THEATRE INTERVIEW:
Local artist John Stefaniuk takes pride in his position
19 APR/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

TORONTO - File this one under very important life lessons.

During the Toronto run of THE LION KING a decade or so ago, John Stefaniuk, a Toronto-born, Vancouver-trained theatre artist, applied for a position backstage with the Canadian production of Disney’s acclaimed mega-musical. He didn’t get it. Instead, it seems, he got something much better.

Not long after being turned down, he was offered a position with the London production of TLK, where he served as resident director, before seeing the world in Lion King style. And when TLK returns to the stage of the Princess of Wales Theatre tonight, we may not see Stefaniuk as the king of beasts, but no one can contest the fact that he’s become a major power behind his throne. That’s because in his role of associate director for the American national tour of the show, the 43-year-old Stefaniuk has become one of the key figures in determining casting for the show worldwide. Sounds complicated, but Stefaniuk quickly boils things down to sound-bite size.

“It’s about trying to find the very best in whoever you have when you audition them,” he says down the line from Las Vegas as he prepares to head home to Toronto. And when doing a job like that, it helps, he says, that he’s still in love with a show that has taken him all over the world, from Spain to South Africa.

“It’s changed over the years, being able to see it with different companies.  At first, I was very panicked because I didn’t want to make the wrong call,” he says of keeping casts full, fresh and on their toes. But for inspiration, he simply looked to visionary director Julie Taymor, who created the show, and the way she deals with people.

“I realized that if she were standing in the room with me right now, she’d try to get the best out of that person,” he says. “Now, I’m very quickly able to see what (potential cast members) have and what they are lacking and whether we can get what we need out of them,” he continues. “This job is all-encompassing. You’re challenged to be able to teach the acting, then you have the puppetry and the African element. You take all that and then you have this incredible spectacle.”

And for that “incredible spectacle,” Stefaniuk credits Taymor, whose genius remains untarnished, he says, despite her the ongoing involvement in the problem-plagued Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. “The thing about Julie Taymor is that she is at the very forefront of creation, always” he says without hesitation. “She is the one who is out on the edge and pushing what live theatre is. I think she’s an artist. And an artist doesn’t turn around and try to please people because she thinks this is what the audience wants to see. You’ll see passion and you’ll see somebody who’s very open to taking risks.”

And speaking of risks, does Stefaniuk hunger for a return to the stage sometime in his future?

“Oh my God! Never,” he says. “I am so much better at telling people what to do than at being able to do it myself.” In addition to that ability, he admits, he’s picked up a lot of knowledge he’d like to use on a show of his own someday. “I do think of that a lot,” he admits. “What’s great about this job is it’s made me brave — (it’s given me) the courage to attempt that.”

Even though he now makes his home in New York with his husband, who currently serves as associate director for Mary Poppins, Stefaniuk’s  roots are still very much in Toronto. And not just because of the two brothers he has who call Toronto home. “Toronto is in my heart,” he insists. “No matter where I go, I always say it with pride because there’s a lot of talented people in Toronto.”