A Small Fire's Celia Keenan-Bolger on Saying 'I Do' in Real Life and Onstage

It’s been a year of weddings for Celia Keenan-Bolger, including two on stage and her own in real life. In a union of Tony nominees (hers for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; his for The Full Monty), Keenan-Bolger and John Ellison Conlee got married in an intimate ceremony held in Vermont over Labor Day weekend. Her theatrical weddings have been a wee bit more problematic: Keenan-Bolger won rave reviews as a suicidal party crasher in The Bachelorette last July, and she’s currently playing a bride-to-be caught in the middle of a serious family medical crisis in Adam Bock’s A Small Fire at Playwrights Horizons. For fans of her performances in musicals such as Spelling Bee, Saved and Les Miz, it’s a happy surprise to see Keenan-Bolger command the stage in plays. During a holiday season telephone chat with Broadway.com, the bubbly actress talked about all the good things in her life—including marriage to her “dream guy” Conlee and an upcoming role in Disney’s buzzy new show Peter and the Starcatcher.

In A Small Fire, you play an adult daughter faced with a devastating medical emergency involving your mother [Tony winner Michele Pawk]. What drew you to the play?
I love how it addresses what happens in a family when a tragedy shakes up the dynamic. It reminds me of Thornton Wilder in that it makes you think about how important it is to cherish every moment. The play is about so many things—it’s about love, how we take care of each other, and how we stay engaged in the world. Adam [Bock] does an amazing job of addressing some pretty big questions of life and why we’re all here.

Without giving away too much, you’re part of a dysfunctional mother/daughter dynamic. How have audiences responded?
Some people have said, “I so understand where your character is coming from,” and some people have said outright, “You’re a real bitch.” [Laughs.] This role is different from anything I’ve gotten to do before in that she’s a really tough broad. I’ve played so many roles where I was vulnerable or damaged or wounded. This character is a little damaged, but the way she manifests it is so different, and I’ve really enjoyed that. Same thing with The Bachelorette—a lot of people said, “I didn’t have any idea that was in you,” which is a wonderful experience to have as an actress.

It must be nice that casting directors are thinking of you for “adult” roles.
Yes! That’s one of the main reasons I’ve been so excited to do plays. I’m about to do a show [Peter and the Starcatcher] where I play a kid, and I’m fine with that, but I don’t want to only do roles where I’m much younger than myself.

Sounds like you’re loving the change of pace from musicals.
It feels like a new chapter in my career. I had so many amazing opportunities in musicals very early on—working with Adam Guettel [on the Seattle premiere of The Light in the Piazza] and Michael John LaChiusa [on Little Fish] and Stephen Sondheim [on Sweeney Todd at the Kennedy Center]—and it’s hard to sustain that for years and years and years. Also, being in a long run of a show started to feel a little less fulfilling, so plays offered the opportunity to start this new chapter. I’m 32 years old, but everything feels shiny and special, the way I remember feeling about musicals when I first moved to the city.

You’ve had quite a year, with two plays about weddings and your own [to actor John Ellison Conlee] in between!
It was hilarious to be doing a show about a bachelorette party right before I got married, and now a play where I’m about to get married. I’m feeling so appreciative of just having gone through it and knowing what kinds of emotions are wrapped up in getting married. Obviously, my own experience was very different [laughs].

Did you and John meet through work?
No, I saw him in The Butter and Egg Man at the Atlantic Theater [in 2002] and was very taken with his performance [laughs]. I asked around: “Does that guy have a girlfriend?” And someone said, “Yes, yes, he does.” When his name would come up, I would always say, “Ah, John Conlee, my boyfriend from The Butter and Egg Man. I love that guy!” Finally, Sarah Saltzberg, who I worked with in Spelling Bee, called me when she was producing Don’t Quit Your Night Job and said, “This guy came in to audition who was so hilarious and so easy—John Conlee. Have you heard of him?” And I said, “Of course I have. He’s my dream guy!” After a couple of weeks of rehearsal, she said, “I’m going to set you two up. He’s a great guy, and I think you would be a good match.”

What a fun story. What was your wedding like?
It was an amazing time for all. We got married on a farm in Vermont. What’s astounding is that both John and I had really high expectations for that weekend, and they were exceeded. The number of times I can think of as adult when that happens is pretty rare. At one point in the ceremony, there was a five-minute rainstorm. It didn’t rain for the rest of the day, but for five minutes everybody had to move from their chairs, which were on a little hill, to the porch. Suddenly all of us were really close together, and I remember thinking, “I’ve never felt so much love in one place, ever, and I will never forget it.”

You’re part of a generation of really talented stage actresses, including Sutton Foster, Laura Benanti and Kelli O’Hara. What’s that dynamic like? Are you competitive?
I have found it wonderful to be a part of a community with so many enormously talented people. When I think about people involved in the theater, we're not in it for the fame and we’re certainly not in it for the money, so it attracts a certain personality. Sutton and I grew up together in Michigan—we were in the Peanut Butter Players children’s theater together. Laura and I met when we did a Secret Garden concert, and her husband, Steven [Pasquale, who co-starred with Keenan-Bolger in the original production of The Light in the Piazza], is also a very close friend. They were at our wedding. I’m not in touch with Kelli as much, but whenever we see each other I feel like we could talk for five hours.

You tweet often about gay rights issues. How did you get interested in politics?
My parents were very active politically, and politics was always part of our dinner table dialogue. My brother [actor Andrew Keenan-Bolger] and sister [playwright Maggie Keenan-Bolger] and I grew up in inner-city Detroit; my dad is an urban planner, and my mother, who died nine years ago, was a teacher and ran a mentoring program in the Detroit public schools. From a young age, we went to a lot of marches and rallies. Both of my siblings are gay, which is part of the reason I had my wedding in Vermont—we wanted to get married in a place where they also would be allowed to get married. I know there will be equal rights for everybody eventually, but in the meantime, I feel like it’s our responsibility, those of us who have it, to fight for it for others.

You mentioned the new play Peter and the Starcatcher [about the origins of Peter Pan, developed by Disney and headed to New York Theatre Workshop on February 18]. Give us a preview.
I did the show in La Jolla in 2009, and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

How so?
When people came, they said, “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” and that’s how I felt when we were making it. It’s a play with music, but the music is less about the storytelling and more to create an overall mood. Basically, it’s [co-director] Roger Rees and Alex Timbers’ brains! The show is bare-bones technically, but super-imaginative. The script [by Rick Elice] is wonderful, and the way we tell the story is equally rewarding.

Is it a show for kids?
Kids will be excited about the Peter Pan element and the stagecraft, but adults will get a whole other level of understanding. It’s a little bit in the Pixar vein. If I was a parent, I would definitely take my kid to see it because it’s as entertaining for adults as it is as kids.

Getting back to musicals, do you have any dream roles?
Honestly, the musicals that have been the most exciting to me are the ones that haven’t been written yet. I’m a huge fan of Jeanine Tesori; I’d love to do anything she would write. I loved working with Michael John LaChiusa.

You and your husband should do Sondheim together.
Oh my gosh, that would be a dream. I can’t wait until I’m the right age to be in Company.

What about Merrily We Roll Along?
Actually, Mary in Merrily is one of my dream roles.

Are you and John are on the same page about blending your careers?
So far, it’s been pretty easy. I’m going to start Peter and the Starcatcher at the end of January, and he’s going to go out to Los Angeles for a few months to do pilot season. Of course, just as he made that decision, he got offered three plays in New York! We want to be together as much as we can, but I know [going to L.A.] is the right thing for him to do. What’s nice is that we know how to give each other emotional support.

Are people already bugging you about starting a family?
Yeah, and that’s something I want to do. He does, too, thank goodness! We’ll just keep figuring things out as we go.

See Celia Keenan-Bolger in A Small Fire at Playwrights Horizons.