Six's Anna Uzele on Why the Shutdown Is Like a Breakup and Her Unusual Tip for Stress Relief

Living near the theater district during the Broadway shutdown, photographer and performer Matthew Stocke has been haunted walking past the empty palaces sitting in repose, waiting for the lights and stars to return. In this new Broadway.com photo feature, he reunites members of the theater community with their Broadway home #AwayFromHome.

ANNA UZELE
SIX

Hours before Anna Uzele was set to take the stage as Catherine Parr for the opening night of Six on March 12, the company found out their starry night had been canceled. Uzele has been with Six since its North American premiere at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in May 2019, and she made her Broadway debut in the Tony-winning revival of Once on the Island. Here, the performer talks about how her life has changed in the past seven months, the important questions she's asking, and why life is a little easier to handle when upside down.

"It was the opening night of Six when everything shut down. My brain was like, ‘OK, your show is not happening. You don't know when it's going to happen. You shouldn't dwell on Broadway.’ I don't focus on those things because they're just going to bring up sad memories. Instead I focus out of all the other things going on in my life. It literally felt like I had been dumped by a boyfriend, and then every time we did a press event [after the shutdown], it was like having to hang out with them and talk about old times. I sound terrible, but my first feeling when I found out that we were shut down was actually relief. I've never been more exhausted in my entire life. I thought that we were going to get a month-long nap and then come back and regroup to have a great opening night. Once that month had hit, and we realized nobody knows when we’re going to reopen, reality sunk in. My brain had me thinking that it’s not efficient putting your energy [into Broadway], because that doesn't exist right now. You need to grieve and have all those feelings, but then you need to figure out where to put all this energy. Like what do I do with all my adrenaline at 6PM every night? My body thinks I'm supposed to be starting an opening number...This quarantine has been two chapters for me. The first one was not so good. It felt like survival and self-preservation and turning my energy inward. So much of my energy had been for performing for everyone else, and suddenly that didn’t exist anymore. There was a sense of urgency when it came to taking care of myself. Then summer came and things got warmer and happier: I got myself a little tutoring job, and I’m taking some classes. I’m taking this time to learn as much as possible about the things I’m interested in because now I have the time. My focus has been asking myself, 'What can I learn? What can I do now, so that when I return to my job, it’s a more equitable and equal industry? What is my part in that? How can I facilitate that?' We can't return to what we came from because we've learned that what we came from wasn't good enough. I’ve really been leaning into those conversations...This is going to sound silly, but handstands have brought me so much joy. I got interested in them at the beginning of doing Six. I wasn't able to balance in my high heels dancing on stage. It occurred to me that if I can stand on my hands and not fall down, then I’d be OK right side up. It’s been an awesome meditative space. If you can't control the world around you, I can at least control my own body. It's actually allowed me to release anxiety and stress. I can relinquish control because I'm teaching myself to gain control elsewhere. Don’t worry, I’ve mastered the Catherine Parr heels."

Photos by Matthew Stocke/Matt James Photo NYC for Broadway.com
Additional reporting by Caitlin Moynihan