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Regarding performing as “the best rush in the world,” Sam Sherburne usually acquires his kicks through heavily comedic turns. For his New City Stage Co. role as John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to gun down President Ronald Reagan March 30, 1981, the resident of the 1500 block of Federal Street is displaying his diversity and is experiencing a shot of novelty, too.
“It’s a compelling task to be a star or a lead,” the 28-year-old said of looking to engender empathy for the would-be killer. “It’s a fun challenge, especially because I need to be interesting the whole time and have the audience track me.”
Owing to his mother’s psychology background, the Newbold inhabitant noted the show, running through Sunday at the Adrienne Theatre, offers hints of a world somewhat familiar to him through its addressing mental illness and the quest for distinction. Whereas Hinckley sought renown for ridding the country of its leader, Sherburne is craving consideration as a persevering performer bent on building resolve.
“I look back at my progression, and it always comes down to how much I want to apply myself and give of myself,” he said. “A consistent chore is determining how to organize the rest of my life so I can work more and work better.”
Sherburne has garnered a great guide in his journey through New City Stage, for whom he is making his fourth appearance. The company’s education director and “Voices for a New City” ensemble coordinator, he readily responded to a request from founding artistic director Ginger Dayle and producing artistic director Russ Widdall to tackle Hinckley, whose obsession with actress Jodie Foster based on her ’76 role in “Taxi Driver” inspired his aggression. Eager for the role’s required range of emotions, he has taken the work, which the overseers are staging as a workshop production, and made it a fully-fledged investigation of fragility, individuality and insanity.
“I’m totally trying to do so,” Sherburne said in response to a review’s claim he is not coveting an audience’s compassion. “I understand he’s a polarizing figure, and it’s my job to help viewers to understand our mission across the board, which is not to lionize or demonize but educate.”
Despite the often intense nature of examining Hinckley, who even professed after his ’82 trial, through which a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity, that his action represented “the greatest love offering in the history of the world,” he confessed a sense of ease has permeated his endeavor, attributing it to his search for authenticity and specificity. Adhering to his attraction to gripping storytelling, the piece, which deftly deals with processing fame and infamy, also appeals to his desire to situate himself further among the ever-growing collection of young, idealistic actors and actresses who have come to populate South Philly.
“There’s a ton of energy in certain corners here,” Sherburne said. “With a play like ‘Hinckley,’ I’m happy to contribute to the vibe.”
The grateful actor came to the performer-heavy expanse courtesy of numerous locations, including his native Kentucky. With theater in his genes, he debuted as a 10-year-old alongside his father in the Wabash College-situated production of Eugene O’Neill’s “Ah, Wilderness.”
“I viewed acting as definitely a legitimate thing to try,” Sherburne said. “It’s not necessarily something that someone is going to become rich from doing, but I still think I can be a standout and add my values to the craft.”
Letting the acting bug infect his being, Sherburne, who had believed sports journalism would win him regard, strengthened his comprehension of dedication at 15 through the Pennsylvania Governor’s School of the Arts. Always loyal to eliciting laughter, the immense fan of such hysterics helpers as “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons” furthered his focus on funny deliveries by matriculating at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where for a time he fancied himself more of a writer and director than a performer.
“I was a big fish in a small pond with regards to how much I wanted to do, meaning I had great opportunities to experiment,” Sherburne, who maintained his momentum through graduate work at Florida Atlantic University, said. “It became a matter of perseverance.”
Time in the Sunshine State bore roles such as the Nurse in “Romeo and Juliet” and Trinculo in “The Tempest,” but he felt he could not start a solid life there and moved to Philadelphia in September 2011. What initially felt scary has become fruitful, as Sherburne, who began his City of Brotherly Love existence in Manayunk before venturing to Sixth and Reed streets and his current spot, has assisted the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre’s “Cymbeline” and “The Two Noble Kinsmen” and New City Stage’s “Voices for a New City,” “American Sligo” and “Frost/Nixon.”
“It’s been amazing to grow with such peers pushing me along,” the presence said of Dayle, Widdall and Barrymore Award winner and fellow Newbold dweller Aaron Cromie. “I’m always looking to see how I can get better and be the best version of myself.”
Sherburne, who has also pleased patrons with ’07’s “Last Afternoon,” which he wrote and directed, and last year’s “Completeness” for the FringeArts Festival, is continuing to mold his mentality by serving as an understudy for the Arden Theatre Co.’s “Three Sisters,” which features seven South Philly denizens, and generating buzz for High Dramma, his friend-assisted sketch comedy troupe. Eager for his upcoming trek to Delaware for the Rehobeth Summer Children’s Theatre, the actor, who professed that being at the center of attention is “not my track” could be on track to be as consistent of a hire as many of the local performers he has come to admire.
“When I had that moment in college where I wasn’t sure about being an actor, I definitely knew I wanted a life in theater regardless,” Sherburne said. “Everyone who’s still doing this at 22, 23 or beyond has talent, so I’m fortunate to take that childhood interest in storytelling and try to make it flourish.”
For tickets, visit newcitystage.org.
Contact Managing Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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