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TALENT PATROL Tamberla Perry got her start at Second City and has pulled numbers for Illinois Lottery. the Illinois Lottery, has hit the jackpot with the title role in the Goodman���s production of that very play by Lynn Nottage: By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. ���She starts off as a servant to America���s sweetheart, Gloria Mitchell, but behind the scenes she wants to be a star,��� says Perry of her character, an AfricanAmerican maid in 1930s Hollywood. The world Nottage has created is so real���complete with the thought-provoking website On hosting the meetverastark.com, which features insight lottery: ���You into Vera from the likes of film scholar Mia would never Mask and director Peter Bogdanovich���that realize the it���s easy to believe the fictional character of coordination you Vera Stark was actually a once-successful need to walk, pull the balls, turn the actress who, like Louise Beavers, Theresa levers, talk about Harris, and Hattie McDaniel before her, the numbers, and has been defined by a limited trajectory. ���I improvise.��� have to be in the moment,��� says Perry, who On vintage must explore the different, poignant layers shopping: of Vera���s breakout career and its mysterious ���It can be really expensive, so I go end decades later. ���In the 1930s, Vera���s not to thrift stores thinking about where she would be in, say, to look at secrets the 1980s.��� and find those Perry���s interest was initially piqued by hidden treasures.��� the show���s comic nature, fitting for someone whose first foray into Chicago���s performing arts scene was at The Second City. While performing with the sketch comedy group Soul Fools at Donny���s Skybox Theatre, Perry met her husband, actor Kevin Douglas, who encouraged her to audition for a show at Maat Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre (MPAACT); opportunities for roles at mainstays like Lookingglass Theatre Company, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Victory Gardens THE EMERGING ACTRESS STEPS CENTER STAGE WITH Theater, and the Goodman Theatre have followed. A STARRING ROLE AT THE GOODMAN THEATRE. BY MEG MATHIS And while Perry���s talent has brought her good fortune, she���s not about to take a gamble on anything that could compromise her performance. During a trip to ust a year ago, Tamberla Perry was performing in David Mamet���s Race LA last fall, Perry had the opportunity to go to the Geffen Playhouse and at the Goodman Theatre when the play by another Pulitzer Prize��� see By the Way, Meet Vera Stark starring the original Vera Stark, film beauty winning playwright stopped her in her tracks. ���Some girlfriends and I Sanaa Lathan, but she politely declined. Says the up-and-coming actress, were talking about it, and one of the girls said, ���I really want to see this show,������ ���I just didn���t want to be influenced.... You want every choice to be your choice.��� By the Way, Meet Vera Stark runs from April 27 to June 2 at Goodman recalls Perry. ���I said, ���Want to see this show? I���m trying to be this show.������ Now Perry, a South Side native best known for pulling numbers for Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., 312-443-3800; goodmantheatre.org MA tamberla perry J 60 PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM KLEIN; HAIR AND MAKEUP BY MAYA PUENTES FOR FORD ARTISTS INSIGHT MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 060_MA_SP_TP_Tamberla_Winter13.indd 60 2/12/13 2:15 PM