Back in the act
After 15 years at an office job, Jonathan Sweatt was aching for a creative outlet.
Although he had enjoyed the theatre classes he took in high school, Sweatt got a job right out of high school in order to start supporting himself, and he stopped performing.
“Where I come from, there wasn’t a lot of encouragement for the arts, or trying to reassure children that you can find a career and find your place in life through the arts,” Sweatt said. “I didn’t really know you could do that, so I jumped right into an office job.”
He started his desk job in 1995, and another 15 years would pass before he found out about the theatre scene in Birmingham. He knew there was a lot of talent in the area and many opportunities, so he decided to try and find a way to join it.
“I knew that I was aching for some kind of creative outlet because, in addition to theatre when I was younger, I studied art, drawing and music,” Sweatt said. “I just knew there was something I needed to be able to get that out, so when I discovered the theatre scene, it just felt like the best way to be able to create.”
His first audition was completely terrifying at first. He had been out of the theatre world for so long, he wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but then he started getting cast in some small parts, he started finding great people to work with and strong directors to learn from.
Those small parts turned into larger roles as he continued to get involved in theatre companies such as Theatre Downtown, Birmingham Festival Theatre and Terrific New Theatre. He’s gotten to perform in shows such as Hamlet as Horatio, Dangerous Liaisons as Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont and Circle Mirror Transformation as Schultz.
“There was a feeling that I was doing something I was supposed to do,” Sweatt said. “You always feel high stakes when you are starting out in something like that. You don’t know if you are going to be cast in a role. You don’t know if this is going to end as quickly as it began, so it is exciting to keep having opportunities.”
His next upcoming role is John Seward in the Virginia Samford Theatre’s production of Dracula. This will be his first prodoction with the Virginia Samford, and he said he is very excited to be doing a Halloween-themed show. After all, Night of the Living Dead was his first performance, and he said he loved Halloween anyway.
The buckets of blood and the insane asylum Sweatt’s character owns aren’t the only scary aspects of the show though. Sweatt said the experience of being on stage can be a thrilling feeling as well.
“It’s kind of a terrifying release in a way,” Sweatt said. “It’s just a really positive experience for me. I feel like it’s just a way to express creativity, and to use your experience and your feelings in a way to portray a character.”
Sweatt is anticipating sharing that experience with others as well as his own interpretation of the story and the character. Complex characters, ones that are really well rounded and cover a broad spectrum of personality, Sweatt said are some of his favorite to play.
See Jonathan Sweatt in the Virginia Samford Theatre’s upcoming production of Dracula, playing from Oct. 30 to Nov. 9. For more information, call 251-1206 or visit virginiasamfordtheatre.org.