How acting became a mission for three men
by Leo Adam Biga
As time goes by, it's clear acting is a birthright for the Beasley family, that talented clan of thespians is fast-evolving into a mainstay of the Omaha theater scene.
John Beasley long ago forged his way in Omaha, scoring dramatic triumphs in the 1970s and '80s at many local theaters and later, outside of Omaha, on the small and big screen. Now, after all of that, he has returned to his hometown to give back to the community that gave to him, and this time he has two sons, Tyrone and Michael Beasley, to help.
In 2002 John founded the John Beasley Theater & Workshop, sharing space with the South Omaha YMCA in the La Fern Williams Center at 3010 Q St. Since then the three men have worked to together to hold workshops for local actors and recruited topnotch talent from outside of Omaha to showcase African-American plays.
Like Father, Like Sons
It's been 20 years since this family patriarch made the leap from acting on community and regional theater stages to character parts on television and in feature films. His film roles include small but telling turns in the feel-good Rudy and the intense The Apostle. Even with such successes, the realities of screen acting dictated being an itinerant artist and forced him to go wherever the next gig was. That is, until he landed the recurring role of Irv Harper on the WB series, "Everwood." Now that he has "a regular job," he's devoting much of his time away from the "Everwood" set to the South Omaha theater that not only bears his name, but also stirs fond memories and renews old ties. The theater is the site of the old Center Stage where Beasley first flexed his acting muscles. Just as it celebrates diversity in plays by and about minorities, the John Beasley Theater is all about alternative voices and faces.
As the sons follow in the shadow of their father, they're treading some of the ground he once trod. Like his father before him, Tyrone performed at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. And Michael was signed to his first film by Ruben Cannon, the same producer and casting agent who linked John to his first national acting jobs - the ABC movie Amerika and the ABC-TV series "Brewster Place."
John, a veteran of the boards and the bright lights, is the mentor and role model whose strong, centered, accessible presence is something each of his sons or, for that matter, any actor, aspires to obtain. Despite some formal training, he's largely self-taught and draws on personal life experience. He's been everything from a jock and jitney driver to a radio-TV host to a longshoreman and janitor. He uses these personal stories to develop telling and human characters on stage and screen.
In addition to occasionally acting at the JBT, John serves as the theater's executive director and artistic director, and most notably directed its inaugural production of August Wilson's Fences, in which Beasley starred as Troy Maxson. He and Tyrone also teach the workshops that are part of the JBT's mission of developing a pool of trained actors for future shows.
Growing Talent
"You have to think about it and feel it first before you can express the truth about it. You don't just rattle lines off. Method actors call it being in the moment. And this is what we instill in our people," John said, referring to the JBT workshops.
"The first thing we tell them is, 'Get out of your head. Get away from' - I did it this way last night and the audience really loved me, so I'm going to repeat the same thing tonight. Then you never grow. If you want to do that head thing, you can go someplace else because we're trying to set a certain standard here with believability."
For Jitney, Beasley brought in ringers in the figures of professional actors Anthony Chisholm ("Oz" and Beloved) and Willis Burks (Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay), but the rest of the cast was local - an indication of the talent here.
According to John and Tyrone, an ever-expanding base of minority talent is being identified and groomed through the JBT workshop program. "I see young people coming in who are going to do very well. When they come out of my theater, I want them to have that confidence they can work anywhere. That's exactly why we have the workshop - to give them the confidence," John said.
An Omaha Benson High School grad, Tyrone earned an art degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He did some modeling. Then, after getting hooked on acting at the Center Stage, he took private drama lessons in Chicago. Following his father's footsteps, Tyrone scored a coup when cast by the legendary theater director Peter Sellars in The Merchant of Venice at the Goodman Theatre. Blissfully ignorant of Sellars' world-class reputation as an enfant terrible genius, Tyrone found himself acting with future heavyweight Philip Seymour Hoffman in a production that eventually toured Europe.
"I don't know how my audition would have went if I knew who [Sellars] was. I might have been more nervous," Tyrone said.
After Chicago, he attended California State University, Long Beach, where he acted with the California Repertory Company.
"I also worked out of Los Angeles doing readings and worked behind the scenes as a film production assistant," Tyrone said. "That was a great experience."
Although Jitney was the first time all three Beasleys acted together, John and Tyrone, who co-stared with Michael, collaborated as producer and director on the JBT's rendering of Wilson's Two Trains Running in 2003. Years earlier, Michael portrayed Biff opposite his father's Willie Loman in a Center Stage mounting of Death of a Salesman. While taking vastly different paths to the craft they now share, each articulates a similar passion for acting and its sense of discovery.
After his father launched the JBT, Tyrone was enlisted in 2003 to help get the fledgling theater on a solid foundation. Michael, however, took a different path and aside from that one time on stage with his dad in Death of a Salesman, he was hell-bent on a career in athletics, not dramatics.
After making all-state his senior season at Omaha Central High School, he earned Juco hoops honors at McCook Community College before playing for the University of Texas-Arlington. He played more than 10 years of pro ball in the United States and abroad, mostly in Latin America.
Off-seasons, he lived in Atlanta, where he still makes his home with his wife and kids. Then the acting bug bit again. His first post-hoops gig came as a last minute replacement.
"The way that went down is I was deciding to get back into acting when some people fell out of the Two Trains cast, and Tyrone called and said, 'Can you come up here and do this play tomorrow?' So, I came up, and it was a great experience. It whet my appetite to pursue it further," Michael said. "I try to absorb everything like a sponge and feed off the stuff my father does to prepare. I've been able to draw on the experience I had in the play and bring it to the film projects I'm in now."
Answering a calling
"I feel like I was definitely influenced because my father did it, but I feel like it's chosen me more than anything. It's a calling," Tyrone said.
"Of course, my father was an influence," Michael said. "A lot of people think I'm in acting now because my father's really successful at it, but our father never pushed us. It's just something I chose.
"It fills a void after basketball. I can't play anymore at a high level, but with acting - the sky's the limit. It's something else to be passionate about. Besides, I'm not a nine-to-five guy. And I love the challenge."
In John's opinion, no one chooses acting. "It chooses you," he said. "We talk about [acting] a lot. It's part of our lives."
For someone as accomplished as John, tweaking his craft is a little more delicate and subtle process. The goal is to never stop growing, which becomes a trickier process as an actor gains more experience.
"When you get to a certain level, there's only so much that you can do as far as the technique of acting," Tyrone said. "But with each character, it's different and you have to approach each character differently and hopefully learn about yourself and see the world from someone else's point of view. That's what we, as actors, are basically trying to do. So growth on a certain level comes from that."
Tyrone said his goal is to achieve the kind of unadorned truth that his father finds in everything from a classic soliloquy to a modern rant.
"We're trying to make it seem conversational, so that as the audience you're eavesdropping on people. Just talking, not acting. That's what we're trying to get to."
For Tyrone, the appeal of drama is storytelling and trying to portray stories truthfully. "Drama's like holding a mirror up to life," Tyrone said. "I like paying attention to the details and colors of life. My job is to explore that and, using my imagination, to take it to the fullest."
Looking to build on the momentum of Jitney, John Beasley's commissioned noted UNO Theater director Doug Paterson to direct Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun. Paterson and company will workshop the play six weeks before it opens. Beasley's also working with his agent to help round out the cast with name actors.
"That's a really good connection to have for putting some really nice ensembles together," Beasley said. "We have a lot of talent in Omaha, but sometimes it helps to bring in some professionals. I think it's good for the theater, good for the audiences and good for our actors here."
A Raisin in the Sun will open Sept. 17 and run through Oct. 10 at the John Beasley Theater, 3010 Q St. For ticket information and times, call 444.3446.