Kate Simses – Mixology

Q) Many people gravitate toward your character. Why do you think that is?

A) I think that Liv gets to do a lot of crazy stuff for the first time. So, there is a lot of fun in discovery with her. She is pushing her boundaries and will go too far at a certain point and then come back aground and have the embarrassment of going too far. I think that’s an interesting thing to see, somebody who is in their late twenties, but for the first time is really exploring new things that most people do when they are in college. She’s also a pretty sensitive character so she feels things pretty deeply. I think it gives a great chance to be expressive and I think that is really fun to play.

Q) She also has a naivety to her.

A) I owe that to the writers and the creators who have been writing some really great stuff and also giving us a chance to explore and improv our own sort of language for the characters. It’s a blast!

Q) Along those lines, was there anything you added to the character that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) Very early on, before we started shooting, they had all of us come in and meet with the writers and creators to tell stories from our own lives. I think they were also trying to get to know us as people and what was natural about us that may be applicable to the characters. We would see certain things in the script every week that were not just instances from our characters, but also from our own persona in our lives. They let us be very natural in that way. All of the directors were great people and had comedy and improv backgrounds like Michael McDonald from “MadTV.” They encouraged, to a certain extent, improvising and I think because they were coming in for maybe one or two episodes they knew that there was already established relationships between characters and between actors. They wanted to see what came out of those relationships that they might not have known about from not working on the show for the entire season.

Q) Because the show takes place over one night the character focuses rotate. Is that what sets “Mixology” apart from other single life centered programs?

A) Absolutely! I do think there is an element of staying with your own team when you go out to a bar. When you go out with your friends there is always a team to come back to that you came in with. They were very great about having all of us mingle. Yes, we all still have the home base and that home base for Liv is Maya. They did come up with creative ways for all of us to mingle, which is exciting for us and hopefully is exciting to watch. There was an episode where Liv gets to meet Jessica and Maya gets to kind of bum around with the boys. That was really fun for us to do and I think it gives a certain freshness to the episode because it’s new. I hope that it is fun for the audience.

Q) What do you think it is about being in a bar setting that makes people feel they are on an equal playing field with others?

A) I think going into a bar, everything is set up so you can kind of create whatever persona you want. It’s deciding what you wear and there is loud music so often times you can refrain from any kind of witty conversation if you’re not feeling up to it. There is sort of a social lubricant when you’re drinking and the lighting is usually dim and flattering. I think there is this potential to step out of what you are in your every day life and create whatever persona you feel like creating that night. I think you can build yourself up to the point where you feel like you can do anything and can approach anybody because it is set up in that way. You don’t have to just be the person that you were in your office on a Tuesday afternoon in florescent lighting. You can put on something sexy and be a lady out on the town, even if that’s not who you are. If you are good enough at psyching yourself up, it’s all laid out for you.

W) What is your favorite aspect of playing Liv?

A) That’s a hard question! I think that what you touched on about her being naive has been helpful in her making all these crazy choices, in justifying that. She is not coming from a place of any sort of maliciousness. There is not any thought of, “Is she actually cheating on her fiancée?” I think because she is so sensitive and naive at the same time, it really just is her exploring and feeling a lot of these things for the first time and trying to work it out. It’s not coming from a place of malice or selfishness. It’s coming from a place of it being her first and that’s really fun to play, the discovery. Whether it’s a good feeling, a painfully embarrassing feeling or joy – she feels it very deeply.

Q) Your comedic timing seems to come natural to you. Is it something you actually studied and honed?

A) I didn’t go to college or a conservatory for acting. I’m blessed to have a really funny brother who exposed me to a lot of comedy from a time when I was very small. He had me watching Monty Python when I was eight years old. My parents also had an appreciation for the older comedians. We’d watch “The Carol Burnett Show” or Madeline Kahn. We’d watch classics that from a young age I was just fascinated with comedy and my interest in it seemed to snowball as I got older. I haven’t had a lot of formal training, but I think I’ve been lucky enough to have really fun, funny people in my life and I have an incredible job that is a blessing. Every single one of our cast members has their own fantastic strength and brand of humor. They are also all very open and supportive to everybody else’s technique and brand of humor. There is no parallel to a fellow actor that is there to be supportive and creative with you. Feeling comfortable and feeling supported is what enables an actor to take risks and we are so blessed to have that in our cast, too. Everyone is really supportive of one another and wants them to feel comfortable so we can take it to the next level.

Q) What can you tease about what is to come for Liv?

A) She is definitely not done with Ron. There is still more to come for them. And she definitely embarrasses herself further in pursuit of him. There is that to look forward to and there is also a really fun episode where we find out with Liv and Jim what their relationship has been like up to this point. If you think Liv is goofy, Liv and Jim together are just the ultimate goofballs.

Q) You and the cast enjoy live tweeting during the episodes of “Mixology.” What kind of instant feedback have you been receiving from fans?

A) I am very new to social media. Because of this show, I got a Twitter account and it is amazing to be able to get feedback so quickly and to see how positive and loving the fans can be. I finally get it. I finally get why we do this as a culture. It was so exciting and fun to shoot the show and to be with that family. Now it’s very exciting to be able to share it with people and immediately respond if they have a question and to hear the lovely things about everybody in the show. Also, please be patient with me because I’ll get better at it!

Q) What would you like to say then to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) I would like to thank everybody who watches for their support. I hope they do keep coming back because I do think that as it goes it only gets better and the characters make it more rich. As we sort of got into our swing, I think the show gets into its swing. I thank them for their support and time. I hope they just keep coming!