Sara plays "Aunt Martha McKlane" on Palmetto

1) What was the attraction of doing this series?
I was instantly attracted to the idea of doing a TV series in my comfort zone and location because that never happens! Everyone involved really made me feel welcome right from the start. It’s interesting to see what can be accomplished when there is mutual respect between cast and crew, and the fact that we have to try three times harder because we’re not in Hollywood really brings the best work out of everyone. It’s going great.

2) What makes PALMETTO different from any other teen drama you’ve seen?
The scripts are great, not your typical kid or ‘tween series. It’s really smartly written and at the same time, infused with little twists and teasers that have you hanging on to see what in the world is going to happen next. I find myself reading the scripts way ahead and suddenly I remember, hey, I’m supposed to be reviewing my lines—not scrambling to find out the cliffhanger!

3) What are the challenges of playing a character coming from a small town?
For this girl? None at all. I was born and raised in a small town, went to high school there, and counted the seconds until I could flee that joint to pursue my dreams! I’m not emotionally far enough away from those days to not remember what it was all about. Of course, when “wrap” is called and you jump back into big city traffic and wait for an hour-plus just to get back home, you’re reminded that there are major differences between towns and big cities.

4) Without giving too much away, can you talk about your character?
Martha is Tyler’s aunt. She’s married to this great guy, Jayson, who had a semi-horrid childhood along with Tyler’s father. Martha is a pretty hip aunt, and she senses that Tyler has suffered at the hands of his father because of the aforementioned rotten childhood, and she can appreciate that her nephew puts up such a good front. But she adores this kid, and I think she knows that deep down, there are a lot of repairs necessary for him to finish school and live a normal, productive life. Martha’s pretty nurturing. She’s a new-age psychologist-type who probably has a crystal hanging from the rear-view mirror of her environmentally friendly car. She’s extremely devoted to her husband and content with her life. But then who can say—we all have skeletons in our closets. I guess I’m anxious to see what Martha’s are!

5) How do you prepare for your scenes? What do you do to get “into character?”
I have to admit that it’s not a stretch for me to be Martha—I’m relatively nurturing myself and I’m not into the blame-game, much like I believe Martha to be. In fact, she and I seem so similar in my mind that I sometimes have to push myself to make her “react” because I let so much roll right off of me in real life. Good old Martha is going to cause me to get deep and funky, I can just tell. It certainly is nice having great folks around you like Rich (Jayson) and Anthony (Tyler) to create a second “family.” I think it comes off well; we’re very natural and at ease with each other on camera.

6) Without giving too much away, what has been your favorite scene to shoot?
I think my favorite scene to shoot is coming up, and it’s a doozy, but I can’t speak about it yet! Ha! Just about any scene shot with Tyler is fantastic to do. Call roll ‘em, and Tyler begins this incredible brooding and you just want to fix the problems of his world. This kid is great, I’m serious. Plus, oddly, my only real-life nephew is 16 and named—drum roll please—Tyler! So help me, if my real nephew starts to do some of the things my pseudo nephew does?—I’ll be yanking my hair out and all new-age wisdom will go down the drain.

7) Is there any advice, wisdom, or comments your character would like to give the fans?
Oh, you know—Fung Shui, light some candles, breathe deep and meditate….and don’t keep a lot of beer in your fridge if you have a nephew that things it’s the breakfast of champions!

Now, go download the show, will ya?

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