Pop Culturalist Chats with Slave Play’s Sullivan Jones

Sullivan Jones is a versatile actor you should take note of. He’s been on screen in a wide variety of shows, from dramas like The Looming Tower to comedies like Parks & Recreation.  He is a voice actor for video games and audiobooks. He also, of course, has been on stage. Currently, you can catch him in the New York production of Slave Play; it’s an incredibly thought-provoking play that fuels conversations after you’ve seen it. So, Sullivan was able to share some insights with us about the play and his role as Phillip.

PC: What drew you to Slave Play?
Sullivan: The fact that I’d never read anything like it. I didn’t quite know what to make of it at first blush, but its humor, imaginativeness, irreverence, and brilliant sense of the absurd completely beguiled me from the first few pages.

PC: The show tackles a lot of big and relevant issues and doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable moments. How did you prepare for your role? Was there a lot of preparation between cast members before the show?
Sullivan: We had a great intimacy coordinator named Claire Warden who helped stage every scene that required physical intimacy and/or violence. She and Robert O’Hara, our director, talked a lot about the “cost” of doing this play on our individual and collective selves and the need for us as a company to create a space where we wouldn’t feel inhibited in exploring the darker and more fraught elements of the story. Because of the sensitivity and openness that Robert and Claire exemplified I think we were all able to enter the rehearsal room feeling safe enough to take the kind of risks necessary to tell the story.

Sullivan Jones (as Phillip) and Annie McNamara (as Alana) in Slave Play; Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

PC: What has been the biggest challenge for you in bringing your character to life?
Sullivan: Learning to play the violin! I’ve been playing guitar for almost 15 years so I assumed violin would be easy to pick-up because it’s also in the string family. I couldn’t have been more wrong. My violin sounded like a dying cat for the first few weeks and then I kind of slowly figured it out. Having four weeks to learn the violin before our first performance was one of the more stress-inducing things I’ve had to do for a show in a while.

PC: What do you hope audiences take away from the play?
Sullivan: I’m not quite sure, truth be told. I think this play (and any good story for that matter,) works on the mind the way a seed takes root in fertile soil. The seed falls, rain comes, the soil is turned, time passes, and then somehow this new thing emerges from the ground that ultimately changes the ecology of the landscape. Similarly, we can hope, people will walk away from this play with a seedling that will eventually influence the way they see and interact with the world. And if this play’s influence is particularly strong, those interactions will be increasingly compassionate and open-minded.

PC: Looking ahead in your career, since you’ve done theater, film, voice work, etc., is there still something you’d like to explore that you haven’t yet?
Sullivan: Writing! I’d love to write something for the stage or screen that gets produced. Like most people, I have a million ideas but have yet to flesh out a single one. Writing something (even if it never gets produced) is near the top of the bucket list.

PC: What piece of advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time?
Sullivan: Patience, young grasshopper, patience. The mountain can’t be summited in one day (and may never be summited,) so just keep taking strides each day and do your best to appreciate the journey and your fellow-journeyers along the way.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

Last TV Show You Binge-Watched
Barry on HBO

Favorite Film
It’s a tie between Do The Right Thing and There Will Be Blood.

Favorite Book
John Steinbeck’s East of Eden.

Favorite Play and/or Musical
August Wilson’s Jitney on Broadway a few years back.

Artist/Musician You Can Have on Repeat
Different artists for different moods, but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Jamie Cullum.

Place You Most Want to Go to
So many places, but at the moment, Japan.

Person You Would Most Like to Meet
Frederick Douglass. I’m reading his biography at the moment, so I’d probably have a lot of good questions for him.

Stay up-to-date with Sullivan Jones by following him on Twitter and Instagram. For more information on Slave Play, click here.