Encinitas actor James Newcomb says he's reveling in the chance to play the title character of a conflicted Jewish novelist in San Diego Repertory Theatre's local premiere of "Brooklyn Boy." But it's not because of the meatiness of the role, or the character's similarities to his own life.

In fact, Newcomb is delighted that his character, Eric Weiss, is just an average Joe dealing with issues of family, marriage, faith and self-identity like everybody else. That's because Newcomb has spent much of the past decade performing larger-than-life roles at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare Santa Cruz, including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Shakespeare's Richard III, Oberon, Dogberry and Richard II, among others.

"It's a real joy to be doing something that is kitchen sink psychological realism," said Newcomb, a UC San Diego stage combat professor who lives in Encinitas with his wife, fellow UCSD acting teacher/voice coach Ursula Meyer, and their 6-year-old son, Daniel. "It's nice to be playing a character who's honest and true, and where I don't have to put kneepads on."

"Brooklyn Boy" is the story of Eric Weiss, a novelist in his mid-40s who has finally hit the big time with his third book, the semiautobiographical "Brooklyn Boy," while the rest of his life is falling apart. Although his novel is so successful that a film producer wants to option it for a film, Weiss is struggling with the dissolution of his childless marriage, the impending death of his estranged (and jealous) father, his own loss of self-identity and his separation from his Jewish faith.

"He's a guy going through a serious identity crisis," Newcomb said. "He's not sure what to do with his celebrity, he sees how he's obliterated his own past, and he comes to an epiphany about who he is. I find it a very profound play that's meaningful and very, very funny."

"Brooklyn Boy" was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies, whose other works -- "Dinner With Friends," "Sight Unseen" and "Collected Stories" -- have all been staged in San Diego in the past few years. Newcomb calls Margulies' script inspiring.

"I've always been a fan of his work," Newcomb said of Margulies. "He creates very realistic relationships and he's very gifted in dialogue and rhythm. His plays really get to the heart of his characters, too."

"Brooklyn Boy" is directed by San Diego Rep associate artistic director Todd Salovey.

"Todd's a very organic and wonderful director," Newcomb said. "It's like he places the boat in a stream and he walks along the side of it and takes a stick and nudges it to keep you in the center of the flow. He's very good at dynamic shifts and letting it go to see whatever comes out."

Newcomb and Meyers moved to Encinitas six years after they married in June 1996, but Newcomb said they've never spent a summer here because of their Shakespeare festival gigs. They met in 1989 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and that is where Newcomb has been a company member for the past six seasons. This year, he'll join a new theater company, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, where he'll perform this summer in "Coriolanus" and "King Lear." The decision was prompted by his desire to spend more time with his wife and son.

"It used to be I'd go up (to Oregon) in April or January and I'd be gone a long time, then she'd come up to join me," he said. "But now that Daniel is in first grade I don't want to be away from my family for so long. The Utah season begins in May and we all finish together on Labor day, so it's a shorter season, it's closer to home and we can all be together."

Newcomb said "Brooklyn Boy" deals very sensitively with the midlife issues that most of us will face.

"The play is so profound for me in so many ways," he said. "I'm of an age, and my parents are of an age, where I know the day will come when I will lose them. Many of my friends and contemporaries have dealt with the loss of a parent and it's a transition that everyone goes through where they realize, I am nobody's child anymore. It resonates very profoundly for me personally."