Donna Lynne Champlin talks about starring in the Off-Broadway show ‘Pen Pals’

Donna Lynne Champlin. Photo CreditL Russ Rowland.

Donna Lynne Champlin chatted about starring in the Off-Broadway show “Pen Pals,” which is being performed at the DR2 Theatre in New York City.

Champlin is playing the role of Bernie opposite Emily Skinner as Mags.

“Pen Pals” was written by Michael Griffo and it was directed by SuzAnne Barabas.

On starring in “Pen Pals,” Champlin exclaimed, “I love it! I’m actually a little bummed that are coming to the end of it this weekend. I could totally do another week or two with my buddy Emily.”

Playing Bernie in ‘Pen Pals’

On playing Bernie, she said, “I love the juxtaposition between Bernie’s loud, brash, center of attention personality with Mags’ more refined, quiet, and thoughtful personality.”

“I love that she’s a lot, but I especially love it in contrast to all the beautiful things that Emily is doing as Mags,” Champlin said. “It’s fun to climb on chairs and climb on tables and be loud.”

“I mean, we went to college together, so we’ve known each other for 35 years,” she said. “We have done shows together before, but not like this. You know, we were both so thrilled.”

“We were so thrilled that we got a poster with our pictures on it,” she said. “It’s not a memory of the show, it’s just kind of fun as best friends for decades to have a poster with both our mugs on it.”

Lessons learned from this play

On the lessons learned from this play, Champlin reflected, “You can really rely on text. You know, in theory, you would think that listening to two people read letters doesn’t sound very theatrical yet it somehow is.”

“So, I think what I learned is that if you focus and if you commit to the material, then so will the audience. You have to take control of the material and fully commit,” she noted.

“It’s just an interesting lesson in text, and what you can do with text with your voice and your emotions and not necessarily your body,” she added.

‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ experience

On her experience doing “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” Champlin said, “That was such a special four years of my life that I never even dreamed was possible.”

“I mean, I was a theater rat, and then all of a sudden, like, I’m on a television show, and it was like, what is happening? It was very, very special,” she said.

“We still do the concerts occasionally. It’s sort of a family. I loved it. I mean, it was like theater camp on a budget. It was organic, funny and touching… just a really, really special time in my life that I will always treasure,” she acknowledged.

Closing thoughts on ‘Pen Pals’

For fans and viewers, she expressed about “Pen Pals,” “These days, we send emails and everything is digital and in the cloud. There is something about having handwritten letters that you can save and that has somebody else’s handwriting on it. The story is universal.”

Champlin continued, “It’s a story about two women who aged from 14 to 54, and even my 14-year-old boy thought that it was fascinating to watch these two characters, whether they’re women or not. He enjoyed seeing ‘the journey of friendship’.”

“It was such a wonderful lesson in friendship and accepting other people for who they are, but also, nudging them when you feel like they’re not being truthful to themselves,” she elaborated.

“My 14-year-old boy walked away from that wanting a pen pal who wrote real letters and somebody in his life who could be his Bernie or Mags for the next 40 years” she noted.

“So, what I want people to get out of ‘Pen Pals’ is that it’s universal, and it speaks to you all,” she concluded.

To learn more about Donna Lynne Champlin, follow her on Instagram.

Read More: “Pen Pals” review starring Donna Lynne Champlin and Emily Skinner.