John Shea (12/74 Yentl)
Excerpt from The Village Voice 12/20/74: John Shea
A Feminist Bedtime Story
By Arthur Sainer
"Yentl The Yeshiva Boy" is I.B. Singer's whimsy, about a feminist who won't settle for the life of pots and pans, disguises herself as a Yeshiva boy, and goes to study Torah with the men.
....
Tovah Feldshuh brings a fitting eagerness and modesty and gaiety to the role of Yentl, there's a cuteness she affects at moments that ought to be gotten rid of instantly, she doesn't need it, but on the whole she's a joy. So is John Shea as Avigdor, the Yeshiva scholar who becomes her closest friend, he brings an authentic virility as well as qualities of seriousness and sensuality to a difficult part.
© The Village Voice
Excerpt from Playbill Vault 10/15/75: John Shea
Yentl
Eugene O'Neill Theatre
First Preview: October 15, 1975 Opening Date: October 23, 1975 Closing Date: May 2, 1976
Previews: 11 Performances: 223
Playwright: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Leah Napolin
Synopsis
A Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy in order to study the Torah in this adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's story "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy."
Opening Night Cast
Tovah Feldshuh Yentl
Hy Anzell Feitl, Mordecai
Herman O. Arbeit Treitl, Reb Alter
Mary Ellen Glass Rivka, Chambermaid, Necheleh
Robin Bartlett Raizeleh, Avram
Stephen de Pietri Dr. Chanina, Zisheh, Shmuel, Musician
Blanche Dee Pesheh
David Eric Chaim, Musician, Moishe, Gershon
Elaine Grollman Zlateh
Rita Karin Yachna
Lynn Ann Leveridge Hadass
Leland Moss Mohel, Yussel, Lemmel, Wedding Jester, Dr. Solomon, Musician
Albert M. Ottenheimer Sheftel, Nehemiah, The Rabbi
Bernie Passeltiner Fulcha, Musician, Messenger, The Cantor, Laibish, Reb Todrus
Natalie Priest Frumka
Reuben Schafer Zelig, The Shamus, Reb Nata
Madeline Shaw Zelda-Leah, Shimmel
John Shea Avigdor
....
Who's Who in the Cast
JOHN V. SHEA (Avigdor) is making his Broadway debut. After creating the Polish scholar, Avigdor, in the original Chelsea production of Yentl, he played the Russian writer Maxim Gorky in the American Place Theatre workshop Gorky, and the Canadian paraplegic Virgil Timmons in Battering Ram at the Manhattan Theatre Club. A graduate of the Yale Drama School (MFA Directing), he has played Cleonte in The Bourgeois Gentleman and John in the American premiere of Edward Bond's Lear at the Yale Repertory Theatre. He is a founding member of the Nantucket Stage Company, and taught acting and directed productions at Pratt Institute, including his own cabaret adaptation of The Tempest. He has made great strides in his pursuit of a Doctorate of Pataphysics.
....
Awards
1976 Theatre World Award Tovah Feldshuh Winner
1976 Theatre World Award John Shea Winner
© Playbill
Excerpt from Time 11/3/75: John Shea
The Theater: Rabbinical Lib
By HP-Time.com;T.E.K. Monday, Nov. 03, 1975
Assuming the name of Anshul, she becomes increasingly fond of her fellow student Avigdor (John V. Shea). The sundering of a marriage contract has left Avigdor desolate at the loss of a comely local girl named Hadass (Lynn Ann Leveridge). Avigdor conceives the idea that if he cannot have Hadass, Anshul shall. Anshul/Yentl goes through with the marriage, and she manages to keep it deceptively intact, though Jehovah alone knows quite how. In an access of love for both Avigdor and Hadass, Yentl reveals to Avigdor that she is not a man and files a bill of divorcement so that her two dearest friends may marry.
© Time
Excerpt from Albany Times Union 3/19/89: John Shea
JOHN SHEA BRINGS MAGIC TO NEW CABLE TV MOVIE ABOUT MAGICIAN.
Byline: Janet Trinkaus Televison editor
After graduation, he spent three years at the prestigious Yale School of Drama and in 1977 got his first Broadway play, "Yentl," in which he played the male lead for a year. "I live in New York City since I love doing theater," Shea said.
© Albany Times Union
Excerpt from Bates University 1993: John Shea
John Shea '70: Actor, Freelance
by Beck Shoenfeld: from Career Compass, Vol. 1, No. 17
After Yale, Shea acted in various Broadway productions. Preparing for the male lead in Yentl, he once disguised himself to study the lifestyle of rabbis in Brooklyn. "I had to transform my Yankee wasp personality to a Hasidic Jew. That was the play that convinced me that acting was a fully satisfying, creative experience," affirmed Shea. Since his beginnings with Broadway, Shea has acted in approximately 20 films throughout the world in countries such as Mexico, England, Spain, Germany and Israel. He advised young performers to be prepared for the "hard truth, business side" of acting. He emphasized the will and ability to "juggle" roles. "You always have to keep them guessing," said Shea.
© Bates College
Excerpt from The Irish Echo 2/16/99: John Shea
Tracings John Shea - portrait of an artist
By Olivia Tracey February 16th by admin
On graduating, he launched his career as an assistant director at the Chelsea Theater only to do another dance with destiny that put him back to treading the boards. As assistant director to Bob Kalfin, he was helping to cast a production of "Yentl" where part of his job was to read with the auditioning actors. Five hundred actors later, he managed to get fired as the A.D. and consequently hired as the lead in the Broadway production. His Broadway debut garnered him a Theater World Award, followed by a Drama Desk nomination for A.R. Gurney’s "American Days," and a Joseph Jefferson nomination for "Long Day’s Journey Into Night."
© Irish Echo
Excerpt from Backstage 2/18/00: John Shea
FACE TO FACE: John Shea - Playing a Wounded Idealist
By Simi Horwitz Publication: BackStage Date: Friday, February 18 2000
Still, when Shea graduated Yale-directing degree in hand-he launched his career as an assistant director at the Chelsea Theatre. His stint at the Chelsea serendipitously brought him back to acting. Indeed, it's the stuff of fairy-tales. "I was helping to cast the play, "Yentl,' and part of my job was to read with the actors who were auditioning," Shea remembers. "Director Bob Kalfin who was watching me read finally said, "I think you are my lead,' fired me as his assistant, and 500 actors later, I was cast in the part and headed to Broadway." For his Broadway debut, he earned a Theatre World Award.
© Backstage
Excerpt from Backstage 4/2/01: John Shea
How To Get an Agent?
By Sherry Eaker | Posted April 2, 2001, midnight
The newly-arrived Shea was hired as an assistant director and an assistant casting director at the Chelsea Theatre Center at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He noted, "One thing I want to encourage anybody who's thinking about acting is that you don't necessarily have to go at it purely from an acting point of view."
In his new position, Shea was assisting people backstage, but he also got the chance to assist some top-notch directors, such as Harold Prince, as well as Robert Kalfin, who was then heading up the theatre. One day, as he was reading opposite some actors in his role as assistant casting director, Kalfin called him over and told him, "You're fired as my assistant casting director. I want you to take this script home, read it, and tell me what you think of it."
The script was "Yentl," and Kalfin wanted Shea to audition for the role of a Hasidic Jew. "I'm an Irish Catholic from Springfield, Mass. I know nothing about being a Hasidic Jew," Shea quipped. But Shea knew how to prepare for a role. The first thing he did was venture to Williamsburg where many of the Hasidim live. He let his hair and beard grow for a few days, bought clothes similar to what the Hasidim wear, and started hanging out at a deli in Williamsburg, picking up on the body language and attitude. Around 500 actors auditioned for the role, and Shea got the part. "This is without an agent. This is about being at the right place, knowing people at the right time, but also being prepared... If I had not had the training, and I had not had a certain amount of knowledge about how to go about preparing for an audition or creating a role, I wouldn't have been able to go in to get that part and feel confident enough to be able to do it," Shea exclaimed.
"Yentl" eventually moved to Broadway, and that's when agents took notice of Shea. "And that's usually how it happens-agents see your work at some point along the way," Shea noted. "For me, it happened to be in this play. It could be in an Off-Broadway showcase because agents are constantly scouting new talent the way baseball scouts are at universities looking for baseball talent. They're always looking for people who have the ability to transform themselves. But it has to come from the work."
© Backstage
Excerpt from Bates Magazine Online 6/21/07: John Shea
Stages of Shea: Timing and talent have shaped the career of actor John Shea ’70
By Doug Hubley
This was a return to roots. It was on the New York stage in the mid-1970s that Shea first found acclaim. His Broadway debut, as Avigdor in Yentl, netted him the Theatre World Award for Most Promising Actor in 1976.
© Bates Magazine Online