Millburn-Short Hills Magazine Spring 2020 | Page 26

entertainment
Riding in the Bar Car
Stephanie Kurtzuba works with Martin Scorsese,
then commutes home to Maplewood
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER
W
DID YOU COME FROM A FAMILY OF
PERFORMERS? My mother appreci-
ated the arts and loved dance and
music, though she couldn’t carry a
tune in a bucket, unfortunately. Every
once in a while, she would take us to
see Cats. I know — everything old is
new again!
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SPRING 2020 MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE
crime behind and keep being a crimi-
nal. It was just me and him on the
stage, and I felt, “This is the power of
being important to the story.”
BROADWAY AND BEYOND Stephanie
Kurtzuba has acted for the stage and small
and large screens.
WHEN DID YOU FIRST REALIZE THAT
YOU WANTED TO ACT? Growing up
in Omaha, we used to have dance
recitals at a gorgeous theater down-
town called the Orpheum. I loved
wandering around backstage during
rehearsal days. I remember that when
I was 10, I was hired to play a boy
pickpocket in Oliver. I had long hair
as a girl, and I got all of it cut off;
obviously, I was really into the truth
of looking like a pickpocket boy.
Anyway, I was chosen to be the
one who hands Fagin a piece of
bread, and he decides not to leave
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST
ABOUT APPEARING BEFORE LIVE
AUDIENCES, AND WHAT IS MOST
CHALLENGING ABOUT IT? I love
that there’s a relationship in real time
with the audience, an immediate
response to what you’re trying
to do. That’s the most exhilarating
part of it.
What’s challenging is that the
stamina required and lifestyle that
you’re forced into is hard. You’re
performing six days a week. My
sons were both born during the runs
of Broadway shows; they’ve both
performed in utero in Tony Awards
ceremonies. That was one of the big
motivating factors to transitioning
out of theater work and into TV
and movies. The schedules were so
daunting, and I wanted to put my
kids to bed at night.
HOW LONG DID YOU LIVE IN THE
NYC AREA, INCLUDING YOUR YEARS
STUDYING ACTING AT NYU? I lived
in Manhattan in the beginning of my
career, and then in Brooklyn for 11
years. I met my husband at the Alley
Theater in Houston, where he was
a carpenter working on the props.
I thought I’d met a cowboy, but he
was from Ohio. It was too late. I was
already in love. We married in 2005
and moved to Maplewood in 2008.
We followed the migratory pattern
of everybody here. And I’ve been
fortunate – I never had to move to
Los Angeles.
hen actress
Stephanie
Kurtzuba
started house-
hunting in
New Jersey, she
visited Maplewood, and “it was love
at first sight.” The town was not only
a great place to raise a family — her
two sons are now 10 and 8 — but it
was a favorite of other actors, making
for an easy sense of community.
“The 5:45 p.m. train into the
city has been called the Broadway
Express,” says Kurtzuba, who grew
up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has per-
formed in Mary Poppins, Billy Elliot
the Musical and other shows on the
Great White Way. “Around the holi-
days, performers used to meet in the
first car of the 11 p.m. train home
and bring wine and cheese. We had
our own bar car.”
Living in commuting distance of
New York has also made it easier to
work with filmmakers based in the
city — among them, Martin Scorsese,
who directed her in both The Wolf of
Wall Street (as single mother Kimmie
Belzer) and The Irishman (as Irene,
wife of Robert De Niro's Frank
Sheeran). We spoke to Kurtzuba
about balancing motherhood,
movies and what it’s like to be on
a first-name basis with Marty.