Daily Inspiration: Meet Jayne Taini

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jayne Taini.

Hi Jayne, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Jayne Taini Theatre tale

Protest demonstrations at Orange Coast College in the early 70’s lead her to writing and performing guerrilla street theatre. An avid speech and oral interpretation student, she soon got cast in FIND YOUR WAY HOME. With some good reviews under their belt, she and some friends moved it to Hollywood from Orange Coast College. They rented the Odyssey Theatre and braved the big city.

It was then she joined American Theatre Arts Conservatory and Ensemble and embarked on the study that lead to her life’s work. For five years she was a constant student, besides being the prop mistress for the company. She served in various other technical support positions and performed in shows such as: THE RIMERS OF ELDRITCH (Evelyn), SEA HORSE (Gertrude), THE PHYSICISTS (Matron Boll) and the highly acclaimed RICHARD’S CORK LEG (Mrs. Malarkey). She participated in over 20 productions usually in at least a dual capacity.

Before leaving ATA she had become a full company member and was on the staff as a scene study teacher. After finding out that theatre was a paying gig in her hometown Seattle, she moved north. Immediately she started an on-going Monday night scene study class, which she taught until her move back to Los Angeles. She started her Seattle career at the late great Pioneer Square Theatre where she performed Nurse Thor in E.R./EMERGENCY ROOM for over a year. She also is proud to have worked at The Empty Space and The Group Theatre in her early days in Seattle. It was while performing in the West coast premiere of THE NORMAL HEART as Emma Brookner at PST, she met her producing partner, Victor Janusz.

This was the beginning of TRIAD Ensemble where she was Associate Artistic Director for 5 years. As a front runner of fringe theatre in Seattle, TRIAD produced shows such as: GHOSTS by Ibsen (Mrs. Alving), THE VISIONS OF SIMPONE MACHARD by Brecht (co-director), A LOVELY SUNDAY FOR CREVE COEUR by Tennessee Williams (Bodey), CHRISTMAS ON MARS by Harry Kondoleon and THE QUEEN and the REBELS by Ugo Betti (Argia). Victor and Jayne are most proud, that their production of HEDDA GABLER by Ibsen adapted by Victor Janusz titled HEDDA GABLER ’55, lives in the Theatre on Tape and Film (TOFT) at the Lincoln Library in New York City. TRIAD Ensemble also produced many new works and prided themselves in their collaborations with designers and composers.
Some examples of her work at other regional theatres are: A DOLL’S HOUSE (Anne Marie) WHEN WE ARE MARRIED (Mrs Northrup opposite Bill Camp) at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (Marilla),at Seattle Children’s Theatre, THE MUSIC MAN (Mrs. Paroo) at The 5th Avenue, THE BACCHAE (Agave), DOUBT (Sister Aloysius), SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS (Etta/Mrs Chambers) at Portland Center Stage, and LIFE WITH FATHER (Margaret) at The Denver Center, ENCHANTED APRIL (Costanza) Pasadena/Cleveland Playhouses, directed by Michael Wilson, OUTSIDE MULLINGAR (Aoife) B Street Theatre, She was in the collaboration of a One Reel /Furusato Caravan production of LABOR OF LOVE: A Rice Farmer’s Musical that toured not only Japan and the US, but played the Olympic Arts Festival in Barcelona. One World Theatre/Theatre Simple’s production of MOTHER COURAGE and her CHILDREN by Brecht with Jayne in the title role was lauded “best of the Fest” from Winnipeg to Vancouver during their 6-month Canadian Fringe Tour. She spent the winter of 2002 at the San Francisco Opera in her opera debut as Mrs. Praskovia in The Merry Widow directed by Lotfi Mansouri.

Her involvement in THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, PARTS I & II, (Garland Award) adapted by Peter Parnell from the John Irving novel lead her eventually back to Los Angeles. The journey was four exciting years, from early workshops and development at The Seattle Repertory Theatre with Tom Hulce and Jane Jones at the helm to finally Gordon Davidson giving them a home at the Mark Taper Forum. This stunning material brought accolades from avid theatre patrons and industry folks in Los Angeles and encouraged her to stay in this town where she had fallen in love with theatre.

LA Credits: BROTHERS KARAMOZOV (Fenya), Circle X (LADCC Award), Justin Tanner’s HOT PROPERTY at the Evidence Room, opened the Wallis Annenberg in PARFUMERIE (Miss Mulner) with Deborah Ann Woll, Eddy Kaye Thomas, Richard Schiff and Arye Gross. Most recently for EST/LA she did THE WATER TRIBE by Don Cummings and EARLY BIRDS by Dana Schwartz for Moving Arts, UNCLE VANYA at Pasadena Playhouse to rave reviews and THE SANDWICH MINISTRY at The Skylight Theatre where she won a Stage Raw award for feature actress.

Jayne is a member of Circle X Theatre and Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA and has done a Shakespeare intensive with Alfred Molina while involved with Classical Theatre Lab. Since moving to LA she and her mentor Don Eitner taught an ongoing Scene Study class for over 10 years. Taini and Eitner have written an acting manual titled Symbols: Enriching Personalization for the Actor.

TV TALE

Michael Engler (Downton Abbey, The Big C, Thirty Rock) a friend of CIDER HOUSE RULES and its director Tom Hulce introduced me to Meg Liberman (That 70’s show, X Files) and Jeff Greenberg (Modern Family) which led to my agents at SDB Partners, Inc who I’ve been with for 22 years.

My first casting came on LA Doctors directed by Ken Olin. My first David E. Kelley show was The Practice with Charles Dutton, followed by The Brotherhood of Poland New Hampshire ( in which I sang Abba’s Give me a Man after Midnight and did a little strip tease) and then a scene as a witch in green face and a warty nose with Candice Bergen on Boston Legal. I played an Aussie in Hurley’s backstory on LOST where my opening line was “If this weren’t the middle of nowhere, I’d say you were LOST.” Then a run of guest stars on ER, Without a Trace, NYPD Blues, Numb3rs, Cold Case and a delightful turn with a quartet of Polish siblings bringing cold cuts to the funeral on 6 Feet Under. Then Mad Men where I was the nurse in full period underwear including a bullet bra that helped January birth her baby and delegated Don to the waiting room.

I also did The Amateurs about some small town folk looking to make money in the porn industry and those townies were Jeff Bridges, Joe Pantoliano, Ted Danson, Tim Blake Nelson, William Fichtner, Patrick Fugit, Glenne Headly, Eileen Brennan, Lauren Graham, John Hawkes, Brad William Henke, Dawn Didawick, Valerie Perrine, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Brad Garrett, Isaiah Washington, Judy Greer, and Steven Weber!!! It was such blast.

Lot more guest stars with some fun turns along the way: played a Mormon big mucky muck calling Bill Paxton ( a perfect gem) out on Big Love, worked with David Wain on Children’s Hospital which was a delight. Guested on Torchwood and spoke only lines in Italian which I don’t really know how to speak. James Burrows directed me on The Millers which is a dream come true in 3 camera land, opposite Beau Bridges, Margo Martindale and Will Arnett. Oh my gosh, I was Harry Dean Stanton’s daughter on Getting On in scene with Alex Borstein. I got shameless as a commune hippie with Bill Macy on Shameless and shot an Ak-47 on ZNation and when “mercied” instantly turned into a Z. Ended this run with a 3 season recurring on Ray Donovan opposite the incomparable Liev Schreiber as Harriett Greenberg his potty-mouthed accountant. It was the first time I was invited into conversation about the scene and how it should work. Very exciting.

I was honored to join the cast of When we Rise the ABC mini-series on the west coast LGBTQ+ movement from the early days of the quilt all the way to marriage equality directed by Academy Award winner Lance Black. Most recently I guested on The Rookie and got to knee Nathan Fillion in the balls. Also announced it was Taco Tuesday on American Vandal. I shot a little movie in Texas, Sanzaru, with a cast of 5, that was featured at Slamdance this year. I also show up as a bar buddy of Ben Affleck in The Way Back.

I was very challenging to be one of the victims’s in Netflix’s Unbelievable with Toni Collette and Merritt Wever as the detectives that doggedly track this cold case rapist to justice based on the Pulitzer Prize winning true story. And most recently I’ve gone full circle. Krista Vernoff was a writer on Time of Your Life that Michael Engler directed and produced that I recurred on when I first moved to town. Now, I had met Krista (right out of college doing THE BACCHAE at Portland Center Stage. She also wrote one of my episode’s of Shameless and recently I got to do a recurring on her show Station 19 that spun off of Grey’s Anatomy. I have some delicious scenes as a drunk that accidentally burns down her Christmas tree who Jack (Grey Damon) befriends and with any luck when we get back to shooting again, who knows Marsha may show up.

Most recently I was also seen on Sugar directed by Adam Arkin who I recently played opposite of in 2 zoom plays by Mara Lathrop. And I was very honored to be on season 2 of THE PITT. It was my third show with John Wells and such an amazing experience to be on that set with the entire cast and crew. This summer I shot a the heartwarming film The Summer They Came screenplay by Nick Wauters based on the novel by William Storandt in the lovely town of New Milford, Ct. Upon returning to LA, I got to be in the sequel to a cult favorite horror film, It Follows. The highly anticipated They Follow written and directed by David Robert Mitchell.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Well I always used to joke that it won’t be a problem when I have to live on Social Security because I’ll be used to no money.
My whole life as a “Cultural Worker” which I fondly call myself, has been on a budget. Going from job to job my whole life ad counting pennies.

On the other hand I wouldn’t change a thing. The only thing I really own is my car but I have spent my entire life LOVING my work. I got to do some amazing plays and Tv shows and films and went on some crazy world wide adventures. I spend my time as a student of humanity and immerse myself in history, music, books, museums dance and people. Conversations, long walks looking at what is it we live in. How all these things are the things that survive …at least up until this point most of them have.

And think how hard in times of trouble we struggle to save them. I have spent my life in ideas that support inclusiveness, diversity, intense opinion and flowing options. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Well a lot of that is contained in my story that I attached. I do what ever they will hire me to do. I mostly did theatre till my mid 40s’s and then ended up back in LA and took on the industry. So I do theatre of all kinds. I’ve worked regionally all over the country. I do Tv and film. I also have done voices for lots of video games …in fact I did a live capture in “Indiana Jones and the Great Escape”. I dub tons of films and Tv series for Netflix , HBO and Disney. That’s lots of fun. It’s like puzzles trying to match the rhythms of a foreign language , the acting and thee mouth flaps all at the same time.

I am most proud of memorizing 80 lines in Japanese in 3 weeks without know the language. When I got my first laugh from a Japanese audience it was exhilarating. Having people yell ‘”Hey Mother ” at me in Edmonton across a crowded street because they had just seen me do Mother Courage was so thrilling. Doing scenes across from Liev Schreiber in Ray Donovan was a career highlight. Having Tom Hulce one of the directors of Cider House watch me when we were reading a new section of the adaptation to see how I would react emotionally as a litmus test for the scene was delightful.

So many moments of collaboration that make this journey worth it all.

And I guess what sets me apart is my tenacity and also my zest and joy for life. A cockeyed optimist.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
So many……

My mentors at American Theatre Arts where I trained. Don Eitner , our Artistic Director and my Daddy Don. The great actor Carol Lawson Locatell that I learned so much from watching.

My producing partner and live long advocate and fan Victor Janusz which without my career would not have had so many wonderful moments.

Cece Regal, my patron to this day who will never let me pay for lunch.

My team at SDB Partners, Inc. of 28 years. They didn’t need to take on a client like me . They have big money makers . But they loved my talent and have always been there for me. Ro Diamond, Susie Schwartz, Steven Jang and Jennifer Burns.

My manager Susan Zachary who has loved my work and honored it from the day we met. She never fails to make sure when I send those tapes in that if they don’t hire me …it’s their loss.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://jaynetaini.com/
• Instagram: @jaynetaini
• Facebook: Jayne Taini or JayneTaini
• Other: https://www.imdb.me/jaynetaini

Image Credits
Main photo is Daniel Reichert
ZNation photo Daniel Schaefer