Chauncy Thomas has flipped the script on being a working actor in St. Louis – let alone a professional African-American actor in St. Louis.
Thomas – who plays no less than six roles in Shakespeare Festival St. Louis’ summer production in Forest Park – has been trying to move to New York for the past three years. The problem is he keeps getting too much work as an actor in St. Louis to get out of town.
“I’ve been a nomad,” Thomas said, before rehearsing a Shakespeare swordfight scene recently at the MX Building downtown. “I moved to New York, then I got a show here. Then I got a show in Milwaukee. Then I moved to New York. Then I got a show here!”
Thomas is in the enviable position of getting too much work in the Midwest to actually move to a major industry city to pursue the proverbial career blowup. Being a black actor from Peoria who studied theater (at Washington University) in the Midwestern city that hubs the Black Rep has made the difference.
“I have been fortunate in that a lot of people have been familiar with my work through the Black Rep,” Thomas said. “I got a lot of work. I didn’t really need a day job.”
He also didn’t need an agent in St. Louis or (in many instances) need to audition. These are hard industry realities he will have to sort out after he wraps his six Shakespearean roles on June 15.
“Before I can get an agent, I need to get my auditions together,” Thomas said. “I haven’t needed to do monologues in St. Louis, and that’s a skill, like a muscle, you need to keep worked out.”
In the meantime, he also needs to work out six small roles, lines of 400-year-old British dialogue and some archaic swordplay. Shakespeare Festival St. Louis has made the bold move for its 2014 season of staging three of Shakespeare’s history plays in one brief run: “Henry IV” (parts one and two, staged as a single work, directed by Tim Ocel) and “Henry V” (directed by Bruce Longworth).
Of his six small roles, Thomas first came to grips with Sir Richard Vernon, a rebellious noble in “Henry IV,” which opens May 17. “Some actors work from the head, some work from the heart,” Thomas said. “I work from the head, and I understand Sir Richard Vernon. He is an English noble whose choices are based on what’s best for England.”
However, by the time “Henry V” opens on May 24, Thomas expects his favorite part for the theatrical run will be Williams, a soldier in “Henry V.”
“Williams is a common man, and King Henry V said, ‘We are going to war,’ so he is going to war,” Thomas said. “It’s the night before the battle, and we’re badly outnumbered. He is still doing his duty knowing he is walking into death. It’s taking me some time to fully embrace that character.”
It’s the death thing that is throwing Thomas off. He has never felt near death. “Unless you have experienced something similar, it’s difficult to do it on stage,” he said.
Thomas is not concerned about dying – in the theatrical sense – on stage in Forest Park this summer or after he moves to New York (provided, of course, another local role does not keep him here again).
“New York is just something I need to try,” Thomas said. “Worst case scenario is I fail miserably and end up back in St. Louis. I’d still be thrilled with my life.”
For more information and a complete schedule of the production, which runs 8 p.m. every night (except Tuesday) from May 17 to June 15, visit http://www.sfstl.com/.
