Theater: The actor from & # 39; The Children & # 39; Hope Eco-Thriller Inspires Activities – Entertainment & Life – Wicked Local

The SpeakEasy Stage Company is tackling Lucy Kirkwood's environmental drama with a stack of Boston heavyweights – Paula Plum, Karen MacDonald and Tyrees Allen, until March 28;

Actor Tyrees Allen began a long and successful career as a theater, film and television actor by the time he made his debut in Boston.

And, as anyone fortunate enough to see Allen in the 2018 SpeakEasy Stage Company production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' award-winning playwright Pulitzer Prize winner "Between Riverside and Crazy" can tell you, it was worth the wait.

Winning both an Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) and an Elliot Norton Award for his portrait of Pops, an African-American police officer forcibly exiled after being killed years earlier by a colleague in an alleged incident Racially, Allen provided the stable but wonderful axis around which revolved an eclectic array of other well-played characters.

Back in Boston from his home in Dallas, Allen appears in the SpeakEasy production of "The Children", an eco-thriller by British playwright Lucy Kirkwood and a 2018 Tony Award nominee for best play, at Roberts Studio Theater, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts.

"This room is extraordinary," he said in a recent telephone conversation from Boston. “If you are going to play a play, you want a pleasant, rewarding and useful experience. Our director, Bryn Boice, provides just that and more. "

A company of top notch actors doesn't hurt either, and "The Children" has that in Allen and his co-stars – two of Boston's most respected artists.

“I am delighted to share the stage with Paula Plum and Karen MacDonald. I have not worked with any of them before. They are well known, however, and they are also great, so I'm thankful to have this opportunity, "said the Kansas-born actor.

In "The Children", inspired by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 in Japan and premiered in London in 2016 before opening on Broadway the following year, Allen plays Robin, a man who lives with his wife, and another retired nuclear physicist, Hazel. (Plum), in an isolated cottage on the British coast.

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One summer evening, when the outside world is grappling with a major emergency at a nuclear power plant, the couple is surprised by an unexpected visitor, Rose (MacDonald), a former colleague who has been absent from their lives for 38 years. While the trio share memories of a long time ago, long-standing secrets rise to the surface, revealing the reason for Rose's return.

Allen, who appeared on Broadway in the musical "Aida" by Elton John and Tim Rice and in the revival of "Henry IV" in 2003 at Lincoln Center, said his current character is a little different from the many other than he played.

“Robin is my first nuclear physicist. For me, I see it as the way he feels about life. He is a smart and complex guy, but he can also be childish. He lives a lot in his head and his relationships with women are complicated.

“On the surface, Robin may seem selfish. But that’s not really what it is. It is actually very thoughtful, "said Allen. "And while he does incredible things, he finally makes a courageous decision."

Allen is a regular at ABC's "Women & # 39; s Murder Club" and has also had recurring roles starring guests in around 50 other television series, including "Murder, She Wrote", "The Practice "," Dark Blue "," Alias, "" CSI: Miami "," Brothers & Sisters "and" Scandal ".

"I got tired of the TV merry-go-round, so I left Los Angeles and returned to Dallas where I had lived and worked earlier in my career," said Allen, 65. "I thought they forgot me, but I've gotten some of the best roles in my life in the past five or six years. "

This includes its current mission.

"It is a complex, multi-layered piece of three people grappling with the reality in which they find themselves. The playwright is wise beyond his years and very intelligent. In the end, it's both a relationship game and a responsibility game, ”said Allen.

And one of the veteran performers said he believed he had the potential to have a lasting impact on the audience.

"I hope this piece will inspire people to think more deeply about the circumstances in which we find ourselves," he said. "By not being active and aware, our complicity and our silence contribute to the detriment of our children and grandchildren."

Having welcomed his first grandson just over a year ago, Allen knows what he's talking about.

"Regarding my granddaughter, I can't help but think:" What situation are we going to leave her with? ""

For now, however, Allen is delighted to be a grandfather.

"Before he was born, everyone said," It’s a different world when you’re a grandparent, nothing you imagined. "You think that may not be really true, but it is. I can already see that it will mean that I will work even less than now.

"When I'm away, I miss her like crazy," said Allen. "And I became one of those guys who shows his photo, because, of course, she is the cutest and smartest thing in the world."