Robert Galloway’s conversation with J. Hernandez.
Hernandez TSF audiences might recognize from the 2009 season playing Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Longavillle in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Valere in Tartuffe. He was also the Director for the children’s show Rumplestiltskin. This thirty year old actor has roots in Virginia and Texas. Graduating from San Marcos at Texas State University with and MFA in Directing as well as a MFA in acting from University of Virginia he has a wealth of acting and directing experience under his belt.
Hernandez TSF audiences might recognize from the 2009 season playing Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Longavillle in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Valere in Tartuffe. He was also the Director for the children’s show Rumplestiltskin. This thirty year old actor has roots in Virginia and Texas. Graduating from San Marcos at Texas State University with and MFA in Directing as well as a MFA in acting from University of Virginia he has a wealth of acting and directing experience under his belt.
R-. So how did you get started here?
J-I was very fortunate getting in on my first audition. I was on tour with the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival and I wasn’t able to audition in person, so I sent in an audition DVD. I completely forgot about it and a couple of months went by and I just thought, well, I didn’t get it, life goes on. And then I got an email asking if I’d be interested in coming and I of course jumped at the opportunity.
R-J. Talk about your experience last year.
J-Last season I was here as an actor and a director. As a director I had to come here with the script already under my belt just ready to go. Since I’m an actor, as a director I’m very sensitive to my actor’s needs and what it is that they need to get their jobs done. And not just at a passable rate, but something that the audience will really enjoy and the product they are going to put forth they’ll actually stand by.
R-Coming from this dual background, does this give you more insight into what an actor is going through.
J-Definitely. As a director you have to have a lot of open communication with your actors, I think that is the one key in the healthy relationship between the director and the actor. One of the reasons I went back to grad school to get my masters in directing was to understand acting that much better, because it’s all about communication, and I think that if the actor does not get behind the table at least once he’s not going to be sensitive to what a director’s needs are and vice-versa.
R-Let’s talk about the life of an actor. How much of your future is planned?
J-Oh, I’d say none of it’s planned! I think the only thing you can do as an actor or a director is that you plant seeds. It’s all about your resume or your port folio, what it is that you’ve done in the past which is what’s going to get you these jobs and further your career. And for an actor, you’ve got to audition, audition, and audition. You’ve got to put yourself out there to a load of companies and who’s to say who’s going to say yes.
What brought you into theater?
J- I got into theatre because of girls. (laughs) I was in the 8th grade and I helped me get my first date, after that acting progressed into something that I really liked. You’re at that tender age where you’re trying to figure out where your niche is and what it is that you are good at. At the time I was in band and baseball and drama at the same time and as I got into high school I realized that you need to be honest with yourself. You’re never going to hit the ball out of the park and you’re never going to play drums for the Stones, ever, they’ve got that one covered, but, you have a way that you deliver a monologue and today that might not mean a lot of money, but it can get a scholarship… and it goes from there.
R-You have a great deal of passion about what you do. Are there any days when the passion is just not there?
J-Oh yeah, I’m 30 years old and sometimes it becomes a job. I’m doing it not because I like it but because I need to get the bills paid. Sometimes I’m not jazzed by the script, but I still have to eat. So you find the positive elements of the particular situation and you reinvigorate yourself thinking about finding an inspiration.
R-How much of acting is listening?
J-It’s all listening, because if you’re not listening, you’ve got 12 different people up there doing solos. Sometimes you forget about the ensemble, and the ensemble is the most important thing.
R-How do you play roles in three different productions?
J-It takes a lot of endurance and a lot of stamina. Some days you are in three different rehearsals one right after the other, so you have to have a lot of focus and a lot of concentration. If you’re not careful, by 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon if you are not focused, it starts to bleed together and you find you’re playing another character up there.
R-Is it different this year here than it was in the past?
J-Having been both and actor and a director previously, this season is a lot more relaxing.
R-What's the best part of all this?
J-We have a lot of fun in rehearsal, but it’s when the folks come in. To me, that’s what it’s all about right there, because we are sharing. We’re sharing stories of old with people who maybe have never heard them. These stories have been around for 400 or 500 years and when the audience comes in we are excited because we have a story to tell. So once we bring the community in, that’s my favorite part.
J-I was very fortunate getting in on my first audition. I was on tour with the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival and I wasn’t able to audition in person, so I sent in an audition DVD. I completely forgot about it and a couple of months went by and I just thought, well, I didn’t get it, life goes on. And then I got an email asking if I’d be interested in coming and I of course jumped at the opportunity.
R-J. Talk about your experience last year.
J-Last season I was here as an actor and a director. As a director I had to come here with the script already under my belt just ready to go. Since I’m an actor, as a director I’m very sensitive to my actor’s needs and what it is that they need to get their jobs done. And not just at a passable rate, but something that the audience will really enjoy and the product they are going to put forth they’ll actually stand by.
R-Coming from this dual background, does this give you more insight into what an actor is going through.
J-Definitely. As a director you have to have a lot of open communication with your actors, I think that is the one key in the healthy relationship between the director and the actor. One of the reasons I went back to grad school to get my masters in directing was to understand acting that much better, because it’s all about communication, and I think that if the actor does not get behind the table at least once he’s not going to be sensitive to what a director’s needs are and vice-versa.
R-Let’s talk about the life of an actor. How much of your future is planned?
J-Oh, I’d say none of it’s planned! I think the only thing you can do as an actor or a director is that you plant seeds. It’s all about your resume or your port folio, what it is that you’ve done in the past which is what’s going to get you these jobs and further your career. And for an actor, you’ve got to audition, audition, and audition. You’ve got to put yourself out there to a load of companies and who’s to say who’s going to say yes.
What brought you into theater?
J- I got into theatre because of girls. (laughs) I was in the 8th grade and I helped me get my first date, after that acting progressed into something that I really liked. You’re at that tender age where you’re trying to figure out where your niche is and what it is that you are good at. At the time I was in band and baseball and drama at the same time and as I got into high school I realized that you need to be honest with yourself. You’re never going to hit the ball out of the park and you’re never going to play drums for the Stones, ever, they’ve got that one covered, but, you have a way that you deliver a monologue and today that might not mean a lot of money, but it can get a scholarship… and it goes from there.
R-You have a great deal of passion about what you do. Are there any days when the passion is just not there?
J-Oh yeah, I’m 30 years old and sometimes it becomes a job. I’m doing it not because I like it but because I need to get the bills paid. Sometimes I’m not jazzed by the script, but I still have to eat. So you find the positive elements of the particular situation and you reinvigorate yourself thinking about finding an inspiration.
R-How much of acting is listening?
J-It’s all listening, because if you’re not listening, you’ve got 12 different people up there doing solos. Sometimes you forget about the ensemble, and the ensemble is the most important thing.
R-How do you play roles in three different productions?
J-It takes a lot of endurance and a lot of stamina. Some days you are in three different rehearsals one right after the other, so you have to have a lot of focus and a lot of concentration. If you’re not careful, by 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon if you are not focused, it starts to bleed together and you find you’re playing another character up there.
R-Is it different this year here than it was in the past?
J-Having been both and actor and a director previously, this season is a lot more relaxing.
R-What's the best part of all this?
J-We have a lot of fun in rehearsal, but it’s when the folks come in. To me, that’s what it’s all about right there, because we are sharing. We’re sharing stories of old with people who maybe have never heard them. These stories have been around for 400 or 500 years and when the audience comes in we are excited because we have a story to tell. So once we bring the community in, that’s my favorite part.
Special Thanks to local writer Robert Galloway.
photos: J. Hernandez, Meaghan Sullivan, Angela Shipley in 2009 Tartuffe
Andrew Goldwasser and J. Hernandez in 2010 Learned Ladies
J. Hernandez (center) with Andrew Hutchinson and Matthew Simpson in 2009 production of Love's Labour's Lost
J. Hernandez can be seen this year in As You Like It, Two gentlemen of Verona and The Learned Ladies at the Texas Shakespeare Festival.
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