Stephen Tracey: the villain (?) of the Next Stage Festival's Ga Ting
12 Jan 2019.

by Drew Rowsome -

Prepping for the Next Stage Festival is an exhausting, chaotic and exciting process. Out of the many plays that caught our eye, Ga Ting features the eye-catching Stephen Tracey. You may have seen Tracey in other memorable contexts, but with Ga Ting he and his talented cast-mates amp up the drama and fireworks in "a powerful and emotionally-charged story about an immigrant Chinese couple trying to come to terms with the death of their son, Kevin. When they invite Kevin's Caucasian boyfriend for dinner after the funeral, the evening devolves into a fiery cultural and generational clash." Tracey plays Kevin, and he graciously took time out from a gruelling rehearsal schedule to answer a few questions by email. 

Drew Rowsome: The tagline for Ga Ting reads "this kitchen sink drama dissolves into a tsunami guilt storm of epic proportions." Is it difficult and/or exhausting to create so much drama over and over for the length of the festival?

Stephen Tracey: Minh Ly's text and my fellow castmates Loretta Yu and Richard Tse giving performances make it easy. If anything it's harder keeping up with them. But I will say it can be exhausting. To live with the weight of the subject matter and to expel such high emotional energy day after day. It just makes for deeper sleeps at night.

It's a privilege to be a part of this production and to live in a world where I'm able to be an actor. Ga Ting addresses so many rarely discussed and unexplored issues, homophobia in traditional Chinese families, racism in the gay community, and it is most importantly a story and a perspective of Toronto that mass theatre audiences may have not seen before.

Ga Ting is a bilingual presentation with surtitles. Did you learn any Cantonese for the role?

Stephen Tracey: Two months isn't much time to learn an entire language. Plus, drama equals conflict. And between my character and the two Chinese characters, we've more opportunity if I don't understand them. But Loretta and Richard have been generous enough to give me mini history lessons and to break down all of the language's complexities.

From an acting point of view, it's a challenge in listening because I can't rely on my cues being word specific. And from an audience point of view, the surtitles give the viewer an inside experience that isn't afforded to the characters.

How did you come to be cast in Ga Ting? Did you have a previous connection with The ARTillery Collective or the Ga Ting Toronto Collective?

Stephen Tracey: It's the classic tale of an actor auditioning for a role they think they might be suited for. The only person I had worked with prior was writer/producer Minh Ly. There can be 100 people in a room and 99 of them don't believe in you, but all it takes is one.

The ARTillery Collective is specifically designed to "value work that honours, respects and gives voice to Queer artists, People of Colour and Womxn." How does Ga Ting further that objective? How do your goals fit into that objective?

Stephen Tracey: The ARTillery Collective have provided an opportunity for a visual you most likely haven't seen on stage before. That was actually Minh's inspiration for the creation of this play: to have two middle aged, Chinese, Cantonese-speaking characters along with a white man who identifies as cis and gay, sharing the spotlight. The piece not only provides opportunities for actors to play roles they closely identify with but it provides audience members who don't usually see themselves in characters to be represented at a major theatre. And the world needs more representation of people who don't identify as the majority in art.

Loretta, who is much younger than her character, described a few factors that made it challenging for the production to find an actor to play the matriarch of the show. Many middle-aged Chinese actresses either only speak Mandarin, have moved on to an unreachable point in their careers, or have given up because of a lack of opportunity. Which just highlights the direction the scale tips towards in terms of who we see in the media. And that's not okay. Our production is a step in a direction away from that.

What do you hope audiences get out of experiencing Ga Ting and your performance?

Stephen Tracey: I would hope they feel something. I hope the audience leaves with a feeling of whatever arises for them. Theatre is suppose to make you feel. It can't control what it is, but I hope we succeed in leaving you feeling.

You've done a lot of modelling and television but were trained at the National Theatre School who do not graduate slouches. Is this a welcome return to the stage or a stepping stone or...?

Stephen Tracey: Any and every opportunity is a stepping stone leading you to the next thing. C'est la vie. In a theatre school life, after graduating, everyone's trajectory is different. You go where the work takes you. For me, it has been predominantly film and fashion, which I have grown to love and appreciate tremendously, but my first love is theatre. I mean, I chose theatre school over film school.

Rehearsals have been a journey to transition from screen to stage and to dust off old skills. Many actors, creators and storytellers may disagree with me when I say I find the difference between film and theatre to be quite vast, but I do. Theatre requires a different type of stamina and provides much more opportunity to explore through trial and error. Film can, but doesn't always have that luxury. The luxuries are instead in the cozy trailers and the constant supply of food. But really, It's probably because there's so much more money on the line with film, adding that pressure of "getting it right." Our process has been a pleasant reminder of why I also love theatre, and everyone has been a joy to work with.

Actor/models were often dubbed "slashers" and not given credit for their thespian skills over their looks until that mold was broken. Are you more of a Jessica Lange or a Djimon Hounsou? Do you ever feel typecast or underestimated?

Stephen Tracey: Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford. Just kidding. But barely. I can't say I really have. I started acting first and then did modelling after I moved to Toronto. Not the other way around. So that stigma of basing my self worth on visuals hasn't followed me. If you look at my track record, I've played a lot of characters that act and look much different than how I present myself. Well, at least I hope I act different in real life.

The above question is a moot point according to Buzzfeed who marvelled about your role as Mr Phillips in Anne with an E: "Mr Phillips has always been the most repulsive character in Avonlea, and that is no less true in Netflix's Anne with an E. He's a total skeezoid, which makes him super unattractive, but honestly that hair and moustache combo takes it to next level creepy. So imagine my surprise when I learned he looks like THIS in real life." Is it fun to subvert expectations? Play a "skeezoid" and twirl your moustache? How different is your role in Ga Ting?

Stephen Tracey: The great thing was, if I did a good job and if that led to the viewers caring to investigate, everyone would be so surprised to see how I actually was in real life. But If I had done a terrible one, then no one would have known what I actually look like.

When you're given so many new parts, new hair, new facial hair, a new suit: it physically alters the way you're used to moving. And it creates and informs the character you're becoming. That transformation in Anne with an E is hugely attributed to the talent of the hair and make-up team (Larissa Palaszczuk, Diane Mazur, Zinka Tuminski and RaMona Fleetwood). Playing the villain though, is usually more fun. You get the best lines. We have argued in rehearsals that my character in Ga Ting is the villain of the show, but you'll have to come and see and decide for yourself. Villains don't always know that they are villains. They are just doing what they think is right.

Your bio on that now notorious Instagram says "From the farm to the runway," and your captions have a charming self-deprecating humour to them. Are you a country boy at heart or a sophisticate masquerading?

Stephen Tracey: Being the country boy that I am, I don't fully know what a sophisticate is.

What is next for Stephen Tracey? What would your dream role be?

Stephen Tracey: I'm in the process of writing two screenplays, which I hope to produce and film this year. #2019goals. Where I've an opportunity to play exactly what I've always wanted and never have played. For the future, just to put it out in the universe, I would hope to play a role or to be a part of a production that does something for people. That has meaning. That opens minds, doors, kindness and that pushes for positive change. I truly believe Ga Ting does that, and I hope to be consistent in working on meaningful projects.

What other shows at the Next Stage Festival are you curious to see?

Stephen Tracey: I hope to see them all! Or as many as I can, given that we have an artist pass. But in particular, ATHABASCA. My family is from Athabasca, Alberta and I think it'll literally hit close to home.