If you happen to be in Hollywood this month or next, check out “1 to 10?” on the Chaplin Stage, Theatre District, 804 N. El Centro Ave. The three-person, play-within-a-play features Amy Rilling '98 in the role of Erika Hunter, a recent Yale grad-turned-director of a 99-seat theatre in Los Angeles.
In a Dec. 20 review in Backstage, critic Madeleine Shaner calls Rilling's talent “amazing” and describes “a superfine Rilling, as bright as she is young.”
Rilling has played a nurse in three episodes of the popular TV series, “Scrubs.” She also has appeared in the films “Contend,” “Hide and Seek” and “The Devil and Daniel Webster.”
While a Union student, she performed in “Two Gentlemen of Verona” and “Noises Off!” at the Yulman Theatre as well as in a Mountebanks production of “Six Degrees of Separation.” In addition, she spent a summer honing her acting skills at the British American Acting Academy at Balliol College of Oxford University, where she took master classes in Shakespeare and contemporary theater with noted actors Ben Kingsley, Alan Rickman, Derek Jacobi, Fiona Shaw and Kevin Spacey.
Among the special skills listed on her acting resume are dialects, mezzo-soprano voice, piccolo, ballet, fencing, horseback riding and marathon running.
“1 to 10?” show times are Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 and Sunday afternoons at 2 (except Feb. 2-4); for tickets and reservations, contact (323) 957-2343 or go to www.thetheatredistrict.com.
“If you are able to make it, make sure that you stay afterward to say hello,” Rilling says.