Scrubbing in with Judy Reyes

WEEKEND: Let's just start with the big question: "Scrubs" Season 7. There have been rumors Zach Braff didn't want to come back, NBC didn't want to pick it up. What's the deal?
Judy Reyes: Well, they're all rumors. We're definitely coming back for a seventh season ... We love it, the fans love it, I think they've picked up on the fun we have, they want to see more of us and we want to keep giving them more. W: Has playing the same character for the past six years changed you at all? Do you ever find yourself having split personalities between Judy and Carla?
JR: (Laughs) No, nothing like that ... The writers spend enough time around us so they infuse some of our own personalities into the characters and blow ourselves into neurotic proportions, so I guess it's the other way around. Not that we become them, but they become us. W: You have an extensive background in theater, so how was filming the recent musical episode?
JR: That was so much fun, I can't even tell you. Being on the show here in L.A., you get so removed from your theater background to go back to my musical theater roots and dancing and singing, I was too, too, too thrilled to be able to go ahead and get into a studio and sing and rehearse with a choreographer. It took us a long time to actually finish that episode ... It was such a great way to stretch ourselves and that's one of the things we get to do on the show, especially with a single-camera series. It's one of those things that will go down in television history, I think. W: Along that same line, last summer you were on Broadway in Neil Labute's "Some Girl(s)" with former Must-See TV stars Eric McCormack, Maura Tierney and Fran Drescher. What was it like sharing the stage with so many A-listers?
JR: That was amazing, it was a terrific, terrific experience. It was a great way to get back into the theater, which was just so refreshing. It's kind of like going back to the gym after not working out for six months. Doing a show eighnights a week, it's so much fun, it was everything I remembered it being. W: The show has referenced "Grey's Anatomy" several times. Has it been frustrating to watch such a similar show debut three years later and explode into one of the top shows on TV while "Scrubs" pulls in only 6 million viewers?
JR: No, we're both medical shows, I think that's the only thing we have in common. They're a drama, we're a comedy. We're established and we're funny. We have humor, imagination, obsurdity … They have the ratings and the success, that's just the way it works in television, you can't control it and you can't predict it. I'm not necessarily frustrated, I'm just happy that we're coming back for another season and that we have the fans that we have. I wish we had more ratings certainly, but I like the loyalty and devotion of our fans. I love what we got, but I can see why the show is so hot. W: So who would win in a whining/life lesson-spewing contest, J.D. or Meredith Grey?
JR: Oh my God, J.D. would win hands down. W: Do you want to do another season?
JR: Of course, are you kidding me? W: Once "Scrubs" ends, where do you see yourself?
JR: I'll be looking for projects that will help me expand and do things that are stretching beyond the character that I've been able to have so much fun creating on the show. I'm open to whatever opportunities that come my way. We'll see what happens, I'm looking, baby, I'm looking. W: Will it be hard for you to say goodbye to the show?
JR: Oh, I know that we're all going to be a blubbering mess when we actually have to say goodbye because we're all just so crazy about each other and have so much fun. Just before this season's wrap party we were crying like babies.
Beyond Scrubs: The other side of Judy Reyes W: You're a co-founder (along with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sam Rockwell among others) of the LABryinth Theater Company, a group dedicated to diversity in theater. Why is having a space like that so important to you?
JR: Particularly for me, as a woman of color, when I was starting out, there weren't many theaters or companies offering parts and opportunities for people like me to act and perform. Basically, we just wanted to create a space where we got to act in whatever the heck we wanted to act in, without anybody telling us, 'Oh, you can't do this because there's no black parts or Latino parts or women or you're too short or too tall or too this or that.' W: You've produced some of your husband's movies and recently directed your own short film, "The Passion of the Christian L'amour." How has working behind the camera been for you?
JR: I really had a lot of fun working behind the camera and working with the cameras. I found that I went back to my theater days and used what was used on me ... Post-production is hell, but the actual production and shooting was a blast. I've realized the most difficult think about directing a film is the outcome. If everything goes well, everyone has something to benefit from, but if the film sucks, it's totally your fault. That's just how it is, that's not a good thing, that's not a bad thing, that's just how it is. If you're ready for that responsibility then you just have to go for it. I'm not sure that I was prepared for that or had a real true understanding of that going in. I'm just so happy I started with a short film.