Photo Source: Steven Koernig
As the actor was auditioning to play Happy in “Death of a Salesman,” the ground shook. The next day, he found out he got the part. “It was literally one of those days where your life changes completely,” he says.
A day after “Salesman” closed on Broadway, Wittrock started rehearsals for Lucy Boyle’s “The Blue Deep,” in which he makes his Willliamstown Theatre Festival debut. Though the actor grew up in nearby Lenox, Mass., this is his first time to the festival.
“There is a sense of play and excitement here,” says Wittrock, who plays gardener and love interest Jamie in the play about a mother and daughter struggling to cope with loss. “We’re all here to make amazing work and have fun, and you work really hard but somehow you don’t get that kind of fatigue that you get in New York. The fresh oxygen, maybe it makes everyone a little stoned.”
Sporting a charcoal tee, khaki shorts, and a baseball cap, Wittrock looks at home in the Berkshires setting. His father worked at Shakespeare and Company, and as a child, Wittrock “caught the bug pretty young” and would put on Shakespeare plays with friends. With experience acting alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Salesman” and now Blythe Danner in “The Blue Deep,” Wittrock continues to be a pupil of the craft.
“I’ve learned 90 percent of what I know from watching and listening to actors,” he explains. “A good leading actor is the rock of the show. Their energy and their tone really sets the groundwork for how everything is going to work. I’ve been lucky to deal with stars who are very giving and generous.”
You trained at Juilliard. What did you learn while you were there?
Finn Wittrock: I don’t think you realize how much you’ve learned until you’ve left. Doing “Salesman,” there was so much stuff where I was like, “This is what I did in first year acting,” and I thought it was so rudimentary but this is it; this is everything. That training really comes in handy. You really learn how much you know when you have to do a show eight times a week, and the physical stamina that that takes, especially when you don’t feel up for it or you’re sick or hungover or on a random Wednesday matinee, you don’t want to see your father kill himself that day. That’s where the training really works for you. It comes through for you.
What did you learn working with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Mike Nichols?
Wittrock: It was literally a dream. Their minds are on a level that you aspire to be at. It was a real life-changing experience. I owe a lot to Mike because he really found me and brought me to the light. What’s so amazing about him is that he sees everything. He has an incredible instinct, just like pure raw instinct. He knows what works; he knows how to put people together. I owe him a lot. Phil, too, is incredible. I think he might be a true genius.
You’re also part of The Mechanicals Theatre Group in Los Angeles. How did you start that and how has it helped you as an actor?
Wittrock: My very good friend Eric Bilitch actually started it when we were young, right after high school. It’s a great way to find what other things you are good at and sort of expand your horizons. I was able to direct there. I’m also trying to write a lot. And so you find a group of people who are likeminded and equally energetic and you put yourselves in a room and try to make something happen. Doing theater anywhere, especially in L.A., is a constant uphill battle, and there’s also the unsexy parts of the business that you’re faced with, like getting money. It’s a really great thing to do. You feel like you’re really an artist when you’re doing that and you’re in a company of artists.
You’re also known for your work as Damon on “All My Children.” Soap operas get a bad rap for acting. What did you learn working on one?
Wittrock: I learned about making a choice and going for it. You have no time. They shoot 30 scenes or more a day. You have no time to self-correct or have any kind of process really, which sounds nightmarish but actually it makes you really trust your gut and make a choice and commit to it. And also your memory muscle gets exercised very intensely. So I learn things very quick now because of it.
You’ve worked in both theater and film. What are the differences as an actor?
Wittrock: Philip Seymour Hoffman said something very interesting about this. In film and TV sometimes you don’t want to know it too well, you want to still be kind of searching for the role a little bit. You want to be on your toes because the one time you do it is it. You kind of put yourself in a place where you let the muse hit you and it happens. Whereas theater, you need to have a really cut psychological emotional pathway through the play because you can’t rely on that muse to hit because you have to do it eight times a week. You have to know it on a very deep level so that you can let the play take you. It’s hard for actors to go from film to theater because there’s a certain stamina that it takes.
There are a lot of young actors at this festival. What advice do you have for them?
Wittrock: It’s hard to give advice because you wish that you would take the advice that you would give. Patience is the hardest thing to learn. I’m still learning it. If you can really try and find a center of yourself, who you are besides the work, and have real patience job to job. I think that, back to Philip Seymour Hoffman, he’s the hardest working actor I’ve met and you don’t get where he is just by being good or being talented. Talent is almost secondary. It’s about being diligent and working really really really hard. That’s it.
“The Blue Deep” plays as part of the Williamstown Theatre Festival through July 8. For tickets and more information, visit www.wtfestival.org.
