River Forest native Declan Collins is returning to The Artistic Home for the fourth time to appear
in the world premiere of Siah Berlatsky’s “Malapert Love,” a modern take on Shakespearean
comedies.
The production is running through Dec. 11 at the Den Theatre’s Upstairs Mainstage in Chicago.
Collins is playing Skip, the houseboy in the estate where the play takes place.
“He’s one of the servants and he is very, very smart,” the actor said. “He is madly in love with the count who is the head of this estate. He’s trying his best to get in the good favors of the count and he’s not the most skilled at it. He talks a mile a minute and he’s always waxing poetic.”
Collins said they share some of their character’s traits — including being high-energy and talking too fast.
Collins wanted to be in “Malapert Love” after seeing a performance of the show as part of The Artistic Home’s “Summer on the Patio” series last summer, Collins said.
“I thought it was not only really funny but also full of so much heart,” Collins said. “It was such an uplifting time at the theater.”
When they learned the theater was going to be producing it this fall, they knew they had to audition.
“As a queer actor,” they explained, “the opportunities to play characters that align with my own sexuality are very rare. This play has so much queerness in it and there are so many queer characters, but it’s a story about queer joy and homophobia is not even part of the equation.”
Collins, 20, is currently living in Evanston and is in their third year at Northwestern University working on a bachelor’s degree in theater.
Collins’ performing career began in second grade when they appeared in shows at Forest Park’s former Circle Theatre. Performances followed in middle school and at Oak Park and River Forest High School.
Becoming a professional actor “was less a decision than just the thing I knew that I wanted to do. When I thought about what brought me joy and what I felt excited about and what I felt gave me drive and where I found passion, it was theater,” Collins said.
Collins’ first professional performance was in “Oliver” at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, at age 10.
“I waited for three hours in line at the open call,” Collins recalled. “I was at the top of the height requirement so I was all stressed and I ended up booking it somehow.”
Collins was chosen to be in the ensemble.
The actor said it was “an eye-opening experience” that made Collins realize what a life in theater would be like.
Collins joked that, “I was going through the trauma of aging out of being a child actor. My voice was changing and I was getting too tall, and I was like, ‘I’m never going to work again.’ Now I’ve reemerged as the adult version of myself so I don’t have to worry about being a boy soprano and being shorter than five feet.”
Collins doesn’t have to worry about getting grownup parts. Even though Collins is still in college, the actor has a string of professional credits. That includes “Time of Your Life,” “Watch on the
Rhine” and “Cut to the Chase” at The Artistic Home. At Northwestern, Collins was in the world premiere of “Home for the Summer,” part of the American Music Theatre Project, and “Something Rotten.”
Myrna Petlicki is a freelancer.
