Natural Quality Pays Off

by Roy Proctor

RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH

February 23, 2003

Last year, as a senior majoring in theater at North Carolina’s Elon University, Kevin Hoffmann read David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Proof”.

“I absolutely loved it,” Kevin tells Rialto, “and I remember thinking that I would love to play Hal someday. I related to his passion, his drive. I’m passionate about acting in the same way Hal is passionate about mathematics.”

Little did this 22-year-old Pennsylvanian know...

Kevin, who has been bunking with Richmond friends while exploring his post-Elon options, walked in off the Willow Lawn parking lot last fall, socked his Hal at director Steve Perigard in open auditions and prevailed over 30 other actors to play Hal in the savvy “Proof” now at Barksdale Theatre.

“He had a quality that was right for the role,” Steve recalls. “He had a rhythm that fit the language. I liked the way he read, he clicked with [romantic lead] Erin Thomas, and we seemed to understand each other very well.

“Kevin’s a very hard worker and seems incredibly natural. Being up on the stage comes really easy. That natural quality will pay off for him.”

Brown-haired, blue-eyed Kevin, who carries 140 pounds on a 5-foot-11 frame, isn’t so sure he’s all that natural.

“One of my biggest weaknesses as a performer is that I’m very cerebral , which means I think a lot while I’m performing,” he says. “Sometimes I’m digesting so many things mentally that my performance ends up being uncommitted.

“This is something I struggled with all through college. As an actor, I think it’s best to be purely instinctual and to step out of your being and into another being. I have too much self-awareness, and I try to relax as much as I can. I have a set of exercises I go through before I go onstage.”

Kevin also realizes that his brain may be, paradoxically, his big plus as well.

“My greatest strength is that I have a self-critical edge,” he says. “I can take so much into my head and think about it from so many different angles. I really like reading a character for the first time, forming some opinions on him, doing some research, then thinking about those initial perceptions from a different point of view.”

Kevin, who has bagged no Richmond roles beyond Hal, continues to explore his options.

While at Elon, he pulled summer duty in the ensemble of “Tecumseh,” an outdoor drama in Chillicothe, Ohio, and as Kenickie in “Grease” at Heritage Rep in Charlottesville.

He sings tenor and has been in other musicals, but doesn’t think of himself as a musical actor.

“The theater department at Elon is split into musical theater and straight theater, and the music part is much larger, about 80 percent of the department,” he explains.

“When I had to pick a major, I didn’t differentiate between the two at first. Then I sat down and looked at the classes I had to take, and music theater involved a lot of music theory and dance and other things I wasn’t particularly into.

“That’s why I ended up majoring in straight theater.”

Elon, which has been a significant incubator of summertime talent for Heritage Rep, enjoys a growing reputation for its theater training.

“The department is distinguished for one reason - the determination and drive of its students,” Kevin says. “When you’re there, you’re really encouraged to work professionally.”

Last spring, Kevin went through cattle-call auditions at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in Birmingham, Ala., and got half a dozen offers from theaters along the East Coast.

“But they weren’t anything I wanted to do,” says Kevin, who is working temp jobs in addition to acting at Barksdale. “Some Elon friends and I decided we all wanted to relocate to a city, a major market, and for us it was Los Angeles.

“We went our separate ways, and, rather than take one of those little theater jobs, I went back home to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, to work last summer. When I went out to Los Angeles in September, I came back more motivated than ever to save money so I could get back out there.

“I came to Richmond when two friends invited me to move in with them. I might stick around Richmond. It all depends on how things go and how much money I can save. I’m trying to find a talent agent here to represent me so I can move into the film, TV and commercial realms.

“I know that Los Angeles is not going anywhere, and, six months down the road, I might decide that New York or Chicago is where I want to be. I probably wouldn’t settle in Richmond because I don’t think I can live here and make a living as an actor, but who knows?”

Fresh faces are always welcome in the Richmond stage, and Kevin has talent and technique to back him up.

Richmond’s lucky to have him, even on the run.