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There's no doubt that's Kathy Somssich on the stage — till she opens her mouth. After a moment's doubt, the surety is back, along with the conviction this woman can act, because there's no way in Hades the real Somssich would spew her character's rhetoric unless her innards had pulled an "Exorcist-"style spin.

As the everyday voter "mom" in New Hampshire Theatre Project's "Primary Primary," Somssich's character all but swallows her tongue when her daughter admits to being an activist and her son to being a homosexual. Those topics would certainly get the real Somssich's tongue waggin', but the take would likely be diametrically opposed to "mom's."

Somssich let's folks know where she stands on lots of topics, notably of a political nature, on her weekly "Wake Up AMerica," a WSCA political talk show she does along with three like-minded liberal leaning co-hosts.

As for her character's politics, Somssich says with a laugh. "She's different all right. But that's nothing new. I've played Oedipus mother and wife Jocasta and that's another experience I've never experienced in my life. As an actor it's fun to step into someone else's shoes. And I would have to say as actors it's our job as to make this an entertaining and funny play and we can't let the political views get in the way of the humor."

While she's working against political type, so are many of the play's performers. Most the characters are stereotypes. The point is humor, not a political stance. The play takes on the New Hampshire primary, outrageous politicians, composites of some familiar ones, and the average citizen dealing with the onslaught of media, advertisements, appeals and the politician themselves.

"We can't take our politics too serious doing this play. So we're going for laughs in a big way," she says. "There are so many times we can't keep a straight face. We break up in the middle of scenes and have to take time to calm down and get back to work. We've been rehearsing a month and we — I — am still cracking up, at the lines, situations and characters."

But there are political points the play does intend. It's of course a celebration of New Hampshire's unique process. But its larger message is get out and vote. "I really believe in that and that's the message of this play."

It's also something that comes up in her other public guise, as co-host of "Wake Up AMerica."

"The serious (political) discussions are saved for the show," she says. The day of the interview the hosts — Somssich, Nancy Beach and Meg Middleton and their oft-heard engineer Brian Bawter — had discussed Blackwater mercenaries and the state of Iraq. She's recently interviewed Congressman David Bonier, a Michigan congressman and now the national chairman of the Edwards for president campaign. "How awesome is that!"

They do get serious. They also get silly. When things get really tense they're apt to take a turn. "We'll get silly and we'll laugh. It's a unique program;" which may be why XM satellite radio has picked up the show for its new election-year station, POTUS, which stands for President of the United States.

The company's president called a few months back to ask if they'd be interested. They agreed, after making sure someone wasn't pulling their leg. The show went national Jan. 1, 6 p.m., (rebroadcast at 11 p.m). The group will continue with its community radio program as well.

The way the women work is each studies separately over the week, selecting topics of interest. They e-mail one another with ideas, then hit the studio at 6:45 armed with hot topics. "Then we try to wake each other up and get into the studio and then we'll go from topic to topic and in any direction. We'll get silly, talk about family, chat about what we cooked for Thanksgiving, then get back on to politics."

The first half hour or so focuses on local politics. The second hour is almost exclusively national and international, and is podcast. The only difference between the WSCA and POTUS show is the later will be all national and international issues.

Somssich is not a native, but hails from Long Beach, Calif., where she attended California State University. "But I didn't finish. ...; It's a long complicated story," she says. "I had just decided after two years let's do something different. I was 19 at the time." Part of the long tale includes moving to Germany and staying for 12 years, where she attended the University of Heidelberg, and received a degree in German literature.

When she returned home, she did so with a husband, another American she met there, and their two children. They moved to New Hampshire in 1983. She moved to Portsmouth six years ago from the Manchester area, where she'd started her acting career. Somssich has won numerous awards from the New Hampshire Community Theatre Association for those earlier years.

She met NHTP's Blair Hundertmark while working the Palace. He'd be the first to bring her to the Seacoast area, with "Frank & Johnny in the Clair De Lune" at the Mill Pond Center's Durham Center Stage 11 years ago. While continuing to work at Manchester's Palace Theater and other theater's north of here, she started to branch out on the Seacoast, racking up credits with Seacoast Repertory Theatre, most recently in "To Kill A Mockingbird," and with the NHTP productions.

By the time she arrived on the Seacoast she had a number of theater contacts — Billy Butler; Hundertmark; and Genevieve Aichele, NHTP's founder and director. Work with Butler in "Death of a Salesman" at the Rep led her to Bill Humphreys. That led to a role in one of BBTFilms movie projects. She's also done TV and voice-over work, throughout New Hampshire.

And throughout it all she's been a political beast. "Primary Primary" brings them both together, in a most unexpected, and pleasant way.

"I am thrilled to be involved with this project because it's a real celebration of the New Hampshire primary. And you know what, having grown up in California where you don't get this kind of exposure to the candidates, it matters. I heard George McGovern speak surrounded by thousands and thousands of people. But here in New Hampshire you can meet with these candidates in a living room. I did! You don't get that exposure elsewhere."

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