Phil Darius Wallace
With his sonorous baritone and acting chops honed at SUNY Purchase Theatre Arts School in New York, Phil Darius Wallace has toured the country with his self-penned one-man shows about civil rights pioneers Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr.
He takes the spotlight at TheatreWorks this weekend, closing out the first installment of Playhouse on the Square's inaugural Solo Works Series. Four additional artists will perform in July.
Phil Darius Wallace wrote "From the Heart of a King," a history of the Civil Rights Movement.
Born in Flint, Mich., Wallace moved here in 1998 and has been seen on many local stages and in several independent films.
Q: How did "From the Heart of a King" get to its current form?
A: I've been touring my Frederick Douglass show for the past few years at schools, usually in the mornings. Then in the afternoons, I'd turn around and do the Martin Luther King show (written in 1993). I realized that they really went well together.
When Martin Luther King was a boy, he was thought of as a troublemaker. His father gave him a copy of Frederick Douglass' autobiography and it changed his life.
I also make a Barack Obama connection in the play, because Douglass was the first African-American man to get a party nomination for President.
Also, Obama's presidency couldn't have happened without the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (championed by King.)
Then there's a Biblical connection. Moses and his people spent 40 years in the desert. It was 40 years after MLK made his "Mountaintop" speech, that Barack Obama was elected President.
Q: Why devote so much of your acting career to these two historical figures?
A: That question has many answers. First, I wanted to combat the negative images of African-Americans in popular culture with those of men who could inspire children.
Another reason is that both these men were transformed by education and reading. They marveled at the beauty of the spoken and written word. When I was a boy, I hated to read. But when I got to college my dramatic acting teacher told me: If you want to be an actor, you have to learn how to be a reader. He handed me a copy of Tennessee Williams.
Q: What's the hardest part about portraying historical figures?
A: The challenge is figuring out who they are as human beings. In the media, King is portrayed as a serious-minded person, and in private he was the opposite. He teased people; he played practical jokes. I like to ask myself: Who was Martin Luther King when he was having a beer with his friends?
Q: How did you get into solo performance?
A: I'm a huge fan of martial arts, Bruce Lee especially. Oddly enough, that's what inspired me to be an actor.
I think the speeches of King are like a martial arts movie. They are tough and action packed. But people also want to relate to him as a vulnerable person, as an everyman. Same with Frederick Douglass. People don't want to see the stern man who was a great orator. He also had a sense of humor. As a boy he would imitate animals.
Q: What's next for you?
A: We just finished shooting an independent film here in Memphis. Also, my hope is to start working on a one-man show that is not based on a historical character!
To see videos of Phil Darius Wallace on YouTube click here.
-- Christopher Blank: 529-2305
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