Socially Conscious Actor

Any actor still in college would be thrilled to land a leading role in a big-city Equity production, sharing the stage with only two other actors, both of whom have lengthy stage and screen credits. And then to have the Los Angeles Times call you “an absolute find,” “a revelation” and declare that you have “an energy and spontaneity that recalls the emerging Bobby Cannavale,” well, it’s a rush.

The USC Dornsife senior feeling that rush is Kapil Talwalkar, who is making his professional debut as a hip-hop-loving origami prodigy in Animals Out of Paper, the show that opened East West Players’ 50th season.

Talwalkar is an actor, but his major is in international relations. He draws from his major when searching for roles with impact.

“Both international relations and theatre are at the heart of social and political change,” said Talwalkar, who has a minor at the USC School of Dramatics Arts. “Theatre allows me to investigate the artistic ways to inspire that change, while international relations helps examine the practical ways I can do so.

“Studying international relations and being aware of global challenges only further builds my knowledge of what kinds of plays in which I want to be involved. It reinforces why I’m really doing theatre — to help make positive, open-minded changes in our world.”

For example, in Edinburgh, Scotland, this past December, Talwalkar acted in the play Tape by Stephen Belber, a USC alumnus, which addresses how rape influences our memory and perception of both men and women in the United States. In his sophomore year, he acted in Flyin West by Pearl Cleage, which focuses on issues of African American women’s property rights and domestic violence.

“Studying international relations and being aware of global challenges only further builds my knowledge of what kinds of plays in which I want to be involved,” says USC Dornsife senior Kapil Talwalkar.

“But I think my dream project is to direct Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris,” he said. “I saw it with my father on Broadway a few years ago and was moved to tears. The play reveals truths behind racial relationships when a black family moves into a white neighborhood in 1959.”

Talwalkar, from Cupertino, Calif., has appeared in several USC School of Dramatic Arts productions and off-campus efforts during his college years, displaying a range that encompasses the Prince in the musical Cinderella to Hamlet in Fortinbras.

Jennifer Chang, the director of Fortinbras, is the director of Animals Out of Paper, and in early summer, she sent a text to Talwalkar, saying the play had a role that matched his demographic. But he wasn’t a shoo-in.

“We auditioned quite a few actors,” Chang said. “I knew Kapil as a very sweet, suburban California boy, but the character is urban, with a traumatic event in his past, a hip-hop guy with an attitude. Suresh [the character] also needed to show vulnerability.”

She said Talwalkar’s first audition was just OK, but after some direction, “he put his work in” and excelled in later readings.

“I had a lot of actors who had more experience and more range, but Kapil had a sweetness and a boyish quality that you can’t fake.”

Chang said that Talwalkar came to the part with “a great amount of charisma and a lot of talent,” and over the course of rehearsals, “really stepped up his work ethic and discipline. He really worked hard and was open to being coached by me and the two veteran actors [C.S. Lee and Tess Lina].”

Animals Out of Paper “is a huge feat of acting for all three of them,” the director said. “There’s both comedy and drama, and the stakes for each character are very serious.”

Kapil Talwalkar, left, C.S. Lee and Tess Lina perform in a scene from Animals Out of Paper. Photo by Michael Lamont/East West Players.

Once Talwalkar got the part, his scheduling marathon began. He was taking calculus in summer school (a coincidence, since the character of Suresh is a calculus whiz), and rehearsals began as he had finals. This Fall, he’s taking a full load. His last class ends at 5:20 p.m., he showers and changes and makes it to the theater for a 6 p.m. call.

When he returns to his apartment after each emotion-charged performance, he then has production meetings for an independently produced play (Terrence McNally’s Bad Habits) he will be directing on campus in late October. Those meetings last until midnight or so, and then he does homework until 3 a.m. His classes begin in the morning at 10.

“I’m a young guy,” Talwalkar said with a laugh. “Later on in life I won’t be able to do this.”

He said the experience is more emotionally grueling than physically taxing.

“It’s really hard to go to the same place, emotionally, every night in the play,” he said. “I’m so blessed to be with actors with so much experience, and learn what to do when the emotion isn’t there or what to do if a joke isn’t landing.”

Although his high school acting experience got him accepted at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Carnegie Mellon and the British Academy of Dramatic Arts as well as USC, “I came in super ‘act-y,’ without human conviction and contact,” he admitted.

Talwalkar, whose Bollywood actor grandfather appeared in more than 185 films, has decided to make acting his career.

“Playing Hamlet in Fortinbras was a turning point for me,” Talwalkar said.

Initially dubious, his father is coming around to the idea of his son as an actor. He flew to Los Angeles for opening night of Animals Out of Paper and was so proud he told strangers, “that’s my son up there.”

USC Dornsife’s Pamela J. Johnson contributed to this report.