Interview with David Adkins, Actor in “The Bakelite Masterpiece”

David AdkinsDavid Adkins is an Artist Associate at the Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG), where, over the course of 20 seasons, he has established himself as one of the Berkshires most versatile and popular actors. He began his acting career as a teen at the McDonogh School in his native Maryland, but left the theatre behind during his three years at Dartmouth College. Realizing that he wanted to take a different direction, David returned to the theatre as an apprentice at the BTG, before being introduced to Juilliard by actor and alumnus David Schramm. David made his Broadway debut at the National Actor’s Theatre, has worked off Broadway numerous times, and has worked extensively in resident theaters across the country. David also works frequently in television, appearing on the shows Blacklist, Elementary, The Good Wife, Happyish, Law and Order, SVU, Trinity, and Chicago Hope. He is thrilled to be making his WAM Theatre debut as Han van Meegeren in our 2016 Main Stage show The Bakelite Masterpiece, alongside his wife, Corinna May.

WAM Theatre: Tell me about your character Han van Meegeren (1889-1947). Who is he? How has he arrived at this point in his life?

David Adkins: Like the best drawn characters in great drama, van Meegeren is an immensely complicated and deeply conflicted character. Like a kaleidoscope, with one slight turn of the dial you see, or at least sense, a completely different set of driving forces that make this man who he is. It is exciting to work with a character who is brilliant – a genius, I think, in his own right – and not necessarily just as a painter of pictures but as a manipulator of people: friends, lovers, business associates. He is, like so many of the other Dutchman of his time, struggling to stay alive. And from the brilliant palette of his character he mixes – like the oils he uses to make his portraits – a strategy of survival. We all make choices in life – good and bad – and how we choose to explain these choices or to justify them is a complicated process. Who am I to judge, who am I to throw the first stone? Society needs judgment to maintain order and yet…? What would I do? What would you do?

David with Corinna May (Geert Pillar) in rehearsal.
David with Corinna May (Geert Piller) in rehearsal.

WAM: What does he think of Greet Piller?

David: I am still discovering this… But for today, I would say she is his touchstone: “something that is used to make judgments about the quality of other things” and “a stone used to identify precious metals.” She is also his muse and the embodiment of everything that is important in his imagined world: lover, mother, “the public”, art critic, redeemer, god/dess!

WAM: What appeals to you about this play and character?

David: There are too many things to mention in this piece. However, it is not lost on me that this play is written by a poet. It is deeply layered and just when you think you’ve figured one thing out you realize there may be another meaning, and then another…and then another.

David in rehearsal for "The Bakelite Masterpiece".
David in rehearsal for “The Bakelite Masterpiece”.

WAM: How are rehearsals going so far?

David: A wonderful challenge is the act of “being the artist/painter.” I get to work with paints! Mixing them on stage! And using paintbrushes! It’s a real joy – releasing my inner Picasso, my inner Renoir, my inner Vermeer! I can feel why people love to paint, need to paint. It feels like such an exotic world of possibility, of exuberance, of potential for unbridled creativity. Who wouldn’t want to be an artist/painter if they could?!!

WAM: What brought you to the Berkshires and what keeps you here?

David: The Berkshire Theatre Festival brought me to the Berkshires and for that I am deeply grateful. I am based in New York City and the Berkshires has become a refuge. I spend many weeks, sometimes months, away from these hills but I carry its essence with me wherever I go.

WAM: What is next for you?

David: Life. Living. Corinna. Family.  Work.  The order changes from moment to moment, but that’s pretty much it.

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