Five Questions With Matt Smith

SPF #5 coverage continues! Matt Smith is a Partner on the web based Cookus Interruptus, a Communciation Consultant for organizations, and a world class fundraising auctioneer, and in addition to co-managing improv retreats with Rebecca Stockley, his new solo show All My Children, directed by Bret Fetzer, opened Wednesday at Theatre off Jackson and plays tonight and May 3 and 5 (tickets $17).

1. Where did you grow up, and how did you end up where you are now?
I grew up on Capitol Hill in Seattle.  I went to St. Joe’s. How’d I end up here?  A series of miscalculations. Har har. I love Seattle.  I love that that John and Babe and Michael Shepherd are opening The Totem House as a new Red Mill, with Fish & Ships.  When I lived in New York I always told people I could never stay away from Seattle for long. That was before the first vote against public transportation here in the ’70s.

2. Which performance, song, play, movie, painting, or other work of art had the biggest influence on you and why?
The first thing that comes to mind is the film  A Woman Under the Influence.  There’s a scene that made an indelible mark, and I don’t know why.  Peter Falk is on the phone at his construction site trying to talk his wife down, saying “Who loves you, baby?” in the most loving way.  That scene has been cut from the version available on DVD,  I rented the film just so I could see that scene again after 40 years or so, and it was cut out.  It felt like I was watching a film “I” was in, only to discover that I’d been cut out.  Which, of course, has happened.

3. What skill, talent, or attribute do you most wish you had and why?
I wish I was smarter, and stronger.

4. What do you do to make a living? Describe a normal day.
I am a fundraising auctioneer. I talk to people on the phone about their fundraisers.  I go to auction meetings. I walk my dog. I write a little. I ride the ferry, where I play Pac Man, limiting myself to one game per trip. I teach an improv class at Freehold.  I am also a partner with Cookus Interruptus.  I scheme with Cynthia Lair as to how we will change the world and get rich through this web based cooking show / soap opera. I talk to big companies about how the principles of improv, and sometimes they bring me in to tell them more. I rehearse with Bret Fetzer and we eat lunch together.  That’s a particularly  long day.

5. Why solo performance? What made you decide to pursue this show in this form?
No one would work with me… har har…I started out, at age 31, wanting to do stand-up.  I immediately discovered improv, and lost interest in doing stand up. I worked with a big group (Theatre Sports), then a three-person group (Seattle Improv: me, Roberta Maguire, and Ed Sampson) , then just me and Ed for 5 years or so, and after that Bret agreed to direct a story I wanted to do about living in Japan.  People often say, “Oh, it must be so hard to be up there on your own.”  Not true.  It’s much easier than working with others.  What’s lonely is when you tour, and you go to the dressing room of a big theatre, and there’s a large basket of fruit and flowers, just for me. My heart sinks. I prefer the crowded back stage of a SPF fundraiser at ToJ. These are a blast, by the way.  Come next year.  Bring some money.