This ‘Search Party’ Standout’s Guide to Making the Most of a Guest-Starring Role

The following Career Dispatch essay was written by Shalita Grant, who had a recurring guest star role on Season 3 of HBO Max’s “Search Party.” 

I played the role of Cassidy Diamond in Season 3 of “Search Party,”  and was dubbed a “scene-stealer,” much to my tickled delight! Tickled, because my intention is never to “steal a scene.” It’s actually the opposite: My intention when acting in a scene is to elevate everyone around me—which is the paradox of how I steal scenes. And paradoxes are funny. 

My first day of filming on “Search Party,” I remember Alia Shawkat turned and made eye contact with me and told me, “I’m happy you’re here.” I was a recurring guest star for the season and her saying that, before I had even filmed two words, made me feel so welcome. I’ve been a guest star on several shows at this point, and I believe the culture of a set, how it feels, and how everyone treats each other, is a strong reflection of the No. 1. And I felt welcomed there.  

With that, I felt totally comfortable rolling up my sleeves to play Cassidy. She was written with a “vocal fry” so I saw that and upped it with a few other vocal dynamics. And then, I chose to  play everything Cassidy did with positive intentions (LOL), which made it easy to elevate the other actors, even the ones I hated (ahem, Polly). My adlibs were how I serviced those intentions. 

The day we shot Portia’s courtroom appearance, where she turns on Dory, Meredith Hagner walked into the courtroom set and I thought she looked absolutely fabulous. Matthew Simonelli, the costume  designer, is a costumer who love fashion and Meredith was in head-to-toe Gucci and looked stunning. As Cassidy, I thought it would be appropriate to comment on Portia’s “Baby blue realness” as both a compliment and an addition to my scripted curve ball questioning. When I watched the series back, I was delighted to see all the ad libs the creators kept, and it also signified to me that my contributions were welcomed on their collaborative set. 

Playing with Michaela Watkins’ character Polly Danziger was also an area I \focused on elevating. At Juilliard, one of the notes I clung to was, “Never make anyone a liar.” So if a character says we’re rivals, then you better play that rivalry. What is the basis of the rivalry?  How intense is it? These are all questions I played with in those courtroom scenes. When Polly looked like she was winning in the courtroom, I really played my disappointment and she, a genius, played on how much she enjoyed her petty wins. 

We improvised so much physicality, even adding extra exchanges during our scenes; never trying to outshine the other actor, just playing  every moment like it’s the last and always keeping the ball in the air. 

Scene-stealer, or the best guest you’ll ever want on a show. Either way, I always make it my intention to bring a strong spirit of collaboration, openness, and generosity to whatever set,  whatever project I’m on—which, paradoxically, makes me a stand-out. I’ll take it.