For the past seven years, Kris L. Nelson — who learned his craft in the University of Utah's Actor Training Program — has been affiliated with one of North America's most prestigious theater companies, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
Admitting he "had never been interested in performing" when he first went from Alta High School to the U., he's now a professional Equity actor with several major productions under his belt, including "Playboy of the Western World," "Antony and Cleopatra" and "Summer and Smoke."
Nelson is returning to Utah next week in the Guthrie Theater's touring production of William Shakespeare's dark tragedy "Othello," which will play Jan. 30, 31 in the Ellen Eccles Theatre in Logan.
The former Utahn is playing the role of Roderigo, described in Shakespeare's script as "a gentleman of Venice."
The plot revolves around a treacherous triangle — Othello, a valiant Moorish army general; Desdemona, his wife, and the daughter of a Venetian senator; and the villainous Iago, who concocts a deadly scheme to ruin Othello. In the process, Iago manipulates the womanizing Roderigo.
"Roderigo is madly in love with Desdemona," Nelson said during a telephone interview from a tour stop in Jamestown, N.D., "but he's been told that he can never be with her. He later learns that she doesn't even know who he is."
Nelson sees Roderigo as the comic relief of the Shakespearean tragedy. "Iago stokes my fire and gets me in cahoots with him in order to disgrace Desdemona. But Roderigo is an innocent accomplice in a way. It's a study of somebody who has such a high degree of self-entitlement and self-importance that he will do anything at any cost to get what he wants. Then he stands back later, only to wonder 'How on Earth did I get here' and, by then, he's in too deep to get out of it."
To make the play more accessible for contemporary audiences, Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling is setting the action in the late 1880s and early 1890s. "The idea," Nelson explained, " was that the designer and director wanted to create a feeling that Venice was spreading its wings throughout the European continent. The drama has a Colonial British feel, and Cyprus (where the bulk of the play is set) is a remote outpost and seaport far away from civilization."
Nelson says that Andrew Wade, an internationally recognized Shakespearean voice-and-language consultant who serves as dialect coach with the touring production, has helped the ensemble make the dialogue more understandable. "I've always felt that when audiences don't understand Shakespeare, part of the responsibility rests with the cast. Wade has been a great help, working with us on the language and diction."
The touring group was spending nearly a week in Jamestown, N.D., where the "Othello" performances coincided with a high school Shakespearean convention. The Guthrie actors planned to participate in several educational workshops there — as they have elsewhere on the tour.
Nelson was born in Colorado, then his family moved to Oregon, and later to Utah, when he was about 4. He attended elementary, junior high and high school in Sandy, and did some theater ("but not very much") at Alta High School. He didn't acquire an interest in acting until he attended the U. (Nelson's older brother Mark is also an actor, as is Mark's wife, Shellie; they are in New York City.)
Local theatergoers may remember Nelson for such performances as the title role in "Edward II" and Dionysus as a Greek Theatre Festival production of "The Bakkhai" — both directed by Kenneth Washington (who is now director of company development at the Guthrie). Nelson was also in Salt Lake Acting Company's "Sight Unseen," directed by Marilyn Holt.
If you go
What: "Othello," The Guthrie Theater
Where: Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main, Logan
When: Jan. 30-31, 7:30 p.m.
How much: $20-$30 (half-price for students)
Phone: 435-752-0026
Web site: www.capitolarts.org
E-MAIL: ivan@desnews.com