For artist and actor Kevin Hanstick theatre has been an exciting link with the rich history of the Monterey Peninsula.

Graphic artist and cartographer by trade, Kevin has appeared on the stages of almost every local theatre in roles ranging from the 19th century English Bishop William Wilberforce to Dickens’s dastardly cockney thug Bill Sykes. “I’ve worked with most of the local groups. And that’s meant meeting so many wonderful people. The similarity has been that once you really get together as a cast, you become a family, and it becomes a really enjoyable experience.

“One group I had a lot of fun working with was called Third Studio. They were only here for a short time, but Andra Weddington and Steve Dirk took myths from different cultures and adapted them for the stage. To me, theatre is the art of telling a story, and the stories that they put together not only had power as narratives but provided a fascinating look into other cultures.” When I asked what roles were his past favorites - and what other roles had felt tough and challenging - Kevin surprised me by saying that doing Sykes in Lionel Bart’s OLIVER! at the Wharf qualified as both tough to do and deeply satisfying to perform. “To portray someone who was pure evil but rather than hating him for being the bad guy looking for reasons for his badness. . . studying all that and getting that all together was difficult, but very rewarding.”

Two other favorites were the lead role of Henry in Conrad Selvig’s production of Tom Stoppard’s THE REAL THING and the Wilberforce part last year in Selvig’s production of Crispin Whittell’s DARWIN IN MALIBU at the Cherry. “That was a re-look at Darwin’s theory of evolution - at how it was received back in his day by the religious authorities and by those who went along with his theory. It was kind of nice to have William Wilberforce portrayed with a certain amount of dignity. He believed something and held to his beliefs, and I respected those beliefs even if I didn’t agree with them. It’s set in Malibu because that’s where Darwin has retired - in his state of death. Wilberforce and Thomas Huxley visit him there because they were all in purgatory, and the Bishop thinks he could get to heaven if he can convince Darwin to change his views.”

Kevin with wife Eleanor in THE MAIDEN AND THE TAR

THE REAL THING remains a Hanstick favorite partly because he has a high regard for Stoppard (“... he looks that little bit deeper into a character - brings out the meat of a personality”) and partly because the cast developed a particularly strong and happy sense of family for Kevin because it included his wife Eleanor Wylde. They have appeared together in shows like INTO THE WOODS at the Outdoor Forest Theater and collaborated on a number of their own projects, notably a two-person show based on a dozen or so Gilbert and Sullivan songs which Eleanor then used as the basis for a new and original piece of stage pastiche called THE MAIDEN AND THE TAR. “We played it at TheatreFest and at the Hoffman Street Theatre for a couple of weekends, and for some fund raisers. It had period costumes and props, but could be played in front of any old background, so it traveled well.”

It’s not surprising that talking theatre with Kevin tends to home in on period scripts and historic characters. For one thing, he has, for more than a decade, been a “regular” in the traditional role of the toymaker Drosselmeyer in popular holiday productions of THE NUTCRACKER here and, currently, in King City. For another, Kevin counts as one of the main rewards of his theatrical life the work he and Eleanor do in recreating men and women from Monterey Peninsula’s past as they serve as docents for the Point Pinos and Point Sur lighthouses and in dramatizations of local history for the cities of Pacific Grove and Monterey.

THE NUTCRACKER Dance Kids of Monterey County

“I’ve met wonderful people and developed a close relationship with the Museum of Natural History in Pacific Grove. Between the museum and the city of Monterey I’ve been involved in things like a re-enactment of the signing of the Constitution in 1849 - the work all tied together because of the wonderful, rich historic nature of this area. The people I’ve portrayed include Walter Colton, the first America Alcalde of Monterey, and Charles Layton, who was the first lighthouse keeper at Point Pinos. Then I was in a film about Charles K. Tuttle, the first year-round pharmacist in Pacific Grove. He sold photographic equipment because photography was a hobby of his, and he ended up taking up to 700 different pictures showing the development of Pacific Grove from 1887 until the 1920s and 30s. The film was put together for the Museum and produced by the staff at CSUMB about three years ago. A lot of fun. We filmed at St. Mary’s in Pacific Grove.”

For Kevin Hanstick, preparing a role involves particular attention to the character’s place not only within the play,s dramatic structure but also in its historic setting. “I find out where the character is within the play itself, also where they have been and hopefully where they may be going. I establish the time period. And then I start to work the character through physicality. For instance in EARLY ONE EVENING AT THE RAINBOW BAR AND GRILL, I made the character left handed. That was tough because I am right handed.

Mitch Davis and Kevin URINETOWN MPC Theatre Company photo by Gary Bolen

“Then there sometimes is dialect. Working with Jim Webber at the Studio Theatre in THE GREAT SEBASTIAN, I was a Russian character. I had to develop the accent and still retain clarity, so the audience could understand what I was saying.

“There are so many layers to a character. I keep searching. Even after a play has closed, I look back at what has taken place, see what could have been improved, and apply all that I learn to the next part I play. Even if the two shows don’t closely relate to each other, you learn by looking at your own character development process. “Early on it was a matter of developing the toymaker role in THE NUTCRACKER year by year, but as time went on it was also very satisfying to be able to work closely with many of the children and watch them grow as dancers and performers.”

An interest in children and their development has been a key element in Kevin Hanstick’s full-time job of designing maps and illustrations for a variety of publications including some notable children’s books. In one, for AAA, he has produced maps for a book on America’s best family beaches. Another offers travel diaries that help young readers paying visits, in fact or imagination, to places like Washington D.C. and Williamsburg. Along with being an artist/illustrator Kevin is also an instructor in the performing and visual arts for children, teens and adults.

I wondered what he’d say if a young person came to ask his advice about a professional career in theatre. “Oh, ‘Be prepared.’ That may sound like a simple statement but you need to be ready for whatever you’re trying to step into. It’ll make life ever so much easier to have a kit bag of whatever you might possibly need. Be prepared to be rejected or accepted.”