Saturday, March 27, 2004
By: K.D. Butler

On the morning of Saturday, March 27^th, I had the privilege of attending the Kathy Brier fan event held at the Renaissance Hotel at the Hollywood & Highland shopping center in Hollywood, California.

We fans arrived to a small and intimate private dining room and found tables set with candy jars filled with peanut M&Ms (Kathy's favorite) for all of the attendees.

Kathy arrived shortly after we (the fans) had taken the time to get to know a bit about one another while enjoying our breakfast.  She blew into the room like a gust of truly charismatic sunshine.  Just a few minutes behind her, in breezed Nathaniel Marston.  Nathaniel had been a surprise addition we had learned about just a few days before the event.  Needless to say, we were all very happy that he had been able to join Kathy.

It was such a pleasure to meet these two.  They were so friendly, down to earth and funny, as well as obviously appreciative of their fan support.  Nathaniel reminded me a lot of Al/Michael with the same laugh, cheery outlook and support and admiration for his co-star.  Kathy, on the other hand, was quite different than the Marcie she portrays on One Life to Live.  Kathy was much more confident and relaxed than Marcie.  She is also a better dresser: more fashionable, creative and daring.  She looked wonderful!

Because it was a Kathy Brier event, Kathy did most of the talking and most of the fan questions were directed at her (though, as I said earlier, Nathaniel’s presence went neither unnoticed or unappreciated).  She talked about sharing her dressing room with Melissa Gallo (“Adriana”) and how Matthew Twining (“River”) is a frequent visitor who helps himself to the unopened boxes she receives from fans on a daily basis.  She said she loves that she gets so many gifts from her fans and doesn’t even get upset with her co-stars for opening her gifts for her (in part because I think she feels badly that they aren’t getting as many gifts from their fans). 

Kathy talked about her grueling double life at present and the 16-20 hour working days she currently endures playing Marcie at OLTL, in addition to playing the lead role on Broadway.  As of August 12, 2003, Kathy took began her double duty tour when she assumed the role of Tracy Turnblad in the Broadway production of "Hairspray." (She had been the standby since Spring 2003).  She told us how difficult it is to keep her weight up while dancing for 2 straight hours every single evening in Hairspray.  She said she spends the very late evenings, up until 2-3 in the morning, learning her OLTL lines.  I truly do not know how she does it, as my 9 to 5 day-job is about all I can handle.

She talked about her difficulty breaking into show business as a full-figured woman and how difficult it is today to find personality appropriate clothing.  By the time of this event, at the end of March, she had still not been able to find anything to wear to the Emmy’s where she will appear as a nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress.  She even let us in on a dream of hers to begin a clothing line explicitly for full-figured women.  Sick and tired of being disappointed by the look and feel of size 14’s on the racks of department stores, Kathy hopes to create a line to satisfy herself and other fashion-conscious full-figured women. 

This event was more than just a fan event but also an opportunity to raise money for the Lower Eastside Service Center, Kathy’s favorite charity.  The items auctioned off were: a matted poster of Kathy and Nathaniel, a photo shoot with Kathy, a telephone call with Kathy and an autographed script.  Additionally, some photos, Hairspray memorabilia, SSW memorabilia, a membership to Kathy's club, etc were raffled off to the fans in attendance. 

Kathy & Nathaniel spent about 45 minutes at the podium chatting and answering questions and then moved to a table where we fans could mingle, take pictures and get autographs.  Everyone took plenty advantage of this opportunity (myself included).  They were very gracious, relaxed and sociable.  It was truly a pleasure to have had the opportunity to meet and spend a little time with Kathy Brier and Nathaniel Marston, two truly talented and wonderful members of the One Life to Live team and I must say that Kathy’s unwillingness to give up her show business dreams, in spite of all counsel to the contrary, in a world full of size-0 supermodels, and develop the fan adoration she has should be an inspiration to us all…