19-Year-Old Jessi Bushman Brings a Taste of ‘Old Hollywood’ to Freud in New Play

Jessi Bushman takes inspiration from flamboyance in her approach to playing Princess Marie Bonaparte in “Crazy About You,” a comedic play about Sigmund Freud.

The 19-year-old Bushman, originally from California, has lived in New York City for about seven years now—she first moved to the city so she and her brother, a dancer, could seek out the performing arts opportunities the city has to offer.

“Crazy About You” will run from Dec. 5 through Dec. 22 at The Producers Club.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you first get into acting, and why did you stick with it?

I would say the most impactful moment was, my dad showed me “Hello, Dolly!” with Barbra Streisand—the movie version. And I think that was the day that I was like, “This is it. This is my dream. I love this. This is everything.” And then from since I was a wee tot, I went on and just have been pursuing this my whole life. I started in California, and then we moved here—I’ve been living here about seven years. So it’s just been a constant love that I’ve just always pursued.

How did you first get involved with “Crazy About You?” What has that process looked like so far, and what does it look like from here?

I got involved with Backstage [a website for performing arts job postings], and I messaged William Cane [the writer and director of “Crazy About You”], and he was very kind from the beginning. He had me come in and do a full reading with the other actors who were already cast. And that was a fun way to kind of just get thrown right into the trenches.

[The] rehearsal process is really good. We’re getting off-book. We’re getting the scripts down in the bodies, a lot of character research. And, like, since she’s a real human being, so it’s fun to dive into that kind of history. Yeah. So we’re getting ready for opening night. Rehearsals are really fun. Everyone’s getting really into their characters, which is good to see, and the script is, at least Marie is, very flamboyant. So I have a lot of fun playing such a silly, flamboyant character, she has a lot of energy in life.

What is a fact about Marie that you’ve learned that you think is the most surprising?

Well, the more digging that you do, even if you look into Marie, you’re like, “Oh my God, there’s so much here.” Along with being a princess, she also was a novelist, and she was a nurse, and she also was obsessed with human behavior, and that’s why she wanted to be a therapist, and that’s why she wanted to get with Freud. And then, she also conducted several surgeries on herself, which is part of the reason that she can’t feel anything when she has anything sexual with a man—[it’s] because she had surgeries on herself to kind of improve that. But if you look into it, it didn’t, it did not work, but she had four surgeries. So that was interesting to learn. She was so desperate for information...She was very interesting in that way, because she was always in a constant fight for knowledge or to understand and ] [see it] scientifically proven. She was very smart for her time, and she was definitely paving the way and talking about taboo things in that time where people were like, ‘this is unheard of,’ and ‘what do you mean a woman is doing this?’ It’s like, definitely starting to pave the way for all the women nowadays who are making it more of a comfortable topic.

Who are some of your inspirations, and what about their work has gone into your role?

A: She reminded me a lot of Mae West, who was an old Hollywood star, very similar in the way that she was very flirtatious and frilly. And she was also an interesting character to research, because I did like a little video, snippet, impersonating her, but very similar in the way that they kind of act and I pulled a lot from that. Other women who just inspire me as actors would be Helen Mirren. I love her. She’s an amazing actress, and I love how serious, but also very lively, she is. So I definitely love pulling from all of the old Hollywood stars and, I guess you could say the golden age of Broadway stars and everything like that. I love them so much.

So you run a cookie company. Can you tell me about that?

I started making cookies when I was really young, and not to brag or anything, but I make the best chocolate chip cookies that you’ll ever have. It’s just still getting off the ground. So if you’re friends with me, I’ll bring you a box of cookies, because we’re still trying to figure out how to manage that, as well as getting it off and being able to actually deliver and bring cookies. Right now, it’s just chocolate chip cookies, which is the best cookie, in my opinion. I will die on this hill ... I bring them to the cast for like, opening night or closing and it’s become a tradition for me, at least, to just constantly be bringing chocolate chip cookies. I’m, like, the cookie friend, and I live for that. So I was like, I could do a business for this.

If you could go back and talk to yourself the day before you started acting, what would you tell yourself?

A: There’s a certain level of love that I know I had at such a young age, the heart and the, just, passion for the stage, and the lights, and... Just to constantly remind myself that this is the most magical thing for me. It was like my Disney Princess love. It’s the most magical thing for me. Just remind myself: the smell and the vibe of the stage and how it feels, getting ready and character working, and just like, this is your life, and you love this, and you’re amazing, and you’ve got this. And just hype myself up because, you know, there’s rough times, but definitely just give myself the little push that I might have needed.