One of the most interesting characters in this month's production of "The Adding Machine" at La Jolla Playhouse is Shrdlu, a man who killed his mother and yearns to suffer for his sins in hell.
What makes Shrdlu so moving is Joshua Everett Johnson's performance as this forever-lost soul.
The young Oceanside actor has practically specialized in playing haunted men onstage at Carlsbad's New Village Arts Theatre and San Diego's Cygnet and 6th@Penn Theatres over the past few years.
It's a career that started in 2001 at MiraCosta College in Oceanside, where Johnson honed his chops at the college's summer Actors Academy. Academy director Eric Bishop remembers Johnson as a "talented, gifted man" who showed intense devotion to his roles, including as a roller-skating devil in "Damn Yankees."
"I remember Josh's incredible dedication to working with these roller-shoes," Bishop said. "He was constantly working to make it look effortless. That combined with razor-sharp focus, dedication and an incredible work ethic, he created a really wonderful devil character in the musical. It's no wonder that Josh has had the kind of success he has. What a great role model for our students."
Since his MiraCosta days, Johnson has gone on to play the indigent farmworker George in "Of Mice and Men," the title character in Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," German physicist Werner Heisenberg in "Copenhagen," Launce the clown in Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona" and several Sam Shepard anti-heroes. He also understudied seven roles last year in the La Jolla Playhouse's "The Farnsworth Invention." His acting efforts have earned him three San Diego Theatre Critics Circle awards.
In between "Adding Machine" performances last week, Johnson answered a few questions about himself, his career, "The Adding Machine" and his move to New York in 2008.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I was born and raised in San Clemente. I moved to Oceanside at the age of 13 and then back and forth from L.A. to San Diego and cities in between ever since.
Q: Are you from an artsy family?
A: Not really, actually. I'm from a smart family but not necessarily an artsy one. I'm the oldest sibling in my immediate family and I grew up with a younger sister and brother. My parents divorced when I was in elementary school and have since remarried, so I now have a younger brother on my mom's side and two older brothers on my dad's side. There are also some adoptions in my family tree, so it's been a mystery as to where I get my particular type of smarts. I'm very different in that way than the other members of my family, but I have been lucky to have their support for so many years.
Q: Did you do theater in high school or did you start in college?
A: I've been doing theater in various forms since I was a kid. I did a play or two when I was in the fourth grade. I wrote a play when I was, I don't know, just a wee little thing, and I put my brother and sister in animal costumes and forced them to participate. Then I did theater and speech competitions (dramatic Interpretation) throughout junior high and high school. Then (I went to) L.A. for a bit. I left L.A. with a bad taste in my mouth but with a little money in my pocket, so I bought a guitar, fell in love with it, and went back to school for music. Eventually, though, I was drawn back in to the theater and I finally left school early to act and direct. For me it was the right choice to get out of school and just get started.
Q: What interests do you have besides theater?
A: Music and graphic design. I have 30 or so songs recorded on my home computer, and someday I hope to record and release a record and do the artwork for it as well. A life of projects!
Q: Do you have a "day job" or have you managed to support yourself as a working actor?
A: I think at this point about half of my income comes from acting and half from graphic design.
When I started out in San Diego I would go to work between shows at a local coffee shop and a local record store as well. I've been lucky to have the support of the owners of these local businesses, so they let me leave and come back according to my schedule. I was also able to sneak in some classes in graphic design. After those classes I was able to do freelance work in the day and rehearsals and performances at night. So I've been writing my own schedule for about two years now. But it's scary. It's like swinging on vines -- you always hope that when you reach the end of the vine you're on that there will be another vine to grab. It's frightening but I wouldn't have it any other way. Not that I would turn down a winning Lotto ticket, but I definitely won't stop doing what I do even though it's a scary financial tightrope.
Q: How are audiences responding to "The Adding Machine"?
A: The response, as far as I've heard, has been really positive. They leave with a lot to think about and that's great -- especially since the play is such a social commentary. The talkbacks on Tuesdays have been really fascinating and thought-provoking as well. It's also been exciting to be doing the play in the round -- it's a first for me and for the Playhouse. And Daniel (Aukin) did such a great job directing. One of his choices was to eliminate the blackouts between scenes and run them all together. Then, after the final scene there is a complete and very sudden blackout. More than one person has left saying that they feel like they just woke up from a dream or just witnessed a David Lynch film live on the stage. Which is a great response when you're doing an expressionist piece.
Q: Your performance in "Adding Machine" is very controlled and low-key. Was that your interpretation of the role or the director's?
A: It was both. It ended up being very close to the way I read the role on the first day -- but we traveled a long way to come back to that. One of the things in the script that struck me was (playwright Elmer) Rice's use of the adjectives "mildly" and "calmly" to describe some of Shrdlu's text. So I brought that in with me in the first readings. Over the course of rehearsals, Daniel and I blew the character out many different ways. We had him screaming at the heavens, having nervous breakdowns -- you name it. In the end, the story of Shrdlu came back around to simple, honest and lost. There is an innocence in his part of the story that is lost when he starts being able to scream and yell.
Q: Why do you think your character, Shrdlu, killed his mother?
A: Repression. It was a psychological gesture that flew out of him in a millisecond. She had him wrapped so, so tight. And even brainwashed to believe that anytime he imaged getting away from her it was his sinful nature speaking, instead of a rational desire to get away from an overbearing, negative parent. It was a snap that he still hasn't registered properly.
Q: How did you become associated with the La Jolla Playhouse?
A: I had read for Shirley Fishman (Playhouse associate artistic director) several times throughout the years -- usually for smaller projects at the Playhouse or for general auditions -- so she was familiar with some of my work. Then last year some people from the Playhouse, including Jackie Goldfinger, who was in casting at the time, came to see "Copenhagen" at Cygnet Theatre. She liked the work and she sent me up to L.A. to read for Aaron Sorkin's new play "The Farnsworth Invention," which premiered as a Page to Stage production at the Playhouse directed by Des McAnuff. I did well up in L.A. and made it to the callbacks. The role I was up for ended up going to a New York actor, but they called me a couple weeks later and asked if I would be interested in understudying. I said "sure" and a few days later I was understudying seven or eight actors who were each playing seven or eight roles themselves. It was a daunting task, but all in all it was a great experience. I think it also helped that I won a Craig Noel Award for my work in "Copenhagen" at the same ceremony where Des was being honored for his long list of achievements at the Playhouse. All the sudden, that quiet kid in the corner at rehearsals was accepting an award for Lead Actor in a Play. After that I got more stage time in rehearsals and the staff was taking notice. It was great timing and that, sometimes, really is everything.
Q: How is working in a major regional theater different from working in the small to midsize professional theaters?
A: Well, I definitely can't speak for all regional theaters -- and I know it wouldn't be the same for them all even if I could -- but working at the Playhouse is fantastic. I was blown away by how "family" they are. It was really very similar to working at Cygnet or New Village Arts. Which is funny because for the past four years or so I've been working from the ground up at Cygnet and NVA and you start to feel like a family, you know. I think you even start to fancy yourself a rebel, an underdog. And you say to yourself and your teammates "Look at us -- we have brilliant people and award-winning productions and we are struggling! Struggling I tell you!" Both Cygnet and NVA really arrived and staked a claim the past few years, and I've been so proud to be a part of that -- so proud to be the artistic underdog. Then I arrived at the Playhouse and what I found wasn't an impersonal theater-making machine, but another family. It was just a bigger family. With a tad more money in the bank! They are gracious and talented and focused. I feel very grateful to have such positive experiences in San Diego, both as an underdog and as an Equity actor.
Q: What's next on your plate after "Adding Machine"?
A: The role of Dennis in Kenneth Lonnergan's "This Is Our Youth" at New Village Arts, which I'm very excited about. It's a type of role San Diego hasn't seen me do yet and it's a fantastic script. The role of Dennis is so charged and full of energy and the text is so hilarious. It will be a very balancing experience coming after Shrdlu.
Q: Is there a role out there you're dying to play?
A: Oh, there are so many! I'm in love with the theater right now. I always am, but like any relationship, the fuzzy feelings come in waves. These days I'm reading plays like crazy and I'm in love with my job. The roles that come to mind right now are Tom in "The Glass Menagerie" and Hamlet, and, later in my career, Richard III and George in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Q: You directed New Village's "Nocturne" last year. Would you like to direct again?
A: Yes, I can't wait to direct again. I was working once with my friend and colleague Francis Gercke (artistic director of New Village Arts) and he said that he's never seen me as happy and charged as when I'm sitting in the director's seat. I love it and I can't wait to get back to it.
Q: When did you go Equity?
A: I went Equity for this show.
Q: Now that you're Equity, will you stay in San Diego or will you head to L.A. or New York?
A: I will be headed to New York in the not-so-distant future. I'm grateful to be working here so consistently with Cygnet Theatre and New Village Arts Theatre. I find the work at these two companies to be full of integrity, talent, focus and guts. I'll be lucky to find such qualities in New York or anywhere else. I'm very excited and optimistic about the growth of those two companies in the years to come. That said, I'm very much looking forward to New York but also to my continuing work here in San Diego.
Q: What are your goals for the future? Strictly stage, or television and movies?
A: I love the stage but I am also really looking forward to doing more film. I would love to do good TV, an HBO series, something like that. Ultimately I want to have a life of great projects: a play as an actor, one as a director, then a film, some TV work, and one of these days I would love to record and produce a record as well.
"The Adding Machine"
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 4-5; 2 and 8 p.m. Oct. 6; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7
Where: Potiker Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, UC San Diego, La Jolla
Tickets: $28-$60; for mature audiences
Web: (858) 550-1010
