The Kid is Alright by Matt Springer
In an exclusive, Michelle Trachtenberg talked to Buffy Magazine for the first time. Amongst the topics discussed: her love for the series, handling her education whilst filming and why acting is the life for her!

Michelle Trachtenberg has been well trained in the art of secrecy.
    As Dawn, she’s one of the biggest secrets in the history of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel’s tragic curse, the Mayor’s sinister plot, the Initiative – none of them compare to learning at the end of the Season Five premiere that – surprise! – Buffy has a younger sister.
    Only she’s not just a sister. She’s the Key. She’s living energy. And Glorificus wants her. Michelle, what’s going on here? What is the Key? What does it do?
    “You do find out what the Key is,” Trachtenberg says, dodging the question. Clever move. Clearly, she’s learned much from the show’s producers. But where is Glory going?
    Why does she need the Key? “We don’t know that yet either, and that’s the truth,” Trachtenberg retorts. “Glory’s got some tricks up her sleeve that even we don’t know about yet. Of course, with this show, anything can happen.”

That’s the best we were able to get from Trachtenberg. Even our most wily interviewing trickery wasn’t enough to make Trachtenberg sing like a canary about the answer that is Dawn Summers. But at least she knows how we feel. A die-hard Buffy fan herself since the show’s premiere, she’s weathered the storms of mystery within the Buffyverse just as we all have. Now she’s lucky enough to find herself smack in the middle of one, and not even her best friends are privy to any info she might possess.
    “When I signed on to play Dawn, they kept asking, ‘What’s your character about? Who’s she? What’s going on? What’s happening next week?” Trachtenberg says. “But they got sick of it when I would always be tight-lipped.”
    Other than the fact that she portrays a living being of energy, Trachtenberg is just your average teenage girl – talented, articulate and eager to learn, yet also a fan of shopping, Enrique Iglesias and Harry Potter. She’s already an acting veteran who’s been in the business since the age of three, with credits ranging from a starring role in the movie Harriet the Spy to the big-budget flick Inspector Gadget. And though it may seem like lips were sewn together for our interview to prevent any unexpected surprises from slipping out, she actually had plenty to say about her character and her evolving career.

How did you get the part? Were you approached by Buffy or did you just go in to audition?
I went in to audition. I heard about it through my agent. I had been a huge fan of Buffy since day one. I’d worked with Sarah Michelle Gellar before, so that added to my love of Buffy. Before I even knew about Dawn she’d invited me to come visit the set. It was just amazing. You walk on the set and you get to see how everything works – “Oh, I understand. It doesn’t really glow. You have a button underneath.” I auditioned and I guess they loved what I did, because I’m talking about it now.

What was it like being such a huge fan of the show and then becoming part of it?
It was incredible! When I got my first script I was like, “I know what’s gonna happen before you do.” I could walk on the soundstage and be like, “My character has her own bedroom.” It was very surreal.

I can imagine. And it must be exciting to be a part of such a huge mystery on the show, something that really gets the fans talking.
I know! I love it. Whenever a new character comes on to a show, you always have a meeting before the season, just to talk about who your character is and what she’s about. This meeting didn’t have a whole lot of that. They were like, “Well, she’s a key. She’s energy. Bad people are after her. Right now, we don’t know very much about her, but let’s have fun.”

So you’re a key, your Buffy’s sister, you’ve been created from energy. That’s all you know. How do you approach building a character out of that?
The main thing they said was that Dawn was all of these things, but she’s human. Certain people made me into human form, but the main idea I based my character around was that Dawn doesn’t know this. Dawn assumes that for the 14 years of her life, she’s been Buffy’s sister. I can relate to  that; I’ve been a sister all my life. She’s really just a normal teenager, except that Dawn is a bit more outgoing and a little bit more talkative. She’s got more guts. But she has her crushes; she has her diaries. She doesn’t know what’s going on inside her.

What’s it like playing Sarah Michelle Gellar’s sister? You mentioned that you’ve been friends with her for a while.
I love Sarah! We worked together on All My Children. I have a big sister myself, but she was always my big sister on set, and she’s always been incredibly professional, smart and talented. Nothing has changed. She’s only perfected what she already possessed. I think she’s just a beautiful person.

It seems like you’re really into the acting thing for the long haul. Is this something you’d like to do with your life?
It’s something I definitely love to do. I love being in front of the cameras. Acting is my passion. I wanted to start that slow rise from childhood roles to more adult roles, and Buffy was my favourite show. I could be Little Miss Buffy Encyclopaedia. I was in the writers room the other day and they had the Buffy trading cards. I started rifling through them, and I could name each and every episode! Buffy is such an incredible show, and I give a lot of credit to the writers. They have to keep the same basic characters, and every week is like a new movie.

What were some of your favourite episodes before you joined the show?
Oh, ‘Hush.’ First of all, how creative was that, to do a show that was almost completely silent? It was still so incredibly effective. And those scary Gentlemen people just frightened me! They were still able to stick in the funny parts, like when they buy the wipe boards and write, “Hi Giles!” See? I know my Buffy!