Curtain Call: Former Broadway actor Peter Alzado finds fulfillment in the Rogue Valley

By Jim Flint for the Rogue Valley Times

Peter Alzado is an actor, director and producer. He founded a theater, worked as an artistic director, and even had featured roles on some television soaps. But no film work, so far.

“I thought about applying for a job as a movie star, but there’s a lot of forms to fill out,” he said, tongue firmly planted in cheek.

“It’s all acting. TV is fun and good money. I had a good agent in L.A. and probably would have done film if I’d stayed.”

But he’s glad he picked up stakes and moved to Southern Oregon in the 1980s.

“My time here has been very productive and fulfilling,” he said. “I’ve kind of done exactly what I want to do.”

Alzado will be exercising his acting chops this spring as Torvald Helmer in Rogue Theater Company’s production of “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” Lucas Heath’s biting comedic sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece. It also features Robin Goodrin Nordli, KT Vogt, and Hazel James. Performances, directed by Caroline Shaffer, are scheduled Thursdays through Sundays, May 8 – 16, at Grizzly Peak Winery.

What brought Alzado to the Rogue Valley?

“Jackson Pollock,” he said, waxing a bit philosophical, if not a lot ironical. “You’ve got to deny, ignore, and destroy a hell of a lot to get at truth,” Lazado said, quoting the volatile American abstract expressionist painter.

After working in New York City for several years, he moved to Los Angeles. “Our son, Ciel, was born shortly after we arrived,” he said. That prompted some deep thought about family and work. They decided L.A. was not the place for them to do both.

“I let my friends and agent know that I was moving to Oregon to give our children trees and wild things,” he said. “I wanted something different.

After working in many venues in Southern Oregon, Alzado was asked if he would be interested in running Actors’ Theatre (now Camelot) in Talent after he finished graduate school, completing a three-year directing fellowship at the University of Montana.

“My ‘yes’ came out of the understanding that Ciel and (daughter) Jazmine would continue their young lives in the house we built east of Ashland,” he said. “And I would continue my theater work in a sweet Southern Oregon town.”

After differences of opinion with the theater’s board of directors later on, he resigned and founded Oregon Stage Works in 2002 with the help of Bill Sauers, Kate Sullivan, Alan Sandler and Isabelle Alzado, his former wife, an artist and actress.

The A Street theater had a good run until it lost its lease. Alzado was ready for a change. Running the theater was beginning to feel like a 24-7 job, and he missed not being on the stage.

With years of experience as an actor, director and producer, he finds challenges and rewards in each discipline.

“Good acting gives you the story. Great acting gives you your humanity and a glimpse into your soul,” he said. “Whether hit or miss, there is great satisfaction in attempting to turn craft into art. The challenge is just that.”

He sees directing as “ordering” the world of the play.

“The challenge is transcending the literal and finding the meaning.”

The challenge in producing, on the other hand, is to get people in the seats.

“Producing gets the money, hires the talent, and then supports that talent as it works diligently to offer the writer the most insightful rendering of his work,” he said.

Alzado sees acting and directing as “turning words to flesh,” bringing a force of life to the writing.

“I love the search for that force of life with fellow theater workers,” he said.

Alzado was a track and field jock in high school, running the quarter mile, with no time for high school theater. “I thought it was silly stuff,” he said. Until he caught a glimpse of what it could be.

He was training for the Maccabiah Games, an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sport event, and kept pulling hamstrings.

“Joel Zwick (director, ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’) and La Mama Plexus (a theater arts company) were in residence at Queens College. Joel asked me to come work out with them,” he said.

Alzado joined the company as an actor. “They really had something going on.”

He was impressed with the depth and intensity of the work.

“It wasn’t silly stuff. It was real, with a physical vocabulary brought over from Grotowski and the Polish Laboratory Theatre,” he said. “That’s when the search began for me.”

After they did a show, he got an agent and began working. “No craft to begin with,” he said, “just instinct.”

As a director, his focus is always in offering insight into the writing. He is not interested in trying to make a familiar work “more interesting.”

“A director of a familiar work just goes deeper into the moment-to-moment search for meaning,” he said. “There is a magic, a communion, a circle of recognition shared with the audience. In those moments, the beliefs we think separate us disappear and what remains is the beating of our hearts and the laughter in our bellies.”

Alzado grew up on Long Island, about a half hour outside New York City. His mother was a coloratura soprano who sang in New York venues before she met his father.

He and his brother were scholarship athletes. He found that what’s required of an athlete served him well in his chosen profession — not so much in the physical aspects, but in the discipline of preparation for performance.

His performing credits include a debut on Broadway in Michael Weller’s “Moon Children,” a stint with Dorothy Loudon and Vincent Gardenia in Michael Bennett’s “Ballroom,” and additional work for major theaters in New York City. He also acted with the New York Shakespeare Festival, the New Phoenix Rep Company, and the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Conn.

During the pandemic, Alzado has been doing a bit of writing, keeping in touch with friends, and living his life in the mountains — on 30 acres at 4,000 feet.

“I continue to be remarkably fortunate here in Ashland,” he said, “working with the people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing.”

What’s next for Alzado?

“A shot in the arm and Torvald in ‘Doll’s House, Part 2.’”

For tickets to the May performances and more information, go to roguetheatercompany.com.

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