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As an actor, Kevin Meehan enjoys taking on characters with aspects unknown to him.
“I kind of like to see what’s different about it, what makes it different from what I’ve done before,” Meehan, of Sixth and South streets, said of what he looks for in a role. “I also like to see what’s different about what makes this person different from me.”
In his latest gig, he plays Nick in “Assistance” — the second in playwright Leslye Headland’s Seven Deadly Sins series that covers the themes of envy, gluttony, greed, lust, sloth and wrath, with pride supposedly in the works — through Feb. 3 at the Wilma Theater.
While he wasn’t originally impressed with the script, he changed his mind during his audition.
“I thought the play was much better when I heard it aloud, which is how it should be,” he said. “Shakespeare is not meant to be read, not to say this is Shakespeare, but it’s not meant to be read. It’s meant to be heard.”
His character is one of six assistants, who also include Jake Blouch, of 12th and Moore streets, and Michael Doherty, of 12th and Wharton streets, working for a demanding Manhattan boss, who is believed to be based loosely on Miramax Films co-founder Harvey Weinstein, a previous supervisor of the author.
“He’s a millennial,” Meehan said of Nick. “He’s a quintessential millennial in a failing job market. I think that says it best actually.”
Following, “Bachelorette,” the first in the seven-part series that also was released as a movie starring Kristen Dunst in September, this play, which is set to be a Will Ferrell-produced NBC comedy, portrays greed, but not the green kind.
“It’s not about money. It’s about the job. It’s the greed one has for themselves in a way,” Meehan said. “I didn’t read ‘Bachelorette’ or see it. That one is about gluttony, and I think it centers around anorexity, eating disorders. It’s really pertinent to now.”
The show, which premiered at Los Angeles’ IAMA Theatre Co. in 2008, is geared toward 20-somethings struggling toward career goals, but is educational for baby boomers as well.
“I think it’s important for them,” the 28-year-old said of the older generations. “I think it’s maybe more important. I think it’s more relatable for people in my demographic or age group. I think it’s more revealing for a older generation of something they don’t understand.”
The Northeast Philly native answered his first casting call as a student at Father Judge High School.
“I started on the technical side of things, and a friend had kind of pressured me into one of the plays for high school. And I just got kind of bit from the bug as they say,” Meehan said.
That was his sophomore year at the boys’ Catholic school, when he was an extra in a show at Nazareth Academy, a nearby girls’ Catholic school. He continued to participate in stage crew while performing onstage. He was the Tin Man in a Nazareth production of “The Wizard of Oz” and then his mother’s favorite, Fagin in “Oliver!” at his school.
“She raves about it still,” Meehan said.
When it came time for college, Meehan was not sure what he wanted to do.
“I was lucky to pursue something I really enjoyed as opposed to something I just excelled at,” he said of his time at Adelphi University in Long Island, N.Y.
After graduating in 2006 with a bachelor’s in theater, he toured with the Boston-based Chamber Theatre Productions, for which he performed children’s short stories, and then had a residency at Media’s Hedgerow Theatre before returning to his hometown and landing in Fishtown in May ’08.
“I just wanted to come and see what the community was like here — what the scene was,” he said. “Even though I grew up in Philly, I didn’t know what the professional life was like.”
That summer, he earned his first role with Center City’s Azuka Theatre’s “Kid Simple.”
“Then I haven’t stopped working since,” he said.
He relocated to Seventh and Sigel streets in ’09, and took over a friend’s lease at his current South Street apartment a year later.
“I like living in South Philly because there’s always someone around, there’s always a store open. … I guess there’s a sense of community,” Meehan, whose grandfather grew up in Point Breeze before settling in Northeast Philly to start a family, said. “…I think generally people seem to care more about the neighborhood in South Philly.”
In terms of his theater community, he has been with a variety of companies before his current role at the Wilma, including Flashpoint Theatre Co., New City Stage Co. and Bckseet Productions.
“All these pieces have all been really great for their own reason. Some have really furthered my career, some have helped me grow as an artist, some have been good for my pocket,” he said noting that even failures have led to great opportunities.
While he has also starred in “Macbeth” in ’10 and “Our Class” in ’11 at the Wilma, he particularly appreciates the company’s role in developing him as a performer.
“The Wilma, in particular, has been really good to me,” he said. “They’re investing a lot in me. I’m not really sure why. I can’t see why it is. I’ve been able to take some master classes with some really great teachers at their expense, not mine.”
Next up, he’ll be traveling across Europe on vacation before heading to the University of North Carolina’s Wilmington campus where North Philly’s New Paradise Laboratories — with which Meehan joined forces for last year’s Live Arts Festival’s “27” — will be working on “Prom,” a coming-of-age work on the cultural meaning of the high school formal dance. New Paradise’s director, Whit MacLaughlin, was hired to work with undergraduate students at the university.
For now, Meehan is focused on his local performance, for which he hopes to attract a diverse audience.
“Just because it’s really current,” he said. “I think it’s important. It’s not a comedy. It’s a satire, which is a big difference. It’s not shallow nonsense. It’s making a comment on what the American society is right now.” ■
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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