Lisa Ann Walter on Tapping Into Melissa’s Anger for ‘Abbott Elementary’ and Always Sticking Up for What’s Right

If I could be a second-grader again, I’d want to get on the good side of a teacher like Melissa Schemmenti. Some shy, quiet kids are drawn to the toughness of teachers, and I think queer kids instinctively gravitate towards adult women that take no bull from anyone. Lisa Ann Walter gets to shine even brighter in Abbott Elementary‘s second season, whether she is helping a child learn how to connect with reading or mooning over the mechanics of a fire engine. If she’s letting loose with Barbara at PESCA. Melissa has your back, and so does Lisa Ann.

The second season begins with Quinta Brunson’s Janine excited for the new year, and I couldn’t help but wonder what Melissa’s commute on the first day was like.

“I can pretty much guarantee that Melissa was screaming on the road at people who are acting as if they have never been on the road before,” Walter jokes. “She is probably balancing a cup of coffee, yelling at people on the road, and trying to change the radio station. All at once.”

Respect doesn’t automatically come from Melissa–you have to earn it. If she is wary around you, she won’t give you the time of day or she just might tell you to your face what a problem she has with you. Walter doesn’t connect with that kind of anger, but she says that it’s thrilling to dip into.

“I don’t physical battle rage like Melissa does, but to be able to tap into that anger almost every week is incredibly satisfying,” she says. “And I get paid for it. My kids tell me that I can’t do that in public anymore, because people might recognize me now from the show. Every once and a while, you have to get really serious on your insistence with respect. That’s another thing that I have in common with Melissa–as with all Sicilians. You have to sometimes demand respect, and they know of a million different ways that people can be disrespectful. If you go to a wedding and your seat isn’t where it should be in the hierarchy of the family, there’s a vendetta now.”

When Melissa is assigned more students, her workload becomes too much. Ava (Janelle James) grants Melissa’s request for an aide for her classroom, but Ashley (an incredible addition in Keyla Monterroso Mejia) can’t focus and plays around too much. On one of her first days, she horseplays with a skeleton in the classroom, and Melissa cannot gain control of the room. Melissa likes things to be done a certain way, and it only adds to the insanity.

“It’s chaos,” Walter says with a big laugh. “Melissa enjoys her reputation among the teachers. A character like Ashley to Melissa is going to be a disrupter, and I think that’s why the writing staff thought it would be fun to bring her in. It’s hard enough to deal with Ava, and now there’s two of them. I didn’t want to be mean to Ashley, because she’s so adorable. My youngest two sons hadn’t watched the show, and one of my twins moved back home and he told me that he was going to watch the show with me. We were watching it, and when we got to that episode with Ashley, he was looking at me out of the corner of his eye like, “Oh, shit” as if I was going to react as Lisa Ann. Melissa can’t be mean to someone like Ashley, because they aren’t self-aware. There are things that I play, as Melissa, that are completely different from who I am, and that’s one of them. I think Ashley is so cute.”

Our conversation turned towards the generosity of others and how people approach Walter to tell her how much the show means to them. She doesn’t take anything for granted, and her feet are firmly planted in the moment as Abbott connects with its audience.

“That pay it forward thing is something that you can see in real time,” she muses. “If you let someone in front of you in traffic on a busy day, I guarantee that something nice will come back to you. My mother said to me when I was a kid and it’s absolutely true. I was crying to her about my parents splitting up. I expressed to my mother that I didn’t understand how people can do things without thought or they can do something and it doesn’t bother them. I told my mother that I wanted to be like that since it was easier and people like that always got what they wanted. I will never forget what she said: I wish that for you too, but that’s not how God made you. That’s not who you are.”

“It happens in our business quite a lot in both the micro and the macro, and I have also seen some of the greatest generosity of spirit from not just my fellow actors but also from the crew. All of us go into this business because we believe in the power of make believe–not because we are doing biological research or curing disease–but there is something about being a part of the show that is a comfort to them. It soothes people. In my heart, what I love the best is when people tell people that they love the show or they feel less anxious when they watch us elevates it from just a regular show.”

In the last few months, I have seen Walter on red carpets and talk shows talking about defending queer rights. In case you are living under a rock, queer and trans people are facing innumerable amounts of rightwing legislation that risks the well-being of someone you love. I implore everyone to watch as much Walter-related content as possible, because she always speaks so frankly from the heart. Seeing an ally like Walter, who is in the ensemble of one of television’s buzziest shows, speak so simply and eloquently about standing up for what’s right is refreshing. It’s a no-brainer for her.

“I came up in theater, and my two best friends, Wayne and Joey, were gay, Walter says. “Wayne became a dancer with Alvin Ailey and became a teacher. Joey was self-taught. Wayne was really out and Joey was a little more reserved–and this was the late seventies and early eighties. It was not common for people to be out like they were. I know they put up with a lot of stuff from a lot of people. Starting in junior high, we would go downtown and do disco dance competitions, and Joey and I would win. We’d get on the ride on bus and go to the big gay bars in D.C. when we were fifteen or sixteen. No one would mess with them, because they brought such glory to the school as dancers. They were so renowned. I remember someone stepped up to Wayne one time, and he gave him a hitch kick to the chin. That was the last time someone did that.

“I was a baby feminist growing up, and we didn’t have words like ‘ally’ growing up. They were just my friends. I wasn’t going to ever put up with anybody talking shit about them. My first boyfriend came out to me, and then my first husband came out to me–I guess I have a type. It seemed to me that it’s so important to look at where we are going in this country, in particular, to be really vocal and committed to making sure that we say every single thing that we should be saying. Don’t assume someone else is going to take care of it. Don’t assume that the government is going to take care of it. We have to remain super vigilant in order to protect all of our rights. It doesn’t mean that if you are vocal about queer rights that you can’t be vocal about the rights of people of color. There is room to do the right thing across the board. I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t say stuff.”

Abbott Elementary is streaming now on Hulu.