Tracings John Shea — portrait of an artist

By Olivia Tracey

"Thank you for coming to see the play," announced Irish-American actor John Shea with a genuine appreciation and humility not usually expected of a stage and screen star, let alone accomplished writer/director.

The play referred to was, of course, the highly acclaimed Off-Broadway production of "The Director," in which Shea plays the title role of Peter, a janitor by necessity, but an idealistic, though unemployed, theater director by profession. Enter Tasha Lawrence as the playwright who, having witnessed his work many years earlier, begs him to direct her first play, lending him the opportunity to passionately pursue his artistic vision. However, in so doing, he proceeds to manipulate the players through a series of horrific and humiliating acting exercises, the aim being to murder all ego and pretense and give birth to truth and art.

While Shea identifies with his character’s artistic goal, he absolutely shuns the means used to achieve it. Thankfully, he enjoyed a free and nurturing environment with the play’s director, Evan Bergman, whose skillful direction matched playwright Nancy Hasty’s equally gifted writing.

Shea, is very much a down-to-earth, hands-on kind of guy who values more the work than the rewards. And he takes that work very seriously, preparing meticulously before every performance in order to give an honest, grounded and, I must add, superlative performance. Shea’s dedication to the part is a given, and the energy he exudes is as astounding as it is admirable.

Equally admirable is the real John Shea, the gentle and gracious personality who emerges after his intense and frenzied on-stage performance. Sitting on the wooden bench in the entry way to the ArcLight Theater, he chatted some about his most recent trip to Ireland, where he enjoyed the 1999 Dublin Theater Festival and stayed in Dublin’s Westbury Hotel with his very beautiful girlfriend, artist Melissa MacLeod. He fondly recalled his first trip to Ireland, back in 1979, which coincided with his first feature, "Hussy," an English Film Noir with Helen Mirren, the producer of which happened to own a thatched cottage in Dooneen, Co. Kerry. And so began several trips to Ireland, with many spent in "Longville House," an old manor-style farm house in Mallow, Co. Cork.

Undoubtedly proud of his Irish heritage, he reeled off the details of his ancestry, from his Corkonian great grandmother, Mabel Burke, to his great grandfather from nearby County Kerry. Departing from Irish shores during the 1850s, Mabel Burke arrived in Canada’s Prince Edward Island before making her way to Boston. There the love story began with John’s great grandfather, the couple moving to Springfield, Mass., where, generations later, John grew up along with his three sisters and brother.

Considering his strong Irish background, it’s not surprising that Shea attended Catholic school, became an altar boy and seriously considered a future in the priesthood. However, during a high school summer in Nantucket, he soon discovered the joys, he said, of "sex, drugs and transcendental meditation." Next came a potential career as a diplomat, until a college production of "Much Ado About Nothing," in which he played Benedick. Theater became his major and, after graduation, he was accepted into the prestigious Yale School of Drama. At last, life was perfect.

Well, not exactly. Frustration at not getting to work with the most interesting teachers, and torture at being subjected to the sadistic-malicious types, prompted the budding actor to leave within a year. However, fate took another twist as the dean, Robert Brustein, struck a compromise, allowing Shea to change his major to directing as long as he would continue to act in the Yale Rep and the Yale cabaret. It was a deal.

On graduating, he launched his career as an assistant director at the Chelsea Theater only to do another dance with destiny that put him back to treading the boards. As assistant director to Bob Kalfin, he was helping to cast a production of "Yentl" where part of his job was to read with the auditioning actors. Five hundred actors later, he managed to get fired as the A.D. and consequently hired as the lead in the Broadway production. His Broadway debut garnered him a Theater World Award ,followed by a Drama Desk nomination for A.R. Gurney’s "American Days," and a Joseph Jefferson nomination for "Long Day’s Journey Into Night."

Broadway and the West End continued before moving into film and television, including "Stealing Home" with Jodie Foster, "Small Sacrifices" with Farrah Fawcett, "Kennedy" with Martin Sheen, "Baby M," for which he won an Emmy Award, and, of course, his role as Lex Luthor in the international hit series, "Lois & Clark."

Nor were his "resting" periods squandered, those out-of-work-actor periods which he poetically terms "creative downturns." Writing became his outlet, a transition he associates with the renowned Martin Scorsese, who, during a casting for "Goodfellas," told him, "John, no matter how good an actor you are, you’re never going to be Italian. You’re Irish, a nation of storytellers. Tell your own stories." And so was born Shea’s first feature, "Southie," set in Boston’s Irish South end, which he not only co-wrote and directed, but which went on to win the Best Independent Film at last year’s Seattle Film Festival.

Down the road lies yet another Irish theme, "Junkie Priest" based on the true story of Father Dan Egan, one of the first in New York to create halfway houses for junkies and prostitutes. Sadly, Father Egan died recently at 86 from a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

Finally, for this accomplished screen star, one must ask, why the return to theater? In a nutshell, his life underwent major transformations in the run up to the new millennium, including a divorce after 30 years of marriage, choosing to leave his agents at William Morris, and a long pressurized three years getting "Southie" on the screen. Feeling open and vulnerable, he embraced the idea of a catharsis, the innocence and simplicity of theater being the perfect antidote. For Shea, theater is very much a ritual, an almost religious experience of reverent celebration, actor to audience, priest to congregation. Coincidentally, this is especially evident at the ArcLight Theater, set in an old church complete with angels and doves on the ceiling, images of the Holy Spirit, rays of grace, the Crucifixion and an ever present archangel gazing down at Shea from above the mirror in his dressing room.

John Shea has indeed been blessed as an actor, not just with the consistent opportunities afforded him, but also with an extraordinary talent that allows him to act, direct and write with equal aplomb. He is represented bicoastally by the prestigious Writers and Artists agency and managed by the Artists Management Group.

"The Director" continues an open-ended engagement at the ArcLight Theater, 152 West 71st St., NYC. Details, (212) 279-4200.