Actor Anthony Heald has spent nine seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, playing such iconic roles as Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice,” Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” and the Stage Manager in “Our Town.” This year, he plays the Narrator and Mysterious Stranger in “Into the Woods” and the Duke of Buckingham in “Richard III.” We chatted at Noble Coffee. This is the first in a two-part Backstage column.

EH: When you get a part, how do you attack the character?

AH: It depends on whether it’s a new play or if it’s a classic. If it’s a new play, I try to stay as open as possible, to get a sense of what the character is, realizing that in the process of rehearsing, there are going to be a lot of changes. I try to stay open to the changes, and think in terms of what would help the character or the project.
If it’s a classic, I like to learn all the lines long before rehearsals begin. I like to research previous productions, the time period in which the play was written, critical opinions of the play, to see what great minds have done in looking at the play: what they consider pitfalls, and what they think the main themes are, so that when we start rehearsals, I have some ideas.
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