Rogue Spotlight: Reunion at Rogue Theater — Actor Jeffrey King returns to Ashland

By JIM FLINT for Rogue Valley Times Jul 25, 2023

The soundtrack of actor Jeffrey King’s childhood did not have a show biz vibe. His father ran heavy equipment and a mostly stay-at-home mother worked for a bit at an egg farm. However, fast-forward a few decades and you find him with an impressive acting resumé that includes a career in television, film and radio; a list of performance credits in regional theaters across the country; and 20 seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he appeared in more than 50 productions.

King will appear in Rogue Theater Company’s “Circle Mirror Transformation” Wednesdays through Sundays, Sept. 13-Oct. 1, inside at Grizzly Peak Winery, 1600 E. Nevada St., in Ashland. Showtimes are at 1 p.m. The Obie Award-winning play by Annie Baker will be directed by Robynn Rodriguez and features actors Vilma Silva, Gregory Linington, Kjerstine Anderson, and Thilini Dissanayake.

King was drawn to the prospect of working with his castmates and Rodriguez as much as to the play itself. They all have acted in OSF productions. “I really like the play, but mostly I like the people. They are all friends. That makes such a difference in the quality of the experience. And I would like to see Ashland again,” he said, responding from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he resides. “Circle Mirror Transformation” is about a group of strangers in a small Vermont town who have enrolled in a drama class and gradually learn more than just acting. Through a series of touching and often comic exercises, they reveal their deeper selves to each other.

Pathetic and charming

Baker's writing often portrays people as both pathetic and charming at the same time. This play's setting is perfect for her brand of awkward, uncomfortably human dark comedy.Marty, played by Silva, teaches the class. King plays her husband, James.“Part of what happens to me—and her— in the story has to do with what’s going on between the two of us offstage,” King said. “That’s what I find especially interesting, playing the result of actions that mostly take place outside the room.” The play explores the idea of healing and personal growth through acting exercises. King believes the story will resonate with audiences.

“I think the people coming to see the production will likely be people who love theater,” he said. “They know how it changes you, causes you to question the things you thought you knew to be true, and how valuable that is.”The characters are not necessarily looking to be professional actors, but are brought together by their interest in art and the theater.

“They want to explore what it means to be human,” he said. “They’re actually very brave.” Rodriguez said rehearsals will begin in early August. A veteran OSF actor, she previously worked for RTC, directing Robin Goodrin Nordli and Michael Elich in “Chapatti.” She said the power of “Circle Mirror Transformation” caught her off guard. “I have spent a lot of time in my life taking community course offerings,” she said. “You meet once a week in a language, knitting or tap-dancing class with people you mostly never see outside the class, and you learn a lot from each other. You’re vulnerable in the presence of each other.”

She has worked with King onstage several times.“But I saw him act in the Bay Area long before working at OSF,” she said. “He and his family lived across the street from my husband and me for a time. When I read Annie Baker’s play, I could hear Jeff’s voice.”

Alligator slap

King, 68, was born in Kissimmee, Florida, and grew up in the surrounding swamp lands. A highlight of that upbringing? Perhaps the time he got slapped by an alligator. “A friend of the family built an alligator farm next to our land,” he explained. “There were alligators all over the place—monkeys and macaws, too. When I was about 12 years old, I was riding a mower and got too close to a good-sized gator sunning itself. It whacked me and the mower with its tail. I wasn’t hurt, but it was what I’d call a learning experience.” An experience a few years later was an epiphany of a different kind. His high school class went to Orlando to see a performance of “1776.”“During a song, a guy stood on a table and the light glinted off his eye,” he said. “It was the most powerful thing I’d ever seen. I wanted to do that too.” He took a drama class as a high school senior because the gym class he wanted was closed. “That was it for me,” he said.

King earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Florida Tech University (now University of Central Florida, Orlando) and a Master of Fine Arts from the Florida State University Asolo Conservatory of Professional Actor Training in Sarasota. In college, he performed in numerous shows, discovering he had a skill. It was all he wanted to do. “The people who love you try to talk you out of it, but if you’re smitten, you have no real choice.”

His first professional gig was the title role in “Mr. Roberts” at the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre in Sarasota. He said it was a great experience, but that dinner theater is “a tough row to hoe.”“People are eating, going up to the buffet, drinking. It’s not great for an undistracted atmosphere,” he said. “But it was fun because I was doing it with a bunch of friends.”

To OSF in 2000

He had been doing television in L.A. for about 10 years when he decided to audition for OSF in 2000. “My wife and I used to come up to Ashland from San Francisco as docents for theater trips planned by the Jewish Community Center,” he said. “We’d spend the week watching shows, then talking about them with the trip’s participants. Years later, we thought maybe it would be great to get ourselves and our little kids out of L.A., and remembered Ashland as family-friendly.”

His favorite OSF roles include Tesman in “Hedda Gabler,” Gordon in “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” Claudius in “Hamlet,” Mitch in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and John Heminges in “Book of Will.” He says working in repertory theater helped shape his approach to acting. “I loved all the time spent on stage,” he said. “Thousands of hours with full houses, making exceptional friends. Coming in every day to work, whether you think you’re up to it or not, you find a way to make it the best work you’re capable of.”

He prefers the theater over working in film or television. “I always felt a little crowded by a film camera,” he said, “like someone was watching me work from just a couple inches away. I did a fair amount of TV work in L.A., but never really liked it that much. The paychecks were pretty nice, though.”The roles that have been most difficult for King have been the ones that fell closest to whom he felt himself to be, the ones without an apparent character hook. “The best advice I got on that front was when I was playing Richmond in ‘Richard III’ at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival,” he said. “When I told the director, Paul Barry, I couldn’t find a hook, he said, ‘Just play the best Jeff King you can come up with.’”

Tickets for “Circle Mirror Transformation” are $30 for the Sept. 13 preview; $45 for the Sept. 14 opening— a benefit for Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon; and $35 thereafter.

On Sept. 14, there will be a talkback with the actors and director. Other talkbacks will follow performances Sept. 21 and 28. Sept. 20 and 27 are Wine Wednesdays, with discounts on bottles and the first glass complimentary.

For more information and to purchase tickets, see roguetheatercompany.com.

Reach writer Jim Flint at jimflint.ashland@yahoo.com.