Thomas Simmons made a splash in VCU’s presentation of “Playboy of West Indies” this past February. He is a staple of the VCU theater department and has a bright future at VCU and beyond.
The Commonwealth Times: What is your hometown?
Thomas Simmons:
Richmond, Virginia born and raised.
CT: What attracted you to VCU’s Theater performance program?
TS:
Being from Richmond, I have siblings that went to VCU. I heard about auditions for a play…and I had such a good time that I came over to theater. They have an awesome violence choreography program. Their stage voice and speech professor, Janet Rogers, is world renown. David Leong, one of the best grand fighting masters in the country, is our dean. Learning under these people is amazing and I feel that’s my calling.
CT: What was your most embarrassing onstage moment?
TS:
This was embarrassing and cute. I was doing “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” and I was Charlie Brown. I have two nieces and two nephews and one of my nieces ran onstage crying, “T.J., T.J.”! I took her to the end of the stage where my sister was sitting.
CT: In your last play, you bared your chest for a few scenes. Do you have any objections to nudity if the script calls for it?
TS:
In any kind of performance, there is a level of vulnerability that you portray. [As an actor], you take on the responsibility of being a role model. In one play, I was a slave and had to run across the stage naked and I thought that was tasteful. If it’s distasteful, I will not do it. If it’s a soft porn piece, then no.
CT: How do you feel VCU’s theatre program has shaped you as a performer?
TS:
They’ve given me structure, introduced me to a lot of different techniques and because of that, I’m a well-rounded actor.
CT: Once you graduate, do you expect it to be hard to achieve recognition and find challenging roles in an industry that often overlooks or stereotypes black actors?
TS:
There are 100,000 actors in New York and 95 percent of them will not have work. I think it is important to keep yourself marketable. I act, sing, dance, write and play music…so I’m not worried about that.
CT: If there was a chick-fight, who would win: Jennifer Garner or Jennifer Lopez?
TS:
Lopez. J.Lo’s from the block!
CT: Broadway or Hollywood?
TS:
Both
CT: What is your favorite movie?
TS:
“Love Jones”
CT: What is something about you that VCU student don’t know?
TS:
I’m the bomb chef. I cook like nobody’s business!
CT: If you could act alongside someone famous, who would it be?
TS:
Will Smith
CT: What do you enjoy most about performing?
TS:
Opening the mind and perspective of the audience. Having someone gain something from the performance I’m involved in, that is the most rewarding thing ever.
CT: What advice would you give to kids who want to be actors?
TS:
Read everything you can get your hands on, make a friend everywhere you go, always listen to people and be kind. My mother always said, “If you’re too big to listen, then you’re too small to be listened to.”
CT: What annoys you the most about acting or theater performance?
TS:
I love theater-I love it all. I guess it would be how underrated [theater] is. It’s a very hellacious job. People underrate that.
JN: Do you have any hidden talents?
TS:
I can break dance.
JN: What do you never leave home without?
TS:
My cell phone…and change.
CT: Where do you see yourself in five years?
TS:
In somebody’s movie. I will have completed my book, dropped a CD and I’ll be preparing to have a family.
CT: What do you sing?
TS:
I sing gospel, R&B, jazz and classical music.
CT: Complete this sentence: Happiness is-
TS:
What you make it.
CT: Do you have any words that you live by?
TS:
Never interest yourself in the possibility of failure.
CT: What is success?
TS:
A fulfilling journey, a never-ending journey; obstacles, trials and joy that will hopefully lead to prosperity.
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