Lindsay Mendez

When I was 12, I played Dorothy in my community theatre production of 'The Wizard of Oz,' and it was very critically hailed by my school paper!

'Dogfight' is my favorite thing I've ever worked on. It's such a special piece, and I'm so close to the character of Rose. I loved doing it every night.

I think, going into a room for an audition, the best thing you can do is represent who you are specifically as an individual and what you can bring to a creative process in a room - as opposed to being worried about 'where you fit' - because that's really their job to decide where you fit. Your job is to just present the best 'you' you can.

Getting an agent is hard, and I also think people rush to get an agent too soon.

I think people feel completely stunted without an agent, but there's a lot of auditions to be had without one and a lot to be learned before you take an agent on.

I remember getting notified that I won an award, and I gloated up a storm to my mother, and I was so obnoxious about it, but I said to her, 'Momma, I'm going to enjoy every moment of this because tomorrow, something bad is going to happen.'

I have a group of fans who pitched in and named a star after me... So. Cool.

I think I'm the person who keeps friends from hitting 'send.' I've definitely helped people go through emails before sending them. I'm a good proofreader.

I was born in Southern California in a city called Norwalk. I grew up there until I moved up to New York when I was 18.

I did 'The Sound of Music.' That was my first musical.

I loved Judy Garland growing up, and I also loved Ella Fitzgerald.

I have a major love for musical theatre, including a lot of stuff I don't get to do very often.

I've always been afraid to do a solo show. When I go to see the great solo shows of Liz Callaway or Christine Ebersole, they have so many incredible stories to talk about, and their material and lives are so rich. I've always worried that my life was not rich enough.

'Dogfight' was everything wonderful and terrifying about a show, and I feel it 1,000% gave me the knowledge and the confidence that I could do this. I can step up and be present enough to command scenes with amazing actors.

I loved 'The Wizard of Oz,' and I'm a huge Judy Garland fan, too.

It's been a huge honor to collaborate and create new theatre with new writers and to create theatre that will last after my lifetime. It's been in the most truthful way possible. It's my favorite thing to do.

'Dogfight' holds a special place in my heart, and I try to sing the songs whenever I can.

When you are preparing for a role, you have a script to comb through and the writer's help in telling you about the character, and then you can fill in the gaps. When you are doing a cabaret show, it's very personal. You have the opportunity to share parts of yourself with an audience and figure out how you want to connect.

I teach a lot of young musical theatre actors, and I notice that a lot of them say that they have a harder time connecting the classic repertoire.

I'm a big Broadway fan and a big MGM fan.

Judy Garland, Doris Day, and Gene Kelly were all big influences growing up from all of the films. I'm also a huge folk music fan - Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan have influenced a lot of how music can inspire change in our world.

As I became an adult, I listened to a lot of jazz, to the ladies of jazz, Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McRae and Nina Simone. I loved that they each covered the same songs and interpreted them totally differently. I thought that was so cool. They could each paint their own picture of that moment.

I don't look like a chorus girl.

I have a big persona onstage sometimes, but offstage, I'm super shy. Like, I don't want to perform for people - I'd rather die than sing in a room for someone.

I've always had a big voice, but I'm very aware of when you need to belt or go all out like that - when it's necessary and plot driven - as opposed to just screaming to scream, which I hate.

I've worked with incredible people that have set amazing examples for me.

Even though acting is my job, I do this because I love it, and when the love is gone, I'm not going to do it anymore.

When you hear you're going to audition for 'Dogfight,' the show about bringing ugly women to parties, you're like, 'Oh, great, thank you.' Then you read lines where people call you fat, and you call yourself fat or ugly, and it can wear on you. But that's also our dream as actors, to play someone else and give someone else a voice.

I love my body. I love representing people who aren't stick figures, because people aren't.

I'm good friends with Matt Morrison.

I've never been a thin girl. I grew up being - I don't want to say a plus-size girl, but a girl of curves and substance.

I've never been a bridesmaid.

I am not a beauty queen, and I was not the popular girl in high school.

I think it's important to play real people.

It's nice to be with a male energy as opposed to a female energy. It's very different.

Gay men are still men.

I do think television has really fantasized it to the point where now everyone wants a gay best friend.

I started taking voice when I was six and dance classes every day - I just couldn't get enough.

The first time I didn't get called back at an audition, I cried. My mom told me, 'We're doing this for fun, and if it's not fun anymore, we're not going to do it. So if you ever cry again, we're going to stop.' I never cried from then on, and I kept that lesson for the rest of my life.

Being called ugly every day is not easy on the psyche.

I knew if I were ever to leave 'Godspell,' which I loved so much, it would have to be for something really spectacular.

My parents were big movie-musical fans. And I thought 'Grease' was different from the usual MGM musical. I was intrigued and fell in love with it.

I'm a Mexican girl from California, and I never grew up thinking I could be in a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. I didn't really see myself in that. Not that I didn't grow up loving Rodgers and Hammerstein, but I don't know - I just never put myself there.

There was so much emotional response to 'Dogfight.' You just heard the audience: They were so horrified. They were sobbing. They were joyful at times.

With 'Wicked,' I was stepping into a role that I didn't make so that felt like I had more boundaries then I did with 'Carousel.'

I loved working on 'Dogfight,' but when I first read it and wrapped my head around the story, I was a little horrified.

I want to scare myself when I choose what I want to work on.

I feel like I do my best work under fear of being fired.

I learned by watching Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand.

People learn from their mistakes and move forward.