Tag Archives: Actor

Cabaret duo a delight

Doug Reynolds
Doug Reynolds
Christopher Bange
Christopher Bange

Now playing at Oregon Cabaret Theatre, “The Mystery of Irma Vep” features two outstanding young comedic actors, Douglas Reynolds and Christopher Bange. Both actors are from small towns in the Pacific Northwest; both have bachelor’s degrees in Theater; both have been acting all of their lives, with the occasional waiter or bus-person job when they are not performing.

Christopher primarily does comedic work. He has created several original one- and two-man shows. This summer he will be touring Fringe Festivals in Canada with his solo magic show, “More Bange for Your Buck.”

Douglas, a recent graduate of Southern Oregon University, is also a writer. He worked with Portland Etc. and was an extra in Hollywood before returning to Ashland to play in “The Mystery of Irma Vep.”

We met one Friday afternoon at Martino’s, after a particularly lively Thursday night performance.

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Sam King

"If you want to continue working, you've got to be flexible. And that's not even just with acting, it's with anything, I'm sure." — Sam King
Sam King
Sam King

EH: I saw you in “Death Trap,” and you’ll be playing in “The Nerd.” Where do you come from?

SK: I’m originally from Santa Rosa. I started acting when I was 12. When I was in high school, I got into a melodrama house called the Marquis Theater; it was cabaret seating, with saw dust on the floor, and a bar. It was like being in vaudeville. At Christmas time we would do three shows a day. We were constantly performing, sometimes for 12 hours a day. I had a lot of on-the-job training before I went to college for training. It was great. From there I went to North Carolina School of the Arts. Their curriculum was to make a well-rounded actor. From there I went to Hollywood for almost a decade, and then to New York City for another decade. And then one of my good friends said, “Get out of the New York rat race. You’re just up there trying to make rent. Come here and breathe some fresh air and see some stars and be around some people who are positive and are artists.” So I came here. I’ve done about nine plays here at Oregon Stage Works.

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Mark Turnbull

"The form becomes one with the content, and that's where the power lies." — Mark Turnbull
Mark Turnbull
Mark Turnbull

Mark Turnbull has had a long and fruitful career in music and theater. When he was 17 he signed with Reprise Records with his recording, “Portrait of the Young Artist.” His music has been described as folk-jazz, which he depicts as “a cross between Burl Ives and Thelonious Monk.” Last fall Mark played Dog Kelly in his own musical, “Tales of Fannie Kennan Better Known as Dora Hand,” at the Oregon Stage Works.

EH: You’ve spent almost your entire life in music and theater. Is there any time that you did anything else?

MT: There were two years when I was seven and eight, when I was in little league. I put down the ukulele for two years.

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Tom Weiner of Blackstone Audio Books

"As an actor, it's a dream job. Now I get to play all the roles." — Tom Weiner
Tom Wyner
Tom Wyner

EH: (reading resume) New Shakespeare Company of San Francisco, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Rep. It says here you graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Psychology, but actually majored in Rock and Roll?

TW: I was a rock drummer during my college years in Santa Cruz, but I’ve been acting since I was ten. My professional acting career really began In 1974, when a friend called and said, “Come see me in As You Lke It in Golden Gate Park! It’s a really fun production!” That was my introduction to The New Shakespeare Co. of San Francisco, which I joined a few days later, performing first in San Francisco, and then all over the country — three nationwide tours covering 46 states — for three wonderful and exciting years.

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Michael Hume, OSF actor

"The minute you feel cozy and secure, you get complacent, you stop doing your work, and they'll start to see habits or mannerisms." — Michael Hume
Michael J. Hume
Michael J. Hume

EH: I saw you in “Clay Cart.” You look nothing like you looked then.

MH: I had a shaved head and I had a little thingy up there.

EH: That’s why I didn’t recognize you. Do you consider yourself a director or an actor?

MH: I’m an actor who directs every now and then. There was a period back in New York where directing gigs came along fast and furiously, so I didn’t act for about two years. I would like to say that all of those directing jobs made me rich, but they didn’t, not in this business. Nobody gets wealthy in the theater. And then, going back to acting: I could feel the scales of rust falling off. But ultimately it’s like getting back on a bicycle. A couple of weeks in the rehearsal hall and you’re fine again.

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Mike Halderman

"When the actors do a good job, they put pressure on me to equal them, and I put pressure on them to equal my work. That's what makes it fun." — Mike Halderman

EH: How did you become a technical director? Isn’t your degree in music?

MH: I have a teaching credential in music from Sacramento State University. I taught for a while and then I got involved in community theater.

EH: So then you went to SOU to the undergraduate program?

MH: Yes, in 1990. My wife was a teacher and I had kids in high school. I went to Southern Oregon University (SOC at the time) to be an actor. I was doing some technical theater classes, and I said, “I’m really good at this.” I decided that I could graduate in two years because I already had a degree, and I didn’t have to do any of the undergraduate pre-requisites. I took lighting, sound, and scene design, theater business management, costuming, makeup — I did a painting internship at OSF one semester. I graduated with a BFA in scene design.

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The dangers of acting

"Every actor wants to be as authentic as possible." — Ian Swift
Ian Swift
Ian Swift

EH: Acting can be dangerous?

IS: Physical things happen to you that can be quite painful. I’ve had two instances, and I hope they were my last. They were both Shakespeare plays.

I broke my nose (of course inadvertently) on stage. That was during a very volatile and vigorous, production of “Julius Caesar.” I was Julius Caesar. In my assassination scene all the actors came up, simulated daggers and very slowly thrust their fists into me. Then, “Et tu Brute? Then fall, Caesar!” And I would fall. It was tricky to die on stage. I always tried different ways in rehearsal, and I finally pretty much had it down. But the other thing I was consumed with was blood being authentic. Every actor wants to be as authentic as possible. I tried different things, a bloody rag, blood pellets, nothing really worked. I gave up.

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