Jon Gentry “Crank”
Photography by Jennifer A. Lin
I enjoy this conversation with Spells of the Sea actor Jon Gentry and wanted to share it with you, too!
Who helped encourage you to pursue acting?
Many of my theatre teachers in both high school and community college were very encouraging to me about the potential they felt I should cultivate. David Saar at Childsplay was the first to encourage me to audition for his company when I first considered it as a viable vocation. But I’ve had complete strangers who saw a show give me pep talks about my work. Just keep your ears open and listen.
How long did it take to get to a point when you were being recommended for acting roles to others?
Oh my, probably after the first 5 years of working I noticed. I still of course audition for roles—BUT many – honestly most-of my opportunities come from peer recommendation and people that I have worked with previously who ask me to join them in a new venture. I will mention the importance of the work you put in as I have now performed all over the country (even in Europe!) and all of those opportunities were from someone I met or worked with in Phoenix, Arizona.
What is your process for developing a character?
Well this varies. The Words, The Situations. Patterning a character from someone I know or have met. Directors have often pushed me in different directions from where I originally intended to go. But Design can help as well. I once based a character completely off the costume rendering I saw for the character, COMPLETELY changed the direction of where I had been going in my head. And asking questions, lots of questions.
When is the job most challenging? Most fun?
Everything. Everywhere. All at once. Challenging? Giving in, giving yourself over to someone else. Convincing someone you can do something they didn’t expect of you. Most fun? Being allowed to cut loose, take chances, see where something takes you even if you know it’s probably not right—but being allowed to DO—without judgement. That is always the most fun. But there is something to be said as an actor in performance about having an affect (not effect) on an audience member through a piece.
Where do you find inspiration for H.S. Crank?
In this case, the script. Gwenny and Anna have a lot in there, that you can intuit from—this has especially (for me) come through the evolution of the script from what I first read at the beginning of the workshop to now, during which their crafting of, has just gotten sharper. From Crank not wanting Finley to go— to joining her on the journey and the incredibly conflicting reasons behind those decisions. But inspiration comes from everywhere you never know what will stick with you and suddenly pop out. A person, a voice a memory.
Why is Theatre for Young Audiences important to you?
The FUTURE. The future of Theatre, the future of new stories (not retreads), the future of audiences and speaking to them in their early years, and hooking them into a lifetime membership of being theatre goers, the future of developing new voices not just in playwrighting, but music, design, staging and frankly the future of working as an artist myself. As to Theatre for Young Audiences the quality of the work as well. Works for Theatre for our Youth should be as smart, clever, deep, silly, mind bending, scary and thought provoking as anything seen regionally, on Broadway or in the black box theaters.
What is something you enjoy about being a part of new play development?
In terms of new works, it’s being in on the ground floor, helping that initial atom or chromosome of an idea grow piece by piece until it forms into a cohesive whole and you can look back and see a part of yourself in it. Also, it is very fun to get to see your name as an original cast member in the published edition 😊 It’s sort of a rush.
