John Hedges resumes acting career
Former Civic Theatre leader lands role in HBO’s ‘Downton’ prequel ‘The Gilded Age’
Retirement has been a rather busy occasion for John Hedges, the former managing director of Allentown’s Civic Theatre.
No sooner did the former administrator step down from his posts at the Civic and Maine’s Penobscot Theatre Company then he decided to restart his acting career.
After signing with a talent agency in New York City, Hedges landed a number of small roles in indie films as well as a part in the season finale of “The Blacklist,” starring James Spader.
But it’s his role in HBO’s upcoming “The Gilded Age” that has Hedges the most excited. The series is the latest from Julian Fellowes, the writer of “Gosford Park” and the creator and writer of “Downton Abbey.”
A prequel to “Downton,” “The Gilded Age” is a 10-episode series that was originally scheduled to begin shooting in
March in anticipation of a fall broadcast. But, thanks to COVID-19, the series is scheduled to commence this autumn for a likely spring premiere.
“It will be shot in and around New York City,” notes Hedges. “All the actors had a Zoom meeting on September 22 with the show’s production personnel to discuss the extensive safety protocols they are instituting. They began filming on September 29 and I’m tentatively scheduled for early November.”
The show, which is set in 1880s New York, pivots around Marian (Louisa Jacobson, daughter of Meryl Streep), the orphaned offspring of a Union general who is forced to go off and live with her conventional aunts in New York City.
Accompanied by the mysterious Peggy Scott, an AfricanAmerican woman masquerading as her maid, Marian immediately finds herself caught up in the glamorous lives of her fabulously wealthy neighbors.
Over the course of 10 episodes, Marian has to decide whether she will follow the established rules of society or embrace the changes of a new world on the brink of transformation.
Hedges will appear in the first episode of “The Gilded Age” as a train conductor.
“The character is described as someone who follows the rules, but against his better judgment is persuaded by Marian to let Peggy ride with her in the first class carriage,” notes Hedges.
While he awaits his call to begin filming, Hedges has been preparing a new look.
“Given the fact that the time period is late 19th century, the look of the character is proving important in my preparation,” notes Hedges.
“The two costume fittings
I’ve had have helped give me a better feel for the era and for the character. In addition to reading about the time period, I’m physically altering my appearance a bit by growing my hair out — since shaved heads were not in fashion for men in 1882 — and I’m growing my mustache to a
ridiculously out of control length.”
Hedges says he feels a real sense of fulfillment in being able to work as an actor after so many years behind the scenes.
“Ultimately, what I’m in service to and in pursuit of is bringing life to stories that can give us all a shared sense of our common humanity and engendering greater empathy in the world,” says Hedges. “I like to think that’s pretty important work these days.”