The Story of My Life, presented by Havok Theatre Company, opens Feb. 26; plays Thurs.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 3 pm; through April 4. Tickets: $34-$38. Lillian Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood; 818.505.1875 or visit havoktheatre.com

Chad Borden and Robert J. Townsend are laughing. Seated in front of a bare stage at Hollywood’s Lillian Theatre, the two stars of the Havok Theatre Company’s second season opener The Story of My Life have just discovered both starred as King Arthur in high school productions of Camelot.

“You did?” exclaims Townsend who played Sir Sagamore while understudying Lancelot in the recent Michael York-led national tour. “Wow! That’s so cool! I only did two plays in high school and Camelot was my closing senior thing playing King Arthur.”

“That’s hilarious!” laughs Borden who did both a U.S. and Canadian tour as Arthur’s illegitimate son Mordred. “That was exactly the same with me. Actually I have a big history with Camelot. I’ve done it like four times. That’s how I got my Equity card, playing Mordred.”

When told Ed Harris had his first ecstatic acting epiphany playing the mythic Round Table monarch in Oklahoma City after college and just last month admitted to LA STAGE editor Lee Melville he would love to tackle musical theatre again, Borden says, ‘Give me his number!’”

Harris would be smart to take his call. Since co-founding Havok with director Nick DeGruccio, the company has garnered a slew of nominations and awards for its critically lauded inaugural three-show season that debuted in 2008 with Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story, followed by Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead and culminated in Kiss of the Spider Woman, which won Ovation Awards for Best Musical Intimate Theatre and Choreography.

As Havok’s Artistic Director, DeGruccio helmed all three productions receiving the 2008 Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle Joel Hirschhorn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre, as well as the 2009 BackStage Garland Award for Direction - Outstanding Season of Work. As one of LA’s most sought after directors, DeGruccio has received Ovation Awards for Jekyll & Hyde at Cabrillo Music Theatre, The Laramie Project at the Colony Theatre & Laguna Playhouse and 1776 at Performance Riverside. Kiss of the Spider Woman earned him another nomination alongside Borden for Best Actor for his co-starring turn as Molina.

Chad Borden

The two knew each other from The Colony where Borden earned an Ovation Award as part of The Laramie Project ensemble following an earlier nomination as Bud Frump in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He did two Camelot tours plus the national tour of The Duke Ellington Songbook and has worked extensively in many major musical theatre venues in Southern California ranging from Pasadena Playhouse to La Mirada Theatre to Reprise! Recent LA appearances include Fiddler on the Roof at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura and F*cking Men at the Celebration Theatre.

“There are those moments that have, what’s the word, syzygy?” asks Borden. “Where the sun, the moon and the stars align? I’ve been fortunate to have that happen twice, with Spider Woman and Laramie Project. Both of them with Nick, amazingly. With Laramie, we had no idea what it would become. It was one of those pieces where we just told the story. They had this idea where we could go out in the lobby after the show with buckets and collect donations for the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Some of us were, oh, I don’t know if that feels right. But the first night we did it, the audience wanted that sort of cathartic release. To be able to have that experience, walk out into the lobby and talk to us in the same space. The money flowed. We raised over $35,000 for the foundation. It was amazing. More importantly, it was really sharing with the audience that sort of personal moment so many people went through seeing that show. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced.”

As for Spider Woman, Borden admits sharing pre-production concerns with musical director Michael Paternostro. “He said, if you can pull this rabbit out of the hat, this is a hat trick! Again, we were incredibly lucky. The Bootleg was really the right space. It gave the show what it needed to bring all the other stuff into focus. To scale down something so brilliantly fantastical on Broadway and give it a different spin.”

Robert J. Townsend

Borden first met co-star Townsend when he was doing A Chorus Line in San Jose with the veteran musical theatre leading man’s wife Jill. Besides Camelot, Townsend has toured with Grease and recently left the road after playing Father Alexandrios in Mamma Mia. He won an Ovation Award for Lead Actor in a Musical for the title role in Jekyll & Hyde at Cabrillo Musical Theatre where he has starred in such shows as The Scarlett Pimpernel, Damn Yankees and Anything Goes. Other recent regional credits include Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Pirates of Penzance, Guys and Dolls and Grand Hotel. In November, he co-starred with Armin Shimerman in The Seafarer at San Diego Repertory Theatre.

“I’d never met Nick until we did Jekyll & Hyde,” Townsend admits. “I feel really fortunate I got to do that. It was just an amazing experience all around. People had a lot of concern about that particular piece but I think Nick really brought it together and made it streamlined and smart. He loved the sense of gore and finding a way to not make it spooky but pay homage to horror movies and things like that.

“Getting the Ovation Award on top of it was something I never expected in a million years. And it’s funny because I didn’t want to jinx myself. I was really proud of the work but I was like, I’m not going to jinx it and write a speech. So I had to just wing it up there.”

A Tale of Two Friends

Borden first learned about The Story of My Life when a director colleague who had seen 20 minutes of the show at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s 2007 Festival of New Musicals came to LA and caught Thrill Me. He thought they should check out the two-person piece since it seemed to fit with Havok’s sensibilities, offering to introduce them via email to creators Neil Bartram (music and lyrics) and Brian Hill (book). As Havok’s producing director, Borden followed up to express interest only to learn that the duo were still at work on a fuller version with plans for New York. For the moment, access was restricted.

Havok moved forward with Dog Sees God and Spider Woman while Story was presented at Goodspeed Musicals in October 2008 as a Richard Maltby, Jr. directed workshop production starring Will Chase (High Fidelity, Lennon) as Alvin Kelby and Malcolm Gets (Tony nominee for Amour) as Thomas Weaver that later transferred to Broadway at the Booth Theatre. It opened on February 22, 2009 following 18 previews and ran for five performances. Despite mixed reviews, including a scathing rant by New York Times critic Ben Brantley who gave the actors high marks for doing their best to enliven the show’s “sub-Sondheim” score and its Beaches “wind beneath my wings” plot, The Story of My Life earned four Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Book, Lyrics, Music and Musical.

The show is the story of two small town childhood friends and how their 30-year friendship profoundly defined their lives. Thomas leaves to become a best-selling, award-winning author while quirky Alvin stays behind to run the family bookstore. When Thomas is called back to his roots to deliver Alvin’s eulogy, he examines the chapters of their lives to help unravel what happened and where it all changed. The touching score and the show’s theme of friendship’s often ephemeral nature are what moved both Borden and DeGruccio.

Borden and Townsend

“It’s so beautiful and poignant,” says Borden. “Nick and I just saw it very simply. Return it to the origins of what made it so successful at NAMT and Goodspeed before it went to Broadway. It’s a very intimate piece that was originally scored for piano, cello and clarinet. To put it in a Broadway house with an 18 piece orchestra and try to fill the stage with this simple little story, I think perhaps did not serve it best. We seriously looked at the press and kept coming back to the original bare bones version.”

“It’s a simple touching story,” adds Townsend who plays Thomas. “I think that’s what we’re focusing on it rehearsals. It doesn’t need to be this huge theatrical thing.” For him, joining the cast came down to choosing something that would appease his artist’s soul versus another with larger financial gain. “I had to make a decision whether to do something that was artistically gratifying or do something that was, no offense, they know this, paid a bigger salary. We have to make a living, you know? But this piece spoke so strongly to me I felt this was the right thing. I kept coming back to it. I wanted to tell this story. I wanted to sing these gorgeous songs. Plus any time Nick’s doing something, I want to be involved. It’s pretty much a no brainer for me.”

Borden originally investigated the project wearing his producer’s hat but soon found he was deeply attracted to the piece as an actor. “I kept finding personal connections with the character and the story and this relationship. I thought I would really love to do it. I felt perhaps it was good casting!” he laughs. “But I always leave that up to Nick. Seriously. I laid it out to him but said the decision is ultimately yours. If you feel it’s right, great. If it’s not, we’ll look for other alternatives. He considered it and said let’s do it. Needless to say, I was very happy!”

With several shows continually vying for position in their heads, it finally came down to timing and opportunity that allowed Havok to obtain the rights to present this “very simple and very sweet” show as its second season opener following the technically ambitious 14 character Spider Woman. With musical direction by Ovation winner Michael Paternostro (The Producers), The Story of My Life features an award-winning design team including set design by Tom Buderwitz, lighting design by Steven Young and sound design by Drew Dalzell.

As veterans of large cast shows, both Townsend and Borden acknowledge that a two person musical is a tricky emotional and energetic balancing act to pull off successfully.

“There’s nowhere to go!” says Townsend. “You have to completely trust and be open to the other person you’re working with. He’s already so incredibly there.” He indicates Borden. “Every bit of emotion is pouring out of him when we rehearse. It’s amazing. My character is a little more reserved. Exciting and terrifying all at the same time is the best way to say it.”

“Ultimate terror to me was when I did my one man cabaret at The Cinegrill back in 19… (covers his mouth),” Borden laughs. “Many years ago! That was terrifying being the only one on the stage. In a slight sense, I do compare it to Spider Woman because so much of the core of that show is really the two guys in the cell. Everything sort of swirls around them. But this is definitely an experience unlike really anything I’ve had before. It’s thrilling and exciting and it’s a trust thing. I mean hello!” He indicates Townsend. “After seeing Jekyll & Hyde and so many others, I couldn’t be luckier to share this story with Robert because he’s amazing.”

“You’re very sweet,” overlaps Townsend, smiling. “I feel the same.”

When asked about the strong emotional response The Story of My Life elicited in the previous cast and audience members, the two offered their own unexpected parallels with the piece and the questions it has raised.

“It goes to the very roots of first grade for me,” Borden reveals. “Let’s go right to Alvin’s song about his teacher, ‘Mrs. Remington.’ I had a Mrs. Remington. I really did. Mrs. Mathias. I didn’t go to school with fuzzy slippers and curlers in my hair but - and I have the photo in my car — I said mom, I’m going to be a witch this year. And she said, well, OK. I got the black dress and the pointy hat and I went to school for Halloween as a witch. And surprisingly, didn’t get beat up. Maybe I was too young or the kids just didn’t care.

“I find parallels in the genesis of this character for me. And of course, there are people in my life I have lost touch with on either end of the spectrum, whether you want to say I was left behind or I lost them. It really does bring it to mind. You sort of start to examine what happened and why? Where are they and where am I now?”

“If it weren’t for Facebook, I wouldn’t…” interjects Townsend as Borden starts to laugh. “No seriously, it’s true!”

“If Thomas and Alvin only had Facebook!” Borden chimes in.

“I haven’t seen people from my high school literally for 20 years,” Townsend admits. “One of my best friends I’ve touched base with a couple of times. It’d be the same situation. If he died right now, I would feel awful because I haven’t kept that contact up. It’s the same thing being an actor, especially one who does tours. I’m constantly leaving friends and family behind in the pursuit of my career, which is exactly what this character does. This is something I’ve been examining a lot lately anyway.

“I’m forever evaluating my life and what my eventual endgame or goal wants to be and how much of my relationships I’ll sacrifice with the people I love in order to pursue that. Because it’s two different loves: the love of your career and the love of your loved ones. It’s a constant battle. This does make you examine that and sometimes the answers aren’t pretty.”

“And sometimes there aren’t any answers,” admits Borden. “That’s a big theme in this. Sometimes we never know. And you have to find a way to live with that and never know why.”

So does he or DeGruccio feel the added burden of expectation as they launch their second season?

“That feeling is out there perhaps but it’s never been what it’s about for Nick and me,” offers Borden. “We approach every piece, every play, every musical as — what is the story we’re telling? What do we want to leave the audience with as the curtain goes down and they’re walking to their cars? How can we best support that with the production and the direction and the artistic experience of putting the show together? It’s never really about all that other stuff - expectation and awards. We just want to tell the best story and enjoy making the art, you know? That’s all it’s about for us. We try not to listen or key into that. We just get to the heart of the matter.”

Feature  image of Townsend and Borden by Michael Lamont

Article by Deborah Behrens