Earning a speaking role in your first season as an actor in the Stratford Festival company is enough to give anyone an inflated ego. Earning two in the same season, even more so.
But this is not the case for former Fort Frances resident Jason Beyak. The 28-year-old actor remains humble and grounded despite his unexpected success.
“I try to show my appreciation for this job. There are many actors out there who would like this job, and who deserve this job,” Beyak said in a recent phone interview from his home in Stratford.
The young actor is in his first season with the Stratford Festival—a world-renowned theatre festival in southwestern Ontario famous for its Shakespearean productions, among others.
Beyak divided his childhood between Toronto and the tourist camp his parents, Lynn and the late Tony Beyak, owned at Harris Hill on Lake of the Woods and Toronto. His father had been born in Rainy River.
The family moved to Fort Frances in 1990, when Jason began Grade 10 at Fort Frances High School. That also was the first year Willa Kunkel (formerly Tomczak) began teaching drama at Fort High.
“I attribute a lot to Ms. Tomczak [Kunkel],” Beyak said. “She’s a great teacher. You’re very lucky to have her there [in Fort Frances]. She always gets the best people to do the parts.
“Any role I had with her, I always loved doing them,” he added. “She cares a great deal about the work.”
Kunkel cast Beyak in various high school productions, including “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Flowers for Algernon,” and “Get Smart.”
“Jason was one of those students who will always be remembered. He was exceptional,” Kunkel said.
“He would take any role. He was not a prima donna,” she added. “He could bring the text to life, and have subtle moments. He had a lot of depth for someone so young.”
She especially remembered his performance as a secret agent in a garbage can in “Get Smart.”
“He was just priceless, getting in and out of that garbage can. And his facial expressions,” she laughed. “He was a joy to work with.”
Since graduating from FFHS, Beyak has earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Ryerson University Theatre School and has done many commercials, including infomercials for exercise equipment.
He also toured all over Northwestern Ontario with Magnus Theatre from Thunder Bay, performing shows for children at school.
His television appearances include HBO’s “Mug Shots” and Fox OnTV’s “Singles Court.”
Beyak said working in television is more technical while theatre is more personal.
“They’re both connected, but very different in how they’re performed,” he noted. “Theatre is important to go back to, to get in touch with yourself.”
In 2002, after several auditions, Beyak was invited to participate in Stratford’s Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training—an intensive 15-week program for promising young actors to hone their skills.
Only 14 people were chosen for the program from more than 900 applicants.
For his first audition, Beyak performed several monologues for a panel of judges. “In that setting, it’s very draining,” he said.
Unfortunately, he was not able to make the final call back because his father passed away suddenly that spring.
The judges decided to let him return at a later date. “They were extremely respectful of my situation, extremely professional, and extremely supportive,” Beyak said.
“They were impressed with how much I wanted it, and how much work I was willing to put in, I think,” he added, noting that he learned new monologues for the call back.
Beyak described the conservatory experience as “very intense, with a lot of physical and a lot of emotional work” and “wonderful teachers.”
“We learned how to read and act Shakespeare to keep in tradition with the Stratford Festival,” he remarked.
Overall, the experience filled him with gratitude. “You’re very aware of how privileged you are to be here,” he said.
Now, Beyak is using that training in speaking parts in two of the festival’s productions: “The Birds” and “Quiet in the Land.”
“It’s my first year, so I’m not playing Hamlet,” he laughed.
In Aristophanes’ “The Birds,” Beyak plays the role of Meton, who “believes he can divide the air into square acres. He has wild hair and a lab coat that makes him look like he’s flying around the stage.
“Doing ‘The Birds’ is like doing three shows at once. It’s a very physical show, very physically demanding,” Beyak said of the two-and-a-half-hour play.
“I think we burn five pounds worth of calories each show,” he laughed.
In “Quiet in the Land,’ a play by Anne Chislett about an Amish community in southwestern Ontario, Beyak plays Isaac, “the strong, silent type,” he said.
“That play has been an absolute joy to work on,” he added.
“Many people I grew up with in Harris Hill had friends or family who were Mennonites,” Beyak said of his ability to play the role.
“I didn’t want it to be introverted. That community is very alive and content with themselves and the world around them,” he noted.
When asked about the difficulties, if any, of playing in an ancient Greek comedy and a contemporary Canadian drama at the same time, Beyak replied, “It’s a blessing.”
“To be able to go to those two different sides of your character in the same day. I lie in bed at night and everything has balanced out.”
Beyak performs each play three times a week. Sometimes, those days overlap and occasionally he has three-hour rehearsals at night. It’s a gruelling schedule, but he’s not complaining.
“It’s not a chore to go through my day,” he remarked. “I was extremely lucky to get a speaking part.”
Beyak said his positive outlook and zest for life come largely from his family, particularly his late father.
“My father was the most incredibly artistic and well-loved person you could ever meet. He was a gifted speaker and communicator.”
He noted that as a young man, his father won the Rose Bowl for singing in the annual district music and drama festival.
“It’s no accident I’m in this line of work,” he said.
But Beyak also attributed some of his success to his origins in Northwestern Ontario.
“There are so many talented people in the north,” he said. “I attribute it to the long winters. They take time with their hobbies and learn them well.
“There are a lot of artistic minds through the Fort Frances and Rainy River district.”
Both “The Birds” and “Quiet in the Land” are running at the Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford until late September.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
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