[NEohioPAL]Acting: Wyse/Zoldessy

[Schenk, Brittany]

TO: neohiopal at lists.fredsternfeld.com<br>
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SUBJECT: Acting: Wyse/Zoldessy<p>

For Immediate
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p;    <A
href="http://www.sunnews.com">www.sunnews.com</A><BR>Sun
Press_10/29/04<BR>Contact: <A
href="mailto:jarrod_zickefoose at yahoo.com">jarrod_zickefoose at yahoo.com</A><BR
><BR>THE ONE WYSE APROACH TO ACTING? ALL OR NOTHING<BR><BR>By jarrod
Sickefoose, Assistant Editor<BR><BR>Alex Wyse was 6 when he made his stage
debut. Heights Youth Theater was producing "Oliver", and Wyse landed a
walk-on part as a Londoner. All he had to do was walk on and walk off, but
it was a transformative experience. "I had the time of my life", Wyse 17,
of Beachwood, said. "I don't remember a time when I wasn't in
theatre."<BR><BR>From his inauspicious beginnings, the enthusiastic Wyse
has graduated to the lead rold in Kalliope Stage's production of "Summer of
'42." He plays Hermie, the teenager love struck by the older Dorothy. He
also carries the show.<BR><BR>After that first walk-on role, Wyse went on
to play Jesus in "Godspell," the emcee in "Cabaret" and Charley in "Merrily
We Role Along," all with HYT. He also played Jack in "Into the Woods" at
the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood.<BR><BR>But when he was cast as
Every Lad Ralph in Beck's 2002 production of "Lord of the Flies," his
acting took on new importance. That's because of Director Brian
Zoldessy.<BR><BR>"He took me to new places, places I've never been before,
new wmotional levels," Wyse said. Since Wyse found that place, he has never
wanted to come back. "Once you've been taken to those emotional depths,
it's a feeling that stays with you," Wyse said. <BR><BR>Ask him what he
wants to study? Theatre. Back-up plan? None. "I don't really have one
because I don't really want one. If I die trying, fine," he said.
<BR><BR>Wyse said he would like to do more "straight theatre" as opposed to
musicals, but admitted that musicals were usually more accessible to
audiences. Above all, he would like to play Alan Strang in Peter Schaffer's
"Equus." The story centers around 17-year Alan, who uses spikes to blind
seven horses, and Martin Dysart, The psychiatrise who treats him. "I would
kill a nation to be in it," Wyse said. "The psychiatrist says this boy has
reached levels of passion that he cannot understand." "I'm really
interested in really intense emotion on stage." Wyse said. <BR><BR>He
counts amoung his influences Fiona Shaw, who most recently played Aunt
Petunia in "Harry Potter and the Prisner of Azkaban" and "Harry Potter and
the Chamber of Secrets," and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played the Rev.
Veasey in "Cold Mountain" and Phil the nurse in "Magnolia." " I'm really
into catharsis," Wyse said.<BR><BR>Wyse, a tenor, said the show at Kalliope
was the most professional project he had done. "It feels like a family," he
said.<BR><BR>Unlike his character Hermie, Wyse admits that he has no
first-hand experience pursuing older women. But that's a small matter. "You
do not have to experience it. You can bring everything to a role and in the
process discover more about you. You have to be willing to go there," he
said. 
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