Feature Interview - Laura Wright Welcomes Cassie's Latest Shake-ups and Break-downs

CBS Soaps In Depth
October 19, 2004

There's an old adage that if something isn't broke, there's no need to fix it. But even though Guiding Light fan favorite Laura Wright (Cassie) has enjoyed great success with co-stars David Andrew MacDonald (Edmund) and Bradley Cole (Jeffrey), having worked almost exclusively with the leading men for the past five years made the actress itch for their storyline to be shaken up a bit. Enter Gina Tognoni, evening out the triangle as Cassie's nemesis, Dinah Marler. "I really enjoy it," the actress admits of the latest twist to her storyline. "It adds another element to Edmund and Cassie, which is nice. Because if you had to hear how much he loved her one more time, and how she knows he's changed one more time&I [wanted] to get past that."

Pandora's Box
The way Wright sees it, Dinah's arrival has opened up many doors that Cassie had though were closed. "It's fun, it's exciting, it's a great soap story," muses Wright of the identity theft take which brought Dinah back into Cassie's world. "The last person on her mind that [could have been impersonating her] was Dinah. Cassie may not be a princess anymore, but that was something that she shared with Richard, which is extremely precious and important to her."

Making Dinah the imposter brilliantly tied Wright's current storyline to a past one of another love tragically taken from Cassie too soon. "Hart died because he jumped in front of a bullet that Dinah meant to kill Cassie. There's got to be guilt there. Hart was the first guy to ever treat Cassie like she was a person and not an object. And he's the father of her child. Every time Cassie looks at RJ, she sees Hart."

It isn't only the prospect of revisiting her character's past that has Wright excited; it's the thought of how Dinah's presence will affect Cassie's present as well. "Before it was Cassie and Edmund and this guy that looked just like Richard. Well, we never really explained why, nor did we ever play anything with that," the outspoken actress points out. "Dinah and Jeffrey impersonating Cassie and Richard is giving us the opportunity, I think, to answer those questions without having to go back. We played a year of 'Jeffrey looks like Richard,' and never really went there. Now, [the writers] are doing a good job of running with it from this point on, which is very difficult to do."

A Web of Deceit
Dealing with Jeffrey's resemblance to Richard - and how that connection has in turn sparked Edmund's jealousies - has pleased Wright on both an emotional and creative level. "It's been nice to tell a story that's been sitting right there," she admits. "It was very difficult to play any scene when Bradley would walk in the room. They had Cassie almost wanting to die herself when Richard died. And then when a guy who looks just like him comes to town, I was basically told that I had two days to play shock value and then move on. It was very hard for me to do that. Then I'm put with a man who locked me in a cell and was responsible for the death of my child. It's great to have Cassie and Edmund together, because it's all about conflict and drama. But we breezed through it overnight, which I thought was a disservice to the fans and the characters."

As she sharpens her acting chops on the meatiest storyline she's had since Richard's death, Wright will no doubt be on top of her game when Cassie finally realizes the true nature of both Jeffrey and Edmund's relationships with Dinah. "It's such a perfect story, because the two people who claim to love Cassie are lying to her," the actress proclaims with a laugh. "The one who will probably come out and tell me the truth is the person who hates me more than anything, and it's Dinah! It's perfect."

FYI
Born: September 11 in Washington, D.C.
First bite: In addition to appearing in Gypsy, Our Town, and You Can't Take It With You while in high school, Wright directed a production of Father Says No.
Oh, bee-have: Wright loves her honey's honey; Her husband, John, raises bees as a hobby.
On her ohm: Co-star Crystal Chappell (Olivia) turned Wright on to the soothing relaxation of yoga. "I just started running," she adds. "I'll try anything new!"

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