INTERVIEW: ‘Chasing Jack’ features one character addicted to himself
Image courtesy of Chasing Jack / Provided by official site.
Chasing Jack recently opened off-Broadway at the Jerry Orbach Theater in Midtown Manhattan. The gripping play tells the story of Dr. Jack Chase, a successful surgeon whose gambling addiction has caught up with him. When the audience meets him, he’s involved in a malpractice lawsuit that could upend his life and career, but don’t count Jack out just yet.
The show, written by John S. Anastasi, comes to New York once again after premiering at the 2019 New York Summerfest. A 2020 run in Boca Raton, Florida, was scrapped because of COVID-19. This time around Emanuele Secci, an accomplished actor, plays the title character. He and the rest of the company are directed by Peter J. Loewy.
“It’s exciting,” Secci said in a recent phone interview. “It’s intense, but it’s exciting. It’s one of those roles that don’t happen too often maybe because of the layers of the character.”
How Secci became attached to the production is worthy of a play itself. He was all set to travel to Italy for six days over the summer. Before he left, he read a casting notice about this character who was a surgeon and gambler. He found it interesting and decided to put his name in the running. The playwright replied, further explaining the role and asking if Secci could come in for an audition.
“Can I send you a tape? I’m going to get my dog in Italy,” Secci remembered.
“Well, no, but you know what, just get in touch with me when you come back. If we didn’t cast it, maybe I’ll have you come in for the callbacks.”
Secci left a note inonhis calendar, and upon his return from Italy, he called the playwright and said he was still interested. He skipped round one of the auditions and went right to the callbacks.
“I was a little confused about what to do with the audition because they sent several pages of the script to choose from, which usually is a good thing because you get better ideas of playing the character, etc.” he said. “But at the same time sometimes it’s better when you’re forced to focus on one thing and just do that. Anyway, I just chose a scene, and I went in. And he had me read some intro to the play, like some monologues of the play. He said, ‘OK, you want to do the scene with me?’ ‘Sure.’ I guess I got the right flavor. The day after, he emailed me and offered me the part, and it started just like that.”
Secci said his character in the play is highly intelligent and “truthfully superior” to others around him, at least in his own mind. This characterization is not necessarily a blessing, but could actually be a curse. The character’s brain tells him he is good, great, unbeatable, and this eventually leads to his undoing.
“They put you on a pedestal, right, but then you are — excuse my French — this shit of a person that doesn’t even call your family or abandons your family and loses your soul on that blackjack table,” he said. “As an actor, once you pass the difficulties of getting into it and memorizing it and dealing with a lot of cues, it’s a full experience. It’s an intense human experience, and I’ve always been attracted as a director, in the little bit of writing that I do and certainly as an actor in the human condition of a person, the human condition of a character. … I love everything about the character, and the character hates a lot about himself.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Chasing Jack, starring Emanuele Secci, is now playing the Jerry Orbach Theater in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
