On the scene with Eden Lee Murray

Eden Lee Murray grew up in Kansas City, Mo., watching her mother perform with the Community Childrens Theatre. Murray was 4 when her mother asked her to pull the curtain open to start a performance. She watched in amazement as her mother and the other actors suddenly transformed into the characters they were playing. As soon as Murray could read, she was helping her mother learn her lines for the next show.

In her freshman year at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Murray was “miserable” until she got into the school’s spring production of “Tartuffe.” A fortuitous opportunity to audition for Leonard Bernstein’s guest-professor production of “West Side Story” at Harvard University landed her the role of Anybodys.

Murray loved doing theater at Harvard so much that she transferred to Radcliffe College, which was affiliated with Harvard, so she could continue to do theater there. She graduated, earned her Actors’ Equity card, worked for four years in New York, and then completed the degree requirement requirements for her MFA.

Since coming to Hawaii in 1992, Murray has worked with every major theater group on Oahu. Her contributions as an educator include 10 years as the director of the Hawaii Young Actors Ensemble and eight as the education director at the Hawaii Theatre Center. Her performance credits range from doing sketch comedy theater with Ray Bumatai to playing The Fool in the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival’s 2018 production of “King Lear.”

Murray, 66, most recently starred as Falstaff in the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival’s virtual production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” last month.

Your Falstaff was one of the best performances I’ve seen this year. Hair and makeup artist Mia Yoshimoto designed facial hair for you that was phenomenal, and you never sounded like a female actor playing a male character. Where did that voice come from?

I don’t know. (Costume designer) Carlynn Wolfe was at my house looking at costumes, and Mia was on Zoom. She asked, “What is this character like?” I did a line (as Falstaff) and (the voice) just came out of my face. Mia had the beard and the eyebrows and the moustache for the photo shoot, and when I saw “him” in the mirror “he” was just there — with that voice.

What adjustments did you have to make playing Falstaff to a camera?

The biggest challenge was that when you’re in a (stage) production, and the houselights go out and the lights come on onstage, the outside world disappears. When I’m sitting at a desk in my office (playing Falstaff to a camera), I can see everything around me. I’m in two worlds, and as an actor you have to stay in the world of the story.

What was the best part of the “virtual” environment?

My sister was able to watch with cousins and friends in Kansas City, (and) my two nephews — one in Boston and one in Chicago — who’d never seen me work, were able to watch. I was able to share beyond where I’ve ever been able to share before.

What do you want to do when the pandemic is over?

I teach at La Pietra (Hawaii School for Girls), and I love what playing Shakespeare does for kids. They come into it going “I can’t do that,” and when they do it they have a sense of having really accomplished something. I’d like to start a “Shakespeare on the Park” (program), maybe every other year on the great lawn at La Pietra.

Do you have advice to share with kids who want to go into theater?

This is not just for theater: Try not to take a project that doesn’t make your hands shake a little at the beginning. When (HSF Director) Tony (Pisculli) told me he wanted me to play Falstaff I didn’t know if I could do it. Having done it I’m proud of what was accomplished.