David Joy is one of the more versatile and prolific actors in the Piedmont Triad. He doesn’t necessarily think so, but more about that later.
In addition, David Joy doesn’t particularly like talking about himself or his career, and true enough there suddenly comes a incident where panic ensues during this lunchtime interview in downtown Winston-Salem: It’s the exact moment that both interviewer and interviewee realize they haven’t replenished the parking meters outside.
Thus entails a mad dash out the door, to which the restaurant hostess says: “Well, have a nice —”
“We’ll be back!” This reporter responds breathlessly, praying for a reprieve from the inevitable parking ticket. Happily, there are no unfriendly pieces of paper on either windshield; the interview can resume and lunch can be enjoyed. Joy is be portraying Roger Davis, the passionate singer/songwriter stricken with AIDS, in Theatre Alliance’s production of Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical Rent, which opens later this month.
“I’m supposed to be playing a heroin addict,” he says as he peruses the menu, “but I’m afraid I’ll look a little chunky to convince as a heroin addict.” He finally settles on a turkey sandwich and a side of pasta salad, although he occasionally sneaks longing glances at this reporter’s french fries. But having just performed his Elvis Presley tribute in Spend the Night With the Legends at Theatre Alliance, a few extra pounds seems appropriate, doesn’t it? Joy laughs. “I wasn’t playing the fat Elvis, I was playing the black-leather Elvis — so I really don’t have any excuse.” Joy possesses a singular wit — a laidback, unabashedly acerbic demeanor that belies the intensity he brings to his work. This, he admits with a smile, occasionally puts him at odds with fellow actors or directors. “Some people hate me,” he says simply, with no rancor or regret. “I try not to take anything too seriously,” he says. Joy is also refreshingly candid about his own work. Some of it’s good, some of it isn’t. The actors whose work he tends to enjoy are those who comfortably segue from leading roles to character parts, such as Russell Crowe, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jack Black. “I like playing the quirky, weird guy,” Joy says. “Romantic leads are boring.” The main drawback of Rent, he admits with a laugh, is that he’s playing a romantic lead. Again. “I love the show. It’s got a great cast, a great director… and it sucks being the romantic lead.”
The youngest of five children, Joy’s mother was herself a singer and stage actress in Ohio. With each of her children, she tried to impart some of that love for performance. By the time David came along, he says, she’d given up because none of his siblings had any interest in it. “They just didn’t want to do it,” he shrugs. “They had other interests. She threw in the towel — and then I came along.” Even at an early age, David had an immediate love for putting on a show, putting on an act, playing a character.
He revels in getting under the skin and into the head of whoever he’s playing, whether it’s Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, playing the dynamic dual role(s) in Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical or grooving in a black leather jacket as Elvis. “Maybe I hate myself so much that I want to be someone else — if only for a little while,” he quips with deadpan wit. “It’s the coolest thing in the world to be on stage and be someone else, and when you find that connection with another actor and you’re someone else, it’s better than sex… well, almost!” John S. Rushton, the founder and artistic director of the West Side Civic Theatre was one of Joy’s first acting teachers.
“He’s one of my more successful students, and I take some pride in that,” says Rushton. “He’s good at drama. He’s good at comedy. He can sing… [and] he gets better every time I see him.” He remembers in particular Joy’s performances in the WSCT productions of Brigadoon and Camelot, in which Joy “played a great Mordred.” Joy respectfully disagrees. “I was horrible,” he says plainly. “That’s nice of John to say, but I was atrocious. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was 18 years old. I couldn’t even grow a beard. I painted my goatee on with mascara!” Rushton’s praise is echoed by Jamie Lawson, who observed, “David is good at shifting from comedy to drama. He glides from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to Debbie Does Dallas:
The Musical with ease.” Lawson, the artistic director of Theatre Alliance and the director of Rent, has worked many times with Joy and has exchanged many barbs and putdowns, but it’s all in good fun and, notes Lawson, it never interferes with the work. If anything, he says, it alleviates the tensions and pressures of rehearsals. “I dish out right what he hands me,” he says. “It always helps to have a sense of humor when you keep the long, tiring hours a community theater performer works.” In that same spirit, when asked about working with Joy, both Rushton and Lawson unhesitatingly say that, were it not for them, he wouldn’t have a career. Jokes Lawson: “Truth be told, he owes all of his success to me, and the rest is history.” Joy plays right along. “It’s true,” he says. “I’m Jamie’s bitch. He works me like a slave driver and I keep coming back for more. I’m a prison bitch.”
Spoken in a perfectly modulated monotone that offers no giveaway to the humor underneath. Lawson had seen Joy in Annie Get Your Gun and My Way at Twin City Stage (back when it was called the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem) while he was seeking his Brad for the Theatre Alliance production of The Rocky Horror Show. “I asked if he would sing and dance in tighty-whiteys,” recalls Lawson. “With that ‘Yes,’ a career at Theatre Alliance was born.” “Yeah, and they wanted me in a G-string!” Joy laughs. “I told them ‘No way!’ I’m not giving that away for free. If you want that, you’ve got to pay!” When he’s not working as a massage therapist at the YMCA in the Wachovia Building (“I’m a massage therapist who thinks he can act,” he says), David Joy is constantly on the lookout for a new character, a new opportunity.
He’s appeared in a number of short films made in the area, including by UNCSA School of Filmmaking student films. He just wishes there was more out there — and that it paid better, or even at all. Many times he’s had to turn down a role because of everyday financial obligations. He considered doing his third show in a row for Theatre Alliance this season but simply couldn’t swing it.
Joy’s frustrations “are not uncommon,” he says. “Winston-Salem credits itself as an arts town, but it’s so hard to get stuff started.”
Twice in recent years, Joy has fronted a band — one good, he says, the other better than good — but both times the bands broke up. In one case, the drummer got pregnant (“It was hard to argue with that,” he says). In the other, some members of the band moved elsewhere.
For a gifted performer seeking new challenges, it’s not easy… even in the City of the Arts.
“I don’t care if I’m famous,” says David Joy. “It’s not about fame. It’s not about money. It’s not for the applause. It’s about the art. If it’s not about art, it’s not about anything.”
Rent opens Friday, Oct. 23 at Theatre Alliance (1047 Northwest Blvd., Winston-Salem). Showtimes are 8 p.m. Oct. 23 and Oct. 28-30, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Oct. 24 and 31; 2 p.m. Nov. 1. Tickets are $16 and $14 (students and senior citizens). This is the full version of the show, and is recommended for mature audiences. Reservations are strongly suggested. For tickets or more information, call 336.838.3006 or go to wstheatrealliance.org. !
