Theater
CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
T. R. Knight returns to the stage in Parade, a dramatic musical turn, within days of his Grey's Anatomy character being killed off. Leo Frank, the character he's playing, is based on the tragic life of a Jewish man who was wrongfully accused of murder. While he adamantly refuses to make comparisons -- they are, admittedly, a tad facile -- Knight was also the victim of a scandal that was rooted in discrimination and public proclamations over which he had little control.
While his decision to leave the hit TV series (for which he received an Emmy nomination) had nothing to do with his well-publicized coming-out process, it feels like Knight is more fully possessed than ever, projecting an inherent sweetness that is immediately palpable.
Knight radiates a refreshingly rare humility.
Advocate.com: You were a gay man playing a straight guy on television. Now you're playing a Jewish character and presumably you're not a Jew.
T. R. Knight: No, I'm not. In my life, I've been interested in Judaism. I've played Jewish characters before. When you play someone -- especially when you play someone who really existed -- you try to research as many parts of the person as you possibly can. That is definitely part of him. Being raised in Brooklyn is part of him. There are many books about this case. But when you do research and you play a real character, you also have to give over to the dramatic work. A lot of times, certain aspects of the character don't match up. When I played Mozart in Amadeus, I remember doing loads of research, but the play is basically a memory play. Like Amanda in The Glass Menagerie [Tennessee Williams], it's maybe not how she really was but how Tom imagined her. So it's how Salieri imagined Mozart. You have to give over to the story that the playwright is telling. In this story, the character is a very complicated person. He's very uncomfortable with emotions -- he's comfortable with numbers. He's a very analytical thinker and he's out of place. He's Jewish in a very Christian world and it definitely carries weight that he's a Northerner in the South -- only 50 years after they were defeated in a war. He's doubly an outsider and also in a marriage where they don't quite understand each other; even though she is Jewish, she's a Southerner and that's confusing for him.
Do you personally relate to his outsider status in any way?
Anyone who is a member of a minority can relate. But not only people who are members of a minority; I think pretty much everyone walking on this earth can relate to being an outsider, in whatever shape or form. We'd be surprised that people we don't think of as being part of a minority -- many of my friends, for example -- have things that can make them feel that way.
The thing that you share with him -- obviously, not to the same degree -- is
that his scandal, like yours, was made outlandishly public. I'm
obviously referencing the brouhaha on Grey's Anatomy and your
subsequent coming out.
I understand how you would ask this question.
I don't feel there's any sort of correlation at all because of what he
went through; because of his story. He was wrongly accused for a
murder. Because I've been so invested in this person and am being as
respectful as I can in portraying him, I just personally don't see a
correlation.
In playing Leo Frank, falsely accused of raping and murdering a young girl, do you ever look at his possible guilt?
As
an actor, you have to look at all sides. It was one of the most unfair
trials that I've come across. If the outcome weren't so tragic, it
would be laughable. There's so much evidence that points to another
person that it's hard for me to imagine his guilt. As an actor playing
it, I can't imagine you could play the character as if he were guilty.
There are different levels of it when everyone is coming at you; when
everyone thinks differently than you. It's crazy.
So George O'Malley died...
Yes!
I realize this may be poetic, but it feels like Parade is a rebirth of a stage career within days.
I don't know about "rebirth." And it's not "days" for me because we've been working on this for a month and a half.
Even
though you began your career "on the boards," and cultivated a sterling
resume, you haven't been onstage in five years, right? Do you sing?
I've
spent most of my life doing theater -- there's a certain comfort in that,
but what skews it, what alters it, what throws it for me is that it's a
musical and I'm not a singer. As soon as I found out that I got the
part, I started two months of extensive voice lessons. I worked very
hard to try to, in a very short time, understand what it is to be a
singer. I did musicals when I was in high school but certainly to no
acclaim. I certainly don't have the years under my belt that my fellow
cast members do. I know that I can only catch up so far in a very short
period of time. All I can ask of myself is to work as hard as I can and
I'll get to where I'll get to. I'm not going to be at the same level of
the rest of the cast; that's just not possible. It's a challenge: a
challenge to prepare, a challenge to work, a challenge to learn new
things. I have to forgive myself that I'm not further along in the
process than I am, which has been a huge learning experience for me. I
have a tendency to be very strict and hard on myself. It's so nice to
still be learning this much.
You have said, "I hope being gay isn't the most interesting part of me." What is the most interesting part of you?
[Laughs mischievously] I don't think I can answer that. I wouldn't
begin to know how. That's a good question, thank you. It does beg that
question, doesn't it? [More laughter, more mischievously] I have a lot
of self-deprecating answers at the tip of my tongue, but I think it's
best if I don't throw them out right now.
Do you feel that being openly gay has cast you as some kind of role model or spokesman?
I don't feel that. I just feel that I'm an actor.
The future? Is there a grand scheme at play?
Right
now my future is this show -- until November 15. So my energy is going
into that. There's so much I have to learn before we close; so much I
want to learn. As an actor, you always feel -- and I've heard this from
other actors too -- you always feel like it's your last job. So if I'm
greedy, all I can ask is that I work with people who interest me, that
I respect, and that I'll learn from. If I can have that in whatever
medium -- film, television, or stage -- I'd be very lucky and very happy.
How's the boyfriend [Mark Cornelsen]?
He's seeing the show on opening night. I want to hold off on the previews; there's still a lot for me to sort through.
If it becomes legal, would you consider marriage?
Let's have it be legal first. That's what I'd like to focus on. Then we'd be free to make a decision.
- Click here for more information about Parade.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Here Are Our 2024 Election Predictions. Will They Come True?
November 07 2023 1:46 PM
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
17 Celebs Who Are Out & Proud of Their Trans & Nonbinary Kids
November 30 2023 10:41 AM
Here Are the 15 Most LGBTQ-Friendly Cities in the U.S.
November 01 2023 5:09 PM
Which State Is the Queerest? These Are the States With the Most LGBTQ+ People
December 11 2023 10:00 AM
These 27 Senate Hearing Room Gay Sex Jokes Are Truly Exquisite
December 17 2023 3:33 PM
10 Cheeky and Homoerotic Photos From Bob Mizer's Nude Films
November 18 2023 10:05 PM
42 Flaming Hot Photos From 2024's Australian Firefighters Calendar
November 10 2023 6:08 PM
These Are the 5 States With the Smallest Percentage of LGBTQ+ People
December 13 2023 9:15 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
Watch Now: Advocate Channel
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Latest Stories
The gay man leading the Earth Day Initiative offers hope for the future
April 22 2024 9:00 AM
Pattie Gonia takes drag and fierceness to Capitol Hill to voice environmental concerns
April 22 2024 8:23 AM
Jodie Foster leaves her mark in cement at L.A.'s Chinese Theatre
April 22 2024 7:55 AM
Climate change has a bigger impact on LGBTQ+ couples than straight couples. Here's how
April 22 2024 7:42 AM
Iraq postpones vote on bill punishing gay sex with death
April 20 2024 1:31 PM
Russian poetry contest bans entries from transgender poets
April 20 2024 1:25 PM
Here's who won 'RuPaul's Drag Race' season 16
April 20 2024 1:01 PM
The Tip Off: A beginners guide to the WNBA
April 20 2024 11:06 AM
John Fetterman challenges Pa. school board’s cancellation of talk by gay actor
April 19 2024 2:39 PM
New study finds inadequate response to mpox outbreak
April 19 2024 2:06 PM
Fighting back against MAGA’s attacks on equality
April 19 2024 1:00 PM
Just one Christian Nationalist group is behind Idaho's bans on trans care and abortion
April 19 2024 11:57 AM
Linda Perry opens up in new documentary, premiering in June at Tribeca Festival
April 19 2024 11:43 AM