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“The concept is no props and no set,” says Smith. “The actual image for the piece is an arena. It’s a small circular stage with the audience around us, similar to a cockfight.”
The metaphor is apt. “Cock” showcases the verbal sparrings of an indecisive bisexual (Cory Michael Smith), his two lovers (Jason Butler Harner and Amanda Quid), and an intrusive father (Cotter Smith). Director James MacDonald, who also directed the 2009 West End performance, believes that minimalism demands an actor-specific approach.
“In a play where there is nothing but four actors it really depends on who they are,” he says.
“He’s such an intelligent and interesting person,” MacDonald adds about Smith. “Such an aware actor.”
Smith began developing these talents when he first moved to New York in 1978. He was 28 and had only taught high school English and drama at that point.
“I did a lot of theater in college, but it didn’t occur to me it was a way to make a living because, you know the odds,” Smith says. “I tried everything else first and couldn’t, so I thought, ‘Why not? I’ll go for it.’”
No sooner had he signed up for classes at Stella Adler than Stella herself became his mentor. He also counts Lee Strasberg and, crucially, Milton Katselas, as mentors.
“That’s when I really learned to synthesis different methods and use them at different times,” he says.
He eventually got a part in two Off-Broadway plays: 1980’s “The Blood Knot” with Danny Glover and 1981’s “Soldier’s Play.” “Soldier’s Play” won the Pulitzer and went on to run in Los Angeles. A casting director happened to attend the show, and Smith was soon playing Robert Kennedy in the miniseries “Blood Feud,” “which was huge,” says Smith. “I was in the right place at the right time and it changed my career.”
He moved out to L.A and bigger projects filled the next two decades. He did television (“OZ,” “Without a Trace,” “Courthouse,” “NCIS”), film (“K-9,” “X-2: X-Men United”), and Broadway (“How I Learned to Drive,” “An American Daughter”). He cofounded two theater companies, one in Milwaukee and one in L.A. At home he became a regular player in their interpretations of Beckett, Pinter, and Chekov.
In 2009, however, he started missing where he got his start: New York, and Off-Broadway in particular. He moved back and took a role in “Next Fall.”
“It was for no money,” says Smith, “but then it ran for three months and got on Broadway. It was a great welcome back to New York. Since then I’ve been in four more plays, an HBO movie with Pacino, a number of TV shows.”
He’s also started teaching at The New School, Stella Adler, and the Beverly Hills Playhouse.
“I feel teaching has actually become a parallel career,” he says. “I knew I would like it but now I love it. I love guiding people through an incredibly difficult and complicated craft. Not just the acting but the business and how you survive. Being an artist in America is difficult.”
And what’s his advice to students?
“Pursue the work and let the career grow from that,” he says. “You never know how what you’re doing now will affect what you do later. I got an audition for ‘Blood Feud’ because of ‘Soldier's Play,’ and I got an audition for ‘Soldier’s Play’ because of, believe it or not, ‘Back Stage.’ I opened it and saw an open call. That moment, dragging myself up 9th Avenue, seeing all those actors, thinking should I actually wait for this? That was the moment that changed my life.”
"Cock" starts performances on Tuesday, with an official opening set for May 17, at The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 W. 42nd St., NYC. (646) 223-3010 or www.dukeon42.org.
