This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Dani Scott: Acting Up

When Dani Scott has to play a scene that requires her to hug a tall male lead, she needs to call on something besides raw acting talent: She needs a wooden crate. Romantic, maybe not, but very necessary. At four feet 11 inches, standing on the crate is the only way she can reach up to her fellow actor.

“It works,” Dani says.

Dani will not need to stand on a box in the Ivoryton Players upcoming production of Wit a la Carte at the Centerbrook Meeting House on Friday and Saturday, May 11 and 12. It’s her comedic talents and non-stop energy that will be on display in a scene from Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers.

The play debuted as live theater on Broadway in 1969 and as a movie in l972. Dani plays Bobbi Michele, a zany, would-be actress who proves more than actor Geoff Brooks as Barney Cashman, a married fish store owner awkwardly trying a bit of seduction on the side, can handle.

“Bobbi’s a crazy personality. I can really bump it up,” Dani says, adding the role is the longest she has ever had to memorize.

Wit a la Carte: Scenes of Mirth and Merriment will consist of five pieces, all directed by Joyce Beauvais, the founder of several theater groups along the shoreline.

“The pieces are poignant, funny, and not often done. Some are from well-known playwrights and some not so well known, but all really special,” Beauvais says.

Many highlight female roles.

“We are calling it our season of the women Ivoryton Players and featuring fun, excellent roles for women. Although our very talented men Ivoryton Players shine as well,” Beauvais adds.

Beauvais is particularly fond of the Bobbi-Barney scene, one she once played herself in regional theater.

“I have wanted to do this scene since day one, but I had to find the right actress. [Dani] is phenomenal,” Beauvais says.

At a recent rehearsal, Beauvais urged Dani to emphasize her outlandish responses to Brooks’s gag set-up lines, and the director offered a suggestion that drama coaches have used since time immemorial: “Remember to project your voice from your diaphragm.”

Both Dani and Brooks appeared last winter in another of Beauvais’s stage enterprises, the Ivoryton Mystery Dinner Theater Players.

“We’ve worked together before, so there’s already chemistry,” Dani says.

Dani got her start at the Ivoryton Playhouse in a production at the age of five. She can’t remember the play, but she remembers her own reaction. She knew she wanted to be an actress.

She acted in student and indie films in high school and played summer stock for young audiences. She loved it all—except for one playwright. You’ve likely heard his name: Shakespeare.

At the Flock Theatre in New London, she played a watchman in Much Ado About Nothing.

“I’ll never do that again; my brain just didn’t click with it,” she says.

After high school, Dani went to UConn at Avery Point for two years, but rather than continuing on to UConn at Storrs, she went to Emerson College in Boston for a year—and then it was adventure time. Dani went to Los Angeles with dreams of acting. She quickly discovered she was not the only dreamer.

“Everybody in L.A. has the same vision. Work as a waitress, go to auditions, get discovered. L.A. is just saturated with that,” she says.

Dani got work at a casting agency and concentrated on learning about the business side of the entertainment industry. She stayed for a year before coming back and finishing at Emerson.

“Los Angeles was very expensive to live and I missed family. But I’m happy I went. I grew a lot,” she says.

That’s not height, but life experience.

“I don’t think that I’ve gotten any taller since 6th grade,” she admits.

Being short is not a problem for Dani.

“I think it makes me standout,” she says.

Dani now lives in Essex with her dog, who is a size-appropriate Chihuahua mix.

Looking for ways to expand her acting experience, Dani has formed the Connecticut Film Initiative to stimulate the work of local independent filmmakers and serious students of film. The idea is write and produce short films of artistic quality to submit to film festivals. Dani wants the films to be psychological thrillers.

“It’s a bigger market; more people seem to be interested in them. And it’s a challenging perspective. I love to invoke emotions,” she says.

The films will showcase the talents of writers, directors, producers, and oh yes, one particular actress: Dani Scott.

Dani has worked not only in film, but also in television as an extra for Nickelodeon, a music video, and on stage in the Saybrook Stage Company’s production of the Farnsworth Invention. Recently Dani had a film gig that was a bit different than the many roles she has had in independent movies. This time, answering an advertisement she saw on an Internet casting site, she was paid for her work.

“It was $100 for five hours, not bad,” she says.

While assembling the credentials to expand her acting career, Dani works at Pasta Vita in Old Saybrook as the counter manager, training new employees. She herself has worked at Pasta Vita “off and on” for some 10 years. She says her boss, Rich Cersosimo, not only supports the arts but allows her some flexibility in her schedule.

Someday, and sooner rather than later if she has her way, Dani would like to star in an action movie with what she describes as a “powerful, strong, female lead.” She would also like to write and star in her own television series. Big dreams, she admits, but she points out something else, as familiar to those who dream big by purchasing lottery tickets as to those who dream big planning acting careers.

“You can’t win if you don’t play,” she says.

For now, Dani is excited about the upcoming Ivoryton Players production.

“I love Neil Simon and Joyce is so inspiring,” she says. “Acting, it’s very freeing, very liberating to embody another person and see the world as another person sees it. “

Wit a la Carte: Scenes of Mirth and Merriment runs Friday, May 11 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 12 at 1 p.m. at the Centerbrook Meeting House, 51 Main Street, Centerbrook. Tickets are available at the door or by calling the Ivoryton Playhouse Box Office at 860-767-7318. For information on the production or to join the Ivoryton Players, email shorelinedrama@gmail.com.