Maria Dizzia

Hometown: Cranford, New Jersey

Currently: Breaking audiences' hearts as the lovestruck title character in Sarah Ruhl's eurydice at off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre.

Stage Baby: Growing up in suburban New Jersey, Dizzia saw lots of Broadway shows, which inspired her to begin acting classes. As early as third grade, she felt she'd found her calling: "I remember saying to my mom, 'I'm not the best person in my class, but I think if I work really hard, I would have fun doing this,'" she says. "I made that pronouncement in the parking lot one day."

Garden State: "Work hard" became the young actress' mantra as she tackled challenging parts in high school including the M.C. in Cabaret before heading off to pursue a theater arts degree at Cornell. Yet Dizzia balanced her studies with uniquely Jersey pursuits, enjoying Six Flags, 24-hour diners and a quirky pastime she invented with friends: "We'd drive around and scout out McDonald's," she says with a laugh. "They're all designed differently, based on the likes of the franchise owner, so there are football-themed ones and floral-themed ones—when you're actually looking for them, it becomes really amazing and creative."

Go West! After auditioning for a number of East Coast acting grad schools Yale, Juilliard, Dizzia surprised herself by choosing the University of California at San Diego. "I thought it would be fun to go somewhere I'd never thought of living, so I did it," she explains. Initially, Dizzia was taken with West Coast life. "I was shocked every day by the palm trees; I never, ever got over it," she says with a laugh. "I loved being in a different place with a different sensibility." Yet after earning her MFA, Dizzia headed home. "I did come running back," she says now. "There's this competitive relaxing out there—it's 'I relax better because I surf and I hiked into this place.' I'd say, 'I just stayed in and read a book,' and they'd say, 'Oh, you're not like us.' I had no confusion over which coast I wanted to live on."

Entering the Underworld: Ruhl's eurydice is a re-thinking of the classic myth told through the eyes of the title character who, after abruptly dying on her wedding day, journeys through the underworld in hopes of being reunited with her lost love. "I loved the play when I first read it," Dizzia says, "but I didn't have any idea of what it would be in its final incarnation." Director Les Waters' production vividly realizes its underworld as a surreal bathhouse with chandeliers rising from beneath the raked stage, visually stunning water effects and more. These unique elements created challenges for Dizzia and the company, most of whom perform barefoot. "While it's a beautiful world to be part of, it's also unsettling," she says. "The stage makes you feel uncomfortable at times, like it has a mind of its own and you have to negotiate it every night. It's actually really helpful."

Ruhls of the Stage: Critically acclaimed in previous productions, eurydice has also drawn varied audience response with its abstract, lyrical interpretation of a story steeped in love and loss. In her two years playing the contemporary version of Poseidon's daughter and Orpheus' love, Dizzia has experienced a mix of "quiet and serious" audiences as well as "younger, more boisterous" ones. "The lyrical-ness of the play allows people to think about their own lives and situations," she observes, "and I think that's how people get into it, through themselves. Sure, it divides people, and that's something I like about the play—it allows people to have their own reaction. And that's fine."

Mean Girl: Dizzia's next confirmed project will be acclaimed playwright Adam Bock's The Drunken City at Playwrights Horizon next spring as a 20-something bride-to-be. Yet the sweetly unassuming young actress has a slightly different kind of dream role. "I wanna play somebody really mean," she says with a grin. "I play people who are very nice and aware of the fact that they need other people, and I would love to play somebody who thinks she doesn't need anybody and is just totally insufferable. I think that'd be really fun." Against type? Certainly—but the sky's the limit for this radiantly talented performer.