Animated, energetic, and easily excited — Ladies, I give you one Ken Singleton, a junior soccer star turned musical theater major here at IUP. After watching his performance in The Optimist, a play penned by a retired IUP professor on only its third run, my friends and I found ourselves wholly captivated by the emotional and physical intensity of Ken’s character. Thus, when I received my assignment of “Campus Celebrity” this week, I knew exactly where to go.
Hailing from Downingtown East High School, Ken was an up-and-coming soccer star with a state championship under his belt. His junior year of high school, Ken’s girlfriend at the time begged and pleaded with him to audition for “Guys and Dolls.” When the directors of the production joined in on the begging, he agreed to do so and was cast as the “secret understudy” of Guy. And thus began his acting career. Ken was cast in a production of “The Wedding Singer” the following year as he simultaneously began his college search.
IUP won out over West Chester (his other top-choice) in the end, and Ken began work on his musical theater degree. Early on, Ken was taught the art of script analysis, a means of rehearsing that requires the actor to associate a verb or strong action word with each and every line. During a rehearsal, the actor must say his or her line, freeze, and state a sentence such as, “I invigorate” or “I inspire.”
Ken was cast as the role of Declan in the third ever production of “The Optimist” this past fall. Unlike any part he’d ever portrayed on stage before, the character of Declan is a wild twenty-year-old, a mild user, a twin brother, and a man on the autism spectrum with bipolar type II. Fusing some of himself, some of the playwright, and some of Doug from the Disney-Pixar movie “Up,” Ken spent a few months understanding and becoming Declan. Ken, through facebook, tried to get in contact with the previous two men who’d portrayed Declan. One responded enthusiastically, but the other never returned the message. Ken later learned that the Ryland Blackington who’d first portrayed Declan was the same Ryland Blackington who is the lead guitar of Cobra Starship.
In constructing the psyche of Declan, Ken imagined himself in certain situations and practiced responding with triple the energy and intensity. He spoke with the playwright about the long, deep, painful history of Declan, but the playwright stopped him quickly, telling him instead that the Declan character was too in-the-moment to be worried about a deep past. Ken also spent a lot of rehearsal time with the other two members of the cast, who were portraying his fraternal twin brother and the brother’s ex-girlfriend, in order to make sure he got the dynamics of the relationships right. In one exercise, the cast had to communicate using only one word with various intonations.
Ken’s own motivation for this performance was his cousin Emily, a theater major who died suddenly last spring. “This performance was for her,” Ken remarked. “Declan was my little thank you to her.” After the final performance, the vast majority of the reviews the play got were extremely positive. One person commented that each character was an “absolute treasure,” and another commented that Declan’s final dance was “the most beautiful thing ever.” One outside critic called Declan’s role and Ken’s performance of it “too slapstick” and “too much,” but that was only one, and “he was an asshole,” said Ken.
Playing such an extremely outlandish character with so much emotional angst taught Ken a lot about his acting abilities. He now knows he can portray someone “on the spectrum,” he can memorize insane vocabulary, and he now feels his body differently. “I’m not so nervous anymore — I’m so in my body,” he said. Most importantly, though, he now allows himself to feel every ounce of everything. Every musical note, good and bad, Ken now feels in his core. “I cried when I said goodbye to Declan,” Ken admitted.
Ken plans on heading to Alabama to audition before hundreds of theater companies. In 90 seconds, he has to squeeze in his name (twice), a monologue, and a song. After that, Ken hopes to “officially” become an actor, and should that fall through, turn to professorship.
Speaking with Ken was perhaps the most exciting, animated hour of my life I’ve ever experienced. Her Campus would like to wish him all the best in his future endeavors. Keep an eye out for Ken in “The Pajama Game” this spring!