Halley and I met late one night in the lobby of the Science Tower. Both of us were procrastinating. We sat at the Pi Café tables, a bit askew since the chairs are tied to the tables at night. I asked her about her growing acting and playwriting resume. Recently, a play she wrote was performed in New York.

DAN BOBKOFF: Do you consider yourself more of an actor or playwright?

HALLEY FEIFFER: Now I see myself as both. I tend to be more comfortable with acting. I went to a middle school that shunned creativity. The productions were really shoddy. So, I wanted an outlet for my acting so I started auditioning for plays, TV, and movies without really knowing what I was doing. I went to the camp that the movie “Camp” was based on. So, I’d done some acting before and really loved it.

DB: Did you get many parts?

HF: I started getting some parts in New York, but most of the time I was just spending hours and hours at auditions. I recently started getting more work, which has been fun.

DB: Your father is famed cartoonist Jules Feiffer. Did he help you?

HF: The only help he’s really given me is to encourage me. At first, my parents didn’t like the idea of pursuing acting professionally at a young age. They didn’t want me to become a bratty child actor. Eventually, I convinced them. The way my dad has helped me and the way that my mom has helped me is to create an environment conducive to creativity. Everyone in my family loves theatre.

DB: And you made it onto “Law and Order.”

HF: I just auditioned and happened to get the part of Colleen Jacobs: a disgruntled, psychotic, Catholic Schoolgirl who’s a murder suspect in a school shooting. I had four lines.

DB: Then you were cast in “You Can Count on Me,” right?

HF: There, I had two lines. I was supposed to have four but they cut them. It’s a really beautiful story about a brother and sister.

DB: Who did you play?

HF: Amy. Amy is the babysitter of the brother and sister when they were young.

DB: What were your lines?

HF: She says: “Hi Daryl.” And, “Sure be right back you guys.” That probably took 6-8 hours of shooting. I had to go to upstate New York and stay overnight.

DB: What are some other acting highlights?

HF: Yes, my hand was in an AT&T commercial. I was in seventh grade and it was the first part I got. I was cast as “Girl on School Bus with Pager” and I was so excited and I got my hair and makeup done. And then they only filmed my hand. All day. I was pretty devastated. But it aired during the Super Bowl, which was cool. I also did a book on tape this summer: Judy Blume’s Blubber.

DB: You’re already an accomplished playwright. How did you get into that?

HF: I started playwriting in tenth grade because I had to take a playwriting class because there were no acting classes for sophomores.

DB: And now you were selected to have one of your plays produced in New York. How did that happen?

HF: In high school, I wrote a one-act play that I ended up directing. It was really personal and I thought it was really profound. Then, I submitted it to all these contests and it didn’t win. On a whim, I decided to submit a ten-minute play I had written to make my friend laugh. It ended up winning the National Young Playwrights Competition. The prize was a professional production in New York. It’s called “Easter Candy.” So, I spent the last month traveling back and forth from Wesleyan twice a week in order to see it, give notes, and work on it. It’s a two-character play. They’re between 40 and 50 years old. It closed last weekend after a three week run. It was awesome. It was at the oldest off Broadway theatre in New York. A lot of people came because it was pretty well advertised. It was an evening with two other plays by young playwrights.

DB: How did you balance being at school and directing a play?

HF: I scheduled my classes so that I only have class two days a week. I was here for Mondays and Wednesdays and in New York pretty much every other day. I became friends with the taxi driver.

DB: What do you like about drama?

HF: I find performing in front of a live audience exciting. It’s interesting to see how audiences reacted to my play. I really love acting just because the process of being in a play is such an intense, fun, frustrating, and rewarding experience. I love the sense of community in theatre. It’s really hard to find that anywhere else.

DB: Done any drama at Wesleyan?

HF: I’ve been in one play here: “Countess III.” I was a chorus member. I held a lantern and carried a flower basket.

DB: What are your plans for the near future?

HF: I’m writing a play now and I’m writing a play with my friend about a town where everything is pink. Oh, and I’m cast in a movie that is supposed to be shooting this summer. It’s called “The Squid and the Whale”—you don’t like the title, do you?

DB: Is it about a squid and a whale or are we talking symbolism here?

HF: It’s a coming of age tale about a teenage boy. I’m his girlfriend.

DB: On-screen kiss?

HF: And more.

DB: What about after college?

HF: I know I want to work in theatre and maybe in movies doing anything I can, I guess.

DB: Do you want to be famous?

HF: Mostly, I want to be just like Paris Hilton.