PROFILE
FLORIDAAGENDA.COM
JUNE 9, 2011
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All The World’s A Stage Jai Rodriguez Talks Summer Shorts Theatre Festival By TROY MAILLIS Jai Rodriguez, who made a name for himself on Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, is showcasing his comedic and dramatic acting skills this summer for the sunny South Florida audience. After many years on the Broadway stages of New York and making several guest appearances on popular television shows, Jai is currently headlining the 2011 Summer Shorts Theatre Festival. The festival, which will be in the Carnival Studio Theater at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts through June 26 and at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale from June 30 - July 3, features nine short plays with Jai along with several other actors and also features three late-night performances of Rodriguez' solo show Dirty Little Secrets. Jai recently spoke with The Agenda about the upcoming Summer Shorts Festival, expanding his acting chops and shedding his 'Queer Eye' image. You will be in South Florida for the entire month of June for the Summer Shorts. What can we expect? Well, I’m very excited to be down in South Florida this summer. I’m very much looking forward to it. With the “Summer Shorts,” you can expect several short plays that range anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. Each of the short plays is different and all are a mix of comedy and drama, and I also get to work with other actors. Dirty Little Secrets is my solo show with music and stories about all kinds of things that I get to dish the dirt on.
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How does performing in several different plays at one time help expand your range as an actor? It’s just a continuation of what I’ve been doing the past several years. I’ve starred on Broadway with Rent and The Producers and have also guest starred on shows like Nip/Tuck. I also recently did a guest appearance on Kathy Bates’ new show Murphy’s Law. It was a very meaty role. It’s one of the biggest acting roles I’ve ever taken on. I finally got to show on television what most New Your City theatre audiences already knew I could do. What was it like working with Kathy Bates on the show? Just from the table read alone, she was very professional and welcoming to the guest stars. When you’re around a legend like that and someone who has been in the business so long, it’s a great experience. In the mornings, I wouldn’t say hi to her first — I would always wait for her to talk to me first. But she was very warm, interesting and complex.
Jai Rodriguez is an actor and musician best known as the culture guide on the Bravo network's Emmy-winning American reality television program Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He has also co-authored a book with the other Queer Eye hosts. He will be headlining the 2011 Summer Shorts Theatre Festival in Miami through June 26.
With playing gay roles early on or with your role on Queer Eye, did you ever think you would be pigeonholed as just being able to play one type of role? I don’t think if you make a gay film, or if you star in a gay show, you should be pigeonholed or how people see you forever. I think it’s ridiculous, but it does happen. That’s what makes it harder for gay actors to come out. They still have bills to pay and have to find work. It’s easy to say that certain actors should do the right thing and come out, but they are the ones that need to keep their career. What do you look for the most when choosing a role? Well, in the last year and half I’ve really been looking at more and more scripts, and I am shocked at the diversity of roles that are available for
gay actors. You don’t have to be the punch line anymore — you don’t have to be a cliché. The character might just happen to be gay and have nothing to do with the story line. But at the same time, I’m not going in for the roles for they guy who jumps out of a plane and lands on a bus. That’s just not really in my skill set. I mainly look for roles that will stretch me and challenge me as a person. But one thing I did learn from Kathy Griffin is that you should never turn down work. It’s a very competitive market. Has it been hard to shed your image from Queer Eye For The Straight Guy? Is that something you hope to continuously break away from as you move forward in your career? In the past couple of years, I haven’t been asked about it as much. I’ve had beard or stubble for the last few years, so I kind of look different. I also have a lot of tattoos now. I definitely walk into the room now with a familiar presence, but they might not be able to pinpoint me as “the guy from Queer Eye”. In the scripted community, it really hasn’t come up in the last year-and-a-half. It’s not really a show that’s on people’s radar anymore. They will remember it if you talk about it, but it really hasn’t affected my scripted work — thank God! For me now, it’s all about presenting who I’m trying to play as soon as I walk in the room. H
Photo courtesy, Jai Rodriguez