I am so excited to catch up with My Entertainment Idol, Cady McClain, who made EMMY history when she won the coveted awards for playing 3 different characters on 3 different networks on 3 different shows, All My Children (Best Juvenile, 1990), As the World Turns (Best Supporting Actress, 2004), and Days of Our Lives (Best Guest Performer, 2021).

I spoke with Cady this past July (2025) when she was co-starring in Walter John Thompson’s one-act play What Happened Was as part of The Chain Theatre Company's Summer One Act Festival.

Now, Cady is once again teaming up with The Chain Theatre as she stars in Jake Shore's THE SLIDE IS THE NEGATIVE.

In this NEW interview, Cady once again answered my call, but this time around she shares:

• Why she wanted to be part of THE SLIDE IS THE NEGATIVE
• One price she had paid for pursuing her own ambition
• Advice she would give to someone who has been betrayed
• How Pamela from CBS' Beyond The Gates would come to her defense or hold her accountable
• So much more

Connect with Cady: Website, Facebook, Instagram

In THE SLIDE IS THE NEGATIVE, a photographer betrays her closest friend by displaying an intimate, revealing photograph in a prestigious Chelsea gallery & the fallout spirals into a deadly web of infidelity and violence. 

THE SLIDE IS THE NEGATIVE is a thrilling and urgent exploration of art, consent, and the price of privacy—asking whether wealth and power grant license to destroy lives without consequence. It's a compelling new work exploring sex, friendship, addiction, and the cost of ambition.

THE SLIDE IS THE NEGATIVE will play at The Chain Theatre in NYC from November 29 – December 21, 2025! Click Here for tickets! 

Cast of THE SLIDE IS THE NEGATIVE
Ryan Tramont (Back Left), Brad Fryman (Back Right)
Cady McClain (Center) and Sophie Moshofsky (Front)
Photo Credit: John Robert Hoffman

1. This holiday season you are starring in Jake Shore's The Slide Is The Negative at The Chain Theatre. What made you want to be part of this show? I loved the script. It was brought to my attention by Brad Fryman, who starred in Jake’s play A Groundbreaking Achievement…, which I also loved. I think his writing is really smart and this play is no exception.

I also really enjoyed working with Brad, who was committed to being in this production as well. Brad and I worked together in Orson’s Shadow and really had a great time. When Jake told me he brought in Paul Smithyman to direct, I just knew it was going to be a killer team.

2. In this show, you are reuniting with some of your Orson's Shadow co-stars. Since you already have a previous rapport with these actors, how do you welcome new actors into your established bond? Sophie Moshofsky is an incredible actress and just a lovely person. She is such a delight. When we read her for the part I knew she could pull it off immediately.

She came recommended to us through my friend, Broadway actor Bill Timoney. Bill is such a generous and gifted actor whom I have had the great pleasure of working with, and I hope to be able to again soon!

Sophie and I clicked over the photoshoot I think… I just goof around and am generally outrageous, and she got it immediately. She and I are peas in a pod.

3. In The Slide Is The Negative, you play a photographer who betrays her closest friend by displaying an intimate, revealing photograph in a prestigious Chelsea gallery. What do you relate most to your character? Hahahaha. This is a funny question. And a hard one as an actor to reveal. I can say that I think there are parts of everyone that are a little less savory than others. I know what mine are, but I am not going to tell you!

I think not judging the characters is really important. As well as not judging ourselves. It’s play time, and that is a rather unique and special process. I don’t really want people to think they are seeing ME up there, but the character of Kelly. And I hope that they do, and get lost in the story. That really is the whole point.

4. What characteristics are you glad you yourself don't possess? I think I probably possess them all, to some greater or lesser extent. I think we all do. Although I really wish I could understand math better. I have a real block there.

Cady McClain (Front) & Sophie Moshofsky (Back)
Photo Credit: John Robert Hoffman

5. Press notes state that The Slide Is The Negative is about sex, friendship, addiction, and the cost of ambition. What is one price you have paid in pursuit of your own ambition? Hahahaha! Well KELLY pays a very high price for her ambition, which is kind of sad if you ask me. I think ambition is treated as if it were a dirty word. It’s not.

It’s actually really healthy to want to grow, to have a career, to be successful. What are we supposed to do, just sit around and eat donuts? Although that really doesn’t sound that bad, I think I would get bored at some point, wouldn’t you?

6. In our last interview together, we talked about how you brought a particular real life experience into a specific scene on ABC's All My Children between your character Dixie Martin & Dixie's son JR. The Slide Is The Negative deals with violence, addiction, betrayal, consent & many other topics. You talk about some of these subject matters in your memoir Murdering My Youth. What real life experiences did you tap into for this role that helped you understand your character better? OOOOH. You are so naughty! Well, I have lived a life. That book only went up to when I was 25.

I have 31 more years of life under my belt now and OOOO BOY have I lived it. I have achieved the great gift of EXPERIENCE. And from that I have a lot of compassion and understanding for all kinds of things.

Cady McClain & Brad Fryman
Photo Credit: John Robert Hoffman

7. What advice would you give to someone who has suffered a betrayal? Breathe. Try to reframe it. Find your part in it. Let go of the suffering identity as soon as you possibly can. Do what you gotta to move on.

8. In our previous interview you also mentioned that you have built a great relationship with The Chain Theatre. Why do you feel building relationships is just as important in this industry as it is to always do your best work? Well, I personally like working with people I know and like. It’s just so much better. Having a feeling of liking between you makes for a much nicer atmosphere and smooths problems faster. Acrimony on a set or rehearsal space is the pits.

9. Since the show is called The Slide Is The Negative, I have to incorporate your character of Pamela Curtis from Beyond The Gates into this question. If you told Pamela that you betrayed your friend by displaying her intimate, revealing picture in a prestigious Chelsea Gallery, how do you think Pamela would come to your defense or hold you accountable for your actions? Hahahaha! I think Pamela would make two pitchers of martinis. One for me and one for her. Then we would get soused. Then Pamela would say something like, “Darling. Darling. What the fuck were you thinking?"

More Cady McClain Interviews:

2018 (Read Here): From Pine Valley to Butterflies
2024 (Read Here): Orson's Shadow: From Acting To Producing
2025 (Watch Here): What Happened Was Beyond The Gates

Cady McClain

More on Cady McClain:

Cady McClain is a history-making three-time Emmy© award-winning actress, taking home the gold for her roles on All My Children (Best Juvenile, 1990), As the World Turns (Best Supporting Actress, 2004), and Days of Our Lives (Best Guest Performer, 2021). According to Deadline, she made history as the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy© for three different characters on three different daytime series. She is now playing the role of “Pamela Curtis” on Beyond the Gates - airing on CBS, BET, and Paramount Plus. Beyond the Gates was recently named one of the best TV shows of 2025 by Entertainment Weekly.

Recently, Cady played the role of “Joan Plowright” in Orson’s Shadow by Austin Pendleton (dir. Austin Pendleton and David Schweizer) at Theatre for the New City, “Shirley” in the iconic Shirley Valentine (dir. Roy Steinberg) at Cape May Stage, and “Carole” in What Happened Was (dir. Austin Pendleton) at The Chain Summer One Act Festival 2025. Other memorable theatrical productions include David Ives’ The Red Address (dir. Pam Berlin) at Second Stage Theater, Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at Lincoln Center Theater, A Comedy of Errors at the Hudson Guild Theater, and Barefoot in the Park at the Westbury and Valley Forge Music Fair theaters.

Cady has also performed in two one-woman performance art pieces: Mona7 and Inventions of Farewell (HERE Theatre).

Television credits include multiple episodes of Law and Order: SVU (opposite Amanda Seyfried, Mariska Hargitay and Michael O’Keefe, and again opposite Ice T and Kevin Kane).