Interview with an Actor: Tom Ford

Edited for Length and Clarity by Rachel Ropella Directing and Dramaturgy Apprentice Rachel Ropella spoke with actor Tom Ford about working on two Portland Stage shows at once, growing up in Texas, and what’s making him laugh on Twitter.

Rachel Ropella (RR): You are currently playing Moriarty in Portland Stage’s production of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure while in rehearsals for A Tuna Christmas. What’s it like to balance two different shows at the same time?

Tom Ford (TF): I’ve done back-to-back shows at Portland Stage before, like when we did Greater Tuna, I had just been in A Christmas Carol, but never overlapping shows. However, I spent many years working for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival which is “in rep,” with multiple shows running at the same time. There have been many times where I would be in rehearsal all afternoon and then would perform a different show at night. So, I've done it quite a bit in the past, but I was younger and it was pre-COVID. It's just interesting where the mind goes because the mindset of West Texas and the mindset of England are very different worlds. It’s fun, but hopefully, I'll be able to keep them in their respective places.

tom Ford (aea) in i Am my Own wife at Portland stage in 2006, PHoto By darren setlow.

RR: As someone who was born and raised in Texas, are there things in the play that stand out to you as staples of where you grew up?

TF: Yes, absolutely. I was born in Houston, Texas, and my family moved to Lubbock when I was five. It's the place that fascinates me, for many reasons, and one is that I know these types of people, the characters. I know that there's a universality to the play, but I grew up around those people. And some of those people are my family. The first time I got a chance to read the play, I also thought that this is a queer play. Writer Jaston Williams is out, and when I first encountered the play, I just intuited that someone who is also gay wrote this. Even though it hadn't been said in the script, it spoke to me in how it finds humor in lovingly, gently, but strongly skewering the world in which I grew up. There's just something really joyous about being able to be in a play where you lived that life—hearing your story told and getting to participate in it.

RR: How do you approach playing characters of a different gender identity than your own?

TF: I have played quite a few characters who have identified as a different gender than my own. I performed in I Am My Own Wife here at Portland Stage, and the character Charlotte is very clear, especially in her biography, that her pronouns are she. [Editor’s note: I Am My Own Wife focuses on the life of German trans preservationist, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, and was produced at Portland Stage in 2006.] It was really fascinating to get to explore. There was a talkback here, and I was talking about Charlotte and her life, when this woman in the audience said, “Would you please stop calling him a she?” and I said, “No, I won't,” and this conversation was way before we were engaging in how we talk about pronouns today, but I felt really passionately that, “I'm not going to stop, because those are her pronouns. That's how she refers to herself, I'm going to respect what she wanted and used.” I've

always thought it’s fun how I get to explore my feminine side, to explore my masculine side— we're made up of so many different things. I think it's a real privilege to get to play someone who identifies as female and play someone who identifies as male. I get to just live in all these different heads and attempt to be truthful to all of them, you know, in whatever way I can.

RR: This is your second time portraying the colorful characters of Tuna, Texas, at Portland Stage. What’s a favorite moment you can recall from your time acting in Greater Tuna back in 2012?

TF: I love the moment where Pearl accidentally poisoned Uncle Henry's dog and then they ran it over with the car to make it look like an accident. There was this sound effect for it that was wild to hear every night, I loved it and it certainly got a reaction. Now, I don't think dogs dying is funny in any shape or form, to be clear—I love dogs and have a dog, but I think that moments like those are funny just because it’s so extreme—it’s so Tuna. And I remember that, but it’s so weird to start rehearsals for A Tuna Christmas because I am older, but I still have the ghosts of some of these characters.

RR: Do you have a certain character from Tuna that you’re specifically looking forward to performing again?

TF: I love the ladies—especially Bertha and Aunt Pearl. I love them, I think they're great characters and they remind me of my mama, my nonnie, and all sorts of women I've met. My mom is 96 years old, and let me tell you, she is tough in a way that guys never are. My mom is still enjoying and loving life and not being defeated even though she outlived her husband, outlived my sister, and she just will not let it get her down. Texas Women…they are just really strong.

RR: A lot has happened in the past 10 years in this country, let alone since this play was written in the 80s. Why do you think it’s so important that we should revisit the satire of Tuna with A Tuna Christmas right now?

tom Ford (aea) in GreATer TunA at Portland stage in 2013, PHoto By aaron FlaCke.

TF: Because nothing's changed. It's still a good satire of what’s happening in our country. Sad thing is, when you read this play, it's not dated when it should be. This morning Julia [Gibson, the director] in rehearsal said, “It's dangerous when we can't laugh at our enemies,” and I think it's dangerous when we can't laugh at the things that anger us. Because you have to be able to see it from some other angle, you've got to be able to have some other response than fury or else you get tired out. So that’s the political aspect. But also, I really think that these are great, interesting characters and they're really heartfelt. It's this weird combo platter of stinging satire delivered by people you love. It’s a delicate, tricky thing to pull off. I remember reading an interview with [playwrights] Joe Sears and Jaston Williams where people would say to them, “You rewrote that line, you updated it!”, and they would have to respond “No, it's the same.” Because they're still pulling library books off the shelves across the country—it’s all very much part of the struggle that we're having. I think you have to be able to find some way to laugh and lots of writers still do this work. Paul Rudnick, a very popular gay playwright and author, makes jokes on Twitter that go right up to the line but always make me laugh. David Sedaris does the same in his essays and diaries. It all lives in the same world as Tuna. They're not diminishing what's serious—they're lifting it up for you to laugh at for a moment, but you still have to go back and solve the problem.