NEW YORK CITY — After writing her first play, Amanda Ronconi was likened to Lucille Ball, the charismatic redheaded actress of America’s yesteryears, in a New York Times review.
"I don’t mind one bit," Ronconi said of the comparison. "Totally, utterly flattering."
"As a matter of fact, she’s kind of my inspiration for this play," Ronconi said.

Shirley at the Tropicana, Ronconi’s one-woman comedy, is playing now through Nov. 18 off Broadway.

From the beginning, Ronconi, a Berne native and graduate of Berne-Knox-Westerlo High School, had more control in a performance than she’s ever had as an actor. She wrote the script, produced the play, and plays each character on the stage.
"As an actor, you are constantly trying to get other people to hire you," Ronconi said. "And, I’ve learned, as a producer of this, and also as the writer of it, there’s a lot more coming from you."

Writing the play, she said, was tremendously empowering.
"The main thing that’s come out of it is the sense of no longer constantly hoping other people like you," she said, "which is the feeling I feel as an actor for sure, and I know a lot of people do."

In Shirley at the Tropicana, the title character, Shirley Johnson, has a crush on her boss.
"She definitely has a romantic side to her — absolutely," Ronconi said. "But her sort of public persona, or office persona, is very organized"very particular and controlling."

The play references I Love Lucy, the popular 1950s television show about the Ricardos, which starred Desi Arnaz and his wife, Lucille Ball. Arnaz played Ricky Ricardo, an orchestra leader at a nightclub named the Tropicana. In Ronconi’s play, the title character’s love interest is Mr. Arnaz.

Along with finding her inspiration from television, Ronconi found sparks of creativity from her real-life experiences as a temp for 10 years.

Shirley is an amalgamation of many people, Ronconi said.
"When I first started temping, I had just finished acting school, and I wanted to make sure I had time to pursue my acting career," she said.

She then decided she would work for no more than three days at any job because she thought she would then get too much responsibility.
"The economy must have been better," Ronconi said. "I had constant work, and I was jumping from company to company," she said, "which was pretty nerve-racking, actually. It wasn’t the best idea."

From the Hill to the City

Ronconi doubled up on classes while attending BKW in order to finish high school a year early.
"That was the really cool thing about going to such a"small school," she said.

While she attended BKW, there weren’t enough people for a cast to put on a school play, but there was a good drama class.

The first thing that made Ronconi realize she was interested in acting was when she participated in a Shakespeare competition sponsored by the English-Speaking Union.

One of her English teachers recommended she try out.

For the competition, Ronconi had to learn either a soliloquy or a monologue and perform it. She was one of the top three performers in Albany, she said, and the prize was a trip to the Shakespeare festival in Stratford, Ontario.
"I guess that was the first time I really thought, ‘Oh, this is kind of cool,’" Ronconi said.

After high school, she interned at The Egg in Albany, with a state-run theater company.

She then worked at a swimming pool chemical company before attending New York University.

Creating Tropicana

Throughout writing Shirley at the Tropicana, Ronconi said, she developed the script as an actor.

She had kept in contact with Joan Evans, her former teacher at NYU and Shirley’s director. Evans called Ronconi one day and told her about a workshop she was holding to help actors develop solo performance.
"I was definitely at a point of just like nothing going on and feeling like a loser and not an actor," Ronconi said.
She was not sure she wanted to write but she wanted to spend time with Evans, whom she called "an inspiring teacher."

For the workshop, the group of eight actors met once a week for eight weeks, discussed their ideas, performed, and read. Each actor commented on the others’ work.

The interactive environment helped with Ronconi’s writing.
"I wasn’t generally faced with a blank page because, then, I would develop a lot of the dialogue on my feet, sort of [improvising] and stuff in the workshop," she said.

In Shirley at the Tropicana, short films run at certain points during the performance, which, Ronconi said, "flesh out the picture a lot more."
"The very first one you see [is] the black and white film of Shirley at the office. Onstage, I’m miming everything. There are no real props or anything," Ronconi said.

There is a set and furniture, but the props are all mimed because it’s the only way to switch back and forth between characters really quickly, she said.
"Yes, it’s a one-woman show, but it’s like a play"So, it’s really just like a multi-cast play except that I play everybody," Ronconi said.
"I talk to myself back and forth, but as different characters, and then, also, in one instance, I talk to myself on film, playing one character on stage talking to another character on film," she said.

From writing the script to portraying each of the play’s characters, Ronconi has been involved in all aspects of Shirley at the Tropicana except the directing. She doesn’t think she will pursue directing in the future.
"I would say that’s the one place I probably won’t go," Ronconi said.

Directors have to be able to see the overall picture, she said, and she doesn’t think as a director does.
"Certainly, I have an overall picture for a script or something, but I think it’s a different way of thinking," she said. "I’m not really sure that it’s one of my skills necessarily."

By doing Shirley at the Tropicana, she’s gotten more interested in writing, she said, but she doesn’t know what that means for the future.

In her second week of performances, Ronconi’s sense of humor was intact when considering her aspirations and another avenue in entertainment.
"I would love at some point to write a screenplay, but my attempts thus far have been not so great," Ronconi said. "But who knows" Who knows""

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Amanda Ronconi will be performing Shirley at the Tropicana through Nov. 18 at the Access Theater at 380 Broadway in New York City. For more information, to order tickets, to read reviews, and to view the trailer, visit www.shirleyatthetropicana.com.