Meet the Cast ~ Hollis Witherspoon as Maya Swan

Hollis Witherspoon (MAYA SWAN) is an Oregon born, Princeton educated, Brooklyn based actress and writer. She is thrilled to be back at the Fringe after debuting in the Dostoyevsky adaptation An Idiot last year. Recent credits include 31 Down's Here at Home (Bushwick Starr), OKRT's Emancipatory Politics (Ontological), League of Professional Theatre Women's Dim Sum (New World Stages), Comedy Central's "The Onion SportsDome", the title character in Klemens Gasser's short ELEONORA and the upcoming indie feature THEODORE IS DYING. Hollis studied at the William Esper Studio and regularly performs in the downtown theater scene, notably as a member of the Old Kent Road Theatre. She can be heard musing on New York-y ideas and issues every week as the Culture Host for WBAI radio's The Artsy Fartsy Show (99.5FM Tuesdays@2). Love to the Gr of Grollis.

SIX QUESTIONS for Hollis Witherspoon

HOMETOWN: Yamhill, OR

FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR: not a huge ice cream fan but if I HAD to eat it, it would involve something with caramel, chocolate-covered or peanut butter crunch. Can I say I'd rather eat pie?

IF I WERE A SEA CREATURE The mighty
Sea Horse because they are such curious, whimsical creatures and I appreciate their design aesthetic. They remind me of slightly more relaxed hummingbirds, which are the air creatures with whom I also somehow identify (don't ask me why).

FIRST ACTING GIG: I starred as a homeless girl named Christy whose best friend is a stuffed lamb in my church's Christmas musical Little Christmas Lamb. The title song I warbled was...."Little Christmas Lamb". I was about 7 and this was the first and last time I have ever sung in a musical in front of people. My parents still have the evidence on a battered VHS.

MOST EMBARRASSING ONSTAGE MOMENT: Aside from Little Christmas Lamb? I'm sure there have been plenty but I seem to have done an excellent
job of repressing all embarrassing moments in the theatre. I have a recurring dream of having to perform improvised Shakespeare without rehearsal, but so far, this hasn't actually happened in real life.

FAVORITE NYC SUMMER ACTIVITY (BESIDES FRINGENYC): Prospect park concerts, outdoor drinking, sundresses at night, bike rides through Brooklyn, Uncle Louie's Italian Ices, zip car afforded beach trips, outdoor movies in DUMBO, Staten Island Yankees games, Shakespeare in the Park, my new air conditioner.