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• Gary Ambler

Gary Ambler, a 35-year acting veteran, currently stars as Samuel Gentle in the one-man show, "An Almost Holy Experience" at the Station Theatre, 223 N. Broadway Ave., Urbana. Ambler is a resident actor and director with the Celebration Company. His credits include principal roles in Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Waiting for Godot, The Birthday Party, Angels in America, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Laramie Project and Welcome to Tolono. His directing credits include Dancing at Lughnasa, Talley's Folly, Arcadia, The Common Pursuit, Death of a Salesman, Into the Woods, Marvin's Room, Private Eyes, The Glass Menagerie, Eleemosynary, Closer and This Is Our Youth.

How is doing a one-man show different than doing one with a cast?

It's lonely, because you don't have other human beings to bounce off of. You're sort of reacting to yourself. The other things is, it's a more intimate relationship with the audience.You feed on the reaction of the audience to the character.

How did you get started in acting?

I just started when I went to college, because I didn't know what I wanted to pursue. I didn't have any idea what I was getting into. But it was a good thing for me. It was where I needed to be. My first show was probably in second grade. I probably played a bluebird in something-or-other.

What have we seen you in that we might recognize you?

People locally are pretty used to seeing me. I perform a lot. The most recent thing was "Welcome to Tolono," which was a bit of a phenomenon over last summer. Last year at this time I did a play called "Copenhagen." I have done a local commercial three years ago, which seems to never go off the air, but I think people are getting really tired of seeing it.

What advice would you give to actors just starting out?

I feel like actors must know that that's what they're going to pursue, because it's going to be a hard thing and if you're not willing to pursue it because of a passion, you should probably find another thing to do. Good actors, they're not driven by success; they do it because that's what they do.

Who were your influences when you started and how have they changed over time?

They probably haven't changed so much. I've been sort of always taken by great British actors of '40s through '60s, like Lawrence Olivier, and later actor such as Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep. I respect people whose work is a little bit obvious, but also a bit thrilling because you can see the process going on. Take Meryl Streep. I think she's a thrilling performer. People probably have problems with her because you can see the actor working beneath the character. I think it's fascinating to watch. But she's good at what she does.

What is the overriding message to the audience in this show?

Kay (Holley, the director) and I talked about it a lot. We both sort of fell in love with the play, and both sort of wondered as we were going through it what kind of experience it would be. It will probably be different for everyone. It has a transformative power. There are several messages in it, but the most important is that you can't hold onto things too tightly... It's very personal for me and I hope people will come and share it.