Actor Dan Jenkins on Staging, Accents and Playing a Real Person
Daniel Jenkns, a 23-year resident of 309 West 104th Street is currently featured in the ensemble of Oslo, the critically acclaimed, TONY nominated play by J.T. Rogers about the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian peace accords. The play goes behind the scenes to explore the roles that Terje Rod Larsen, a social scientist, and his wife Mona Juul, a career diplomat, played in unofficially bringing the negotiations about. The play recently transferred to Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater from Mitzi E. Newhouse, officially moving to Broadway in the process. The production is currently scheduled to run through June 18. Joyce Mann interviewed Jenkins, who has been nominated for Tony and drama Desk awards for his performance in Big River, about the challenges in restating the play.
Photos courtesy T. Charles Erickson, courtesy ICT
Did you know much about the Oslo accords before being cast in the play? Did you do any research?
I knew almost nothing. We did a lot of research as a company—a lot of time around the table digging into the history. Terje Rod Larson was around, too, and came to talk to us, as did another character’s real counterpart, Joel Singer.
You play two roles—a Swedish diplomat and an Israeli professor. When preparing to play a real person, does your methodology as an actor change? Did anyone in the cast make contact with their counterparts?
I don’t think my methodology changes. I am just a bit more sensitive to what is respectful. There were a couple of people who reached out to their real counterparts. I mentioned that Terje was around, but his wife, Mona, was not and is actually quite shy about all of this. I have one character who has passed away and one who’s alive, but is very busy with international affairs, and I decided not to reach out to him. Also, While I find that research is good to do, circumstances within the play are more useful to me as a performer than trying to re-create someone’s persona.
How did you and other cast members master the varios accents required?
We are very fortunate to have the remarkable voice teacher Liz Smith as our leader in all things accent. There’s also a cast member who happens to be Norwegian. So that’s pretty fortunate, too!
Many of the actors sit off-stage, but in full view of the audience, during much of the play. Was that the playwright’s choice or the director’s?
The director chose that approach. It gives a sense of watching or being watched throughout. I think different audiences take different ideas about that with them, which is just fine!
What is the difference between playing on a thrust stage like the Beaumont vs. a traditional Broadway proscenium arch space? Would Oslo have changed much had it been done on a traditional stage, do you think?
The Beaumont feels like the perfect space for this play. The sense of sharing and being watched by a community really adds to the public/private conversation that was being had about the issues. Many people in the audience feel strongly about the people and issues raised, and they are included in this space in a way that they couldn’t be in a proscenium.
As an actor, what do you do internally during that time of sitting and watching?
I think my favorite thing to do on stage is to listen. How that is done is different for every actor. For me, it is a challenge that I truly enjoy. The character’s internal life is simply there, and my job is just to listen.
One of your roles requires a wig and there is at least one very quick costume change. Do you have dressers to help you backstage?
At one point I have three different persons with me to do a complete costume in about eight seconds! It’s one of my favorite parts of the show!
As an actor, what adjustments did you need to make in playing on a much larger stage and bigger auditorium?
It’s a glorious space! It really feels much more “Greek”. And the ideas and stakes of the play allow for that adjustment. Space likes passionate expression, and as an actor it is an adjustment, but a joyous one, to fill that space with that passion.
What are the hardest scenes to perform in the play, in your opinion?
They all have their challenges, but I don’t think there is a particular scene that is “hard”. I think the calibration of scene-to-scene temperature is the challenging part of the piece — how to keep the audience engaged, but not fatigued, by the crazy twists and turns in the story.
What do you hope people take away from the play?
I hope they enjoy their time there. (The play’s very funny, I think). And then ponder how people on diametrically opposed sides of an issue (sound familiar?) might find a way that come together and share a dialog.