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Well over two decades ago, TheatreWorks founder Robert Kelley stopped a 7-year-old girl frolicking in the hallway of his theater and asked her to sing him something. She was performing in one of the company’s plays and he wanted to know whether she could sing too. And sing she did, for Sophie Oda was a natural.
This is one of her early memories of her time at TheatreWorks as a child actor. “I felt like I had a special relationship with Kelley and his partner Ev, they kind of just took me under their wing,” said Oda, who is now part of TheatreWorks’ “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,” written by Bay Area playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon.
The play, which is a romantic sequel to “Pride and Prejudice,” runs through Dec. 29 at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre.
Oda, who grew up in Danville in the East Bay, has moved back to the Bay Area after spending around 10 years in Los Angeles, where she worked in film and TV; she appeared in shows like “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,” among several others.
She moved back to be closer to her family and is presently delighting in her incidental rediscovery of theater. “I forgot how much I missed it, I forgot the level of community and sense of team,” said Oda, who didn’t do much theater in the last decade. Then last year, being part of a production called “Starmites” in L.A., rekindled her love for the stage.
“It means a lot to me to be back at TheatreWorks as an adult,” she said. “As a child I always felt separate from everybody else. It feels very new being fully a member of the cast, more of an equal part … I didn’t know what that meant. It’s interesting to be in the same place and to have an entirely different experience.”
Some familiar faces she knew as a child, “like the props manager, the assistant stage manager and the costumer,” are still there. Reconnecting with the staff, now as an adult, is an adjustment that she finds “lovely, familiar but also a little bit strange, awkward at times.”
Oda has vivid memories of being part of TheatreWorks productions as a child. She remembers the “bouncy, curly wig” she wore for “Jane Eyre,” and the “chaotic” backstage atmosphere while working on “A Little Princess” because the cast included several little girls like herself. She still remembers some of the harmonies she learned for that play. “We would practice our harmonies in our carpool on the way there,” she said fondly.
She clearly remembers stalling on stage, instead of running off like she was supposed to, just to watch the actors who played her parents in “The Joy Luck Club” kiss — “I felt I was misbehaving by staying a second or two longer!”
Another play she worked in as a child was “Pacific Overtures,” which was set in imperial Japan. “At one point I am the emperor being puppeteered with sticks attached to my costume,” she said. Backstage, in the dressing room, she recalls standing on a stool as an 8-year-old, helping women tie up their “obis” or kimono belts.
“I really enjoyed it, I had a great time being a part of something,” she said, remembering with a chuckle what it felt like being among professional adults at such a young age. “I remember being on stage when I was a child and feeling — ‘wow I have agency here.’ If I wanted to, I could just run across the stage and ruin the whole show! I remember thinking that a lot when I was on stage… of course I always did what my role was, but I remember thinking that I had power, I had a say, I was contributing to this picture, to this team.”
Other Bay Area companies she worked with as a child actor include American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the San Jose Repertory Theatre and The Willows, among others, but her time at TheatreWorks is the most memorable. “TheatreWorks became my second home when I was growing up,” she said, crediting the “sense of family” that Kelley pushed forth.
A few years ago, the opportunity to work with TheatreWorks did come her way, but things didn’t work out, because she was waiting for a call-back for a film she was advised to prioritize at the time.
That film didn’t pan out either. “It made me very sad,” she said, about missing the chance to be part of TheatreWorks’ “The Four Immigrants,” a play written by Bay Area-based Min Kahng. “I was stuck in indecision; it was a confusing time … that has been hovering over me a long time, wanting to come back.”
Which is why, when she had the chance to be part of “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,” she was thrilled. As an added bonus, she discovered that the director, Jeffrey Lo, is someone she went to University of California, Irvine, with.
In the show, Oda plays the bubbly Lydia, the youngest sister of the Bennet family who caused such upheaval in the original tale of “Pride and Prejudice.” In this holiday-themed sequel set two years after the events of Jane Austen’s novel, the Bennets and their extended family come together to celebrate Christmas at the home of the novel’s main character Elizabeth, now married to Mr. Darcy.
For now, Oda is busy reliving old memories — “I remember running down the hallway from one end of the stage to the other!” — and looks forward to creating new ones, both on — and back — stage. “I love how theater flows very naturally… so much of the theater experience is not seen.”
She admires the way she can see all the parts coming together in theater, unlike in film or TV, where the actors are privy only to their part in the larger scheme of things. “It is a more stilted process,” she said.
To unwind, Oda enjoys solving puzzles, playing board games and pole dancing, a relatively recent hobby. “Right now I’m just trying to lean into what feels good,” she said.
About TheatreWorks in particular, she lauds the fact that the team has professional mental health support on the premises. “It’s a kind and inclusive place,” she said. “It just feels like a soft place to land.”
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley” runs Wednesday, Dec. 4 through Sunday, Dec. 29 at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Tickets are $34 – $115. For information visit theatreworks.org.
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