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Welcome to another episode of the Comedic Pursuits podcast. I’m your host, Seth Payne.

This is the podcast where I sit down and I talk to other DC comedy brethren and sistren and go over people’s backstories, their histories, how they got into comedy, what they’ve done so far, and where they want to go.  

Today’s episode features Tess Higgins, a member of WIT Harold team Captain PhD.

Highlights from my interview with Tess Higgins

Tess Higgins is also an actress, and she performs in plays and musicals. She trained in England and went to school for theater at William and Mary.

She’s also a playwright. When we recorded this interview, she was writing a script. She’s since completed it and is working to get it produced.

But without further ado, here’s the kickass episode of Tess Higgins. Some of the responses have been edited for clarity, but you can hear the full interview by listening to the podcast.

What’s your performance background?

I did plays in middle school and high school. When I was thinking about applying to colleges, I knew I wanted to do theater. For a while, I wanted to do a BFA program, where you literally do theater every day, all day. I was looking at NYU and Emerson, but my dad pointed out that I could go to an in-state school in Virginia for super cheap. They’re such good schools, and some of them have good musical theater programs. I looked into it a little more, and William and Mary seemed like it had the academic vibe that I wanted. I took a tour and learned more about their theater department and thought it was cool. Then I applied and got in.

The transition to college was weird, though. When you’re in high school you might be able to get a big role in every play, but suddenly there are so many more people. I tried out for three plays in a row the first month of school and got into none of them. That was a huge bummer, but as a freshman, it was not going to happen.

I didn’t do a lot sophomore year either, but that was when I made the decision to do a study abroad acting program in London. It was the best decision I ever made. It was the first time I really felt challenged. It was so hard. It was nine to five every day doing intense theater stuff. You had to be physically and emotionally there every day. But our teachers were so good, and I use everything I learned there.

I came back from study abroad too late to try out for a student production on campus and decided to sit in on crew just so I could see my friends. I remember sitting in on their first run-through and feeling like a huge pretentious loser because everything from London was in my head. I just kept thinking, “This is wrong. Everything is wrong. This is so bad.” My standards were higher and better, which made me a better performer. I came back from this program and got my first lead at school.

Now I do theater professionally. My parents are the coolest because they’re very supportive of me doing arts. I did a show last spring, and my mom saw it five times and brought  all these people every time she came. I have a lot of friends who, when they’ve chosen to be professional theater makers or things like that, their parents will nervously give them a couple years to see if it works out.