‘The Humans’ scheduled to start March 6 at Proctors
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. » Some people say they were born to be on the stage. Richard Thomas says, “Thank God I act for a living. There is nothing else I can do.”
After, a short pause he replies to my laughter by saying, “No I mean it. I am so inept, I am incapable of doing anything else.”
Thomas, who gained everlasting fame playing John-Boy in the popular 1970s television series “The Waltons” is definitely an actor. He moves easily between stage and television as well as the occasional film.
He arrives in Schenectady next week, playing a lead role in “The Humans, ” which plays Proctors March 6-11.
In our recent telephone interview he expressed pleasure at being so close to Williamstown, MA. During the 1980s he was a frequent presence at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Recalling the feat of producing a new show every two weeks, he said, “That was a special time. Everyone there was dedicated to doing great work.” “The Humans” starts March 6 at Proctors.
He also expressed a fondness for the shows he did at Hartford Stage in CT. “Working with Mark Lamos in the late 80s and 90s was a special collaboration,” he recalled .
He sighed as he said, “You never forget the person with whom you did your first ‘Hamlet.’ ” He offered a deprecating chuckle as he added, “And my only ‘Hamlet.’”
He then joked at 67 years old he’s almost ready for “King Lear.” “Got to do it, while I can still lift Cordelia”, he said.
Besides “Hamlet” at Hartford Stage Thomas performed “Peer Gynt,” “Richard III” and “Tiny Alice.” The titles are indicative of Thomas’
talent to be able to take on demanding roles. They also offer a sense of an actor who loves a challenge and is drawn to complex, literate works.
This love of compassionate theater, he says, is why he is travelling the country with “The Humans.” It won the Tony Award in 2016 for Best Play.
“It’s a brilliant play,” he says. “It’s such a basic story that it is impossible to describe simply by telling the plot. It’s about a family who comes together for a Thanksgiving dinner and you learn everything about them, without knowing you learned anything.
“I describe it as “A comedy that will make you cry. Although you could also say it’s a drama that makes you laugh your ass off. It’s 90-minutes of theater filled with compassion and empathy.“
He plays Eric, the father, with actress Pamela Reed playing his wife. They take care of his mother who is suffering from advanced dementia. About the situation, he says, “It’s one of those unique plays about issues that face the middle and lower middle classes.
“The problems of every generation are represented in a way that audiences respond and relate to them.
“What’s fascinating is that the play explores the inability of different generations to fully understand what other generations are going through. It’s an astonishing situation that exists throughout society.”
He describes his character “...as kind of a curmudgeon. He’s funny and fun loving, but it takes time to see that side of him.”
Thomas says the character sometime places him in an awkward situation. “After a show, someone will come up to me and say, ‘He is exactly like my father.’ I kind of wait to see if they mean that as a good thing,” he laughes.
What impresses Thomas about the play is that every actor in the production gets the same reaction from members of the audience. “People see themselves and people with whom they identify on stage.”
Closing our interview, he seems to modify his attitude about the difficulty of defining what the play is about. “The title says it all, he says. “It’s about being human,”