Former Bruin nominated for Tony

Sunday night, former UCLA theater student Michael Stuhlbarg
attended the Tony Awards in New York with his sister. Nominated for
his portrayal of Michael in the new Broadway hit “The
Pillowman,” the good-natured former Bruin was brimming with
excitement about viewing the ceremony not from a television screen,
but up close and personal. Though Stuhlbarg did not walk away with
the Tony this time, it was his first appearance at the event and
marked a turning point in his life and career.

“I have watched the event multiple times from afar, so to
be invited and included in it is a remarkable thing,” said
Stuhlbarg. “I have no complaints.”

As a boy growing up in Long Beach, Stuhlbarg was introduced to
theater fairly early in his childhood.

“My mom put my sister and me in the local community center
and made us audition against our will,” he laughed. “I
guess it just stuck. I discovered something that I loved
doing.”

As a Southern California native, Stuhlbarg eventually found
himself in the acclaimed UCLA Department of Theater, where he
studied from 1986-1988 before transferring to Julliard in New
York.

“I started out here pursuing a wonderful liberal arts
education with a focus on the theater,” he said. “But I
found that I took advantage of all the different aspects of theater
like design and stage craft, and I even did a little directing. I
got a really broad idea of what theater could offer me, and then I
decided it was the right time to get into performance, so I
auditioned for Julliard.”

“The Pillowman” is a dark performance about a short
story author, played by Billy Crudup, who is under interrogation by
two cops, one played by Jeff Goldblum, because some recent heinous
murders mirror those depicted in the author’s stories.
Stuhlbarg plays Crudup’s disturbed younger brother, whose
mental handicap gives him the creepy effect of someone who is both
childlike and dangerous. The totalitarian state in which they live
hardly makes for an easy interrogation, yet the script is bitingly
funny.

“I don’t really know if there is a message to the
play,” Stuhlbarg said. “There are a number of subjects
touched upon and it is a unique experience in that it is a
supremely serious subject matter coupled with hysterical comedic
writing. There is a sense of redemption in this play, and it makes
for a very moving night of theater.”

Though his successful career has taken him all the way to New
York, Stuhlbarg still remembers his days in Los Angeles with great
fondness and frequently returns to Southern California to visit his
family, who still live here.

“I am still friends with many of the people I went to UCLA
with, and the education I received there affected me
profoundly,” he said. “I just received a really sweet
card from Professor (Michael) McLain, who did “˜Romeo and
Juliet’ with me when I was an undergrad.”

UCLA theater Professor Gary Gardner was also a part of the
“Romeo and Juliet” production of the mid-’80s
that Stuhlbarg starred in, and he remembers Stuhlbarg with nothing
but praise.

“He was a sweet, dear person, and the least egotistical
actor in the world,” Gardner said. “When he
wasn’t cast in an original play called “˜Bottoms
Up,’ he volunteered to play saxophone. He really deserves
this nomination.”

But New York may not have entirely claimed this L.A. actor as
its own. Stuhlbarg has his sights set on television and film,
which, according to him, will bring him back to his Southern
California roots.

“I am very interested in getting into pilots and movies in
Los Angeles,” Stuhlbarg said. “If you are a stage
actor, you must be in New York, but if you are a media actor, L.A.
is the place to be. I love to do both, so I hope that my career
will take me there and back again numerous times.”