Kevin Marshall's America
Me as "Jack Worthing" (left) with Chris Kowalski as "Algernon Moncrieff". Promotional shot for The Importance of Being Earnest. (credit: Confetti Stage)
Hey folks!
Once again, your favorite male blogger under 30 (not your favorite blogger under 30 – we all know that’s Amanda Talar and FINE WHATEVER) is once again appearing in the local papers, and no, not in the police blotter.
Freelance writer and frequent Times Union contributor Michael Eck wrote a story for the Confetti Stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest, which opens this Friday. You can read the article – which includes quotes from myself and co-star Vivian Hwang – here.
A snippet:
Actors Kevin Marshall and Vivian Hwang, who respectively play the “Bunburying” bachelor Jack Worthing and Worthing’s ward, Miss Emily Cardew, in Confetti Stage’s new production of the play, are both serious people.
Marshall, a Confetti regular, in fact, says that if his portrayal doesn’t match his own high standards he’ll stop acting; and Hwang, a grad student in psychology at the University at Albany, is using elements of the play in her research.
“This play is more than just a performance for me,” Marshall says. “I feel I’m at a make-or-break point in terms of my acting. Not so much as a career, since I don’t think that’s likely to ever happen, but as an artist.
“In that sense, it’s a very personal project for me. It’s me saying, ‘Here I am, and here’s how I’ve grown as a performer in the last year and a half.’ I hope to God I don’t disappoint the audience or myself, because — and I say this with all seriousness — if I feel my performances are not up to a high standard and that I have not improved since my last full-length performance with Confetti Stage (in Wendy MacLeod’s ‘The House of Yes’), this will be my final performance as an actor.”
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=930419#ixzz0npO2JWJ5
If I could take back anything I said in the article, it’d be in calling myself an artist. I cringed when I read that.
To be honest, I have a really hard time justifying calling any actor an artist, let alone yours truly. Artists create. What actors do is perform and interpret, which I feel is slightly different. It’s sort of like calling a ballet performer in a production of Swan Lake an artist. I think Tchaikovsky is an artist for composing it, and I think the director has the opportunity as an artist to shape it in his own vision. The dancer is simply executing his/her craft as close to perfection as possible while helping to fulfill the vision of the real artists involved. There’s an argument to be made to the contrary, I won’t deny it; and you might be right. I just don’t think that’s the case.
As far as “I’ll quit acting if I suck” (paraphrased), I mean it. If I’m not up to snuff during this run, I’m done. Not doing it again.
For what it’s worth, the last week has seen great strides, and I don’t think I’ll end up being at a point where I need to follow through on this. But I put far too much work into this character for me to accept anything resembling mediocrity or worse. Some of my peers in the local theatrical community have chastised me for my words and inferred – if not outright accused – me of not having a love or passion for, since I’m willing to just up and quit if I don’t like how things went.
That, however, is a woeful misread of my words and intentions.
Here’s the thing: I do love acting. It’s a fantastic creative outlet, and I admire people who do it for a living. However, I steadfastly refuse to be one of those people that does anything half-assed. If I’m going to put something out, I want it to be good. Not just “the best that I can do,” but good to great.
It’s just how my strange mind works. If I’m doing something, I need to know that I’m actually good at it or at the very least making improvements in order to continue with it. If I’m at a point where I’m obviously treading water or I’ve plateaued, then I’m not going to waste my or a potential audience’s time. I refuse to be that guy who’s acted for twenty or thirty years and isn’t as good as the bored kid that comes off the street.
I can have passion for a craft or art like I do for a woman. But if I don’t know how to apply it correctly and effectively, then what good does that do either of us?
Anyway, go see The Importance of Being Earnest. It’s funny and great, promise. Get more info HERE. Students & Seniors are only $10, or $8 if purchased online!
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12 Responses to Interview with Yours Truly & Why I Would Quit Acting
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STALK ME
Kevin,
Actors are, in my opinion, artists. I don’t think you were wrong to use that word. While I understand what you mean about interpretation, ideally, each time someone plays a character, they create a new way of doing it, bringing their own unique aspects and touches to it. Creation is artistry, in and of itself.
I don’t believe you should walk away from acting if it doesn’t hold up to your standards, but that’s your call. The stage is something you should be on because you enjoy it, and unless it’s a nepotistic production, which I sincerely doubt, you got the part because the casting director saw talent in you. Sometimes bad acting is nothing more than simple incompatibility in a role. It doesn’t mean that you are never going to be up to par. However, it is your call, so ultimately, I will sit on my hands and hope that you rock out the part in your own mind so that I can come see another production.
Break a leg, dude!
I liked your quote in Mike Eck’s story:
“He was a passive-aggressive warrior and a hedonistic martyr; a truly complicated individual so rich in character and yet so tragic in treatment.”
Were you referring to Oscar Wilde or Rob Madeo?
Break a leg, my man, break a leg.
I really do hope it goes well for you and you are up to your own standards. I’m sure you will be fine!
As far as breaking a leg?…um, that’s quite painful, maybe I’ll say, break a finger…it hurts less!
Nice job!! Good luck.
Mike, I’d gladly cop to that characterization. It certainly beats “abhorrent show-off.”
Ernest, my own Ernest!
I think you should be proud of what you’ve done in this show; I’m especially impressed with the work you’ve put in the past week or so. And now that we’ve figured out the whole ‘nauseatingly romantic’ thing, I’m thinking that tonight, and the whole run, is going to be great!
I admit I’d miss working with you if you were to stop acting, and that’s me being selfish. It’s also valid, as you were working with me in one of my first bouts back to the stage last year. Plus you crack me up back stage with impromptu dance parties, and the strange faces you give me when I’m trying to do your make-up.
I know that you guys will be great, no matter what! Just make sure you don’t call Vivian Emily, because she may not answer you. ;)
Thanks, Kari (did make-up & hair for the show) & KatieBucks (co-star and romantic lead)!
Mike & Rob – Basically, everything I said in that article and all motivation in my performance stems from the Man of a Certain Age. Really, I’m playing Rob Madeo up there. Particularly the scene where I’m exposed as being the author of the inflammatory self-published periodical called “Manchester Monocle.”
Good Luck. Will be there on Thursday.
Why cringe for calling yourself an artist? Acting is art!
The end goal of all art is empathy. A connection being formed between the work and those that experience it. The actor gives words on a page a face, a voice, and to a grander extent, desires and the emotional consequences of those desires. In my opinion, they are just as much part of the medium of theater as Oscar Wilde’s pen and paper, because they can engage the audience in ways that words cannot. I believe Wilde himself realized this, as there are numerous moments in the script where he gives the actors a lot of leeway to make the scene their own. In fact, there are a lot of scenes that you have made your own, both in this show and in The House of Yes that people would be unable to see from anybody else. You find such humor in even the smallest things, and it’s all honest humor that comes from a real place. Therefor, to borrow a phrase for a moment, I will simply end with: “GOOD ACTIN’!”
After last nights performance, I’m hoping you don’t feel it necessary to quit. You turned in a great one!