The Tony Awards are just around the corner, and in preparation for theatre’s biggest night, Northlight Artistic Director BJ Jones sat down with friend and Northlight Alum (Permanent Collection, 2005) Tony-nominated actor Harry Lennix for a quick Q&A. Check it out below, and catch Harry the night of the awards, where he’s nominated for Best Actor in a Play!
BJ: You’ve starred on Broadway, in film, on television, and now you’re nominated rightfully for a Tony. It’s a career anyone would yearn for, and yet you haven’t changed one bit. What part of your work finds its roots in Chicago?
HL: The ethos of Chicago is in my DNA. It is at the very core of my being. The approach to all of the acting work I do was derived and refined in Chicago. This training cannot be removed or evaded, thus I have tried to embrace it and sustain these principles.
BJ: I remember you playing jazz piano in the rehearsal room during Permanent Collection, and sharing Red Garland CDs with me. When I watch you work, there is a sort of jazz-inflected rhythm in your delivery and response with your fellow actors. Even your work in Shakespeare has a musical sensibility. Can you talk about that?
HL: This is a keen observation. My friend, Wendell Pierce played Willy Loman a couple of seasons ago and I recognized his homage to Monk in the performance. It seems to me that when an actor has the opportunity to work on poeticized language in drama (or even comedy), one of the most useful tools is the meter. The formula for Jazz, if there is such a thing, is that Western melodies plus African rhythms equals Jazz. In play-text that is quite dense, especially in plays by Black authors though not only those, the syncopated rhythms are inherent, and an intuitive actor may readily avail himself to it. As you noted, if there is a piano in a rehearsal hall I tend to be drawn to it. Branden, likewise, heard me play the piano during a rehearsal break and incorporated it into the play. That opened up a world of possibilities for the character from a vocal angle. Where to pitch Solomon’s voice, the degree of sonority, pace, pronunciation and so on. Sonny is also a preacher, and it is quite common that preachers are accomplished musicians. A preacher’s voice is used as an instrument of persuasion, just as nimbly as fingers of Red Garland. My acting mentor, Anthony Chisholm, was an expert in exploring his vocal range in performance. I think of this when approaching the work.
BJ: During your time here in Chicago, I remember vividly your performance in The Great Gatsby at Wisdom Bridge, which was undeniably ground breaking. Did you feel that at the time?
HL: I was aware that people thought of it as ground breaking, but I was chiefly aware of playing one of my favorite literary figures. My friend John Carlisle, whom I had met and worked with at Northwestern, had such an inventive approach to the adaptation. It was a wonderful experience. I got to work with some of my best friends like Dwain Perry, Liza Cruzat, Kate Geohring, Mark Van, Sy Osborne, Johanna McKay, I could go on. It was such a joy to do it, and I was also promoting the film The Five Heartbeats at the same time, so much of the sociological import eluded me. I do recall John Simon having an issue with my playing the part. He argued that Gatsby was a “white” man, but his objections were easily defeated even then. Since then there has been some scholarship that suggests Gatsby was “passing” as a white man, and this may account for his lack of mobility in the upper crust to which he desires admittance. At the end of the day, theater is a world of make believe. That’s really all I was after: just having some fun.
BJ: For the 50 plus years I’ve been working in Chicago, I’ve admired your quiet, elegant, steady superior skill. Candy and I are your biggest fans, and I’m ever and always grateful for all you have done for me.
