Meet Adrianna Prosser:
Actor, Playwright, Geek, Beaut, Friend,
Inspiration and more!

Fierce and fiery, friendly and funny, Adrianna Prosser is a warm spunky light in the room. Gracious and generous, she is a fun-loving arts collaborator and hostess with the mostess. As she lives life to the fullest and processes it as she goes, she has so much wisdom and comfort to share and helps illuminate what is truly important and enriching. She is a free yet grounded spirit and an ambassador to the sense of adventure itself. I am personally so very happy to know her. 🙂

From her website: “Adrianna is an alumnus of the joint Specialist Theatre and Drama Studies program at Sheridan College and the University of Toronto at Mississauga; of which she was recipient of the A.L. Fernie Bursary Award for Outstanding Performance and Production Achievement. Adrianna has also won the Best Performance by a Female in a Feature Role/Ensemble (Play) from Broadway World for her role as Jailer’s Daughter, and was a part of the winning ensemble cast for the 2012 Best of Fringe as Jenny in The Shape of Things. Adrianna was also a part of the cast of Unhappy Happy which won the 2013 TIFF Best Micro-Budget Feature Award.

Adrianna is also the Arts & History Host for Cranium Cookie, an educational webshow about all things Canadian.

Her bereavement piece “Everything but the Cat…” had a staged reading at The New Ideas Festival with Alumnae Theatre and received wonderfully supportive reviews. Adrianna is meeting with teachers and theatre-in-education companies to bring this piece on tour to high schools and universities in the near future. Please visit www.everythingbutthecat.net to learn how you can support or become involved in this important confessional-theatre piece.

Adrianna is also employed as a Historical Interpreter with the City of Toronto where she educates children through theatre-education programs about the Victorian Era at several city museums. Her latest play for the city museums, War for Dessert deals with the reasons for the War of 1812.”

Adri answers the questions…

What is your career?
 Storytelling.

Is it the same as your passion? Oh yes. Storytelling is a wonderfully mailable passion: I am an actor, a social media content creator and community manager, a historical interpreter, blogger, and playwright.

What is your passion? Telling stories that make people connect with themselves and others. I love being the keystone in networks too, meeting passionate people and connecting them to someone they don’t know (yet) through my introduction- I love it.

What are the greatest challenges and greatest rewards of your career? Challenges are always time and money. All of those titles pay in some way or another in time and money – but time doesn’t pay bills and money doesn’t make you happy so it’s the eternal balancing act which can be taxing physically and emotionally. But really, I can’t live without a creative output and storytelling in my life. I tried, and it was hell.

What is your advice to others embarking on similar career? Always be the student: take classes, do workshops, take an online course – not only will you learn amazing new things that enhance your craft but you also meet like minded people and expand your network. It is so often not what you know but who you know! Also say yes when you are scared to say it – that fear means you are challenging yourself to get outside your comfort zone and that is where art tends to happen.

What does it mean to be an artist? It means to create without filter, without restraint, without fear – to make art (in any shape or form that calls to you) to tell your story, be it your personal story or one that begs to be told.

5 years ago, did you expect to be where you are today? Why, why not? Yes and no – 5 years ago my world was turned upside down: my brother died by suicide and that event tripped an avalanche of change. I lost a lot and it took a while to get myself to a place that was good again. During that time I wrote to help my bereavement & that’s how I started Everything But The Cat… as a play and then later as a blog. So most of the people and goals I had in 2010 are no longer in my life now in 2015. It’s amazing how different and totally the same I am when I look back.

Where will you be in 5 years? Hopefully still creating with passionate like minded people. I have had the fortune to have amazing people in my network who want to work with me: Cranium Cookie started as a chat in a comic book store, my children’s book was a joke between me and my partner until he pushed me to create it, my webseries was pushed forward from a facebook conversation, my mental health blog an idea between me and a guy I met on the subway! There’s so much great support around me that it’s hard not to be inspired and take action. In 5 years I want to be doing that: creating with others who believe in me.

What would you say to your 8-year-old self? Your first brother has just taken his first steps, love him because someday he won’t be here anymore – make mud pies daily. Oh and don’t let Mom throw out your Roger Rabbit sleeping bag.

What would you say to your 80-year-old self? Any regrets I can take care of at my age?

How lucky are you and why?  Oh yes, I mean I haven’t won the lottery but I have all that support (mentioned above) plus a loving family who accepts me for the human-Muppet I am. I have great friends who I can travel the world with (and have) and my significant other is just that – he’s significant and loving and grounds me. I may not have money but I do have those intangibles that poets write about. And I say thanks daily for that and the opportunities I have here living in Canada. That too is lucky.

What would people be surprised to know about you? I have darier’s white disorder which is a rare skin disorder that almost made me give up acting. I still struggle with the idea that one day I will just be a mess of spots and no one will want to look at me. (I blog about it sometimes… http://fightagainstdariersdisease.blogspot.ca/)

What makes you laugh? Great writing. My puppy McFly. Jason, my S.O., when he isn’t trying to be funny. The unexpected.

What is fun for you? So many things! Video games, thick books about everything but mostly fantasy historical novels (hi Outlander and Game of Thrones), running in the sunshine, throwing theme parties so we can all dress up, Halloween (for the same reason), playing board games with friends and family… So many things!

What makes you question humanity? My brother’s suicide. Ferguson. People I encounter on the TTC at 8:15am and 5:02pm. Reality TV. Toronto’s G20 riots.

What is your favourite quote? “to thine ownself be true” -Shakespeare, Hamlet

Is there anything else you’re involved in that you’d like to plug or point our attention to?

Check out all these awesome things I have the pleasure of participating in!

Www.youtube.com/user/craniumcookie @craniumcookie

Www.everythingbutthecat.net (we are on tumblr too: http://everythingbutthecat.tumblr.com/)

@everythingcatTO

Www.dauntlesscitytheatre.com @DauntlessTO

Www.facebook.com/gibsonmuseum @GibsonmuseumTO

Please provide a link to something you are particularly proud of being involved in… Me? 🙂

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