A Conversation with Actor and Woodbury Faculty Member Keith Szarabajka
Q: Of the various disciplines in which you鈥檙e involved — acting, directing, producing, writing — which do you find most satisfying?
Keith:聽 I find them all satisfying, it just depends on the project. There鈥檚 nothing like performing a part when you’re really in the zone and everything is cooking. Especially when you’re doing it in front of an audience, it鈥檚 magic time. But then, I enjoy directing too, and playwriting. It鈥檚 incredibly fulfilling to see something you鈥檝e written come to fruition.
Q: 聽Do you ever give a one-word answer when someone says, 鈥渨hat do you do?鈥�
Keith:聽 It used to be, 鈥淚鈥檓 an actor,鈥� but I鈥檝e branched out. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an actor, even though I did write plays all the time.
Q: 鈥淏leacher Bums鈥� was a breakout achievement. How did the play change your life?
Keith: It enabled me to move to New York and hang with agents and others — it was a sea change. When you go to New York and the play is a hit, casting directors and agents are calling you, and producers want to meet you, so you think, 鈥渨ell, maybe I should be here for a while.鈥� But it was a tough four years until it really happened, which was around the time I did 鈥淒oonesbury- A Musical Comedy.鈥� 聽I was thinking that if I don鈥檛 catch the brass ring now, it may not come around again.
Q: In terms of live theater, how do you keep it fresh?
Keith: 鈥淓very night is an improvisation,鈥� as Michael Chekhov says, and as Konstantin Stanislavsky said. Every night is different, every audience is different, every performance is different. There are basic things that you do but the energy is never the same. You don’t even know what you’re doing until eight weeks into a run. Everything else is just guesswork.
Q: For an actor, how does the experience change as you move from live to recorded performance?
Keith: It鈥檚 the same experience and yet a different experience. You still have to get in touch with whatever your inner voice is. That’s what all the great acting teachers teach: get in touch with your inner voice. That said, it is more segmented when you鈥檙e working on a film or a television show than when you’re working in the theater. You play for who your audience is.
Q: 聽Describe your work with Dr. Larkin, chair of the Filmmaking program at Woodbury.
Keith:聽 He asked me to teach an 鈥淎cting for Directors鈥� course.聽 I’m not actually teaching students how to act, although I do have them act. I鈥檓 seeking to give them a vocabulary for dealing with actors, because the class is comprised mostly of aspiring directors. 聽I want them to understand what an actor goes through to do a short scene or even read a piece.
I want them to have a wider field of knowledge about the different ideas about acting. 聽I’m teaching from Konstantin Stanislavsky’s book, An Actor Prepares, from Uta Hagen鈥檚 Respect for Acting, Michael Chekhov’s To the Actor and Michael Shurtleff鈥檚 Audition, one of the most practical books on acting I鈥檝e ever read.
Q:聽 For film students at Woodbury and just in general, is there a career progression?
Keith:聽 Not really. What makes sense is to work. Wherever you go, work. Work in a production company. Work at a small theater, where you get to see people who are actually doing it.
Early on, I joined a theater company and the play went to Broadway. It was a bomb, but it was an incredible experience. There鈥檚 no way you can learn that in school. I’m still figuring out all the things I learned.
Q: 聽Of the projects you’re working on now, what’s most exciting?
Keith:聽 I just directed this great play, 鈥淟ost in Time鈥� by Tony Pasqualini, in Atwater Village.聽 聽Word of mouth has been incredible and we鈥檝e gotten two rave reviews from Stage Raw and Show Mag.
Q: 聽Did you have a mentor, someone who gave you guidance along the way?
Keith:聽 Several. I had a high school drama teacher who I would always consult with, then Stuart Gordon, the artistic director of the Organic Theater Company.聽 John Heard was my mentor. Meshach Taylor was my best friend and mentor. Joe Mantegna was a mentor. Bill Norris was a mentor. It was sort of a group mentoring, and I was the kid. They taught me everything they knew and then some things they didn’t know. But they were also friends. So, it鈥檚 hard鈥� who鈥檚 a mentor? Who鈥檚 a friend? How do you split that definition?
Q: What do you wish someone told you when you were getting started that would have been helpful to know?
Keith:聽 Follow your heart. I know that sounds really clich茅d, but you鈥檝e got to do it. That鈥檚 your inner voice, that’s what you鈥檙e going to rely on, that鈥檚 what’s going to make or break you. And if your heart tells you that you should be in school or be looking for a job or joining a production company or doing your own film, then listen to that.
Q: Given how atomized everything is today, media-wise, is it tougher to break in now? Or has it actually gotten easier?
Keith: In film and television, there are more outlets now, and more niche venues, than there ever have been. Plus video games, audio books and the theater. Theater may be tougher to break into, but there are a lot of really good companies around — Sacred Fools, my theater company, Ensemble Studio Theater L.A., Antaeus, and so on.
There鈥檚 a reason why they call it a play. 聽And I keep saying that in my class. I say, you all need to remember this: have fun, play. 聽Even if you鈥檙e doing a tragic character, you should be enjoying yourself in some way.