March 5, 2018
Dear Liz,
I got your email from my friend Jugo Kapetanovic. I am very sorry I am just reaching out now. I wanted to write to you to express my condolences (and those of my fellow Harvard classmates, Simon Nicholas and Rowan Dorin). We were extremely distraught when we heard of James’s passing. We directed James in Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist at Harvard when he was a freshman and found him to be a young man of exceptional talent and work ethic. I’d love to relay how important James was to our show and how fondly we remember his contribution.
From the beginning, we had a difficult time casting the play. It was relatively unknown to modern audiences yet required great facility with Elizabethan language, more than even Shakespeare. We auditioned hundreds of actors, and in the end our leads chose to do other plays. As a result, we were forced to take a risk on newcomers to the Harvard theater scene (and ones who could read speak Elizabethan verse convincingly).
James was one of those new actors who quite literally saved our show. He was absolutely hilarious, with his gravelly voice and his easy access to an absurdly comical anger—both of which were qualities that fit perfectly with his character of Kastril. Due in large part to James’s talent and commitment, our show was an enormous success. We had to turn audience members away since we were already far above capacity and crammed more people into the Loeb Experimental theater than ever before, at least in our time at Harvard. Professor John Parker loved the show and—thanks to James and the rest of the team—told us that we had brought Jonson’s play back to life.
One thing we discuss often is a moment in rehearsal when we were blocking a very large scene, and James came up with the most amazing characterization. To describe it in words is near-impossible, but it was a kind of loping, hunched, almost drunken-boxing-like stance, with a hilarious hand gesture that his character used to “quarrel.” It was one of the funniest things we’ve ever seen. I’m very thankful we actually captured this moment in a photo (attached). As I think you can see from a few of the photos, James’s energy, commitment, and humor were infectious.
We will never be able to read or think of The Alchemist without thinking of his James’s line readings. We recently re-read some of his scenes together and laughed out loud when we remembered how James read them, especially words like “suster” and “I’ll maul you.” Every time he appeared on stage, he made us laugh uncontrollably.
Often the rehearsals were taxing, especially with such a technically-challenging play and with so many inexperienced freshmen)—but we cannot remember one time James complained or added to any dynamic that was unhelpful. He was always collaborative, professional, and enthusiastic, no matter how he may have been feeling.
We all wish that we had gotten to know James even better, but we can say without a doubt that he truly, truly loved the theater. We feel blessed that we knew him and were lucky enough to work with him. We’ll never forget him and how he contributed to a wonderful and successful time in our lives.
Attached are some publicity photos we took during The Alchemist. I’ve tried to dig deeply and see if there were any recordings of the show, but unfortunately I haven’t been successful as of yet. I will of course forward anything I find in the future.
Sincerely,
Sean Fredricks
Simon Nicholas
Rowan Dorin
