Jim Pounds in Might As Well Be Dead: A Nero Wolfe Mystery

Tell me about your characters. What makes you excited about playing them? How do you handle being double-cast?

Actor Jim Pounds plays Fritz in Might As Well Be Dead: A Nero Wolfe Mystery at Park Square TheatreOne of my characters is Fritz, Mr. Wolfe’s exceptional Swiss chef. It is very satisfying to be part of the Wolfe household. Most of the actors in the show are double or even triple cast. It essentially means you spend most of the performance changing clothes! My other character is a suspect. I have the great good fortune to be playing the husband of the one and only Austene Van, so that is a treat!

Fritz, right, played by Jim Pounds in Might As Well Be Dead: A Nero Wolfe Mystery. (Photo: Petronella J. Ytsma)

Are they typical of roles you’ve played recently?

I was fortunate to have been in The Red Box [also by Rex Stout], so this is an extension of that experience. I played Inspector Lestrade in a radio production of 13 Sherlock Holmes mysteries many years ago in my native Los Angeles.

You’ve had an extensive career in Twin Cities theatre, as an actor, but also as a co-founder of Outward Spiral more than twenty years ago. How do you feel theatre in the Twin Cities has changed in your time?

The dynamism of the theatre scene here is almost totally unique. There are the big dragons that eat most of the money and get most of the media attention. Then there is a strata of perhaps 15 small professional theatres (such as Park Square) that truly feed the artistic needs of the community. Semi-pro theatres and community theatres provide opportunities and stepping stones for those who aspire to a career. If you are part of the Guthrie/U of M program, you seem to leap frog into the major leagues. Over the years, I have learned that very few move up the ladder. Stephen Yoakam and Sally Wingert and James Craven were prominent when I moved here in 1983, and they still are. Unfortunately the Guthrie thinks they need actors from out of town when in fact, I would say that our talent pool is so rich and so deep that there is almost never a need to look anywhere else. Most actors have figured out that now you have to create your own work. Many very talented people have started their own companies.

How do you think your work as an actor has evolved?

Every time I see a performance from someone that impresses me I am reminded that less is more. This is a lesson that has been hard for me to learn. I strive to learn it every day.

How is less more in the theatre?

I’m speaking of the size of the performance. There are actors who make it look easy. They draw you in as opposed to pushing the performance out. It’s difficult to do and it’s difficult to explain, but when you see it, you know it. Wendy Lehr gave that kind of performance in Saint Joan at Park Square. You couldn’t take your eyes off of her. From six feet away or 106 feet away, she drew you into the Queen’s heart and mind. I imagine it is something all actors strive for but few achieve.

Alright, the curtain’s just fallen on a two-show day? Where does the cast go for post-show refreshment? What’s the “Sardi’s of St. Paul?”

After a two show day, most of us will be scraped off the sidewalk and ladled into our cars. Still, Great Waters seems to be the default choice. No actor that I know can afford a drink at Sardi’s, so drink specials at Great Waters will have to do!

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