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Growing up on Long Island, she and her family often made trips to nearby Broadway. Like other aspiring modern show folk, she used to watch the Tony broadcast and wonder — maybe me, one day? Kaller was hailed in summer 2009 for her Off-Broadway staging of Next Fall for Naked Angels. It moved to Broadway by spring 2010, with few changes and its cast intact. The day after she learned of her nomination, Kaller — whose directing credits include Off-Broadway's Adrift in Macao and new works for many companies including The New Group, Primary Stages and New York Stage and Film — talked to Playbill.com about the joys of ensemble acting, playing hooky to visit Broadway and more.

Playbill.com: How did the Next Fall production change between Off-Broadway and Broadway?
Sheryl Kaller: Aesthetically, visually, we "flew" a couple of things in, 'cause we couldn't fly [Off-Broadway]! But we kept the set pretty much the same. I call what we did to Act Two a shaving of Act Two. From having the Off-Broadway experience behind us, we were way more aware of what this play was about. The Off-Broadway production was the first production ever, so we shaved parts. What [the Broadway production] reflects the most is this ensemble cast getting three more weeks in rehearsal and tech and three weeks of previews. We were able to really deepen everything, based on what we learned and also based on how well we all know each other.

Playbill.com: Is it frozen, the staging? Has Geoffrey changed things during the Broadway run?
SK: One of many wonderful things about working with Geoff is that we really believe that theatre — this is gonna sound dorky — but theatre is like a living organism, and it changes. So, for instance, Geoff hasn't seen the play in two months, so we're working with the cast on Thursday. …We're not rehearsing. We're gonna just sit around and do like a two-hour note talk [of] what they've been experiencing. Geoffrey hasn't seen them in a while. But Geoff is also a great director in his own right, so we really did this together. ...It's not a film, you don't have to really freeze it. I mean, the writing is frozen — although we threw in a couple of new lines, like, two weeks ago.

Playbill.com: There should be a Tony Award for Best Ensemble, and Next Fall should win it.
SK: Yes, there should, and that's why I'm standing here [as a director nominee], I think, because there isn't [an Ensemble Tony]. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for saying that. I really feel that I had the privilege of working on a brilliant, beautiful play. I think I did a great job with it [but] I also think that I represent the best ensemble that I've ever had the privilege of working with.