Artist Spotlight: Ethan Check

Giovanni’s Room was one of my favorite shows of this season.  It might have been one of my favorite shows ever.  A very large part of this is due to the actor Ethan Check, who brought to life the iconic character of David.  I really felt everything in this show, and watching him was truly a treat.  I can only imagine how hard it is to carry a show like this, but he did it, and did it phenomenally.

I knew I had to talk to Check after this show.  His performance really got my brain going.  I truly needed more than just seeing him…I really needed to get in his head a little.  There was no way that all we saw on stage was all there was to see.  And his answers to my questions definitely proved that.  Check was filled with thoughts and information and opinions…I didn’t need all this to know he was the one to play the role, but it sort of just cemented all of that.

David is such an interesting character.  It’s one thing to read him in a book…it’s quite another to see him in person.  And I really felt like Check embodied him completely.  Everything he had to say was thoughtful and interesting.  Honestly, I wish I could go back and see the show again!  Some of these answers change things for me, and I love that.  I feel like that is exactly what we should take away from actors, especially in a show like Giovanni’s Room.

How do you feel about David’s sexual fluidity and possible bisexuality?

David’s sexuality is such a driver of the story. I think that fluidity is a pretty accurate description. David compartmentalizes so much of his life to convince himself and everyone else he is the perfect image of a man in this time. Masculinity and heterosexuality were and are so mixed together and if David can prove he is manly, he can avoid admitting that he is not strictly heterosexual. He is constantly fighting against shame he carries from a childhood where masculinity and heterosexuality were pressed into him by his father, Aunt Ellen, and the whole of society. It is not a surprise he would want to run away from the judgement he faces, especially with how much we hear about David caring deeply about his image and the perception others have of him. “Dirty words” really can be scary.

David’s emotions run all over in this show. What’s it like having to rein yourself in and let

yourself go at the appropriate moments?

Throughout the rehearsal process, I was trying to better understand the dynamic between David’s inner emotional life and the way he chooses to express outwardly. Because the book comes from David’s perspective, we can more easily sit in his head and compare his inner thoughts to his outward actions, which often contradict each other. Translating this to the stage meant finding moments where my inner emotional life cuts through the facade that David puts up as he lies and maneuvers through his relationships. We see that David’s great willpower only stretches so far. As the story progresses, cracks begin to show, and eventually this facade crumbles to reveal what little lies underneath. I worked a lot with our director, Paul Oakley Stovall, to better understand how and where these cracks show up.

You had intimate moments with many other actors/characters. Were there any that were

particularly harder or easier? How did you separate each intimate moment from the others?Coming in, I knew we would be dealing with a lot of intimacy. I was grateful that the creative

team wanted to handle these moments with the same respect and elegance that is suggested in Baldwin’s writing of the book. Because of this intention, and the great work of our intimacy director, K. O’Rourke, I felt very supported as we crafted each of these moments throughout the rehearsal process. In the play, Jacques speaks to intimacy becoming dirty when we are not giving anything to the other person. David takes much more than he gives in this story and because of this, many of his intimate moments do feel dirty. I think the intimate moments in the show are separated by how much each character is sincerely giving and taking from their partner. We see intimacy appear as moments of sacred connection and joy, but also as manipulation, distraction, or as a means to an end.

You’re bringing an iconic queer character to life. Do you feel like you owe your performance

to the character of David, and by extension, James Baldwin?

Absolutely. Being able to bring a character to life for the first time is so exciting to me as an

actor. Knowing I’m getting to do that with a James Baldwin novel? Unreal. I have so much

respect for Baldwin’s ideas and writing, and, of course, wanted to do the role justice. It is a major boost that our co-writers, Paul and Ben, created a script that is so activated and aligned with the story. It is very hard to bring a book to life on stage, and the way this adaptation was written made it much easier for us to do our jobs as actors.

What are your personal thoughts on David and Giovanni?

Giovanni and David are both running away from their lives when they meet. They have both left situations that they couldn’t face in the hopes that leaving would solve their issues. Running from the past is both what brings them together and what drives them apart. There is something very beautiful about connecting through this pain, but in the end, they are left to face the things they really can’t run away from. Until you deal with your past and face the things you don’t want to look at, these things will continue to come back and haunt you. I love that both of these characters are so flawed and how messy it is for them to have found each other. I was often questioning how real David’s love is for Giovanni, or if it was just a passionate distraction from the reality he doesn’t want to face. David is constantly trying to distract himself from facing his inner life and past relationships, and Giovanni acts both as a distraction and a reminder of who he is and what he is doing.

What’s coming up next for you?

I am going back to Chicago once all this is over! This project brought me to Philly for the first

time, but Chicago is my home base. I don’t have another project immediately after this, so I will be returning home to audition for what’s next and spend time with my friends and family who I have been missing a lot while I was away. Fingers crossed this isn’t the last time I get to be a part of this incredible play.

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Chicago is pretty damn far away from Philly, so I hope they know how lucky they are to have an actor like Ethan Check.  I’m definitely going to hope he makes it back here someday.  The way he understood his character and went even deeper to answer my questions was absolutely inspiring.  I’m sure he tackles every role like this…and I do hope he gets to be a part of Giovanni’s Room again just like he does!