KATHRYN ERBE

I forgot how scary plays are. The audience is so much a part of the night - I know that a lot of it is trying to shut that out and just do your own thing.

'Yosemite' opened doors for me in the New York theater community in amazing ways. There's a whole world of fearless young theater makers here who put shows together on a shoestring budget and with gigantic hearts.

After 'Oz,' I've learned how to check out and not let that stuff get in.

My heart grows every day through struggling and love of my kids. It helps balance everything else - the work and the world. It helps keep me grounded and in perspective of what is really meaningful to me.

Being on a major network television show is like long-distance running: You have to pace yourself and maintain your energy level and your morale. There's the role you're playing on the show, and there's also your behind-the-scenes responsibility to the crew, the guest actors and the fans - not to mention your own life as a mom.

I think that I have never had the confidence to really aggressively get behind myself, and so what I do tends to be - I don't want to say 'sheepish,' but there is a sheepish quality to my ability to toot my own horn. I'm very Midwestern in that way. So I just do what I like to do, and what I think I do well is not very loud, necessarily.

After 'Oz,' I've learned how to check out and not let that stuff get in.

My heart grows every day through struggling and love of my kids. It helps balance everything else - the work and the world. It helps keep me grounded and in perspective of what is really meaningful to me.

Being on a major network television show is like long-distance running: You have to pace yourself and maintain your energy level and your morale. There's the role you're playing on the show, and there's also your behind-the-scenes responsibility to the crew, the guest actors and the fans - not to mention your own life as a mom.

I forgot how scary plays are. The audience is so much a part of the night - I know that a lot of it is trying to shut that out and just do your own thing.

'Yosemite' opened doors for me in the New York theater community in amazing ways. There's a whole world of fearless young theater makers here who put shows together on a shoestring budget and with gigantic hearts.

I think that I have never had the confidence to really aggressively get behind myself, and so what I do tends to be - I don't want to say 'sheepish,' but there is a sheepish quality to my ability to toot my own horn. I'm very Midwestern in that way. So I just do what I like to do, and what I think I do well is not very loud, necessarily.