Our ongoing series of profiles of performers at SPF #5 down at Theatre off Jackson continues today with local fave Troy Mink, whose MeNtAl opens tonight. Tickets $12 advance, $15 at the door.

1. Where did you grow up, and how did you end up where you are now?
I was born & raised in Lexington, Kentucky (which, by the way, for what it’s worth, is also the hometown of George Clooney).  I ended up here in Seattle by getting a job as drama/music teacher at a private church school in Sea-Tac.

2. Which performance, song, play, movie, painting, or other work of art had the biggest influence on you and why?
As cliche as it sounds, and at the risk of seeming too sappy, I was really struck by the musical Les Miserables. I’d never heard the story of the bishop and the encounter with Jean Valjean and the silver candlesticks which really moved me at the time.  It was one of the things that inspired me to go into social work.

I also was and still am inspired by Robert Duvall in the films Tomorrow and Tender Mercies. In both films he plays a Southern, quiet man with incredible subtlety and heart. Also, both pieces were written by Horton Foote a favorite playwright/screenwriter of mine.

3. What skill, talent, or attribute do you most wish you had and why?
I wish I were more comfortable speaking with authority and comfort as myself.  Mike Daisey, whose show Wasting Your Breath was the first show I’d ever directed and the first solo show he performed, is a big inspiration for me. I watch Mike’s performance and am always taken by his performance and ability to capture an entire audience’s attention.

4. What do you do to make a living? Describe a normal day.
I am a “Community Outreach Worker” for Community Psychiatric Clinic.  I go into the office first thing in the morning where I receive a notice(s) from the county informing me of clients (of CPC) commitment to a psychiatric hospitalization, or arrested in county jail.  I then look up info to see what their crime was & when their trial is set.  For those clients involuntarily hospitalized I call the facility they are in to find out when their court date/time is.  I then go to the jail or hospital, meet with the clients, make a note of my visit & assessment & go back to the office.

5. Why solo performance? What made you decide to pursue this show in this form?
This is a personal account/story of a time and experiences that I, personally, have went through. I do multiple characters, who often interrupt the narrative and wish to tell their take on whatever it is I’m talking about. By doing the show as a solo performer my hope is that the audience, while they are following the narrative also get a sense of me “schizophrenically” (so to speak) telling the stories. The name of the show is Mental and as such deals with many of the mentally ill folks I’ve worked with in the past who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, etc.