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by kellie abrahamson
kabrahamson1@aol.com
WHAT: One Man Star Wars Trilogy
WHERE: FCCJ Wilson Center
WHEN: October 31st - November 5th
Charles Ross is a Canadian actor with a unique gig. Instead of settling down in LA to become a star, in 2001 he began crisscrossing the country, sharing his love of Star Wars with countless audiences by way of a 60-minute one man show. Ross’s show became a hit, prompting appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brian, The Today Show and eventually, the ultimate Star Wars fan’s dream, Celebration III, a massive Lucas Film movie convention in honor of Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. Ross is making his way to the River City on October 31st. I got a chance to speak with Charles about his unique show, his Celebration III experience and what die-hard fans think of his work.
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It was an idea that came up in 1994 that I didn’t do anything about until 2000. I think it came out of the best place possible which is just conversation.... It was me and my friend, who is also my director, TJ Dawe… Anyway, at the time there’s a play I’d heard about called “The 15 Minute Hamlet”. The idea of taking something that’s huge, that everyone knows, and sort of condensing it down to its bare bones pieces seemed absurd and fun at the same time and I think we were trying to think of what kind of shows that pretty much everybody has some idea about that would work to be condensed down and Star Wars was definitely one of them…
No costumes, no sets. People’s imaginations, people’s ability to remember the film is amazing, how it can actually fill in the blanks. This sounds kind of weird perhaps to imagine seeing a guy on stage conjuring Star Wars with himself, but it actually works rather well…The sound effects, of course, I do with my own voice. You can’t get away from certain high-tech sounding things. But I do them in a low-tech way.
When I was a kid I grew up in a northern part of Canada… where I didn’t have much in the way of television reception, so I watched it a stupid amount of times. Hundreds of times, I’m sure… I’ve seen it enough times and, frankly, this is all I’m doing for a living and have been doing for a living for the past four years so I think anymore Star Wars and I might turn into a Star Wars character!
Well, 3500 people per show. It was great. It puts Star Wars on a whole different level… I had no idea what to expect. I was extremely pleasantly surprised. It’s basically the perfect demographic… Having 3500 Star Wars geeks there in front of you… It was heaven. It was beautiful. Absolute lovely crowd, they were just fan-bloody-tastic…
Well, the worst reaction I think I ever had was in the form of an email; a person that said that the fact that I do this for a living is evidence of the coming of the apocalypse. I didn’t realize that the end of the world would work out so well for me! ... Celebration 3 was just a fantastic overall reaction because… you have the higher-ups from Lucas Films as well as the average fan enjoying it on, I’m sure, different levels and seeing the potential that a little show, a little one man show minus the cost of props and sets, what kind of impact a little show like that can have.
Charles Ross will perform in Jacksonville from October 31st to November 5th at the FCCJ Wilson Center and is being presented by the FCCH Artist Series. For more information call (904) 632-3373 or 1-888-860-BWAY.
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