Northbrook actor Jim Morley enjoys playing nasty old men onstage. “I think any actor jumps at the chance to play somebody nasty,” he asserted. “It’s really fun to be able to do things that you don’t do in your day-to-day life … hopefully.”
Morley gets his chance to act nasty as Dodge in AstonRep Theatre’s revival of Sam Shepard’s powerful play, “Buried Child,” Oct. 21-Nov. 19 at The Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway in Chicago.
Fortunately, based on our pleasant conversation with Morley, it doesn’t appear to be a case of typecasting.
“Dodge is kind of a man of Middle America who has given up,” Morley related. “He had a farm. The farm has gone fallow. He is old, he is sickly, he is on the couch watching TV and arguing with his wife all day long. Dodge has two sons he is extremely antagonistic with and vice versa.”
He’s also a man with many secrets, Morley noted. “I think Shepherd sees him as very symbolic of what’s happened to America — the loss of drive, the loss of ambition and vision of the future.”
The challenge of the role for Morley is to make the character three-dimensional and not just think of him as “this bitter, horrible man sitting on his couch, yelling at his wife.” Surprisingly, Morley observed that Dodge is the funniest person in the play.
Morley didn’t have to audition for the role because he had worked with AstonRep and director Derek Bertelsen before. “When they decided to do it, they called me up and offered it to me,” he said.
“The character has a lot of range,” Morley said. He jokingly added, “My wife would say that it’s me,” because Dodge is always sitting on a couch.
Morley is also enthusiastic about this role because of the playwright. “I’ve worked with Sam Shepard plays before and they’re extremely challenging and a great deal of fun to work on because there’s a real surrealistic aspect to Sam Shepard,” he said. “It gives an actor a lot of leeway.”
Morley’s previous Shepard productions were “Fool for Love” and “La Turista” with Azusa Productions.
The actor noted that “Buried Child” is a Pulitzer Prize winner and “certainly one of Shepard’s best plays.”
Morley began appearing in plays in high school and then majored in theater at Northern Illinois University. Following graduation, he landed a job as a drama instructor for the Chicago Park District. He stayed at that job for eight years.
“In my first class was a 12-year-old John C. Reilly,” Morley recalled of the famed Chicago actor. “He’s done pretty well.”
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Following that, Morley worked in sales. In the mid-90s, he started acting again. Three years ago, Morley retired from a mortgage company job and has been focusing on theater ever since.
One of his favorite recent roles was Arthur Miller’s “Incident at Vichy” with Chicago’s Redtwist Theatre. “I loved playing an actor who is imprisoned in a Nazi roundup of Jews,” Morley said. “I could have played that forever.
For reservations or more information about “Buried Child,” visit astonrep.com or call 773-828-9129.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.