Adam Korson is not the type of actor to sit around and wait for success.
Tired of auditioning for the few available roles in the Toronto theatre scene, Korson decided to produce a play instead.
“It’s so tough in Toronto as an actor. You don’t have the same opportunities as in L.A.,” he said. “With theatre, it’s hard. There are only so many characters to play. I’m not one to wait. I thought, ‘Let me get off my butt and do it myself.’ A lot of times, if you don’t make it happen yourself, it won’t happen.”
With the help of first-time director Stephanie Sinclair, Korson is acting in Closer, which he is also producing. The play, which was written by Patrick Marber and adapted into a movie starring Natalie Portman in 2004, is about the complexities of two relationships. Filled with sex, cheating and a search for meaning, the play immediately caught Korson’s attention.
“It’s a great play. It’s blunt, it doesn’t sugar-coat. It’s very honest. The characters have depth to them,” he said.
In Closer, Korson plays Dan, an obituary writer who cheats on his girlfriend. “Dan felt that he had no voice as a novelist – he went for the safe route,” Korson said of his character’s job.
Korson said Dan falls in love with the idea of love.
Korson, who said he couldn’t imagine cheating on his girlfriend, had a difficult time relating to the character.
“In one part of the play, Dan tells [his girlfriend, Alice] that he’s leaving her. To be with someone for two years and cheat, I don’t understand that,” he said.
Even so, he was drawn to Dan.
“Humanity is what draws me to characters like that. There’s so much depth to him, he’s so lost,” he said. “In the play, everyone’s cheating,” he said.
For Korson, it was difficult not to get lost in his character.
“The human mind is such a delicate thing. There is a line, if you go too far past that line, it’s dangerous. I get lost in all my characters,” he said. “I truly believe that, as an actor, you can’t understand the character if you don’t understand yourself.”
Korson is what the acting world would call a triple threat. He graduated top of his class from the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts, where he excelled in dance, singing and acting. His theatre experience includes starring in The Book of Liz and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He has also appeared in various television and film roles, including The Nature of the Beast and Breakfast with Scot. When not acting, Korson works as an MC for Sole Power Productions, a Toronto entertainment, production, management and promotions company.
A Jewish boy who grew up in Toronto, Korson believes that not all Jewish audiences will enjoy the play.
“The stories are very universal. I think the modern Jewish person will enjoy it,” he said. “I think that Orthodox Jews will not see it, they’ll walk out. I grew up in a Conservative Jewish home. When you marry someone in the Jewish religion, or in general, that’s for life. When you cheat, that’s big.”
Korson agrees that the play may push the envelope, but he’s not apologizing for it.
“What art does, it taps into those places you don’t really want to talk about. As an actor, in art, you don’t want to do what is deemed to be the right way of doing things. Artists… take people to places that aren’t comfortable.”
Closer is at the Annex Theatre from Aug. 19 to 22 and from Aug. 26 to 29. For tickets, call 416-419-2865.
