Dakin Matthews is an actor, playwright, dramaturg, director, teacher, and scholar. He has 150+ credits on IMDb, has taught Shakespeare around the world, worked on Broadway and won awards, and was artistic director of several theatres—and he started out to be a priest! We talk about feeling confident and intimidated, why the classics are important, what being a professional means, and more. This episode is sponsored by Audible: get a free audiobook and a 30-day trial at workingactorsjourney.com/audible

Dakin Matthews around the web

IMDb | Wikipedia | IBDb | Actors Access | His former Andak theatre company

Highlights

• Dakin's father as an indentured servant
• How acting in a Shakespeare play gave him a more intimate knowledge of it
• The situations when he feels in awe of people
• How he approaches working with or teaching younger actors
• The production of Shakespeare he saw that really changed his view of what theatre could be
• How he ended up teaching at Juilliard and eventually performing in The Acting Company
• Why he feels acting is his primary skill, above being a teacher or scholar
• Why there aren't great Shakespeare acting classes online
• How he approaches playing real people, and the roles that he couldn't quite figure out
• The out-of-left-field offer to get involved with Rocky the Musical
• How Dakin has had time to be involved in so much
• Working on the "Come vial" speech from Romeo and Juliet
• Why many actors either shy away from or miss the mark with emotional moments
• Why it's so important to find a group of like-minded creative people
• Quotes that matter to him

Selected People and Items Mentioned

• Antaeus Theatre
• Portuguese immigration to Hawaii
• ACT, San Francisco
• The Juilliard School
• USD San Diego MFA (Old Globe Program)
• Cal State East Bay, Hayward, CA
• David Ogden Stiers, actor
• Kurtwood Smith, actor
• Liz Huddle, actress
• PCPA Theatre
• John Houseman, actor, director, and teacher
• Stephen McKinley Henderson, actor
• Group 1 at Julliard: Patti Lupone, Kevin Kline, David Ogden Stiers, Mary Jo Negro, Mary Lou Risotti, Sam Tsoutsouvas, David Schramm, Tony Azito, Jim Moody, Gerald Gutierrez, Norman Snow, Benjamin Hendrickson
• US bombing of Cambodia
• Jack O'Brien, director
• Sherlock's Last Case (play)
• Remington Steele, TV show
• Henderson Hogan Agency
• The History Boys (play)
• Frank Langella as Nixon
• Rocky the Musical
• Waitress musical

For complete bio and other links, check out the full show notes!