WORTH THE WAITE

Openly gay actor Todd Waite stars this month in Sherlock Holmes at the Alley

by Bradley David Williams
Photo by Jim Caldwell

Reflecting on his native Canada, Houston actor Todd Waite seizes on “the big difference” with laser-like precision.

“Americans are the strongest critics of America, which is kind of why America revitalizes itself and stays optimistic,” he observes. “I love Canada’s government and its social structure, but I love America’s individual side. My experience is that America supports dreamers and people with a plan, and Canada tends to say, ‘Oh, I hope you’ve got something on the side in case that doesn’t work out, ay?’”

“Because I’m not famous, being out is not a big risk for me,” he says. “Although I was out when I was doing a lot of TV…. It has never been an issue. I just sort of discovered myself at 14 and came out, and I never heard the words gay, queer, fag ... I’ve never had a single negative experience in my life with being gay.”

Waite came to Houston three and a half years ago, drawn in part by Albee’s association with the Alley. The 6’4” thespian is one of 11 full-time company members at the theater, and stars in Sherlock Holmes, which opens October 10 and continues through November 2.

OutSmart: What do you think about the recent development with the legalization of gay marriage in Canada?
Todd Waite: Yeah, Canada has always been pretty cool. One of our most popular members of parliament was openly gay 15 years ago and was re-elected in a conservative [district] with an increased majority after he came out. Here’s the big difference: I almost don’t know any strongly religious people in Canada. There’s a spiritualism and kind of a metaphysical thing, or at least a strong philosophy, but there is not this kind of strong fundamentalist, I would almost say evil, that is so influential in America. I think that’s what’s fun about being gay in Texas, because it re-politicizes your sexuality. In a way, it’s kind of fun to be in an environment where kissing a man on the street is kind of saying, “F--k you!” to irritating fundamentalists. I really kind of like that again. You know, where the act of sodomy itself is a little bit dirty. I say that tongue-in-cheek. I don’t really want it to be unaccepted and dirty, but it’s a little bit fun being in Texas for that reason.

So how did you end up in Houston?
The way I got to know the Alley is that my ex, who I’m still best friends with, did Jekyll and Hyde here in1995, and I came down for a month and asked this guy, Greg Boyd [the Alley artistic director], who was directing, if I could watch. He was so generous and nice about saying, “Yes, come in, watch.” Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women was playing then, and Greg invited me to the opening. I went back and worked with the Shaw Festival in Canada, which is an ensemble dedicated to the works of Bernard Shaw and playwrights that wrote in his lifetime. Albee and Greg Boyd would come up often to the Shaw and see shows. Albee is very good about seeing theater around the world. He’s always going off to New York and London to see current shows. They said, “Come on down and join us in Houston,” and I said, “I’d love to.” I moved down here and my first role was a gay character in As Bees in Honey Drown.

What has it been like to work with Albee?
I was a little bit nervous at first. I was a big, big fan, so I thought, “Oh my God, I’d better try and do a good job of this.” And it was this really tough play. But he was so charming—irascibly charming, acerbically helpful, but with a coy mischievousness. . . . He is absolutely clear in his thinking and uncompromising in his clarity, but he’s still delightful. He made us laugh a lot.

Tell me about your upcoming role as Sherlock Holmes.
It’s a really wonderful script. In fact, it’s the only play script that Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of the original short story, collaborated on. It has a lot of the darker qualities. For example, a lot of people don’t realize that Sherlock Holmes, in the original story, is a cocaine and morphine addict.

You could’ve done some interesting research for this role.
I could have. I might have in my youth. No, I never particularly did morphine. I did do the odd raving in my time though.

Bradley David Williams interviewed actress Jerry Hall for the September OutSmart.

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