Scene and Heard

DAYS’s Victoria Konefal (Ciara) admits playing the recent discord in scenes with Robert Scott Wilson (Ben) has been surprisingly challenging. “It was hard because we built such a solid friendship and such a solid foundation of the characters in their relationship,” she explains. “We would finish taping a scene and Rob would go, ‘Ew, that was horrible. Why are you talking to me like that?’ He was really affected and hurt by the way I was treating him [as Ciara]. So it didn’t feel right. It felt like something was off.” Konefal praises her co-star’s work as Ben coped with Ciara’s memory loss. “It was devastating for me to see it but Rob did some incredible work,” she lauds. “I remember there is this one bunch of scenes in the hospital where he completely blew me away, and after they yelled, ‘Cut,’ everybody was just silent in the studio and I leaned over to give him a hug and I said, ‘Hey, I’ve been working with you for a long time but I’m pretty sure what I just witnessed was the best work you’ve ever done.’ He really got there. Rob really blew it away. I’m excited for everybody to see his scenes.”

B&B alum Joanna Johnson (ex-Caroline/ Karen) serves as executive producer of the young adult drama GOOD TROUBLE, where she draws upon her soap roots for inspiration. “It always, always, goes back to character and relationships,” she explains. “It’s never just about the issues. [Our goal is] to make it entertaining as well as enlightening. So, that’s just always a balance that we try to remember to do. I think what we really want to do is we want to tell stories that are meaningful, that are about things. That’s why I went into this business. I wanted to try to shine some light into the world, and I think we can do that through television. It’s really about how the issues are affecting our characters and their relationships.”

Although they’re the best of friends now, Lauralee Bell (Christine, Y&R) shares that when she first met Tricia Cast (Nina) in 1986, they were polar opposites. “We were so different and she knows I’ll say this, she came into work one day barefoot and I was like, ‘Huh ...’ ” Bell explains. “I wasn’t judging her but I’m just saying we were like night and day. We didn’t really get to know each other at first because we were almost too young to say, ‘Let’s hang out and see what we have in common.’ Thankfully, in time, we became really good friends and we ended up having so much in common that it was incredible. To this day we’re very similar. We’re very connected.” Bell hopes to see their characters interact more on screen. “There’s a demand now for more girlfriend bonds on camera,” she notes. “Tricia and I would love to be the ones to bring that back, and if not us, I encourage the writers to pick two solid people who aren’t bickering at each other. Watching women fight, to me, is fun here and there, but it’s nice to have the balance of grounded friends who support each other.”

Kelly Thiebaud is thrilled with the other players her GH character, Britt, is in story with. She describes working with Jeff Kober (Cyrus) as “so cool! I’m a huge SONS OF ANARCHY [where he played Jacob] fan! Jeff is just the coolest. He’s super-smart and down-to-earth, some- one you just want to hang out with all day. I respect that he really embraces playing bad, unlikable characters. I’m so happy he’s on the show!” Then there’s Kirsten Storms (Maxie), about whom Thiebaud raves, “She’s so fun and such a great actress. We just vibe. We always talk about how we wish we could ad-lib in our scenes because we always come up with funny stuff. Kirsten and I laugh a lot when we work together!” Ditto Kathleen Gati (Obrecht). “Sometimes things just work and you don’t really know why,” she says of their terrific mother/ daughter chemistry on screen. “I think we are really committed actors and love to play in the scenes. Kathleen always keeps me on my toes and we just connect. I’m really glad the fans have enjoyed our stuff together!”