Seemingly able to work in everything, everywhere, all at once (sorry, A24), Britt Lower is a TV actress, filmmaker, and performer—between shooting—in the Shoestring Circus. (She credits her mother’s face-painting business for encouraging the pursuit of the latter.) Now the Illinois native stars alongside Adam Scott in Severance—Ben Stiller’s ultra-popular psychological thriller about employees whose brains have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. To celebrate the long-awaited second season of the series, Lower shares her key components to the good life. —Carolina de Armas
Airport: The one near my hometown.
Alibi: “I ran away to the circus.”
App: Marco Polo.
Bag: Pockets are the new bag.
Bedtime: 11:11 p.m.
Bike: The single-speed one I use to bike around Brooklyn.
Birthday: Spent wondering and wandering.
Boyfriend/girlfriend: My love.
Breakfast, weekday: Bits and bobs, with espresso.
Car: My 2000 Honda CR-V named “JoJo” that took me across the country and back, twice.
Child: My inner—and your inner.
Cocktail: An emotional one.
Cocktail appetizer: Olive you.
Couple: Laverne and Shirley.
Date: A thought experiment.
Dinner, weekday: Soup and a sandwich.
Disguise: Tiger face paint.
Dress: One that can get muddy.
Drive: On country roads, with my windows down.
Escape:
Running away to the circus.
Excuse: Running away to the circus.
Family: A group of people learning about love together, also known as a “circus.”
Fit: Feels as great as it looks.
Flaw: Embraced.
Foil: With a baked potato in it.
Friend: One you feel most yourself with.
Good-bye: “See you down the road.”
Hideaway: Running away to the circus.
Hotel: One that has a clawfoot bathtub.
Indulgence: Alone time.
Insult: Nah.
Jacket: One that’s borrowed.
Kiss-off: Kiss on.
Last Meal: Peanut butter and jelly.
Match: Matcha.
Movie: Love and Basketball.
Name: “Broccoli.”
Neighbor: Gentle.
Nonfiction book: Just Kids, by Patti Smith.
Novel: Franny and Zooey, by J. D. Salinger.
Pair of pants:
Ones you can do a somersault in.
Pair of shoes: Boots with a zip.
Pen or Pencil: Pilot Hi-Tec-C 04 [pen].
Pet: I once had a fish named Tomato.
Piece of advice: “It’s O.K. to have butterflies. Just get them into formation,” says Connie Link, my high-school drama teacher and speech-team coach.
Podcast: Hidden Brain.
Restaurant: Serves potatoes.
Ride: Biking over the Williamsburg Bridge.
Saying: “Life is funny, bees make honey.”
Singer: My friend Brian Rady.
Storm: Lightning.
Television series: If I may, Severance.
Theme song to your life: “Waitress Song,” by First Aid Kit.
Time of day: 11:11 a.m.
Toast: “Be kind to yourself.”
Vacation: Is one letter away from vocation.
View: A lake near a mountain in the middle of a forest.
Wake-up time: A flexible one.
Weekend bag: Filled with pens and snacks.
Work of art: The Shoestring Circus.
Britt’s Essentials
