John Shea (2/77 Romeo and Juliet)
Excerpt from Playbill Vault 2/77: John Shea
Romeo and Juliet
Tragedy - Revival
Circle in the Square Theatre
First Preview: February 25, 1977
Opening Date: March 17, 1977
Closing Date: May 22, 1977
Previews: 23
Performances: 77
Playwright: William Shakespeare
Synopsis Teenagers Romeo and Juliet fall for each other despite their warring families in Verona. Their passionate romance leads to tragedy in William Shakespeare's tale of forbidden love.
Opening Night Cast
Pamela Payton-Wright Juliet
Paul Rudd Romeo
Jack Gwillim Friar Laurence
Jan Miner Nurse to Juliet
Lester Rawlins Capulet
David Rounds Mercutio
Armand Assante Tybalt
Daniel Ben-Zali Apothecary
Jim Broaddus Musician, Guard, Chorus
Mark Cohen Page to Paris
Michael Forella Balthasar
Erik Frederickson Watchman, Cousin Capulet
Richard Greene Escalus
Helen Harrelson Lady Montague
Delphi Harrington Lady Capulet
K. C. Kelly Guard, Musician
Tom Klunis Montague
Dennis Lipscomb Gregory Chief Watch
Ruth Livingston Lady of Verona
Christopher Loomis Watchman, Sampson
Dennis Patella Peter
Lisa Pelikan Rosaline
Jennifer Savidge Lady of Verona
John Shea Paris
....
John Shea Romeo (Understudy)
© Playbill
Excerpt from SciFi Weekly 3/18/02: John Shea
John Shea's acting genes have taken him from Eugene O'Neill to Mutant X
By Kathie Huddleston
Few actors could say they've played Romeo on both Broadway and in the television series The Man from Atlantis. However, for actor John Shea, going from Shakespeare to science fiction was just the beginning of a long and diverse career that has led him to play Adam in this season's highest-rated first-run syndicated action hour, Mutant X.
....
How did you get started working in science-fiction television?
Shea: I've kind of worked in and out of this genre over the last 20 years, I guess, from The Man from Atlantis, where I was a guest star many, many, many years ago. But it was fun to do because I had just played Romeo on Broadway in New York City and I went out to L.A. in my first trip ever.
© SciFi Weekly
Mutant X Season 2 DVD Extras: John Shea Interview
2004
Well, I trained in the method as well. You know, I went to drama school in America. I went to Yale drama school. I studied for three years, acting and directing, and I did everything. Every technique from Stonisklavsky and certainly the method. And what happens is you do draw upon your emotional life. But I find that the older I get and the more I do, I can very easily-I’ve experienced so many emotions at this point in my life that they’re all right there under the surface. And so if I have to worry about somebody in a scene or feel concerned about them, I don’t have to think very hard about how to feel that. It just comes naturally. That’s one of the great things about being an actor, is that the older you get, the more you’ve experienced, the easier it is to act, in a way. Because as a young person I can remember being in scene I was doing on Broadway. I was playing Romeo and Juliet, and I was playing Paris at the time. And I actually got to play Romeo once, but I was playing the character called Paris. And I had to go in and view Juliet, and I remember just I had to see her body and then I had to swordfight Romeo, and then I remember tears had to come to me. Well, as a young actor, I didn’t have anything to cry about. I was on top of the world, you know? And I used to stick my fingers in my eyes before I went on stage just to make myself cry. Cause I knew that the scene itself was so intense that if you saw the woman that you loved dead, you should have tears. I couldn’t do that. But now if you ask me to cry, I’ve experienced so many painful things, like sudden deaths of people that I loved, that tears come to me very easily. It’s one of the best things about growing older, is that you get to take the seemingly negative things that have happened to you in your life and turn them into positive things, turn them into your art form. So Adam, if required to do so, can do those things now much more easily.
© Tribune Entertainment