Could you give me a brief history of your acting experience please.
I've been performing on the Seacoast for about two years currently.
How did you get involved in the Players' Ring?
I got cast in 'Alice in Wonderland' which opened in May '07. It was the first show I did on the seacoast and I made several excellent contacts through my experience with it.
How does the Players' Ring differ from other theatres that you have performed at?
The only other venue I've performed at is the Mill Pond Center in Durham. It's different from other theatres in Portsmouth and the surrounding communities in that it gives local playwrights an opportunity to put their shows on stage in a way that no other theatres currently offer. It's also a way for local companies to put on established pieces that you wouldn't otherwise see. A good example of that being "The Pain and the Itch", which isn't the kind of mainstream entertainment that might find its way into a bigger theatre's schedule. All told, the Ring is one of the friendliest venues for local actors and writers to see their pieces onstage.
You play Cash (in The Pain and the Itch) - a distraught brother, over-involved brother-in-law, personal care physician for your (potentially) abused niece, what aspects of that character are you? What aspects were the hardest to play convincingly?
Cash is someone who says exactly what's on his mind at any given moment. He's incapable of bullshit which makes him the polar opposite of his brother, Clay. He's a fun character to play because he's so unaffected and brutally honest with everyone...which is certainly something that few of us are in our day to day lives, so it's definitely enjoyable to be able to let go of one's natural inhibitions and just say the kind of horrible things we'd otherwise censor. I would say the hardest thing to play convincingly in a character such as that would be making him be more than just a prick who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Making him in some small way someone you the audience member can identify with and perhaps see some unsavory aspect of yourself in. I think in their way Cash and Kalina are the most honest people in the show because of how they are incapable of not telling it how they see it; ironically a trait in them that I think leads them into the conflicts they have with one another.
There are some terrifically uncomfortable scenes in TPATI, how does doing it in a theatre that holds fewer than affect your performance? Has anyone ever gotten vocal in the audience? I know it was hard for me on occasion not to yell something at someone who was being particularly aggravating in their character and I'm pretty laid back.
The best aspect of the Ring is the intimacy between the audience and the actors onstage and in a show like this that’s even more apparent than normal. It makes for a much more intense experience for the audience because there's no comfortable distance between the ugliness and them. As an actor you can really feed off the energy of the crowd in a small space like that. You don't find too many audience members being vocally disruptive but every once in awhile someone will make comments out loud that can be distracting but you just have to plow through during moments like that and they typically don't last long.
What is the role of community theatre?
I think the role of community theatre is basically what I said in describing the great qualities of the Players Ring. Namely giving local artists the opportunity to practice their craft be it performing, writing, directing, etc. Also to give audiences the chance to see works performed that they might otherwise not get the chance to see.
How can folks who are interested in acting take the first step in a town like Portsmouth to get involved?
I would say to anyone who wants to get involved to scan the local papers for audition notices. "The Wire" and the "Spotlight" both tend to have current listings for auditions and keep them updated regularly. The Players Ring also holds an annual cattle call audition in July for their upcoming season which is a great opportunity for someone to get noticed and put their face out there.
Future plans, productions, etc.?
I'm currently involved in two more shows this season at the Ring. Polish Joke by David Ives in late January and Play Ball, a locally written baseball themed vaudeville style production that's at the end of April.
