Kaia Gerber, gradually

I keep seeing these photos over the last few weeks of Kaia Gerber outside the Matrix Theatre in LA – leaving at night with flowers, hanging out with fans… and it’s especially interesting right now when so many people are at Paris Fashion Week which is where you’d presume her to be too, since she’s a model, and has modelled in Paris in the past (she opened the Valentino show two years ago). But PFW is not on Kaia’s schedule this season because she’s currently trading in the runway for a stage play. 

She’s in the current production of Will Arbery’s Evanston Salt Costs Climbing at the Matrix that began its run in late January and concludes this coming Sunday 9 March. The LA Times gave the play a strong review and the show is sold out through its final performances. Kaia plays “Jane Jr”, a supporting character and according the LA Times’s critic:

“[She] gives quirky life to Jane Jr.’s neurotic sensitivity. As self-dramatizing as she is self-effacing, the character is ill-equipped for everyday life. But her compassion gives her a remarkable lucidity about other people’s struggles.”

It’s the latest in a series of supporting roles that Kaia’s taken on over the last two or three years in film and television, ranging from horror camp to comedies to drama to dramedies in projects like American Horror Story, Bottoms, and Saturday Night. I like that she’s seemingly in no hurry to be #1 on the call sheet because, well, she’s not qualified to be, not yet. Maybe she never will be, we can’t say for sure. But the point is, she’s taking on the small roles, sometimes roles where her character doesn’t even have a name, and less than a handful of lines. I know, I know, nepo baby blah blah blah. But I don’t know how you can bitch about someone who is trying to get as much experience as possible so that she can learn as much as she can, however she can. 

And now she’s doing theatre which is its own beast. I’m not here to say that live stage acting is harder but it is its own challenge. Consider this: Leonardo DiCaprio has never been in a play or stage production. This doesn’t mean he’s not a good film actor, but you could argue that his range isn’t not as varied as, say, Jake Gyllenhaal who has been on stage a number of times, including musicals. Kaia Gerber is acting in a way that Leo never has, LOL. And I respect it. I respect that she’s putting herself through the challenge. 

As for the gossip… 

Lewis Pullman has been seen at the theatre a few times to support her. As of two weeks ago they were still together. He was not photographed with her at the Vanity Fair Oscar party on Sunday night – and it doesn’t look like he even attended – but we’ll see him soon enough because promotion for Thunderbolts* should be starting soon and he’ll probably go major mainstream as soon as that movie opens to blockbuster status. I wonder, by then, if he and Kaia will make it red carpet official. 

Here's Kaia greeting audience members after her performance last night in LA.