After working for Trinty Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island for 14 seasons as a company member beginning in 1970 and serving as its artistic director from 1990-1994, Richard Jenkins has finally returned to his roots. The actor has been busy the few decades as in films like his Oscar-nominated turn in The Visitor and on HBO’s Six Feet Under.
This time around, he’s not getting onstage, he’s directing and choreographing the theatre’s latest musical, Oliver!. He’s not doing it alone though, he is sharing the duties with his wife, Sharon, just in time for the company’s 50th anniversary.
He talked to The Boston Globe as to why he left the stage behind so long ago.
Jenkins shared, “I loved it [but] I always wanted to be in movies. I haven’t been on stage in so long, I don’t know if I could anymore. It’s a different skill. I just don’t have that desire. I’m sometimes embarrassed to say it, but I love doing what I’m doing.”
While he’s returning to the stage behind the scenes, the 66-year-old actor is still pursuing his on-camera career. He recently shot a four-part HBO miniseries called Olive Kitteridge and he has three other projects on slate for the next two years including Lullaby with Amy Adams.
Although this is the first official collaboration with his wife, Jenkins knows they have been collaborating together for years off the stage.
He said, “We collaborate all the time. If I’m doing a film, I talk about it with her. When she’s choreographing something, she comes home and talks about it with me. We always talk about it, so we kind of never stopped collaborating, really. But we’ve never had it on a piece of paper that we’re co-directing.”
Oliver! runs through March 30 at Trinty Rep.
