The world of performance in Chicago is vast and varied. It is comprised of an incredible network of actors, musicians, performers and countless other individuals that serve as its driving force. The story of each performer is distinct and informative; snapshots into their lives and their work provide a wealth of knowledge about the industry and enable us to gain an even broader sense of what makes the city’s brilliant theater scene tick. I had the opportunity to sit down with the talented stage, commercial and voice actor Peter Sipla in order to gain even greater insight into what performance means to him and what others can learn from his experience, as well.
The DePaulia: Can you provide a little bit of information about where you are in your acting career right now?
Peter Sipla: Right now, I am in the midst of rehearsing “Juno” at The Timeline Theater. They are actually a unique theater because they rehearse at night and they have shows at night, which is awesome for what I do because then it leaves the day completely free for any auditions whether it be theater, or voice-overs or commercials. All of that stuff is generally during the business day, so that I like a lot. I just did “Miss Saigon” at Paramount in November and I really enjoyed working there. It is an awesome theater and they do groundbreaking work. I am a non-union actor, right now, if I were taking points for everything, I would have enough points to be a union actor, but I’m not ready to make that leap yet. If I was just a stage actor, I would totally go union but I make the bulk of my money to support my living from voice-overs and that is in the city. I am really excited with where I’m at because I am just performing for a living. It’s great. I have a lot of repeat clients for voice-overs, so that is kind of taking care of itself and now I just have to focus on expanding that. I am making nice headway in acting as well, with some of the bigger theaters and some of the medium-sized theaters that I want to work with.
DP: When did you discover that you were passionate about theater? Did this occur at the same time you knew you wanted to pursue theater as a career?
PS: They actually happened at different times. I was like any other kid that loved playing with action figures and all of that. I have always had a vivid imagination. The first time I was actually “knocked over” by a performance was “Les