Socha made her Broadway debut in Spring Awakening, playing the role of Wendla in the final company, and appeared as Nora in the revival of The Brighton Beach Memoirs.
She sang the role of Fredrika in the 2009 Roundabout concert performance of A Little Night Music with Natasha Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave and recently starred as Merricat Blackwood in Yale Rep's musical adaptation of "We Have Always Lived in the Castle."
Screen credits include "White Collar" and "The Big C."
| Full given name: | Alexandra Aniela Rose Socha |
| Hometown: | Nashua, New Hampshire |
| Zodiac Sign: | Aries. No matter what the new Zodiac signs say, I am most definitely an Aries. |
| What your parents do for a living: | My parents are both very musical people. They met at a dinner theatre where my mother was a singing waitress and my father played bass in the band.
(P.S. I am so going to write that romantic comedy screenplay one day. Maybe call it something like "‘Waiting’ for Love" or... I dunno, I’m still working out the details.) Now, my dad has a video production business and my mom teaches English as a Second Language to elementary school children, but they both try to keep music in their lives as much as possible! |
| Special skills: | I have a pretty decent Idina Menzel impression up my sleeve. |
| Something you're REALLY bad at: | SPORTS! |
| First Broadway show you ever saw: | Cats
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| If you could go back in time and catch any show, what would it be? | The original production of West Side Story, hands down. |
| Current show you have been recommending to friends: | The Dream of the Burning Boy. What? It’s a really great show! |
| Favorite modern musical: | The Light in the Piazza |
| Favorite classic musical: | West Side Story |
| Stage or screen star of the past you would most love to have perform with: | Jerry Orbach |
| The one performance – attended - that you will never forget: | I watched Jonathan and Lea’s last performance of Spring Awakening from the audience. It was absolutely incredible. The energy from the audience and the performers was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, I was a wreck of a human being through the whole thing. |
| Music that makes you cry, any genre: | It depends on the day, but "Stop This Train" by John Mayer always gets me a little choked up. |
| Your personal vocal idols: | Kristin Chenoweth and Adele |
| MAC or PC? | Just got a MAC for Christmas. Once you go MAC you never go back. |
| Most played song on your iPod: | "Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight" by Amos Lee |
| Most-visited websites: | Facebook Playbill.com (Not trying to suck up, I seriously check it all the time.) |
| Favorite Tweeters: | Seth MacFarlane is hysterical. Also, Remy Zaken’s tweets will always put a smile on your face! |
| Pop culture guilty pleasure: | Those E! channel countdowns. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. |
| Last book you read: | I don’t remember exactly, which is terrible. But whatever it was, it was probably written by Jodi Picoult. She’s an amazing author and deals with controversial topics in such creatively beautiful ways. And she lives in New Hampshire. REPRESENT! What what! |
| Last good movie you saw: | "A Single Man" |
| Some films you consider classics: | "Singin' in the Rain" "The Wizard of Oz" "Pretty Woman" |
| Must-see TV shows: | Okay ready? "Community" "How I Met Your Mother" "30 Rock" "Modern Family" "Shameless" "Weeds" "Rescue Me" "The Big Bang Theory" The UK version of "Skins" "Party Down" I love TV. A lot. |
| Performer you would drop everything to go see: | If Frank Sinatra were still alive, it would be him. |
| Three favorite cities: | New York City, Boston, San Diego |
| Favorite sport/team/player: | Boston sports all the way! |
| First stage kiss: | Max Bisantz in our summer camp’s production of Big: The Musical |
| Favorite or most memorable onstage role as a child/teenager: | The Kolokolo Bird in Just So |
| Moment you knew you wanted to perform for a living: | I think I was just born knowing, because I don’t remember any specific moment. It’s all I ever wanted. |
| How you got your Equity card: | Spring Awakening |
| Favorite pre-/post- show meal: | Pre-show: Kodama Sushi. Post-show: Pigalle. Their mushroom, onion, bacon pizza thing is to die for! |
| Favorite liquid refreshment: | Water |
| Pre-show rituals or warm-ups: | I always brush my teeth at about 5 minutes to places! |
| Most embarrassing or spectacular flubbed line/missed cue/onstage mishap: | There was a performance of Spring Awakening where the ropes never came down to lift the platform and make it "the hayloft." So, Hunter Parrish and I "got it on" literally on the ground with the whole cast sitting right around us. |
| Worst costume ever: | One time I was an eraser in a play about school supplies. Oh, and my dad made my costume. Out of felt. |
| Worst job you ever had: | I have been extremely fortunate to have only worked on projects that I love and to have never had a survival job. At least not yet... there’s still time. |
| Most memorable Spring Awakening bleacher audience interaction: | There was one really scary matinee in which we had a very NOT sober man in the onstage seats. He ran across the whole stage at the very top of the show while I was standing on the chair and then proceeded to harass the poor young girl sitting next to him. We stopped the show and cleared everyone, including the audience, off the stage while our security guard, with the help of our amazing crew guys, managed to drag the man off the stage.
I was so thankful for everyone backstage, stage managers, crew men, dressers, etc. who dealt with the issue and kept us all safe that day. |
| Leading lady role you've been dying to play: | Maria in West Side Story |
| Leading man role you wish you could play: | Jamie in The Last Five Years |
| Favorite screen/commercial gigs: | Getting to be on "The Big C." I love Showtime so getting the chance to be on the network was so amazing to me. Plus, everyone there was so lovely and it was such a great working environment. |
| Something about you that surprises people: | As dark and serious as I may seem a lot of the time, and as much as I am independent and ambitious, I really just want to be a Disney princess. I wish for a fairytale just as much as every other girl. |
| Career you would want if not a performer: | Event planner |
| Three things you can't live without: | Chocolate. Music. Family. |
| "I'll never understand why…" | ... pigeons exist. They have zero point on this earth. |
| Words of wisdom for aspiring performers? | Alright, here’s a little story to wrap things up. When I was 16 my dad and I went to see The Light in the Piazza. This was, I think, my third time seeing the Broadway production. I had never gone to the stage door so my dad and I decided to find it after the show and see if we would run into anyone, and we were lucky enough to be able to talk to Victoria Clark herself. She was lovely.
My dad asked her basically this same question of if she had any advice and she just said, "Don"t let anyone tell you NO." It sounds so cliche and overly simple, but it made such an impact on me to hear that from a Broadway actress. So, not to steal your thunder, Victoria, but I would say, don’t let people tell you no and you’ll be amazed what you are capable of. |
