Like Father, Like Son--and Also Different
Are Dwayne and Orion Carrington Starting a Theatre Lineage?
Dwayne Carrington
During my two decades as a reviewer, I saw Dwayne Carrington on stage many times, in several venues and playing many diverse roles. I saw him as Banquo in Shakespeare's Macbeth, the Crab Man in Porgy and Bess, Booker T. Washington in Ragtime, and Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy. He worked with major local theatre figures: Henry Lowenstein, who was considered the father of Denver theatre; Denver's first Black company, Eulipions; and then Jeffrey Nichelson's much-missed Shadow, which followed after Eulipions closed. Onstage Dwayne has been funny, sad, profound, militant, and thoughtful--and he can sing. But for some reason the performance that sticks with me is the first of his I saw. It was in My Children! My Africa! by South African playwright Athol Fugard. This isn't one of the strongest of Fugard's works but it mines deep themes, and these themes were embodied by Carrington with warmth, strength, and dignity.
So I was intrigued when I saw the name Orion Carrington on the cast list for Benchmark's current offering, You Got Older, and discovered Orion is Dwayne's son.
Father and son are both currently performing in Denver. You Got Older opened a week ago, and Dwayne is currently performing in A Jukebox for the Algonquin, which opened last weekend.
"I started with dad onstage when I was four." Orion tells me. "In a production of Damn Yankees."
From then on, he was immersed in the theatre world. When his father was working, "I would come to rehearsals, watching or playing with toys and doing my homework. Jeffrey Nickelson would say Hi and clown around and try to scare me. He liked to chase and say the theatre was haunted. When you say you grew up in the theatre, I really did.
"I always had so much reverence for the theatre," he continues. "You idolize your dad when you're growing up.
"You have an artist parent and they dedicate their lives to that art. But he was always the same dad that would cook dinner and help me with my homework. I never felt abandoned but you could tell he was very passionate about theatre. He was always there for me or I was always following him around."
Orion went on to The Denver School of the Arts but his ambitions changed when he got to high school and participated in football and track. And then came college where he majored in finance: "I was rebelling. You want to do your own thing and be your own person."
Over time Orion found a way back to the arts, starting with a couple of theatre gigs--acting, assistant directing, and also hosting and modeling. He developed an interest in commercials and is performing in two upcoming movies."
"He's better looking than me," Dwayne observes, smiling. "He's taller."
At Benchmark Orion is playing the handsome cowboy mirage about whom, according to a review in Onstage Colorado, protagonist Mae "has lustful, dream-like fantasies."
I ask if Orion goes to his father for acting advice and he responds that Dwayne leaves giving advice to the director. "He honors the process," Orion says. "He doesn't interject himself."
Finding acting work was somewhat easier for his son than it was early on for him, Dwayne says, when "There wasn't much work in Denver for African American males. Orion has an advantage and more opportunities. They're not great but a little better for people of color now. The career has been challenging for both of us."
Dwayne says theatre has always been an important part of his life. He has a theatre degree, and "In some ways it saved my life. I had some rough patches, trying to raise a family. I was homeless for a little bit, lived on people's couches, got connected to Lowenstein's Bonfils, and director Buddy Butler let me stay at his apartment. I got my footing back."
And now, he says, "I'm growing older, seeing how my career is going to be. Am I going to stick around? Do entertainers retire? As long as I can get on a stage or direct a snow I'll be doing it."
Does he see some of himself in his son's work? He doesn't specifically, he says, but his wife does: "She'll say, just like your dad. That's what your dad would have done.
"As far as his performances I haven't seen anything yet in him that I identify in myself. I think that's a good thing. He's making his own way. He's a great human being. I'm very proud of him as a man, as a father, husband, son, and performer and contributor to the theatrical community."
"Theatre was always in me," Orion observes. "I started taking acting classes to help me with hosting. I got cast in commercials. But I was thinking, wait a minute, commercials are great and pay well but what I enjoyed was the acting and performance part. That's what I'd been missing all this time.
"To be back onstage is great. And an honor."
You Got Older plays at Benchmark through March 16. 1560 Teller Street, Lakewood. 303-519-9059 info@benchmarktheatre.com
A Jukebox for the Algonquin plays through April 7, 1100 Miners Alley, Golden, 303-935-3044 minersalley.co
Orion Carrington