Interview: Theatre Life with Tonya Beckman and Joe Brack

Today's subjects are living their theatre lives as two of the area's hardest working theatre professionals. They also happen to be married and make a really cute couple as evidenced by the above photo. To be sure, Tonya Beckman and Joe Brack have a love for their craft, but they also have a huge love for each other.

Tonya and Joe are both currently appearing in theatre productions in the area - albeit separate ones. Tonya is playing Gill in The Second Shepard's Play at Folger Theatre while Joe is recreating George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Washington Stage Guild (he also played the role last season).

Tonya's versatility as an actress is demonstrated by reviewing her recent credits. She previously appeared at Folger Theatre in The Gaming Table and Twelfth Night. Some other recent credits include The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane at Imagination Stage, After the War at Mosaic Theater Company, Harvey at 1st Stage, and Can't Complain at Spooky Action Theatre Company. She is a company member of Taffety Punk Theatre Company and has been seen in many of their productions including Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labor's Lost and the world premiere of Owl Moon. My first introduction to Tonya's work was A Wrinkle in Time at Round House Theatre and I've been hooked ever since.

The best way to describe Joe Brack is a reincarnated Zero Mostel put in Joe's body. His stage persona is that big and commanding. He is also an incredibly creative individual. His performance in The Santaland Diaries kept me coming back year after year. He always changed the show a little bit each year to keep it fresh for his audiences. Also an accomplished writer, Brack wrote and starred in Don't Die in the Dark (along with Bradley Foster Smith). He really got inside John Wilkes Booth's head. If you had the chance to his My Princess Bride, then you saw a guy alone onstage totally getting every nuance of the material he had to work with. It was quite the show.

Onstage, Joe has been seen in many productions including The Magic Finger and James and the Giant Peach at Imagination Stage, Yentl at Theater J, The Importance of Being Earnest at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg at Kennedy Center, Astro Boy and the God of Comics at Studio Theatre, The Illusion at Forum Theatre, and Julius Caesar at Folger Theatre.

This holiday season you have the opportunity to see two productions featuring two of the area's best. Please consider making time to see Tonya and Joe in their respective productions. A talented couple like Tonya and Joe are living their theatre lives to the fullest onstage and off. That's a lovely way to spend the holidays and the rest of the year, wouldn't you say?

Can you please tell us how you first met and did the theatre have something to do with it?

T: It's a long story, but the upshot of it is that we met for the first time at a 4th of July party at Alison Stockman's house - so, sort of theatre-related.

J: I love telling the story of how we met! However, it's best told live and in person rather than read on the interwebs.

Currently you are both appearing at area theatres. Can you please tell us a little something about each of your current projects?

T: I'm currently in The Second Shepard's Play at Folger Theatre. It's a medieval mystery play with the Folger Consort. We run through December 21. It's simple and beautiful - a 600 year old Christmas pageant with gorgeous music, and I couldn't be happier to be spending my holidays working on it.

J: We just opened It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Washington Stage Guild. I am playing George Bailey for the second time at that theatre. It's a new tradition for me and an honor to be invited back. We run through December 18. I start rehearsals for Charm at Mosaic Theater on December 5th.

Do you find being married and in the same profession allows you to partake in a kind of therapy at the end of the day, or do you prefer to keep work separate after hours?

T: Both, really. We really strive to keep our home life just that - home life, but at the same time, it's wonderful to know that I have a partner who understands my crazy schedule and the lack of financial security, and is a great sounding board when I need to vent or someone to bounce creative ideas off of. I'd say the biggest challenge is that we rarely have time off at the same time, but it's a small price to pay for feeling so completely understood.

J: I couldn't agree more. Dealing with all of life's ups and downs can be overwhelming for any couple. I can't imagine sharing a life with someone who couldn't relate to, nevermind trying to understand an artist's specific kind of crazy. I am beyond grateful that we found each other and that our commitment to each other always comes first.

Joe- A few years back you wrote and starred in a show called Don't Die in the Dark, which was about John Wilkes Booth. Can you please tell us what your inspiration was for creating that show?

J: I was fascinated by Booth's family and their stage lineage more than anything else. His father Junius was a renowned stage performer, but an absolute madman and philanderer. He had a wife and family in England before he even met John Wikes' mother, Mary Ann. John's brother, Edwin Booth was, at the height of his career, the most famous actor in the world. John himself was called, "The handsomest man in America" and was an accomplished actor and swordsman. These were men at the pinnacle of their artistic desires, and yet they were all filled with an indescribable melancholy and a rage that they could never come to terms with. I found the juxtaposition of artistic success and personal lack of fulfillment intriguing.

Tonya- You are a member of a wonderful theatre company called Taffety Punk. Can you please tell us everything we should know about this group? Do you have a particular favorite show you have performed in as a Punk member? If so, please state why.

Sure! We are a collective of artists who want to explore the intersection of text, movement, and music. We also all love classic plays, so we spend a lot of time working with Shakespeare and other classic writers and exploring what makes them so timeless. Most importantly, we believe that theatre is not a luxury or something for the elite, so we strive to make theatre that everyone can afford.

I have a lot of favorites, but I'd say I'm most proud of our Rape of Lucrece concert poem, and an all-female Much Ado About Nothing we did several years ago. I could keep going though; there's something I really treasure about each project I've worked on with the Punks.

Joe- When not onstage, you create commissioned drawings. How did you get interested in drawing and were you doing it before you started performing?

J: Long before theatre was a part of my life, all I did was draw. My only wish as a kid was to be the next Batman artist, and this was many years before comic-books became movie franchises. I started in theatre as a costume designer, mostly because I liked to draw people in pretty clothes. I had an outstanding professor, Shannon Robert, and she mentored me in all things design related. Thanks to my undergrad program, I participated in all aspects of theatrical production from directing to stage managing to designing to auditioning. My love of the arts started there and continues to this day.

Tonya- Most performers have a regular job to supplement their theatre work. Can you please tell us what you do when you are not onstage?

T: I teach, these days primarily at Theatre Lab and Shakespeare Theatre Company, and I am also the editor of a monthly member newsletter for The Actors Center. I also have a part-time admin job for an association that I really enjoy.

Can you please name a couple of plays that you would like to perform onstage together? Please explain why you chose what you did.

T: While I'd love to work with Joe in anything, some of my favorite things I have seen him do are projects that he created for himself, so I'd love to do something he wrote for us.

J: Well, now I have a new project to get started on! I'd love to do a classic with Tonya, Taming of the Shrew, maybe Much Ado. I would love to definitely do a comedy. Tonya is a brilliant performer of great texts, especially the classics. I'd love to try and up my game to her level. She truly inspires me.

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