SWAPPING 9 TO 5 FOR THE FOOTLIGHTS
Actor trades 9 to 5 for the footlights
“I’d go pretty far before I decided to sit behind a desk again.”
Eric Charters, 31, was a mortgage underwriter for a major bank in town for several years. Theatre made him quit.
“My decision shocked a lot of people. But I’m a rebel. And a bit of a dreamer, too. I always wanted to be a professional performer, someplace like Stratford. Folks say I have a big ego. Well, I do. You have to have one to be a performer.”
So, after years of working with numbers and papers, Charters decided it was time to walk away.
Kicking around community theatre in the Hamilton area since he was 16, Charters played good roles in amateur shows: Jack in “Into the Woods,” Che in “Evita,” Pirelli in “Sweeney Todd.”
That meant lots of rehearsals, lots of late nights and lots of early mornings so he could hustle to his real job behind a big desk.
“My dream began a long time ago. I was a student and saw “Sweet Charity” at Westmount High School. I thought I can do that. That was a big moment for me.”
So was leaving his job 15 years later for professional theatre.
When someone needed to be made redundant at the office where he worked Charters told his bosses, “Pick me.”
“Was that courageous? I suppose so,” Charters says. “Some people thought it was crazy.”
Charters went to work on himself. He lost 100 pounds. He changed his diet. He worked out. He knew looking good was part of the deal. A friend in the business told him casting directors don’t hire overweight guys to play parts like Jekyll and Hyde.
“It was good advice. I was the guy who wolfed down multiple chocolate bars every day. I finished the evening with pizza and chips. Now, it’s vegetables and protein bars.
“I’m weight lifting and running the stairs now. It was about facing reality, changing my lifestyle. And yes, it was scary.”
Charters begins ballet class in the fall.
“If you can do ballet, you can do anything. It’s so physical. Right now my mind is willing, but my flesh is weak. But I’ll get there.”
When it comes to banking, Charters admits he never had a passion.
“It was something I did for a living and to pay child support for my kids.
“Theatre is what drove me,” he says. “I always knew that. I always knew it was what I wanted.”
Years ago, Charters tried Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto and quit.
“I wasn’t ready to work hard enough, I guess.”
Earlier this year, Charters signed with a Toronto agent. He did a bit part on a TV show called “Reign.” It was a foot in the door.
“Later I auditioned for ‘Oh Canada Eh?’, a dinner-theatre show in Niagara Falls. I did a monologue, a couple of songs and a dance combination. I got in.”
The show is about hit songs performed or written by Canadians. It’s fast-paced, pure entertainment.
“There’s everything from Paul Anka to Michael Bublé,” Charters says. “I sing about 40 numbers. There’s a big Canadian rock medley. I play everything from a Newfoundland fisherman, to a dimwitted hockey player, to a lumberjack. There are six performers and each night before we go on stage we serve dinner to the audience. It’s great because I get to know a lot of the people in the audience. I bond with them.”
“It’s a show for tourists. It’s popular with them, but locals come too. It’s a good night out.”
Charters says he makes enough money to live on and he’s doing something he loves.
“Is there security? Not really. Every time the company does a new show you have to audition for a place. There are no guarantees. Theatre is never a sure thing.”
“I’d like to say at the end of my life I performed on Broadway. I have my eye on Stratford, Shaw and Drayton.” Is it easy? “No. A casting director once said to me, ‘There’s a hundred things involved in getting a part. You only have control of about 30 of them. And yes, I’m scared of the future, even though I do meditation and yoga. I try to save money, but you never know how long you’ll be out of work.”
Charters smiles and shrugs his shoulders.
“I suppose any sane person stepping into this world I’m in would look at it and say, there’s insanity in this decision. Well, I suppose there is.”
For information on Oh Canada Eh? visit ohcanadaeh.com.