Winning the 1998 Miss America title was a coup for Kate Shindle, but the singer-actress has made it her mission not to become a "professional Miss America." Since graduating from Northwestern University in 1999, the New Jersey native, 26, has ventured to Broadway (in Jekyll & Hyde and Cabaret) and will make her big-screen debut opposite Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler and Faith Hill in the comedic remake of The Stepford Wives (set for release next summer).

Along with acting and singing (she recorded a solo album last year), her other passion is AIDS activism. On Dec. 1, Shindle and some Broadway friends (including Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Jai Rodriguez, a former Rent star) will perform a benefit version of the Biblical musical Children of Eden in New York City, an event she helped organize to commemorate World AIDS Day.

Recently over lunch at one of Manhattan's swankest family restaurants – okay, The Olive Garden – Shindle told PEOPLE.com about her busy life.

Why did you become an AIDS activist?
The issue kind of leap-frogged to the front of my consciousness when I got to college. I had never come into contact with it before, and then a family friend was diagnosed about halfway through my freshman year with full-blown AIDS. It just became something that I felt an instinct to help with. So I started researching and volunteering and getting more involved.

And why did you decide to do a benefit performance of "Children of Eden," which you're coproducing?
I did the musical the summer after I graduated from college and just fell in love with it. But honestly, I would like for it to raise a ton of money. That's my biggest goal. Sponsors have come on board and said, "We'll give you some of the money we would have otherwise given to an AIDS organization."

Tell me about getting the "Stepford Wives" role. Did you have to jump through hoops to get it?
I'd say it was one of the more painless auditions I've been through. I'm used to going in for a lot of Broadway shows where you audition for a small role four or five times. With Stepford it wasn't like that at all. I went in, I auditioned, I had a call back and then a month later they hired me.