The Hockey Dad

Halifax actor Kevin Kincaid takes the stage alongside Heather Rankin at the Neptune Studio Theatre this week as half the cast of Mike Melski’s brilliant Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad. Recently AE spoke with Kincaid about both his profession and the production.

What inspired you to take up acting?

KK: It's funny you would ask that....I just hit a lot of 10 year goals and I have been looking back to why I started acting....I wanted to be a compassionate person....be more aware of others and what they are going through to live a deep, more satisfying life. I was backpacking and traveling while doing university...I took an acting class and I felt this was the type of work I wanted to do. I had done theatre in grade school but the bug hit me a little later. 

Are they the same reasons that you do it today?

KK: Over the years you forget why you started this but for the past 11 months I have been looking at why I have chosen this path. I feel even deeper now than ever before that I need to have a deeper awareness of others' suffering and how tough life can be. I realize that I want to keep doing this...and at best to hold the mirror up to people who are struggling and/or at least take their minds off what is troubling them. 

What are the biggest challenges of the vocation?

KK: Theatre is not an easy profession ....it takes discipline.  I guess taking away distractions from regular daily life to focus on the work.

What are the rewards?

KK: Being able to get into a character to figure out what they are thinking....what the playwright is thinking...being able to create with a group to point out this is what this is about, and being able to translate that to an audience. 

How did you get involved with Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad?

KK: Jesse MacLean contacted me last spring and we did a show in Chester with Natasha MacLellan (now the artistic producer of the Ship’s Company Theatre in Parrsbro)...Melski and some people from Neptune saw the show and I was asked to read with Heather Rankin...and there you go. 

What do you enjoy about the role?

KK: The intensity and the levels of emotion he goes through. 

What can audiences expect during the run? 

KK: It is a roller coaster of emotion...

What's next on your theatrical agenda?

KK: I am looking at doing another two-hander...with some fun local theatre people...Jesse MacLean and Rhys Bevan John....Dumb Waiter...Jesse and I want Rhys to direct ....we haven't asked Rhys (so Rhys if you see this....call me!) I’ve either been doing a two- person play or Shakespeare every two years for the past 10 years...but I am looking at my goals and rethinking what I want to do...I have 2 films I am acting in...Suicide Mission in November with Iain Macleod, and the lead in Cotton with Charles Wahl in the Spring of 2014.

Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad

October 15-27

Neptune Studio Theatre, Halifax

www.neptunetheatre.com