Pulling up to rehearsal on a Harley Davidson with a big, burly beard and covered in tattoos, David Phillips is not your average actor, nor your average biker. Phillips has been acting for over 40 years, getting his start in his seventh-grade drama class. His drama teacher, Mrs. Johnson, took the class on a field trip to Western Kentucky University to see Rumpelstiltskin, which inspired Phillips to pursue a career in the theatre.

            Phillips attended Western Kentucky University just a few years later, where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre, and believe it or not, a minor in dance. While he had a true talent and passion for acting, Phillips quickly realized there were many more job opportunities on the technical side of things. That is the path he focused on. He continued to audition for shows, and regardless of whether he was cast, he would always join the set construction team.

            While Phillips has played many roles in his lifetime, his favorite has been Scanlon in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This play is a stage adaptation based on the novel by the same name, which sheds lights onto what life was like in a mental institution in the 1950s. Scanlon was committed involuntarily, and constantly fantasizes about blowing things up. This role was challenging for Phillips, but was exciting because of the creativity he could bring to the table.

            When speaking about his process as an actor, Phillips puts a large emphasis on the importance of a strong director. He shares it is so important for actors to “be open-minded to the vision of the director. It is with their vision of what they think the show should be that you bring life to the character.” Phillips likes to do his own research within the script to guide his decisions about his character’s choices and personality. Once he establishes that, he will take the director’s vision, add that to what he has already created, and “Boom. The character is born.”

            For Phillips, the hardest part of acting is learning his lines in the play. “Being the character is the easy part, I think… or at least, that is the fun part!” Repetition is key when it comes to learning lines. Phillips likes to go through his lines over and over, as well as his blocking (the movements and positions an actor is at in a play,) so that he can sync his movements and his lines together and they can all flow together seamlessly in his performance.

            The skills learned in the theatre can also be translated into life in the real world. Phillips is well-known for being a stormtrooper cosplayer, which, as one can imagine, requires a lot of acting to stay in character all day. He also uses his acting chops daily at his day job where he must perform great customer service at all times. Customer service is one of the most underrated, but frequently used, forms of acting. Phillips encourages all to “have fun, be in the moment, and let go of the real world for a few hours and become someone else… whether that happens on the stage or on the job.”