Parks and recreation, or how one actor is spending his summer
For Dmitry Chepovetsky, it’s all set to be a summer of firsts.
“It’s crazy, I’ve been in this business for 28 years, and I’ve never done Shakespeare,” the actor says. Reclining on a blanket in the High Park Amphitheatre, Chepovetsky sports a regal beard — perhaps a tad thick for this hot summer evening, but fitting considering he’ ll play royalty in tonight’s presentation of A Midsummer Night’s Dre a m. Munching on picnic snacks from The Drake Hotel — one of his favourite Toronto hangouts — the film and television actor reflects on his everevolving career.
“It’s nice to do this because I feel like a bit of an adult,” says the 42-year-old. “I tell people I’m playing Oberon and Theseus and they’re like, ‘Really? Not Puck? Are you that old?’ And I’m like: ‘Yup.’ ”
This year Canadian Stage is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Toronto’s outdoor theatre tradition of Shakespeare in High Park, and this production is the seventh time A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been staged here.
“You can think of this play as light,” Chepovetsky says, “but it was written 400 years ago, and the issues it addresses — jealousy, infidelity, wanting to having children — are still relevant today.”
Director Richard Rose of Tarragon Theatre is at the helm of this show, and has infused the classic tale with some modern Toronto twists. Each evening, a different member of Toronto society — city councillors, theatre donors, wellknown actors — will appear as guests in the wedding scene at the conclusion of the play, and the set decoration is very Ontario (think: Muskoka chairs).
On opening night, Scott Thompson played the Queen. “Man, it was hard to keep that under wraps,” confesses Chepovetsky with a laugh. “You just want to run out and tell everyone you know.”
Though Chepovetsky has made much of his career here in Toronto, this production marks something of a homecoming. Born in what is now Kiev, Ukraine (formerly the U.S.S.R.), Chepovsky immigrated to Regina at the age of six, and made his way to Toronto at 18 to study commerce, though he quickly ditched that path to study theatre at Ryerson. It was an eye-opening time for the young actor and a vital time for theatre in Toronto. As a bus boy and waiter at Second City at the old Fire Hall Theatre from 1988 to 1992, he witnessed some of Canada’s comedy greats at work.
“It was amazing,” the now-seasoned actor says. “Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie and Pat McKenna were on main stage. Mike Myers would drop by for improv. The Kids in the Hall would do fundraisers there. I served John Candy once.”
Since those early days, he’s spent as much time in Vancouver as Toronto; in the ’ 90s doing film and television shows like The X-Files and Stargate, and most recently, for a musical based on Craigslist ads titled Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata (it opens in Toronto next year).
“I haven’t had a solid place to call home for two and a half years now,” Chepovetsky admits. “I’m really looking forward to setting up a little house somewhere around Roncy.” Right now he’s staying by the park, and says he’s been having a blast performing in an outdoor theatre for the first time.
Yet despite the many perks that come with the part, some of his peers were surprised he chose this job over film or television. “Some people were like, ‘Really?’ But you know, I walk to High Park for work,” he says, gesturing to the families and couples setting up blankets and picnics in the grass. “I’m entertaining people. And the immediate response you get with theatre — there’s nothing like it. It’s a gift.”