Student actor ventures into new role

By NIKOLINA HATTON

As an actor, Jeff Watson, 22, has played everything from supporting characters in musicals to the character of King Henry, but in May he’ll be taking on a role he’s never ventured into before: a gay man.

Watson, a theater major, plays Ty in “Sordid Lives,” MHCC’s spring musical. Watson said it was bold of Rick Zimmer, the theater arts director, to make such a choice for the spring play. He said he was trying to approach this new character as honestly as possible.

“Sordid Lives” is black comedy according to Zimmer, which means it should be right up Watson’s alley. He said although he has done a lot of drama in his career lately, he prefers comedy.

“I like finding what’s funny about what’s being said,” Watson said. He said there are some parts of Ty’s character that are very funny.

Watson has been seriously interested in theater since seventh grade, but wanted to be a lawyer up until 11th-grade, and only decided to be an actor his senior year of high school.

The closest connection he had to theater was his older sister who was involved in high school. Now, he says one of his cousins is a professional make-up artist.

His said his family has always “encouraged me no matter what it was I was doing.”

Watson grew up around Turner, Oregon; he graduated from Cascade High School. He said there were times when he was a kid that he and his other theater friends had to beg teachers just to supervise them, not even direct, so that they could produce a play. He said he and his friends were the ones keeping theater alive at their school.

This year he was in MHCC’s children’s show and “Fiddler on the Roof” was his second production of that musical. He was also involved in a “Fiddler” production at Chemeketa Community College, and bottle danced in both.

He says he really enjoys theater.

“It’s fun,” he said and that there is a lot of energy.

He said with acting you have a month from when you get the script to when the lights come up and you have to be perfectly in sync with all the other actors. He said the whole ordeal of memorizing the script, acting out the emotions, and creating the relationships produces a bond between actors and that sometimes you make friendships that last for years. Some of his closest friends are people he had never met before an audition.

He said he likes to look into what makes a character who they are in his acting. He looks for clues as to why they have become the way they are.

“You take all these clues the playwright gives you” and build the character, he said. “Like putting together a puzzle.”

He said what really comes out in a performance is the social relationships; because of this, an actor has to work out their relationships with every person in the show.

“You really have to know the character’s background to know how they’ll react,” Watson said.
This is his second year at MHCC, but his first full-time year. He hasn’t yet made up his mind as to what school he’ll attend after community college. After he graduates with his bachelor’s degree he plans to keep acting, and even though he doesn’t plan on going to New York and Los Angeles because you’re just a face in the crowd, he said, “I’m sure I will eventually end up in New York or L.A.”

He said there is a gravity that sucks actors into those cities, but that it’s the good ones who make it out.

He currently works as an actor with the Miracle Theatre Group.

His message to anyone who wants to be an actor for a living: learn to be a plumber or something.

“If you go in expecting fame, you’ll never be happy.”

As for getting a degree in theater, he said theater has a lot of skills you can apply to everyday life including speech, leadership and the team building it involves.

To students at MHCC who are interested in theater, but have never tried out, he said, “The program benefits from people who have never done this before. Please come try out; it’s a lot of fun and we welcome people.”