SAN DIEGO — The Roustabouts upcoming premiere gUnTOPIA features 14 year-old Levi Laddon. Currently a freshman at West Hills High School, Levi will transfer to SDSCPA in the fall. Always happy to talk to the rising stars in our community, I sat down with Levi in the office of Temple Emanu-El in Del Cerro. He was sweet, soft-spoken and a little shy, and I was charmed right away.
EGT: So how did the show-biz bug bite you?
Levi: Um… Well… I don’t know. Sorry. Well, when I was seven, I did a show at Young Actors Theatre. I guess –ever since then, I’ve just been in love with theatre.
EGT: What was the show?
Levi: Wizard of Oz.
EGT: Who did you play?
Levi: I was the Munchkin Mayor.
EGT: What other roles have you done?
Levi: Well, I won an award at Young Actors Theatre for playing Pinocchio in My Son, Pinocchio. And I was in The Grinch at the Old Globe for three years. I’ve done shows at San Diego Junior Theatre and a drama camp at Coronado Playhouse playing in Lion King. I’ve done a lot of stuff.
EGT: What kind of characters do you gravitate to?
Levi: Well, I’ve played a variety of different characters. Right now [in gUnTOPIA] I’m playing a very troubled boy who’s angry a lot. And Pinocchio was very….
EGT: He’s very mischievous.
Levi: Yeah, but that version of it was a little bit weird. He’s very quirky and awkward. I was just in 13: The Musical. I was Evan and he’s kind of like an ambitious and cool guy, kind of. But that’s not me at all.
EGT: You’re not a cool guy?
Levi: Not really.
EGT: Why do you say that?
Levi: I guess I’m just kind of … I like to go with the flow … I’m just a little … I don’t know. Sorry. I’m bad at this.
EGT: Don’t say that. Don’t say, “I’m bad at this.” Say, “I’m new at this.”
Levi: I’m new at this.
EGT: Of course you are. You’re a kid. And let me tell you, no one was interviewing me when I was fourteen. …So tell me a little about gUnTOPIA.
Levi: It’s about this family who lives in a kind of dystopian world where everyone has guns. And me, Bobby, I shoot my sister. But my parents don’t get mad at me for shooting my sister but for using my gun in the house. Then the rest of the play is about Harry, my father, who is coming to terms with: Is it really okay that this happened? Is it really so perfect? Because everyone thinks the world is perfect because everyone has guns. They’re all protected.
EGT: And has this influenced your worldview? Has it changed your opinions or just made you more aware?
Levi: I think it has made me more aware of gun violence and the mindsets of people who are pro-gun. I’m more pro gun-control. But it’s given me a little more insight.
EGT: Have you sat down and really talked to pro-gun people and let them give you their take on it?
Levi: No, but the characters in the play are those types of people.
EGT: If you have the opportunity, I would say to do that. Theatre tends to be a pretty liberal crowd. Yes, actors can say the lines and say them with what sounds like conviction, but they’re not their real convictions. If you talk to someone who really thinks like that, you get the real thing.
Levi: Yeah.
EGT: Was it a little intimidating to work with a group of professionals?
Levi: Yeah. I was very very nervous before our first rehearsal. Everyone in the cast and on the creative team is just so talented. And it was kind of intimidating and scary to walk into the room full of professional actors.
EGT: You know what? That intimidation is good because that makes you bring your A-game. … Now do you see this as your career?
Levi: Yeah.
EGT: And do you want to be a big Hollywood actor? Are you going to go to New York?
Levi: I really want to be on Broadway. That’s my dream. I want to go to college in New York.
EGT: What’s your dream role?
Levi: Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen.
EGT: What is it about that role?
Levi: First, all the music in that show is amazing. And I feel like a lot of teens have a connection with him because he talks about how he feels. He feels like everyone is always judging him, so he has a lot of anxiousness. A bunch of kids today relate to that.
EGT: Well, I’ll tell you a little secret. Everyone is always judging you all the time. To Hell with them. You do you. And nerdy is cool because the “cool people” are always worried about what other people think of them. Nerds are just themselves.
[This brought a smile to his rosy cheeks.]
So that was my conversation with Levi Laddon, a promising young Star of David. The Roustabouts’ gUnTOPIA premieres at the Moxie Theatre, March 8-29, 2020.
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Eric George Tuaber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com
I love this article!!!! Thank you both!!!!!
Excellent.
Phil Johnson
Founder
The Roustabouts Theatre Co.