Samantha Keret
By Naperville Magazine
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This Naperville-based actress and singer takes the BrightSide stage as Morticia
By Jeff Banowetz
Samantha Keret was impressed the first time she saw a BrightSide Theatre production, soon after she moved to Naperville in March 2018. “I thought, I really like this,” she says. “This is something I could get involved in.”
The singer and actress had spent the previous decade in Los Angeles, working in television and theater. She appeared in shows on NBC, Lifetime, and Discovery Channel, among others, and even played a dead body on Dexter. But she decided to move back to the Chicago area after the birth of her second child. “The show I was working on at CNN got canceled,” she says. “I gave birth to my daughter on a Monday, and the show was canceled on Friday.”
Her husband, also in the entertainment business, was between jobs as well, and Keret started thinking about how much it was going to cost them to raise a family in L.A. She jokingly sent him a Zillow listing for a house next door to a friend in Oswego to compare housing costs. She was surprised when he suggested that it might be a good idea to move back to the area. “Chicago has just always been home,” she says. “I love Chicago. I love the theater scene. I love the art scene. I love the people.” She was born and raised in the city, graduated from the Chicago College of Performing Arts Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University and had spent several years working on local stages before heading out west. “I was excited to come home.”
After moving back to the area, Keret took a break from acting to focus on her family (she now has three daughters, ages 11, 10, and 7) but recently started working in theater again. Her latest role is her first for BrightSide Theatre, in which she’ll star as Morticia in its upcoming production of The Addams Family, which runs Oct. 2 to 18.
Q: Have you ever done The Addams Family before?
A: No, it’s a new one for me. BrightSide was always on my bucket list of places I wanted to audition for. I was at an audition for another show when one of the other ladies told me BrightSide was auditioning for The Addams Family and that I’d make a great Morticia. This was on a Wednesday, and the auditions were on a Sunday. I went to my voice lesson on Friday and worked with my teacher on a new song—one I’d never done before—and it sounded good, so I thought, why not try? I’m lucky it all worked out so well.
Q: Tell us about the musical.
A: It’s just such a funny show, and it’s also very sweet and very endearing. And I love, I love the take on it. I joked with some of my castmates that if someone drops a line, no one will notice because they’re going to be laughing the whole time.
Q: Was it an adjustment living in Naperville after your time in L.A.?
A: I absolutely love it here. I’m truly a city girl at heart. I went to school in the city. I lived in the city. I love the city, and I always said if I ever come back to Chicago, I’m going to move to the city. I’ll never live in the suburbs. But now that I’m here in Naperville, specifically, I honestly cannot imagine living anywhere else. I can’t imagine raising my family anywhere else.
Q: What are some of your favorite roles you’ve done in musical theater?
A: I’d say Belle from Beauty and the Beast was a great experience. I’ve found that Morticia is fantastic. She really is a dream role, and I didn’t even know it. She’s such a fun character to play. It’s interesting; I’m in the stage of my career right now where I’m kind of too old to play the ingenue, but I’m not quite old enough to play the sassy schoolmarm. I’m not quite right for “Climb Every Mountain,” but I’m also not singing “The hills are alive with the sound of music.” I’m in the middle. That’s another reason I’m so happy to grab Morticia while I can—I can still be a sexy mom.
Photos: BrightSide Theatre; Samantha Keret
