Podcast #542: KRISTINA WAGNER of ABC’s “GENERAL HOSPITAL”

Kristina Wagner
Kristina Wagner

Kristina Wagner has been playing the role of Felicia on ABC Daytime’s “General Hospital” off and on since 1984. Coming into the Port Charles in disguise, Felicia certainly had her fare share of moments. From the many adventures with Frisco Jones, to finally marrying Mac Scorpio after numerous attempts, it is hard to try to pinpoint what has been the actress’ favorite moment during her 29 years on the soap:

“I think just having the longevity of this part…I mean, we are talking about 25 years, and having those stories and seeing the character grow up as a young woman…and I gave birth on the show when I was really pregnant. So, a lot of my life mirrored what was going on at the show, and it wasn’t an easy time for me during that. Those are memorable, but as far as the good times, there are so many. The show has changed so much. We’ve been through many different producers who always bring new flavor to the show. When you’re under new production, you have a different way of taping. So, there were a lot of adjustments, reinventions, and the writers have been very good to me. It’s all about story. Story, story, story.”

Speaking of story, Kristina had a story of her own to tell in the documentary that she filmed, along with her brother, entitled, “Children of the Internment.” The film highlights Germans and Italian Americans who were held in internment camps and were later deported.

“I went back to college to get my degree, and I changed my major to history. My senior year, I had a thesis that was due, and it was the Internment of Germans, German Aliens, German Americans, in America during World War II. It’s a common misperception that only Japanese were interned during WWII, so the German American and the non-citizen wartime experience remains largely overlooked by Americans and historians. I thought it was an important to write about, and it turned into this film.”

Wagner continues on to explain what brought about the idea to bring this out to everyone now, and speaking with internees that experienced this firsthand:

“I found the issue during the thesis. That was a new thing for me. So, I started reaching out to all these people who were interned at that time. A lot of them were children of internees, and we had about 18 interviews. We traveled across the country, and their story has never been told. It’s not a part of history books, school curriculum across the United States whereas the Japanese is, and in 2009, the Germans went to Congress to get some acknowledgement and were denied. All they wanted was an apology and acknowledgement that it happened, and the government still won’t do that. I felt it was important because it’s another Civil Rights violation that happened in America, and the people lived with the shame their whole lives.”

We talked more in-depth about the Internment Camps and those affected in our podcast with Kristina Wagner, which can be downloaded at the bottom of the article.

For more information about “Children of the Internment,” visit the website at http://www.childrenofinternment.com/

Also, follow Kristina Wagner on Twitter at: @1KristinaWagner.

“General Hospital” airs weekdays on ABC Daytime and SOAPnet.

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