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Liz Filios has long regarded risk-taking as a requisite to promoting artistic growth. Recently endowed with two enviable accolades for her acting acumen, the 31-year-old is again courting complexity by playing Cinderella in “Into the Woods.”
“The role is so fulfilling and so hard,” the performer said from her East Passyunk Crossing residence, noting the emotional and physical aspects of her endeavor, the latter including the playing of five instruments. “She has so much more to her than one might presume. She is very spirited and goes through an evolution. Add up those elements, and this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Filios is focusing on fusing the fairy tale figure’s characteristics through Theatre Horizon. Making her debut for the Norristown-based entity, she is benefiting not only from her resolve but also the intensity of her colleagues, including South Philadelphians Alex Bechtel, Rachel Camp and Matthew Decker, the company’s resident director.
“It’s a dream to work with such amazing people,” she said of addressing the Stephen Sondheim-penned musical, singling out Decker for his realization that audiences witness Cinderella’s spirit transcending surrounding sorrow. “They’re enthused about telling a great story, which inspires me because Cinderella, in this version, has so much depth to her, and I want to convey that accordingly.”
As the work, which Disney last year adapted in film form, explores what occurs beyond the “And they lived happily ever after” sentiment, Filios and her fellow hires chronicle that acquiring one’s wishes can prove as confounding as never obtaining them. That people must persist resonates as a chief theme for the thespians, with Filios fond of finding the lessons within that task.
“I could say that in many ways, I aspire to be like her,” she said of the character whom she is portraying through March 1. “She’s able to muster strength to go on despite setbacks. No matter what sort of fortune we have, that’s an incredible mentality to have.”
As a “precocious, audacious, perhaps presumptuous kid” who matured in Michigan, Filios quickly acquired qualities that have made her akin to her character, namely being knowledgeable of the need to endure and reverent of the inherent clout within any challenge. Growing up with engrossing exposure to musical theater, she knew at age 12 that stages would stoke her ambition, even asking her parents, whom she credits for her lifelong gusto, for an agent as a Christmas present. Matriculating at the University of Michigan, she welcomed the wisdom of Brent Wagner, chair of the musical theater department, who advised his charges to imagine themselves as racehorses wearing blinders so as to focus only on themselves while chasing glory.
“You have to possess the guts to try if you want to be in this field,” Filios, who became a fixated filly in the figurative horse race by also studying Commedia dell’arte, physical theatre, Theatre of the Grotesque, classical voice and directing and by venturing to Africa, Asia, Europe and South America for artistic opportunities, said. “Early on, I was pretty headstrong only to become shyer later on, but I realized that I would have to diversify to have a chance at being consistently employed.”
Having come to Philadelphia to audition for “Il Racconto d’Inverno,” which took her to Italy, she returned to the city following receiving directing tutelage in South Africa, deeming the metropolis “the best gift.” Her Italian excursion became an additional boon when she scored a teaching position through Camp Wilma, as the post called for her to educate pupils on the land of love’s copious contributions to theater. Filios has used that experience and numerous exceptional turns for area companies to forge a Philadelphia love story.
“I love the city’s history, grit and openness,” the four-year South Philly inhabitant said, adding she loves the task of taking on the realm’s challenges, especially as an outsider. “You have to earn your place here, and that’s not something you do through having money or prestige. It comes from having humility, diligence and determination and by working on your craft.”
Connoisseurs commended her talent in October, with the overseers of the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre naming her Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical for her appearance in Inis Nua Theatre Co.’s “Midsummer [a play with songs]” and granting her the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist.
“I’m so honored to have won, especially because I’m so aware of the amazing performers in this city, particularly those in South Philly, which is really a culturally diverse and inspirational place to live,” Filios said. “I’m very fortunate to have met so many encouraging people.”
Losing one such illuminating individual in fellow performer and dear friend Reuben Mitchell, who died Nov. 12, 2012 following a motorcycle accident, has bred a desire to transform his writings on the human voice and William Shakespeare into a full-scale project. She ventured to Canada’s National Voice Intensive in Vancouver last summer for instruction and will articulate her plan through March workshops at Theatre Horizon and hopes to perpetuate Mitchell’s insistence on positivity and tenacity.
Filios, who also made evident her mastery of those concepts as a host for Sprout’s “The Sunny Side Up Show,” which helped her to develop even more diligence because of the program’s massive audience, also has claimed kudos for her presence within the South Philly-heavy Bearded Ladies Cabaret, of which she is a founding member. Deeming the members her “heart,” she has intensified her risk-taking mentality through their concepts, with backup singer duties for the band Johnny Showcase providing another means to revel in the rewards of realizing that actualizing dreams will always lead someone out of the woods.
“I’m looking to delve into one or two things at a time as opposed to other times when I tried many things at once,” Filios said. “I keep encountering people with great vision, so I definitely want to contribute to a really passionate community however I can.” For tickets, call 610-283-2230, or visit theatrehorizon.org.
Contact Managing Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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