Since far too often we only publicly say nice things about people when they are dead I’ve decided to randomly pick a Facebook friend every day and say something nice about them.
May 29, 2019
Today’s person: Jed Parsario!
I met Jed while working on Hound of the Baskervilles at Theatreworks. It was a three-person show, but Robert Kelley decided to add some very conspicuous stage hands to torment the actors with set pieces and fog machines, and Jed was one of them.
But he was so much more.
Jed was also acting in the school tour for TheatreWorks, and had the bright eyes and gleeful hunger of a young actor eager develop his craft. His few moments onstage were delightfully devilish, so a year later, when I was looking for a versatile comedic/dramatic actor for a day of staged readings Jed came to mind. By then he was a busy, working actor, and I was very lucky he had time to lend his soulful hilarity to the young writers I was mentoring. His Toilet Paper Man was a comic nightmare to behold. I tried again to cast him the following year, but by then he was too in demand to have time. His loving, tortured brother in Gangster of Love at the Magic was so sweetly heartbreaking and emotionally naked I barely knew what to say to him afterwards. (He was also literally naked. Not afterwards. In the show.) And he both kicked ass brilliantly and had his ass kicked brutally in Sweat at ACT.
And he’s a nice, thoughtful, kindhearted guy on top of all that.
Jed has the driven insanity needed to bring characters joyfully to life, I really like watching him, and unless directors around the country are idiots I should have plenty more opportunities.
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