Rosie: Our next guest is currently starring in the Off-Broadway play "Killer Joe". You can check her out every Wednesday night on the WB "Dawson's Creek" - Take a look. (Clip with Jen and Jack arguing, from "Parental Discretion Advised") R: Yeah and stop picking on her! Please welcome back to the show, Michelle Williams! (applause) Hi Michelle!! How are you?!? Michelle: I'm good. R: Good to see you. M: It's so nice to be back, thank you. R: How's it going off-Broadway? First time? M: Yes R: Scary? M: It's terrifying. It's the first time I've been on stage since I was Faunda, the green fairy. R: Faunda, the green fairy... what grade was that? M: In Sleeping Beauty, I think I was like in fourth grade or something. R: That was my debut too. M: Was it? R: Glenda the good witch - Jan Brenner got to be Dorothy. I was very upset by that. But, unlike us in fourth grade, in this play, "Killer Joe", Soho Playhouse, you are a nudie patootie. Come on Mishy, fess up.what's up? M: (laughs) Umm.I, I don't even know where to begin. It's been such a, it's been a really good experience for me. It's been really cathartic. It's been.it's terrifying. I mean it's the scariest thing that I've ever done, but I've really come to terms with my body, which I'm not all that comfortable with. I don't like my thighs, and I have all these insecurities about it. But it's really made me a stronger person. R: I can understand that cause when I did "Exit to Eden", which was a horrible film, I had to wear that thing. And at first, I was so ashamed and it really got me to my, in touch with, sort of, my body image. It helped me in a way; do you know what I mean? M: Doesn't it though? R: It did. M: I know, I know. R: Were you nervous? Did your parents see you? Was it a whole weird thing like your friends coming, seeing you nude? M: Yeah, and my friends, and my friends have all seen it, so now all that I think is that they're picturing me naked when we're having coffee or something. Everybody, everybody in my life has seen me completely nude, um, which is a little unsettling. But yeah, my parents did. R: Your parents showed up. Were you nervous before the show? M: Well, I didn't know they were coming. R: Ooh, smart of them. Cause you would have been nervous, right? M: Yeah, I would have been really nervous to know that my father was in the audience. But my understudy came to get me. "You have some friends outside". And I said, "Friends, I don't have any friends." So I go outside and it's my father, my sister, my mother. And I said "Oh.Hell!" I said something else but.and I kept repeating that. And my father said, "Well, watch your language." And I was just so shocked, and I just keep thinking "God, my father's seen me naked, my father's seen me naked, my sister's seen me naked." It's so terrifying. R: Right, it is. But, you know, you went through it, and it's not like gratuitous -- it's integral in the show. M: Yeah, I mean it's not exploitive in any way whatsoever. It's really, it's very dim lighting, um, and it's really necessary to the story. It wouldn't be the same without it. But I can hear people talking while I'm getting naked. R: Really? M: Yes. R: What do they say? M: They seem to be unaware of the fact that they're watching live theater and feel they're at the movies. R: Right, right. M: So I can hear like, "Scoot over, I can't get quite a good angle on her". R: Ohhhhh!! M: I hear you rustling in your seats, trying to like position yourselves. People get cell phone calls and their like, "I'm in the middle of a play right now. I can't really talk to you. No, no, it's good. I'm enjoying it and everything. I'll give you a call after the show is over", and they're carrying on this conversation. R: Yeah, do you ignore them? You're supposed to ignore them. M: You try. You try very, very hard. R: I had a hard time doing that. M: Did you hear things? R: I heard things, cell phones. Last night I went to see Sideman with Scott Wolf.from Party of Five, and there was a woman to the left of me. Right as the show begins he has a great opening monologue. She said, "Look it's Bailey, from Party of Five!" and luckily it was right at the beginning. But people said things to me like, "Where's Madonna?!?", in the middle of the show, you know, Grease. WHERE'S MADONNA?!?, you know. And you're supposed to keep going. I was like, "How do I know where she is?" you know. You're a much better actress than I. How are things over on Dawson's Creek? M: Good... it's, it's over. For a little while. Oh, oh, for for for a little while. Sorry, I'M SORRY! R: You don't know how many 15 year olds grabbed a pen and paper when you said that. It's HUGELY popular. M: I know, can you believe it? R: I can believe it, I can. Can you believe it? M: I still can't, no, no. R: What's new? What's going to happen next season? Did they give you any hints? M: Um, everybody keeps asking me. I don't really know what's, what's gonna go on. R: They don't tell you. M: No. R: What is it, 39 weeks a year you shoot that? M: Yeah, like 9 or 10 months out of the year. R: And in your time off you're doing a play. M: Yeah. R: You must be awfully tired. M: I am, but I'm so invigorated and I'm so happy do be doing theater. And it's the most unglamorous thing that I've ever done. There's no wardrobe, there's no hair, there's no makeup, there's no nothing. It's just bare-bones acting, and I'm just loving it. R: You're only 18, right? M: Yes. R: You know, now look at this.young, intelligent, gorgeous, 18-year-old girl. Now on theater and in a series. Let's just have a hand for that. (applause) M: Thank you. Thank you. R: Are you going to college? M: You know, that's interesting. I had never really thought about college. And it really didn't.something that's never really crossed my mind until I went up to Yale recently with somebody and was so in awe of it and had such a desire to be surrounded by minds like that and to be able to learn like that. R: Did you apply to any college? M: You know, I didn't. I graduated when I was 15 and hadn't been to school in like 3 years. R: You graduated when you were 15? M: Yeah, I graduated high school. R: You skipped a few grades. M: Yeah, kind of, yeah. R: Yeah, I can tell that. M: Yeah, but I would love to be able to go like to college but I'm never going to be.I don't want to be a 23-year-old freshman. R: Let me tell you one thing, and I got two words to say whether college would be good for your career -- Jodie Foster. (applause) She went to Yale. She's brilliant like you. She still gets to act and direct. You got a huge career ahead of you. You're way too smart not to go to college. Me.I can't spell sincerely. Just as well. But you, I want you to go. M: Thank you. R: I do. M: Thank you. That means a lot to me. R: I really think it'd be important for you. You're only 18. You're not going to be a 23-year-old freshman. M: No, I will. I've got four more years on Dawson's Creek, and then I'll be 22. I'll be the one that buys everybody beer. And I'll be that lame person who's still lingering around. R: Well, maybe you can do a correspondence course by mail or something. M: That's how I finished high school and it's very lonely. R: Very lonely? M: Very lonely. R: All right, I don't know what I can do. I can't possibly tell Dawson's Creek to move near Yale, can I? I don't know who I think I am. But I hope that you do. I enjoy you every time you're here. Killer Joe at the Shoho.the Shoho Playhouse (Rosie trying to pronounce Soho). Michelle Williams - we'll be right back after this.