Q&A with Anthony Lamarr
By Nathan J. Comp
Anthony Lamarr is among the small handful of African Americans involved in community theater in and around Madison. Last year, Lamarr landed the leading role in The Music Man, playing Harold Hill, a role traditionally played by a White man.
It was a defining moment for Lamarr, 24, who has been acting for nearly a decade. Not only was it his first leading role, but it also showed him how an imaginative director can stretch the boundaries while creating opportunities on stage for minorities.
“I don’t think that had been done before,” he says. “With Harold Hill, I really stepped out on a ledge.”
Lamarr performs with six different theater companies, including Strollers Theater and Mercury Players Theater. He’s called on theater companies to actively recruit and groom minority talent. But in addition to more roles for African Americans, Lamarr says more people of color need to be writing plays.
Lamarr recently penned a musical called Ballot, a parody of the 2000 elections, with characters that aren’t race-specific, and which he is trying to get produced. He recently spoke with The Madison Times about what he enjoys most about the stage, why so few minorities are involved in community theater, and his musical side project.
TMT: For you, what’s the most exhilarating aspect of being on stage?
AL: Knowing that every performance can be different, even if it’s the same show. Every emotion you feel, even if you’re having a bad day that’s going to affect how you are on stage. You may hit every line, but any slight variation in your day is going to give you a different performance. I like that. I like how an audience can come to every single performance, and it’s always going to be different.
TMT: What’s your least favorite part of the process leading up to opening night?
AL: Gosh … I guess I’d say tech week, because that’s where all the final details come together and you’re just kind of sitting around. It’s fun because you get to talk to people, but you’re usually just kind of waiting around. You’ll be in the middle of a song, and they’ll yell ‘Hold!’ — and then you have to wait.
TMT: Why do you think so few minorities get involved in theater?
AL: One is that we’re in Madison, Wisconsin, not a big city. People continue to tell me that we can’t put on shows like The Wiz. When I was in Ragtime, that was a complete stretch. I was called two weeks before the show opened, because they had lost actors.
It’s unfortunate to me that we can’t do August Wilson pieces. Community theaters need to take more initiative to find actors or to groom young Black actors. People have been talking about starting a Black theater company, but I think they have to start young. A lot of kids get into musicals in high school. Community theaters say they’re trying to find more Black actors, but I don’t think they’re really taking the initiative to locate them.
Maybe the shows aren’t appealing to minorities in Madison. It has a lot to do with the shows that are selected. Maybe if someone put on Dreamgirls or even The Wiz, you’d start pulling more people out of the woodwork.
TMT: Aside from acting, what other creative projects interest you?
AL: Well, a shameless plug is that I’m in a band with national recording artist Mike Droho. He was the [co-]frontman and songwriter for The Profits. He and I linked up this past summer, and we have just an incredible acoustic rock with a hip-hop feel thing going on. Right now, we’ve got an upright bass; Scott Lamps, piano; and pretty much produce Mike’s music. And I do vocal percussion and also hit vocals, and Mike hits the acoustic guitar. We have an incredible music relationship.
We actually have a performance at Electric Earth Café on West Washington [Avenue] on November 30th at 8 o’clock. It’s going to be a good time. The last time we played there, we nearly sold out. People just keep talking about how they’ve never heard our sound before. We don’t have a name yet, but we’ve been toying around with a few. Right now, it’s Mike Droho and Company.
TMT: What has been your favorite role, and why?
AL: Favorite role by far is Harold Hill, because it was my first and only lead role. That’s the other frustrating part of being an actor in general and about being a Black actor in particular. I’m a graduate from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities with a bachelor’s in theater arts and performance. There were plenty of roles up there for me. Every time I come back to Madison, I’ll go to audition. It’s very difficult, because [in] most of the musicals that are written, there are few that are written for Black actors in leading roles.
Right before I auditioned for The Music Man, I had auditioned for Ragtime, but just wasn’t happy being in the chorus again. I wasn’t auditioning for the Music Man looking for the lead role, but I got called back; and the next day I got a phone call saying I got the lead role. I was driving with my friend and I had to pull over, because I’d been working so hard to get the point where I could hold the title as a leading actor. I’m a short, bigger guy, not your typical leading role material; but I held that part. I worked very hard and put on a good performance. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
TMT: What advice do you have for young African Americans interested in theater?
AL: Just get out there. People think everything just rolls along all nice and dandy, but directors do struggle [in] looking for talent. It’s a matter of going for it.
Aside from acting in community theater, people of color need to do more writing. I encourage people to do more writing and take that chance. You never know what it’ll lead to.
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