Becca Ballenger - News

FBI: Most Wanted on CBS

4/11/2021

**Check me out in FBI: Most Wanted on April 27, 10/9c on CBS!**

As a Dick Wolf mega-fan, I was thrilled to shoot a co-star role in an episode of FBI: Most Wanted on CBS (even better, I was directed by L&O heavy Milena Govich). The team is fabulous and I had a great time. Don't miss this very of-the-moment episode!

Missives from the Virtual World

10/21/2020

Hi. It's been a minute. How are you all doing?

The last seven months have been at best stressful, and at worst, absolutely horrifying. I could list everything that has been on my mind lately—#blacklivesmatter, please vote, wear a mask, etc—but this isn't the place for it. Instead, I'm going to let you know some of the moments that have brought me joy and come close enough to actual acting to scratch the itch temporarily.

STEADFAST with Clutch Productions

Presented in three parts as part of the EmpowHer reading series, this epic story about the suffragist movement grapples with the deeply embedded racism of the movement, while drawing parallels to the struggle of women (especially BIPOC+ women) today. I played Pepper, a spunky "rich girl" who sees her privilege as a stepladder to doing more for those who have less.

Fourteen by Alice Gerstenberg with Metropolitan Playhouse

A society grand dame, her eligible daughter, and their unflappable butler prepare for a dinner for fourteen. But when one guest cancels, leaving a table of unlucky thirteen, the game is afoot! A comedy of extreme disproportion.

Bertha: The Sewing Machine Girl with Metropolitan Playhouse

This 1906 American melodrama is weird and wild and wonderful. I play Lizette, the conniving and heartbroken "friend" of Bertha, whose plotting goes right and then VERY wrong.

A Star Wars Christmas Carol for Branford Parks & Rec

Exactly what it sounds like: a parody of a galaxy far, far away meets A Christmas Carol. You can still see it here.

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN Reading

2/21/2020

I was beyond thrilled to spend the day with Dick Scanlan and a killer cast working through his new musical adaptation of the '80s classic An Officer and a Gentleman, reading Lynette.

They're aiming for an upcoming tour; I can't wait to see where the project goes from here! Thanks to Wojcik/Seay for a dream day at Pearl.

THE WORTH OF WATER at HERE

10/18/2019

This October, I headed back to HERE (my third show in the space!) for a brand new experience-- coming onto a new play as a last-minute replacement on the first day of tech. I learned the show in two days, and opened The Worth of Water by Tira Palmquist with this absolutely killer cast & crew October 4.

"Ballenger is intense and intuitive... Ballenger as DJ and [Clare] Latham as Elle provide the most fully developed, provocative and evocative performances in the piece. They listen keenly and seek connection through eye contact to a maximum."
--TheatreScene

Festival of New Theatre Reading at Geva

10/18/2019

I had an absolute blast returning to Geva (just over a year after Steel Magnolias) for a spell to participate in the first reading of the annual Festival of New Theatre. After just a day and a half of rehearsal, we presented a staged reading of a fabulous new play. I love working at Geva-- can't wait to see what's next with this project!

Solitude
by Carolyn E. Kourofsky
Solitude is inspired by the true story of Edith Bone, a doctor and journalist who is unjustly accused of being a British spy in 1949 Hungary. In solitary confinement for seven years, how will she survive?

MARBLE-EYED TANNER directed by Harry Lennix

8/29/2019

I had a great time playing Ellen, a young, troubled mother, in the short film MARBLE-EYED TANNER. It was a particular joy to have the opportunity to work with our director, the fabulously talented and kind Harry Lennix. Looking forward to seeing where this little film goes next! Thanks to John Ort for bringing me in for this project.

Feature Film Debut - FRIDAY AFTERNOON

7/11/2019

I'm playing the supporting role of Ana in Paige Campbell's debut feature, Friday Afternoon. It's screening this year at festivals worldwide.

The day that Gus goes in for her medical abortion, an unexpected complication leaves her with four hours to kill in the East Village before she can complete the procedure. She is forced to confront the passivity with which she has lived her life, and as the result of her decision to end the pregnancy, she finds herself reborn through the deaths of her relationships.

The Sean O'Casey Season at IRISH REP

3/4/2019

I was thrilled to join Irish Rep for TWO staged readings of O'Casey plays this spring.

First up was PURPLE DUST, the first of O'Casey's comic pastorals, written in 1940. I played Avril, a flirty little Irish songbird who ultimately chooses the future over the fast-dispersing purple dust of the past.

Next was a somewhat darker ditty: the controversial THE BISHOP'S BONFIRE, one of O'Casey's last plays, written in 1955. In this one, I played Foorawn, who is struggling to reconcile her broken romance with the town baddie with her new calling as a nun. It doesn't end well, to say the least.

Extra special thanks to director Nicola Murphy for bringing me on board!

Workshop of DOWN SOUTH by Edward Precht

12/14/2018

I had the enormous pleasure to spend a week digging into Edward Precht's moving new play, Down South, culminating in a reading at the Drama Bookshop.

Shady Mae Beauford is a single mother raising her adult son with Down Syndrome in coastal Carolina. As America's Bicentennial approaches, a young couple with a radically-different parenting style moves in next door, and this tenuous mother-son bond begins to unravel as Shady Mae is forced to confront how much independence to give her only child. Meanwhile, a nest of loggerhead turtles hatch on the beach and Hub wonders: will they find their way?

Featuring: Wendy Rich Stetson as Shady Mae and Eddie Barbanell as Hub, with Becca Ballenger, David Jackson and Joshua Turchin.

Workshop Assistant: Marina Montesanti.
Design Collaborators: Emmie Finkel and Megan Lang.

PAPERMAKER at Shadowland Stages

10/21/2018

Another openin', another show in Ellenville!

We took a time machine back to Maine in the 1980s in novelist Monica Woods' first play Papermaker. It was a joy to play with this stunning cast, helmed by Stephanie Zimbalist ("Remington Steele"), featuring Steve Brady, Molly Parker Myers, John Pietrowski, and Ed Rosini, under the direction of Brendan Burke.

As Emily, Becca Ballenger lets her character unfold in a series of crises that leads her to important decisions in the direction of her own life.
- Times Herald Record

Emily (Becca Ballenger) is torn between her entitled background and the lives of the "flesh and blood" workers. Ballenger is defiantly determined as her character yearns for the closeness of the families in the mill town. - Aisle Seat

Below, the cast with Monica Wood (far right) and director Brendan Burke (far left).

NY Times on A Midsummer Night's Dream:

"Warm-blooded, frolicsome and splendidly cast, this production at the 47th Street Theater leads with its heart. Nimbly played, the lively young lovers seem as if they could live down the Street...They swoon, and we feel their rapture. They torment one another, and we pity their pain. When something is funny, which is often, the audience bubbles with belly laughter. The quality of mirth here is not strained, not even close, and thank goodness for that."

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