Actress Victoria Libertore talks with host Ben Hauck about fame, and what she has learned about fame after years of pursuing it as an actor in New York City. In the interview, Victoria talks about her recent solo show My Last Attempt at Fame, as well as what fame was to her when she moved to NYC and why she believes she wanted it as an actor. She also speaks to the choices she has made in her life in the pursuit of fame, and how her age and experiences have influenced that pursuit.
Victoria shares how her interest in fame and being an admired artist increased after working in a boutique talent agency. Over the years she built a following for her performance work, and she worked with notable professionals. But she also experienced disappointment after a professional highlight didn’t take her acting career to the next level. This event helped to change her relationship with fame.
Victoria talks of the positive and negative feelings that awakened as a result of a disappointing performance experience — not to mention what she learned about herself and her value. As an artist, she has been inspired by pain, and to get out of depressions created by the pursuit of fame, Victoria divulges that she focuses on gratitude and connecting with other artists.
Victoria then covers some of the themes from My Last Attempt at Fame, notably how age affects her creative drives. Victoria also teaches performance, and she shares what she passes on to students about fame and about seeking audience approval. She then talks about social media, how it has affected the pursuit of fame, and how it suggests that fame is a lot like a drug.
The pursuit of fame can be for its own sake or for service of some greater cause, and the latter has become more of Victoria’s interest as she has gotten older. She recommends that actors focus on the work and how they can contribute — and if fame comes, then that is a nice addition. Victoria concludes the interview with a touching recent experience performing in Nebraska amid farmers, and how one farmer reached out to her to express how meaningful My Last Attempt at Fame was to him.
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Victoria Libertore’s Bio
Victoria Libertore is an actress, writer, curator, emcee, and teacher. She is the creator of seven solo shows: Camille: The Forgotten Artist, stalk(her), The Should Dream, My Journey of Decay, GIRL MEAT, No Need for Seduction, and This Is My Last Attempt at Fame. In her work, she’s collaborated with Jennifer Tuttle, Ryan Kipp, Leigh Fondakowski, Rosalie Purvis, Jen-Scott Mobley, Shelley Butler-Hyler, Ryan Migge, Rebecca Feldman, Kimberly I. Kefgen, and Sara Laudonia. She has performed her original work throughout New York City in venues such as BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Carolines on Broadway, Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, Joyce Soho, and PS122, as well as in Boston, Montreal, Philadelphia, Provincetown, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.
Victoria teaches performance workshops incorporating her original, archetypal energy technique. She has taught at Otterbein University and Hastings College. Victoria is passionate about encouraging other artists to create their own work and has curated dozens of local and a few international artists with backgrounds in performance, variety arts, music, comedy, and dance. She has emceed in clubs, at events, on the boardwalk, in parks, and at private parties as her incomparable, faux Liza Minnelli where she utilizes her improvisational skills to make “people laugh so hard that their faces hurt.”
Victoria was a Humana Festival finalist for her short play Monster and Lola. She was a 2008-2010 Brooklyn Arts Exchange Theater Artist in Residence, and she has a BFA in theatre from Otterbein University where in 2015 shereceived a Young Alumni Award for Creative Achievement.
- Official website: http://www.howlingvic.com
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