OSLO's Jefferson Mays Admits to Still Getting Stage Fright

Rhapsody Magazine for United Airlines recently talked to Jefferson Mays as he prepares to begin previews for his new play, Oslo.

Mays may be a Broadway vet, having won a Tony Award for his Broadway debut in the 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama I Am My Own Wife, but he admits to still getting nervous when he steps onstage.

"It's akin to leaping out the door of an airplane without your parachute," the actor told Rhapsody. "I've been [acting] for what - a quarter of a century? - but I still have butterflies in my stomach."

This month, Mays begins previews for Oslo, a new pay by J.T. Rogers. Oslo is a behind-the-scenes look at the talks that led to the 1993 Oslo Accord between the Islaelis and Palestinians.

"In this day and age, where the world is in such upheaval, I think it will be a useful, and perhaps essential, reminder of what can be done when people agree to come to a room and truly meet one another," Mays says.

Mays notes that performing on Broadway is not all that different from performing anywhere else. When noting the difference in Broadway performance, he says, "Everything here is sprinkled with magic fairy dust! And the history! All the people who were in this very dressing room - Noel Coward, Elaine Stritch, Leslie Howard... Tallulah Bankhead's face powder is probably still in the curtain somewhere."

Read the original article here!

Jefferson Mays' Broadway credits include A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, I Am My Own Wife, Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Pygmalion, Journey's End, and Of Thee I Sing. Off-Broadway: Blood & Gifts (Lincoln Center), Measure For Measure (TFNA), Lyndie Breeze, Quills (NYTW), Orestes (En Garde Arts). Film and Television: Inherent Vice, Alfie, Kinsey, The Notorious Bettie Page, Cousin Bette, The Good Wife, MildrEd Pierce, Detroit 1-8-7, Lie to Me, Fringe, Law & Order, Nurse Jackie, The Closer, Dolly Madison, and Liberty! Awards: Tony, Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Obies, Outer Critics Circle, Connecticut Critics Circle, Helen Hayes, Elliot Norton, Theatre World, Drama League, Jefferson, Dramalogue, Helpmann. Education: Yale, BA; UCSD, MFA.

Photo Credit: ioulex, Rhapsody Magazine for United