It was a breezy and bright Friday night in downtown NYC when I first saw Danielle Kendler-Rhodes perform on stage. A ‘petite’ woman with a huge personality, she was a perfect match for her chosen role of Dunyasha in a beautiful take on ‘The Cherry Orchard,’ one of Chekhov’s last plays.
With effortless elegance, she maneuvered between a lowly chambermaid and a seductive mistress; she matched and sometimes outed her fellow cast members and made her every entrance memorable.
I must admit that I didn’t just randomly choose to attend the play but was invited by a friend who already met and seen Danielle perform, so while I did have some premonition of quality, it was matched and surpassed by a great performance.
We met after the show and had a lovely time discussing her performance, but what stuck with me was how eloquent and bright Danielle is. After spending some time dissecting and analyzing Chekhov’s complex play (we both have a passion for Chekhov, we immediately found…), I had the pleasure of hearing about Danielle’s fascinating journey from London to the Big Apple.
Danielle was born in London and had a very diverse journey through her school years, trying to navigate her passion through the education system, preferring the ‘ordinary rather than the exceptional’. Until she had been lucky (although I would say obviously talented) to be accepted to the BRIT school – a well-known art school with graduates spanning from Tom Holland to Adele. This is where she finally found her unique personality being pampered rather than restricted, and before she graduated, she was also offered a place at the prestigious National Youth Theatre.
To top all that, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, Danielle was offered a place at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and armed with a suitcase, Danielle decided to take on the Big City.
I was inquisitive about how an 18-year-old could break away from a comfortable life under the umbrella of her parents and take a leap of faith to pursue a dream amid a global pandemic. Still, in line with what I’ve seen on stage, Danielle was adamant about making the best out of a difficult situation.
“This was somewhat not an easy journey,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes and somewhat ‘tongue-in-cheek.’ She describes some lonely nights of acting in front of a computer and lessons over Zoom. However, as the pandemic turned from a burden to a nuisance, it also was part of her rise into the actress she is today. She has a strong personality, using diverse experiences to move audiences beyond her years confidently.
We kept in touch through digital channels, and I kept hearing her name mentioned and complemented. I was then utterly delighted to get an invite to see Danielle perform the part of Hermia from Midsummer Night’s Dream at RiffRaff NYC’s Shakespeare showcase. I remembered that Danielle and I were discussing Shakespeare at our first meeting, which probably prompted Danielle to kindly invite me to her show. I was even more delighted to discover that she not only took on the role of Hermia but also took on two other major roles, Witch 2 in Macbeth and Prince Arthur in King John.
I wasn’t disappointed, to say the least. Hermia is a major role and not an easy one. Again, Danielle took the stage confidently and combined a word-perfect execution of the somewhat tricky text with a performance that allowed American audiences to connect with a language that was not colloquial or common. The applause at the show’s end showed that the audience appreciated her efforts and rewarded Danielle with an ovation for the match.
We met again after the show, and it was like meeting a good friend. We discussed her career and the following choices, and I must admit that I’m looking forward to seeing what such a big talent can do in the big city – which is not a small feat for a ‘petite’ woman with a big personality. Still, maybe this is precisely why this will work to her advantage.
