For being just over ten blocks in size, Manhattan's theatre district houses a lot: almost everything a theatre lover in the city could ever need or want to see. And within the confines of the small area, stuffed to the brim with cabarets, Broadway theatres, gift shops, and between-show hangouts, we're never surprised to see some of our favorite stars scurrying around and going about their business. But there's much more to New York than the midtown Manhattan between 41st and 53rd, and in what will hopefully be the first of many explorations, Autumn Hurlbert and I spent an afternoon in the East Village, eating, shopping, and talking about her life, both onstage and off.

We meet for dinner at a small, well-known East Village staple called Westville, and after a dinner that included crab cakes and fried plantains; it's time to head out. Meet Autumn Hurlbert, lover of nose rings, vegetables, owls, and petting dogs on the street. "I have to stop and pet every dog!" She says, crouching down to play with two dogs, and talking with the people on the other end of the leash. There's no pretense about her, she is the opposite of every stereotype of an actress, the kind of person who will stop to make genuine conversation with strangers. Continuing to walk around the East Village, we find another puppy in need of a little attention. After the second brief detour, she laughs: "This might be a very long walk!"

Shopping is an easy mutual interest, and in the East Village, vintage shops replace the large, flashy department stores of 5th Avenue. Cadillac's Castle, a small consignment shop on 9th Street (between 2nd and 1st Avenue) is bursting at the seams with barely worn dresses from labels like Valentino, Nanette Lepore, Marc Jacobs, and many more. "I like boutique-y stuff," She says, of her fashion sense, "If I could choose how to dress, I would be decked out in forties through like sixties…and I love rompers! I have four, I think. No one needs four rompers. I have four." In between trying on dresses and jewelry (even once the same dress after both of us spotted it: "We'll be twins!" She said happily.), we get down to talking about her career, both the obvious, and the not. On Autumn's website, you can find samples of her singing and songwriting, but what you may not realize is the petite redhead of Legally Blonde fame and infamy was an almost-rock star. And Autumn Hurlbert is the real deal: "I actually gave up musical theatre for a little while," She says, "I took a hiatus…to write music and I did a demo, all rock music, and wrote all the songs, and had big fancy producers." But just when things were starting to take off, like an episode of Behind the Music, the rug was pulled out from under her. "I was really really close to signing with Virgin Records but it fell through." She doesn't look wistful, or upset, but says this: "It was amazing, but it's a really difficult side of the business."

Autumn knows about how hard the business can be. The now-infamous Legally Blonde reality show on MTV is the subject of much curiosity among fans of the Broadway show and reality television devotees alike, and as is often the case, you can't always trust what you see. Though on the show there were plenty of biting remarks (from all the girls), Autumn explains: "At that point, I hadn't talked to my family in three weeks…we're in this high pressure situation, and they ask you the same question over and over and over again in order to elicit a kind of snarky remark." Still, after the show, there are no hard feelings, Autumn continues, "The truth of the matter is, we all really got along. We really treated each other with kindness and humility." Her experiences before the show had taught her that working steadily in the competitive theatre industry was not a guarantee: "I was thinking of a bigger picture, and some of those girls were thinking of just booking one job, and the rest of their life would change. And the truth of the matter is that once you book a job, the only person who can change the rest of your life is you." She adds: "I think part of it is…in order to truly appreciate things…it's coming out of having not gotten what you wanted. It's coming out of being heartbroken…you can't really appreciate something until you've experienced not having something." Despite all of the controversy, drama, blood, pink sweatpants, and tears, Autumn shares her real least favorite part of the show: "Ruining my hair! To put me in wig! I had a beautiful haircut when the show started…they bleached it three times! It was so damaged by the time the premier happened that the longest layer of hair I had was like three inches, because it all broke off! It was done. …And then they put me in a wig!"

Once she was in Legally Blonde on Broadway, a lot of the criticisms of the reality show faded away, especially the emphasis on her "clumsy" dancing, which onstage looked more than capable, and she was a standout, even in the ensemble. But some people still found it hard to move on. When asked about being on the receiving end of a lot of very excitable fans, one experience sticks out: "I got a letter in the mail, and I got a picture of these two precious little puppies, and they were a chocolate lab and a yellow lab, and they named the chocolate lab Autumn and the yellow lab Bailey. So I have a dog named after me!" I wondered out loud which one won if they fought, and Autumn doesn't miss the joke. "I bet they each have their own strengths," She says, with a wink.

But Hurlbert had a career long before Legally Blonde, has continued to flourish after, if you made the mistake of thinking she's still wearing the pink. She still remembers her favorite experience, one of her first big breaks: "When I went on the road with Little Women, we really were like a family…those girls are still like sisters to me," she says, "There's a lot of drama that can happen on the road, but really we were just such a family." And when asked about a favorite mentor, Autumn learns from her friends: "My mentor right now is not a theatre person, it's my friend Heather Glover. Her husband was a marine and he was wounded very badly in Iraq…and she left everything she was doing for herself to care for her husband, willingly, never a question in her mind…and they always have such an air of great faith. They never tell you everything that's wrong…they tell you everything that's right…so that's my source of inspiration." Her years of experience, and her inspiration, have given her the perseverance and strength that one needs in order to survive in this business, and she's still working hard today. "I'm enrolled at the Esper studio, which is a six week intensive…and I've been doing concerts and readings and workshops and benefits, oh my!" She laughs. She just got finished doing a play, Killing Women, at The Beckett theatre with Lisa Brescia and Brian Dykstra, among others, and there's no doubt her name will be on bundles of press releases in the near future.

Though the business can be unpredictable, to say the least, Autumn has a Zen-like perspective on success, and an uncommon sense of humor about herself and the world around her, which many actors could benefit from acquiring. Not getting a role, she says "makes you more hungry, if you just get everything you want…you're gonna get lazy!" She knows who she is, and her talent speaks louder than any talking head on a reality show. "I know what I'm good at…and if you go into something and say 'Well, I'm not the best at this', you're not gonna do well. If you go in and say A) I'm gonna do my best and B) This is gonna be so much fun and C) I can do this!' then you're gonna succeed, you're gonna do it."

By: Kelly Wallace

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