From hit tv shows to the bright lights of Broadway, Marcel Spears is an acting legend in the making. Fresh off a glowing performance in the Tony nominated Fat Ham and knee deep in season 6 of CBS hit comedy The Neighborhood, Marcel takes time to talk with us about acting, good representation and more.
The Knockturnal: Hello, Marcel. Nice to meet you.
Marcel Spears: Hey, Joshua. How’s it going?
The Knockturnal: I’m good. I’m good. How are you?
Marcel Spears: I am well.
The Knockturnal: Well, I just saw you on Sunday night in Fat Ham. Congratulations. That was so hilarious. That’s a great show. First time seeing it.
Marcel Spears: Oh, thank you.
The Knockturnal: Of course, of course. So your character Juicy in Fat Ham is pretty different from your character in The Neighborhood, which we all know you from obviously, in its sixth season. What do you bring differently to each character? How does your approach differ?
Marcel Spears: I mean, obviously everything comes through me, like through the lens of me. So, like I look at this character and I find the places where we are similar. I just go through my head like, oh, well, this person seems like this kind of person and this, that and the other blah, blah, blah and like the play or the script says that they do this or they respond in this way. I wouldn’t — myself, would not respond in that way. So what is it about them that makes them respond in this way? And so once I find all the things that are similar, the places where we overlap, then I start to like flesh out [what] the differences are and maybe what their thought process might look like or what their personality might look like based on the information that I have. And so for Juicy in particular, our playwright James put a little bit of himself, obviously in every character, but Juicy speaks the most. And so [Juicy] seems the most like him. And so like a little bit of Juicy is some of our playwrights wit and sense of humor. Obviously, a lot of Juicy’s sass comes from me, I would say. And like the, the depth of juicy I think is all Hamlet-esque. Like it all stems from the themes and the situation that he’s grown up in like, understanding that this person has had a — a pretty rough life, like his father went to jail really early. His father has been in prison for a long time in his life. And the father is verbally abusive. And now he has this uncle that is physically abusive and like all of it stems from the fact that Juicy is queer or identifies as queer and that is not accepted in his little rural southern community. And just how those kind of things can shape a person and really, like, build in the — the metal of what a person is and like all of those little threads are part of the fabric of Juicy.
The Knockturnal: Mm. Speaking of Fat Ham, you got, I mean, this great opportunity that I feel like you don’t usually get in theater to bring this character first to The Public and then to Broadway and now to The Geffen [Playhouse]. What has it been like to be able to spend that much time with this character? And are you discovering new things about him now that you’re playing him after so long?
Marcel Spears: Yeah, I mean, because each iteration of the play is a little different. I think at The Public, it was super intimate because the space was so small, the audience was literally on stage with us. And those first two rows of seats at The Public were lawn chairs that were on like the backyard lawn. And we walked in like everything was so close, you could literally touch people, look at people in the eye. And that gives the play a different texture, it gives the play a different kind of energy. And then on Broadway, everything was so big. It was so blown up. And the theater was like 720 people. It was massive. And so to fill that space and to make everybody feel like they can hear you and they can feel you, uh that was different. And the adjustment to make that play accessible to everybody in that space was a little different. Also for Juicy to sort of control and navigate the audience and the responses to the audience in such a big space was interesting. And now I think the Geffen stage is like a happy medium. Like it’s really smack dab in the middle and it’s almost perfect for this play because the play wants to have a bigger space to breathe. But also when it gets too big, sometimes, you know, some people on one side of the audience might miss something. So I think this given space is perfect so everybody gets every single detail of what’s going on. And that’s a lot of fun.
The Knockturnal: You mentioned the right space for the right project. You spent quite a bit of time both on stage and in front of the camera. Is there a difference to your approach in those mediums or is there one that you like more than the other?
Marcel Spears: The way that I typically describe it is the difference between running and swimming. And where like you’re using your instrument, you’re using your body, you’re using all of those muscles, but you’re using it in a really different way and in a different environment. Acting on stage is really special because it’s a one time only thing. Like you could do the show for a year, you could do the show for six months. You can do a show for three months. But each audience gets a a tailor made show. That show is very special and very unique to that audience, because that chemistry, that make up of people in that room will never be exactly the same again. And that creates like this really cool kind of alchemy, like this really cool environment where everybody is like saying yes to going on this journey of telling the story in this way. Especially for a play like this, there are some nights where the audience is very talkative and very responsive and they’re talking back and like, Juicy will hear them and he will respond. And there are other shows where they listen more and that show is different. On film, you get to create like this really cool experience that so many people get to enjoy for so many years. For as long as that medium or that piece of art exists, people can see that specific story and I, I think there’s something really cool about that.Also the intimacy that you can get and the type of storytelling that you can have on film is different from theater. And as an actor and a storyteller and, and like a nerd of, of what I do, I enjoy all of it. Like I think all of it is really dope. I wanna explore as many ways as I can to tell a story.
The Knockturnal: I love that. Also something that stuck out to me about both of these characters from both Fat Ham and The Neighborhood is they’re really portraying a young black man in a position that we don’t usually get to see them in–as like three dimensional characters with their own agency. Is that something that Specifically or intentionally drew you to these characters? And why do you think telling those stories are important?
Marcel Spears: Well, I, that’s what I try to do through every story that I tell. Obviously, maybe not [in] every story I tell I’ll be a young black man. Sometimes I might be like an alien or a mouse or who knows what. As much as I can, I wanna use my art as a way to sort of open the door for people in marginalized spaces and give voice to, um, groups and communities that don’t often get a chance to advocate for themselves or exist fully and freely. I think Marty just being like, yeah, he’s a mama boy and, yeah, he’s a, he’s a nerd but he’s just so full of like joy and innocence and like this, this really like — this brightness that we don’t often get a chance to see young black men exist in, especially given the circumstances. And [with] some of the laws and the history and the context of this country, having a young black man that exists in this world and understands the time that he is living in, but still chooses to be someone that approaches everything with such zeal and, and levity, I think that’s really, really powerful, especially in a comedy like the neighborhood where that show sort of gives you that. It’s a little bit of like a warm hug sometimes. Like you get to see these characters, you get to live with these characters, you get to laugh with these characters. You see the drama, you see the Hi-Jinks and like it just, it feels good. It feels good to see these people, they feel like family, they feel like friends. And I think that’s really powerful to have somebody who maybe doesn’t have that much access to black people or doesn’t know that many black people to get an opportunity to like fall in love with these black people. And with Juicy, like Juicy has all of that, but he also is a queer person and like, again, like — my dad is a preacher and I feel like there are a lot of, just by the nature of what we do, there are a lot of like black folks that come to this play [with] some of the same thoughts and feelings that James, our playwright, grew up with and I grew up with where it’s super conservative sometimes about some things specifically about queerness. And I think again, that exposure breeds empathy. Like it’s hard to hate someone that you get a chance to talk to and get a chance to know and understand. And so Juicy living freely and boldly even in really, really difficult situations, and James giving us that sort of theme through the play of like choosing joy, choosing love and using love as a radical act to fight back against some of the things that hurt us, that is a powerful message. And I hope that people take away all of those warm and fuzzy feelings at the end when the play cracks open into the celebration of joy and love and queerness and life. When usually Hamlet ends in a pool of blood, like Hamlet usually ends in murder, this play completely subverts that breaks all those rules and decides to do something very different. And I think that’s really special.
The Knockturnal: Agreed, agreed. That was something that definitely stuck out to me about the show. Well, you are killing it in the game, you know, you’re killing it in the career game and in the artistry department. What advice would you have to artists who look at you and say I wanna have that career. I wanna do what he’s doing?
Marcel Spears: Oh shit. (Laughs) Um. It’s so weird. Like J Cole had a song called Middle Child where he felt like he was still seeking mentorship and advice from older rappers in the game. And then suddenly he realizes that he looks back and there are people looking up to him and asking him for tips and tricks. And so I, I feel like I’m sort of at that place where I still feel like a newbie sometimes, especially like working on my show, working on my show, like with, with Cedric [The Entertainer] and Tichina [Arnold] and like Max [Greenfield] and Beth [Behrs], these people have been working for 15 to 30 years in this business. Um And I still feel like I need so much advice and like guidance and I’m, I’m trying to learn and absorb as much as I can. But I realize now that I have been working in television now professionally for like nine years and I’ve been working professionally as an actor in theater for like 13 years. I realize that now and I realize that that means so much to some people. And so they do have questions and they do look at me and be like, hey man, like how do I do what you do? And I don’t know is the answer. I don’t know how I did it. But if I could give somebody advice, this business is, is like peaks and valleys. There are highs and lows. There will be times where you are perfect for a role and you walk in and it’s great and there will be many, many, many times where it’s not the right fit so you get a no or you get a yes and then a no or you get a maybe or you get pinned or you get held. Or you have to take those wins where you like didn’t book the job so you don’t know how you’re gonna pay your rent this month, but you book the room, the casting director loves you. And I think through all of those things, one, mentally preparing yourself for that. Two, having a life outside of this passion that you have and this love that you have, making sure you are living a full life. Because all of those things contribute to the raw materials of you which is the basis of every story that you tell. Like you are using your lived experience, your ethnicity, your gender identity. All of those things make up who you are and all of those things inform and speak to the characters that you decide to play. The other thing I would say is get a mentor, somebody that you can — somebody that you respect, somebody that respects you. Somebody that you really trust that you can sort of ask the hard questions to. Find somebody next to you who’s doing the thing that you’re doing and has been doing it and just like, have a conversation with them, go out for coffee, go out for a drink, grab some lunch and just unpack sort of this thing that we love. I think, I think those are the things that have sustained me and those are the things that have helped me. Like, those are the things that led to building relationships that I still have to this day. Those are the things that keep me motivated in times when I’m questioning or I don’t know. So that’s the advice that I would have. I don’t know if that helps because the overarching theme is I don’t know. Damn it. (Laughs) I don’t know. I have no idea. I’m freestyling everything. It’s improv.
The Knockturnal: You are freestyling well, my man. Thank you so much for talking with me. Congratulations again on all your success.
Marcel Spears: Thank you brother. I appreciate that.
