Tavi Gevinson Returns to the Stage as a Manson Girl in Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s ‘Assassins’

This is a very political show, and it’s resonated differently every time it’s been staged—in good ways and bad. Is there a moment or lyric that feels especially timely to you now?

There was so much right when we started, and it’s just wild how much more has emerged from it over the last 18 months or so–I remember in the rehearsal room, we would try different stagings for a group number and share our interpretations, and someone would go, “Oh, this reminds me of social media and the way a mob can grow until they’re carrying out violence, or wild misinformation.” And even the opening song and the finale, “Everybody’s Got the Right,” is such a wonderful critique of individualism that is so central to American identity, and definitely white American identity. There are so many moments of very sharp satire, but there would be no point in playing this character if only to make fun, or if you could not seriously think about what causes someone to attempt to assassinate a president, even if the gun wasn’t loaded and it was more of a stunt. The show has a strong point of view, but I don’t think it’s as simple as saying, “Let us teach you how bad all of these people are.” That would be boring.

Zooming out a bit, how are you picking projects these days? Because this feels like such a different endeavor from Gossip Girl, to use an obvious example. What’s appealing to you at this point in your career?

It’s a flattering question, because it creates an impression that I have a wide array of jobs to choose from. [Laughs.] Honestly, I care about if something is fun, if I’ll get paid, if I’ll learn things, if the world of the project is interesting to me, if the character feels like something I think I could do something with. Every day I think it’s completely ridiculous that my job is to hysterically giggle backstage with the people I work with and then wear an elf-like costume and pretend to be a Manson girl on a stage—yet it is also a job. 

So I don’t have a very good answer to that question, but this was a no-brainer in terms of wanting to audition for it, because it’s just an incredible show and a really fun, really dark role. And with Gossip Girl, too, at first I was like, I don’t know if I wanna play a mumbly high schooler, I think I’ve done that. And then that wasn’t what they wanted from me at all, which seemed fun.