When you meet actor Corey Hawkins in person, his charisma percolates in the air. So it鈥檚 no surprise he is able to embody Six Degrees of Separation鈥檚 Paul, a young man whose magnetic presence allows him to con well-to-do strangers into inviting him into their homes and their lives.
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The Straight Outta Compton star recently earned his first Tony nomination for the role in the Tony-nominated revival of John Guare鈥檚 play. While many recognize him as an action star from his portrayal of Sgt. Eric Carter on 24: Legacy, the young performer is actually a classically trained actor with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Juilliard School where he says he fell in love with traditional theatre and its malleability. Hawkins let 半岛体育 peek inside his actor鈥檚 鈥渢oolbox鈥� to learn how his classical training allows him the ability to become an action hero, zombie outbreak survivor, or cunning manipulator at a moment鈥檚 notice.
You graduated from Juilliard in 2011, and earned the prestigious John Houseman Prize for classical theatre in your third year. Now you鈥檙e practically an action star. How do you feel about that?
Corey Hawkins: Well, it鈥檚 great. [Laughs] I never wanted to go to Juilliard in the first place because people had told me it would turn me into this classically trained robot, but really what Juilliard gave me was that it just added to my toolbox. There was no losing of yourself, it was just rethinking the instrument and adding tools to that instrument. I fell in love with classical theatre because it鈥檚 a slate that you can鈥t doesn鈥檛 matter what race, creed, color, sex鈥ou can paint onto classical Shakespeare and Chekhov anything you want because the writing and the language is so rich.
How does your classical training impact the work you do on screen?
Doing action on television, you have to learn to take language that isn鈥檛 as complex sometimes and doesn鈥檛 have these long, flowery speeches that ebb and flow鈥ou have to learn how to lift that language and take it and create full characters from these little blurbs, these little bits. It moves so fast that you have to be as full as possible. I think the training helps you do that and, for me, that鈥檚 kind of what I鈥檝e been relying on. I think having a classical background in theatre definitely compliments that because you have those tools ready to go. At Juilliard we didn鈥檛 put names to techniques. We knew what it was, but we didn鈥檛 say, 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to use this technique and that technique.鈥� They were tools and we looked at them as a roadmap. If you know where you鈥檙e going, then you don鈥檛 need a map, but for the 90 percent of the time that you鈥檙e not feeling inspired as an actor and not having that magic moment where it all comes together, then that鈥檚 when you have to pull the techniques.
So characters like Eric Carter and Dr. Dre still benefit from you having worked on Shakespeare and studying Meisner.
You may not be playing a verbose, Shakespearian character, but if you look at a character like Dr. Dre, he has a brilliant mind. He is a thinker. I do know of all of the characters that I鈥檝e played that they鈥檙e all intellectuals and they鈥檙e all thinkers and that it鈥檚 all behind the eyes. These characters are chess players and I think that鈥檚 true of any character I鈥檝e played鈥攚hether it鈥檚 Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet or it鈥檚 Heath on The Walking Dead in his sort of dilemma that he鈥檚 trying to decide life and death and is it worth taking someone鈥檚 life? Eric Carter on 24: Legacy, too, he鈥檚 a thinker.
What about bringing your experiences to Paul in Six Degrees?
Paul is probably one of the most intense characters I鈥檝e ever played in terms of his mind and how elastic it is鈥攈e鈥檚 an athlete in that he goes as far as he needs to and he believes everything that comes out of his mouth. He walks in the door and he says [his name] and then he goes into this monologue about Salinger that he memorized, but the audience doesn鈥檛 know that. The audience thinks that he鈥檚 creating this as he goes and that鈥檚 the sort of thing that a classical training can benefit you鈥攂eing able to navigate those kinds of characters and give them some complexity and lift them off the page. They鈥檙e already really well written characters鈥攁ll of them. My life is just to bring life to that.
What was the stage show that has most influenced you?
There have been quite a few, but I remember seeing Daniel Breaker do A Midsummer Night鈥檚 Dream and he played Puck in that production. It was at Shakespeare Theatre in D.C. and we went as a school trip to go see that production. I just remember getting to see professional theatre done in a really great way and just the magic of what it does when those lights go down and you鈥檙e transported into this world of classical theatre, but really being able to understand the story. Jumping ahead to Juilliard, Daniel Breaker is a Juilliard alum and it all came full circle. Another production that really hit me was seeing the [Juilliard] fourth year production of August Wilson鈥檚 Joe Turner鈥檚 Come and Gone and it was unreal. It was the first time August Wilson had ever been done on the main stage at Juilliard ever and it was my first year and I got to witness that so it was really special.
Is there a stage moment you witnessed (from the audience, from the wings, in rehearsal) that stays with you?
I did a performance of Hurt Village by Katori Hall at Signature Theatre. There鈥檚 a monologue in that play where the grandmother, played by Tonya Pinkins, has to beg someone at this government office to allow her to keep her house, but really to allow her to keep her dignity, her life. She gets down on her knees and every night, day, or rehearsal when I saw that, it gave me chills鈥攋ust to see the formidable Tonya Pinkins be able to humble herself and step into that character and get down on her knees and beg and plead for her dignity or a few extra dollars a month just so that her family could have more鈥his was one of those moments in the theatre where life and the theatrical experience melded and I got to see a mirror reflection of reality that was really scary. It pulled back the lens, which Katori has the gift of doing with her writing鈥攑ulling back the covers and letting us see the dingy, the dirty, the grimy part of reality.
How has working in Six Degrees with fellow Broadway alums Allison Janney and John Benjamin Hickey been?
John and Allison were really great friends before I met them, and they bring that to life onstage every single night. You can tell that they have a history. For me, I was sort of coming into this family. Their characters, Ouisa and Flan, have to fall in love with Paul, but when we all met and over the course of rehearsal and going through this challenging play that John Guare has given us鈥攖his gift that he鈥檚 given us鈥攚e have all fallen in love with each other. I鈥檝e been huge fans of Allison and John for the longest time. I think they are some of the best actors of our generation and to be onstage with them night after night is just a joy. I feel like they are my safety net. We鈥檙e only as good as everyone else on the stage and so we have to be there for each other. They鈥檙e also just fun people to be around and that鈥檚 important in the theatre community. I count myself really lucky to know them and to call them friends.
Six Degrees of Separation plays at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre through July 16, 2017.
Joe Gambino is a writer, designer, performer and Broadway lottery loser who lives in New York. Follow him on Twitter @_joegambino_.
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