Elizabeth Ledo is performing in The Moliere Festival at Court Theatre in The Misanthrope, which runs until June 9, followed by Tartuffe which runs until July 14 with a possible extension.
The openly gay actress, in a relationship with Erin Weinhardt, has to have as much energy as their three dogs.
"These shows are keeping me pretty busy these days," Ledo said in mid-May. "We just opened The Misanthrope and have started rehearsals for Tartuffe, so I am pretty much living in Hyde Park these days.
"My partner and I have three dogs, and [they] keep us pretty busy as well. We have a Lab, a boxer and a pit bull, and each has lot of energy."
Her daily grind doesn't stop there. Just consider:
She also is an artistic associate with About Face Theatre, which is now going through a lot of changes, "and I am very invested in that transition," Ledo said.
She works out three days a week with a trainer, Jesus Gallizo, at 180 Personal Training Studios.
She was a judge this spring for Gay Idol. "I really love being able to give folks feedback on their performances and encourage them along the way," Ledo said.
She also went to Loyola University Chicago to observe the school's Auditions Class, to give feedback on the student's monologues. "I really [like] being able to share what I know about the daunting task of getting in front of people and putting your heart and soul into something in the hopes of landing a job or, in the Idol instance, a title," Ledo said. "It can be horrifying at times, so I really want to be a positive part of the process."
Ledo, 38, lives in the Edgewater neighborhood and is a Fort Wayne, Ind., native.
"The best part of my [acting] job is the community," Ledo said. "I have some of the most amazing people in my life because of what I do for a living. It's just the most glorious thing to be in a room with these people and create, make-believe and discover. I am so proud to be a part of an art form that has great value and can bring people together, inspire discussion, allow for an escape and activate great levels of emotion.
"The worst part of my job is the uncertainty of it all. You are continually looking for work and that can obviously be very overwhelming. When I was younger, I thought that aspect was kind of romantic, but as I have gotten older I just find it stressful."
After The Moliere Festival, Ledo will be doing Lady Anne in Shakespeare's Richard III at Shakespeare at Notre Dame. She then will be appearing in The Ghost of Christmas Past in The Goodman Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol, and next winter/spring she will be playing the role of Rachel in Timeline Theatre's production of The How and The Why.
"My first major acting gig was at Steppenwolf [Theatre]," Ledo said. "I had just graduated from Loyola and was able to get an audition for a 15 year-old girl in the production of Morningstar, which was going to be directed by Frank Galati. I knew it was the opportunity of a lifetime and that it could, in many ways, kick start my career. I had never wanted anything so badly as I wanted [that role] up to that point in my life. When I got cast in it, I was told I had to join Actor's Equity, the union for professional actors and stage managers, and yet I had heard horror stories of people joining the union right out of school without much of a resume. I asked some established members of the community for their advice on what to do and they said to take the role and join the union because it was such a high-profile theatre and director.
"I did and have never once had any regrets.
"Career-wise I think I now am in a bit of a transition. I am a voice-over actress as well, and that industry can be really hot at times and really cold at times; that can be difficult to weather on occasion. I am also transitioning out of playing the really young roles which I have more or less built my career on. All of this has been challenging at times, but I am still so madly in love with what I do for a living that I am committed to ride the storm.
"Sometimes Erin and I will talk about packing up and moving out to the mountains [to] rehabilitate dogs and be able to play in the outdoors; we can get ourselves really excited about that, [but] then we fall back in love with Chicago and the life we have created for ourselves here."
Ledo said tagging her all-time favorite role is much harder than she first anticipated. "I invest so much of myself in each role that I do that they all stay with me in some way," she said. "Now don't get me wrong, there have certainly been productions I have been in that I could not wait to close and be done with it, but each role is sacred to me."
Still, she reflects fondly on a production of Almost Maine about three years ago at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. "It's a play of seven stories that all take place on a single night in a made up town in Maine during the Northern Lights," Ledo said. "I played five different characters in this production, in a cast of four playing 19 roles, and I just loved everything about the experience. It was a thrilling ride and audiences just loved the show so much that many came back numerous times to see it again and brought friends of theirs who had not seen it. I could have done that show for a whole year. I miss it actually."
Ledo said one of the most challenging roles she's ever played was that of Priscilla in Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul at Steppenwolf Theatre several years ago. "The character I played is searching for her mother who fled to Afghanistan and is presumed dead," Ledo said. "Priscilla can be a real thankless character; she is caustic, angry, foul-mouthed and does not have many endearing qualities that attract an audience to take this journey with her, and yet they really have to be on board with her for over two hours. I found myself very depressed during this production. I had to live in a pretty dark place with her. I also really struggled with how to keep her, in some ways, loveable. It remains one of the biggest challenges of my career."
The Misanthrope is, essentially, a play about a guy who is fed up with how fake people are, Ledo said. "He argues that men are basically two-faced and praise each other to their faces, but talk trash about [each other] behind their backs," she said. "He also happens to be in love with a woman who tends to do this very well, so he is conflicted. Our production has a mostly African-American cast, which is not the norm for Moliere plays. We have set this play in a kind of hip-hop world you could say."
As for Tartuffe, Ledo said it is a play about a family whose patriarch has fallen under the spell of a religious zealot. "The family is certain that this man is a fraud and are struggling to get the father to see what they see," she said. "We are setting this play in the present and in Hyde Park more or less. I play Dorine in this production and she is the very outspoken maid for the family."
Ledo said she is a "huge advocate" for the LGBT voice on stage and one of the reasons she signed with About Face Theatre. "I wish there was more material out there to be honest and I would love the chance to play a lesbian character on stage, which has yet to happen, although there have been times that audiences have assumed a character of mine was gay, even though it was not inherently in the script," she said. "I know some great playwrights, [such as] Phillip Dawkins and Sarah Gubbins, who are fierce voices for the LGBT community; I am so excited to see, and perhaps participate in, what they continue to create."