LOS ANGELES _ "The Detour" star Natalie Zea knew it was time for a change when over a one-week period she found herself sitting in a chair weeping with a gun pointed at her belly while the person threatening her and her ex-lover talked about what was to happen, and then in a completely different situation she was sitting in a chair sobbing while an ice pick was held to her head while the person threatening her and her ex-lover talked about what was happening.
"All I could think about was 'I'm not saying a lot in this scene but it is all about me. What is going on here?'" Zea says.
These demanding acting moments happened while she was part of the casts of the Fox series "The Following," where she played Claire Matthews, and on the FX series "Justified," where she portrayed Winona Hawkins. She's not complaining about the quality of the roles, as both series earned praise from critics and fans. Her problem was with the kind of emotional drain playing characters in such dire situations put on her. And, those situations were almost mirror copies of each other.
That's when she knew a new direction was needed. That meant going for a project completely different than what she had been doing. All she needed was to be given a chance.
"I went to drama and theater school where I learned to act. It's not a place where you get divided into comedy actors and drama actors. We are all just actors," Zea says. "When I got out I was struck by the idea that people get pigeonholed so quickly.
"It got really heavy and dark there for a minute. I knew there was something out there that would leave me in better spirits at the end of the day."
Zea's change proved to be a major right turn in her career. After working on a long list of dramas _ also including "Eyes," "Dirty Sexy Money," "The Defenders," "Under the Dome" _ Zea landed the role of Robin Parker in the quirky TBS comedy "The Detour." The series was created, written and executive-produced by the husband-wife team of Samantha Bee and Jason Jones.
Instead of having to be in tears while her life is threatened, Zea plays part of a family who starts a road trip to Florida but sees the vacation turn into a run for their lives as they encounter one nightmarish situation after another. Season three opens Tuesday, picking up with the Parker family finally finding a community of misfits in Alaska where they decides to settle down and start rebuilding their lives. But they're not out of the woods, because the law isn't far behind.
Jones, Ashley Gerasimovich and Liam Carroll also star.
You wouldn't have to put a gun to her belly or an ice pick to her head to get Zea to do another dramatic role. She's just enjoying the opportunity right now to work on series that leaves her feeling so happy.
"The energy I get when I am doing 'The Detour' is so joyful and light-spirited yet challenging," Zea says. "It's not like I walk in and everything is easy-breezy. I still get challenged as an actor and as an adult female person who has stamina or doesn't.
"But, it is nice to get to laugh all the time."
Along with the joy of just being on a comedy comes a satisfaction she didn't have to sign on to star on a traditional situation comedy. This isn't a series where the husband and wife sit in their living room discussing how well their children are doing in school. The strange plotlines of "The Detour" have included a family visit to a culturally insensitive roadside restaurant and dinner theater; Robin agrees to perform a wedding ceremony for a Southern gentleman and his Russian bride; and the family is surveilled by federal agents who see way too much.
Zea loves the odd stories, but suggests it's really set in reality.
"Dealing with change and handling whatever circumstances that are handed to them is a lot like real life," Zea says. "After so many years playing the damsel was me waiting for the part that I really, really appreciate. I feel like this is the best work of my career and I am really excited about people seeing it.
"There are no absolutes with Robin, which is so much fun to play. This role and series is everything I was hoping it would be."
Now all she needs is to get a bigger audience to see the work she loves so much. Zea is rarely approached by those who want to talk about the comedy, but are more interested in her dramatic work. Her theory is the series has connected with viewers in Middle America, but those on the coasts have not caught up with it.
She will keep doing the work and pushing for viewers as long as the scripts remain strong. The work is physically demanding, but so far it has not been more than she can handle. Zea and Jones have joked when the days are long and they are exhausted, they remind themselves they are not "running through the woods naked and tied up."
That would be "The Detour"'s answer to the ice pick.
