In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Interview with Harris Smith
  • Nadia Sine (bio) and Harris Smith

The fight part of it is fun, but ultimately we’re trying to further the plot. In musical theater, we sing these elongated vowels because we can no longer verbally contain our emotions and how we feel. We have to express them through song. The same applies to stage combat: I can no longer verbally get what I want, so I have to physically go after my objective. That’s my approach, and that is how the actor should be approaching it as well.

Harris Smith is the former chair of the Department of Theatre at the University of Utah. He received his bachelor of arts degree in theater from Montana State University and earned his master of fine arts degree in acting from the University of Washington School of Drama. Harris is originally from the Seattle area in Washington State and is a certified teacher of stage combat through the Society of American Fight Directors. He has been personally trained by David Boushey, one of SAFD’s founding members, in stage combat and film stunt work. His research focuses on the evolution of violence for the cinema, including Afro-futurism in fight direction. Harris is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. His film credits include Runaway Train and Amazing Grace and Chuck, as well as a key guard role in one of the first interactive video games created in the style of the classic TV series The X-Files. Harris has a passion for educating students on the fundamentals of acting and stage violence and how the two can be seen as art harmoniously. He currently resides in Salt Lake City, Utah, in his administrative position and continues to be an example of leadership for his peers of color.

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nadia sine:

How did you start up in theater, and where has that journey led you? [End Page 7]

harris smith:

I’ve always said that I fell into theater. I’ve made it clear even when I was interviewed here that I know two things: football and theater. My high school drama teacher, Elmer Anderson, was a legend in the state of Washington. He really put high school theater on the map. I also had very talented classmates. All of this was unknown to me at the time. I did one show, You Can’t Take It with You, and then years later I was told by one of my classmates who I had performed with how jealous people were, because apparently I was a natural. I didn’t know that, though; I just did what everyone else was doing and created my character. She said, “People can’t believe some jock would just come in here and blow everyone away.” So that’s how I started.

I didn’t think about theater again until I got into college. I went to Montana State for my undergrad and started out in communications. I didn’t know what you did with a communications degree, so I switched to theater in the winter quarter, and I ended up auditioning for a movie called Runaway Train. I got cast in the movie, so I took that as “divine” and a sign from God. I had the great opportunity of doing student film projects and working as an actor simultaneously. The next summer, I ended up doing a second film called Amazing Grace and Chuck. The first film was with John Voight and Eric Roberts, where John Voight played the father of Angelina Jolie. That film actually got nominated for an Oscar . . . but my scene was cut out, so I wasn’t in it. Welcome to show business! I still got the experience and got paid a heck of a lot of money. I became a SAG member at the age of twenty and got to work with Oscar-nominated actor Gregory Peck, Jamie Lee Curtis, and William Peterson, the lead in the original CSI series in Las Vegas.

After my undergraduate career at Montana State, I went on to the University of Washington. I studied with a great master teacher named Jack Clay, who had put SMU theater on the...

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