A man of characters

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By Renee Batti

Almanac News Editor

Some people who shift back, forth and beyond from one personality to another within the span of minutes might benefit from a good psychiatrist or anti-psychotic drugs. But Cyril Jamal Cooper? No way. Just give the man a stage.

That’s exactly what Mr. Cooper has through Dec. 27 at the Lucie Stern Theatre, where TheatreWorks’ “A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration” is being staged. He’s one of 15 actors performing some 90 roles in the musical by Paula Vogel, directed by TheatreWorks Artistic Director Robert Kelley.

In the production, Mr. Cooper, who has lived in Menlo Park for some 10 years, portrays eight different characters — including a mule.

“People love my mule,” Mr. Cooper says, laughing. The scene in question features a mule who catches the scent of a horse in the darkness. Stirrings of longing ensue. “I fall in love with a horse — it’s a magic moment,” he explains, adding that the subsequent braying and neighing of the two hoofed creatures inspire a chorus of other animals pining for companions.

That moment, he notes, is one of several in the show that provides relief from the more serious themes of the play, which is set in and near Washington, D.C., on a snowy Christmas Eve, 1864.

It’s an expansive play of imagination, with scenes of President Lincoln, four months before his assassination, and Mary Todd Lincoln occupied with thoughts of Christmas gifts; Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and their soldiers facing the bleak realities of war as it nears its end; slaves and black soldiers fleeing their bonds, or fighting to free all slaves.

The action is given added dimension by the music of the time and season — hymns, spirituals, Christmas carols and 19th century folk songs.

“I like (the play) from the perspective of being a brand new take on a Christmas story,” Mr. Cooper says. “All the stories in it connect, and it’s truly an American story.”

One of the most satisfying elements of the play for him was the duality of experiences he lives vicariously onstage: Mr. Cooper’s roles include that of a black soldier who had earlier crossed to freedom and was now fighting on the side of the Union, and of Willie Mack Lee, Robert E. Lee’s slave who, in the play, follows Gen. Lee into war.

“It’s really cool to be able to express little bits and pieces of (the black experience) of the times,” he says. “There’s the older slave who doesn’t have the option to pick up a gun and fight … then there are the black people on the Union side.”

In the older slave’s role, Mr. Cooper says that he relishes a particular moment: He is carrying coffee to Confederate soldiers in the camp he is serving as Gen. Lee’s slave. It is a time when it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the Confederates are losing the war. He stops, and drinks the coffee himself.

An impressive debut

This is Mr. Cooper’s fifth production with TheatreWorks. With his first TheatreWorks show, he made his professional acting debut — an unusual experience for an actor fresh out of school.

That experience came about after the TheatreWorks casting director was asked to critique finals for graduating students in the Foothill College conservatory program, of which Mr. Cooper was a part. Shortly afterward, the casting director contacted him, suggesting that he audition for the upcoming TheatreWorks production of “Fences,” by August Wilson.

He did, and won the role of Cory.

Since then, Mr. Cooper, now 33, has performed in “Where’s William?”, “Shakespeare in Hollywood,” and “Memphis” at TheatreWorks. He’s also won roles in local productions of “Ragtime,” “West Side Story,” “Showboat,” “Miss Saigon,” “The Jackie Robinson Story,” “Urinetown,” and others.

Mr. Cooper says he’s been so focused on his eight roles in “A Civil War Christmas” that he hasn’t had time to consider what he might audition for once the show closes. But, he adds, “I’m thinking about getting into movies.”

His only film experience was as an extra in a martial arts movie when he was much younger. “I had my extra moment back then, wearing my little gi, but the movie never came out,” he laughs.

INFORMATION: TheatreWorks’ “A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration,” by Paula Vogel, runs through Dec. 27 at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. Tickets are $26-$62. Call 463-1960, or go to theatreworks.org.