A Tribute to Mark Chamberlin

Mark Chamberlin. 1955-2011. Actor. Photo: Eric Stuhaug/Taproot Theatre

Very upsetting news to report tonight for fans of Seattle theater. Local actor Mark Chamberlin passed away Tuesday after being involved in a bicycle accident over the weekend. The actor, a resident in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle, was 55. No further details have been released. The actor, who recently starred in Taproot Theatre’s production of The Odyssey was currently in rehearsal for New Century Theater’s upcoming production of O Lovely Glowworm, due to premiere April 15 at Capitol Hill’s Erickson Theatre. No statement has been released from the company on how this tragic development will be handled. The actor was also well known for playing Scrooge in ACT’s A Christmas Carol and in many other productions for every major theater company in Seattle and for serving on the board at UW’s School of Drama.

Obviously this is a horrible loss for Mr. Chamberlin’s family and friends and they have our deepest respect and sympathy. But, his loss is also being felt in the larger circle of actors and theater makers in Seattle who knew, worked with and probably loved and respected Mr. Chamberlin, as well as with the thousands of Seattle residents who have enjoyed Mr. Chamberlin’s many performances on area stages. And his loss will be felt beyond Seattle. The actor has performed on Broadway and recently completed work on the John Carpenter directed film, The Ward. His work, and the memory of it, will live on for everyone who experienced his talent and professionalism.

I’ve encountered Mr. Chamberlin’s exceptional talent many times on local stages, but his most recent appearances are the ones that linger in my mind, and my last two encounters with the actor occurred within a few days of each other on the first weekend of February. I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Chamberlin’s commanding lead performance as Odysseus at the Taproot Theatre and wrote this about the production:

All the drama, passion, adventure and comedy of Homer’s classic work is on stage at Taproot, with a confidently directed and well acted production of the play anchored by a brilliant performance from veteran Seattle actor, Mark Chamberlin as Odysseus.

I saw that performance on Saturday, February 5 and two days later I ran into the actor again at Ian Bell’s new monthly “Seattle Confidential” show at ACT, which featured actors reading real life true confessions from local participants on the specified theme. The theme for that night: “Losing your Virginity”. Four excellent actors participated, an older male and female couple, and a younger male and female couple. All the actors gave confident fully realized performances, despite it being a staged reading and the pieces varied from the wickedly funny to the poignantly sad but the one that stuck out the most for me, was one read by Mark Chamberlin. It was a long, rambling and very profane ode about a young man in the 60’s, (I believe) nervously losing his virginity at his rural home in upstate New York, by a pond located within viewing distance of the family house, and the horror the young man felt when he realized his mother was standing at the window and looking in his direction as he was deflowered by a neighbor girl. The story was raunchy, but honest, and it didn’t have much structure or narrative flow to it, but the actor’s ribald, knowing performance and the way he made the story sound REAL, like Mark Chamberlin was relating the story of HIS blossoming into manhood, made it all the more exceptional.

I’m very happy that the last weekend I spent with the actor Mark Chamberlin, I was lucky enough to experience both the dark and the light, the humor and the tragedy, the wit and the charm, the strength and the passion of a man who very obviously loved to act; to create stories and characters and take us on rides to ancient Ithaca, or an upstate farm in 1960’s New York, or the Victorian London of Charles Dickens, or any one of the other thousand places he took us to. We will all miss him and those journeys.

A toast to Mark Chamberlin.