Saturday, August 28, 2010

I had an interesting day this fine, cool, late-August Saturday in Seattle. I got up at 6:30 to caffeinate, wash and shave in time to arrive at Seattle University by 9:00, fresh as a daisy and ready for my makeup call. The following three hours, I was the recipient of the gentle ministrations of Harmony and Annie, makeup and costume sorceresses weaving their dark magic upon me and three hours later, I emerged reborn… as The Devil.

I was privileged to be asked to play the Prince of Darkness by the miraculous Waxie Moon and by Wes Hurley, the director of Waxie’s new film, Fallen Jewel which, I think, is scheduled to premiere next Spring.

This past June, I got to play Sweeney Todd for five minutes when Captain Smartypants and Sensible Shoes presented… Sweeney Todd in Five Minutes as part of Seattle Men’s Chorus’ 30th Anniversary production, Glitter and Be Gay.

While both parts had a rather high tongue-in-cheek factor, there’s no escaping that I may be emerging as a “type,” namely, “evil.”

I’m actually kind of honored to be considered theatrically evil, particularly since I’m reportedly a rather pleasant person, albeit occasionally peevish—curmudgeonly perhaps—but essentially a good guy… I hope.

I don’t care if a lot of people like me or not—I don’t need that kind of attention—but I don’t feel uncomfortable in the spotlight. I generally feel more at home on stage than off, and I want to do a good job and I want the audience to enjoy what I do, but I really don’t like notoriety, recognition on the street, people looking at me through the lens of a character they saw me play…

Also, I don’t believe in a supernatural force of evil. People all have the potential to do bad, even horrible things, and you could say that some people get into a rut of doing bad things, and you could call them “evildoers” (a word I like which also, regrettably, reminds me of George W. Bush) but there is no such thing as an evil force like a devil or monster.

People do evil things, but evil doesn’t exist beyond them… brutality in nature is plentiful, but evil, IMHO, is a human construct… and hella fun to play on stage…

For instance, here’s the Devil’s enormous penis…