INTERVIEW: James Hindman on the ‘incredible warning’ he received in life
Photo: What Doesn’t Kill You was written by James Lindman, who also stars in the solo piece. Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg / Provided by Richard Hillman PR with permission.
James Hindman is offering a nightly lesson on how life can be fleeting and needs to be fully experienced before it’s too late. One minute it’s here, and the next it’s gone. His lesson comes in the from of a theatrical monologue, running 70 minutes without an intermission and now playing in New York City. The show is appropriately called What Doesn’t Kill You, and it’s enjoying an extended run at 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan.
In the play, which continues through Sunday, Nov. 3, Hindman tells a personal story of how he survived a heart attack a number of years ago and how he connects that personal obstacle to lessons he learned while visiting a concentration camp in Europe. In the piece, which is both funny and revelatory, Hindman focuses on overcoming “life’s greatest challenges,” creating art and putting everything in perspective.
“These two things happened in my life,” Hindman said in a recent phone interview. “One was a heart attack, and the other was I had an experience visiting a concentration camp. And I learned … about a teacher that had helped these kids stay creative and make art. And that’s how she got them through the Holocaust, and I kind of took these two stories and put them together.”
What Doesn’t Kill You, which is directed by SuzAnne Barabas, began to form as a play when Hindman starting telling funny stories about his heart attack experience to the creative team at New Jersey Repertory Company. They liked what they were hearing and encouraged the actor to put pen to paper.
“I was telling them these funny stories that had happened to me at the hospital,” he said. “They said, ‘You should write a show about it.’ I thought, oh, I don’t know. Then I remembered this other story about this teacher in the concentration camp, and somehow that meant something to me, that they could work together. That’s how I got started. That’s sort of what day one looked like, writing stories about what happened to me in the hospital and then going back and talking about this experience [learning about] the Holocaust. That’s how I got started.”
New Jersey Rep stuck around and is now presenting this off-Broadway run, in association with Vasi Laurence Productions and M. Green Productions.
This soul-bearing work is something new for Hindman, who is mostly known as a character actor. He has appeared in everything from TV’s The Gilded Age to Broadway’s Mary Poppins. Along the way, he’s acted in off-Broadway’s The Foreigner, First Lady Suite, A Man of No Importance and Surviving Grace. He has also written the book for Heaven Help Us! The Swinging’ New Rat Pack Musical and Pete ‘n’ Keely.
“It was different for me at first,” Hindman said about the experience of creating and acting in What Doesn’t Kill You. “I was always more of an actor, and I didn’t really write so much. I was usually the character man, and so as the character man, you’re not as vulnerable as the leading man. I knew this was going to scare the crap out of me to do this, but I said, ‘I’m going to grow as a person, as a writer, as an actor. I’m going to grow.’ … So I just dared myself to do it and kept writing. It still scares the crap out of me. It’s very scary to stand out there each night. The audience is my scene partner, and so I’m telling them this story. And depending on how they react, that doesn’t necessarily change the lines as much, but it changes how the story works. So that’s been really interesting and sort of scary. One time I was listening to Mike Birbiglia, a comedian that does all those shows on Broadway. He said, ‘I’m always scared until I get on stage, and then you can’t be scared anymore. You just do it.’ I was like, oh, yeah, I relate to that.”
Hindman reported that he is doing much better health-wise after the heart attack. He is now in a position where he can reflect on that medical scare and start connecting it to other lessons he’s learned on the road.
“Now I’m fine,” he said. “I feel something once in a while with my heart, and maybe I take a pill. I also go to the cardiologist every six months, and they check me out. So I really try to keep on top of it, but I also am determined not to let it get me down or stop me. I just keep going, and I work on lots of stuff. I found it as an incredible warning and lesson in life. That must be why it came to me, to teach me, hey, this doesn’t last forever. So you better start doing what it is you really want to do, and that’s when I really committed to being a writer. So far it’s been working out.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
What Doesn’t Kill You, written by and starring James Hindman, continues through Sunday, Nov. 3, at 59E59 Theaters in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
