Prospect Heights actress strikes gold with parody role
Lori Lee has tackled serious drama, but she's best known for campy roles as her current stage job more than proves.
For the last seven years, Lee, of Prospect Heights, has played Yukon Cornelia in Hell in a Handbag's production of “Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer.”
This Chicago parody from David Cerda is a decidedly adult production: Rudolph is a transvestite, for starters, and Mrs. Claus has a drinking problem. It's a far cry, in other words, from the beloved animated version, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Lee's character a gold-obsessed prospector Rudolph meets on his way to the Island of Misfit Toys is right up her alley.
“I have mostly been in the campy theater world,” she says. “But it was a good foundation for me as an actor.”
Lee has been a fixture on Chicago's non-Equity theater scene for the last two decades, appearing in productions with many critically acclaimed theater groups, including Circle, Bailiwick and The Factory Theater.
Though she has tackled serious shows, as in “The Diary of Anne Frank,” camp remains Lee's bread and butter. And she's honed those skills with Hell in a Handbag.
“The first show I did with them was in their (musical parody of) ‘The Poseidon Adventure,'” Lee says. “I am on the original cast recording. And I went with them to the New York Fringe Festival, where we won an award for best ensemble.”
After that show closed, Lee was invited to join the cast of the company's annual holiday show.
“Yukon Cornelia is nuts,” Lee laughs. “She goes with her guts. But she has comraderie. She is like, ‘let's save Rudolph!'”
Does Lee ever get tired of playing the same character? “Nooo,” she answers. “David Cerda updates the show every year, adding in references to current events. And this year he has added more to my character. She has a realization this year. That is David has morphed her into a character who comes to realize her purpose in life and who she is.
“I mean the show is fun,” Lee adds, “and kooky. But there is a strong message here, an acceptance of who we are and of others.”
Ÿ “Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer” opens Saturday, Dec. 4, and runs through Jan. 1 at Mary's Attic, 5400 N. Clark St., Chicago. For tickets call (800) 838-3006 or go to brownpapertickets.com.