Arcadia was the first regular season production I did at Mizzou.  In fact it was the very first show I tried out for here and I was very lucky to be cast on my first time out.  I read Arcadia before auditioning and I fell in love with it.  There are thirteen roles to chose from (well technically speaking fourteen) but the one I was drawn to the most was that of Gus/Augustus.  I was realistic and knew that I wouldn’t get a big leading role right out of the gate.  However I also found Gus to be the most fascinating and interesting character, even though he never speaks a word.  To be clear I had lines, all of them from Augustus, who is Thomasina’s little shit of a brother in the past timeline.  I could relate to Gus and I found him to be a necessary and central character to the play.  First of all he is Thomasina’s double in the present timeline.  Thomasina is the main character of the play.  Second of all, without Gus, the play could not be resolved.  He figures out the mystery.  As an actor, it is challenging to be silent on stage.  How do you do that without going into exageration.  If you do it wrong, it will be funny in a bad way.  At the workshop before auditions, I pulled a Stephen Tobolowsky.  Tobolowsky, a brilliant character actor, famously told Christopher Nolan at the audition for Memento that he needed to play Sammy Jenkis.  Nolan was taken aback.  Sammy has no lines he said.  However because of the intricate storyline to Memento, Sammy Jenkis actually becomes the film’s main character.  Also Tobolowsky mentioned that he really experienced amnesia after an experimental surgery.  At the workshop I assaulted the director Kevin Brown by telling him that I needed to play Gus because, despite not having any lines, he is an important character and I could relate due to my learning disability.  I got the part.  Working with Kevin was an absolute joy.  If I could work with him everyday for the rest of my career, I would be a happy man.  I got to work with talented actors and actresses like Paige Sommerer, Brian Scanlan, Nathan Zaring, Kristen Walker, and on and on.  The play was divisive in the best possible way.  All great art is divisive.  On opening night, half of the audience walked out at intermission.  However the people that stayed got a lot out of the experience, as much as we did performing.

Cast:

CHLOE COVERLY … Merrill Kaye Arens
EZRA CHATER … Nathan Bryant
BERNARD NIGHTINGALE … Steven Buehler
JELLABY … Bill Dew
RICHARD NOAKES … Ben Kaplan
HANNAH JARVIS … Caitlin Reader
SEPTIMUS HODGE … Brian Scanlan
LADY CROOM … Paige Sommerer
CAPTAIN BRICE … Connor Thomas
THOMASINA COVERLY … Kristen Walker
GUS/AUGUSTUS COVERLY … Josh Youngerman
VALENTINE COVERLY … Nathan Zaring