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Actor John Davidson finds the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt in his new hometown.
by Irene Tierston
John Davidson and his family are presently on tour with BULLY and will be on the road all across the coun-try during 1998-99. BULLY is a one-man show and Davidson is alone on stage for almost two hours. Memorizing two hours’ worth of dialogue, attitudes, motivation, and physical action is, according to Davidson, "a trick. Anybody can do it. You just have to want to do it very badly. Memorizing the whole play took me about two and a half months of working four hours a day."
To see the actor in his TR guise, complete with three-piece suit, pocket watch, spectacles, mustache, and cigar, check out Davidson’s web site at www.JohnDavidson.com. Not only does he play TR in BULLY, he plays also all the other fourteen characters. "Sometimes the other characters I play even upstage me as TR," he laughed. He had been looking for a tour de force for five years before finding BULLY. He even tried writing a play himself about Thoreau but was advised -- and agreed with the advice -- that his play was not theatrical. He did play Will Rogers in THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES at the Papermill Playhouse in Millburn. For his portrayals of both TR and Rogers, Davidson read biographies, watched videos, listened to recordings of their voices studied what their contemporaries said about them and spent time with other actors who had played these characters.
"He liked to display animal parts around his home," Davidson said. But in his day, the fragility of the ecosystem wasn’t recognized. "People need to know who this incredible man was," Davidson is convinced. "He set this country on the right course at the turn of the century when the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer. With all the immigrants coming in, he kept America on track, while recognizing the contributiom of all these different cultures. He met America up as a world power. His ideals of democracy and how to conserve this country’s natural resources are as inspiring now as they were then. I could go on and on but you’ve just got to see the show and then get a good book on TR," he advises. He is certain that his father would be proud to see him in BULLY, a play that, in Davidson’s opinion, "can change people’s lives for the better."
Because he often tours in shows, his family tours with him. This means that twelve-year-old Ashleigh is home-schooled rather than being enrolled in the Maplewood school system. But when the Davidsons are at home, Ashleigh’s group of good friends come from different Maplewood neighborhoods and attend different schools which is in keeping with the family’s delight in diversity.
Much as he loves touring and playing characters he admires, he will be happy to return home to Maplewood. "Especially now with the Midtown Direct, we’re so close to New York. I can run away from the dirt and chaos of the city back to the vibrant pleasures of Maplewood,"
