‘Opening Up’ Her Entire Childhood Proves to Be Stageworthy Exercise

When audiences first meet Charlayne Woodard in “Pretty Fire,” she’s about to be born.

“The show is based on my life, from birth to 11,” says the Albany, N.Y., native, who recently moved her hit one-woman show to the Odyssey Theatre. Five stories--”Birth,” “Nigger,” “Pretty Fire,” “Bonesy” and “Joy”--make up the piece, which Woodard admits is “all about my family and me, the people and events that were instrumental in making me now.”

The actress, who trained at Chicago’s Goodman School, felt deeply about going all the way back.

“I believe the formative years are so important,” says Woodard, who’s recognizable to daytime TV audiences from her 1991-92 stint on “Days of Our Lives.” “Most people don’t think little girls’ lives are interesting--but they are! Everything happens before then.” Not all of it pleasant. “I realized when I came in touch with this area of my life, there were things I’d blocked away,” she notes. “Some because it was painful. Some I just forgot.”

The memories were triggered during an acting exercise several years ago, with the sensation of rain hitting her skin. “I worked on it for six months, until I’d opened up my entire childhood,” says Woodard (no relation to actress Alfre Woodard). With a move to Los Angeles in 1989, she began sitting for a portrait artist--and telling her the stories. “She said, ‘I wish we had a tape recorder.’ Since I had time, I decided to write them down.”

Married one year to Alan Michael Harris--whom she’s been with since the 12th grade--Woodard is still adjusting to life in L.A., and missing the rigors of an eight-times-a-week New York stage schedule (where she got a Tony nomination for “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” and worked regularly in the New York Shakespeare Festival).

“Coming here was a big adventure,” she says. “You have time to explore: ‘Let’s see what I can do with myself.’ No, I don’t have a series. But I’m still an artist.”