CHRIS WILSON’S

ACTORS THEATRE
OF HOUSTON

Blasts Into The 1997 - 98 Season
With Eric Bogosian’s

TALK RADIO

CAST
George Brock
Brooke Baumer
Foster Davis
Elizabeth Byrd
Steve Spurgat
Dennis Lawrence
Don Brewster
and numerous phone callers!

Directed by Brandon Smith and Ricky Carlson

ACTORS THEATRE OF HOUSTON
2506 South Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77098
(713) 529-6606

Chris Wilson’s Actors Theatre of Houston begins it’s 12th Season with Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio. This hard hitting and bitingly funny examination of Pop Media in contemporary America ran from September 19th thru October 26th.

Talk Radio host Barry Champlain has a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas and a mouth big enough to parlay that chip into a career in Broadcast Radio. His stinging wit, combative nature, and (more importantly) his ratings, have caught the ears of a National Media Corporation that wants to pick up his show, Night Talk, for national syndication. During the two days that Champlain is under the scrutiny of this corporation’s VP of Sales, we watch as he fights for his beliefs and his sanity both on and off the air.

Eric Bogosian, renowned for his one-man, monologue shows such as Sex, Drugs, And Rock ‘N Roll and Pounding The Nails Into The Floor With My Head, wrote Talk Radio, his first full-length play in 1987. He originated the role of Barry Champlain and caught the attention of film director Oliver Stone who took his script and made it into a feature film in 1989 with Eric Bogosian and Alec Baldwin.

Chris Wilson’s Actors Theatre of Houston is located at 2506 South Blvd., just off Kirby, three blocks south of 59 Freeway. KHMX Mix 96.5 After Air Personality Paul Christy is the voice of the station and the staff of KHMX generously provided technical support and consultation. The Sound is designed by Harry Bartholomew.


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INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE BROCK AND BRANDON SMITH
OF TALK RADIO FOR THE ACTORS THEATRE OF HOUSTON

by Theresa Hyde
TheresaHyd@aol.com

The role of Night Talk host Barry Champlain is played by George Brock. George has previously worked with Brandon Smith and Ricky Carlson on The Foreigner and Speed the Plow at Actors Theatre. He most recently played at Main Street Theatre in The Woman in Black. George is also a director. His directorial experience includes the play, Supporting Cast at TSW. And at the Actors Theater of Houston, he directed The Rainmaker, The Goodbye People, and Return Engagements.


THYDE: How would you describe Barry Champlain?
GBROCK: Barry is a combative talk show host.

THYDE: Sort of a Howard Stern type?
GBROCK: Howard Stern is more of a perverse guy. He’ll push the envelope in terms of sexuality, sexual mores and stuff. Barry Champlain feels like he takes on the issues that are more important than sex. As a matter of fact, one of his big gripes is that if people want to call up and talk about sex, he wants to talk about racism, he wants to talk about what’s going on in the country, social issues. And people call back and they want to talk about their pets, and orgasms.

THYDE: Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
GBROCK: I got started in this business when I was 8 years old because my mother didn’t have anything to do with me, so she started me in a Children’s Theater Workshop. She had decided that when I was 6, that I was to grow up to become a Concert pianist. My mother had my whole life mapped out for me that when I was 8. She needed to stick me somewhere while she was working during the summer, so she put me in a Children’s Theater Workshop and that was the worse thing she could have ever done.

THYDE: Why do you say that? (laughs)
GBROCK: Because her plans were ruined by that, she kinda sabotaged herself. From that point on, I’ve been studying and working. I actually started out in technical theater. I was in a workshop, and then I got a job as a shop assistant in one of the theaters, in Birmingham, Alabama where I’m from. I worked my way up into becoming a scenic artist there. I started getting involved with different theaters around Alabama including The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where I spent the summer.

And then I decided that I was gonna go to College. The best scholarship I got was at Saint Edwards in Austin, which was also, a full blown equity house. Worked and studied there for 2 years. After that ran out, you’re only allowed to do it for a couple of years, and then you had to move back either into study, or you go from the study into the Acting Company, and that’s when I ran out of money. So then I moved to Beaumont, Texas, studied in Lamar University for four, five years, and got involved in radio, in Beaumont. I was on air for seven years, morning drive, and hated that job passionately enough, to where I just quit, moved to Las Vegas Nevada for 2 years, made some money gambling, and dealing, then I came here.

I, then, stumbled into this guy (Brandon Smith), almost as if it was a happy accident. He was directing a production of The Foreigner. The actor that he had cast in the role of Charlie was unable to play the title role, the foreigner. My agent knew him, got me hooked up with an audition, and I just kinda landed here and set up shop. So that’s my story.

THYDE: How did you use your radio experience with the character that you’re playing now?
GBROCK: One of the things that I find really fascinating about what Mr. Bogosian has written, is that he has actually tried to, in his writing, create a very real radio environment. And so, during the course of the rehearsal of the show, we’re very much focused on that fact. There’s actually another cast member, who works in radio in Houston, she’s works on Mix96, she’s not on air, but she’s on staff there. And it’s almost like a reality check for the two of us. In rehearsal, “Okay, will this really happen in a radio station? This is it, or no, this isn’t it.” We bring the reality of what it is like in a studio.

THYDE: After the play has made its full run, what are your plans for the future?
GBROCK: I also direct theatrically. I ’m gonna go back and direct a couple of shows. One of them is here, one of them is at New Heights Theater. Here, I’ll be directing Agnes of God, which is a play that is a passion of mine, I’ve held a torch for this play for over ten years now, and they’re finally gonna let me do it.

THYDE: What do you want the audience to gain from watching this play?
GBROCK: (Thoughtful pause).....I’m not really sure.....(laughs)

BSMITH: Stunned into silence (laughing).
GBROCK: The play is, in a lot of ways, about a lot of noise working towards silence, if you watch the play. Yeah, stunned into silence is exactly it. Hair standing up on end. Blown back into their seats going, Whoa!.....that’s kinda what I’m after. Also, realize that there’s really a very fine thin line, between who we really are, and the person that we present to people on a daily basis. And sometimes that line gets crossed, and mixed up.

BSMITH: I’d like to interject something, particularly right now, with Princess Diana’s death, is the culpability and the responsibility of the media in our lives everyday, and that if they do overstep their bounds, it’s because we let them. The Barry Champlains of the world exist because people listen. The show is not really for the callers, it’s for the listeners, the audience. And that’s why that show is geared towards their audience and being entertaining for the audience. That’s why the combatants and the controversial guys hang up on people, and stir up controversy, where there may not be any. Before, if it’s not there, he’ll make it happen. And there’s the responsibility of the people, the audience. These people exist because, people turn the dial on and listen. It’s part of the fact that people buy these rags in London, News of the World, or Daily News.

There’s so many different messages in this play, that it’s hard to put your finger on one or the other, because it covers such a wide cross section of messages. Of holding a mirror up to the audience, or if they recognize themselves in the listeners or the callers. Everytime a new caller comes up, there’s a different issue that’s addressed. And it might be religion, it might be racism, it might be sexism, it might be chauvinism.....

THYDE: What is your opinion of the press, and their image now?
GBROCK: I think the press has gone way, way, way, far away from what they’re supposed to do, which is to report the events. This is what happened to today, and it’s now become very much entertainment. Our lives have become our own entertainment. And they boost things up, and jack things up and push things. It’s show business now.

BSMITH: And it’s a little bit sick what people find entertaining now. When you talk about the fascination we have, of a disease which is killing a lot of people in the world, issues that are either horrifying, or frightening or scary, and that we find that entertaining. We start our day by opening up a newspaper reading about this stuff, and we’re innundated with other violence, bombings in Jerusalem. The issues around the world, that is our entertainment. But, what could be more dramatic than that? Movies can’t compete with that, ‘Real Life IS Theater’. Movies and TV can’t compete with journalism like that. And of course, with this Princess Di thing, there probably wasn’t an event, until somebody made it happen. You know, that night.....this evolution of events that we’re still just discovering, it might not have happened had there not been press people hounding them. That accident would never have happened.

THYDE: Do you feel like that the press was to blame for what happened?
GBROCK: Absolutely. Well, a lot of people say that the guy shouldn’t have been drinking, but no, the car would not have hit the tunnel wall if there hadn’t been four motorcycles chasing them at a hundred miles an hour. It wouldn’t have happened. If you look at the historical events in her life leading up to this moment, she is surrounded by people with cameras all the time. And if you walk down the street, in Los Angeles, if you walk down Sunset, you’ll see a billion video cameras, or a billion flashbulbs going off, as these people are hounded by the media, trying to, sell something. The media is definitely very much culpable in the death of Diana. I don’t think there’s a question in anybody’s mind.

THYDE: Do you feel that the play Talk Radio, gives a fair depiction of what the press or the media is about?
GBROCK: It’s just the way it is. It is absolutely fair because it’s the way it is. The corporation, the business is really not demonized or presented as this horrible thing. It’s just presented. The issue of the media in our daily lives, radio in particular, is the most immediate of all. Television is still tape, radio is still, like “We’re live right now”. Callers pick up the phone and talk and yadayadayada, and you’re live on the air, possibly with only a seven second delay.

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INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR BRANDON SMITH OF THE ACTORS THEATRE OF HOUSTON

by Theresa Hyde
TheresaHyd@aol.com


Talk Radio is directed by Brandon Smith and Ricky Carlson. Brandon most recently directed the highly acclaimed production of Strange Snow featuring Janie Parker. For Actors Theatre, Brandon has also directed The Foreigner, Dylan, Nuts, The Old Boy and Speed The Plow. A member of the Alley Theatre Company for ten years, he now focuses on television and film work. Feature film credits include co-starring roles in Blaze, starring Paul Newman and the science-fiction movie, Powder. Most recently, he worked with Sam Shepard and Diane Keaton in The Only Thrill and on the HBO project Earth To The Moon, Tom Hanks and Ron Howard - Executive Producers.

THYDE: I’m very excited, because this is my first interview where I actually had to go to Blockbuster Videos to rent a movie to do research. They said that you’re the sherriff from Powder. And in the beginning of the movie, there’s two sherriffs that come out.....

BSMITH: Actually, I was the deputy sherriff.

THYDE: .....And they didn’t give the credits until after the movie. It’s about an hour and a half, and it felt like that they probably cut a lot of stuff out.

BSMITH: They did, they edited a great deal in that movie. That happens with any movie, really. But most of the editing, unfortunately, came from Mary Steenburgen’s part. Her part was really fleshed out marvelous. When you get into editing, the studio people had a lot of say in the fact that, this is a great movie, but it’s too long. And the director’s always fighting for more.

THYDE: It was written and directed by Victor Salva. It starred Mary Steenburgen, Jeff Goldblum, Sean Patrick Flannery, and Lance Henricksen. How was it working with Mary Steenburgen, and Jeff Goldblum in the movie?
BSMITH: Oh, they were absolutely fabulous. I’ve been in this business since I was 9 years old, I was a professional since I was a child. Joined all the unions when I was 17, or 18, so I’ve been at this quite awhile. And as a result, I find most actors a pain in the neck. I don’t really get along with most actors, because of their self-centeredness.....and the ‘whole universe revolves around me.....egotistical self.....talk about the craft’.

I really enjoy it when I come across people in this business, that are grounded and realize that yes, what we do is important, but it’s not brain surgery. We’re not curing leprosy, you hit your mark and you say your words, and you tell a story, you entertain, you teach an audience and you reflect values into an audience’s eyes, and things like that. But I love it when I meet people that are just tradesman, that think of themselves as no better or worse than the grip, or the electrician or the carpenter, that are the lifeblood of the movie set. Actors like Jeff (Goldblum) and Mary (Steenburgen) and Lance (Henricksen). It was remarkable that Victor assembled that kind of a cast.

Mary Steenburgen is a mother first. She goes to PTA Meetings. She knits on the set. She has her kids on the set with her and her mom comes to visit and her sister comes in. She rented a home in Bellaire, so she could be in a neighborhood, while she was here in Houston instead of the Four Seasons downtown. Powder was shot in and around Houston.

Jeff Goldblum is in a whole different world of his own, and he’s such a remarkable man. He is so accessible, loves to talk and visit and get to know people. You’ll come up to Jeff in the set and he’s reading a book, and you say, what are you reading Jeff? He won’t just show you what he’s reading, he’ll say, “Sit down, sit down, I wanna read this chapter to you”. And all of a sudden, you’re being entertained, everybody’s gathered around listening to Jeff Goldblum read about Richard Burton’s life history. You know, “Read this, this is so interesting!” He loves to talk, he loves to visit. And Lance Henricksen is the most down to earth.

They’re not phony, they weren’t theatrical, they weren’t sort of Hollywood, that Hollywood superficial. They were grounded, and they were earthy, and saw themselves as no better or worse. You got a pipe that’s leaking, you call a plumber, you got a role you need playing, you call an actor. There’s no great big mystery to it. And they were just real people, so I really enjoyed them very much, all three of them.

THYDE: I didn’t know it was shot in Houston
BSMITH: Richmond, Rosenberg, Conroe, Waller, Hockley, all the great locations all around Houston.

THYDE: Can you recall how you got the part?
BSMITH: I recall every detail. I initially auditioned for the part.....I initially was asked to come out and read for a very small one scene part. Not to lose my humility, but lately, I’ve been getting bigger and bigger parts, and better and better billing, and more and more money for the things that I’m doing. I’ve gotten to the point that I’ve just talked to my manager and my agent, and they were trying to convince me not to read for one day players anymore. “You know, you can’t keep reading for these parts, you need to hold out, read for good parts, and character parts and supporting leads, and and co-starring roles, and not mess around with this one-day here and 3 days on this thing, and 2 days on that thing.” So I was trying to do that.

Well, I was invited in, to read for a small part and I almost didn’t go to the audition for that reason. But it was really slow, and I felt like, I wanted to work. When it gets slow, you feel like, when you’re working, you feel like you’re gonna work forever, and when you’re not working you feel like you’re never gonna work again. You know what I mean? So I got to the point where I just wanna go to this audition just to see. Well when I got there, I was very disappointed. They had the audition at the Warwick Hotel, (this was just a couple of years ago). I got to the lobby of the Warwick Hotel, and like there are a hundred people waiting to go and read for this one small, one-scene part. So, I went in and read for this scene.

After waiting a long time, Victor (Salva), Dan Grodnick, the executive producer, Junie Lowry-Johnson, the casting director kinda looked at me and said,”Well, you finessed for that audition well, why don’t you read for this other small part?”. And it was a different part, a little bit more interesting, but basically still one scene in the movie. So, I read for that, and they said, “Thank you very much, that was very nice.” That’s usually what you get with this audition. When they want to get you out of the room quicker, they say “thank you very much, that was very nice.”

Well, I didn’t hear anything about it, so I figured, that once again, I auditioned for something and not gotten the part, it happens to actors all the time. Nine out of ten times, even good actors don’t get a lot of parts, so I just forgot about it. Well then, I had done a movie with Dick Lowry, the casting director Junie Lowry-Johnson’s brother. And Junie Lowry called Victor and Dan, to go to bat for me, to say, they could not find somebody to play this sort of racist, this bigoted, bad-ass deputy sherriff Harley Duncan. They were trying to find an L.A. Actor to do it, and they thought they had somebody. Junie called them on my behalf, and said, “Well, before you read everybody in L.A., or make your final decision, anyway, why don’t you at least talk to Brandon Smith?”

And then they said, “Who?”

“Well Brandon Smith, you saw him that day, remember? That was the guy I said hello to, and said hello for my brother.” They didn’t even remember my audition, (pause).....from the day when I came in with hundreds and countless scores going in and out, they didn’t even remember me. So, they said, “Well, okay, we’ll have him in.” Well, I ran in to meet with them. I’ve had the script for a few days, I had studied the script, and I felt I gave one of my strongest auditions. I remember finishing the audition, and I remember they had this sort of pained expression on their face. They were all kinda shaking their heads, like, I thought I really screwed up. I thought I had a bad audition. I thought, they were kinda going “another bad actor.....another local hick actor who thinks he could act.”

And I said something like, “Give me some feedback, if you want me to do it any different, well maybe I can give you a different look”. Well they said, “No, no, we just got this problem. We got a guy in L.A., he’s a real good friend of mine, I’ve got to call back and tell him he doesn’t have the part anymore.” So, I found out, immediately, on the spot, that they had decided on me, and cast me.

And it was probably, one of the biggest steps of my film career, that I’d had in a while. I’ve had a couple of big roles, I had one big role in a feature film, Blaze, with Paul Newman. Then I’ve done several starring roles, or co-starring roles, and mini-series, and movies of the week on television. But as far as feature films is concerned, this was a real plus for me, to be billed fifth behind the likes of, Sean Patrick Flannery, and then, Jeff, Mary, and Lance, and then me. So, it was a real exciting moment for me when I found out I had been cast for the part.

THYDE: Did you have to research for the part?
BSMITH: (Texas accent) I was raised on a ranch in Texas. I grew up with those boys. I know those boys better than they know themselves. I didn’t have to research, all I had to do was remember old Rodeo cowboys, that used to Rodeo with my father. I grew up with my father, I was raised on a ranch. My dad was a Rodeo cowboy, and a cattle broker, and so my early formative years were spent around good ol’ boys just like Harley.

THYDE: It looked like you had more weight in the movie.
BSMITH: I didn’t actually, I get that a lot. I might have been a little heavier during the making of that movie. I get that all the time, people meet me now and say, “Wow, you lost some weight since Powder.” But I’m always right around 200-210 (lbs.), 6-2. But, one thing that people forget is, the camera always adds about 10 lbs to your face, especially if you have sort of a...I had a little double chin, sort of a pudgy thing happening. Plus, they kept putting me in this big vinyl, sherriff police jackets. I had my walkie talkie, and my ol’ handcuffs, and my gun, and my extra clips, and all that stuff. I keep all this stuff in this big belt, so that bulked me out. Plus they did a lot of bottom shooting, instead of top shooting, the camera’s a little lower, shooting up at me, so that always makes your face look fuller than it really is. So, no, I haven’t lost any weight.

THYDE: There was a scene in the movie with you, the deer, and Powder. The hunting scene. That was a really strong, powerful scene. How long did that take? How many takes was that?
BSMITH: It was a day and a half. It was absolutely gruelling and excruciating. But also, when you’re doing a project like that, nothing matters except the shot, and I was having the time of my life being challenged like that by a scene. We work on that all one shooting day, where I was kicking, screaming, fighting, tensing every muscle in my body. With those boys holding me down, going through what he was supposed to be.....death throes, fear of falling into the abyss, fear of death.

At the end of that long day, we thought we had everything we needed. I was just so relieved. The next morning, I had an early call the next morning, and my wife had to help me up out of bed, because I was so stiff and sore from every muscle in my body being used for that long take, after take, after take. I couldn’t tell you how many takes that took to be honest with you, I lost count. I didn’t really want to keep a count, because it would have been too overwhelming.

But, the next morning I arrived on the set, Victor came up to me and said, “Well I’ve got bad news”, and I thought the worst. I thought, everything I did yesterday, was ruined because......., he said, “No, no, no. We got some great stuff yesterday, but there’s just a couple more angles I wanna get.” You know, he hadn’t really covered it the way he wanted to, and so I had another half day. After that, I said, well, get me a few Tylenol, (laughs) let me wake my body up a little bit. And I did another half-day, when I was absolutely stiff, and sore from the day before. So, it was excruciating, gruelling, and physically demanding, and challenging. But I couldn’t have been happier at the end of the day like that. It was just one of those things where, when you work out, you’re stiff, but it hurts good, it felt so good to be involved in a scene like that.

THYDE: How is making Hollywood films different as opposed to doing local theater in Houston?
BSMITH: I love having both as part of my career. Chris Wilson Studios and The Actors Theater of Houston is my family business. This is my mom’s theater and theater school, and I’ve been involved in it ever since its inception. My mom, Chris Wilson, has been teaching in one way shape or form in this city since the 60’s. She had a theater school called Studio 7, which was housed at where the Arena Theater is now, which used to be called the Houston Music Theater, the big dome theater out in Sharpstown.

She was the training wing for that Theater, and she’s moved to several different locations. She found a home here twelve years ago, I think we’ve been in this building twelve years. We’ve been open as a studio or a school for about a year and a half or two years, and then went into a full size, mainstay productions, full season of Theater. So, the balance, I guess, the best thing about it for me, is that sometimes the movie business gets slow, sometimes, I will go awhile without even an audition or, a chance to get a job, cause things slow down. There’s busy periods, and there are hiatuses. I always have this safety net that I can come to that is creative and fulfilling, and keeps some money coming in. This is where we teach classes, and film workshops, and group classes, theater classes, as well as being able to be involved in the theater, either directing or appearing now, and then.

THYDE: And you’re a director, and an actor, have you produced?
BSMITH: No, I guess you could call me a producer. Being the Associate Artistic Director of this building. This size of a theater, where we only seat ninety people, everybody does everything. My mom is 75 years old, and has earned her wings, and paid her dues, but she still will clean the toilets if it needs to be done, you know what I mean? It’s like the old saying, you see these keys that I’ve got on my belt here? These are only half, the other half’s over there. It’s like they say, the one with the most keys is either the boss, or the janitor. Well, we’re both.

So yeah, we produce, we build. That’s why finding George (Brock) was such a godsend and a gift because he really is a renaissance man as far as the theater’s concerned. He’s not just a one trick pony, he can do it all. He designs, he helps us build, he helps design sound, when he’s needed he’s on the front desk. He helps us run the school, he organizes, he helps with the administration, you know, he’s not just somebody that’s sitting on the desk, and then acting in the evenings. He’s helping us run the ship right now.

THYDE: I spoke with Steve Terrance, he was production assistant for Educating Rita, which your wife, Kate Smith starred in. Do you find it rewarding to give opportunities to young actors?
BSMITH: That’s what it’s all about for us. Especially since we have a school, as well as a theater. And it’s really fulfilling, very rewarding to give to people. In the last show that we just closed, we did a play by Steven Metcalf called Strange Snow. And we had the good fortune to produce the stage debut for Janie Parker, who has just retired as a prima ballerina with the Houston Ballet for 20 years. She retired as a ballet dancer, but was looking for other avenues, and other channels for her energy and her talent, which were somewhat substantial.

She’s been taking classes here for a couple of years. She and somebody else who was a complete rookie, came to me in a class that they were in, and did a scene from Strange Snow. Well, then, my stepfather, Jim Jeter, who was going to do On Golden Pond with my mom, suffered a heart attack, and had to go in for heart surgery. So, we had to cancel On Golden Pond, and we were looking for something to put into that slot. Well, we all talked it over and decided that Janie deserved a shot. Okay, well let’s do the whole play, so we put the play in that slot.

Well, Janie has been onstage many times but never in a speaking role. And she comes on a major role, the lead. There’s only three people in the play, 3 characters. Tim Davis, who was in one of my classes, never appeared on stage before, except in small and supporting roles, just a student, and Michael Gray, the 3 of them, just novices really. Michael Gray was the most seasoned veteran of them all, and had done small parts and children’s theater, but had never carried a show like this, on his shoulders. And the way they responded was magic to me, students that come up with that kind of a performance.

And we’re doing the same thing in this show. George, of course, is carrying the show on his back. It’s his show. It’s Barry Champlain’s show. It’s almost like a one-man show with suburban characters. And there are several characters that are more important, that are integral, supporting character roles, that are in and out all the time. But then there are few, that we inserted a character here and there, a security guard, a talk show host that comes in at the end. It’s something that Mr. Bogosian had in the script, but we just fleshed it out a little bit. And these are basically students that are getting their first shot to be onstage. Somebody like George Brock, it’s just fabulous.

THYDE: Kate Smith, your wife, was in Educating Rita, which you directed. Were you in any other plays with your wife?
BSMITH: I did a play with Kate called Dylan, a play about Dylan Thomas, ‘Do not go gentle into that good night.....Rage rage until the dying of the light’. I did a play with her onstage, she played my wife, as a matter of fact. She played Caitlin, Dylan’s wife. In Educating Rita, I was sort of an assistant director. Dolores Jackson directed it, and I came on board just to help out, and be sort of a co-director to Dolores. But, I’ve directed Kate in several things before and we’ve appeared in several things before. She’s getting ready to do, Scotland Road at New Heights (Theater) with George directing her. (To George Brock) --- Good Luck! (laughs).

THYDE: How is it, working with her?
BSMITH: Working with her is a delight. People ask that all the time, that it must be tough, to work together and then go home together, and do the parenting thing, and do the husband and wife thing, as well as collaboration on projects. I have two kids, a seven year old girl, and a five year old boy.

My wife and I get along professionally, probably as well as we do, in our relationship, maybe a little bit stronger, or better. We have a deep respect for each other, we learn not to take stuff home with us. And as long as there’s respect and dignity in your work, and there’s that mutual respect. The strength in the working relationship can be just as fulfilling as your personal relationships. We enjoy working with each other a lot, cause she’s a very fine actress. She takes direction especially, because she trusts me. And when an actor trusts a director, they’re a lot more willing to stick their neck out, and bare their soul, and open their intestines, and lay their guts out on the stage, 3 to 4, 6 times a week. If you trust the director, you’re willing to do a lot more for somebody you trust. And we have a mutual trust, certainly. We enjoy working with each other very much.

THYDE: Do you plan to have your kids in theater?
BSMITH: Not if I can help it. My mother was on Broadway in the forties, and has been an actress, director, teacher, educator for fifty years. But she’s not a stage mother, never tried to push me towards the business. And I feel the same way about my kids. If that’s what they decide they want to do, I will support them and encourage them. But I hope they have more intelligence than that. (Laughs).

I hope they grow up with more intelligence than to get into this game because of the insecurities, the rejection. It takes a very special person, and personality. Unless you have a passion, and a calling for this business, and can do nothing else in your life, and be happy, then yeah, go ahead and do it, and I’ll support them. I mean, Tempest, my daughter, takes acting classes for fun, but she’s only seven. My agents have already asked if I would consider having the kids come to commercial auditions and stuff like that, when they were babies, and younger. And I said, “Not on your life, no way.” I don’t need the money that bad.

THYDE: Tell us more about your past background, were you educated here in Houston?
BSMITH: I went to school here, elementary, junior high, and high school, I was a graduate of Lamar High School, Class of ‘70. I did not go to college or a university. I went straight into a professional theatre school in England, as a matter of fact. Classical training, for a couple of years. I went to Jacques Le Coq, school of Mime and Theater in Paris for a year.

The Old Vic in Bristol. A theater school in London, that doesn’t have a huge reputation in the United States, but does in England, called East 15 in London, of Little Woods Theatre, Theatre Royal, in the East part of London, in the working class part of London. Then switched to The Old Vic. Then Moscow and Paris, lived in Australia for a few years. So the business has been good to me, it’s taken me around the world twice. And my further education was professional theatre school, as opposed to college, in the drama department.

THYDE: Did your mom encourage you to pursue this?
BSMITH: Oh yeah. I’m 45 years old and don’t really need her encouragement anymore. But she does provide me with a great deal of support and encouragement. When I was a child, when I first started acting, I asked her if I could take theater classes. She was working at the Alley Theater. She was on staff as a theater coordinator at the Alley Theatre, in those days, when I was like 9 or 8, and Nina Vance as being a second mother to me.

I asked if I could take drama classes at the Alley Academy, that was even before it was The Merry Go Round, and I did. They were looking for a child actor, out of one of their academy classes, to do a stage show on the main stage, Life With Father. They were looking for one of the day children, and they picked me. I stayed on, to do all their child roles from the time I was 9 till about 12 or 13, till I got to be too big or too tall to play them anymore. I finally did a play once, where I was actually 12, and I was supposed to be playing 10. I meant to crawl on my dad’s lap, and I was told by my father, the guy playing my father, and I remember him coming to me saying, “Brandon, I think we’re going to have to find another child actor. I think you’ve outgrown these roles.” So I wasn’t a child actor anymore, cause I outgrew the part. After I lived overseas, and trained overseas, and came back, and went to work just before Nina died, she made me a resident company member, and I was there for ten seasons.

THYDE: What are your comments about the play you’re currently directing, Talk Radio for The Actors Theatre of Houston?
BSMITH: This whole year has been a bit of an experiment for us, because we’re trying to find more cutting edge type of contemporary drama, that will get butts into seats, and get more people into this theater. We’ve had a really good final play of the last season, Strange Snow. Through Janie, and the publicity we got, we got grand slam, we got three great reviews, from the big paper, the medium paper, and the small paper. As a result, our final two or three weeks were sold out. We were hanging them from the rafters, we had people sitting on the steps, I had folding chairs put out.

I want to keep that momentum going with controversial, cutting edge, current plays that deal with modern issues, and I think this (Talk Radio) is an excellent choice to lead off the season. Thanks to George Brock who came to us. George came to me and said, I’d really like to play this (laughs). That’s it, sounds like a great way to kick off the fall season.

GBROCK: And then, we continue the season, with just some really, biting and hysterical stuff, that haven’t been done in Houston before.
BSMITH: Christopher Durang, Durang-Durang, just complete fun satire. Then, Agnes of God.....
GBROCK: Then, a play by Alan Bennet.....(who wrote The Madness of King George, and things of that ill)......called Kafka’s Dick. Which is.....and that’s what it’s about (laughs), which is also another Houston premiere, and then.....
BSMITH: Then, Sam Shepard’s Simpatico.....
GBROCK: Which is his latest play, and that’s another Houston premiere. You know we’re very much doing stuff that people in Houston have never seen before, by the major playwrights. We’re talking about some of the greatest writers.....
BSMITH: Pulitzer prize winning playwrights. I mean, the last two, three things we collaborated on, The Foreigner was a safe choice, because it’s just a hilarious comedy. But then we did David Mamet’s Speed the Plow, and I directed George in that, which was a fantastic experience. I said, we want to do more work like that.