The Haunting of Hill House- Meet cast member Kirk Lambert!

What do you find appealing about your character and this show? It is so much fun to play Arthur Parker, a character who is so full of himself and who is so oblivious to being mocked by those around him. Arthur also provides a little comic relief from the horrors of Hill House.

Working with this spectacular cast and crew has been a blast.  Everyone works so hard but we all have fun doing it.  Our director, Maggie Mumford, has given us so much liberty to explore and her joy in the process provides us all with a wonderful environment in which to work.

What have you learned about yourself in playing the role of “Arthur Parker”? I have confirmed how much I love doing comedic roles. I see humor in almost everything and having the outlet to play with the humor is fun and liberating.

What do you want the audience to experience/take away from this show? I hope they will pause and listen a bit more intently when they hear the wind howling, a branch tapping on a window, a knocking down the hall, a thumping on the wall, a creaking on the stairs ... and then shiver, wondering if Hill House has come home with them.

How does this show differ from other shows you have worked on? It does not differ much from my last project where I portrayed a similar character in Nell Benjamin’s “The Explorers Club”.  No typecasting at all.

This play does differ quite a bit form the serious roles of Van Helsing in Dracula and a British prime minister in The Audience.   The Haunting of Hill House also is a departure from playing a Victorian era character with a British accent.

How long have you been acting and what made you get involved in theatre? How did you get involved with LTA? I have been acting about 20 years.  Opera is what got me involved in theater.  My wife’s coworker was a supernumerary at the Washington National Opera and he invited me to an audition.  During the course of some 60 performances at the Kennedy Center and having a front row seat to some spectacular music and voices, I was bitten by the bug and knew unequivocally that I wanted to be an actor and on stage.  At that point, I began training and spent five years studying the Meisner technique with the brilliant Robert Epstein.

I got involved with LTA when I auditioned for To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my favorite works.  Although I made it to callbacks, the gifted Robert Heinly was cast in the role, but I was so impressed with the theater, the staff, and the other actors I met that I subsequently returned to audition again, eventually being cast in The Audience and Dracula in 2018, among others.  Contacts I made at LTA have also led to work in other venues as well.

What advice would you give others who are interested in working in theatre? Train, act, repeat.  LTA offers a wide range of opportunities to train and to participate in all aspects of theater, both on stage, behind the scenes, and in the booth.  I highly recommend just jumping in.