James Chen of The Walking Dead on starring in KCRep’s Cyrano de Bergerac and his first KC burnt ends

The Cast Of KcRep’s 2023 production Of Cyrano De Bergerac. // Photo by Don Ipock

Actor James Chen has tried his hand at every type of role, but the one he’s inhabiting right now asks him to pluck the best of the best from all that has come before. The Long Island native is in KC, tackling the indomitable role of Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano de Bergerac.

Best known for his work on shows like The Walking Dead, Blue Bloods, Law & Order SVU, and The Mandalorian, Chen is weathering the full Hollywood shutdown during the strike by striking out on the stage at KCRep. In the titular role of Cyrano, Chen is bringing something brand new to Nelson T. Eusebio III’s artistic vision of the 1897 French play by Edmond Rostand. What is that something new? The earned confidence of theatrical workman with the confidence required of the stages most/least confident leading man. 

In the show, Cyrano’s love for the gorgeous Roxane takes a backseat only to his obsession with art and the power of the written word. While he pines for his attractive cousin (red flag #1) he believes his physical form makes him immune to the love of a woman. Roxane has fallen for a young himbo among the ranks of Cyrano’s military unit, and Cyrano offers to become the go-between in a game of cat and mouse that makes love and adoration into a form of psychological warfare—unyielding in its ferocity and unaware of where any boundary should lay.

For this production, a loose dedication to the original text allows for a hip-hop angle that flirts with Hamilton style performance, before showing that it’s true power is far more profane and human. The KC production lives or dies on Chen’s every word, as the player brings an almost Ryan Reynolds-ian puckish rogue approach to material that can soar into the glamor and joy of poetry or crash and burn with the twitch of an eye.

The show runs through Sept. 24, 2023 at KCRep and is easily the “do not miss this” theater event of the fall. Be aware that there are plentiful strobe lights in this show, and language that safely places this in a “not for all ages” category.

The Pitch sat down with Chen, after discussing the otherworldly oppressive heatwave, and dove into everything from his take on one of the stage’s most complicated characters to his first experience with burnt ends.

The Pitch: What brought you to KC for this production? Was it a person, was it the role, or something else?

James Chen: My director and colleague Nelson [T. Eusebio III] invited me to audition. It’s rare these days because I haven’t been doing much theater in the last few years, as I’ve been building and focusing on the TV and film career. There’s a lot of pressure to prioritize windows of time for specific seasons during TV for auditions and stuff like that. But we’re in the middle of a double union strike between SAG and the WGA, and so nothing is filming right now. I was given this rare opportunity that wound up being perfect timing.

Nelson’s vision for this was production was specifically to have an Asian lead and I thought that was so brilliant. I feel like everyone is familiar with the version of the story from Roxanne with the nose, and other adaptations of this work in movies and plays, but the Cyrano having an ethnicity instead of just an appearence element—I thought it was bringing great social commentary and awareness. In a nutshell, those are the reasons I wound up here.

Kansas City theater does a lot of really exciting things and is a place where you can take big chances. My wife and I both come from the theater world in LA and we’re constantly amazed by what the metro is doing, so it’s exciting to see you out here swimming in those same waters. How was the idea of this take and a Midwest adventure pitched to you?

Pretty plainly. Nelson’s a busy guy and he got right to the point of his vision of an Asian Cyrano. I thought it was so smart and I was on board right away. Because, you know, in the scripts are no talks about, kind of like the how writers are being persecuted, and the freedoms are not being protected or respected. And we’re in the middle of a writer’s strike right now, where the writer’s union is fighting for those same things. So I feel like it’s another universal aspect of, you know, writers and artists struggling with or living with coexisting with other aspects of society and the political power system as well.

It is such a fascinating time to do any show with any sort of Shakespearean hence of both a reflection of history but also of a political bent, because we are certainly in wildly political times where people are occupying different realities. In the show, as a whole feel like very of the moment to you in that way.

There is something universal there, in terms of, you know, what I was just mentioning with like artists and writers, wanting to have their free expression yet also trying to fit in molds of what, maybe it’s palatable to the people who actually want to sponsor and pay them. There’s that element and then there’s also just these universal elements obviously of like love.

Love triangles require unrequited love and feelings of insecurity based off of beliefs that a person might have about themselves. It’s interestingly these days. We can call that thing Body Dysmorphia. I guess you can make an argument that Cyrano’s nose is talked about so widely and specifically that is maybe more of a more formal like deformity or handicap but it is what I find interesting is like, this, the way just kind of how at least for me, I suppose as an actor as an Asian American actor, examining I guess through the lens of my of who I am, this character.

I’m able to explore what it’s been like being an Asian man growing up in America and you know, all different levels have  racism and discrimination and the frustration that comes that comes with all of that, and which I feel like everyone can relate to, in some way, their own version of, you know, being some part of some other group or being seemed less than or etc. So in those ways, I feel like it’s super relatable.

You have a theatre background through Yale, and you mentioned that you’ve spent a lot of the last few years really focusing in on both on camera and acting, but also working around like the constraints of how much time needs to be set aside for that. So things like pilot season and so on, so forth, like, have you had the opportunity to do much theater recently?

It’s been an amazing opportunity and experience to just be back in the rehearsal room and to be back with this gripped in my hands and pouring over it every day. To just try to find out, like, just asking questions, and trying to find answers, and just making discoveries about like: who this man is, and what are these relationships? What are the themes of this play? It’s been really, really, really rewarding and exhausting in a good way.

What has the experience has been like for you to be in a rehearsal room at KCRep, in what I assume is a city that you’ve not spent an extended amount of time in before?

Yeah, this is my first time here to the city, and I’m having a great time I’ve been loving being in these spaces. I haven’t been able to be much of a tourist since I got here just because we jumped right into work. But the experience has been great. I’ve loved you know, getting the chance to meet so many of the amazing creative and executive personnel here. All the amazing creative, creative and different departments super collaborative. I’m pretty much living in a rehearsal space.

I’m developing a fast bond with with the city and the, the key UMKC facilities and we’ve had a chance to be the theater a couple of times already. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I’m having a great great time.

James Chen as Cyrano battles 100 men (Khalif J. Gillett, Dri Hernaez, Nico Holguin, Jimmy Kieffer, Craig Lindsay, Will Porter, Bradley J. Thomas) in KCRep’s 2023 production of Cyrano de Bergerac. // Photo by Don Ipock

You’re out here amid a strike in the entertainment industry. Is it whiplash to go from things like Iron Fist and The Mandalorian to being on a stage at UMKC?

Well, just as we were, I’ve been on a show called FBI on CBS for five seasons. We were just wrapping our last episode in May when the writer strike began and thankfully, you know, that script was written so we were able to finish our season. The show has already been renewed for its sixth season. So normally the plan would have been to start production on that July and that would have gone through till May. And so that is that’s been on pause an extended hiatus. The other thing about being an actor is just that auditioning is your job and are very true words, because we you spend a lot of time putting in these days self tapes together.

I’ve heard conflicting reports, but do you think being compensated for auditioning might be something actors get from the current strike?

Auditions are a ridiculous amount of work and they take so much out of you, while also resulting in work like less than 10% of the time. It’s an extraordinary amount of time to spend just preparing to attempt to apply for a job that most of the time you won’t get. It’s a fair thing to ask for, especially when it is so much of your career.

James Chen And Christopher Rivas In KcRep’s 2023 Production Of Cyrano De Bergerac // Photo By Don Ipock

In working this production, what was a moment in rehearsal or perp where you had a breakthrough moment? An “ah-ha!” either by yourself or with the rest of the cast?

There’s a section at the beginning of the show that I’m delighted to play with every chance we get. There’s a famous sword duel at the start of the show. It’s a swordfight but its also a scathing poem and power dynamic exchange that makes the character. Our fight choreographer is Michael Rossmy and he did a great job helping us to make organic sense of these offensive and defensive moments, based on what dialogue and concepts the characters are exchanging. So the dual moves punctuate and enhance what’s happening internally for the players. It’s just so exciting when it comes together and it shows Cyrano’s prowess of both the sword and mind.

It hammers home what an outlier of a character he is across the spectrum and shows the audience how fast and dangerous his mind can be.

Cyrano is one of those Shakespearian-adjacent dream roles that’s also wildly demanding of the actor. What part of this takes the most out of you?

James Chen in rehearsal for Cyrano De Bergerac. // Photo by Mackenzie Turner

Right I suppose sort of with that in mind you previously mentioned like this event, you know, this is this is one of those all timer actor dream roles, but that much like the the Shakespearean counterpart strike. It’s also just wildly demanding.

What part of the show takes the most out of you?

Just the sheer length because Cyrano is in nearly every scene and just going through the absolute gamut of experiences in 5x. And between acts four and five, there’s a 15 year gap in time or passage of time, that in which a lot of there are a lot of life changing events that happen throughout the play. It takes pretty much everything to go on that journey. But I have to say I feel like also the first maybe the first three acts of the player probably the most nonstop.

I got final and most important question, what’s the best meal you’ve had in Kansas City?

My director took me out to BBQ. We went to God, what’s his name? I mean, the name escapes me at the moment. But I was introduced to burnt ends. Well, I I took my first bite and I said this is meat. It tastes like, like, texture, cutting or candy or something? It was Char Bar in Westport. That’s the one.

Cyrano de Bergerac runs through September 24, 2023.

Photo by Ryan West