Interview of Ilinca Kiss, the actress who performed at Romania's National Day in Monaco

On a classy stylish ambiance at the Auditorium Rainier III, it took place on December 1st the celebration of Romania's National Day. Under the excellent organization of the Romanian Consulate, through the Honorary Consul of Romania in the Principiality of Monaco, Dr Constantin Turchina, the entire evening was a great encounter between the officials from Monaco, VIPs, artists and Romanian representatives in a convivial ambiance. The special guests who attended the evening came at the invitation of the Honorary Consul, Dr Constantin Turchina who showed great enthusiasm and joy receiving them. The Honorary Consul of Romania in the Principiality of Monaco was invested in his function in 2013, officially launching his mission in Monaco at the last year's event that took place at Yacht Club of Monaco. Dr Constantin Turchina is a Medical Doctor and Cardiologist in Monaco for more than 10 years and a great enthusiats of the innovative research and promoter of alternative methods to animal testing in the therapeutic field. 

Among this year's officials, we can count the Mayor of Monaco, Mr George Marsan, The France Ambassador in Monaco, Mr Hadelin de la Tour du Pin, the ACHM President, Moustapha El-Solh, The President of the Conseil de la Couronne,  Dr Jean-Yves Mourou, HRH representant S.A.S,José Badia, Government Counsellor for External Relations and Cooperations, representant  S.E.M. Michel Roger, P.C. Adrian Stoica, representant S. Ex. Mgr. Barsi.

The Honorary Consul of Romania in the Principiality of Monaco, Dr Constantin Turchina (right)

The relationship between Romania and Monaco has a long and strong tradition starting from the 18th century and it follows a mutual respect for cooperation and growth .

One of the greatest points that tie the relation between the two countries is art. Many Romanian artists perform and work under the Monegasque flag and bring a new sense to the modern art by contributing to its development and continual flow.

Therefore, the celebration was made in an artistic manner by the musical performance called Eterna Musica Cabaret Show interpreted by Ilinca Kiss and Filip Ristovski (read about the story in the interview below) followed by a cocktail. Traditional food and drinks, beautiful girls dressed in traditional costumes made the evening an entire success.

I invite you to get to know more about the actress Ilinca Kiss that played the role of Roxanne in the musical ... right here in the interview made by Stylezza!

AO. Tell us a bit about your career, how it all started and what have been the major achievements during the time?

I am a NYC-based Actress and singer. 

I started my career in France in an original Opera-Rock musical called "Le Cantique des Cantiques", directed and created by Award Winning Romanian Director Catalina Buzoianu. The show is based on the biblical text "The Song of Songs". It started small, our first performance was in a beautiful small village in the South of France called "Le Castellet". The show was a success, and we ended touring in Europe, in many international festivals. We performed Le Cantique in Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Lourmarin, Carry-le-Rouet, (FRANCE), Bucharest, Timisoara, Tg-Mures, Braila (ROMANIA), and my favorite date was at the Butrinti International Festival of Theatre in ALBANIA. That date was in July 2009, and the Butrint Theater was so beautiful (a 3000 year-old theater, lost in a forest!), so magical, that after this performance, I decided that I wanted to do this for a living. 

I knew that I wanted to act, sing and dance, so I decided to go to New York to get great acting training and learn with the best. I wanted to have a solid foundation. I auditioned for Circle in the Square Theatre School and I got in. This school is the only theatre school in New York that is also a BROADWAY Theater at the same time. Moving to New York was the best decision I've made in my life. The conservatory at Circle in the Square is a 2-year training, the school is very much Stanislavski based, which is a technique that really works for me. 

Only a few months after graduating from Circle in the Square Theatre School (which was in 2012) I saw a casting breakdown for a new movie directed by Abel Ferrara. They were looking for NYC based actors, who where French Native Speakers. I thought "this is my chance!". But believe it or not, I had a really hard time to get the audition. It took me 2 weeks: I mailed my Headshot and Resume, I submitted online to the casting office, I called the few people I knew in the industry who I thought could help me simply to get in the door! Finally, after 2 weeks, hoping every day for an audition, I got a phone call from the Casting office, I auditioned and booked the part! 

At first I didn't know that my scene partner would be Gerard Depardieu. Imagine my surprise and excitement! My first role in a feature film, AND my scene partner is Gerard Depardieu !!! It was like an "American Dream". 

I don't think that this would have been possible in France... The American market is more competitive, but it's also more open in a way. I mean the casting process was very fair and open (casting was by Sig De Miguel). In France, I would have needed big connections... in New York, they were ok to audition this "unknown actress".  

The film "Welcome to New York" was presented during the Cannes Film Festival, and I was invited to the opening. It was a dream to be in Cannes. I also had the chance to meet Jacqueline Bisset, and the cinema Magazine "Premiere" did an article on their "Cannes section", in which I am with director Abel Ferrara and fellow actress Anna Lakomy (see picture attached).  

Now I live and work in New York (since 4 years), where I am allowed to work under an "01 Artist Visa"

AO. What are the movies you played in?

I played the role of the Concierge in "Welcome to New York"  + 3 other roles in short films. Most of my background is in theatre. but working more in Films is something that I'd like to develop in the future. 

AO. What are the roles you enjoyed the most playing and why?

I like to portray characters that act and speak, in a way, that me "Ilinca", in my "real life", would never do. This might sound strange, but I generally like to portray "bad characters". For example, I played the role of Dionyza in Shakespeare's Pericles and I really enjoyed it. Dionazy's essence, is similar to Lady Macbeth (my dream role). In the play, she plots to assassinate her adoptive 13-year old daughter. I didn't want to caricature her, and make her "pure evil", but there is a certain level of darkness that you have to embrace in order to portray her. 

Another role that I loved playing was "Madame Armfeldt" in the musical A Little Night Music. She is a 80 something old woman, in a wheel chair, she is the head of the family with a very strong personality, and she doesn't care anymore about what people think of her. Some people might say she is "rude", because she speaks with no filter. I mean... how many times in our real lives, we wish we could express ourselves so freely?!! But we can't... Because of society, conventions, good manners etc etc etc... so playing a character that says whatever comes through her mind was a pure delight! 

AO. You performed at the Auditorium Rainier III for Romania's National Day.
Please, tell us a bit about the musical.

The musical is a love story. Our director Malina Andrei, chose songs that would tell the story of those 2 characters: Roxie and Dan. The musical starts when Roxie comes back to Bucharest. The 2 characters are former lovers and the show explores the evolution of their relationship. At the beginning, they are flirtatious & playful and both have reminiscences of their past love, that used to be beautiful, it's a moment of seduction. Then Roxie, realizes that she doesn't want to fall back into Dan's arms because he is a player, he serenades her and his words are like candies, but Roxie has changed, she has lived in America and became more materialistic, which we can see with the song Diamond's are a girl's best friend. After this song, Dan insinuates that Roxie has been selling herself and they both start an argument which leads to the climax of the show  with the songs Roxanne, You don't have to put on the red light, and the song "Cell block Tango" from Chicago. After all that tension, there is a beautiful moment where they both surrender and admit that they are still in love with each other. 

The style of the show is very diverse: American music-hall songs, French songs, Romanian songs. Someone in the audience told me that the show is "refreshing" and I think it's a good way of describing it. We wanted to do something new, diverse, entertaining but that would also have a lot of heart in it.   

AO. How do you communicate with your public and how the plays are
received by the public? 

When it is possible, I really like to interact with the audience after the performances. The public's feedback is really important to me and I love to have the chance to have face-to-face conversations with audience members. It's art, so of course, people see different things and like different aspects of the show. I like to hear their personal opinions. It's even more important to me when we are performing in a big space. For example, the auditorium Rainier III is huge, and the audience was pretty far from the stage, so it was harder for us (the performers), to feel the audience's energy. That's why I was so grateful that I could communicate with them after the show, and hear their positive comments. We do what we do for the audience: if the public is moved, and touched, then I am happy. 

I also interact with the public through my website, on which I share the latest news, and post a lot of information. 

AO. Where can people see your performances in the future?

French audience is going to be able to see me as Lady Macbeth in a production of Shakespeare's Macbeth directed by New Yorker Edward Berkeley (Director of the Aspen Opera Theater Center and long time faculty member of Julliard School) on October 9th. 2015 at the Toursky Theater in Marseille. More info on www.ilincakiss.com 

This is very special to me. Lady Macbeth is my DREAM ROLE. Before moving to New York I studied Comparative Literature at L'Université de Provence. I have a Master's Degree, and I wrote my final thesis on Macbeth. Since then, I am obsessed with the play and with the role of Lady Macbeth. I believe Lady Macbeth is one of the best role ever written for a woman and I can't wait to play her.

Editor Andra Oprea