DJ Q&A

MP: I moved from Queens New York to San Mateo at 9 years old when my father transferred jobs and schlepped all of us (mom and three kids, older sister and a younger brother, in tow) across the country. Coming from inner city Queens, Catholic school, to suburban San Mateo, public school, was like dying and going to heaven.

DJ: How did you become involved in the performing arts?

MP: At the ripe old age of 26 I did my first play on a lark at the College of San Mateo. I was taking a class at the JC in Spanish and while headed to the parking lot one night I passed the theater and noticed a sign about an audition for a play called “Journey’s End,” a British play about World War I with a cast of 13 men. I thought to myself, “What are the chances they will be able to find 13 guys to fill out the cast?” I figured for a guy who always wanted to try acting, my odds of getting a part in a play would never be more in my favor. I played the odds and got a part. I’m not certain, but there is a good chance only 13 guys showed up. Shortly thereafter, some other local actors were talking about an audition in L.A. for the newly opened West Coast branch of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Again, on a whim, I decided to try out. Somehow, I managed to con my way in, so I left my very good job making very bad government films and moved my young family, wife Debbie, and 2-year-old daughter Daniela, to Los Angeles. I spent the next 35 years working in show business as a writer, director, actor and “Executive Producer/showrunner” of Network hour dramas.

DJ:  Which teachers had the biggest impact on you?

MP: The most influential teachers I had were, first, my sixth-grade teacher, Steven Simon, at Parkside Elementary School. He was a very good man and a brilliant teacher. Events of that year in my life, which included the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and how Mr. Simon reacted to those events, had a profound influence on me. The second huge influence on my life was a teacher named Nina Fohner. Her ability to say the right thing at the right time to inspire and instill confidence in me, a very insecure, typical middle child in constant search of myself, changed the course of my life. It was the combination of both Mr. Simon’s and Mrs. Fohner’s influences that inspired me to write, produce and direct a movie called, “That’s What I Am,” starring Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, that won the Santa Barbara Film Festival and was used by the National Teachers Association in its anti-bullying campaign. The best acting teacher I ever had was my first, the grand old man of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the late and legendary Don Richardson.

DJ: Your current work is a one-man play with nine characters. What drew you to this piece?

MP: I don’t take acting roles unless I am profoundly moved by the script. Such was the case with “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.” I look at it as a salesman might. I’m selling the audience a story, and it’s a lot easier to sell a product you believe in. I fell in love with the script on a personal and artistic level. I play nine different characters and I fell in love with eight of them ... the ninth you ask? You’ll have to see the play to figure that one out.

DJ: What is the focal point of the play?

MP: The focal point of the play to me is about bullying, the insecurity exhibited by any typical bully and what drives them to do what they do. Why is someone threatened by a boy like the play’s namesake, “Leonard Pelkey,” who is courageous enough to stand up and “be himself” no matter how much abuse he receives in the process. Leonard, who we never meet in the play, is pure joy, “pure Leonard,” and that is intimidating to those people who are either not sure of who they are, or not sure of whether or not who they really are will be accepted in society.

PLAY PARTICULARS: The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey will be virtually broadcast by Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma Jan. 22 at 7 p.m., continuing with on-demand streaming through Jan. 31. Tickets priced at $25 per household at www.cinnabartheater.org or (707) 763-8920.

Susan Cohn is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. She may be reached at susan@smdailyjournal.com.