Corinne Woodland: Actress, teacher, master of time management

As an area actress, there are local performers I have met who intrigue me for various reasons. And given that I know firsthand about the dedication and time commitment involved in doing a show, I am more than a little intrigued by one actress in particular.Her name is Corinne Woodland, and it would not be much of an exaggeration to say that she has been performing nonstop since she was nine. A sixth-generation Floridian, she is a performer, teacher and one of the most committed artists to the area’s community theater scene that I know.

Community theater is incredibly time-consuming; essentially, it can easily fill every hour of your life that is not work or sleep. Oh, and it’s also defined by the fact that the actors are not paid.

What’s remarkable about Corinne is that she doesn’t take any kind of a break between shows, nor does she see it as a choice. It is not about playing a certain role or doing a favorite show; it’s more of a “way of being.” It’s as much a part of her identity as being raised in Bradenton or having hazel eyes.

She explained it to me in between her rehearsal for Miss Saigon and getting ready for a show that evening: “I don’t even know what I would be without theater, because everything I am has been shaped by it. It’s like growing up in the circus. You don’t know any different.”

The daughter of two performers, Mark and Kelly Wynn Woodland, Corrine was often brought to their shows as a child. They’d provide her with toys or a book and she quickly became used to her playtime being part of quite another “playtime." Naturally shy in her youth, Corrine was not onstage herself until she was “a little bit older.” Her parents both took parts in a production of The Crucible at the Manatee Players; they needed girls, and Corinne felt ready to climb onto the stage herself. She was nine years old.

From there, Corinne literally never stopped. She appeared onstage and did youth opera. Then in her early teens, she naturally fell into doing some behind-the-scenes work.

“I was that tall, awkward kid who is really too tall to play a ‘kid’ but not mature enough to play an adult,” she explains. She started stage-managing for the newly-formed children’s theater at the Manatee Players, which helped her to learn responsibility, organization and management.As she grew into her frame, Corinne transitioned back to the stage. She appeared in one show after another---over 50 productions in area theaters over the last 20 years.

Corinne is also a middle school teacher.

Her mother, grandmother and grandfather were all teachers. She explains that stage management was great training and her theatrical connections even led to a teaching assistant position at the Manatee School for the Arts while she was in college. She now works at Just for Girls, an alternative school for 6th, 7th and 8th-grade girls. She teaches language arts, science and health.

So how does she juggle work, theater and life?

“Sometimes it gets off balance. I do a lot of things in the middle of the night. I haven't done my taxes yet, but I will probably do them in the middle of the night.”

And what about picking one show over another?“I look for what doesn’t overlap, what I can be active in, who’s directing and what my friends are doing. I did Sunday in the Park with George because I knew a lot of my friends would be doing it.”

Of course, Corinne explains this like it’s no big deal but, just to be clear, she is not lacking in the talent department. Sunday in the Park took third place overall at the American Association of Community Theater's annual festival … that’s third place in the nation.

She sings, dances and acts; she has long legs and large eyes that stand out whether she is singing a solo or third dancer from the left.

So many of the talented actors I’ve met have moved to New York City or pound the pavement to perform professionally. I had to ask her if she ever thought about it.

“I didn't pursue it as a career for a lot of reasons. Some of them aren't very glamorous, but I'll be honest: I wanted to stay near my family. It requires a lot of drive that I just don't have. I didn't know the extent of it, but I have a lot of health issues and I can't afford to be uninsured. NYC is very expensive and I don't have family that can support me if I can't get work. Plus things are just too competitive, especially for women, and I don't have the talent to compete in the professional world.“It doesn't hurt that we have such a wonderful theater community here. Without that, it might have been different. But I love the area and I love the theater community. I was happy, so I didn't feel compelled to leave.”

Beginning March 28, you can see Corinne appearing in Miss Saigon, the momentous first show in the Manatee Players' new theater.

She jokes, “I’m having a little bit of a racial identity crisis in this show. I am in the ensemble and I think I am Asian in Act One and Caucasian in Act Two. I’m still trying to get it all figured out.”

When I asked her how she thinks theater has enriched her life, she stumbles at first for an answer, then replies, “It’s given me confidence and life skills; it’s literally everything. I don’t understand how people do life without theater.”