Alum Rachel Addington is ‘Elizabeth G.’ on ‘Severance’

Dan Erickson isn’t the only WWU alum on the set of “Severance.”

Rachel Addington, ’12, B.A., theatre, plays the role of Elizabeth G., whose “severed” innie wears Lumon’s signature blue lab coat in the company’s Optics and Design Department.

“We print things on 3D printers. We don’t know why we’re doing it, or what we’re doing,” she says. “But the work is very mysterious and important.”

Most of Addington’s work was in the first season of Severance, but she also appeared in one episode of the second season. Most recently, Elizabeth G. was seen holding a tray of what looked like dental equipment. Not that Addington knew what all those scary-looking, pointy things were going to be used for.

“I only receive the scenes that I’m in that day, so my knowledge of the scripts is very limited,” she says. “I get to see behind the scenes and how certain things are made, but the main journey for me is very much with the audience: completely in the dark.”

“Severance” is Addington’s biggest acting role yet, after years of work in plays, commercials, small movies and modeling — and hustling many other jobs to pay the bills. Her favorite non-acting job was hosting game nights in people’s homes.

Her journey to a spot on one of the hottest TV shows of the year started in 2011, when she was part of an ensemble of WWU theatre students traveling to New York and England and performing a series of short plays, including one by recent WWU alum Dan Erickson called “Sinatra’s Ocean.” She met Erickson in New York at the performance, reconnected with him a few years later when she lived in Los Angeles, and they have been friends ever since.

“He actually introduced me to my fiancée,” she says.

Addington auditioned for three different characters on “Severance,” before landing in the role of Elizabeth G. Erickson had put in a good word for her, she says.

“I think it really helped, like everything in this industry, having an in — but then also having the skills to back it up,” she says. “So once you get your foot in the door, you can kick it open the rest of the way.”

And like other WWU theatre alums who worked with Erickson, she’s enjoyed watching her old friend’s growing success.

“He’s so stinking talented and just such a good person,” she says. “It’s been really fun to see something incredible happen for someone like that.”

Addington hopes there will be a place for her and Elizabeth G. in a potential third season of “Severance.”

But she won’t have to wait that long to see Erickson again: He’ll be officiating at her wedding this summer.