Abbey Siegworth, from left, and Lee Trull star in “reasons to be pretty,” last spring as part of the Neil LaBute’s Beauty Plays at the Dallas Theater Center. (Photo Courtesy the Dallas Theater Center)

For Abbey Siegworth, it’s been all about timing. From her acceptance into SMU’s graduate theater program to being named a member of the Dallas Theater Center’s Brierley Resident Acting Company, she’s proof that taking risks can be rewarding.

The Chicago native spent her undergraduate years at the University of Illinois and was acting in regional theater when the opportunity to continue her studies at SMU presented itself.

“I had a teacher of mine from the University of Illinois who transferred to SMU to teach acting and she recommended that I look into the school,” Siegworth said. “I didn’t apply right away, but when they had a slot open up last minute the faculty extended an offer based on their previous knowledge of me.”

She’s one of the lucky ones, who works hard enough that you don’t hate her for her success. Her arrival in Dallas was just one year prior to Kevin Moriarty’s appointment to Artistic Director at DTC, which put her at SMU at the beginning of the agreement between the two institutions.

She auditioned for Moriarty’s first show, “In the Beginning” and was cast as Eve, which she says was a great introduction to the theater center.

“From her first performances at DTC, it was obvious that Abbey had a lot of the qualities a great actor needs,” Lee Trull, associate artist at DTC, said. “She’s brave and open to the process.”

Trull has acted alongside Siegworth in productions that include Neil LaBute’s “Beauty Plays” last spring and the Wyly’s inagural production, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“[Midsummer] was really a landmark in my life,” Siegworth said, “to open such an amazing building with such a great, artistic company.”

“Arsenic and Old Lace,” which opens Feb. 3 marks Trull’s fifth show to act with Siegworth, and they are thrilled to be playing opposite one another as Mortimer Brewster and his bride Elaine Harper, respectively.

“She’s really grown as an actor,” Trull said. “We’re both physical, comic actors and this is the perfect play for us.”

“Arsenic and Old Lace” is being performed in DTC’s classic space at the Kalita Humphries Theater and features legends, Betty Buckley and Tovah Feldshuh as the Aunts Brewster.

An SMU professor, Jim Crawford, and two undergraduate students, Chris McCreary and Sean O’Connor, also have roles in this production.

“Sean and Chris play the roles with such joy and specificity,” Siegworth said. “They really contribute to the world of the play outside of the house.”

Siegworth is beginning to feel at home at DTC and plays every role she takes on with aplomb.

In her first season as a company member she has easily transitioned from Shakespeare to Dickens and now to the adaptation of the classic Frank Capra film.

See Abbey and the rest of the cast on stage through March 13.

For more information visit http://dallastheatercenter.org.