BY LUCIA MAURO
On his resume, under the "various and sundry others" category, actor Joe Dempsey lists stage combat, circus, tumbling, comedy writing and sign language–all testaments to what he calls his two strongest suits: "I’m funny, and I move well." But, while comedy and physical theatre encompass his vast body of work, Dempsey has tackled every genre.
He’s currently starring as Ulysses in Mary Zimmerman’s Trojan Women at Goodman Theatre. He works as an actor consistently all over the city–Lookingglass, American Theater Company, Northlight and the Neo-Futurists (where he is an ensemble member). He has numerous independent film and television credits (including "ER" and "What About Joan?"). And he can be seen and heard in many TV commercials and voice-over spots.
I recall standing in a long line at the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my driver’s license and being "entertained" by an overhead screen that featured Dempsey hosting an instructional video. He cringes when I mention that, joking in a faux melancholic tone, "So all those years of training and all the plays I’ve been in don’t matter–you remember the driving video."
What I think struck me at the DMV was Dempsey’s omnipresence–at times, he seems to be everywhere. And I still laugh about experiencing his acting in, of all places, a driver’s facility. He actually lightened the interminable wait.
Dempsey, an admitted "class clown," exemplifies a theatre artist who takes comedy seriously. He cites "Saturday Night Live," "Monty Python’s Flying Circus" and "SC-TV" as "the three pillars of entertainment" that influenced his life. "What I liked about 'SC-TV,’ for instance," he explains, "is they would put a parody in a weird situation–like Ricardo Montalban in Death of a Salesman. I liked that juxtaposition. It was more in the absurdist tradition."
The charismatic stage actor, who admirably does not cross the line into hammy terrain, can be quite understated and unassuming off stage. And he acknowledges that performing–not directing or playwriting–interests him the most. After Trojan Women, Dempsey dives right into The Idiot Box for Naked Eye Theatre Company and continues in the Neo-Futurists’ Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. He recently played Nick Potter in Holiday for Remy Bumppo Theatre and a bungling amorous Frenchman in Summertime for Lookingglass.
Other credits include Design for Living at Goodman, Scapin at American Theater Company, Jonathan Wild at Victory Gardens, 2 1/2 Jews at Apple Tree, All in the Timing at Northlight, Early and Often at Famous Door, Rumors at Touchstone/Organic, 42 Riverside Drive at Bailiwick and Mister Roberts for Powertap Productions.
Dempsey talks about the yin and yang of navigating humor and tragedy on stage: "If I’m working on a drama, I try to find the comedy; if I’m working on a comedy, I try to find the drama."
As an example, he cites his role as the conquering Ulysses in Trojan Women: "My character says, 'We can’t allow any more wars to happen.’ And, especially in light of our world situation, I find that statement outrageously hilarious. In Trojan Women, the things people say to each other are very horrible and hypocritical. It’s so tragic, it’s hilarious."
On the flip side, for the comedy Holiday, Dempsey injected doubt into the "nicely adjusted" nature of Nick Potter (who, together with his wife Susan Potter, always seem to have the answers to everyone’s problems). "In shaping the role," he says, "I asked two questions: Why are Nick and Susan so well adjusted? And are they really that adjusted?"
He then explored the play’s inter-linking of humor and pathos in another character he did not portray: the patriarch’s alcoholic son Ned. "Even though Ned has these great one-liners," notes Dempsey, "he is such a sad character who can’t go anywhere. I think of the humor in Holiday, especially with Ned, as coming through and chopping everyone off at the knees."
Because he understands the mere breath that separates laughter from tears, the actor does not find himself making drastic shifts in his approach to comedy or drama.
Dempsey was surrounded by a vast range of theatre while growing up in Hinsdale. His parents were active ensemble members in the much-respected community troupe, Theatre of Western Springs. The family also worked the box office and helped with mailings. And his father had a habit of playing musical-theatre records every Sunday.
Dempsey got more seriously involved in theatre in his teens at Benedict Academy in Lisle, where David Zak–prior to founding Bailiwick Repertory–was his drama and English teacher. "David helped me understand that theatre is something I could do for a living," says Dempsey. "He coached me on how to prepare for auditions, and he answered a lot of questions about the business."
In high school, the aspiring actor performed in Zak-directed productions of Godspell, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Crucible. He then attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated in 1985 with a BFA in acting. His college training consisted of an amalgam of styles from Hagen to Stanislavsky. But Dempsey doesn’t restrict himself to any one technique. He is, however, drawn to highly physical theatre.
Dempsey counts Donald O’Connor’s "Make 'em Laugh" segment from Singin’ in the Rain as a major inspiration. At U of I, while performing in a musical revue, he asked one of the dance instructors to teach him how to run up a wall and do a back flip like Donald O’Connor. "So in 'Stairway to Paradise,’" recalls Dempsey with a grin, "I ran up the wall at a straight 90-degree angle and did a back flip."
Yet he was not interested in becoming a dancer. Ballet, tap and jazz classes–along with a lot of stage combat training–all contributed to his ability to express himself with seamless physicality on stage. Dempsey is especially enthusiastic about the increasing acrobatic- and movement-based theatres like Plasticene and Lookingglass in Chicago: "I’m always interested in ways that theatre can push the boundaries. Movement makes live theatre so active and energized. And it distinguishes it from TV and film. I think, particularly in Chicago theatre, realism is on its way out."
After college, Dempsey did non-Equity theatre in Chicago for two years–together with janitorial and landscaping jobs–and got wiped out. At the time, in the late 1980s, non-Equity actors had to accumulate so many points toward turning Equity. In need of a change, and to add to his points, Dempsey interned at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, where he performed in standard plays like The Miser and The Three Sisters.
His plan was to come back to Chicago and apply those points toward Equity status. But, by then, the Equity requirements and number of points had changed. He quickly got his Equity card. So, as Dempsey phrases it, "Things kind of fell apart and came together for me at the same time."
But, while he still wanted to act in Chicago, Dempsey found that he had built a whole new roster of contacts in Wisconsin and regionally. For a few years, he honed his skills in other cities. He appeared in Holy Ghosts at Madison Repertory Theatre and Murder in the Cathedral at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, as well as starred in Children of a Lesser God at First Stage Milwaukee. He has performed at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh’s City Theatre and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
In the early 1990s, Dempsey decided to focus on moving his acting career forward in Chicago. But he felt he needed to learn improv–an art form that has positively influenced his scripted work: "Improv just totally turned me around in terms of listening," he enthuses. "It helped me take the focus off myself and put it on the other actors."
Dempsey studied improv at the Second City and was a member of the Second City National Touring Company from 1992 to 1994. "Every law of improvisation applies to acting," he continues. "Make your partner look good, listen, raise the stakes….Before Second City, I was more of a presentational actor."
But he insists that, despite improvisers stressing character and storytelling, improv does not ignore all the "old vaudeville laws of comedy." Immersed in the crafting of comedy at Second City, Dempsey also discovered that he had a built-in forum for agents and their assistants to see him perform. And that led to a lucrative career in on-camera work and voiceovers–a career that allowed him to stop waiting tables or taking landscaping jobs.
Because he is so used to auditioning for commercials, Dempsey tends to let down his guard, not take things personally and really be himself. "Auditions for commercials inspire a strange confidence," he shares. "It’s almost like a desensitization thing–you do so many that it kind of rolls off your back." Dempsey has made a greater effort to bring a similar kind of effortlessness to the more harrowing theatre audition realm.
He does make a point to apply the same level of seriousness and commitment to commercial or voice-over parts as leading roles in plays. "You have to invest yourself in whatever work you’re doing," Dempsey advises, "in your day job as much as your theatre performances. It’s a work ethic you apply to your life."
As an actor, Dempsey prefers being part of the ensemble experience. At the Neo-Futurists, he revels in the multiple hat-wearing: "We write, perform, buy our own props, maintain the space and run the box office–nothing can compare to that."
Is LA a goal? "TV and film are becoming more of a goal for me," he replies with some hesitation, "in terms of broadening my horizons and having more control over my career. But I’ve always been attracted to live theatre."
When asked about the latest trends he’s observed in the local theatre scene, Dempsey quips that the plays keep getting shorter. He also has grown tired of young actors trying too hard to emulate the older chair-flinging Steppenwolf model: "When I see bad theatre in town," he says, "more often than not, it’s people trying to be like Steppenwolf–they try to be bigger and louder. Oh, and spitting is very popular."
Instead Dempsey is drawn to theatre that places a provocative and stylized movement on par with the words: "I think the boundaries of comedy–and theatre in general–can still be stretched in terms of physicality."