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“Orange is the New Black” cast ditch their prison garb for PaleyFest panel

While their wardrobe on their television series may be restricted to mostly orange prison garb, the ladies of Netflix’s hit series Orange is the New Black cleaned up very nice this past weekend.

The series, which drops all episodes of Season 2 on June 6, was celebrated at PaleyFest 2014, the annual television festival held by the Paley Center For Media and all of your favorites from the show were present at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood for the lovefest.

However, the lovefest wasn’t only between the audience of fans but between the actors and series creator Jenji Kohan, who admitted there may have been some early concern about so many women working together. “You get a bunch of women together and, ya know, it’s going to be a bitchfest…and it’s not true.”

Laura Prepon, who, as inmate Alex spent most of the first season trying to win back her former lover, Piper (Taylor Schilling), only to lose her again in the season finale, explained, “I grew up hanging out with mostly a bunch of guys and when I first got the show they said, ‘What are you going to do with all those women?’ ‘I don’t know?’ Everybody is so amazing and we have so much fun and it’s so supportive.”

The actress also gushed, “I love these girls, I love Jenji and the story. My character is such a bad ass…” Prepon also said that she was overwhelmed when the fans cried out when it initially seemed like she wouldn’t be in every episode of the second season. “When there was a bit of scheduling conflict, the love that I got from the fans was really, really amazing.”

What else was amazing for Prepon? Working with co-star and on-screen love interest Schilling, who made it easy when the actresses started working together on the show wearing very little clothing. “The first scene we had to do was the shower scene,” Prepon said. “We were like ‘Good to see you again, let’s get naked.’ I remember after we did that scene, we did a take of it, and Taylor looks at me and said, ‘Girl, thank God it was you.’ And I said, ‘Girl, thank God it was you.’ So comfortable, so much chemistry and it’s great.”

As for the sexuality on the show, Kohan almost seemed surprised that it’s a talking point. “It’s not confronted,” she explained of how she approaches the subject in the series. “That’s the whole point. It’s natural, it’s normative, it’s presented as something that’s part of everyone’s life. It’s not the very special episode about the transgender character. It’s normalizing the conversation.”

Yael Stone, whose character, Lorna, had a sexual affair with Natasha Lyonne‘s Nicky in the first season, explained that the relationships on the show go much deeper than the surface and reflects the way the women work together. “It’s a beautiful story about comfort, about connection,” said the Aussie actress. “That’s really what’s happening for us personally and for our characters and I think that’s a really beautiful part of the story that people are coming together because that’s what humans need, oddly enough.”

Speaking of the group of people you connect with in prison, Stone also said, “You’re locked away, you search for a family, you create a family, you find a mother [nods to Kate Mulgrew, who plays mother-like character, Red], you need that.” Mulgrew added, with a mischievous grin, “The mother doesn’t have a lot of sex.”

Alongside the lesbian love affair between Prepon and Schilling’s characters, the series also features a transgender character in Sophia, played by transgender actress Laverne Cox, who said you just need to listen to the audience to know what they want to see. “So many networks are just terrified to take any kind of risk especially because of wonderful places like Netflix where people can go and watch TV differently,” she said. “Being at a place like Netflix is like ‘Let’s try it! This is cool!’ It’s a crazy thing in this business but listen to the people, listen to what the folks want.”

And while Cox talked about the show starting a conversation for the trans community, Lea DeLaria, who plays Big Boo on the series, said OITNB has done the same for the butch community. “I can’t believe what’s happened for me in my life,” the actress/comedian explained. “I’ve been this out person for a long time but usually when a 16-year old boy walks up to me on the street it’s to spit in my face and call me ‘dyke.’ Now, it’s to hug me and tell me how much he loves Orange Is The New Black.”

DeLaria added that, to this date, she’s also signed 44 screwdrivers based on the actions of her character in the show. (And, yes, she did question why people are walking around carrying screwdrivers!).

Noting that the majority of the panelists were women, the question arose about the diversity in the cast and Schilling said, “”Every time I hear this questions asked, and it’s come up more and more, it’s because of you. You decided to write this,” the actress said, gesturing to Kohan. “All of this stuff was in your brain at one point, which is pretty remarkable. To bring a book to an audience is pretty wild.”

That said, of the diversity issue and the question still coming up, Kohan, who is not gay but is the sister of television producer David Kohan (Will & Grace), asked, “Why is this such an anomaly? These are great stories and great characters and great women…?”

Prepon commended Netflix for being wise enough to see the opportunity for bringing something different to a television series. “People were scared to go there and do the things that we’ve done on the show,” she said, “and it’s awesome and from the audience response we see now that you guys are ready for this. And I think some people are scared to go there but we’re proving, no, people want this type of show.”

Danielle Brooks, who plays Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson, shared that she thinks the show has connected with the audience because it reflects back on them. “It’s also about telling honest, truthful stories,” she said. “There are women out there who are like Taystee and that, to me, is telling a true story and giving voice to those who do not have a voice and I think that’s what we’re doing.

The second season of Orange is the New Black returns June 6 on Netflix.

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