Octopus Obsession, Feeling Moxy and More Things We Learned from The Band's Visit Star Katrina Lenk on Show People

Katrina Lenk is no stranger to ensnaring audiences, be it as the seductive viola player in Once or as spider goddess Arachne in Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. Now her performance in Itamar Moses and David Yazbek's The Band's Visit has had audiences and critics buzzing since it premiered off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2016. With awards season ramping up, The Band's Visit (and Lenk herself) is being hailed as a favorite on the Great White Way. Here's what we learned from Lenk about her hilarious dance teacher growing up, why she gets shy at the stage door, her octopus obsession, why awards season doesn't scare her and more on this week's Show People with Paul Wontorek.

1. SHE HAD A DELIGHTFULLY BATTY DANCE TEACHER GROWING UP
“Betty Hill was amazing. She was my first dance teacher. I started dancing when I was three. I mean, how much dancing can you really do when you’re three? But I did it, and Betty Hill was amazing. She had this giant red beehive, like Lucille Ball red. She was very much into the performing, and she’d say, ‘Smile, smile, smile,’ all the time.”

2. SHE'S ALWAYS GAME TO FLY ONSTAGE
“I am all in for flying. I loved the hugeness of Spider-Man and how carefully thought all of the flying rigs were on the set and everything. I felt very safe there. I’d be so game for flying in The Band’s Visit mid-‘Omar Sharif.’”

3. SHE GETS STAGE DOOR JITTERS
“I get really shy at the stage door. It’s something I’m not quite used to. To me, the stage door seems more for like, Bruce Springsteen. Of course people are going to wait for Bruce Springsteen! Come on! For me, it’s a little bit of like, ‘What? It’s just me.’”

Other must-read highlights:

ON THE BAND’S VISIT’S ACCLAIM
“We were definitely all surprised when the audiences responded in the way that they did. Everyone loves the show that they’re in, and you want it to be good, so it’s a really wonderful thing to have the audience feel the way we do about the show.”

ON CREATING BACKSTORIES FOR ALL OF HER CHARACTERS
“It’s always really fun, and it can provide answers where there aren’t any, say, in the script. Making up your own reasons for things is always really fun. With Dina, her backstory will sometimes change, depending where I’m at. I like to keep making things up and creating things.”

ON THE BAND’S VISIT FAMILY
“From day one, everyone was just generous, welcoming and very funny. It was like a family from the very beginning, which was great. It’s not always that way. It’s not always instant family. I do think if you work on something with a bunch of people, you will be connected with them in some way. There’s always some kind of love among a cast, regardless.”

ON FOLLOWING HER DREAMS TO LOS ANGELES
“The timing was not the best when I moved to L.A. There was a writer’s strike. I moved there with all these big dreams and then was like, ‘Oh no! Everything’s wrong.’ If you don’t know anyone in L.A., it’s so hard to get people to meet you and represent you. There’s also so many people there that are trying to make it.”

ON TOUGH TIMES IN NEW YORK
“My first Broadway contract was for The Miracle Worker. I was the standby for Alison Pill and Jennifer Morrison. I never went on. That closed, and I hadn’t saved enough money to stay in New York. It went by so fast. I went back to L.A. like, ‘I am never going back to New York. Never!’”

ON HER STAGE PERSONA MOXY PHINX
“She’s kind of crazy. She came out of the frustration I was feeling in L.A. I think a lot of actors feel this like, ‘I can’t book work. No one wants to see me. Have I no worth?’ But you still have all of this stuff in your brain that you want to get out and create. She came from that feeling of, ‘I’m just going to do something because I’m losing my mind.’ This woman doesn’t care what anyone thinks. She’s kind of just hung around and gotten more ridiculous. Everything about her is sort of misfitty.”

ON AWARDS SEASON
“What I really love about the theater community is how supportive everyone is of each other. Thinking of the awards as more of a celebration as opposed to a competition really helps. I’m so thrilled for all of the shows that are coming out. So many of my friends are in these shows, and I want them to do well. Thinking about it like that takes the pressure off. We’re not actually competing. We’re all doing something that we love so much.”

ON HER SUCCESS IN THE BAND’S VISIT
“If I was younger, it might have freaked me out a lot more. There’s perspective that I have now that I wouldn’t have had in my twenties...hopefully!”

ON HER OFFSTAGE DREAM
“I’m obsessed with The Blue Planet right now. It’s on BBC America. They bring cameras so deep into the ocean, like the very bottom of the deepest parts of the ocean. It’s an alien planet down there, and I cannot stop thinking about it. I’m currently obsessed with meeting an octopus. It’s my goal right now.”

Watch the full episode of Show People with Paul Wontorek below!

Interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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