Speaking with a flurry of hand motions, Sebastian Stan admits frankly that he is thrilled to make his Broadway debut in the revival of Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio. "The idea that I'm on Broadway motivates me. I'm humble and grateful. Two nights ago, Paul Newman was in the audience. But Eric said, 'The person you should be performing for is the young actor who is standing in the back wishing he were you.' " The 23-year-old actor adds, "I'm confident but not arrogant."
Stan has every reason to be confident. After he graduated with a BFA from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, in 2005, he was cast in the feature film The Architect opposite Anthony LaPaglia, Isabella Rossellini, and Hayden Panettiere. Other flicks followed, including Red Doors and the soon-to-be-released The Education of Charlie Banks. He has also appeared in several independent films—"usually playing tortured young men," he says with a laugh. In Talk Radio, which opened at the Longacre Theatre on March 11, he plays Kent, a drugged-up teenage punk who has concocted a wild story to get on the radio program where his idol, the aggressively smart-ass radio host Barry Champlain (Liev Schreiber), holds forth nightly.
"I relate to Kent's energy, but, aside from that, I'm not like that kid at all," says Stan. "I was born in Romania, spent several years in Vienna, and came to the States in 1995, when I was 11. My mother was a pianist, and my stepfather was the headmaster of a private school I attended in Congers, New York. I was always being watched by my parents." Unlike the disheveled Kent, Stan speaks two languages fluently (English and Romanian), understands a third (German), and by his own admission is a preppy dresser: "I was the kid who wore blazers," he says, chuckling.
To prepare for the role, Stan listened to 1980s punk records and studied Sid Vicious television interviews. "My performance was informed by Sid's behavior and mannerisms, the way he snarls and spits when he talks," Stan notes. "Some of Sid's rage is real and some of it is put on. He wanted to come off dangerous. So does Kent. I got into character when they dyed my hair. That's when I bought the leather jacket, skinny jeans, and neck chains. I started wearing the outfit all the time to see what it felt like. I also went into a bar on 40th Street and Ninth Avenue, a real trash dump that's not unlike some of the punk bars of the '80s. I told the bartender I was working on a character and trying to get into [the] zone. He put five beer bottles on the bar and told me to feel free to smash them. I did. It was very liberating for me. I never even had a drink before college."
Stan began acting in high school and attended Stagedoor Manor, a well-known summer camp for aspiring young actors in upstate New York. At the camp's showcase, he was spotted by a manager who wanted to represent him. "Thanks to [Emily Gerson Saines of Brookside Artists Management], I appeared in a few independent films and was a guest actor in one Law & Order episode while I was still in high school. She continues to be my manager." In college, history repeated itself when Stan landed an agent, Eric Bevans of Endeavor Agency, during the school's annual showcase for agents, casting directors, and managers. "I did a scene from Golden Boy," he recalls. "Eric is still my agent."
Though Stan was trained in the Meisner technique at Rutgers, "meaning we worked from the inside out, the training I received in England—I spent one year abroad, studying at the Globe—emphasized working from the outside in. I found that very valuable," he recalls. "One way to approach a character, the Globe teachers suggested, was to decide if he was light or heavy, sustained or broken. Kent, for example, is broken. His attention span is limited; he moves around a lot. A sustained character moves with purpose, and he is able to concentrate. We were also encouraged to think about what kind of animal the character brings to mind. Kent is a cat and an owl. He has the predatory moves of a cat—crouching and lunging. But his head movements are like an owl's." His eyes wide open and head jutting from side to side, Stan demonstrates the expression of his hybrid creature.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, Stan attends many auditions in costume. "When I auditioned for Kent, I came with spiked hair and ripped jeans. I'm aware that what I'm doing may not be appealing to all casting directors, but I'm comfortable doing this."
Stan's immediate concern is vocal strain, as Kent does a lot of screaming on stage. "I had to pull back, and our vocal coach said I should drink lots of water and tea. I was damaging my voice," he says. "Still, if you are on drugs—as Kent is—your voice is throaty and raspy."
Asked how working with Schreiber shaped his performance, he responds, "I was terrified of Liev in the beginning, though that's changed. Still, I recall those feelings of intimidation when I'm with him on stage. That is, after all, Kent's relationship to Barry."