Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company

Interviewed by Nathan Hollabaugh - March 26, 2009

Actor Kevin Brown recently returned to Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co. to perform in I Nipoti, the third installment in Mark Clayton Southers’ "Culture Clash" series. Audiences enjoyed Kevin’s portrayal of character Obadiah Fields, the elderly roommate at the senior care home where the story takes place. Kevin previously performed at PPTCO in 2006 in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson (as Whining Boy). Other theater credits include Flight (City Theatre), Lost in the Stars and Carmen Jones (Opera Theater of Pittsburgh), Get Ready (New Horizon Theater), Sing Black Hammer (Kuntu Repertory Theater), and Christmas is Comin’ Uptown (A.C.T.A.). Kevin dedicated his performance in I Nipoti to his father, Alphonza Brown, who has, as Kevin says, “provided me with all my character study for Obadiah”.

Tell us about your character in “I Nipoti”.

Oh, wow. My character Obadiah Fields.

Yes.

Seventy-year-old, something-year-old man who’s very feisty, streetwise. Some book knowledge, but a lot of horse-sense. A lover of life, I think, and he just sees all the injustices in the world and he tries to change them from his vantage point or the way he sees it in terms of racial issues, or all the “-isms” that exist in this culture today. So that’s- that’s pretty much Obadiah. I think that some of the, uhm, some of the dialogue would also represent that he himself feels that, all his friends and family are gone, so everybody has pretty much forgot about him, so he’s ready just to, just leave and become a memory, uh, so to speak. So, he’s in the winter years of his life, and just, I see him as a very fun-loving kind of guy who’s had an awesome life. Yeah.

So how did you approach the role of Obadiah in “I Nipoti”? Or, what particular things did you do to prepare for the part?

Well, first of all I tried to attack the age difference. Being somewhat in my- AHEM! [mutters] –fifties, umm, and I’m playing a seventy-year-old man, I said, “I’m much, much too young to do this.” But what a stretch. I studied older people, older men. And I had a good example of my father, who just turned eighty-eight years of age, who happens to be a bowler, also. [Those who haven’t seen the play should note that Obadiah Fields is an avid bowler.] I didn’t even know what the “seven-ten split” was, and I talked to my pops and he told me what that was all about. So I watched him, I watched his mannerisms and the way that he moved, the way that he talked, the way that he expressed himself, and I said, “You know what? I don’t have to go to a nursing home, I don’t have to look at anybody else, this guy right here is Obadiah Fields!” He’s very funny, he’s got little witty lines, and sometimes, on occasion, I’ll add a little something in there - [smirks] not that the playwright didn’t write the play perfectly, as it is – but, you know, I see some of that flavor, is attributed to my dad’s attitude, personality, and character. So, that’s how I pretty much approached it, just by studying, and looking at my dad and, um, that’s it. Yeah.

How did you first get into acting?

Oh my goodness. [chuckles] Ha-hah! I was watching the- well first of all I sucked at playin’ basketball, and everybody else in the neighborhood, uh, where I grew-up in played basketball or softball. Wasn’t very athletic, but I used to love “The Donna Reed Show”. And the guy who played Donna Reed’s son was coming to Pittsburgh looking for aspiring actors, and my grandmother would take me to church with her and I would sing in church. And that was a direct, I guess, move from singing to acting – any career within the arts. And, they said, “Come on down!” I think it was at the Hilton Hotel, downtown. So my mom took me down, and once she found out that I needed headshots, I needed all these things to pursue acting, it was too expensive for a family of nine kids, so she said, “You better play basketball, or learn how to play basketball better.” And,uh- But I wanted to do it, there’s a little chip in my head that causes me to want to do it. And, uh, bein’ from a large family, I would write little stories and direct my brothers and sisters to act-out these characters that I had created. So that’s really how I got started. Yeah.

You said you have nine brothers and sisters?

I’ve got eight, plus myself is “nine”.

Where do you fall in the mix? Are you one of the oldest? One of the youngest?

I’m number six. Yeah, I’m number six.

What do you love about acting?

Ohhh, I love the opportunity to tell stories, first of all. I-I think that being creative is the closest thing to being God-like, because God is “The Creator”, and to be able to, uh, tell stories and also to stretch myself and become someone other than who I am, it’s a great escape. Also, for me – people don’t believe this – I’m an extremely shy person, and for me to get out in front of a group of people and perform – it’s therapeutic for me to be able do that. To be just naked and raw and, and expose myself like that – it’s-it’s real good therapy for me. So, uh, yeah, that’s pretty much that.

What do you hate about acting?

Really to be honest, I hate [chuckling] the rehearsal process! And I hate the fact that sometimes performing can be like a jealous girlfriend. It takes up every other aspect of your life: your social life goes to $#!T, your house goes to $#!T – everything around you just crumbles while you try to prepare for this. You know, at my job, I’ve got a stack of work that needs to be completed by the end of the month, but, uh, because I’ve dedicated it to my performances, um, everything else pretty much suffers. I don’t see family and friends – hey, when the show’s over, I can see you. But right now I really don’t have the time. So, that’s what I hate about it.

Who, uh-

That was a good question.

Thank you.

I liked that. [laughs]

Who do you, as an actor, admire? And why?

I admire Jeffrey Wright. I love Jeffrey Wright. Because Jeffrey Wright played Martin Luther King [in Boycott], then he turned around and played a homosexual [in the HBO miniseries Angels in America], then he turned around and played a pimp in, uh, [trying to remember] one movie I saw him in. I didn’t- I wanted to- I didn’t have the opportunity to see him in Top Dog/Underdog [on Broadway] which I knew he was awesome in, but I just, I just like his, his depth. I also like and I admire Denzel Washington, who’s one of my favorites, and people tell me I walk like him, um, so- [bursts out laughing]

Which has you walking even more on the clouds, right?

[still laughing] Yeah! Yeah-yeah-yeah-right-right-right! Um, so those are probably my two heroes that I admire, um-

Who inspires you?

Who inspires me? To perform? Or-

Creatively.

Creatively? Oh wow, that’s a good question: Who inspires me creatively?

Creatively, in your craft. In YOUR craft.

OK. I think, um- just, um, the whole idea of being, of living, and being a human, who is – being a human being, not a human doing – but it’s, it’s sometimes difficult being human. And as I watch other human beings, as they are being human, it may be different from who I am, or what I am. I look at those human beings who are of different levels of life, who have more, who have less, who are maybe on the same level as myself. I’m a nurturer, I believe, and when I see those who have less than I, it inspires me to, to want to do better, to want to be more creative and find ways to help. To elevate that- that whole thing of “man’s inhumanity towards man”. If, you know, if we can stop being so inhumane to one another, that’s what gets me and helps me to develop my craft. Because the theater is one place where you can go where you just never know who’s coming into the room and what they might have gone through. You can touch people’s lives. You watch a movie, it may be awe-inspiring, but [in theatre] it’s different every time live. Whatever happens, you know, if you fudge a line, you’ve just gotta muddle through it and make it happen. So, it’s life itself that inspires me to wanna- because, creatively, acting is imitating life, so all those things that are around me that have me going pretty much inspire me to do what it is I do on stage. I know that- did that make any sense? [laughs]

No, no! No, that made sense.

Okay. [chuckling]

That made sense. Yeah.

I’d like to read that back . . . I know that when I first started there were some people who were very instrumental in getting me started, because, I didn’t really know- I started out as a singer, and Elva Jean Branson, who was the chairperson for New Horizon Theater, she saw me singing and asked me to join New Horizon Theater. I became a board member, and then I did- my first play was Home, and uh-

By who?

Ohh, [trying to remember] gosh, that’s a shame. I can see his name- Samm! Samm-Art Williams. And I had the pleasure of working with a lovely lady by the name of Brenda Marks, who is really, really a good, seasoned actress, and she would teach me things that I didn’t know. Even the way I walked, the cadence of my voice – she was telling me how to, y’know, breathe properly. Y’know: “Don’t shuffle! If you’re gonna move on stage, move with purpose! Don’t be just meandering!” Y’know, and those kind of things she taught me. Linda Haston was very instrumental in, in my development. Rita Gregory - a lot of females, who really, really helped me – and Rita played my wife in several different shows. So, those were people who inspired me creatively as well. Yeah.

What lessons are you learning right now as an actor?

As an actor? Wow, what lessons am I learning? I’m learning that- how much I don’t know…okay? That is the great lesson. Once you think that you’ve, um, you’ve captured something, you’ve got it down pat, something will throw you - I really didn’t know that. You don’t know until you know what you don’t know. And that’s what I’m learning. And I’m learning to also never say “never”, and to stay open-minded about a lot of things, and that life is, this life of creativity, it’s not a place, so to speak, it’s a journey. And learn how to have fun with it, you know? So many times I’m so serious about it, that I miss the fun of the creativity. So, um, that’s what I’m learning – to be open-minded and not be closed-off about, “Oh I know this” and “I know that”. No! And whether it comes from someone who’s nine years or whether it’s someone who’s ninety years old, I can learn. And just like food that we take in, our bodies don’t retain everything that we eat, we $#!T out some of it? Some of the things that people say and teach me, I take a grain of it, some of it I just let go. So I’ve learned that creatively, and, uh, I know I’m working with like, people like Ben Cain. Ben had taught me some things about how to actually develop your character: that the script will tell you so many things, the characters in the play that interact with you will tell you so much about your character, and then, what do you surmise about your character? What are the things that you feel? Where does your research lead you? So, those things have been great learning experiences as well for me about the profession of acting.

A few lollipops here – easy questions: What have you been eating or cooking lately?

Aww, I don’t cook. I do not cook at all! I tease and tell people in my family that I should turn my kitchen into a gym, and you open up my refrigerator and go, [imitating echo] “HELLO!-Hello!-hello!” I don’t cook! But I’ve been trying to eat very well. I’ve been doing a lot of salads, a lot of chicken, try to get my Omega-3s with fish. When I’m rehearsing and doing shows I don’t get a chance to work-out, and every time my bank statement comes in I see where I’m paying for this [gym] membership and I’m not using it – so I’m trying to eat well so I won’t get too portly. The metabolism is starting to slow down, gravity’s starting to tug and pull. But a lot of veggies- I’ve been eating a lot of peanut butter, too. By the spoonful – not so much on bread, just peanuts and peanut butter – a lot of protein! Yeah, that’s what I’m eating.

What have you been watching lately?

Oh, I’ve been watching a lot of reality TV, which I said I wasn’t going to do. Survivor. Um, I’ve been watching things like, uh, there’s a lot of shows on BET: Baldwin Hills, about some elitist African-Americans, uh, College Hill, and now there’s another one called Harlem Heights, that takes place in…Harlem. [jokes] Hmm, y’know, who would figure? Harlem Heights. And it’s about some young entrepreneurs, African-Americans who are trying to make it in today’s society. So, those are things that I watch. And I watch a lot of news. The older I get, I become more aware, or conscious, or politically-savvied about what’s going on, on the planet, not just in America, and how we all are connected, y’know? So those are things I’ve been watching.

What are your favorite news sources?

Well…TV news. Uh, shame to say I don’t do a whole lot of reading-

Well what channels?

Oh, I love CBS, because one of my high school friends, Patrice King-Brown, we went to high school together, so I support her. And Lynn Hayes-Freeland is a real good friend of mine so I watch her as well. So I watch KDKA, the CBS affiliate, and um…oh man. No-no-no, Nate! I’ve gotta be honest: I watch a lot of H-G-T-V! I just bought a home, and, um- so many things I want to do. I’ve got the ideas, the things I want – I wanna knock out walls and do so many things – I just don’t have the money to do it. But I watch a lot of HGTV to get ideas on how to do some things myself. You know, what’s current, what’s hot, what’s green. Y’know? So, those are the kinds of things I’ve been watching.

So I just have to ask now, I didn’t plan this question, but, um, y’know in thinking about home and HGTV: what are your favorite stores right now? What are your favorite stores – where do you like to shop?

Ahhh! I can walk around-

Where are you spending your money?

Ohh, I don’t spend it. I’m so afraid to spend whatever I have. But I love Home Depot…Pier One…OK? There used to be a time when my money went to albums and CDs and clothes, now it goes to things that I can make the house more comfortable. So, Pier One’s one of my favorite stores. Ikea, Home Depot, those kind of places – home improvement places are, by far, top of my list.

So, you said you’re not spending the money you used to spend on CDs and music and stuff like that, BUT: what are you listening to lately?

Oh, I listen to like um, I guess they call it “neo-soul”, which I really don’t understand that terminology. The artist who’s name is Musiq, Idia.Arie, uh, who I love, um, there are some new artists out, basically female artists, for some reason, who I like. There’s a guy who’s name is, um, somebody Sadiq, and he, he’s throwin’ back to the Sixties, music that I listened to when I was growin’-up. However, when I was growin’-up, man, I listened to a lot of the same things my parents listened to, y’know, they listened to Della Reese, and, Sarah Vaughan, and-and Billie [Holiday]. Y’know, Brook Benton and those kinds of people, and I think that helped to formulate the foundation for my appreciation of music, of the kind of music that I like: Nancy Wilson, those kind of things – I have a very strong affinity for female vocalists. And, uh, I know that Luther Vandross used to do a lot of female tunes, tunes that females had made popular –

Covers!

-yeah, and he would convert them to a male version, and I kind of like to do that kind of thing. Find a female who sings songs that I can relate to, and put a male twist on it. So…yeah.

Okay, last question: It has been said that “We grow too soon old and too late smart.” So, considering that, what advice would you give to yourself, back when you were beginning as an actor?

Wow. We grow too soon old and too late smart…

In other words, it’s referring to the things you wish you knew.

“If I would have known then what I know now”…

What advice would you give to yourself back when you were starting? To you, what advice would- if you could go back in time and give advice to you, back then, what would you advise yourself of?

About acting?

Yeah.

I would tell myself to not act. Not act. Come from a real honest place, and-and not try to act like a particular character, but be in the process of becoming that-that-that particular character, um, and be honest about it! Because I think that’s what acting is about. Y’know, I have people, friends, or even exes who say, y’know, “I don’t trust you because you’re an actor!” Acting is not about acting or being fake, it’s about bringing honesty to a particular character and capturing the essence of that particular character best as you can, and that’s what I would tell myself. “Don’t go out and act, just come from a real honest place.” To learn how to go inward, uh – that’s not the word I want to use – when I say inward. That would be the action, to go inward. And to come from the inside to find who that person is as opposed to, you know, all surface. So that’s what I would tell myself which I didn’t get early on, you know? I was imitating something, as opposed to trying to become, but I don’t think I was, uh, I think I was so, as a younger actor, I was so conscious of other people watching me that I was afraid to let go, to be loose, and just be, okay? It goes back to what I was saying before about human beings, you know? A lot of times we’re not really happy or comfortable with who were are, how we look, you know, we’ve got body image [issues], and we don’t look as good as this person, we don’t look as a good as Nate –

[chuckles]

- you may not perceive yourself as being that, but the thing is, I’d tell myself, “Come from an honest place. As you research and become that character, be honest and be real.” Okay? And I think with a lot of integrity and as you try to breathe life into those words then it will be a good performance and that people will walk away being touched, because that’s what you want to do. You want to touch people, you want to move people, and I think theatre has a way of educating as well as entertaining, and I know that what you guys try to do down here at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre is “edu-tainment”, and, you know, a lot of good things. I think this – I mean, not smoke-screening or, I mean, blowin’ smoke, but Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre would compare to some of the other smaller theatres that are doin’ what they do, I mean, you guys go full-circle, with the, you know, the “Culture Clash”, the gay and lesbian thing [Pittsburgh Pride Theatre Festival], [Theatre Festival in] Black and White, I mean it’s just a whole smorgasbord of things. You have things, readings happen all over the place and it’s, it’s just an awesome place to be and to experience. But back to your question, I would advise myself to, uh, to be honest whenever approaching a particular character. “Come from an honest place,” you know? “Don’t act.”

Would you have listened to yourself?

[laughs] Probably not! Too hard headed, you know? And thinkin’, “Oh, I know already! I know this.” But, uh, probably not. Probably not, yeah, probably not. Yeah. I prob’ly would not, because I would say to myself, “You don’t even know what you’re talking about, okay? What have you done?” ‘Cuz, y’know, I never trained as an actor. I took a couple classes in college, and, you know, again it goes back to– it takes a secure person, really, even though we have, all have, everybody has something about themselves they don’t like or they’re struggling with, but, again, exposing yourself and getting out there – I just wasn’t comfortable enough to do that. I wanted it, but I didn’t have the balls to do it. And you know, people say, “If you’re a really serious actor, go to New York.” Okay? I never did. Or, “Go to Chicago, go to L.A.” And, y’know, I have four children, now seven grandkids, and I was, y’know, not usin’ them as an excuse for stayin’ here, but, um, family’s important to me. So I would stick around to make sure the family was on the right track, and one thing that you never stop becoming or doing, is becoming a parent, and as your children become older, and you become older, you still deal with those children with different issues as they mature. So, I’m here. But I, y’know, I’m working as much as I want to work. Sometimes you may get some money, where the extra income is a bonus, but you don’t always do it for the money. Y’know? You really don’t. I may complain about the rehearsal schedule, the time that it takes away, but I tell you: after that product is presented – and I try not to read any reviews until after the show has ended so it doesn’t cause me to modify what I’ve done, or what I find is honest from my particular opinion, because critics, it’s just their opinion of what you’re doing, so why is their opinion any better than my opinion? So, um, that’s that. Oh, but one thing, Nate, that I do love? That we didn’t do a lot of here that I was exposed to? Is the table work, which I think is so important. I think that before you even get up on your feet, I think that script should be read over and over again, discuss what you got out of it each time that you read it, and find something new about your character to add or throw away something that you thought was important. The table work is so important. So that’s another piece of advice I would give to a young actor, if it were myself starting over again: “Make sure that you demand a lot of table work time to really get into that script.” So, yeah, man!

***