmer, Kathy Curto, Patty Chang Anker and Una La Marche - all skilled writers and amazing women who I shall follow for life; I am proud to have seen my good friend, Ilana Wiles, make her stage debut and do it so skillfully (and without peeing in her pants); I am proud to have been blessed with the friendship of Kirsten Piccini, who is as beautiful inside as she is out; I am proud to have worked along side three fantastic friends and mentors, Amy Wilson, Betsy Cadel and Varda Steinhardt. And I can’t thank Ann Imig and Deb Rox for showing me that anything is possible.

So, would I do it again?  If given the chance, yes.  But if that doesn’t happen, I have this.  All this.  And so much more.

As soon as I started to work on this show, I felt a renewal of spirit inside my  entire being.  Something awoke inside me that had been dormant and dying to get out.  I haven’t felt as inspired and challenged in a very long time to help bring this production to the NYC stage.  Now I want to produce a Broadway show.  That is actually not a lie.

But back to the group.  When we first started planning, the Producer, Director and I would meet in Upper West Side cafes and slip in conference calls between childcare and work.  We talked about the casting process and we wondered who would come to audition for our show.

Auditions came and around 70 amazing women entered the room and read from their hearts. I heard voices of women of all ages, races and religions, and every piece reflected a time in my life or a stage of life that I wanted to know more about.  They talked about infertility, broken hearts, bringing children into the world, raising an autistic child, coping with elderly parents and so much more that struck a cord.  The three of us shook our head in wonder, praying that we were making the right decisions about our cast. When we sent our rejections to the auditioners we didn’t select, we felt the pain of many of the women who came to audition which we shared.  We wanted to cast everyone.  Everyone had something to say and they all said it so well.

Fast forward back to this past Sunday, when our final cast walked into the MMAC Theater precisely at 2:30pm.  We all felt a spark as soon as entered the theater.  The group of women, chosen for being great writers and true talents, had come from all over the Tri State to read that day back in February when we first rehearsed.  Our first rehearsal was a cold reading, just so that we could hear how everyone’s voices meshed and for everyone to meet each other. But I don’t think even then that they knew what this experience would mean to them as time moved on.

Amy, our wonderful Director, got the cast doing a few warm-up exercises and they all found a place in the room to prepare.  Some were visibly nervous, but there was an unbelievable amount of support in the room and a sense of camaraderie which carried them all through their shining moments on stage.  Everyone gave each member of the cast their divided attention and absorbed the words that jumped off pages of the binder that held all the readings on the music stand.

This time they each get a chance to get up on stage and share their voice and speak from the heart and tell the world about one part of their life.  I think they are truly grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this, just as I do.  This is a group of much gratitude.

There are so many amazing women in this production, you have to read about each one of them to understand who they are and why they are so incredible: Amy Wilson, René Syler, Alysia Reiner, Abby Sher, Cynthia Bastidas, Deborah Goldstein, Estelle Sobel Erasmus, Eve Lederman,  Howard Margulies, Ilana Wiles, Jonny Schremmer, Kate Mayer, Kathy Curto, Kirsten Piccini, Patty Chang Anker, Una LaMarche, Betsy Cadel and I am missing someone who has inspired me to no end during this experience: Varda Steinhardt.  She is a force and has worked tirelessly on this show.  I will link to her piece when it’s up.

Sunday is coming and I can’t wait to see the show on stage.  I think that the voices of the cast will reverberate in my mind for years to come. My mother will be there, my sisters, my husband and brother-in-law and a few of my closest friends.  They will share my proud moment with me and applaud these amazing women bearing their hearts and soul on stage.

For more information, head to the site but tickets are sold out and that is not likely to change.