Arts Alive! podcast: Debbie Yones, the Off-Central

On this episode of Arts Alive! we’re joined by bay area actress Debbie Yones, who’s currently onstage at the Off-Central in St. Petersburg performing in the romantic comedy Two Across.

In the show, Yones explains, her character is traveling, alone in the middle of the night, on a San Francisco commuter train. A stranger across the aisle – the only other person in the rail car – is something of a chatterbox. For her part, she just wants to be left alone to work her New York Times crossword puzzle.

Eventually they begin to talk – he’s doing the same crossword – and over the course of the play’s 80 minutes they develop an unlikely friendship.

Yones is part of the acting company at the tiny black box theater – she’s officially an “Off-Central Player” – and has appeared in numerous shows there, as well as other professional theaters on both sides of the bay.

She talks about her earliest days acting in community theater productions.

She also happens to be a licensed speech pathologist, and the executive director of the nonprofit Voices of Hope For Aphasia, which works with stroke victims towards improving their speech – and their quality of life.

“Word Play,” the organization’s annual crossword-themed gala, is coming up May 15 (find info here).

Click on the arrow to listen to the interview.