Trent Dawson, actor and artistic director of Katonah Classic Stage, chatted about his latest endeavors.
He has been nominated three times for a “Supporting Actor” Emmy for his acting work in the daytime drama “As The World Turns.”
Staged reading of ‘The Pavilion’ in New York
On October 7, he will be a part of a “Daytime Stars and Strikes” event in New York City. “We’re doing a reading of a beautiful play called The Pavilion by Craig Wright. It starts with a high school reunion, which is a concept that, in lesser hands, could turn into a straight-forward sit-com, but in Wright’s hands it becomes something quite magical,” he said.
He will be reuniting with Roger Howarth and Michael Park. “Michael and I have stayed in touch over the years, but even if there is a long break in communication, we pick right up as if no time has passed. Michael is a great friend that way,” he said.
“Roger has been a gift,” he admitted. “We didn’t have much of a relationship when we worked together. We were friendly, but at the end of the day that was that. But a few years ago he saw that I moved close to his parent’s house north of the city and he reached out for coffee. It was such a nice surprise, and we’ve had a rich friendship since then.”
“Jennifer Ferrin is just one of those actors you want to work with. Since I started the company I’ve been trying to get her into my theatre, but great actors like her are never available! I’m lucky to have her for the reading,” he added.
Katonah Classic Stage
This event befits Katonah Classic Stage. “I compare it to your favorite piece of music,” he said. “When you hear it, it transports you and puts you on another plane, like some flash of enlightenment.”
“Now, put yourself in a theatre with other people having the same visceral experience. It’s powerful, right? And it brings people together in a way that politics or ideologies could never achieve. These plays I’m doing are so well-written that they can have the same effect as that music,” he said.
“I always thought that if I moved to the right community I’d start a professional company,” he said. “Katonah, and Northern Westchester more broadly, turned out to be the perfect place. Then Covid hit two days before our first fundraiser, and I could have thrown in the towel.”
“I’ve learned that if you dream big enough and you put every ounce of yourself into that dream, people will get behind you to bring the dream to a reality. We’ve got a lot of momentum that I don’t want to lose. I want to do bigger shows, and thereby hire more people and pay their pension and health (especially the health) to do those great plays. That’s what the fundraiser is for,” he elaborated.
Future plans
On his future plans, he shared, “Hiring more people, especially people to help my wife and myself. We’ve been doing this mostly on our own for four years, so we could use the support. We have plans for two mainstage shows next year, plus an outdoor Shakespeare play and our fifth annual Film Festival. We’ve also expanded our Shakespeare acting classes for teens.”
The digital age
On being an actor and a filmmaker in the digital age, he said, “The plus side on the filmmaking front is that the technology has become democratized. Anyone can use the same editing software that big budget movies use, and we’re all walking around with a high-tech camera in our pocket.”
“The downside is that everyone is making ‘content,’ which I consider a pejorative, so there’s an overload of meaningless filler. This is a special moment for theatre, however, because it’s real and you can’t scroll through it or put it on pause while you grab a beer. I think people crave that immersion, along with really great writing,” he explained.
“One other down-side to acting in the digital age is the pressure for access. It gets back to the content thing, but I don’t want to know all about the personal lives or day-to-day activities of artists I admire. I’m not trying to be too precious about it, but mystery is a good thing. Denzel Washington spoke much more eloquently about this somewhere,” he said.
Favorite mottos to live by
His favorite mottos to live by are the following: “I cannot change the past, I cannot change other people, and this too shall pass. Also, I’m not running for office- it is utterly irrelevant if anyone, anywhere, thinks that I’m right about anything.”
Dawson concluded about the October 7th staged reading in Manhattan, “If you could talk to 18 year-old you, what would you say?”
To learn more about Trent Dawson, check out his official website.
