Benjamin Evett (Dorian in Opus at New Repertory Theatre) is the Founding Artistic Director of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project where he has directed numerous productions and played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, the title role in Coriolanus, Caliban in The Tempest, the title role in Hamlet, Edmund in King Lear, and Cassius in Julius Caesar. At New Rep, he has been seen as the Salesman in Indulgences, Paul Barrow in Permanent Collection (for which he won an Elliot Norton Award), Abbe de Coulmier in Quills, Bob Cratchit in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Stephen in A Girl’s War, and Will in Jerusalem. He was a member of the Resident Acting Company at the A.R.T. in Cambridge from 1983 to 2003, acting in more than 50 productions including: Waiting for Godot, The Bacchae, Phaedra, Ivanov, The King Stag, and Six Characters in Search of an Author. He has also performed at The Huntington Theatre Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare, Hartford Stage Company, Missouri Repertory Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Cleveland Play House, and others. Internationally, he has performed at the Festivale Biennale in Venice, the Festival d’Automne in Paris, the Taiwan National Theatre, and The Moscow Art Theatre. He is a graduate of Harvard College with a degree in Classics.

What is your definition of misery?
Having nowhere to turn.

What is your greatest fear?
Losing a child.

What was your first “real” job working in theatre?
1975 – I was 11 years old and got paid $106 to act in Caesar and Cleopatra with the Cleveland Playhouse.

Are you a good at waiting tables?
Don’t know – so far I’ve been lucky enough not to do it (when I was starting out I temped instead).

Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Mozart.

Who are your favorite heroes of theatre?
Do you mean fictional? then it’s Hamlet, Henry V, Edmund from Long Day’s Journey; if you mean theatre leaders (who are also “real”) then it would be Anne Bogart, Konstantin Stanislavsky, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams – so many, really.

Who are your favorite heroes in real life?
Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, my grandfather.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Prudence.

What do you consider the most underrated virtue?
Self-reliance.

Your favorite painter?
Monet.

Your favorite musician?
I would have to say the Beatles, but they’re plural, so singular? Probably Yo Yo Ma.

Your favorite playwright?
Chekhov.

When and where were you happiest?
That’s a secret.

What do you most value in colleagues?
Generosity.

Is there a class in which you wish you had paid more attention?
French.

If you didn’t work in theatre, what would you do?
Nothing.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Founding the Actors’ Shakespeare Project.

What you’d like to be the world’s best at?
Tennis

What book would you read more than once?
Pride and Prejudice – I read it every two years or so

Who would play you in a movie of your life? Why?
What a bizarre question. I’d play…myself…because that’s who I am.

What sports teams do you follow?
The Red Sox, and tennis, which isn’t a team, but I’m a huge fan.

Where would you like to spend a vacation?
I’ve never been to the Caribbean, so there – but Paris is my favorite city.

What car would you like to be seen driving around in?
Prius.

What book is currently on your nightstand?
The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt.

If you could see a great production of a classic play, what would it be?
Three Sisters.

If you could travel back in time to visit or live in any time in history, when would it be?
I’d like to meet Shakespeare and see how they made the plays.

What actor will see in any project they do?
Marianna Bassham – she’s the real deal.

Benjamin Evett will be performing in Opus at New Repertory Theatre.

Opus • news wire, Ben Evett Proust questionnaire
New Repertory Theatre • newrep.org • (617) 923-8487

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