Because of what I felt to be a very successful and satisfying experience of journaling the artistic process with my first blog “The Making of RED,” I wanted to do the same when I began the process of portraying Justice Antonin Scalia with Molly Smith and John Strand on his new play The Originalist. Although it has been almost 6 years since that process began, the idea of the blog was deferred at the time, as the script was embargoed until the opening of the world premiere. That made good sense. Besides, the process was well chronicled in the media. But then in it’s second incarnation and first revival, it seemed appropriate to return as the play was about to begin rehearsals in 2016 at Asolo Rep in Sarasota, Florida, after its very successful world premiere run at Arena Stage from March through June 2014. I was pleased to return to this script and role, as it had major and long lasting personal significance having spent so much time with the Justice himself in his last full term on the Supreme Court. That is the subject of another endeavor, perhaps with a working title, “My Year with Nino.” Unfortunately, I did not write that blog. I don’t know. Perhaps because the Justice had passed away, or that there was a new administration. It is a bit if a regret, as the play opened on inauguration day 2017 and had a life span of 18 months, traveling across the country from Florida to California, back to Washington, DC, then Chicago, and on to New York, all the while measuring the temperature of the body politic and the decay of civil discourse that the play was attempting to forestall. Nonetheless, I return here, finally setting up a webpage of my own, to chronicle what I am calling The Working-Stiff Actor, a blog of the day to day ins and outs, ups and downs of a working life in the theatre. I hope you come back from time to time, read, and comment. Enjoy!
Beginning again
Published by EG
Edward Gero is a distinguished American actor whose five-decade career stands at the intersection of classical rigor, contemporary relevance, and civic storytelling. Renowned for his intellectual precision and emotional authority, he has become one of the defining stage actors of his generation. A cornerstone of the Washington, D.C. theatre community since the early 1980s, Gero is a six-time Helen Hayes Award recipient with nineteen nominations and has appeared in more than one hundred and fifty productions nationwide. His work in New York and at major regional theaters—including CSC Rep, 59E59, STC, Arena Stage, Studio Theater, Goodman Theater, The Guthrie, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Asolo Rep, and Pasadena Playhouse—has encompassed Shakespeare, modern American classics and musicals, and landmark new plays. He is nationally recognized for originating the role of Justice Antonin Scalia in The Originalist, and for acclaimed performances in Kunene and the King, The Lehman Trilogy, RED, Angels in America, and King Lear. His film and television credits include House of Cards, TURN: Washington’s Spies, Die Hard II, and Striking Distance, along with significant documentary narration for PBS and Discovery Channel. A recipient of the 2015 Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship and a 2024 inductee into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, Gero retired in 2025 as Professor Emeritus of Theater after 33 years at George Mason University. He continues an active professional career while developing an international retreat for artists in southern Italy. View all posts by EG
