Backstage with Jasmine Rogers of 'Mean Girls'

Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the wild and vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. How will this naïve newbie rise to the top of the popularity pecking order? By taking on The Plastics, a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung.

With Broadway in Austin bringing this hilarious and highly-quotable story to Bass Concert Hall, I was fortunate to catch up with cast member Jasmine Rogers, who plays Gretchen Wieners, an insecure rich girl and a member of the Plastics who only wants Regina's acceptance. Rogers has been in love with the stage for most of her life, starting with experiences during her childhood. Her talents have afforded her multiple opportunities along the way — I don’t know if I’d say people are jealous of her, but she can’t help it that she’s popular.

“I was born in Boston, and I was there until about the age of eight, but then I moved to Texas when I was 11. I moved to the Richmond area of Houston and I've been there ever since, but I started theater when I was about seven in Massachusetts,” she recalled. “My first ever show was Peter Pan and I was in the ensemble, and I was hooked ever since. So by the time I got to Houston, I was moving into middle school and I started to take theater a lot more serious. I was doing all the little shows that we did in middle school, and when I got to high school, I continued to do that. I had really great luck — I got to do some really cool things. I went to the Jimmy Awards, which is the National High School Musical Theater Awards which happens in New York, and I actually got to become a finalist for that.”

Rogers continued to pursue the craft after high school, earning a Bachelors of Music in Musical Theatre and pushing for a career in the industry.

“After that, I went to Manhattan School of Music, which is a musical theater conservatory, and I ended up staying there for two years and then I decided I'm ready to work,” she continued. “I was lucky enough that as soon as I started auditioning seriously I booked a couple things and I was able to choose what I wanted to do. Ever since then, I've just been working professionally. It's been amazing.”

If you’re familiar with the source material, you may notice a pretty clear difference between Rogers and Lacey Chabert’s embodiment of Gretchen Wieners: race. While race may not be center stage for the story, it’s something Rogers doesn’t overlook in her embodiment of the character.

“I approached this role just going straight to the source material. I'd seen the movie, so I brought pieces of her into it, and then what's in the script; what's written. I took those two things and put them into my own body. In this role particularly, there isn't a huge amount of room to explore the blackness of this character. All of that has been done inside of me — like choosing the way Gretchen walks through life as a black person and internalizing that.”

As the landscape of theatre changes to become more inclusive, many actors of color are experiencing the familiar circumstance of playing a role crafted with whiteness at the core. Rogers is not an exception to the situation, but she approaches the industry with optimism.

“It can be really, really beautiful when you're given that space, but there isn't a lot of stuff that's written for us. We are definitely navigating through a white lens and through a white person's world, and it's about how do we fit into that and make it our own. I've been lucky enough that I've been able to do that so far, especially with Gretchen. On Broadway, it was originated by an Asian American woman, but in the movie, it was just basically a story about four white girls. So now getting to play this role as a black woman, it's really amazing to see what I can bring as myself and what that does for young people who are watching this story and see it portrayed through a body that they usually never get to see.”

As the show prepares to welcome audiences in Austin at Bass Concert Hall, Rogers says the fans can expect to have an amazing evening.

“It's a musical, so everything is heightened — stakes are higher. While we're still telling the original story, everything is goofier and some things are raunchier. It's about these young, hot girls, so everything's a little shorter,” Rogers laughed. “I think [audiences] can expect to come and have an amazing time. There's so many parts of the show that are absolutely hilarious. I think they can come and have a beautiful time and laugh their asses off, excuse my language, and have a feel good time while they're here watching the show.”

Mean Girls will be at Bass Concert Hall August 2-7. Tickets start at $35 and are available at texasperformingarts.org and BroadwayinAustin.com