Interviewing Patrick Russell

Patrick Russell is a professional stage actor who’s most recent work is Seminar at the San Francisco Playhouse Theatre. For this interview, we met at the café right next to the theatre, A Café De Taza. Our conversation went really well, I found out things about the stage acting life that I didn’t think about before.

Me: So, why did you choose to have acting as your life career?

Patrick: I- you know I got into acting when I was in 5th grade. That’s when I got really passionate about it. I was a very shy kid. I enrolled in a talent academy – I grew up in Reno – and there wasn’t a whole lot of theatre around, and that was really huge for me. That was a huge creative outlet for me. I kept on going on… middle school, high school, you know all the awkward years. What I originally wanted to do is go into film, … and I went off to college for that. But, when I was 18, 19, I wasn’t really feeling the program that I was going in.

Me: You went to UCSB, right?

Patrick: Yeah, I went to UCSB.

Me: I heard that they have a great film program there.

Patrick: Yeah, they’ve always [been] a good film theory school, just not so much hands-on stuff. What they have now – they have this full-on production… they have all this equipment, everything I wanted to do. But it worked out great because what had happened was that I decided to audition for the BFA program at [UC] Santa Barbara. I didn’t know anything about it, and I just kind of fell into it, and I got in. It was a three-year conservatory program, and kind of changed my life. I was like – that really sort of opened my eyes to what I really wanted to do. And then I decided to keep going. I auditioned for grad school and I got in, at ACT, which is really where I wanted to go if I was going to [act]. All throughout school, I was like “Well, I’m going to do it… and I’m going to keep my options open”. Any time when I was away from it, there was always something missing. That’s kind of how I chose it.

Me: So for you going to UCSB,… did you feel that it was a great program? Or would you have gone to a different college for acting?

Patrick: It was a great program. It’s one of those things where you can make a plan – I originally wanted to go to University of Southern California. That was my dream school because for film, that’s what I wanted to do. I was devastated because it was the only school I didn’t get in to. But in hindsight, I’m really glad it worked out that way because it was like the thing with Santa Barbara – I didn’t know anything about the program. It’s one of the few UC schools that have a BFA program. That might be different now but I wasn’t planning that, which is really cool. That’s something that I learned in this career is that: you can make plans, but you have to be ok knowing that it won’t work out and then knowing that something better may come along, and it usually does. So I found out from that like… the teachers at Santa Barbara just completely changed my view on acting. So it really was an amazing program.

Me: So when you go for auditions, how many monologues do you memorize?

Patrick: Um, well when I was [at school] at Santa Barbara, they prepared us for like grad school auditions. We had at least 4 memorized. Usually 2 contemporary, 2 classical. In grad school, it’s more of having one contemporary, one classical. But we did so much work in grad school, that I at least have half a dozen in my back pocket. It’s a little different now, though. Once you start working professionally as an actor, unless you’re doing general auditions, you’re mostly going to read [lines] from the play. It’s kind of rare that they have you come in and do a monologue when you audition for a specific show. I still have the same monologue I used from grad school. It’s probably time to pick a new batch, but I just don’t do them often enough.

Me: Are you an equity actor?

Patrick: Yeah.

Me: Ok. So how does the whole equity thing go? Like the process of the time, the contract, how does all that work?

Patrick: Well, I can’t speak as much as to the process of becoming an equity member because one of the benefits of going to ACT is that you get your equity card. That’s kind of one of the perks of being there for 3 years is that you do a show on main stage, usually A Christmas Carol, and that’s what gets you your equity card. If you don’t go that route, then you have to accrue points. It’s like the more shows you do; you can apply to have it towards becoming an equity member. And then you have to decide if you want to turn [to] equity or not. That’s often a tricky decision for people in the Bay Area because the pro is that you get health coverage when you work, and a weekly salary, and get paid more. The con is that you’re not going to get that health coverage. It’s great to be part of a union because they follow hours; they make sure you have breaks, you’re looked after. Downside is that you’re limiting yourself. When you’re an equity actor, there’s only so many in the Bay Area. It’s kind of a tough call, but for me… I really didn’t have to think too much about it.

Me: Cool, cool. Are there any projects that you would like to do inside and/or outside of theatre, like probably directing once again or something outside of that like music, or painting?

Patrick: Man… actually I would love to eventually go into directing. I think that’s where – that’s the part where that’s wanting to be a film director that still lives in me – I think that’s where I would eventually love to end up. I do a little bit of it – I teach as well. I teach at ACT and I teach acting classes to adults and to the kids. I also teach movement class which is something that I’m passionate about. That’s kind of what really changed my life in terms of acting when I was in college, were the movement classes. I’m sort of wanting to get more into the acting classes and movement classes, and directing more eventually.

Me: So do you plan to live in San Francisco permanently or do you want to do more competitive theatre elsewhere? Like do you want to do bigger things like Broadway?

Patrick: No, no Broadway. I really love New York, but I have no aspiration to go there. You have a feeling when you’re there, and it’s not the place for me to pound the pavement. It’s expensive, if not even more that San Francisco. I did go to LA, actually after I graduated for a little bit of time. I was actually doing the back and forth thing [from LA to SF and back.] A lot of actors in California would jump back and forth from here to LA. Sounds like a great idea, but unless you have money to do that, it’s really hard. I wasn’t able to teach down there. That’s something that I discovered after [graduating from] school. I needed to do both financially for my own sake on top of acting. Acting can be such a… it’s easy to get sort of stuck in… you work so hard at it. With teaching it reminds you why you’re doing it. It kind of puts things in perspective. It’s sort of easy to beat yourself up in this business. 

Me: So, is there any advice you’d like to give to an aspiring actor like myself?

Patrick: Ha! Yeah, I mean, like I was saying earlier, like have a plan and be ready to change it (laughs). Be open, be persistent as hell. A lot of times, and I’m sure this isn’t the case with you because I’m having meeting you for 20 minutes I can tell that you’re passionate about this. You’ve taken classes for it. But a lot of times people far too easily assume that it comes more easily than it does. You really have to be persistent in putting yourself out there. And the first time may not do anything. The second time may not do anything. The third time may not – it may not seem it’s doing anything, but eventually it will work. If you stick it out, it’s gonna work because each job leads to something else. That’s what I learned after school. You can go through all this training and studying, acting school, but the one it doesn’t teach you is how to deal with the real life, you know? And the truth is, in my experience, is that if something doesn’t work out, it really is cliché but it’s true: when one door closes, another one opens. Don’t give up. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Just because something doesn’t work out, doesn’t mean that it’s the end.  

Me: Do you feel that you’ve “made it”?

Patrick: Good question. Um…

Me: Thank you.

Patrick: Yeah… (Laughs). You know, I kind of do actually. It’s a subjective thing obviously. But I - (long pause) I realized when you’re out of school, once you graduate, it’s like being shot out of a cannon. You go to ACT for like, 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, and it’s great. The training is amazing, but once you get thrown out to the real world, … it’s hard to gauge. At least for me it was hard to gauge what I really wanted, what was really going to make me happy. I’m not loaded [with money], I kind of scrape by, it’s hard. But like, I’m happy. It’s a feeling being able to teach, and do theatre at the same time. It feels good. Maybe in my old age (laughs)… I’m a little less naïve. I can always use a little more money, but once it becomes about money then I totally lost the drive to do this anymore.

Me: Ok, great. Just a couple more.

Patrick: Yeah, of course.

Me: Most memorable show?

Patrick: Aw, man that’s a good question. There’s been a lot of good ones. I did a show a few years ago called Body Awareness at Aurora in Berkeley, and that one was a really special experience. Just all the elements, everything was in line. It was challenging and tough, but every night it was fun to do. And every night, somebody after the show commented on it on how it affected them on a personal level. It reminded me why I do this. It wasn’t always easy, it wasn’t always fun. Rehearsal was tough, but it felt so good afterwards.

Me: And last one: a show you regret doing?

Patrick: Ooh God, that’s a tough one to answer. Um, I know it’s not going to be a juicy answer but I don’t. Some have been harder than others. I feel that I’ve been very lucky I haven’t been in one that’s been a terrible experience. I’ve always learned something about the progress, and its taught things better about myself, and about how to accommodate circumstances that may not always be ideal. 

Me: Great, thank you so much for this interview.

Patrick: No problem. I wished I could stay longer but I have to run to rehearsal. I enjoyed this, Geoffrey.