Interview: Tamara Siler on Directing SINNERS AND SAINTS at Main Street Theater

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Tamara brings the good, the evil, and the in-between to her cabaret!

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Tamara Siler has been a fixture of the Houston theater scene for decades, appearing in everything from Dreamgirls and Into the Woods to Caroline, or Change and Bat Boy: The Musical . Now she’s stepping into the spotlight for a deeply personal cabaret evening at Main Street Theater titled Sinners and Saints , running at their Rice Village location through June 13th. The show mixes music, storytelling, and reflection while also welcoming a rotating lineup of younger guest performers. BROADWAY WORLD writer Brett Cullum sat down with Siler to discuss the production, her long career in Houston theater, and the roles that have shaped her.

Brett Cullum: Your life on the stage right now is full-time at the Main Street Theater. What made you want to do this cabaret for them?

Tamara Siler : Well, it is something that Rebecca Greene Udden , the artistic director, and Andrew Ruthven, who's the Associate Artistic Director, and I have been bantering about for a few years now, and then finally last year, we started to get serious. I had the opportunity to do a cabaret at STAGES during the pandemic, but it became a virtual one, so it was almost unfinished business. When Becky and Andrew opened the door to this idea, it felt like a natural next step.

I felt like this might be my last chance to do something this ambitious, something I've wanted to do for a long time, with a theater that actually gave me my first theatrical opportunities as a student at Rice University. And so, it just seemed to be the right time, and I'm so glad that Main Street Theater decided to take a risk, or take a gamble, and put it out there, and so I'm really excited about what we're putting together.

Brett Cullum: Now, you did Caroline or Change there at Main Street, is that correct?

Tamara Siler : I did, I did. I was Caroline. It was an amazing opportunity. I got to meet Tony Kushner that year, because Rice just happened to have him as one of their President Series speakers, and when they knew that I had done Caroline or Change earlier in the year, Tony Kushner sent some of his family over from Lake Charles, because this was the location that had been closest to the home base of where the story is set. I finally got a chance to meet him, thanks to Rice. And then, when he started giving his speech, “Do you want to do a few bars, Tamara?” I was like, no! I kind of shook my head, but if he had insisted, I think I would have.

Brett Cullum: So, how did you arrive at Sinners and Saints ?

Tamara Siler : It's funny, because I started off calling it Saints and Sinners , but Sinners and Saints runs off the tongue a little bit better, but the show is divided into the Saints first, and Sinners last, and it's one of those things where we're playing with who is indeed a saint, and who is indeed a sinner? I think a lot of society brands people as one or the other, and my idea, based on my own experience, is that there are times when one can be a saint and a sinner in the next moment. And so, but what does that really mean? And having fun with the idea by framing it in music.

I don't think of myself as old, but I've been doing this for quite a while. I think my first show in Main Street theater was 42 years ago, so there's a whole generation of new talent on the scene that is doing some amazing work around town. When we were talking about the idea, I said, “Well, why don't we open the door to a younger artist to join me for the show, give them an opportunity to do their own solo, and then an opportunity to do a duet?” And so we've identified a different artist for each weekend. The featured guests include Whitney Zangarine , Angela Pinina, and Tre Morgan Lewis .

Brett Cullum: You have had a career at Rice, and you have been in over 90 shows here in Houston. How do you juggle all of this?

Tamara Siler : I kept trying to leave theater alone. Just so I could focus on my career, it just kept pulling me back. And what I found was that the theater made me actually a better communicator in my work. And so it kind of played off each other, and it also just kept me sane during some of the crazy times at the office.

Brett Cullum: Do you have a favorite role?

Tamara Siler : If I had to just pick one, I'm gonna go with Caroline, just because it was such an incredibly challenging experience. Here she was, she did have hope in the world, and it just kind of got beaten out of her in some ways by life, and so… and so I, you know, I constantly, in the world that we have today, try to remember to still be hopeful.

Brett Cullum: Anything you have always wanted to play?

Tamara Siler : The role that everybody thinks I've played, that I have never played, based on the fact that I've sung music from the show, is Mama Morton from Chicago .

Brett Cullum: How is this cabaret going to be set up at Main Street Theater?

Tamara Siler : In the middle section, there'll be about 4 tables, I think, with 4 seats each. Then, the usual seating on the three sides. There are signature cocktails: a non-alcoholic Saint version and a Sinner's version.

Brett Cullum: I have already booked my table. I drag my spouse to the Paul Hope Cabarets, so we are both HUGE fans of yours. We're so excited to see you at Main Street theater, so we will definitely be there, of course, as always.

Tamara Siler : Thank you, thank you for this opportunity, and I really appreciate it, and I can't wait to see you there, and it will, you know, I hope it'll be everything that I hope it will be, touching, but also lots of fun.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/houston/article/Interview-Tamara-Siler-of-SINNERS-AND-SAINTS-at-Main-Street-Theater-20260527)._