Playing Brad in ACT’s production of Rocky Horror Picture Show is Adair Bates’ first lead role since transitioning. Bates, left, moved to Dallas to be able to live authentically as a trans man. (Photo courtesy of Art Centre Theatre)
Adair Bates makes a statement with his first leading role in Rocky Horror
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
rich@dallasvoice.com
Tech week has been underway for Art Centre Theatre’s The Rocky Horror Show, and for actor Adair Bates — well, he’s very stressed. He chalks it up to his natural anxiety. But then something happens when he takes the stage as Brad in rehearsal: All that anxiety goes away. Opening night on Friday, Oct. 14, should be no different. Because Bates is ready for his moment.
“I’m so focused that I get in my head, but it’s OK,” he said by phone. “It’s just the right balance when I go onstage.”
The Rocky Horror Show at ACT in Plano opens tonight and runs through Oct. 30. This is a big opportunity for Bates — one that he’s had a whole different kind of anxiety about.
“My first worry was that I’m a trans guy playing Brad, and I wondered how people would react,” Bates admitted. “Then I remember: It’s Rocky! I don’t think anyone’s going to care.”
Bates added that he has been processing the fact that director Jamey Jamison is letting him play this role. “This is my first show since transitioning, and it’s my first since moving to Texas. So this is all a very big shock for me,” he said.
Not only a big shock, but a big moment for the 25 year-old.
Hailing from Missouri, the theater major decided to move to Dallas three years ago at the urging of his friend and now-roommate. He simply felt he needed to not be where he was in order to live his life authentically. And that meant moving away from family.
When Bates came to Dallas, he said, he felt he could live the life he was supposed to live.
His feelings about playing Brad are certainly profound. “This is the first role I’m playing as a male, but there was also this fear of my voice transitioning. I was in shock when Jamey went with the options of Rocky or Brad for me, and it’s really exciting to play a character that doesn’t feel wrong for reasons I don’t understand,” Bates said.
Still, Bates doesn’t think he and Brad are alike at all. In the movie, he said, Brad is “obviously an asshole.” But Bates feels he has given the role his own twist.
“I kind of approach him as the most closeted gay man you ever met, and so much so that’s he’s homophobic,” the actor said. “That’s the vibe I’m going for. I love the character, even though I hate him at the same time. He’s fun in a ‘don’t-talk-to-me’ kinda way.”
If there are any similarities between actor and character, Bates said, it’s that he and Brad were both likely raised in similarly conservative families.
Bates has been doing theater since the age of 11, and his love of theater ultimately led him to studying and getting a degree in theater arts. He said he loves that theater tempers his anxiety, and he also likes what theater can do for an audience.
“I enjoy performing, but when theater can make someone feel an emotion, that’s really cool for me,” he explained.
Bates shares Brad with a castmate: The show is double-cast, and of the seven-show run, Bates will perform in three as the lead — on opening and closing nights and the Oct. 21 performance. But that doesn’t mean he’s not always onstage. In other performances, he’s one of the show’s Phantoms, a role that, he said, has been just as fulfilling as playing Brad.
“It’s basically the ensemble, and it’s been fun to let loose after playing this straight-laced character,” Bates said. “I’ve never enjoyed playing a background character more than this one.”
Visit ArtCentreTheatre.com for tickets.
