Taylor Dunbar on Jailbirds: New Orleans, Musical Theatre and the Stumble Sisterhood

Words: Lauren O’Neill | Photography and creative direction: Lewis Vorn | Videographer: Marie Koury | Makeup: Erin Acker | Hair: Michael Zambrano

For our latest cover, we spoke with the stars of Stumble, NBC’s new comedy about the world of junior college cheerleading - read the full story here. We also caught up with each of its individual leads, so read on for a Halloween conversation with Taylor Dunbar, about Julliard, Harold and Maude and her grandparents’ Cats: The Musical VHS.

Read our cover story with the cast of Stumble here. 

Polyester: Hey Taylor! How are you?

Taylor Dunbar: I'm doing well. It's my favourite day of the freaking year!

Are you doing any Halloween partying?

I have to go get a bowl cut wig for my costume today. My boyfriend and I are going as Harold and Maude. I am Harold. It's for the plot and for the costume.

Well, in that case, I'm not going to keep you from your wig mission too long. Firstly, could you tell me a little bit about your background and your route into acting?

So I grew up in Louisiana, and my grandparents had a VHS of Cats: The Musical, and I popped that bad boy in and never turned back. I was such a musical theatre lover, like I had boas in my diapers, and I loved all of it. So then I just really started singing and dancing and acting for honestly, my whole life. I was belting ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ at like eight, and my parents were like, ‘Is this really going to be the rest of our lives?’ No, they were very supportive. 

I went to an art school in New Orleans, NOCA, and I did musical theatre training there for two years. And then I really kind of zoned in on acting on a whim. I studied for four years at NOCA, and I split my days in half because I had, like, my academic school and then I had my art school. And then, I auditioned for Juilliard my senior year as a joke to my friends. Because girl, my GPA. Yikes.

And then the joke got really serious. And I got in and I was like, “This is it, this is what I'm doing.” I had that amazing experience at school studying and being around people and really getting a much deeper respect for it, other than kind of my really naive outlook on all of it. Really that was probably the hardest four years of my life, that program. And then I got an audition for Stumble my final month of school, and I had the same exact mindset, which is kind of: “There's no way but let me just try it.” 

Obviously you've been around dance and performing for your whole life, but I wonder what specifically were your perceptions of cheer before you came to Stumble? 

So my sister was a cheerleader growing up, like my whole life. So I went to gyms with her. I remember there was a “Bring a Friend to Cheer Practice” day one day and I was the friend she brought. And we all lined up, and I told myself “I'm going to do an aerial”. I attempted to do one in front of 30 people that I didn't know and fell so flat on my face. I did want to try out for the cheer team at one time, but I’m very glad that I didn’t and I auditioned for musical theatre!

To speak about Stumble specifically. What so far has been the best part of working with Anissa, Georgie and Arianna?

It just felt so untamed and fun and they're all so brilliant, they're all so confident and just the way that things fly off the handle is really fun. The environment is so safe that it feels like all of us can just try a bunch of shit and throw stuff at each other and at the walls and specifically working with Ari and Anisa and Georgie, I feel so confident around them. Just watching Georgie be so bright and energetic, she makes me feel energised. Ari is so grounded and confident and is able to I think unashamedly take space for herself. And Anissa is also just such a kind person.

What’s your favourite thing about your character Peaches and do you think you're similar to her in any ways?

My favourite thing about Peaches is that she reminds me of Rumplestiltskin, just kind of lurking and stealing and taking things.

She just doesn't really give a fuck. In that regard, I'm not like her, as much as I would love to care less. She really just does what she wants. She's like a walking, intrusive thought, she kind of like, just does whatever. I care so much about literally everything and to turn that part of my brain off to play someone that doesn’t is really fun.

I wanted to know were there any particular shows, performers, comedies, or anything like that that you watched in order to prepare.

I watched Cheer, because Monica Aldama, the executive producer, that's such a big part of her and I wanted to understand her. I watched the Dallas Cowboys documentary too. But for Peaches, that didn't seem  like the world she was living in -  so if you haven't watched it, I highly recommend Jailbirds: New Orleans. It's a documentary of this all, female prison in New Orleans and they do different ones around the country. It's a documentary about an all-female prison in New Orleans and they do different ones around the country. That has been really informing my character. 

I know that obviously your training has probably been quite wide ranging, but I wonder, for a role so early in your career to be so outwardly comedic, has that been a challenge or do you feel like you fell into you quite naturally?

It's been a surprise more than a challenge. It's definitely been a lot of hard work because drama is my comfort zone. I really do love dark things. So it has been difficult. I've surprised myself – I’ve been like, “I guess I am funny,” or at least, funnier than I thought I was.

And I'm learning from my costars. Georgie, Ari and Anissa are just the best teachers for me to learn comedic timing and just letting jokes land and improving one liners. I was not expecting at all for my first job to be comedy - I never saw myself as a comedic actor or a cheerleader, so it's just been quite a whirlwind.