OSF veteran returns to Ashland to play three roles in summer comedy
By Jim Flint
During his years performing in repertory at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mark Bedard developed a high tolerance for rapid-fire role changes. So he’s more than ready to pull off a theatrical hat trick in his next production — without pulling a hamstring.
“Actually, I quite enjoy it,” he said. “In fact, anytime I’m only playing one role in a show, I feel like I’m living on Easy Street.”
Bedard will play three roles — Derek, the Zombie Butler and the Masked Man — in David Lindsay-Abaire’s comedy “Ripcord,” set to open July 16 for a three-week run at Rogue Theater Company’s Richard L. Hay Center at Grizzly Peak Winery, 1600 E. Nevada St., in Ashland.
“I enjoy a good comedy, and what really sold me on doing this show was the great cast,” Bedard said.
Joining him on stage will be Eileen DeSandre, Nancy Carlin, Barret O’Brien, Jamie Ann Romero and Stephen Michael Spencer. Former OSF Artistic Director Henry Woronicz directs.
One room, two agendas
“Ripcord” is set in the shared room of two residents (DeSandre and Carlin as Abby and Marilyn) at a senior living facility. The play centers on a bet between Abby, a grouchy woman who wants to keep her room to herself, and Marilyn, a more optimistic woman who wants to switch beds.
Derek is a nice guy caught in a storm — caring, understanding and trying to keep the peace. He’s the son-in-law of Marilyn and the devoted husband of Colleen, Marilyn’s upbeat daughter, who wants to improve her mother’s living situation but also happens to be a fierce prankster.
There are parts of Derek’s character that feel close to home for Bedard.
“I relate to being risk-averse,” he said, “but also to being fully there for your family. It puts him in a painful box — one that’ll be fun for me to play.”
Preparing for the role involves walking a fine line between comedy and emotional truth. Fortunately, the script helps chart the path for Bedard.
“I find the writing of the play to be pretty darn funny,” he said. “So I’m mostly going to focus on the emotional grounding. If I discover in rehearsal that I need to ham it up more . . . well . . . historically, that hasn’t been much of a problem.”
“Ripcord” marks a reunion for Bedard and DeSandre, who previously worked together in OSF’s 2009 production of “The Servant of Two Masters.”
Thisbe and beyond
“When I saw her on the first day of rehearsal for ‘Ripcord,’” Bedard said, “I gave her a big hug and told her, ‘I’ve been waiting over 15 years to do a play again with you!’”
The year before “The Servant of Two Masters,” they did “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” together.
“I would regularly sit in the vom, watching her Thisbe death scene, because it was a comedic master class,” he said. “She’s a true craftsman and one of my favorite comedic actresses.”
Bedard has had more than a few scene-stealing roles himself.
At OSF, Bedard stole the show as Groucho Marx in “Animal Crackers” (2012) and “The Cocoanuts” (2014), and as Truffaldino in “The Servant of Two Masters.” Do those characters still live in his brain — or were they just houseguests passing through?
“Definitely unruly houseguests,” he said, laughing. “Groucho and Truffaldino are so unlike me that I still can’t believe I played them well. When I think back on it, it seems like someone else did it.”
Bedard also has performed at regional theaters across the country and in several Off-Broadway productions, with Shakespearean roles figuring prominently — and even reprised his turn as Groucho in “The Cocoanuts” at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
Fans with standards
With Shakespeare, there’s a reverence. People know the text, the rhythm, the history. With Groucho, they know the timing, the punchlines, even the eyebrow moves. So who’s harder to please — Groucho fans or Bard loyalists?
“The Bard loyalists are harder to please,” Bedard said, “but only because the true Groucho fans aren’t surprised when you actively try to displease them. If anything, they’re more pleased by it.”
His experience in both writing and adapting for the stage has shaped the way Bedard approaches a character someone else has written.
“I have a lot more respect for the thought they’ve put into a character,” Bedard said, “and for the hope they’re placing on the actor to breathe some real life into it.”
Truffaldino in “The Servant of Two Masters” was his most challenging OSF role, performed in the intimate Thomas Theatre — known at the time as the New Theatre.
“It was my first foray into audience work and ad-libbing, and I was terrified,” he said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself to do it well, because it was also my first role as a union actor. The role was extremely physically exhausting — exhilarating when it was going well and devastating when it went poorly. Luckily for me, it mostly went well.”
Beyond the spotlight
The life of an actor is often romanticized — all limelight and artistry. But it isn’t all spotlights and standing ovations. Bedard would be the first to agree, though he’s more likely to describe it with a self-deprecating shrug — or a wink and a grin.
“Pretty much everything about acting looks glamorous, but really isn’t,” he said. “The only thing that really counts as glamorous are the secret underground bacchanalia that happen once a week for actors only, with exquisite food, dancing, song, and revelry.”
What’s his secret formula for balancing farce and sincerity in performances?
“My general approach to any work, whether it’s comedy or drama, is to seek out the truth and pain in the story and figure out how to play that fully,” Bedard said. “That’s where the sincerity can be found.
“If it’s a comedy, I find a way to make that truth and pain incongruent somehow with the audience’s expectations. But if it’s a drama, then it needs to be 100% congruent. So, I’m either holding a mirror up to nature, or I’m holding up a fun house mirror.”
Many hats
Bedard has worn a lot of hats — both literal and metaphorical — throughout his career. But one in particular stuck with him: a costume designed for his role as Touchstone in Hudson Valley Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” which he admits he secretly wanted to keep.
“I got to wear a very well-tailored suit that had a very bright motley pattern,” he said. “I felt like that suit did most of the work for me in portraying that character. I loved it! But by the end of the run, it was pretty beat up, so I didn’t pursue keeping it. Now, I merely hold onto the memories.”
Challenging old wisdom
There is one piece of advice he got early on that rang true at the time, but not so much now. In college, theater students were often told not to major or minor in anything else, with the reasoning that if you had something to fall back on, you’d probably end up doing just that.
“At the time, I thought it was great advice. But now that I’ve been in the business a while, I think it’s ludicrous,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to bail out of one of the most unstable, oversaturated, underpaid job markets in the world. If anything, advice like that is only making the market even more oversaturated with actors who might have otherwise found happier trails.”
That said, Bedard still finds live theater essential. He feels the energy in the room, whether on stage or in the audience.
“I love watching a live performance with others and knowing it is unique to right now,” he said. “There’s nothing else distracting you.”
He says live theater brings an inherent authenticity — even when the performances themselves aren’t entirely authentic.
“The event itself is real,” he said. “Now if we can just keep those phones from ringing, we’ll be good!”
Home and abroad
Now based in Chicago, Bedard is looking forward to spending the summer in Ashland with his wife and daughter.
After “Ripcord,” Bedard and his family will take a “long overdue” trip to England to see some of his wife’s relatives.
“Then John Tufts and I will be workshopping and doing a reading of our new murder mystery comedy entitled ‘A Loco-Motive for Murder’ at the Alley All New Festival in Houston.”
“Ripcord” performances, all at 1 p.m., are scheduled Wednesdays through Sundays, July 16 through Aug. 3. For more information about RTC plays or to purchase tickets, visit roguetheatercompany.com.
Jim Flint’s Curtain Call column publishes on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. Email Jim at [email protected].
