TV Actress Plays 3 Roles in 'All's Well' at Shakespeare

Tamara Tunie is used to juggling two or three jobs at the same time.

Since mid-August, she has been rehearsing eight hours a day in Madison for the current production at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and she recently resumed shooting the NBC primetime television show "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" during the mornings in New York.

In addition, she is advising on the production of a new musical "Frog Kiss," one of 12 selected to be part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival from Sept. 27 through Oct. 17. If the show, based on a novella called "The Frog Prince," is successful there, she hopes to produce it elsewhere.

"I tend to multitask," said Tunie, who from 2000 to 2005 appeared on both "Law & Order: SVU," as medical examiner Melinda Warner, and the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns," as lawyer Jessica Griffin. For about three months during that time, she also commuted to the West Coast to appear in the first season of the Fox TV series "24."

Five years ago, Tunie appeared in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" on Broadway opposite Denzel Washington. During the last week of that production, she began rehearsals for "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," her most recent appearance at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.

She recalls a 24-hour period when she went from a "Julius Caesar" performance to a night shooting session of "Law & Order: SVU," then caught a couple hours of sleep before going to the studio to film "As the World Turns" early the next morning and on to the theater to do matinee and evening performances of the Shakespeare tragedy.

How does she maintain such a schedule?

"I don't sleep," she said, adding that she tries to eat nutritiously but also enjoys a glass of red wine at the end of the day.

Even as Tunie has continued her career in TV, film and theater, she picked up a Tony Award as one of the producers of "Spring Awakening," named best musical on Broadway in 2007.

Her film directing debut, "See You in September," is expected to be released late this year or early next year. The movie, starring Justin Kirk and Estella Warren, is an original romantic comedy about a group of Manhattan residents who form a support group while their therapists are on vacation in August.

Not surprisingly, Tunie plays three characters in "All's Well that Ends Well," which runs through Oct. 10 at the Shakespeare Theatre. Her roles as the countess, a counselor to the French king and an old widow in Florence, Italy, involve some "crazy fast" costume changes, but she does have a couple 15-minute breaks when she is not on stage.

While she was not too familiar with "All's Well," one of Shakespeare's lesser-known works, Tunie said she took the job after she heard director Stephen Fried's concept and ideas for the production.

The actress does not hesitate to choose theater when asked what medium she prefers. In addition to "the luxury of time to rehearse," the theater allows actors to communicate directly to the audience, she said. "Nothing can compare."

She also loves the language in Shakespeare's plays. "It's a challenge to make sense of the language and communicate the emotion so that audiences really understand what is going on," she said.

Tunie said working at the Madison theater—and staying overnight in a house provided by the organization—allows her to focus on the play, away from the distractions of New York. "I can really immerse myself in my work."

That said, "the pay is good" at "Law & Order" and the TV show has given her visibility that she uses to make the public aware of such charities as Every Child Matters, which aims to improve the health care, education and safety of children in the United States.

Among her favorite roles: Madame de Merteuil in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and Mrs. Jackie Heath, playing opposite Al Pacino, in the 1997 movie "A Devil's Advocate."

"I love to play a bad girl," she said, adding that she is rarely cast in those roles.