Kaitlyn Black on Improving Her Improv & Couch-Surfing for #DateMe: An OKCupid Experiment

After a successful three-year run in Chicago, #DateMe: An OKCupid Experiment began performances off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre on June 20. Kaitlyn Black stars as Robyn, a disillusioned dater (based on the show's creator) who creates 38 fake online dating profiles to investigate our generation's relationship with online love. "She started getting a lot of messages, so it kind of started to snowball," Black told Ryan Lee Gilbert during a recent appearance on #LiveAtFive. "The show contains improv. We have songs, but it's also extremely heartfelt. The underlying theme is finding love, being able to reach out, being able to be heard."

An improv-heavy musical wasn't the most obvious choice for Black, she admits, because she wasn't highly confident in either skill. "This call came out of the blue to my agent that somebody from Tara Rubin, who is our casting director, said, 'Is Kaitlyn available in June?' And my agent was like, 'Huh?' And I was like, 'What?'" she jokes. "And I said, 'Just let them know I can't belt for Jesus. And like, this is not a Baptist choir singer. Lea Michele is nowhere near my repertoire.'" And, before she could take on the role in rehearsals, Black had to go through improv boot camp led by one of the show's writers, Frank Caeti. "He has been incredible," she says. "We did two shows as a group at the Peoples Improv Theater. We still wobble every once in a while, but I just can't say enough about our cast."

Black started out dancing as a kid at her grandmother's dance studio in Cleveland, Ohio, and got her Equity card by working in dinner theaters. After a web series put her on the map in 2005, she moved to L.A. to start working in TV and film. She had just finished four seasons of the CW drama Hart of Dixie when, she says, she was looking for a change. "I definitely did feel like after twelve years, it was time to do something a little different." Since her mother and uncle were both on Broadway—in A Chorus Line and No, No, Nannette, respectively—returning to the New York theater scene felt right. "That was kind of in my blood," she says.

Like most New York City moving stories, though, Black's has been shaky. "Unfortunately, I've had some housing stuff... My sublet fell through," she explained. "It's just like, Hey! Welcome to New York! We welcomed you back with open arms, but no housing." Friends and castmates have readily taken her in, she says, but it does mean she spends her days off apartment-hunting. "It's definitely been one of those moments where I was like, Okay, this is gonna make or break you right now," she said. "Like, you're living out of a suitcase and memorizing a show and learning improv!"

Be sure to catch Black in #DateMe: An OKCupid Experiment, now playing at the Westside Theatre. 

Watch the full #LiveAtFive episode below!